Introduction - Can God Not Exist?
This subject is one that many may find challenging to answer. This is because we cannot see or measure God. This article is one that is made not to prove God's existence but to affirm it. As Imam Hussain (AS) said:
(Oh Allah) How could an argument be given about Your existence by a being whose total and complete existence is in need of You? When did You ever disappear so that you might need an evidence and logic to lead (the people) towards You? *1a
Since the earliest times of human history, man had attained faith in God, worshipped Him alone in sincerity and manifested a deep relationship with Him. Faith in God was not born out of fear and the feeling of awe in the face of natural catastrophes and nature's unpredictable behavior. For, had faith been born of fear, or had it been the result of awe, then the most religious among men throughout history would have been the ones most given to fear and dread. On the contrary, those who have carried the torch of faith across the ages have been people of great strength, of character and will. This faith, rather, expresses a fundamental inclination (the Fitrah) in man (people) to know and be devoted to his Creator. *1b"The Revealer, the Messenger, the Message", by Muhammed Baqir Al-Sadr
This article uses many ways of affirming Gods' existence, by proof, by philosophical reasoning and by pure logic. Some arguments being strong, others weak, others undoubtable.
Seeing Is Believing?
To prove to someone that God exists may seem quite difficult in some respects because we cannot see God. They may claim that seeing is believing, but how wrong this statement is! The air that we breathe, that our life depends on- we cannot see it but we feel it, and we know it exists but have never seen it. Energy, in the form of electricity for example; We cannot see it but we know its there due to its effects.
Also, if we take the people before us as examples we will see that they saw Prophets' miracles with their own eyes but denied both the Prophets' message and the miracles they showed them. They called the Prophets magicians and liars.
So to see is not to believe. Allah states in the Holy Koran:
أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَتَكُونَ لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ يَعْقِلُونَ
بِهَا أَوْ آذَانٌ يَسْمَعُونَ بِهَا فَإِنَّهَا لَا تَعْمَى الْأَبْصَارُ
وَلَكِن تَعْمَى الْقُلُوبُ الَّتِي فِي الصُّدُورِ
"...For surely it is not the eyes that are blind, but blind are the hearts which are in the chests." [22:46]
The verse above shows that even when the people saw with their own eyes the truth of the Prophets, they refused to believe in them.
The rightful statement is "Believing is Seeing". Imam Ali (AS) says:
Were the veil to be lifted, my certainty would not increase *2
Imam Ali (AS) states that even if the veil (the imaginary cover that means God is invisible) was removed and he could see Allah in front of him (so to say) with his own eyes, he would not increase in certainty that God exists because he already fully believes in God without needing to see him. This shows that to believe in Allah Almighty is as if you can truly see him.
The Universe And our existence... a sign?
Electricity is something that we cannot see, but we believe in it through seeing its effect. One way of proving Gods' existence is by looking at the world around us and looking at our own existence as a sign of Gods' existence.We see God as the One who is the Creator or the cause of creation. In the Holy Koran, Allah states:
فِي الْأَرْضِ آيَاتٌ لِّلْمُوقِنِينَ
وَفِي أَنفُسِكُمْ أَفَلَا تُبْصِرُونَ
In the earth there are sign for men of conviction and in yourselves; will you not then see? [51:20-21]
The earth is, as everyone would agree, something that either could have come into existence or could not have come into existence. Something that could either have come or not come into existence is called contingent. For example, YOU may have come into existence or you may-not have, and this was dependant on whether your parents met and... etc. This means YOU are a contingent thing, a contingent being.
The earth did not have to exist and neither did you because you are not necessary.
That which can not be (that which is contingent), at one time was not. And that which can-not be, cannot be or cannot come into existence except by that which is already in existence. So anything which 'can-not be' (is contingent) cannot possibly come into existence except by that which is already there and is necessary, (always has been and always will be) that has brought us, or the universe into existence.
If everything were contingent, then there would be nothing in existence, because something that has a possibility of not being in existence cannot come into existence except by something that is in existence. And nothing which is able to not exist can come into existence except by that which has always been and always will be. This thing that is the cause of everything contingent is God.
