The sixth argument, like the fifth, is also based on an assumed injustice attributed to the laws of nature. The atheists say that there are many things in the world that do not serve any useful purpose and are obviously harmful. For instance, there are countless harmful animals and poisonous shrubs and creepers and deadly minerals that are only harmful and have no benefits at all. That, according to them, proves that there is no God. Otherwise, such things would not exist. It demonstrates their ignorance. In fact, there is nothing in this world that is useless and does not serve any purpose. It is due only to a lack of knowledge that man does not understand the purpose of certain things, is ignorant of their benefits, and forms his opinion after seeing some of their harmful effects. It is rare for those who are well-versed with the reality of things to raise such objections. The laymen fall victim to such doubts only because they have little knowledge about the reality of things, and they do not look beyond the superficial forms and functions of things, and are not accustomed to deep and profound study. Those with more extensive study, who are used to getting to the bottom of realities, fully understand that everything has some benefit in it and the more a thing is studied, the more obvious its purpose and benefits becomes. If such people do not find any benefit in something until an appointed time, they do not regard it as useless. Rather, they continue to believe that a deeper study in the future will unearth some benefits in it. They have learnt from repeated experiences that many benefits are discovered in apparently useless and harmful things after deep study and research. The fact is that everything in this world has some benefit in it. As man advances in the study of the reality of things, his belief that nothing in this world is useless becomes stronger and more certain.
Critics do not realise that in the past, when knowledge about the reality of things was limited and people were far less inclined towards science, more things appeared useless and harmful as compared to today. The study of the reality of things and scientific research has discovered benefits in many of those things and explained their harmful effects, too. It can even be proved that this harmfulness is indirectly beneficial for mankind. That should make one think that many of the things appearing useless and harmful today will appear full of hidden benefits tomorrow and, still later, the knowledge and insight about them will expand further. The knowledge will go on increasing as a result of new sciences and research and ignorance will go on decreasing. It is written in the Holy Quran and ahadith that in the latter days the hidden treasures of the heaven and the earth will be disclosed and new sciences will flourish. Thus, it would be the height of ignorance to deny the benefits of countless things and, on account of some of their harmful effects, or on the basis of the current state of knowledge, believe them to be harmful. As explained above, even these harmful effects are based on the subtle wisdom of nature and mankind and other creatures indirectly benefit from them in many ways.
But for the fear of prolonging this book, I could have listed many animals, plants, and minerals which were considered useless and harmful in the past but are today serving mankind. Even snakes, scorpions, organisms causing fatal diseases, and poisons of various types, etc., are not excluded from service to mankind. No new day dawns when the saying of the Holy Quran that God has not created anything in the heaven and the earth in vain1 is not vindicated.
1 Surah Sad, 38:28.