Our God — Page 195
Refutation of Arguments Supporting Atheism 195 condition, or become like an angel who is compelled by his cre- ation to stick to the right path and cannot, even slightly, deviate from God’s Will. The wise say that the righteous man has a rank above angels because man adopts virtue of his preference after due consideration, whereas an angel is confined in a state of vir- tue and therefore the good deeds of an angel are not counted as such. That is why the Quran says about man: 1 ْدَقَل اَنْقَلَخ َناَسْنِاْلا ْۤيِف ِنَسْحَا ٍمْيِوْقَت Surely, of all the creation, We have created man in the best make. No other creation compares with man. In short, man’s free will is a mark of his excellence and sin results from misuse of this will. Sin is not created by God, but results from denial of God’s Mercy. Sin, therefore, cannot be pre- sented as an argument against the existence of God. Sixth Argument for Atheism and Its Refutation The sixth argument, like the fifth, is also based on an assumed injustice attributed to the laws of nature. The atheists say that there are many things in the world that do not serve any useful purpose and are obviously harmful. For instance, there are count- less harmful animals and poisonous shrubs and creepers and deadly minerals that are only harmful and have no benefits at all. 1. S u rah at-T i n, 95:5.