To understand the above I will explain it in bullet points.
- You are a human being.
- You cannot come into existence except by someone who is already in existence (your mother). You could not have come into existence if your parents didn't meet up, and your parents couldn't have come into existence if their parents didn't meet up and so on.
- You are something that either could have or could not have come into
existence (something that can-be or cannot-be) - This means that at one time you did not exist.
- Nothing could have come into existence, if there wasn't at the beginning something to cause it to exist.
- This something has always been there, this something is necessary for the existence of everything.
- This something doesn't need something to bring it into existence. This being is necessary, and is the One able to bring the universe and us into existence, as we see it today.
- This something is Almighty God.
The above logical argument is one that proves the big bang theory as not being the reason for our creation,
because the big bang is contingent (caused by something). So if the big bang theory is true, then it is also true that it is God who made and caused the big bang. Another theory against the idea of the big bang came from the Muslim scholars in an argument called the kalam argument. In brief it states that people believe the universe could have either come by natural causes or by God, but the fact is the universe could not have come by natural causes because the laws of nature (such as gravity etc.) did not exist before the universe existed (as testified by science). So the only explanation left is God!
An argument by the famous philosopher Aquinas is quite similar but he uses the idea of cause and effect. Every cause has an effect. We are thus an effect of a cause. But the question is what is it that caused us? And what is it that caused that thing that caused us to be caused? So we end up of having a chain of never ending "What caused this cause?" questions. There has to have been a first cause, because without a first cause there will be no other effects and causes, and thus nothing would exist. So there has to be an uncaused cause to start the chain of causes. This uncaused cause is what we know as God. Some people may ask "Couldn't this uncaused cause be the big bang?". The answer is no. This is because the big bang was caused by another cause, and God alone is that cause.
The Design Argument
The famous philosopher Paley puts forward another argument, which is The design argument. I'm sure that all who are reading this have studied (to some degree) a little biological science. Perhaps during that study you saw design in living organisms of that which you may have found remarkable and complex and which you may have thought could not come by chance from something random like the big bang.
Not even the most intelligent people of our time can make or build anything like a human being. Even if they were to write a book about how we are configured, how our body works and everything about a single human being and not mention variation, the book would easily fill the size of an average-size living room or more! There are also things in the human body so remarkable that it is even hard to believe, i.e. Fact: DNA in one human can stretch up to a thousand times the distance between the earth and the sun.
Paley suggests that if we found a watch in the middle of a field we would not think it had come into existence from no-where! We would suggest that someone designed it because of how its several parts are put together for a purpose (like our heart is placed for a purpose) and is adjusted precisely to produce the right motions. We find in our eyes a sign of clever adjustment and how the different parts are shaped and placed, to create the right action which is such that it works better than any camera ever built. For every creation there is a designer/creator and we see within ourselves design so there must be someone or something that has designed us. This designer is no other than God. In nature we see instances of design so there must be a designer of nature. Also we see design in how the universe is so orderly and not just randomly arranged, and is so complicated that it cannot come by accident. This shows that there needed to be a creator of all this - a designer. This designer must be God.
بَدِيعُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَإِذَا قَضَى أَمْراً فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ
كُن فَيَكُونُ
(He is the) Wonderful Originator of the heavens and the earth, and when He decrees an affair, He only says to it, "Be," so there it is! [2:117]
Evolution Theory
Muslims are not united on the theory of evolution. There is evidence for both arguments but there is almost complete agreement that man was created as man and did not evolve.
Ali Al-Musawi is entitled to his views. --Webmaster Shadow Caster
The theory of evolution states that we are not created but have evolved from monkeys and lower life forms from which we have developed through random mutations in our DNA. If we take this to be a fact, then is there still not the question of "Who created the first life form?". So, the evolution theory doesn't explain-away the concept of there being a God at all. Since Darwin suggests that we came into existence by a natural process through nature; if we compare nature to a machine that makes other machines we can see, like all machines, there needed to be an intelligent designer who created the first machine able to make other machines.
