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The Challenge of Atheism and Its Solution in the Light of Islamic Teachings |
Al-ʿILM
Al-ʿILM

Article Info
Authors

Volume

2

Issue

1

Year

2018

ARI Id

1682060040263_293

Pages

17-30

PDF URL

http://www.alilmjournal-gcwus.com/index.php/al-ilm/article/download/74/63

Chapter URL

http://www.alilmjournal-gcwus.com/index.php/al-ilm/article/view/74

Subjects

Skepticism Atheism Cosmology Teleology Intuition

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Introduction

Different minds have different understanding of truth and reality but one must have an unshakable belief in whatever he perceives or conceives as reality. Our cosmos is an awesome place to catch our thoughts and if we reflect upon the wonders of our universe: its stars, time and space, the faultless working of the planets, and the complexity of cosmic systems, it is impossible not to be inspired.

 

This is valid for everyone regardless of his context and social background. Pondering on the nature of the universe rarely fails to provoke curiosity in the minds of human beings to know reality. This reflection compels human mind to think about two broad questions:

* How did our universe arrive and where did it originate from?

Does our universe have a purpose and reason?

Seeking the answers of these two basic questions have been the most important quest of the philosophers and theologians of all times. Twentieth century is unique in bringing a new paradigm of life known as “modernity” which is defined as "dissolving the traditional understanding of the universe that previously had enabled human beings to explain all their relevant experience".[1]

 

No doubt modernity has brought scientific advancement and material wellbeing to human life but at the same it has brought serious ideological crises including the denial of the existence of any Supreme Authority as God. Atheism is the brain child of modernity.

 

Atheism and its agenda

‘Atheism’ (or non-theism) is the belief that gods do not exist, or a complete rejection of ‘Theism’ or any belief in a personal god or gods. Modern atheistic thought finds its roots in many philosophies, such as Humanism, Positivism, Existentialism, Marxism, Naturalism, and Structuralism. Atheism has now become a socio-political movement largely promoted by a few but popular radical contemporary atheist writers such as:

 

1. Richard Dawkins (1941) his work includes: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), The God Delusion (2006),

 

2. Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011),

 

3. Sam Harris (1967), and

 

4. Daniel Dennett (1942).

 

Agnostic development affirms on the futility of religious explanations and forcefully advocates the view that: "religion must not just be endured but rather ought to be countered, scrutinized and uncovered by judicious contention wherever its impact emerges". [2]

 

How to combat atheism

The best way to combat atheism is to strengthen the faith of people and sharpen their critical approach to deal with the modern ideological challenges. For this purpose we need to understand the ways of strengthening faith and developing arguments for the existence of God. There are five major arguments to prove the existence of God:

# Cosmological argument (The First Cause)

  1. Teleological argument (The Intellectual Design)
  1. Intuitive argument (Gut feelings)
  1. Moral Law argument (Divinity within)
  1. Spiritual Experience argument (Experiencing God)

 

 

 

Faith in God is an intuitive and innate trait of human self and logical or empirical evidences simply are not necessary to validate it. However logical arguments and empirical evidences do help strengthening this faith. It is therefore important to adopt scientific approach, rational investigation, notice gut feelings, and introspect on spiritual experience to develop and strengthen faith in Allah.

 

Allah has blessed human beings with different tools and faculties to acquire knowledge of ‘Truth’. These sources of knowledge include: senses, intellect, intuition, insight, inspiration, and revelation. We are required to employ all of our faculties to observe, explore, think, reflect, and introspect to perceive and conceive truth. We can employ our senses to observe empirical signs of reality; we can use our intellect inductively and deductively for rational investigation to understand reality; we can notice our gut feelings, intuition and insights to find God within; and we can also reflect upon personal spiritual experience when God reveals and upon the revelation on Prophets.

 

The above mentioned list of five arguments can be classified as external arguments (cosmological and teleological) and internal arguments (moral law, intuition and spiritual experience). Allah says in the Qur’an that there are the signs of truth both in the external natural world as well as in the internal world of human self.

 

سَنُرِيهِمْ آيَاتِنَا فِي الْآفَاقِ وَفِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ حَتَّى يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ[3]

 

“We will show them Our Signs in the universe and in their own selves, until it becomes manifest to them that this is the truth.”

 

Here we discuss in detail the five arguments for the existence of God.

