Estimated
Reading Time: 4
minutes
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Epigraph
“We
record that which they send before and their footprints; and all things We have
kept in a clear register.”
—
Qur’an 36:12
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Introduction
Richard
Dawkins, in The God Delusion, makes a passing yet striking observation about
the internet: once information is uploaded, it is exceedingly difficult to
erase it permanently. Even when original sources are deleted, search engines
retain cached versions, storing data that lingers beyond its apparent removal.
This notion of persistent digital memory offers a fascinating point of
reflection when read against Qur’anic descriptions of divine preservation and
human accountability.
Dawkins on
Cached Memory:
“It is
hard, however, to delete something permanently from the World Wide Web. Search
engines achieve their speed partly by keeping caches of information, and these
inevitably persist for a while even after the originals have been deleted.”
Here
Dawkins highlights the tenacity of data, an almost inescapable digital trace
that survives beyond deliberate human erasure.
Qur’anic
Parallel
The Qur’an
asserts a similar inevitability, but on a far deeper and metaphysical level.
Regarding resurrection and the reassembly of human beings, it declares:
“Does
man think that We will not assemble his bones? Yes indeed, We are able to
proportion even his very fingertips.” (Qur’an 75:3–4)
This verse
reminds humankind that nothing of their existence is lost to time. Even the
unique pattern of fingerprints, a modern marker of identity, is preserved by
the Divine.
Reflection:
From Digital Persistence to Divine Memory
The
persistence of cached data in our digital age provides a tangible metaphor for
the Qur’anic worldview. Just as information online is never truly erased, the
Qur’an teaches that no act, word, or trace of human life is lost. God’s record
is far more precise and enduring than any technological memory, extending to
the smallest anatomical detail.
What
Dawkins describes as an accident of technology — data stubbornly surviving
deletion — becomes in the Qur’an a deliberate act of divine omniscience: the
guarantee that all existence will be reassembled and accounted for.
Conclusion
The
resonance between Dawkins’ scientific observation and the Qur’anic proclamation
illustrates how modern realities echo age-old revelations. In both cases, the
message is clear: nothing truly vanishes. The human tendency to forget or to
hide is countered by a cosmic reality in which everything is preserved —
whether in a server’s cache or in the divine register.
Aamir
Yazdani
MPhil
Islamic Thought & Civilization Pakistan
MSc
Irrigation Engineering UK
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