Prophets and Lightbulbs By Sadiq Abdulsalam Adeiza

                 Prophets and Lightbulbs

By Sadiq Abdulsalam Adeiza

When I was little, I wanted to be a prophet when I grew up, not the prophet Lagbajas running around these days but the real deal, the Moses, the Joseph, the David kind of prophet. I wanted to perform miracles, receive revelations, command great armies etc. Mind you, I was a little boy with a head full of bible stories from school.
That dream was short lived however as I soon learnt from my religious faith that the ship had sailed and the final messenger of God (SAW) had come and gone.
So disgruntled, like every other kid, I  turned my ambitions to less lofty heights like becoming the president of the country or the next Jay-Jay Okocha.

For me, science was love at first sight; the discovery, the creativity, the logic, the reasoning, the ingenuity, they all blended to form mosaic colors of wonderfulness and endless possibilities in my mind.
Every time I think of science, I think of a lightbulb. Illumination.
So as someone enchanted by faith and fascinated with science, I have always found the antagonism between scientists and people of faith rather puzzling.
Science and faith are like two quarrelsome peas in a pod, endlessly arguing, but fundamentally making the same point.
The first time I focused a microscope on a slide containing a fungal smear and viewed it, I was amazed.
The first time I listened to the Lub dub beat of the heart with a sthetoscope, I was amazed.
Each time I said "Subhanallah!" Glory be to God.

It is naïve and simplistic to say "Oh, All religions are the same" or "We all worship the same God" There are religions that practice the worship of animals, stones, trees or even Beyonce, well, to each their own. Even among the mainstream religions, which are the main opposition and often subject to denigration by some science enthusiasts, the concept of God differs vastly.
However, there is a common conception that there is a supreme being, God, who is the creator of all things.
Yes, many scientists that are religious but there is always a lingering suspicion in some quarters that if you go too 'deep' in science you tend to have atheistic tendencies. Wrong. The deeper you delve into science, if anything, the more devout you should become in your faith in God.
A rational mind should not study the complex intricacies of the worlds of atoms, neurons, microbes, genetic codons, astronomy etc. and observe how they function so smoothly and arrive at the conclusion that they all happened by some improbable chance.
Why then is it so easy to say "Mother nature" and difficult to say God?

As a scientist I often wonder, what's the point of science? Immediate answer will be to understand how everything in the world works. But doesn't that serve to illumine a path to the creator of the worlds?
A honest person of faith cannot be averse to science either. Now, i know science puts a lot of confronting arguments to faith like "Show me God" or "How can you believe in what you can't see?"
I can't speak for every faith but i know that mine teaches us to answer such, using information we are provided with in the holy scripture, and if it is something we have no knowledge of, we say "Allahu A'lam" "God knows best"
Contrary to popular belief among some; faith does not claim to provide answers to all questions but rather proposes belief in an Omniscient God who knows all things and who in his perfect wisdom and design created Man with limited knowledge. 

To conclude, as a student of both, I opine that science is an evidence for faith, and faith provides science with purpose, so rather than bicker like an old married couple, I think it is time both started to acknowledge their unique symbiosis.


Sadiq is a published Fiction writer and Poet