 

(1) The cosmological argument: Our cosmological universe is an awe-inspiring place. Most of us unfortunately take its existence for granted and do not reflect upon its remarkable size and complexity. The universe consists of galaxies; each galaxy is thousands of light years across; and there are estimated to be a hundred billion galaxies with a billion trillion stars. When we consider these facts, as well as the nature of life, it is hard not to be impressed, indeed almost overwhelmed, by the enormity, majesty and mystery of the universe. Pondering upon the nature of universe provokes wonder, awe and curiosity to seek truth.

 

Cosmological argument for the existence of God is inferred and deduced from facts concerning motion, contingency, change or causation. It is argued that the universe cannot have an infinite past, and so must have a beginning, a first event. This inference can be supported on both philosophical and scientific grounds. Traditionally this argument is called as an argument from the first cause subsequently deemed to be God.

 

The articulation "cosmological" begins from the Greek word 'kosmos' which connotes 'world.' Cosmological world couldn't exist without any other person so there most likely been a first reason that brought it into being. This first reason is God. Or then again put another way, the universe couldn't just exist exclusively—someone or something almost certainly made it. This first explanation behind the universe is God which Aristotle called "the unaffected mover". It is the contention of the making of the cosmological world. Who made God is definitely not a legitimate inquiry in light of the fact that powerful the truth is endless which can't be made.

 

The Quran tends to this inquiry with a cosmological talk, an update that it was God who made everything and made it be. Since the universe is one goliath arrangement of circumstances and end results, it is sensible to presume that it had a unique reason that gotten everything under way. Allah stated:

 

"Is it safe to say that they were made out of nothing? Is it true that they were the makers? Did they make the sky and the earth? No! They don't have faith”. [4]

 

These sections place three potential outcomes: 1) the universe showed up with no operator to bring it into reality; 2) universe made itself; or by suggestion 3) the universe has been made by a maker.

 

The initial two suggestions are inconceivable. It is not the case that the cosmological world came into being out of nothing without purpose and good reason. Regular concentration makes it clear that everything which is observed throughout everyday life, each impact we see, must have a clarification at some dimension. The second recommendation, that the universe made itself, can be expelled all over. All things considered, the main sensible end is that our world was created to exist by some Supreme Being who is greater than the universe itself.

 

Were they made without a maker? That is incomprehensible, as they should have a maker. On the off chance that they deny the Creator, at that point they more likely than not made themselves and that recommendation is considerably more stupid and false, for in what manner would something be able to without presence make anything? In case they deny these logics then the burden of proof is upon them to prove that they were really made. [5]

 

Researchers get from these sections and others a consistent line of reasoning, at times alluded to this cosmological contention that discovers that the Creator as the unmoved mover or as the very first reason. It is the best sensible response to this very existential inquiry. We can put the rationale of the contention in the accompanying advances:

 

 

  1. Everything known to mankind which was started should have a

 

 

 

reason to start.

 

2.This world was started to exist.

 

3.Hence the initiation of our world must have been done by

 

someone.

 

4.The just such reason must be an uncaused reason, or God.

 

Debating with the atheists once about the existence of God Imam Abū Ḥanīfah (d. 767) argued that “Let me know before we talk on this issue about a ship on the Tigris waterway moving independent from anyone else and loaded with nourishment, products, and different materials, at that point it returns independent from anyone else, at that point stays itself, at that point empties itself and keeps on doing the majority of this without anybody to oversee it.” The skepticals stated, ‘This would never happen.’ Abū Ḥanīfah stated, “In the event that it is incomprehensible for a ship, at that point how is it feasible for the whole world in the majority of its inconceivability?”[6]

 

Isaac Newton's first law of movement expresses: "Each article continues in its condition of rest or uniform movement in a straight line except if it is constrained to change that state by powers urged it." at the end of the day, things known to man don't move or change their developments except if an outside power follows up on them. This is valid for everything known to mankind, and it is similarly as valid for the universe itself all in all.

