Wednesday, 31 October 2012

How can Muslims say that God definitely exists?

Assalamualaikum warahmatulahi wabarakatu :)
بِسْــــــــــــــــــمِ اﷲِالرَّحْمَنِ اارَّحِيم

I've decided to do this post due to a big problem in the muslim ummah. Alhumdulillah many of us are born into muslim families, however this sometimes means that we blindly follow. We need a concrete basis in order to practise Islam corectly. This means that our belief in Allah SWT and the word of the Qur'an needs to be solid so that we will follow Allah's word with no doubt. Many people look to what Allah SWT has ordered us to do as burdens and rules placed upon us, however if we truly believe in Allah SWT we will have no doubt or hesitance when following the sunnah and it will be no trouble to us inshaAllah. This post is just to outline why we should believe in one God and the proof that He exists.

As Muslims we refer to the Qur’an for guidance which encourages us to think, reflect and investigate. “Behold! In the creation of the heaven and the earth, and the alteration of night and day, these are indeed signs for men of understanding.” (Qur’an chapter 3, verse 190)

This includes reflecting upon and reasoning whether or not God exists. It encourages us to study and examine anything and everything in the Universe – from the smallest sub-atomic particle to solar systems; from the complexity of an insect to the seemingly unexciting such as the clouds and the rain. This allows us to reason that everything in the universe has a cause.

If this was not true then it would mean that the Universe had no beginning, no start point or no origin; it would be infinite (endless).  The famous mathematician David Hilbert stated that “The infinite is nowhere to be found in reality. It neither exists in nature nor provides a genuine basis for rational thought.” So, infinity is a theoretical (imaginary) idea that we cannot sense in the real world. Those who apply it as a characteristic of things in the Universe have departed from reason and are unreasonable.

We can sense everything but in different ways. However they all share certain qualities: they are limited, finite and dependant on other that themselves. The earth may be very large, but it still has shape, mass and volume that are of limited size. The same can be said of all planets and indeed stars solar systems and galaxies. All are limited and all, without exception, are a part of a system of natural regulations from which they cannot escape.

The nature of all these finite (limited) things is that they are dependant on other things. They are neither self-sustaining nor independent. For example the water cycle is dependant on the sun, which is dependant on the gravitational laws and the energy produced by nuclear fusion, and so on. Men – and all creatures – have needs that require satisfaction in order to survive. Nothing is self-subsistent. So things exist, but do not have the power of self-existence, nor can they control when they die, change to become something else, or end their existence.

If everything in the Universe, which is made up of lots of limited parts, has a start point and is dependant upon other things, then what is everything dependant upon for its existence? The proposed “Big Bang” would have been lead by something. What is something? Another universe? If so, then what was before that? The chain would continue until a true “beginning” was found.

So the beginning could only be caused by something else – a creator. But, if that creator shared the same properties as the Universe – being limited and dependant – then that creator would also require a creator, as this is the case with every limited thing. So the Creator, which originated everything, must be different – uncaused or eternal, unlimited and independent. This Creator is what we call God, or Allah SWT.
I hope this has made it clear of why we believe in Allah SWT. Please forgive me if I have misinterpreted anything or have not done justice to do the topic inshaAllah. Please feel free to email me with any questions. JazakAllah khair for reading.

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