Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | The Sunday Guardian | September 18, 2016, p. 12
Modern technology has produced a mechanical ‘man’ – the robot – which performs the prodigious feats of walking, talking and working. But, at the end of it all, it functions in a purely mechanical way, just like any other man-made machine.
On one occasion, a robot was being tested at a London office. The secretary decided to give it a trial run. She was testing the battery, when, the robot sprang to life and began to stalk along behind her. In the process, a new typewriter was knocked over and damaged. Finally, with great difficulty the robot was brought under control.
In the world of today, those who do not believe in God say that the universe is nothing but a vast machine, and that it moves like a robot, in a mindless, mechanical fashion. But for millions and millions of years the perfect and harmonious movement of the universe has contradicted such a supposition.
Had the universe been a mere robot-like mechanism, there would certainly have been many unaccountable clashes – like the one in the London office.
According to the Quran, “The sun, too, follows its determined course laid down for it by the Almighty, the All Knowing. We have ordained phases for the moon until finally it becomes like an old date-stalk. The sun cannot overtake the moon, nor can the night outpace the day: each floats in [its own] orbit.” (36:38-40)