There are things within us that are beyond the evolution theory which Darwin suggests. These things are
contrary to his theory because they make us less likely to survive. These things are moral inclinations. Things like bringing others before ourselves, or helping another person and saving another persons' life even when we know that we may die in the process, and feelings like guilt and shame which are an inner voice which determine our behavior. If someone was drowning we would feel obliged to help them. Where has this moral inclination come from? Knowing that the cause of these emotions does not belong to the physical world, we must assume it to be supernatural and divine since it cannot be explained scientifically - it is beyond science.
Evolution gets rid of characteristics that have no survival benefit, but yet we still have these within us. Such as having unique finger prints, which have no survival benefit. Also, if humans evolved from lower creatures then why did we loose some very important and beneficial features? Examples include the ability to store oxygen for long periods like some sea mammals can to stop us drowning and to improve our chances of getting food, or to re-grow limbs and damaged nerves after they have been severed like in most lizards. There are many more such examples in nature. Another thing is uninterested-love which is helping others, whether we know them or not, and putting ourselves in danger and life-threatening circumstances for other peoples' sake which has no survival benefit for the individual sacrificing himself - in fact there could be a great chance that they could both die! Also it is our human intelligence that allows us to mould our environment and not just be shaped by it so there is no excuse to evolve to suit the survival-of-the-fittest argument.
Evolution theory is based on natural selection but there has not been a single shred of evidence put forward to show that natural selection causes living things to evolve. Collin Patterson, a prominent expert evolution researcher in this field stresses that natural selection has never been observed to have the ability to cause things to evolve: No one has ever produced a species by the mechanisms of natural selection.
Evil And Natural Disasters?
Some people ask: If there is a God then why is there evil or natural disasters in the world and
why is the world not perfect while God is perfect? Some may say these natural disasters are punishments from God like in the case of Sodom (Thamood in Arabic) and Gomorrah (Aa'd in Arabic). Both these tribes were punished by volcanic eruptions for practicing the sin of homosexuality. But natural disasters can be explained scientifically. For instance Tornados occur to maintain a balance in atmospheric pressure. Volcanic eruptions occur due to changing pressures in the planet's core and it creates new land. Poisonus Ozone (O3) is there to maintain ozone layers to protect us from dangerous cosmic rays. So these natural disasters may be caused by God in order to maintain the natural equilibrium of the environment that we destroy through our activities, e.g. forest fires. What you must understand is that when a man dies he will not be forgotten, he will be raised up on the day of judgment. Allah tells us:
قُلِ اللَّهُ يُحْيِيكُمْ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمْ ثُمَّ يَجْمَعُكُمْ إِلَى يَوْمِ
الْقِيَامَةِ لَا رَيبَ فِيهِ وَلَكِنَّ أَكَثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ فَيُدْخِلُهُمْ رَبُّهُمْ فِي
رَحْمَتِهِ ذَلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْمُبِينُ
وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَفَلَمْ تَكُنْ آيَاتِي تُتْلَى عَلَيْكُمْ
فَاسْتَكْبَرْتُمْ وَكُنتُمْ قَوْمًا مُّجْرِمِينَ
[45.26] Say: Allah gives you life, then He makes you die, then will He gather you to the day of resurrection wherein is no doubt, but most people do not know.
[45.30] Then as to those who believed and did good, their Lord will make them enter into His mercy; that is the manifest achievement.
[45.31] As to those who disbelieved: What! were not My communications recited to you? But you were proud and you were a guilty people.
Muslims must be ready for death at all times and death is governed by Allah's will in some cases, and in others it is by chance that we are killed but Allah knows all and has power over all things and if He wills it, you will not die. Nowadays, a catastrophe of a natural disaster could well be something to do with punishing the evil doers but they could be innocent as many children die. Since God is fair, he will deal justly with us after we die. Here is a hadith that shows us Allah's fairness:
"A'isha reported: I heard Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: There is nothing (in the form of trouble) that comes to a believer even if it is the pricking of a thorn that there is decreed for him by Allah good or his sins are obliterated."
