On the ideas and claims of those who deny the Existence of God the Creator and the invalidity of such claims
On the ideas and claims of those who deny the Existence of God the Creator and the invalidity of such claims:
Atheists and those who deny the Existence of God the Creator claim that religion is not real, that it is the manifestation of a natural instinct, and that everything that happens in the universe, from the earth to the heavens, follows laws known as the "Laws of Nature." They say that in the beginning, there did exist a God who was the Prime Mover for this universe. Then, before long, He left it alone, it bearing no connection to Him, and He bearing no connection to the things of this universe, whether living or nonliving creatures. In this, their claims are like the polytheists of old who denied the resurrection after death for accounting and recompense, saying: Indeed, it is merely wombs that push and earth that swallows.
Then the leaders of atheism and the deniers of the Existence of God offered a comparison in this regard. Voltaire said, "The universe is like a watch; its maker sets his precise mechanism in a particular fashion and sets it in motion. Then, his connection with it is cut," as he claims.
After him came those who even denied the Existence of God in the beginning, whose pride and self-deception would not permit them to assert the existence of that God, even if His role was merely at the beginning of creation.
Then along came Hume, who bowed to his passions and desires and got rid of that 'dead god' who no longer bore any connection to this universe following its inception. He said, "We have seen watches and they are made in factories, but we have not seen the universe while it was being made, so how can we admit that it has a creator?" according to his statement and claim.
And so the statement prevailed and took hold of their minds which had previously been closed to the likes of such concepts—these erroneous analogies and deceptive conjectures. They were blinded in heart and sight, in accordance with the Saying of Allah Almighty, {Verily, it is not the eyes that grow blind; it is the hearts in the breasts that grow blind.}[Al-Hajj 22: 46]
Alas, after the atheists' denial of divinity and religion, following their passions and desires, their pride and self-deception took hold of them and there was nothing left but for them to reject anything with even the slightest connection to the issue of divinity and religion.
They denied the sending of messengers, which of course meant that they denied the Divine Scriptures sent down upon them containing the commands, obligations, and religious directives, as well as the boundaries and prohibitions—the heavenly instructions sent as guidance to mankind—in addition to all accounts of the Unseen this brought with it, past, present, or future.
They denied the existence of angels and all other creatures that are beyond our powers of perception.
They denied fate and predetermination and the fact that everything that happens in the universe, both seen and unseen, happens by the Will and Knowledge of Allah (Glorious & Exalted), and that all of it occurs in accordance with the pre-existing measure of Allah Almighty, according to a wisdom He Alone comprehends. They denied this all and refused to believe in it.
They denied the issue of resurrection: the reckoning, the recompense and everlasting life: either in Allah's Paradise (Blessed & Exalted is He) and its realm of delight and good pleasure for the virtuous believer, or in Allah's Fire (Mighty & Majestic is He) and its painful torment for the wicked disbeliever who did not believe in it all.
They denied the existence of Allah's Paradise (Blessed & Exalted is He) and the realm of bliss and contentment. They denied Allah's Fire (Mighty & Majestic is He) and the realm of punishment and wrath. They did not believe in any of it.
They are ever in a state of floundering and wandering in their lives which have been hurried for them since they have no religion or god to worship or draw near to. One might even be more specific and say:
They have taken their passions and desires as their Lord, to worship beside Allah (Glorious & Sublime), since they fall behind them in submissive following and due to their preference for this fleeting world over life everlasting. This confirms the Saying of Allah Most High:
{Have you seen him who has taken as his god his own desire? Would you then be a protecting guide over him?}[Al-Furqan 25:43]
The following should clarify the aforementioned ideas and claims of those who deny the Divine Being:
The general concept amongst atheists and those who deny God assumes that there is no reality beyond the material and that facts can only be material.
That the universe is self-sufficient, not in need of any external cause.