 

All that we run over has a reason for existing. What was the reason for the universe in any case? Science currently guarantees that around fifteen million years ago, there was no space and time. At that point an enormous detonation occurred. It was an unequivocally decided occasion. From that point (big bang) the universe started to develop into an efficient life form and has from that point forward been following sure unmistakable standards. Big bang blast separated off nothingness into issue and against issue, with definitely computed starting conditions.[7]

 

A modern Muslim should be comfortable with the fundamental arguments of the most recent logical hypotheses particularly as they may have an orientation on religious inquiries. The present principle hypothesis concerning the starting point of the universe, acknowledged by far most of researchers today, is the Big Bang hypothesis. The hypothesis is all around affirmed that the universe had a start. It demonstrates that there was a first occasion, and in this manner that time has a limited past.[8]

 

There are different types of cosmological contention. AL-Farabi (870-950) gives three unique reasons to demonstrate the presence of God. The three reasons are from movement, from productive reason and from possibility. Every one of these contentions has at least one premises taken from the way that the universe exists. Hence, the evidences might be respected aposteriori i.e. non-apriori. The contentions don't prompt their decisions by simply examining the ideas of movement, cause and possibility: they attest in the premises the perceptible realities of movement, cause and possibility in the universe. All together clarify these noticeable wonders God is conjured as a definitive ground or purpose behind essential presupposition.[9]

 

(2) Teleological argument: This is the argument of design, order, complexity and purpose. The whole universe is beautifully organized which shows that it was created purposefully by an intellectual mind.

 

The term “the teleological” is taken from the Greek word telos, signifying “purpose” or “end”. At the point when this argument talks about the universe being it says that the universe is ordered towards some end or goal. Things on the planet advance toward objectives, similarly as the arrow moves toward its goal by the direction of the archer. Along these lines, there must be the Intelligent Designer who guides everything to their objectives, and this is God. It is more conceivable to trust that the universe is so since it was made by the Intelligent Designer keeping in mind the end goal to achieve its purpose than it is to believe that it is like this by chance.

 

Teleological contention declares that the universe confirms excessively multifaceted nature to be the result of irregular possibility. We realize that the divine bodies move with ideal exactness in their circles. Our bodies, as well, are extraordinarily unpredictable. As indicated by the teleological contention, there's simply no chance this multifaceted nature could 'simply occur.' Someone more likely than not made everything and that is God. The Holy Qur'an clarifies:

 

ٱلَّذِي خَلَقَ سَبۡعَ سَمَٰوَٰتٖ طِبَاقٗاۖ مَّا تَرَىٰ فِي خَلۡقِ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ مِن تَفَٰوُتٖۖ فَٱرۡجِعِ ٱلۡبَصَرَ هَلۡ تَرَىٰ مِن فُطُورٖ٣ ثُمَّ ٱرۡجِعِ ٱلۡبَصَرَ كَرَّتَيۡنِ يَنقَلِبۡ إِلَيۡكَ ٱلۡبَصَرُ خَاسِئٗا وَهُوَ حَسِير[10]

 

Who has created the seven heavens one above another, you can see no fault in the creations of the Most Beneficent. Then look again: "Can you see any rifts?" Then look again and yet again, your sight will return to you in a state of humiliation and worn out.”

 

The very texture of the universe, from the plainly visible systems to the minuscule universe of organisms and everything in the middle of, contains a lot of widespread, characteristic laws that deliver arrange. The aftereffect of these laws is that numerous things known to man display recognizable reason. Allah has made everything with a purpose. For instance eyes have been made to see; ears have been created to hear. In our body the lungs have been given the purpose to relax; and trees have been made to deliver fruit and food. With such a great number of clear examples, it is now crystal clear that the whole universe has a purpose to exist.

 

People are solicited to ponder the nature from their reality and the universe. Is it extremely conceivable, reasonable, and instinctive that the universe showed up subjectively for reasons unknown? Allah says:

 

أَوَلَمْ يَتَفَكَّرُوا فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ ۗ مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ وَأَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى ۗ وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنَ النَّاسِ بِلِقَاءِ رَبِّهِمْ لَكَافِرُونَ

 

 

“Have they not contemplated their own selves? God did not make the sky and earth and everything between them without a genuine reason and a delegated time, yet numerous individuals deny that they will meet their Lord”. [11]

 

The Quran tenaciously attracts thoughtfulness regarding the clues in nature which show the great structure and intensity of God. We have been advised to ponder upon and reflect on the endless supply of the ayats (signs) of the existence of a Supreme Being as methods for perceiving the motivation to achieve faith. In the Qur’an Allah stated:

 

 

"There truly are signs in the generation of the sky and earth, and in the move of the night and day, for those with cognizance, who recall God standing, sitting, and resting, who consider the development of the sky and earth: 'Our Lord! You have not made this without reason—You are far over that!— so shield us from the torment of the Fire.”[12]

 

 

True faith isn't the aftereffect of a relinquishment of reason, as a few people envision. The clear division among religion and science is a bogus one. Or maybe, utilizing the staff of reason, working together from within the core of heart is the proper way to Allah. An individual is given nothing superior to a sound personality to accurately gather his confidence from these signs.

