Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

IAM AN ATHIEST, MUSLIM MEANS BELIVER ? , CAN YOU MAKE ME A BELIEVER. I AM SEEING TOO MANY VERSIONS FOR ISLAM EACH CLAIM THEIR  ALLEGIANCE TO HOLY QURAN. WERE THERE TOO MANY MOHAMMEDS TO CLAIM PROPHETHOOD ??

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Atheist

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

The honest truth is that I cannot make you (or anybody else for that matter) a believer. I can only invite you to become a believer in Allah and the Last Day. To make one a believer or leave him astray is in the Domain and Power of Allah Alone. The fact is that there is only one Quran, one version of Islam, and there was only one Mohamed ibn Abdulla, the Last Messenger of Allah (saws).

But that is not the issue here. Since you have been so honest and straight forward in admitting that you are an atheist, let us try to think with logic and reasoning whether this whole Universe, and you, and I, were created by some Creator, or did everything simply come into existence on its own. We do this exercise, not to argue and prove someone right or wrong .. but rather to increase our own knowledge and guidance. We will set no pre-conditions, no prejudice, no intolerance, and no discrimination for our talk. Just plain and simple, honest logic, reasoning and commonsense.

A believer is one who believes in Allah, in all His Messengers, in all His Revealed Books, in The Hereafter, in The Angels, and in His Divine Destiny.

An atheist is one who does not believe in any God as his creator, thus neither His Messenger, thus neither the Quran, and thus neither the Hereafter.

Logic # 1 : for proving the existence of a Creator.

Can you show me anything, anything in this world, that was created by itself? Anything, a pencil, a mug, clothes, even a simple needle? Can any of these create itself, or be created through the passage of time by evolution?

When even a simple needle cannot create itself, nor can it be created by evolution, and needs someone to design it, and manufacture it: How can this whole Universe, this earth, the sun, the moon, you, and I come into existence by itself?

The Answer cannot be given as ‘nature’, because then we will come back to the same issue… Who is the Creator of this ‘nature’ for everything… Our answer is the same.. The Creator who created everything, is the same One who created its nature! Thus we will try to stay on the one basic question: Is there a ‘Creator’ for everything, or did everything come into existence on its own?

Logic #2: for proving the existence of a Creator.

If I were to tell you that I was in the middle of a desert, and suddenly I saw bricks come together by itself, and then a building came into existence by itself, and then the machinery entered the building by itself, and then this building became a computer factory by itself, and then this factory just started making thousands of super-computers by itself….. would you believe me? Would you not honestly tell me to get my brains checked at a good psychiatric hospital?

The truth is that everything has a maker or a creator, and these super-computers cannot just be made on its own by itself!

The most technologically advanced semi-conductor factory in today’s world cannot make a computer-chip that can match the human brain, with its power of logic and emotion and reasoning, etc.

When one cannot believe that this simple needle, or this computer, or this chip cannot be made on its own, how can one honestly believe that this superb human being, with all his perfect faculties, internal organs, internal systems, this brain, etc. come into being by itself?

Is it only because the Creator of this human being is ‘unseen’? Would it be reasonable for me to say, that since I have not seen the designer of this computer chip, and since I have not seen the factory where this chip is made, I believe that this computer chip came into existence by itself? Would it be reasonable? Would it make commonsense?

Just like I cannot say that since I have not seen the creator of the computer chip, therefore the chip came into existence by itself; it is illogical to assume that just because you cannot see the Creator of the Universe and the human beings… these came into existence by itself!

Now the question is why is the Creator ‘unseen’? The answer is that He is taking a test of man.

Next question: How and Why?

If we compare the creation and existence of man, to any of the other creations of the Creator, you will soon realize, that of all the created beings, (the mountains, the seas, the winds, the sun, the moon, etc.) only man has any intelligence. Yes, animals have brains, but they are more apt towards instinct, rather than intelligence. They simply cannot make a differentiation between right and wrong, good and evil, virtue and sin, in human terms.

In today’s world, there is this big thing about freedom! Freedom of speech, freedom of sex, freedom of choice, freedom of this and freedom of that!

The truth is, man has very limited freedom given to him by his Creator. What do I mean:?

