Existence of God*
Brothers and sisters! My khatira today is on the topic: “Existence of God.” Alhamdulillah, as Muslims, we firmly believe in the existence of God Almighty—the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all that exists. There is no doubt about it. Belief in the existence of God runs in our blood. By nature, every man and woman is a born believer. However, skeptics and atheists or even agnostics would argue that there is no rational basis or scientific proof in favor of such belief. In today’s highly secularized world, the increasing trends of skepticism, atheism, and agnosticism have slowly, yet certainly crept into the Muslim psyche as well, especially the young minds. After all, we are a part of the global demographic. We must take steps to guard and protect ourselves against such trends before they start to permeate our ranks.
According to modern science, one cannot prove or disprove anything; one can only arrive at a probability rather than a certainty. If there is sufficient data to show that this or that thing probably exists, then one can make the statement that this or that thing does exist. We should know that contemporary scientific knowledge has passed through two different phases—the pre-Einstein period and the post Einstein period. In the pre-Einstein period, knowledge was confined to the macro or material world, which was observable and measurable. So, it was generally held that everything, which has a real existence, should also be observable. Anything, which could not be observed, had no real existence. This meant that only the seen world was real and what was unseen was unreal or some kind of fiction.
This concept gave rise to the theory what is generally called logical positivism. It means that the only valid logical argument is one that is demonstrable in material terms; otherwise it is simply a baseless claim, and not a valid argument. But in the post-Einstein period, in the early years of the 20th century when the atom was split, the whole situation changed. After the splitting of the atom, the concept of matter in its solid, liquid, gaseous or plasmatic form disappeared and was replaced by the micro-world, beyond the atomic world, where everything was reduced to unseen waves—neither measurable nor observable. For example, the gravitational force, the x-rays, and the electric current are all non-material in nature. They cannot be observed, but every scientist believes in their existence, for the simple reason that, although we cannot see these things directly, we can see their effect.
After this revolution in knowledge, the basis of logical or rational argument also changed drastically. It has now become an accepted fact that inferential argument is as valid as direct argument. In the pre-Einstein era, unbelievers held that the concept of God pertains to the unseen world. And since no direct argument was available to bear this out, belief in God was held to be illogical and all the relevant indirect arguments were considered scientifically invalid, since they were inferential in nature. Inference is the process of reasoning from a proposition to a conclusion. If inferential argument is valid with regard to the unseen micro-world, it is also valid with regard to the existence of God. Bertrand Russell, although an atheist, has admitted this fact in his book, Why I am not a Christian. He says that the argument centering on design, propounded by theologians to prove the existence of God, is scientifically valid. Since ancient days, theologians have argued that when there is a design there must also be a designer. And we see our world is well designed. It compels us to believe that there is a designer.
Science tells us that the universe came into existence after the Big Bang which took place 14 billion years ago or so. Scientists have found evidence to believe that in the beginning there was what they call a cosmic ball. All the particles now present in the universe were tightly bound to each other in this cosmic ball in a highly compressed state. According to known physical laws, only an inner journey was possible for these particles. Physically, there was no possibility of their outward journey to space. Then, according to astronomical studies, this cosmic ball suddenly exploded. The compact particles scattered outward and the present universe came into existence. What external source caused the intervention so that the compact particles scattered outwardly? It was an intervener or Almighty God.
أَوَلَمْ يَرَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَنَّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنَاهُمَا وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَاءِ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ أَفَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
“Do not those who deny the truth see that the heavens and the earth were joined together and that We then split them asunder? And that We have made every living thing out of water? Will they still not believe?” (al-Anbiya’, 21:30).
The Big Bang explosion resulted in a universe that is highly constructive and meaningful, in every sense of the word. When we reflect deeply about our world, we find that all over the universe, there are clear signs of planning, design, and intelligent control.
قَدْ جَعَلَ اللَّهُ لِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدْرًا
“Allah has set a due measure for everything” (al-Talaq, 65:3).
These signs lead us to believe that there is a Creator of creatures, there is a designer of designs, and there is a mover of all movements. The Qur’an does not say much about the Being or Essence of God, for it considers it to be beyond human comprehension. Allah is transcendent—beyond time, beyond space, beyond direct apprehension, existing outside the created world. That is why the Qur’an tells us,
لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ ُ
“There is nothing like Him (Nothing can be compared with Him)” (al-Shura, 42:11).
Why does the Qur’an assume that the existence of God is something about which no question should justifiably cross a rational mind? According to the Qur’anic theory of knowledge, human beings are not born with a blank psychological slate. Rather, they are created with a certain intellectual and intuitive disposition. Traditionally, this human disposition has been called the fitrah. Muslim scholars explain that the fitrah gives us humans a sort of extra-rational, privileged mental access to some basic truths about God. As such, humans have an inherent capacity to intuitively detect the existence of God, even without much rational deliberation. The Qur’anic indifference to the question of God’s existence is easily understood with this unique, fitrah-based theory of knowledge in mind. Some modern studies in cognition seem to suggest something similar, that belief in God is hard-wired into the human psyche.
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*This transcript is based on the thoughts of and excerpted from the writings of Maulana Wahiduddin Khan.