 

Imām Al-Shāfi'ī (d. 820) was once inquired as to whether God existed. He stated, "The leaves of a berry thistle all taste the equivalent. In any case, we see that bumble bees eat it and convey nectar while worms eat it and make silk. Deer eat it and convey musk while camels, bovines, goats, and other dairy creatures eat it and pass on family. Nonetheless, these begin from a specific something. [13]

 

In a notable story, a Bedouin—an individual from the traveler clans who were generally ignorant—was once gotten some information about the existence of the Almighty Allah and then he reflected on the existence of God. He said, "Greatness be to Almighty Allah! If the droppings vouch of a camel is the proof for the existence of the camel, and the impressions vouch is the proof of the walker, then why a sky full of stars, and the earth which has fairways, and an ocean that has waves cannot be the proofs for the existence of the Almighty Allah and the Creator of the heaven and the earth?”[14] 

 

The design argument is also an argument from analogy. The analogy is based on a comparison of the universe and its design with human artifacts which we have designed. The analogy is as follows: given that we can see design in many artifacts in the world, and we know that intelligent (human) minds are responsible for this (a car engine, a table, a furnished room), if we then find design in the universe, we can similarly infer that an intelligent mind is behind this design. Like most analogies, this one does not claim to be perfect in every respect. But it is strong, according to supporters of the argument, and enables us to conclude that the cause of the universe is most likely God, the intelligent designer.[15]

 

(3) Moral Law Argument: This argument is worried about the avocation of normal good experience and makes the inquiry: how are target moral qualities best legitimized? The argument isn’t inquiring as to whether one can in reality carry on with an ethical life on the off chance that one doesn’t have faith in God, nor is it asking how God picks the ethical qualities that turn into the premise of the ethical request. The argument is, fairly, in view of the knowledge that it is one thing to hold and practice target moral qualities, however it is another, more troublesome, undertaking to legitimize these qualities. While we may not generally concede to what is dispassionately moral, we have a bedrock conviction that there is a goal arrange, and that a few things are unmistakably right and some plainly off-base.

 

In the conclusion of his famous “Critique of Practical Reason”, Emmanuel Kant puts this by saying that there are two things that fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and reverence: ‘the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me’. The essence of the moral argument is that the religious worldview offers a better, more plausible overall explanatory account of the justification of this objective moral order than the secularist worldview.

 

Aristotle is of the view that making the ethical choice is useful for an end, and the end for a moral activity is bliss. Happiness or bliss as per Aristotle is an action of the spirit as per reason and uprightness. Kant then again, argues that the main thing that is great without capability, that is characteristically great or great itself, for obligation, not want. We make the wisest decision since we should do it, not on the grounds that we like doing it fundamentally, or in light of the fact that it is to our greatest advantage to do it.

 

Although Emmanuel Kant differs with Aristotle in building the argument but he does agree with him that an ethical life should bring happiness in the end. And this point becomes the basis of his moral argument for the existence of God. He argues that in order for the moral order to have rational force for human beings, the practice of virtue and a reward for virtuous living must go hand in hand in some way. Another way to put this is to say that there must be some realm of ultimate justice in the moral order, a realm where a virtuous behavior is rewarded and an immoral behavior is punished. Since in this life virtue and happiness are manifestly not distributed equally; it is obvious that the moral life does not guarantee happiness or justice in our lifetimes, at least not for many people. And there are plenty of ordinary everyday moral situations, where it often seems that it would simply be easier to do the wrong things, and bring less hassle on ourselves. So why should we do the right things? Kant says, “It is morally necessary to assume the existence of God.” Only if there is a realm where virtue and happiness are distributed proportionally…where the moral life is rewarded and brings happiness and justice… can living according to objective moral values be regarded as rational. If we do not come to see that God is the ground of the objective moral order, the moral order will lack justification, and this lack of justification will eventually affect our moral behavior for the worse. [16]

