Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas
Question: Assalam aleykum
‘When a grain of sand moves it creates a chain reaction throughout the creation’ Could you throw some light on this with reference?
Answer: assalamu alaykum
This seems to be a reference to the Butterfly Effect in Chaos Theory. Johann Fichte expressed something similar to the statement you mention in his work “The Vocation of Man” when he said, “”you could not remove a single grain of sand from its place without thereby… changing something throughout all parts of the immeasurable whole.”
There is nothing specific in our religious texts addressing the details of such a theory. In general, what we know is that (a) all things subsist through God’s will and power, (b) there is no flaw or incongruity in God’s creation but harmony and perfection, and (c) the universe is governed by certain physical laws that God has laid down. The purpose of mentioning these points in the Quran is to act as a sign and reminder for creation allowing them to reflect on and discover the Creator.
As for a particular mathematical or physical theories, these largely fall outside the orbit of what is addressed by religious texts. This does not mean that such theories are necessarily false or lack value in terms of better understanding the universe around us, God’s creative act, and His providential ordering of the universe but only that divinely revealed texts do not delve into articulating such theories in detail.
Thus, any theory whose philosophical implications do not contradict fundamental beliefs we hold regarding God and His relationship to creation can be potentially accepted depending on the strength of their underlying evidence and plausibility. Chaos and non-linear dynamics remains an area of intense discussion and the philosophical questions they raise are relatively understudied. These theories will continue to be debated, modified, accepted, or rejected.
[Ustadh] Salman Younas
Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadh Salman Younas graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. After studying the Islamic sciences online and with local scholars in New York, Ustadh Salman moved to Amman where he spent five years studying Islamic law, legal methodology, belief, hadith methodology, logic, Arabic, and tafsir. He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Oxford and continues his traditional studies with scholars in the United Kingdom.