There is the possibility that man may not decide to pursue...

There is the possibility that man may not decide to pursue such a line of inquiry, due to his own laziness, apathy or prospect of religion bringing undesired restrictions. In this case man should prepare himself to face the consequences of his actions, which may result in eternal chastisement.

The condition of such individuals, who are indifferent to religion, has been likened to being more severe than that of an immature sick child, who for the fear of bitter tasting medicine avoids approaching a doctor. The child due to his young age is unable to calculate such loss or gain, but an individual who is aware and has the intellectual capacity to determine and foresee the outcome, cannot exchange such worldly and temporal pleasures for eternal punishment.

The Qur’an has regarded such heedless individuals who barter eternal loss for the worldly and timely pleasures as animals or even worse. “They are like cattle; rather they are more astray. It is they who are the heedless”.(al-A’rāf:179) In another instance, the Qur’an has mentioned: “Indeed the worst of beasts in Allah’s sight are the deaf and the dumb who do not apply reason”. (al-Anfāl:22) b.

Resolution of a doubt It is possible that certain individuals may view inquiring into religion as unbeneficial, as it would not provide them with the desired or sufficient results. They therefore prefer to utilise their time and energy pursuing issues, which will produce for them a fruitful outcome. In order to resolve this doubt it must be argued that the resolutions of religious issues are in no way inferior to other sciences.

We are also aware that resolving a scientific issue can be a lengthy and drawn out process, therefore investigating religion cannot be forsaken on the basis that it will utilise too much time and energy. Furthermore probability is not a rationale; the revenue from this probability must also be taken into consideration. For instance: in business ‘A’ there is a 5% chance of being successful and in business B a 10% chance. However the revenue provided in A will be $1000 and in B will be $100.

Hence business A is five times more preferable than business B because of the prospective profit. We would conclude therefore that the possibility of the outcome of inquiring into religion is of infinite benefit, even if the result of arriving at certainty is weak.