Man is born with two eyes. He cannot say I want three or four or ten eyes… He has to settle with what he been created with.

Man is born with two ears, one mouth, two hands, two legs, etc. No freedom to choose here.

Man has to be born of a woman’s womb! He cannot choose to be born from a man’s womb! Neither can he choose to be born from an alligator’s womb… No freedom here.

Man has to be born an infant! He cannot choose to be born as a seven year old… or a 20 year old..etc. No choice here!

Man, at some interval has to eat to survive! He cannot say, I will never eat anything …He will starve to a painful death…. No freedom here.

Man can only eat from amongst the plants and animals … He cannot say I want to eat computers, or cars, or houses …. No freedom here!

Man, after he eats, needs to relieve himself! He cannot say, I will never relieve myself … I guess it would be very painful and uncomfortable…. No freedom here again!

Man can only stay awake for so many hours …. At some stage, he will get tired and will need to sleep …. Cannot say, I want to stay awake forever…. No freedom here!

Man can only walk so many miles at one stretch … At some stage he will get tired and need to rest his legs….No freedom again.

Man’s eyes have limited vision. If a wall comes in the way, he cannot see any further … no freedom here!

Man can only pick a certain amount of weight! Cannot lift mountains or houses or cars, etc. No freedom again.

I can go on, and on, and on, and on!!! …. To prove that man has absolutely no freedom in everything that has been granted to his body or self by the Creator. He can only use the things created for a particular purpose for a particular time and in a particular range… cannot exceed anything!

The only freedom the Creator has allowed man, is in his intelligence and his power of reasoning … and that intelligence He has not given to any of His other creation. That is the only one thing where man has the freedom to choose! Every other part of his body obeys the commands and works according to the ‘nature’ or system designed by the Creator of man.

The only thing in the absolute control of man himself is his intellect! With this intellect, he can choose whatever he wants to do… whatever he wants to make .. wherever he wants to go … whatever….

Herein lies the test of man! He can choose to ignore and deny his Creator, or he can choose to recognize and submit to his Creator in the ‘unseen’. He can choose to make his own laws as he goes along according to his own intellect… or submit to his Creator, and obey and follow His Laws. He can choose to make his own judgment of what is good and what is bad … or he can choose to submit to the decisions of his Creator. He can choose to have his own will and way with everything in life … or he can choose to submit his will and follow the way prescribed by the Creator.

The test is thus: There is only one thing where the Creator has given man the freedom … his will … and that too the Creator wants man to recognize Him in the ‘unseen’, and submit his this ‘freedom of will’ to Him. If he does that, then he passes the test of this worldly life. If he denies and ignores and thus disobeys His Creator, he fails the test. Its as simple as that!

After we agree that there is ‘a’ Creator, then the next obvious question should be… How come there is only ‘One’ Creator? Why not two or ten or many? That is a different subject and has its own logical answers, and we can come to it when we have crossed our first hurdles.

Then the questions can be:

How can we prove that Mohamed (saws) is indeed the Last appointed Messenger of Allah?

How can we prove that Quran is indeed the Book of Allah?

How can we prove the concept of the Hereafter, that there is life after this worldly life?

How can we prove that Islam is indeed the only Way that Allah will accept?

And so on and so forth.

Brother, if you have the time and want to take the effort, I have all the time in the world to guide someone to come closer to his Creator. We ask for no reward and no appreciation for this service… our reward is with our Creator, the Lord of the heavens and the earth and everything in between.

Brother, I could have quoted the clear arguments given in the Holy Quran at several places, but keeping in view that you have been completely honest with us, and declared yourself an ‘atheist’, I have not quoted the Holy Quran in this entire article. The Holy Quran is full of absolutely logical arguments for these kind of issues, but we will come to that, God Willing, when we have crossed the initial simple hurdles. The Holy Quran has a logical answer for just about everything, Alhamdolillah.

May our ‘Creator’ increase our knowledge, and our quest for knowledge in search for the Truth.

May Allah guide you and us to read and understand the simple and plain words of the Glorious Quran. May Allah increase our knowledge from the Holy Quran.

May Allah guide you and us all to the Siraat al-Mustaqeem.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan