Even a Single Profound Dream or Revelation Defeats Physicalism or Atheism

Epigraph: Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth glorifies Allah; and He is the Mighty, the Wise. (Al Quran 61:2) Allah it is Who made the sun radiate a brilliant light and the moon reflect a luster, and ordained for it stages, that you might know the number of years, reckoning…

July 14, 2024

12–17 minutes

Bible, genesis, god, jesus, joseph

Epigraph:

Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth glorifies Allah; and He is the Mighty, the Wise. (Al Quran 61:2)

Allah it is Who made the sun radiate a brilliant light and the moon reflect a luster, and ordained for it stages, that you might know the number of years, reckoning of time and mathematics. Allah has not created this but in truth. He details the Signs for a people who have knowledge. Indeed, in the alternation of night and day, and in all that Allah has created in the heavens and the earth there are Signs for a God-conscious people. (Al Quran 10:6-7)

By Zia H Shah MD

In, “Ancient Greece and ancient Rome — people did not happen to believe that creativity came from human beings back then, OK? People believed that creativity was this divine attendant spirit that came to human beings from some distant and unknowable source, for distant and unknowable reasons. The Greeks famously called these divine attendant spirits of creativity ‘daemons.’ Socrates, famously, believed that he had a daemon who spoke wisdom to him from afar.” Says Elizabeth Gilbert in her famous Ted talk, Your elusive creative genius, “The Romans had the same idea, but they called that sort of disembodied creative spirit a genius. Which is great, because the Romans did not actually think that a genius was a particularly clever individual. They believed that a genius was this, sort of magical divine entity, who was believed to literally live in the walls of an artist’s studio, kind of like Dobby the house elf, and who would come out and sort of invisibly assist the artist with their work and would shape the outcome of that work.” [1]

More than 80% of the top western scientists, mathematicians and philosophers are atheists. [2][3][4]

They no longer believe in scriptures or any revelation from an All Knowing divine source.

Majority of the top scientists and philosophers take search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) more seriously than God of Abrahamic faiths. A large number of them are strict materialist or physicalist so they simply do not allow the possibility of transcendent God, who is beyond time, space and matter. So, the first step in any discussion of religion, God or scripture is to create the possibility of God.

Physicalism is, in slogan form, the thesis that everything is physical. The thesis is usually intended as a metaphysical thesis, parallel to the thesis attributed to the ancient Greek philosopher Thales, that everything is water, or the idealism of the 18th Century philosopher Berkeley, that everything is mental. The general idea is that the nature of the actual world (i.e. the universe and everything in it) conforms to a certain condition, the condition of being physical. Of course, physicalists don’t deny that the world might contain many items that at first glance don’t seem physical — items of a biological, or psychological, or moral, or social, or mathematical nature. But they insist nevertheless that at the end of the day such items are physical, or at least bear an important relation to the physical. This is also called metaphysical materialism and it broadly speaking equates with atheism.

So, if there is even a single profound revelation from beyond that cannot be reasonably explained by the recipients’ conscious or unconscious mind then it defeats physicalism or atheism.

First, let me make an easy case for the Muslims and the Christians who respectively believe in the Quran and the Bible.

Both scriptures talk about the dream of the prophet Yusuf or Joseph, who had a dream in his adolescence and later he interpreted the dream of the king of Egypt.

According to the holy Quran:

Call to mind when Joseph said to his father: Believe me, father, I have seen eleven stars and the sun and the moon in my dream and the wonder is that I saw them making obeisance to me. His father said to him: Dear son, do not relate your dream to your brethren, lest they should contrive some stratagem against you. Satan is, indeed, man’s declared enemy. Thus will your Lord, as you have seen, make you His chosen one, and teach you the meaning of spiritual matters, and perfect His favor unto you, and unto the true descendants of Jacob, as He perfected it for two of your forefathers, Abraham and Isaac. Truly your Lord is All-Knowing, Wise.[5]

