Ali Saad Al-Mousa
Al-Watan
There are atheists among us and their number is, according to some studies, on the increase. Personally, I do not trust the accuracy of these studies. Every nation on this planet is composed of people with different religious beliefs. However, why has the number of atheists increased? Is it because of too much focus on religion or too much exposure to science? I think many atheists have lost their way and have become confused, as they do not read as much as they should.
A Muslim scholar can only reach the highest level of faith after he has spent years reading. A cursory reading can take you nowhere except to more confusion and misunderstanding. It is a dangerous thing.
Have you heard of Alfred Bernhard Nobel who died in 1896? He was a Swedish chemist who invented dynamite. People used dynamite for the first time in wars to kill, destroy and wreak havoc. Scientists, however, conducted more studies and research on the use of dynamite after Nobel’s death and came up with positive uses for it. Today, it is used to dig thousands of wells from which thousands of people drink water. It is used to dig tunnels and extinguish fires in oil wells.
Alfred Nobel left his fortune to fund the Nobel Prize, a set of annual international prizes distributed in recognition of academic, cultural or scientific contributions. Although Nobel could not think of any positive uses for his invention, scientists discovered ways in which it could make the life of hundreds of thousands of people easier.
We have to dig deeper into things to find solutions and the root of problems. We cannot say that terrorists blow themselves up and blow places up just because they are against secularism and liberalism. We cannot just say that young men become terrorists or join liberal or secular groups, or that they have been forced to do so. People are influenced by their surroundings and this is when ideas start to form in their brains and they lose their sense of direction.
