Article appeared Friday, March 24th, 2017 in The News Today, Bangladesh

The Revelation (469) yousuf mahbubul Islam, PhD

Is God real? If He is real, would He protect and support those who believe in and testify to His
reality? If and when believers are persecuted, oppressed and ill-treated should He be pleased?
If not, what is He likely to do? Before looking for answers to this question, let us first consider
the relationship between God and His creation. The following Verse from the Holy Quran poses
a question.
O men! Call to mind the grace of Allah to you! Is there a Creator other than God to give
you Sustenance from heaven or earth? There is no god but He: how then are you
deluded away from the Truth? [35.3]

Sustenance has to be created on a regular basis long before it finally arrives on the table as
food to eat. For example, how long before we have chicken for dinner, was the chicken born as
a chick? If we have chicken every day, what must God do? What does He need to do to arrange
a daily supply of chicken? Also, when we join a wedding feast, where do all the chickens we see
on the tables come from? The sustenance and/or survival of each and every creature on earth
completely depend on God His Mercy extends to each and every living creature on earth. If
you hold yourself up to scrutiny and analyze other human beings as well, you will discover that
God has made each with equal love and care. Would He accept oppression, persecution and/or
unjustified ill-treatment of any of His creatures? What has God done when His Messengers
were ill-treated?
(Respite was granted) until when the apostles gave up hope (of their people) and
(came to) think that they were treated as liars and denied, there reaches them Our help
and victory. And those whom We will are delivered into safety. But never will they be able
to avoid Our punishment those that are criminals. [12.110]

Those who oppose the messengers are called criminals. History is replete with examples of
nations and populations being completely destroyed by a single mighty blast, while the
messengers were saved.
Before them (were many who) rejected apostles, the People of Noah and the (tribe of)
`Aad and Pharaoh, the Owner of Stakes, and (the tribe of) Thamud and the People of
Lut and the Companions of the Wood; such were the Confederates. Not one (of them)
but rejected the apostles so My Punishment came justly and inevitably (on them). These
(disbelievers) need only wait for a single mighty Blast which (when it comes) there will
be no delay. [38.12 38.15]

On the other hand,

Allah has promised to believers men and women gardens under which rivers flow to
dwell therein and beautiful mansions in gardens of everlasting bliss. But the greatest
bliss in the Good Pleasure of Allah: that is the supreme success. [9.72]

The following Verses relate an example of a number of young men who believed and preached
the reality of God, our Creator, but were persecuted and threatened by the local king. To save
their life, they were forced to hide in a cave. They sought the help of God, who protected them
by preventing the discovery of the cave and by putting them to sleep for many many years.

18.9 Do you consider the fact that the Companions of the Cave and the
Inscription were among Our wondrous Signs?
When the young men were not found, their particulars were engraved in a lead slab, by the
order of the king who had originally threatened them.

18.10 Behold, the youths took themselves to the Cave. They said, "Our Lord!
bestow on us Mercy from Thyself and dispose of our affair for us in the right
way!
They prayed to God to save them and find a solution for their predicament. To protect them, how
did God save them and solve the predicament?

18.11 Then We drew (a veil) over their ears (effectively put them into deep sleep)
for a number of years in the cave:
In this state of deep sleep they spent a number of years in the cave.

18.12 Then We woke them up in order to test which of the two parties was best at
calculating the term of years they had tarried!
Being in deep sleep, the young men had no way to calculate or sense the elapsed time.
However, God wanted them to understand what He had done to save them. As such, when they
woke up, they argued about the passage of time. They needed to realize that a few hundred
years had passed and that the society and people had been replaced by future generations.

18.13 We relate to you their story in truth: they were youths who believed in their
Lord and We advanced them in guidance:
Guidance resulted in them becoming fully of the Reality of God.

18.14 We gave strength to their hearts; behold they stood up and said, "Our Lord
is the Lord of the heavens and of the earth: never shall we call upon any god
other than Him: if we did; we should indeed have uttered an enormity!"
They believed with conviction and subsequently testified to the truth of God to the fact that
there can only be One God; everything else is created. Created things have no power of their
own.

18.15 "Our people have taken for worship gods other than Him: why do they not
bring forward an authority clear (and convincing) for what they do? Who does
more wrong than such as invent a falsehood against Allah?
The people of the town who disbelieved could not put forward logical arguments in favor of
disbelief. The young men could not tolerate the lies that the people of the town put up. So God
inspired them with the following message.

18.16 When you have withdrawn from them and the things they worship other
than Allah settle yourselves in the Cave: your Lord will extend His Mercy on you
and organize everything for you with comfort and ease.
For people who believe, and seek His Pleasure, Gods Mercy and solution is always near for
Him, nothing is impossible. He is well acquainted with whatever is going on. So let us all study,
be convinced of His Reality in our hearts and testify to the truth.
And strive in His cause (to establish the truth) as you should strive (with sincerity and
under discipline): He has chosen you and has imposed no difficulties on you in religion; it
is the religion of your father Abraham. It is He Who has named you Muslims both before
and in this (Revelation); that the Apostle may be a witness for you and you be witnesses
for mankind! So establish regular Prayer give regular Charity and hold fast to Allah! He is
your Protector the Best to protect and the Best to help! [22.78]