The information beyond matter & Lawh-i Mahfuz

Information… This concept today means a lot more than it did even a
half century ago. Scientists are developing theories to define
information. Social scientists speak of "the information age."
Information is becoming a very important concept for humanity.
The discovery of information in the origin of both the universe and
life itself is what makes this concept so important in the modern
world. Scientists today are realizing that the universe is formed by
"matter, energy and information," and this is replacing the
materialistic philosophy of the nineteenth century that defined the
universe as being made up entirely of "matter and energy."
So, what does this all mean?
Let's explain through an example, that of DNA. All living cells
function according to the genetic information in the double helix
structure of DNA. Our bodies are also formed by trillions of cells
each with its own DNA, and all the functions of our bodies are
registered in this giant molecule. Our cells use protein codes
inscribed in the DNA to produce new proteins. The information that our
DNA possesses is so large that if you wanted to write it down, it
would fill up 900 volumes of encyclopedias, cover-to-cover!
Sowhat is DNA made up of? Fifty years ago, scientists would have
replied that DNA is formed by nucleic acids called nucleotides and the
chemical bonds holding these nucleotides together. In other words,
they used to list only the material elements of the DNA. But today,
scientists have a different answer: DNA is composed of atoms,
molecules, chemical bonds and, most importantly, information.
It's just like a book. We would be quite mistaken to say that a book
is only made up of paper, ink and binding for, alongside these
materials, it is the information that truly makes it a book. It is
information which separates a volume of theEncyclopedia Britannicafrom
a "book" formed by randomly arranged letters like ABICLDIXXGGSDLL.
Both have paper, ink and binding, but one has information while the
other does not. The source of information is the author of that book,
a mind with consciousness. Therefore we can't deny that the
information in DNA was placed there by an intelligent being.
The Information Dead End of Evolutionary Theory and Materialism
The discovery of this fact has sent materialist philosophy and
Darwinism, its application to the natural sciences, into a dead end,
because materialist philosophy claims that all living things are
formed by matter alone and that genetic information appeared somehow
by "chance." This is like saying that a book could be formed from a
random assemblage of paper and ink.
Materialism subscribes to the theory of "reductionism," which claims
that information can ultimately be reduced to matter. For this reason,
materialists say that there's no need to look for any source of
information besides matter. But this assertion has been proven to be
in error, and even materialists have started to owe up to this truth.
One of the leading defenders of the theory of evolution, George C.
Williams, pointed in a 1995 essay to the mistake of materialism
(reductionism), that is, assuming everything to consist of materials:
Evolutionary biologists have failed to realize that they work with two
more or less incommensurable domains: that of information and that of
matter… These two domains will never be brought together in any kind
of the sense usually implied by the term "reductionism." …The gene is
a package of information, not an object... In biology, when you're
talking about things like genes and genotypes and gene pools, you're
talking about information, not physical objective reality... This
dearth of shared descriptors makes matter and information two separate
domains of existence, which have to be discussed separately, in their
own terms. 1
Stephen C. Meyer, a philosopher of science from the Cambridge
University and who is critical of the theory of evolution as well as
materialism, says in an interview:
One thing I do in classes to get this idea across the students is that
I hold up two computer disks. One is loaded with software, the other
one is blank. And I ask, "What is the difference in mass between these
two computer disks as a result of the difference in the information
content that they possess"? And of course the answer is zero, none,
there is no difference as a result of the information. That is because
information is a massless quantity. Information is not a material
entity.
Then how can any materialistic explanation explain its origin? How can
any material cause explain its origin?... This creates a fundamental
challenge to the materialistic evolutionary scenarios.
In the 19th century, we thought that there were two fundamental
entities of science: Matter and energy. At the beginning of the 21st
century,we now recognize that there is a third fundamental entity, and
it is information. It is not reducible to matter; it is not reducible
to energy. 2
All theories put forward in the twentieth century to reduce
information to matter-like the random origin of life,
self-organization of matter, the biological theory of evolution that
has tried to explain species' genetic information through the
mechanism of mutation and natural selection-have failed. Professor
Phillip Johnson, a leading critic of Darwinism, wrote:
The real duality at every level of biology is the duality of matter
and information. The philosophers of mind-science fail to understand
the true nature of information because they assume that it is produced
by a material (i.e. Darwinian) process and hence is not something
fundamentally different from matter. But this is merely a prejudice
that would be swept away by unbiased thinking. 3
As Johnson states, "information is not matter, although it is
imprinted on matter. It comes from elsewhere, from an
intelligence...." Dr. Werner Gitt, a director and professor at the
German Federal Institute of Physics and Technology, expressed much the
same thought:
A coding system always entails a nonmaterial intellectual process. A
physical matter cannot produce an information code. All experiences
show that every piece of creative information represents some mental
effort and can be traced to a personal idea-giver who exercised his
own free will, and who is endowed with an intelligent mind....There is
no known law of nature, no known process and no known sequence of
events which can cause information to originate by itself in matter...
4
As we discussed above, a book is formed by paper, ink and the
information it includes. The source of this information is the mind of
the author.
And there is one more important point: This mind comes prior to the
material elements and it decides how to use them. A book first appears
in the mind of the person who will write that book. The author makes
logical connections and comes up with sentences. Later, in the second
stage, he gives these ideas a material form. By using a typewriter or
computer, he turns the information contained within his mind into
letters.
Later these letters go to a printing house and they make up a book.
So here, we can reach the following conclusion: "If matter includes
information, then that material has been pre-organized by a mind
possessing that information. First there was a mind, and then the
owner of that mind turned that information into matter and thus
created a design."