That matter in itself is eternal, and that it came together by mere accident, taking the shapes of which the entire world has formed, including life and consciousness.
They say that it is imperative to rely on the natural sciences in learning facts, not on religion.
In response to such false claims and invalid suppositions, we would like to say first of all that:
Allah (Glorious & Exalted) has provided the Islamic Nation with brilliant minds among the scholars of the Sunnah who have corrected, through logical argument and scriptural reference, the spuriousness of the statements and claims made by atheists.
Among the refutations which demonstrate the poverty and invalidity of the ideas and claims of atheists and deniers of the Existence of God are:
Nature is but one of the parts of the universe; it is not an explanation for it. Religion explains to us the causes and the true impetus behind the creation of this universe. The scientific discoveries being made in the natural sciences are merely about the external structure of the universe.
Modern science provides details about what happens, but these are not the explanation for this reality. We offer the following as an example:
Ancient man knew that rain falls from the sky, and he used to attribute that to Allah (Glorious & Exalted)—that He is the One Who enabled and permitted the rain to pour forth, for everything that happens in the universe happens according to His Will.
Today we know that this is the result of the evaporation of ocean water, followed by precipitation which falls to the earth. All of these events are the forms of reality.
But does that mean that science has revealed to us how these events became law? How did these laws between the earth and the heavens come to be established in this amazing way so that scientists could deduce from them scientific laws?
Of course, it does not mean that.
Man does not discover anything but the order of nature.
If man were to claim that his discovery of order in nature should be considered the discovery of the explanation for this universe, he would only be fooling himself.
Indeed, it becomes our duty, after witnessing these events, to believe that the One behind the ancient order in this vast universe is a Great Divine Creator.[1]
Another example:
The universe in its present condition is nothing more than a machine which spins under its cover. We do not know anything about it except that it spins. Yet, if we open its cover, we would see how this machine is joined by many different discs and gears, spinning one with the other. We would see every single movement.
Does this mean that we have learned about the Creator of this machine merely by watching the parts spin inside it? Of course, not!
Could it truly be understood logically that watching things spin inside a machine could prove that the machine came into being on its own? Or that it operates on its own?[2]
Of course, not!
No reasonable person would ever say that; it could only come from the mouth of a denier, a rejecter.
So how could it be proven, after watching a few cosmological events, that this came about spontaneously—that it was self-generating?
For if these scientific discoveries about the universe increased a million or more times than what we have today, this would be nothing more than a witness to particular cosmological events; it would not be proof of His bringing forth or leaving the universe to run on its own.
On the contrary, all of this should propel us towards belief in the Lord of this universe, its Creator Who fashioned it with such precise order. Nothing of the sort could ever have come into being accidentally, as the liars claim.
The universe is not self-sufficient and not in need of anything external because it has been confirmed for us, through logical argument and scriptural reference—from the prophets, messengers and divine scriptures—that the universe has a Supreme Creator, with Attributes essentially dissimilar to those of His creation.
As mentioned before, it is impossible for matter to be eternal or that it could have come together purely by accident to take the forms in which our world now exists, including both life and consciousness.
The senses are not a means of knowing all that mankind needs to know. There is no contradiction between relying on the senses to learn about one thing which can be known in that way and relying on logic to learn another thing which cannot be known except in that way. There is nothing opposite about science and religion; in fact, religion recognizes the scientific method as a means to knowledge; it merely asserts that it is not the means of knowing everything.
There are types of knowledge which can only be known through narration, others that can only be known through logical deduction, and still others that cannot be reached except through prophets, messengers and divine scriptures.
A reasonable man takes advantage of all of these methods, according to the type of knowledge he is seeking.[3]
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[1]The Challengeof Islam (Al-Islam Yatahadaa), by Wahiduddin Khan
[2]Ibid.
[3]Physics and the Existence of Creator (Al-Fisiyaa' wa Wujood al-Khaaliq), by Ja`far Shaikh Idris
