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:

Hi Burhan,

But I write to you with a very peculiar situation that I find my self in. I have started doubting concept god, leave alone religion. My upbringing like most others had led me to an unquestioned belief in God/ Religion and with the passage of time these beliefs seem far departed from fundamental/basic logic I have imbibed. Though I have lots to say I will try to compress my thoughts, which are as follows: * Religion was a movement that was required in the yester years to instill fear of the unknown and get order into a barbaric society. * God and religion are based on the concept of fear of the unknown and punishment i.e. If I do wrong (as defined by the religious society) I will go to hell /fire etc. * Prayers are nothing but unrelenting praise for GOD to an extent that they sound obscene (Can any sane body/soul take so much praise and seek more)

All that I see as the benefits of the belief are as follows: * Discipline in lifestyle leading to general well being. * Bantam to hold on in times of difficulty. * Form of Meditation etc.

All/most of the above can be achieved/simulated by alternative sources like yoga meditation and strong self-belief. * The cons are many but the main is : Taking away from the basic premise of questioning any thing unexplained and actions based on fear which goes against the basic premise of freedom and free enterprise A strong logical/ scientific approach to life and belief system can redirect societies energies and resources to greater knowledge and contribution in making your life fruitful and one that has made a contribution to humanity, rather than wasting time wasteful activities. Need 1 irrefutable proof of the existence of GOD, but please do not give examples of unexplained phenomenon and hold GOD responsible for it.

(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:

What is the Proof that there is Allah?

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.

In this exercise, we will try and look at only one of the many attributes of God, and that is of His Being the Creator. Lets not give God any name for the time being, and just lets call Him the Creator. Once we cross this hurdle, then we can go to the next step, simply because if we make our talk broad, then we will lose focus on the issue and move from one subject to the other.

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!

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? What does this Creator want from or expect from His creation? 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.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan