الحمد لله نحمده ونستعينة ونستغفره، ونعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا، ومن سيئات أعمالنا ، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له ، وأشهد أن سيدنا محمداً عبده ورسوله ، اللهم صلِّ وسلم وبارك على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وأصحابه  ومن تبعه إلى يوم الدين

My focus in this talk will be, Insha’Allah, on providing rational proofs of God’s existence to ensure that this fundamental article of belief is engrained in the mind and thus help those Muslims who are shown by some surveys as becoming atheists.

Some published surveys suggest that atheism is appearing among Muslims, particularly, the youth and such a phenomenon is occurring even in Muslim Countries.   According to a 2012 poll by WIN/Gallup International, 5 percent of the citizens of Saudi Arabia described themselves as “convinced atheist”—the same percentage as in the United States.  In addition, 19 percent self-identified as “non-religious.”   But these statistics are not totally accurate because it classifies anyone who is born to Muslim parents as a Muslim. But are those people really know what the fundamentals of Islam are to be classified as true Muslims.   

As similitude to this situation, it is the tradition that people, particularly in Muslim countries, call any student who enters an engineering school an engineer while he has not graduated yet.  If a student leaves the school without graduation and becomes factory worker, is it proper to say some engineers became factory workers. Similarly, a person is called Muslim just because he/she is born to a Muslim family.  If such persons are not vested in the fundamental article of Islam and leave Islam, is it proper to say some Muslims are deserting Islam?

Let us start by defining what Islam is and when a person should be counted as true Muslim.  Islam is a religion that demands belief based on knowledge and convection and not on cultural norm.   After all, the first word that was revealed in Islam was (ٱقۡرَأۡ) “Read” which is the mean to acquire knowledge and, the Quran, has a whole chapter that is entitled “The Pen” (Surat no. 68). which is the mean by which knowledge is recorded and transferred.

The Religion of Islam is based on three pillars: Aqedah (العقيدة) (faith, belief), Shari’ah (divine rules) and Fiqh (human interpretation of the divine rules). The Aqedah is s the most important pillar and it involves six elements of beliefs: belief in Allah, his angels, his books, his messengers, the last day (the Day of Judgement), and the decree good and bad (الإيمان بالله وملائكته وكتبه ورسله واليوم الآخر والقدر خيره وشرّه).

The key element in Aqedah is the belief in Allah as the sovereign creator of the Universe. Therefore, no person can be considered a Muslim if this element is not already part of his/her Aqedah.  A person who has any doubt about the existance and absolute authority of Allah cannot be counted as a true Muslim.  

The term Aqedah is derivative of the word Aqd (عقد) (contract) and the word Uqdah (عقدة) (knot) that cannot be untied. The Aqedah is related to the belief in unseen matters that cannot be defined by human senses because they are not materialistic.  Materialistic matters that can be defined by our senses are not Aqedah (belief).  When you sit on chair working on a computer, you don’t say I believe that I am sitting on a chair or say I believe I have computer in front of me.  You say I believe when you address issues that could not be verified by the five senses. Since belief in Allah is an unseen matter, it cannot be proven by human senses but only by intellectual analysis of the the effects of this belief.

A certain belief becomes Aqedah when the belief has been discussed, logically examined by the mind, its truthfulness has engrained in the mind, doubts have been totally cleared, and the belief has strongly settled in the heart. 

If the person still has doubts about any unseen element, this element cannot be considered Aqedah, but it is an idea of unseen matter that is still being evaluated.  Only after the person seriously evaluates this unseen matter and develops firm belief in it with no doubt ever, it become Aqedah.

Islamic scholars consider that any matter of Aqedah must satisfy three conditions:

1. Certainty of recognition (إدراك جازم) that one’s heart and mind are fixed upon without any wavering or doubt. 
2. Consistency with realities (مطابقة للواقع) that it makes rational sense.
3. Based on relevant proofs (الناشئ عن دليل)

Scholars consider any person whose belief is not based on proof is not a believer. Even the uneducated layman must at least to rationalize that Allah exists because everything that exist need a maker and He is the maker of the universe and have also to recognize that the maker of the universe is needed by every creation to survive but He is in need of none.   

Why the belief of some born Muslim does not rise to the level of Aqedah because the focus in teaching Muslim children starts with the list of do and don’t. These are elements of Shariah and Fiqh.   We do this before the child has developed the understanding of the basic element of Aqedah which is the belief in God.  Thus, the child grows up with only vague idea that God exists.  Such a weak idea can be shaken by doubt and confusion because the idea was never transformed to solid belief.  Frankly, how a child can understand the meaning of prayers if he does not know to whom he is praying. 