His dream was talking about future which is beyond the reach of his physical brain. Human minds have no capacity to know future with any certainty. Life played on for Joseph, he was thrown in a deserted well by his jealous older brothers and got sold into slavery and years later found himself in a prison in Egypt, for no fault of his. In the prison he interpreted the dreams of two prisoners. Long story short, then we read in the middle of Surah Yusuf, from which I just quoted the above verses of his dream, about the king of Egypt:

Some time, thereafter, the King announced to his courtiers: I have seen in my dream seven fat cows being devoured by seven lean ones, and seven fresh green ears of corn and seven others dry and withered. Now ye nobles, expound to me the meaning of my dreams, if you are versed in the interpretation of dreams. They answered: These are confused dreams, and we know not the meaning of such. Then he of the two companions of Joseph who had been set free, and who now remembered, after the lapse of a period, that which had passed between Joseph and him, exclaimed: I shall let you know the interpretation of the dream, only send me to find out. He hurried to Joseph and implored him: Joseph, you the righteous one, do expound to us the meaning of a dream in which seven fat cows are devoured by seven lean ones, and there are seven green ears of corn and seven others which are dry, that I may return to the people and they may know the interpretation.

Joseph explained: You shall work diligently and continuously at cultivation for seven years, but leave what you reap in the ear, except the little that you consume. Then there will follow seven years of great hardship which will eat up all that you will have laid by in advance for them, except the little that you may set aside. After this will come a year in which the people will be relieved and there will be rejoicing and exchange of gifts.[6]

Human mental faculties of Joseph’s time had no way of predicting seven successful years of harvest and then a seven-year famine. Yet this was the dream of the king and correct interpretation by Joseph. This is what I mean by saying that a single profound dream or revelation defeats or refutes physicalism or understanding of the atheists that there is no God and there is only our physical universe.

Because of the insightful interpretation of the dream, the king appointed Joseph as an important minister of his kingdom to manage the food supply. The famine did come as predicted and Joseph’s planning saved Egypt form the consequences of the failing crops for seven years. Even his brothers had to come to Egypt in search of food and skipping a few details the story continues in Surah Yusuf:

When the caravan set out from Egypt, their father said to those around him: Were it not that you would call me a dotard, I would say that I certainly perceive the fragrance of Joseph. They retorted: By Allah, you still persist in your fixed illusion. But when the bearer of the good news arrived, he laid Joseph’s shirt before his father, who thereupon comprehended everything and reminded them: Did I not say to you: I know from Allah that which you know not!

His sons then begged him: Father, do pray for forgiveness of our sins, we were manifestly in the wrong. He comforted them: I shall certainly pray for forgiveness for you to my Lord, most assuredly He is the Most Forgiving, Ever Merciful. When they approached, Joseph went forth to do honor to his parents and welcomed them: Enter you all into Egypt in peace as is the pleasure of Allah.

He installed his parents in the place of honor and they all fell down prostrate before Allah in gratitude for His favors to him. Joseph said: Father, this is the fulfilment of my dream of old. My Lord has made it come true. He was indeed gracious unto me for He took me out of prison and appointed me to a place of honor and brought you from the desert, after Satan had brought about discord between me and my brethren. Surely, my Lord is benignly Gracious unto whomsoever He pleases, for He is the All-Knowing, the Wise.

Then Joseph prayed: My Lord, You have bestowed upon me a portion of sovereignty and taught me somewhat of the interpretation of dreams. Maker of the heavens and the earth, You are my Helper in this world and the Hereafter, let death when it comes find me in a state of complete submission to Your will and join me to the company of the righteous.[7]

Centuries before the revelation of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him, these dreams were recorded in the Bible as well in the very first book of Genesis. Firstly, in chapter 37 we read of Joseph’s dream during his adolescence:

Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, ‘Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.’

His brothers said to him, ‘Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?’ And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’

When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, ‘What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?’ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.[8]

The king of Egypt’s dream is recorded in chapter 41 of the book of Genesis:

When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank. And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

He fell asleep again and had a second dream: Seven heads of grain, healthy and good, were growing on a single stalk. After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted—thin and scorched by the east wind. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy, full heads. Then Pharaoh woke up; it had been a dream.[9]

I give credit to the Bible when it is due. But, unfortunately many a Christian apologists accuse that the Quran is merely copied from the Bible and deny its divine source. To disabuse them from this self-indulgent idea, today let me merely say that whereas the Quran embellishes the dreams of Joseph and the king of Egypt included in the Bible, but makes no mention of the abhorrent stories of prostitution, promiscuity and incest mentioned in the intervening chapters 38-40 between the above mentioned dreams in the book of Genesis.

