Is there nothing beyond matter, as Marx says?

No. It is true that matter is constantly developing, but it does not follow that there is no Creator. Whoever accepts nothing but matter has ruled out the second possibility, a conscious Maker, before even looking.

No one disputes the observation itself. Matter changes, it develops, and simple things become complex. There is no need to argue about that. The real question is what follows from it.

Whoever sees development has two possibilities before him. Either matter is developing entirely by itself, or a conscious Maker outside matter stands behind this development. Think of a stone rolling down a slope. After a certain point it seems to roll on its own, with no hand pushing it. And yet someone may well have thrown it. Someone who only watches the rolling stone cannot simply strike out that possibility.

This is exactly what happens with the claim that there is nothing but matter. It does not prove that there is no God. It assumes it. First one decides that there is no Creator, and then of course one sees no need for Him either. The first verse above says of this attitude that it rests not on knowledge but on conjecture.

To an unbiased observer, development points rather the other way. The more order and fine detail one discovers in nature, the more naturally one thinks of a Designer. This is true of human beings too. We think, we feel, and we ask about the meaning of our lives. The Holy Qur’an says that the soul comes into being by God’s command, and reminds us how little we know about it.

Matter is therefore not the end of the question but its beginning. An honest mind keeps both possibilities open and examines them. That is exactly the examination Islam invites us to make.