Belief

Islamic Belief and Rationality



To have faith in a creator is considered by many as equal to following something blindly. The rise of science and technology in the last 50 years has resulted in many people abandoning their religious beliefs and adopting the faith of science which concludes there is no need for a creator.

Names such as Richard Dawkins a staunch atheist regularly ridicules those who believe in a creator and look upon any person who believes in Allah سبحانه وتعالى as effectively contradicting the very make-up of a human being. Scientists as well as those who are smitten by the discoveries in the scientific world have over the years developed a number of theories which for them proves there is no such thing as a creator. These theories or arguments can be categorized as follows:


Scientific theories - based around the fact that Allah سبحانه وتعالى has never been seen, heard or touched so how could He exist, and all things are just different forms of atoms (matter) so there is no need for a creator.

Moral arguments - such as how could a creator exist and create so much evil, corruption, vice, wars and unhappiness in the world? Surely Allah سبحانه وتعالى would be all the good things such as love, peace and mercy.

Logical arguments - The ideas developed from logic include, if Allah سبحانه وتعالى is all powerful could he create a stone heavy enough that he couldn't lift and other questions such as can Allah سبحانه وتعالى create a wall even he couldn't climb.

Cult theories - These theories include that we may live in a matrix, aliens could have created us or even the devil may have created us.

Before looking at these arguments it must be understood that all of them are designed to try and prove that there is no need for a creator.



The limitations of science

There is no doubt, the development of science over the last 200 years has led to the creation and invention of technology and research which would have been unimaginable to all those in the 18th century. The genetic make-up of humans, the discovery of DNA, the motor vehicle etc are just some of the success stories of scientific development. However many who are mesmerised by science have tried to use it to suggest there is no creator. This is a complete misuse of science; this can be seen if we look at how science concludes facts.

The scientist would carry out an experiment in a laboratory and would subject the thing under study to various conditions such as extreme heat or cold and then see how it reacts in comparison to how it would react in its normal environment. From this, facts would then be concluded. Hence science can not experiment with those things which are intangible such as ideas, laws, history, behaviour and those things beyond the universe. This is because all these things are not tangible. You cannot take them into a laboratory and heat them or freeze them. Therefore it is impossible for science to experiment with Allah سبحانه وتعالى as Allah سبحانه وتعالى cannot be experimented with.

Many scientists argue there is no need for a creator as everything we see in the universe such as planets, humans, stars etc are just different forms of matter. They are just atoms which are arranged in a particular way and when a human dies as an example, they turn into dust which is another form of matter. However it is physically impossible for anything to change from one state to another on its own. Water cannot change into steam on its own, and ice cannot turn into liquid on its own. Both of these need something else to make the transition. For water to transform into steam it requires heat, and for ice to turn into liquid it requires a certain amount of cold. For transformation to occur any amount of heat or cold is not enough, but a specific amount is needed i.e. steam will not be generated from water unless the heat is 100 degrees; 80 degrees will not generate steam. Why will this only occur at 100 degrees? Why not at any other temperature? This is because the water, the heat and the steam have no will on deciding things. The rule of changing from water to steam at 100 degrees was imposed on them - they had no choice; if they did then they could transform at any temperature, not only at 100 degrees. This shows that it is wrong to suggest things are merely matter or atoms as something other then them is laying rules and controlling things, this can only be the creator.



Good and bad

Many believe that it's not your belief in Allah سبحانه وتعالى or following a religion that makes you a good person. Rather it's if you have good morals such as honesty, love, peace, mercy etc, and if these are the best morals then how could Allah سبحانه وتعالى allow so much oppression, wars, disease and disasters in the world? Surely this proves there is no creator?

