Article appeared Friday, December 16th, 2011 in The News Today, Bangladesh

The Revelation (207)

yousuf mahbubul Islam, PhD

How often are the expressions, I was lucky or Wish me luck! used? Have we ever considered what the use of such expressions implies about our beliefs? Searching the Internet one finds a variety of opinions. For example, the website {1} discusses the popularity of such expressions, however, at the end asks, But, is it (luck) for real? The existence of luck and of the ability to influence luck, both for good or ill is one of the prolific and diverse beliefs in all of humanity. More popular than a belief in a personal God, more widespread than a belief in humanistic potential, and more prevalent than any kind of belief in natural or earth based spirits, the belief in Luck crosses lines of religion, class, race, culture, upbringing, and geographic distance. {1} So the question is: do Bad Luck and/or Good Luck represent gods in parallel to our Creator? Or, if luck is just an opportunity, does random chance create the opportunity? If we are created, by crediting our created opportunities to Luck, are we being derogatory or unjust to our Creator and thus proving our disbelief? To help us understand that opportunities are not accidents Warren (2002, p.22-23) writes: You are not an accident. Your birth was no mistake or mishap, and your life is no fluke of nature. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in the mind of God. He thought of you first. It is not fate, nor chance, nor luck, nor coincidence that you are breathing at this very moment. You are alive because God wanted to create youGod prescribed every single detail of your body. He deliberately chose your race, the color of your skin, your hair, and every other feature. He custom-made your body just the way He wanted it. He determined the natural talents you would possess and the uniqueness of your personalityBecause God made you for a reason, He also decided when you would be born and how long you would live. He planned the days of your life in advance...God left no detail to chance. He planned it all for his purposeNothing in your life is arbitrary. It's all for a purpose. {2} Warren derives his wisdom from an in-depth study of the Bible. As an example, he quotes: You saw me (in your mind) before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. [Psalm 139:16, NLT] {3} Before documenting, a design would need to be mentally pictured or conceived. Similarly, our Creator conceived each of us before creating us. In addition, He documented the opportunities and tests that we would be given each day during our designated stay on earth. The plan included how we would be created in the womb, which womb, time and place. What opportunities each of us would be given, good or bad, what fortune or misfortune each of us would be given, have all been pre-planned. The fact that nothing is random is confirmed by the Quran, the most recent Revelation after the Bible. No misfortune can happen on earth or in your souls but is recorded in a decree before We bring it into existence: that is truly easy for Allah (our Creator): [57.22] Two questions arise why did our Creator make the effort to fashion us as beautiful and complete human beings? He give us opportunities, tests and varying degrees of fortunes?

For the first, consider a similar question, how much love does an artist put into making an imagined portrait? Equally, each human being is the result of our Creators unbounded Love. He gave us free-will to decide whether we wish to reciprocate and trust His Love in return. For the second, consider the question, can free-will operate without options to choose from? For example, it is justice to adore Him in return? We may prefer to love and worship the things given by Him for our enjoyment. Our Creators answer as to why He created us should not come as a surprise: O you people! Adore your Guardian-Lord who created you and those who came before you that you may have the chance to learn righteousness. [2.21] Sadly, our Creator informs us that we prefer to credit imaginary objects such as Lady Luck:

4.117 Instead, they invoke only lifeless symbols thus invoking none but a rebellious Satan,
When we credit any thing other than the Creator, we are in effect following Satans advice: O mankind! Do your duty to your Lord and fear (the coming of) a Day when no father can avail aught for his son nor a son avail aught for his father. Verily the promise of Allah is true: let not then the present life deceive you nor let the Chief Deceiver deceive you about Allah. [31.33]

4.118 whom God has rejected, for he had said: Of Your servants I shall indeed take my due share, 4.119 and shall certainly lead them astray, and fill them with vain desires; and I shall command them and they will slit the ears of cattle (in idolatrous sacrifice); and I shall command them and they will corrupt Gods creation. But all who take Satan rather than God for their master do incur a manifest loss. 4.120 He (Satan) holds out promises, and fills them with vain desires, but whatever Satan promises is meant only to deceive them. 4.121 Such as these shall have Hell as their dwelling place. They shall find no way to escape from it. 4.122 Yet those who believe and do righteous deeds We shall bring into gardens through which running waters flow, wherein they will abide beyond the count of time. This is, in truth, Gods promise. Whose word could be truer than Gods? 4.123 It may not accord with your wishful thinking, nor with the wishful thinking of the people of earlier revelations. He who does evil shall be requited for it, and shall find none to protect him from God, and none to bring him support. 4.124 But anyone, be it man or woman, who does good deeds and is a believer, shall enter paradise and shall not suffer the least injustice.
----{Notes}: {1} http://souvikm16.hubpages.com/hub/What-is-Luck {2} Warren, R. (2002). Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth am I Here For? Zondervan, Michigan {3} http://bible.cc/psalms/139-16.htm