The Mind That Existed Before Matter
Therefore, the source of the information in nature cannot be the
matter itself, as the materialists claim. The source of information is
not matter, but rather a supra-material Mind. This Mind existed before
matter. The Mind created, shaped and organized the whole material
universe.
Biology isn't the only branch of science leading us to this
conclusion. Twentieth century astronomy and physics also demonstrated
the existence of an astonishing harmony and design, pointing to the
existence of a Mind that existed before the universe and created it.
Israeli scientist Gerald Schroeder who studied physics and biology in
universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and
the author of the bookThe Science of God, makes some important remarks
on this subject. In his new book entitledThe Hidden Face of God:
Science Reveals the Ultimate Truth, he explains the conclusion reached
by molecular biology and quantum physics as follows:
A single consciousness, a universal wisdom, pervades the universe. The
discoveries of science, those that search the quantum nature of
subatomic matter, have moved us to the brink of a startling
realization:all existence is the expression of this wisdom. In the
laboratories we experience it as information that first physically
articulated as energy and then condensed into the form of matter.
Every particle, every being, from atom to human, appears to represent
a level of information, of wisdom. 5
According to Schroeder, the scientific results of our age lead science
and theology to meet at a common truth. This is the truth of Creation.
Science is now re-discovering this truth that divine religions have
actually taught to humanity for millennia.
The Lawh-i Mahfuz (The Preserved Tablet)
So far, we have looked at science's conclusions about the universe and
the origin of living things. The conclusion is that the entire
universe and life itself were created using a blueprint of magnificent
information that existed before.
This conclusion reached by modern science is strikingly in agreement
with a secret that was laid out in the Qur'an some 14 centuries ago.
In the Qur'an, a book sent to people as a guide, God announced that
the Lawh-i Mahfuz (the Preserved Tablet) existed before the creation
of the universe and that it furthermore explained all creation and
events in the universe.
The Lawh-i Mahfuz was "guarded" (mahfuz) so the things written there
were not changed or spoiled. In the Qur'an, this is called "Ommu
al-Kitabi" (The Mother of the Book), "Kitabun Hafeethun"
(All-Preserving Book), "Kitabin Maknoonin" (Well-Protected Book) or
just the book. It is also called Kitabin min Qabli (The Book of
Decrees) since it also tells of the events that humanity will face.
In many verses, God tells about the characteristics of the Lawh-i
Mahfuz. First of all, there is nothing missing from this book:
The keys of the Unseen are in His possession. No one knows them but
Him. He knows everything in the land and sea. No leaf falls without
His knowing it.There is no seed in the darkness of the earth, and
nothing moist or dry which is not in a Clear Book.(Qur'an, 6: 59)
One verse says that all life in the world is recorded in the Lawh-i Mahfuz:
There is no creature crawling on the earth or flying creature, flying
on its wings, who are not communities just like yourselves —We have
not omitted anything from the Book— then they will be gathered to
their Lord.(Qur'an, 6: 38)
In another verse, it is stated that "on earth and in the heavens," in
the entire universe, all creatures and things, including the smallest
speck, are known by God and recorded in the Lawh-i Mahfuz:
You do not engage in any matter or recite any of the Qur'an or do any
action without Our witnessing you while you are occupied with it.Not
even the smallest speck eludes your Lord, either on earth or in
heaven. Nor is there anything smaller than that, or larger, which is
not in a Clear Book.(Qur'an, 10: 61)
All information concerning humanity is in the Lawh-i Mahfuz, and this
includes the genetic code of all people and their destinies:
Nonetheless they are amazed that a warner should have come to them
from among themselves and those who disbelieve say, "What an
extraordinary thing! When we are dead and turned to dust? That would
be a most unlikely return!"We know exactly how the earth eats them
away. We possess an all-preserving Book.(Qur'an, 50: 2-4)
The following verse states that God's words in the Lawh-i Mahfuz are
endless, and this is explained through an example:
If all the trees on earth were pens and all the sea, with seven more
seas besides, was ink God's words still would not run dry. God is
Almighty, All-Wise.(Qur'an, 31: 27)
Conclusion
The facts that we explored in this article prove yet again that the
findings of modern science confirm what religion teaches to people.
The materialist dogmatism that has been imposed on science is in fact
rejected by science itself.
The conclusions of modern science about information serve to
objectively demonstrate who is right in a dispute that has been raging
for thousands of years. This dispute has been waged between
materialist thought and religion. Materialist thought claims that
matter is without beginning and that nothing existed before matter.
Religion, on the other hand, states that God existed before matter,
and that matter is created and ruled by God's endless knowledge.
The fact that this truth, which has been taught by divine religions -
like Judaism, Christianity and Islam - since the dawn of history, has
been proved by the findings of science, is an indication of the
impending post-atheist age. Humanity is getting closer to realizing
that God truly exists and He is the "All-Knowing." Just as reminded to
people in the following verse of the Holy Qur'an:
Do you not know that God knows everything in heaven and earth? That is
in a Book. That is easy for God.(Qur'an, 22: 70)
___________________________________________
( 1) George C. Williams. The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific
Revolution. (ed. John Brockman). New York, Simon & Schuster, 1995, pp.
42-43
( 2)Stephen Meyer, "Why Can't Biological Information Originate Through
a Materialistic Process", Unlocking the Mystery of Life, DVD, Produced
by Illustra Media, 2002
( 3) Phillip Johnson, The Wedge of Truth: Splitting the Foundations of
Naturalism , Intervarsity Press, Illinois, 2000, p. 123
( 4) Werner Gitt. In the Beginning Was Information. CLV, Bielefeld,
Germany, pp. 107, 141
( 5) Gerald Schroeder, The Hidden Face of God, Touchstone, New York, 2001, p. xi