(Sahih Muslim)
Children (before fiqh-defined balagha) are sinless when they die and will not be punished and will enter into paradise. God makes us forget the pain and torment on earth and our consciences are cleared when we enter heaven.
Now, if God is perfect then why is there evil in the world? It is because God gave us free will. There is evil and there are disasters in this world, but this world is nothing other than a test. If God were to force people in this world to carry out all the laws in the manner He wishes us (to live peacefully), then this life, this test, would not be a fair test and there would be no point to it. God leaves man to decide for himself if he will choose good or evil. This means that when an evil person decides to harm a good person then God will NOT (usually) intervene because He has to give the evil person a chance to decide whether he is going to commit this sin or not. When that person does commit sin, he will be punished in this world and on judgment day, and the person who was harmed will have a portion of his sins obliterated on judgment day.
So, since we have free-will to be good or bad, what evil happens to us (as a punishment) is from our own selves since we have the free will of doing right or wrong. And those who have it worse in this life will have it better off in the afterlife, as God is just and fair.
قَدْ خَسِرَ الَّذِينَ كَذَّبُواْ بِلِقَاء اللّهِ حَتَّى إِذَا جَاءتْهُمُ
السَّاعَةُ بَغْتَةً قَالُواْ يَا حَسْرَتَنَا عَلَى مَا فَرَّطْنَا فِيهَا وَهُمْ
يَحْمِلُونَ أَوْزَارَهُمْ عَلَى ظُهُورِهِمْ أَلاَ سَاء مَا يَزِرُونَ
وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلاَّ لَعِبٌ وَلَهْوٌ وَلَلدَّارُ الآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ
لِّلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ أَفَلاَ تَعْقِلُونَ
[6.31] Lost indeed are they who treat it as a falsehood that they must meet Allah,- until on a sudden the hour is on them, and they say: "Ah! woe unto us that we took no thought of it"; for they bear their burdens on their backs, and evil indeed are the burdens that they bear?
[6.32] What is the life of this world but play and amusement? But best is the home in the hereafter, for those who are righteous. Will ye not then understand?
Probability!
In the end we see that success lies in believing. If we use probability we can see that a non-believer has 50% chance of going to hell or a 50% chance of going to nothingness. A person who believes in God has a 50% chance of going to heaven or a 50% chance of nothing. This shows that either way, believing is the better option for the success in both this life and the afterlife.
But it does not mean we should pray to Allah for his heaven for fear of his hell. Imam Ali (AS) states:
A group of people worshipped Allah out of desire for reward; this is the worship of traders. Another group worshipped out of fear, this is the worship of slaves. Yet another group worshipped Allah out of gratefulness. This is the worship of free men.*3
Ayatullah Baqir Al-Sadr says:
A student for this world can get neither this world nor the next. Therefore it is incumbent upon us, as students, to confine our efforts to seeking the next world for this world has no value to us.
Religious Experience
Some people claim to have experiences of God or in some way have something revealed to them from God, be it in their dreams or other. It is further argued that experience of God is a reason for believing in Him even
for people who lack belief. Because these signs are unexplainable, they give us a sense that this life is not the whole of reality, and there is something well beyond the ordinary world experiences and logic. There are plenty of stories, and in fact too much to write down here. An example has been given in the story of Narjis
Khatoon.
Some people may ask - well why do these things happen to some and not to others? These revelations are given to those who have a sort of closeness or special relationship to Allah or have an important part to play in his will, and thus Allah can give these people abilities and revelations. Plus Allah gives these revelations to people as a sign for others to believe.
لَقَدْ أَنزَلْنَا آيَاتٍ مُّبَيِّنَاتٍ وَاللَّهُ يَهْدِي مَن يَشَاء إِلَى
صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ
Certainly We have revealed clear communications, and Allah guides whom He pleases to the right way. [24.46]
Ultimate Proof
My final proof and one which I take to heart is that of a miracle - the holy Koran. God sent out Prophets for mankind that they may believe and He sent them with miracles to prove His existence. So my ultimate proof of Allah's existence is that miracle passed down from Prophet Muhammed (SAW) which is with us today. A miracle which challenges all.