The basic element of Aqedah for any true Muslim is unshaken belief that God (Allah) is the sovereign creator of the universe.  In this talk, I plan to Inshallah, provide several rational proofs to prove God’s existence that can be used as basis for transforming  the concept of God’s existence from an idea  to a belief Aqedah. 

In a previous talk, I presented six logical arguments that God exists. These included discussions on the cosmological, the design, the reversable dynamic universe, the morality, the upper limit, and the spiritual experience arguments.  But in that presentation, I was referencing verses from the Quran to justify these arguments.  However, this will not work for those who do not accept the Quran as the reference.  Therefore, in this talk, I’ll present logical proofs that do not reference religious text. 

1. The Claimant Proof

Legally, a claimant means a person who is entitled to something that belongs to him. Other than God through His messengers and prophets, no one in the history of mankind has ever claimed that he created the universe   Would anyone who make something of such a great value never claim it for himself?  Every Prophet who came to guide people, attributed the creation to God.    Until someone makes such claim, only God should be considered as the creator of the universe.

 Since man came to earth, only God claimed that He is the creator and the controller all that exist in the universe.  So, anyone who wants to deny that God is the creator, better come with someone else who can make this claim.

2. The Language Proof

There are many spoken languages in the world and the words in each language are used to define an agreed upon concept (idea/object).  As example, you will find in all languages a word that is understood by the speakers of such a language to mean sun.  Sun is English word, Shams in Arabic Suraj in Urdu and Taiyo in Japanese.   While the words are different, the concept is the same.

If you ask the linguistics what comes first the word or the concept, they tell you the concept comes first, and the word came next to allow for common understanding of such a concept.

Every culture and language have a word for an entity of some unseen being who is bigger and more powerful than themselves whom they worshipped.  Since the word cannot exist unless its meaning exists first, the concept of God existed in all cultures throughout the history, even though people use different names for it.

This suggests that God made Himself known to the soul of everyone.  The roles of the prophets were mainly to reinforce people’s belief in God and correct any misunderstanding about his essence and attributes. Those who deny God’s existence are merely rejecting something that they intrinsically know of his existence.

3. The Unique Name Proof

This proof may be driven from a religious text, but it comes as a challenge to anyone who claims that Allah is not the creator of the universe.  Allah says in the Quran:

رَّبُّ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَمَا بَيۡنَہُمَا فَٱعۡبُدۡهُ وَٱصۡطَبِرۡ لِعِبَـٰدَتِهِۦ‌ۚ هَلۡ تَعۡلَمُ لَهُ ۥ سَمِيًّ۬ا (٦٥)

“The Lord of the Heavens and the earth and all that is in between.  So, worship Him and remain steadfast on His worship, have you known anyone worthy of His name?” (Maryam 19:65)

 Since man first roamed the earth, no human being was ever named Allah.  So, anyone who does not believe that Allah is the name of the sovereign creator of the universe, let him name himself or his child or anyone else Allah and let us see what will happen to him. If there is no Allah, he should have no fear.  But if he is afraid of the retribution of Allah, the creator of the universe, this means that such a person believes in Allah but is arguing against his own belief because of arrogance in his heart.

By the way, God’s name Allah is not only known to Muslims, but all Christians and Jews who read the Arabic Bible Know that God’s name is Allah. The following picture is of the first page from the Arabic Old Testament, and you can see the circled word is (الله) Allah. The name Abdullah (عبد الله) that means “The Slave of Allah” is used by Christians and even by pages before the advent of Islam.  All know that God’s proper name is Allah”

4. The Philosophers’ Proof

Philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence.  The two main branches of philosophy are the physical and the metaphysical.  The physical branch involves study of the matters. The metaphysical branch studies the beyond the matter.  In other words, philosophers have always been convinced of the existence of something beyond the matter. 

The physical branch in philosophy continued to prosper and expand because of the value it created.  But the metaphysical branch is diminishing because it stepped in areas that fall beyond the human imagination. 

The confusion regarding God occurs when people try to describe God using materialist images that their senses can recognize.  But God is beyond what the senses can perceive because anything that our senses can perceive will be limited in nature and God is limitless. 

While the idea of not able to create an image for God is confusing to some people, surprisingly, the same people have no problem with being unable to put image for their own soul/spirt. 