 

We as a whole have inside us the feeling of honorableness and character. There is a feeling of "oughtness" that presses upon us. Individuals, everywhere throughout the world, have this inquisitive thought that they should carry on surely, and can't generally dispose of it. We find in the universe "a genuine law, which none of us made, yet which we discover proceeding us. Without still, small voice ethical quality would be outlandish and without God soul would not work. As indicated by this view, each individual is conceived with a natural comprehension of good and bad. Everybody, for example, comprehends that executing a honest individual isn't right. Everybody comprehends that helping a suffocating individual is correct. Where did this inside comprehension of good and bad originate from? As per followers of the ethical law contention, this understanding originates from God. He puts it into the hearts of every person as it is said in the holy Qur’an:

 

وَنَفْسٍ وَمَا سَوَّاهَا فَاَلہَمَھَا فُجُورَھَا وَتَقوٰھَا[17]

 

"By the Soul, and the proportion and order given to it; And its enlightenment as to its wrong and its right.”

 

(4) Intuitive Argument: People can detect the presence of God by unadulterated sense, instinct, and hunch even with no other wellspring of direction. In Islamic sense, this is on the grounds that Allah made a primordial contract with each individual before He created the world that they would believe in their Lord. This covenant is the innate part of each human being as Allah says in the following verse:

 

“[Prophet], when your Lord took out the posterity from the midsections of the Children of Adam and made them give testimony themselves, He stated, 'Am I not your Lord?' and they answered, 'Indeed, we take the stand.' you can't state on the Day of Resurrection, 'We didn't know about this.”[18]

 

The verse explains that God’s existence is a built-in reality within us yet most of us do not realize it. But as Allah says in the Qur’an that the moral characteristic has been put in the human Nafs, the proof of the existence of God in this way is the part and parcel of human self.

 

All clear and revealed religions insist and conform to the human sense that the Creator granted inside us. The Quran implies human religious nature as fiṭrat Allāh, the instinctual and intrinsic air with which God made people. Allah stated:

 

 

"So [Prophet Muhammad] as a man of unadulterated confidence, stand firm and valid in your commitment to the religion. This is the regular mien God ingrained in humankind—there is no changing God's creation—and this is the correct religion, however a great many people don't understand it.”[19]

 

 

Since all people can detect a higher power, they will instinctually swing to God in phenomenal circumstances particularly now and again of threat. Each individual, sooner or later in his or her life, will have an extraordinary ordeal that makes a characteristic response swing to petition. There are numerous instances of individuals who encounter a sudden brush with death that makes them turn out to be more devoted to their religious custom. Allah said:

 

 

“At whatever point they get onto a ship they approach God, and devote their confidence to only him, yet once He has conveyed them securely back to arrive, perceive how they attribute accomplices to Him!” [20]

 

 

(5) Religious Experience: The argument for the existence of God based on religious experience has received a great deal of attention in recent decades.

 

This argument is different in emphasis from the arguments we have discussed earlier, because it links the rationality of believing in God with the personal religious experience of the individual in a quite direct way.

 

What is a religious experience? Have you ever had a religious experience? How did you know it was a religious experience? Many people sincerely believe that they have had some kind of religious experience, and often these experiences affect their lives in a profound way. There are many accounts in history of religious experiences, such as Moses’ experiences in the Old Testament, or the Prophet Muhammad’s journey of the Night (Miraaj). Although the subjective nature of religious experiences has made such experiences difficult to study from a philosophical point of view, yet they play a large role in the history of religion, and have generated much discussion and analysis.

 

There are two different types of arguments based on religious experiences. The first is called the traditional argument from religious experience. The general structure of this argument involves a simple premise leading to a simple conclusion. The premise is that many people have profound religious experiences; the conclusion is that such experiences are best explained by the existence of God. This traditional argument is well established, and has enjoyed considerable support from religious philosophers. It is based on the intuitive idea that, although some claims of religious experiences are undoubtedly false, or fake, or delusional, or mistaken, not all of them are. There are simply too many cases of credible religious experiences in religious history from very wise, intelligent, and reasonable people (prophets and saints) simply to dismiss them all as mistaken. And so the traditional form of the argument has a certain intuitive plausibility and one is somehow directly aware of God’s presence in the experience.