Now, I move on to address the agnostics or the atheists, who do not believe the Quran or the Bible, but they do believe in science and the best mathematics. How can I use science and mathematics to defeat physicalism?

The Quran has passages of scientific importance that simply cannot be explained by consciousness of any human living in the seventh century, when the Prophet Muhammad received the Quran from the All Knowing. Many Muslim authors have written extensively on this theme. Today, I present to you Dr. Maurice Bucaille’s book, the Bible, the Quran and Science and some of my work:

The Miracle of the Quran: It Speaks of Innumerable Stars and Innumerable Earths. [10]

Why is the Quran a Sign or a Miracle, According to Itself? [11]

The Quran: Allah has bound the sun and the moon into service, each running its course for an appointed term. [12]

The Quran and the Breathtaking Universe: Is This God Speaking or Muhammad? [13]

The Quran and the Expanding Universe: Is This God Speaking or Muhammad? [14]

The Quran and Creation Ex Nihilo: Is This God Speaking or Muhammad? [15]

According to Encyclopedia Britannica as it talks about chemistry and the periodic table:

The periodic table was invented by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869. However, prior to Mendeleev, chemists had been pondering for decades how to classify the elements.

…

Atomic weights were used by English chemist John Newlands in 1864 in classifying the elements. After arranging the elements in order by atomic weight, Newlands noted that every eighth element seemed to have similar chemical properties. By analogy with the seven-note musical scale, he called this the law of octaves.

Mendeleev built on this work in arranging the elements according to atomic weight and their properties, but he also paid special attention to an element’s valence (the number of single bonds an element can form). His 1869 table contained 17 columns (or groups, as they are now known). He revised this into an eight-group table in 1871. In his 1871 table, Mendeleev correctly predicted that the then known atomic weights of 17 elements were wrong. He also predicted the existence of three then unknown elements, scandium, gallium, and germanium, and their properties based on gaps in his table. In Mendeleev’s table, elements were not placed in ascending order of atomic weight based on their properties. It was not until the early 20th century that it was discovered that an element’s position in the periodic table is determined by its atomic number (the amount of protons in its atomic nucleus).[16]

Mendeleev had the table given to him in a dream. [17] Mendeleev himself would recount in his diary: “I saw in a dream a table where all the elements fell into place as required. Awakening, I immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper.” [18]

Let us move from chemistry to mathematics.

Srinivasa Ramanujan (22 December 1887 – 26 April 1920) was an Indian mathematician. Though he had almost no formal training in pure mathematics, he made substantial contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions, including solutions to mathematical problems then considered unsolvable. He single handedly left us 3900 equations and identities.

To quote Rachel Thomas’ Ramanujan: Dream of the possible:

And the legacy is indeed impressive: Ramanujan’s work is today relevant in areas as diverse as computer science, electrical engineering, and physics, as well as, of course, mathematics. ‘Ramanujan’s formulas have offered glimpses of theories that Ramanujan probably wouldn’t have been able to articulate himself,’ says Ono. ‘Theories that nobody needed — until they needed them. For example [some work on black holes] makes use of some of Ramanujan’s mathematics. Nobody even knew that black holes were something to study when Ramanujan was alive. But he had already developed some of the first formulas that would be used to explain their properties. What’s astonishing is that Ramanujan has done this for us several dozen times.’[19]

He had visions of scrolls of complex mathematical content unfolding before his eyes. He often said, “An equation for me has no meaning unless it expresses a thought of God.” [20] According to the Encyclopedia Britannica: “He had only the most nebulous idea of what constitutes a mathematical proof.” [21] He did not solve many of the 3900 equations or identities. Those were given to him in dreams.

Dear readers I rest my case!