Quran’s View on Materialism
Materialism was not created in the contemporary era by modern philosophy as it can be traced to philosophical doctrines of antiquity, however, it has undoubtedly found an important position today.
Materialists who believe in the sole existence of matter also believe that all aspects of existence can only be understood through science. So they consider it meaningless to talk about anything beyond this world. Meanwhile, religious ontology divides the world into the realms of seen and unseen. Religious thought takes a different path than the material one when it deals with the unseen as a materialist cannot believe in the unseen world.
This ontology can be witnessed in verse 24 of Surah Al-Jathiya which reads: “They have said, ‘The only life is this worldly life and here we shall live and die. It is only time which will destroy us’ They have no knowledge about this. It is only their guesswork.”
God Almighty denies the materialistic view in this verse and highlights that those who believe so lack knowledge. According to the Quran, these people are just “guessing” which is opposed to the concept of “knowledge”. Therefore, the Quran rejects the belief that life is just for this materialistic world.
“It is He Who has created the heavens and the earth for a genuine purpose. When He commands the Day of Judgment to take place, it will come into existence. His Word is the Truth. The kingdom will be His alone on the day when the trumpet will be sounded. He has all knowledge of the unseen as well as the seen. He is All-wise and All-aware.” (Surah Al-An'am, Verse 74) This verse notes that God is well aware of the “seen and unseen”; one can consider this verse as one of the foundations of Quranic vs. materialistic ontology.
According to verse 169 of Surah Al-Imran, death in this world does not equal complete elimination; “Do not think of those slain for the cause of God as dead. They are alive with their Lord and receive sustenance from Him.” The verse notes that those who have been martyred on the path of God are not dead and this denies the materialistic view which says that death is the end of life.