We can only rationalize God’s existence, but we will never be able to develop a true image for Him and thus we will never agree on one.  If we cannot ever agree on visual image of the soul that is inside us, how can we transgress to create a visual image for the One who created and controls our souls and the universe! 

5. The Legal System Proof

Every society have developed a system and established rules to ensure the safety of its members.  They have defined what acts are lawful and what acts are criminal and deserve punishment.   If the people in authority are perfect, they should be able to identify any person who commits a crime to enforce justice.  But no authority in the world is that perfect, particularly, if the crime is committed by those people in authority or by someone who can hide from the authority.    Therefore, absolute justice will never exist, and people will always be seeking an authority that no criminal can hide from, and such authority will be more powerful than any authority on earth. Such authority is God.

So, anyone who denies the existence of such authority must respond to the question, should those who commit crimes go unpunished since we never have perfect system to punish all.

6. The Progressive Superiority Proof

We don’t have any doubt about our existence, and we also have no doubt about the existence of the universe.   We consider ourselves the master of the universe and the most superior because we receive benefits from everything else.  The second level of superiority is the animals, and they are inferior to us in intelligence. Then comes the third level of superiority which is the plants, and they are inferior to animals regarding emotion and motion.  Then comes the fourth level in superiority which is solids, and they are inferior to the plants regarding growth.

Note that the lower level in superiority serves the higher levels of superiority.   Solids directly serve plants by providing them with water and the minerals, and they also serve animals and man.    Plants service animals and man.  The animals serve man.   So, man is the master of these three entities because they are at his service, and he takes benefits from all of them.

Since we recognize that everything below us has a function to perform because of its existence, we should also have a function.  If our life has any meaning, the concept of progressive superiority demands that we exist to serve an entity that has higher superiority than us.  Since we have not created the entities that serves us, we must look for who created them and placed them in our service.    While we may claim that these things serve us because we control them, there are others such as the sun, the moon, the wind, the rain and the air, etc that serve us, and we have no control over them.  No one can make something beneficial to others unless it belongs to him.

So, an atheist needs to answer, to whom these things belong to make them available for you to benefit from them.   There must be an entity that has higher superiority than us and this higher superiority is God.  The role of the prophets is to inform us about the nature of service that God expects form us.  

It is reported that someone asked a wise man:  have you known the prophet by God or have known God by the prophet.  The wise man said: If I have known God by the prophet, the prophet would have been more trustworthy to me than God. And If I have known the prophet by God, I would not have needed the prophet.  I have known God by my God and the prophet came to tell me what God wants from me.  

7. The Hope Proof

At some point in a person’s life, he/she will a face situation that is beyond one’s ability and comprehension.   This may be that he was informed that his child was involved in a car accident, and he has been transported to the hospital.  In the way to the hospital, this person will be looking for a superior force that gives him hope that his child will be fine.   This superior force that we look for at the time of desperate need is God. 

How miserable a person will be if he does not have such hope, this will be the life of the atheist.  Believers in God should feel sympathy towards those hopeless atheists.  Allah says to the believers:

وَلَا تَاْيۡـَٔسُواْ مِن رَّوۡحِ ٱللَّهِ‌ۖ إِنَّهُ ۥ لَا يَاْيۡـَٔسُ مِن رَّوۡحِ ٱللَّهِ إِلَّا ٱلۡقَوۡمُ ٱلۡكَـٰفِرُونَ (٨٧)

“Never give up hope of Allah’s Mercy. Certainly no one despairs of Allah’s Mercy, except the disbelievers.” Yusuf 12:87)

8. The Fairness Resolution Proof

Since the beginning of time when communities started forming, people have been facing four conflicts:

1. Social conflict between men and women: men favor men and women favor women.
2. Economic conflict between capital and labor: capital wants labor to work more and be paid less and labor wants to be paid more and work less.
3. Political conflict between government and people: government wants more control and people to pay more taxes, people want freedom and pay less taxes.
4. Internal conflict between body and soul: body wants physical pleasures; soul wants self-restraint.

Whom should we seek guidance from to fairly solve these conflicts without the judge being a beneficiary of the solution?  The entity to give fair answer cannot be man or woman, cannot be business owner or labor, cannot be government or citizen and cannot be body or soul.  The atheist needs to answer, if it is not God, who?

We pray to Allah to strength of faith, increase our knowledge and make us benefit form He has taught us.

DUA