Battle between Faith and Skepticism
DR.PASHA | December 22, 2011 | Section: Articles | 768 reads
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Battle between Faith and Skepticism
Dr. Pasha
The battle of wits between the advocates of Faith and Skepticism never advanced much beyond the argument that Hazrat Ali, Radiyallahu Anhu, put forward 1400 years ago.
Hazrat Ali wrote a little couplet in which he said this – he was a great poet and literary figure by the way, among so many other things:
“The physicist and the physician both claimed,
There was no resurrection and no day of judgment.
To this I said: Fine, have it your way!
If, I then pointed out,
Things after death turn out the way you say,
I will not be in any trouble at all;
But if, on the other hand,
Should things turn out the way I say,
Imagine what your fate will be.”
This debate between Belief and Disbelief is a matter of considerable personal interest to me and I have followed it keenly over several decades in person and over centuries in books.
And let me say two things:
a) First of all, Hazrat Ali’s argument is as calm, cool and rational as it can be.
b) Second, I have not seen either the physicist or the physician, as Hazrat Ali, Radiyallahu Anhu, calls them, or anyone else, come up with a satisfactory counter to this most eloquent argument by Hazrat Ali.
So far as I can judge, the ball is still in the court of the Skeptics.
As for that Haiku-type little poem by Hazrat Ali, Radiyallahu Anhu, here it is in original Arabic:
Za’amal munajjimu wat-tabeebu kilaahumaa;
Allaa ma’aada, fa-qultu dhaaka ilaikumaa.
In sahha qawulukumaa, fa-lastu bi-khwaasirin;
Awu sahha qawulee, fal-wabaalu alaikumaa!
END
© 2011 Syed Husain Pasha
Dr. Pasha is an educator and scholar of exceptional
talent, training and experience. He can be reached at DrSyedPasha [at]
AOL [dot] com or www.IslamicSolutions.com.
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