 

There are two types of beliefs: basic beliefs and inferred beliefs. Basic beliefs are obvious, self-evident, evident to senses, incorrigible or everyday common-sense types of belief. Examples of these beliefs would include beliefs such as ‘I am sitting at my desk now working on my book’ or ‘2+2=4’, and so on. These beliefs are basic because they are not inferred from any other beliefs. The second types of beliefs are inferred on the basis of basic beliefs. There is no doubt in basic beliefs but it is about the inferred belief, whether the inference is justified.

 

To some philosophers and theologians, religious experience is the best evidence of the existence of God. As we acquire knowledge of many things from our experience, the knowledge of God can be acquired through spiritual experience. All the Prophets had such spiritual experience of God and this experience was the source of their conviction and certitude. Man has an innate curiosity, and an intense desire to know about the unseen world-how and why it makes an “appearance” in this world. The contention from Religious Experience holds that the experience of God is as genuine as some other experience rather more grounded. Profound experience has been so convincing and generally detailed, that it gives solid proof to devotee that God exists.

 

The Holy Qur’an though adopts a multi-dimensional and comprehensive approach to prove the existence of God. It applies a variety of arguments from sense perception to spiritual experience to discuss the question of the existence of God but it makes it clear that the best way to know God is to find God in your selves:

 

 

وَإِذَا سَأَلَكَ عِبَادِي عَنِّي فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ فَلْيَسْتَجِيبُوا لِي وَلْيُؤْمِنُوا بِي لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْشُدُونَ[21]

 

“And when My slaves ask you (O Muhammad) concerning Me, then (answer them), I am indeed near. I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me. So let them obey Me and believe in Me, so that they may be led right.”

 

Knowing God is a transition from crafted by God (nature) to the expression of God (disclosure). For some it's an excursion from outside world to inward self. Albeit Islamic confidence in Allah isn't simply and absolutely in light of sense-discernment or philosophical confirmation; yet it is unquestionably upheld by enough observational proof for more profound conviction and consideration.

 

Belief in Allah isn’t tied in with killing the mind and only depending on the feelings. Belief is tied in with looking for, knowing, feeling, and encountering Him with all aspects of human resources. It's anything but a visually impaired faith however a very much educated, levelheaded, and commonsense religious on the uncovered learning, religious experience, profound thought, natural reflection, and sharp perception. The presence of God is plainly undeniable and faith in it is profoundly imbued in the human instinct on one side, it is additionally expressly demonstrated, then again, through an investigation of the nature and physical marvels by utilizing a precise logical enquiry. The Qur'an has offered much thoughtfulness regarding these regions. It has to a great extent restricted itself to giving clues and proposals for the direction of the individuals who comprehend, think and reflect carefully. In our investigation of the universe all in all we watch the indications of the presence of God inside and without.

 

 

وَ لَقَدۡ خَلَقۡنَا الۡاِنۡسَانَ وَ نَعۡلَمُ مَا تُوَسۡوِسُ بِہٖ نَفۡسُہٗ ۚ ۖ وَ نَحۡنُ اَقۡرَبُ اِلَیۡہِ مِنۡ حَبۡلِ الۡوَرِیۡدِ[22]

 

“And We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein.”

 

These signs (آیات) reject any theory derived from “blind nature” or “co-incidence and chance” in creation. It emerges that the universe is a symbol of God. The visible or observable aspect of the Ultimate Reality is experienced by poundering and reflecting upon the natural and physical world; while the Inner Reality can only be reached through the spiritual experience. The Qur’an also applies scientific method to draw our attention to the signs of Allah:

 

