SPIRIT OF ISLAM DECEMBER 2018

38 Spirit of Islam Issue 72 December 2018 The rivers are always full of water, because the ice in the mountains keeps gradually melting the whole year round and this water continuously comes to the rivers through tributaries. But when all this ice has melted, naturally the rivers will run dry. And all their fresh water will be mixed with the salty water of the ocean. The ocean will be full of water but, being too salty, it will be fit neither for irrigation nor for drinking. The situation prevailing will be somewhat like that portrayed by Samuel Coleridge in his poem ‘ The Ancient Mariner ’: “Water, water, everywhere; nor any drop to drink”. God’s prophets have constantly told us that the present world will not be eternal, that it is perpetually on its countdown, and that a time will come when its term will expire and it will come to its end. All the scientific evidence tells us that this countdown is approaching its final number. The scientists of the 20 th century discovered the law of entropy and concluded that the world’s energy is continuously on the decrease, and that this process cannot be reversed. Therefore, it is certain that after a fixed period of time the present world will come to its end. Now the scientists of the 21 st century have told us, according to their researches, that the time for the end of the present world has come very close. It could even be a mere 10 to 20 years. All these revelations which are being covered in the media under the heading of ‘global warming’ are in fact ‘divine warning’. Corruption has set in on land and sea because of the evil which men’s hands have done; and so He will make them taste the fruit of some of their doings, so that they may turn back from evil. (30: 41) .This is a declaration by the Creator that, according to His plan, this period of the world has come to its end. According to this plan, the first phase has expired. Now the time is not far away when the present world will be replaced by its second phase. The first phase, meant purely as a test for humankind, was temporary. The second phase will be for the result of that test, and it will be eternal. In the present world, man has been given freedom of action. This is not because he deserves freedom on account of his general prowess: it was allotted to him temporarily for the purpose of testing him. It was meant to see who makes the proper use of freedom and who misuses it. According to the system of nature, the record of every person is Corruption has set in on land and sea because of the evil which men’s hands have done; and so He will make them taste the fruit of some of their doings, so that they may turn back from evil. (Quran)