A Critical Analysis of the Self-Sufficiency of the Laws of Nature in the Emergence of Order: Based on the Traditions of Imam al-Ṣādiq (PBUH) and Scientific Findings

Document Type : Research Article

Authors
Seyed Mehran Mousavi 1
Mahdi Izadi 2
1 PhD in Quran and Hadith Sciences, Imam Sadiq University, Tehran, Iran.
2 Professor, Department of Quran and Hadith Sciences, Imam Sadiq University, Tehran, Iran.
10.30497/qhs.2026.248136.4131
Abstract
Contemporary atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Stephen Hawking, who have played a significant role in promoting atheistic thought, primarily rely on the self-sufficiency of the laws of physics and natural selection to explain the emergence of life, complex systems, and organized structures. From the perspective of reductive naturalism, the laws of nature are regarded as sufficient to account for the origin of complexity, order, and harmony, thereby denying the necessity of any external cause or agent. Employing a descriptive-analytical method, this study critically examines the assumption of the self-sufficiency of nature in the emergence of order and complex structures by drawing upon evidence derived from the traditions of Imam al-Ṣādiq (pbuh) as well as contemporary scientific findings. The study argues that neither is God a substitute for nature, nor are the laws of nature a substitute for God. Rather, the laws of nature function as secondary causes and instruments through which the Creator brings His will into effect. Furthermore, it emphasizes that empirical science is concerned solely with describing and explaining how natural phenomena occur, whereas questions concerning their ultimate cause and purpose lie beyond the scope of the experimental method and require rational and philosophical inquiry. The impossibility of the spontaneous emergence of pervasive order, the inadequacy of natural selection as a purposive mechanism in the absence of an intelligent agent, the stability and normative character of the laws of nature, the existence of precise recurrent patterns, and the occurrence of anomalies that transcend ordinary natural processes are identified as major considerations challenging the claim that the laws of nature are self-sufficient in accounting for the order of the universe.
Keywords
self-sufficiency of the laws of nature
argument from design
existence of God
natural selection
Stephen Hawking
Richard Dawkins.
Subjects
The holy Qurʾān.
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