This argument has a number of problems as it assumes Allah سبحانه وتعالى is like a human who has morals and it assumes humans created such attributes, hence Allah سبحانه وتعالى must have them aswell. If Allah سبحانه وتعالى was like a human then it means Allah سبحانه وتعالى would grow old and die one day no different to humans. This would be ridiculous to believe. Placing the blame for the existence of problems around the world is even more ridiculous as all of them are man-made. WWI was started by Britain as Germany was threatening Europe. WWII was again started by Britain along with Russia and France due to Hitler expanding Germany. The Iraq war was started by the US due to Oil. The war in Kashmir was effectively created by the British as they gave a majority Muslim land to India, and finally the problems in the Middle East were created by Britain who imposed Israel upon the people of Palestine. The oppression around the world is created and maintained by humans not Allah سبحانه وتعالى.


It must be logical....

The people who raise logical arguments in no way prove that Allah سبحانه وتعالى does not exist. Rather they raise circular arguments which go nowhere. Whether Allah سبحانه وتعالى can lift a stone, fly, climb etc in no way proves he doesn't exist. These questions in themselves are wrong as there is no correct answer to them whichever way you answer them. They are the same as asking, is Germany the largest continent in the world? Obviously it is not. However this means Germany is a continent just not the largest. The problem here is the question asked was wrong as it contradicted the definition of Germany which is that it's a country in Europe. Similar to this would be to ask, can the cat speak Chinese? Answering yes is irrational and answering no would mean the cat cannot speak Chinese but it can speak. Again the question was wrong as it assumes cats can speak.

Hence logical arguments are in fact illogical as they contradict the definition of what a creator is. So lifting, climbing, throwing etc are attributes of humans. How can humans use their attributes to describe Allah سبحانه وتعالى? This would be the same as one of us creating a drink, giving it a colour and taste and then the drink imposing restriction and rules for us. The created does not affect the creator.


Cult theories

One would think, with the development of science that more and more people would conclude that the signs in the world show us that there is a creator. However unfortunately more and more people are beginning to believe in the weird and wonderful. Keanu reeves film about the struggle of Neo against some supernatural force called the Matrix which controls everything raised the possibility that life as we see it may not be what it seems. Some, such as a group of scientists in the US called clonaid, even say that humans were created by aliens.

The problem here lies with the method of thinking, which is anything and everything is possible; there is no such thing as an ultimate truth. This type of thinking is encouraged in the West, as critical thinking is healthy and ensures only the strangest theories would remain as they can withstand the test from any suspect thinker. However ideas such as ‘we come from alien's' etc are physically not provable or cannot be verified by anyone who claims them. There is no evidence whatsoever of a Matrix. In fact you will never know whether the writer of this article is a human or some alien. Such thinking is irrational and in fact keeps you from ever believing in conclusive things which can be verified.


Islam and the mind

By using our mind and senses of touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight which most humans have we can asses everything around us and conclude nothing in the universe exists on its own. All of them whether the leaf on a tree, plants, computers, cars etc rely on other things to work and survive and all of them are restricted by universals laws which they cannot go beyond. This indicates that they could not have created themselves and they cannot live forever due to their reliance on other things for their existence, which means there must be something other than them that brought them into existence. The creator cannot have any of the attributes of the created as this would place the creator in a situation of being created.

When the correct process of thinking is used it is inevitable that all people would come to the conclusion of a creator. It is only deviant thinking that has allowed evolutionary ideas to gain mainstream attention. The Islamic belief is a rational belief built upon the mind. Over 60% of the Qur'an discusses Allah's creations and orders all to think about the created. There are many verses in the Qur'an that ask all humans to think and ponder:

أَمْ خُلِقُوا مِنْ غَيْرِ شَيْءٍ أَمْ هُمُ الْخَالِقُونَ

أَمْ خَلَقُوا السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ بَل لَّا يُوقِنُونَ

"Or were they created out of naught? Or are they the creators? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Nay, but they are sure of nothing!" [At-Tur , 52: 35-36]

إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلاَفِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ لآيَاتٍ لِّأُوْلِي الألْبَابِ

"Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of Night and Day, there are indeed signs for men of understanding." [Al-Imran, 3:190]

Through the use of the rational method we can conclude the correct theories from the completely irrational