أَفَلَمۡ يَنظُرُوٓاْ إِلَى ٱلسَّمَآءِ فَوۡقَهُمۡ كَيۡفَ بَنَيۡنَٰهَا وَزَيَّنَّٰهَا وَمَا لَهَا مِن فُرُوجٖ وَٱلۡأَرۡضَ مَدَدۡنَٰهَا وَأَلۡقَيۡنَا فِيهَا رَوَٰسِيَ وَأَنۢبَتۡنَا فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ زَوۡجِۢ بَهِيجٖ تَبۡصِرَةٗ وَذِكۡرَىٰ لِكُلِّ عَبۡدٖ مُّنِيبٖ وَنَزَّلۡنَا مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءٗ مُّبَٰرَكٗا فَأَنۢبَتۡنَا بِهِۦ جَنَّٰتٖ وَحَبَّ ٱلۡحَصِيد وَٱلنَّخۡلَ بَاسِقَٰتٖ لَّهَا طَلۡع نَّضِيد رِّزۡقٗا لِّلۡعِبَادِۖ وَأَحۡيَيۡنَا بِهِۦ بَلۡدَةٗ مَّيۡتٗاۚ كَذَٰلِكَ ٱلۡخُرُوجُ [23]

 

“Have they not beheld the sky about them, how We have built it and adorned it, leaving no cracks? And how We spread out the earth and set upon it immoveable mountains and how We made to grow therein pairs of every joyous kind for an insight and a reminder to every penitent man; and how We sent down out of heaven blessed water with which to bring forth gardens and harvest rains and tall palm trees laden with dates-cluster, sustenance for people, thereby giving new life to some dead land?—Such will be the resurrection.”

 

Conclusion

Can anyone, who lives on the earth and observes all that takes place on it and also sees the skies whatever they contain, really be skeptical or agnostic about the existence of the Creator of all them? In the light of these few examples, out of many in the Qur’an, we feel that our own existence, life on earth and the glory of heavens are sufficient signs for the wise people to believe in the existence of God. It becomes easier for the wise people to believe that the whole universe is Allah’s all wise plan.

 

In essence, the existence of God is not a matter of opinion but a matter of faith. There should not be any contradiction on the existence of God; however someone may have a different understanding of it. The belief in God is actually grounded in the nature of human self. It is rooted deeply in our souls. The presence of God is too obvious to need further demonstration. It is more obvious than all else; indeed the Effecter is more obvious than the effect and the Creator is more evident than His creation. The Bringer-into-existence is more crystal-clear than the forms which have been brought into existence.

 

Recommendations

* Inculcation of Higher Order Thinking Skills in the learners will enable them to defend their faith.

  • Re-thinking education (curriculum, teaching-learning activities, assignments, and research) is needed especially in the area of religious education.
  • There should an adequate focus on faith development through sharpening intuition, insight, reflection, morality, and spirituality of people.

References

  1. Smith, Gary Scott, The Seeds of Secularization. Calvinism, Culture, and Pluralism in America 1870-1915.( Grand Rapids: Christian University Press.1985) p. 20
  2. http://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_atheism.html
  3. Fussilat 41:53
  4. At-Tur 52:35-36
  5. Ibn Ḥajar. Fatḥ al-Bārī bi-Sharḥ al-Bukhārī. (Bayrūt, Lubnān: Dār al-Ma’rifah, 1959), 8:603.
  6. Ibn Abī al-‘Izz, and Aḥmad al-Ṭaḥāwī. Sharḥ al-‘Aqīdah al-Ṭaḥāwīyah. (Bayrūt: Muʼassasat al-Risālah, 1997), 1:36.
  7. Sultan Bashir Mahmood, The Irrefutable Challenge of The Reality (Islamabad: Dar-ul-Hikmat 2009), p.13
  8. Brendan Sweetman, p. 17 (For a detailed study the Big Bang theory and scientific work on the origin of the universe in general, see Stephen Hawking, A Breifer History of Time)
  9. Intisar-ul-Haque, Philosophy of Religion, (Lahore: Ferozesons (pvt) Ltd. 1991), p. 124
  10. Al-Mulk 67:3-4
  11. Ar-Rum 30:8
  12. Ali-Imran 3:190-191
  13. Ibn Kathīr, Ismāʻīl ibn ʻUmar. Tafsīr al-Qurān al-‘Aẓīm. (Bayrūt: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyah, 1998), 7:406, verse 52:35.
  14. Ibd
  15. Brendan Sweetman, p. 30
  16. Intisar-ul-Haque, Philosophy of Religion, (Lahore: Ferozesons (pvt) Ltd. 1991), p. 130-131
  17. Ash-Shams 91:7-8
  18. Al-A’raf 7:172
  19. Ar-Rum 30:30
  20. Al-Ankabut 29:65
  21. Al-Baqarah 2:186
  22. Qaaf 50:16
  23. Qaaf 50-6-11
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