قُل لَّئِنِ اجْتَمَعَتِ الإِنسُ وَالْجِنُّ عَلَى أَن يَأْتُواْ بِمِثْلِ هَـذَا
الْقُرْآنِ لاَ يَأْتُونَ بِمِثْلِهِ وَلَوْ كَانَ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْضٍ ظَهِيرًا
Say: If men and jinn should combine together to bring the like of this Koran, they could not bring the like of it, though some of them were helpers of others. [17.88]
The Koran is the miracle of God. There are many qualities that make the Koran a Miracle. The Koran is
incomparable for its comprehensiveness. It brings to man the ultimate knowledge and guidance for all of human life, spiritual, physical, individual, etc. The Koran came at a time and at a place which offered no facilities for acquiring the kind of education, which is necessary for composing such a book. It came to the holy Prophet (SAW), who could not even read and write, and who had not tried to learn even the arts of poetry and rhetoric of which the Arabs of that time were proud.
When the Koran challenged the disbelievers to produce even a few verses comparable to the Koran, a few came forward to accept the challenge and those who did accept failed. As a matter of fact, some of the most
knowledgeable Arabs admitted that the Holy Koran was unmatched. Some even accepted Islam just through listening to its recital!
The Holy Koran is an unparalleled Arabic masterpiece which has given much scientific knowledge of which was only discovered by scientists in this century. Things such as the expansion of the universe and other
amazing things. This is the only religious Book with no contradictions, no fallacies and has many miracles within itself. If we assumed that 80% of this Holy Book has been proved to be correct and 20% has not yet been proven e.g. life after death. It is only logical for us to believe in the other 20% which is beyond our ability to prove.
Also, Prophet Muhammed (SAW) (as with other Prophets) is a proof himself of God's existance. By just studying about the life of this beautiful personality you will no-doubt fall in love with his wonderful character, his charisma, his pure honesty and devotion to his Creator. How can anyone say that this man lies about God when he was known by everyone as 'al-sadiq al-ameen' - the truthful and trustworthy that even his enemies that rejected his message said 'we cannot call you a liar, but we reject your message upon us'. You must also read the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) article to see whome the final message from God came through, because to understand the message (the Koran) you must first understand the messenger of that very message!
You must know that there is a reason for everything. Science deals with facts of the world and religion deals with interpretation of these facts to serve a spiritual purpose. I ask all of you "why are we here, in existence?". Science tries to answer. But fails. The Koran says that the reason for our creation is that we might know God, our Lord, and serve him. In one verse He says:
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
And I have not created the jinn and the men except that they should serve Me. [51.56]
And the question to those who believe is:
وَمَا لِي لاَ أَعْبُدُ الَّذِي فَطَرَنِي وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ
Why indeed should I not worship Him who brought me into being, Him to whom you will be
returned? [36:22]
As for those who still deny God and the truth of creation despite all the evidence before their eyes, their minds have been conquered by their own pride. One of God's holy verses describes how helpless and powerless these individuals really are:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ ضُرِبَ مَثَلٌ فَاسْتَمِعُوا لَهُ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ
مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ لَن يَخْلُقُوا ذُبَابًا وَلَوِ اجْتَمَعُوا لَهُ وَإِن
يَسْلُبْهُمُ الذُّبَابُ شَيْئًا لَّا يَسْتَنقِذُوهُ مِنْهُ ضَعُفَ الطَّالِبُ
وَالْمَطْلُوبُ
Mankind! An example has been made, so listen to it carefully. Those whom you call upon besides Allah are not even able to create a single fly, even if they were to join together to do it. And if a fly steals something from them, they cannot get it back. How feeble are both the seeker and the sought! [22:73]
Sources
*1a = Dua Arafat
*1b = "The Revealer, the Messenger, the Message", by Muhammed Baqir Al-Sadr
*2 = From Ghurar Al Hikam wa Durar al-Kalim
*3 = Nahjul Balagha (saying 232)
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