بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
Atheistic statements and ideas have played with many Muslims’ belief in Allah. In modern times Atheism is being portrayed as the normal view of the human being and everything else requires some sort of faith. We are going to explore here the arguments that can be put forth to counter Atheism.
Let us first understand what the Atheistic belief really is; there are many different ‘sects’ in Atheism but the core idea of it is that there is no God. For some of them they claim to have answers to how the universe came into existence while others simply say that “we still do not have any evidence but it is definitely not to do with any kind of creator”.
Allah asks a very simple question to the Atheists in the Qur’an:
“Were they created by nothing, or were they the creators [of themselves]?” 52:35
An educated Atheist will not deny that the universe had a beginning as this has basically been proven in science – the expanding universe for example. However, when one asks the Atheist what happened before the universe, this is when there are unsure answers. They will simply say that they do not know.
This is the first issue because if they have no knowledge of what happened prior to the existence of the universe then why do they call themselves “Atheists”? Since the word itself translates to “without God” while “Agnostic” means “without knowledge”. Thus we can derive that they are not disbelievers of God because of any proof, they simply deny God in any circumstance.
There is one main deductive argument to give to an atheist which is broken down into 3 parts:
- Everything that begins to exist has a cause.
- The universe began to exist.
- Therefore, the universe has a cause.
What we must ask though is what kind of cause is this? Since if we simply claim that there was a cause, that had a cause, that had a cause etc. then we can progressively and infinitely keep saying the same thing which has no basis.
Therefore, it is more than logical to say that there has to be a cause which did not have a cause; it had no beginning; it has the knowledge and creative capacity to change the situation.
The Atheist can only deny one of two of these premises. The first premise is that they can claim that not everything that exists had a cause. However, they cannot answer why and how things do not just pop into existence on a day to day basis – there is simply no proof of this happening at all even with all the modern technology.
The second premise is that the universe always existed thus it is infinite. However, modern science directly opposes this idea through the expanding universe (i.e. “∞ + 1” is a paradox which has no sense).
Another argument we can put forth to the Atheist is what is known as the “fine tuning argument”. Fine tuning is the idea that the universe is so fine tuned and balanced as to allow life to exist. Paul Davies (a well-known cosmologist) has said that there is a broad agreement between physicists and cosmologists that the universe is fine tuned for human life.
This is an agreements between both believers and disbelievers. There are only 3 options to choose when it comes to how this universe became so finely tuned:
- It evolved somehow: This option is not available in physics as there is no actual evidence for it at all. No serious physicist has ever made such a proposition thus it is simply unscientific.
- It is a chance factor: This means that the universe was a random generation – it happened by chance. Roger Penrose (a renowned physicist at Oxford University) was talking about the entropy level at the beginning of the universe; entropy is a measure of thermal energy. He says that the possibility of the entropy level being the way it is at the beginning of the universe is: 1010 × 123. This is an extremely high number and this is one calculation for only one of the components of the universe. From this we can say that the idea that the universe is a chance factor is simply ridiculous.
- There was a creator: An infinite being outside of boundaries of space and time – a being that invented space and time itself.
These are the logical arguments and statements about the start of the universe. However, we must all understand, especially the Muslims, that it is a natural predisposition to believe in God. Studies in Oxford University in 2011 showed that belief in God is a predisposed belief within children. So to believe in God nobody has to follow any kind of logic, there is no intelligence or smartness involved in this notion.
This is why we see many scientists and seemingly “smart” people disbelieving while in many uneducated areas around the world, we find people worshipping one God.
Allah says in the Qur’an:
“And [mention] when your Lord took from the children of Adam – from their loins – their descendants and made them testify of themselves, [saying to them], ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They said, ‘Yes, we have testified.’ [This] – lest you should say on the day of Resurrection, ‘Indeed, we were of this unaware.'” 7:172
All the progenies of Adam were given the natural feeling to believe in Allah. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: ” Allah says: I created all of My servants as hunafa’ (pure monotheists – believers in one God), but the devils diverted them from their belief.” [Muslim]
We cannot claim that it was merely environmental or situational that we deny the existence of God. It is within human nature, and the only way to remove that belief is to force it through following the whisper of the devils and lying to ourselves about all the proofs we see around us everyday until our hearts harden.
Let us remember, Allah does not turn His back on anyone – we are all His slaves. He did not create human beings as disbelievers, every single soul is given the ability to search for answers to why we are in this world and with sincerity it will inevitably lead to Allah – He simply asks that we take a step towards Him.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Allah says: ‘I am just as My slave thinks I am, and I am with him if He remembers Me. If he remembers Me in himself, I too, remember him in Myself; and if he remembers Me in a group of people, I remember him in a group that is better than they; and if he comes one span nearer to Me, I go one cubit nearer to him; and if he comes one cubit nearer to Me, I go a distance of two outstretched arms nearer to him; and if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running.'” [Bukhari]
Allah knows best.