"But we
scientists don't work hard really. Have you heard about saints? Do you
know what they do? And do you believe in God? Just as the saints keep dancing in
god's presence and wait for the right time for His blessings, we scientists
continue to dance, I mean continue to search in our laboratories and God gives
us the knowledge of what we were looking for when He wills; when He knows is the
best time to pas this knowledge on to us. But He would only give it if we
continue to "dance" He would give this knowledge to the dancer; not to the ones
who never danced, or who stopped dancing."
I was surprised to know that this was the expression from one of the interviews
given by Sir Alexander Flemming, the man known for discovering Penicillin; to
Ashfaq Ahmed, a renowned Pakistani writer when he was in Turkey as a student and
Alexander was there giving a talk; whenced Ashfaq Ahmed requested Alexander
after his lecture to see him individually for some time because he had a query
about his statement that "We scientists do not do hard work but just dance in
the laboratories." (Ref: Zaawia by Ashfaq Ahmed. Sang e Meel Publications Lahore
2004)
I just thought that we who claim to believe in God just assume that scientists
do not believe in God and myths like " one eye of the scientist which should
see God is closed" etc. It may be true in some cases but not all.
Alexander further said in his interview that apples were dropping from the trees
since thousands of years but when Newton started "dancing"/pondering over it,
god instructed to the angel to give the knowledge of gravity to the person who
was looking for the reason behind this everyday common observation.
It made me think that this is what gave knowledge about God to Abraham (peace be
upon him) when he pondered about the creation and the possibility of a flawless
creator.Similarly to Muhammad sws (peace be upon him) as well when he isolated
himself for a while from a society which he felt was not based on the fair and
Right, started pondering and looking for the Right and God ordered the angel to
convey the Right to him.
We know from Muslim heritage and history that Muslims have been the initiators
of many research projects in religious and scientific fields. Unfortunately,
over the centuries they have closed the doors of education and research upon
themselves. If we do not "dance" how do we expect to go forth in the field of
discoveries and developments. God will just not give us the knowledge on the
basis of the fact that we believe in Him. As his rules made for this world to
continue to function, the knowledge will be imparted to the ones who are trying
for it. "'cause I deserve nothing more than I get" Indeed we believe in
receiving His blessings as a respose to our prayers, but these prayers ought to
be associated with hard work; after that whatever remains insufficient due to
our human weaknesses and flaws, we pray to Him to fullfill that and give us good
results.
Where more do we get the instructions for pondering, thinking and learning than
in the last revelation itself, the Qura'n "afala tatafakkarun" "afala talamoon"
afala tatadabbarun" Do you not wonder? do you not know? Do you not ponder?
NB: For Flemming's biography see
http://web1.caryacademy.org/chemistry/rushin/StudentProjects/CompoundWebSites/2000/Penicillin/Home%20page.htm#Biography%20of%20Sir%20Alexander%20Fleming: