A Recap on the Innate Proofs for Allah & Discussing the Objections
Peace be upon you.
Dear viewers, in this episode
we'll summarize
the main themes of the past episodes
on the innate evidence for
the existence of Allah, Almighty
in "The journey of Certainty" series
and respond to some objections
from viewers on these episodes
We explained that there is an
innate nature instilled in all humans
and detailed some of its components:
such as religiosity, mental axioms,
moral tendency, sense of
purpose and free will
We explained how these components
indicate the existence of Allah, Almighty
We also showed how Islam's
position on each of these components
is rational and harmonious
On the other hand, atheism faces
a dilemma with each of these components
because atheism insists on
interpreting everything in existence
in a materialistic way
that rejects the concept that a Creator
instilled these innate components
We saw how the atheistic
position is characterized by:
- The denial of necessary axioms
- Contradiction and disharmony
- Intuitively-repulsive conclusions
- Devaluation of humanity and dignity
- Discrediting the human mind and emotions
We also showed how atheism
when it tries to escape one dilemma
inevitably falls into another
e.g. if atheism acknowledges
the existence of mental axioms
it falls into a contradiction
with its materialistic view
While, if atheism remains true
to its materialistic view
it must necessarily deny mental axioms!
If atheism tries to evade
its necessary result of immorality
it falls into a contradiction
with its materialistic outlook
While, if atheism wants to remain
in harmony with its materialistic outlook
it inevitably leads to
intuitively-repulsive immorality
Therefore, it does not
help an atheist's case to say,
"I disagree with the immoral
statements uttered by some atheists
and I reject their denial of mental
axioms, such as causation."
because his rejection is a
contradiction of his atheism
Still, in many instances
we did use phrases such as
"Atheism has no problem
with such and such"
or "The morals of atheism include"
or "Atheism says"
so that nobody can object by saying,
"Not all atheists say this."
The viewpoints that we mentioned
are the expected result of atheism;
even if some atheists
do not actually express them
This series also shows how
the denial of innate nature
leads the atheist to destroy
his own slogans:
such as "I respect my mind,"
"I am a humane person,"
and "I believe science."
In Episode 5, we showed how
atheism degrades and discredits the mind
In Episodes 6, 7, and 8
we showed how
atheism demeans Man
and his moral tendency
While in Episodes 5, 10 and 11
we demonstrated how
atheism discredits science
To re-iterate, atheism
demolishes its own slogans!
We also showed how atheists
don't practice what they preach
They do what they criticize
the Believers in God for doing:
They criticize the believers
for believing in the Unseen
—even though the believers have
evidence of that Unseen—
while atheists believe in
an Unseen
without any evidence
such as their belief in materialistic
explanations for innate components;
without any evidence!
They ridicule believers for saying,
"We don't know why"
in response to some questions
although it is a submission
based on a rational belief;
then they use the same statement,
"We don't know why"
in response to some questions
such as the question
on human free-will;
in direct contradiction to
their materialistic atheistic views
Atheists claim that believers
in the existence of a Creator
are deceiving themselves
In fact, it is the atheists
who are deceiving themselves
as we clarified in the Episode,
"Why are we here?"
In conclusion: Some Muslims
have questions and doubts
for which they don't have
satisfactory answers;
either because they're
negligent in the search for answers
from the appropriate sources
or because their faith was not built
on solid foundations to begin with
or because of a major flaw
in their methodology:
they don't interpret the 'ambiguous'
by referring to the fundamentals
i.e. they don't interpret
the unknown particulars
in light of major doctrinal fundamentals
which are supported by evidence
Therefore, they remain
in anxiety and turmoil
For those people
doubts may accumulate and
eventually lead them
to deny a Creator's existence;
in the hope that this would get
them out of their predicament
They do not know that their
denial of the existence of Allah
is the start of a
sequential path of denials
which leads to contradictions and nihilism!
The atheistic outlook which states
that the existence of God is an illusion
inevitably leads to the absence
of every meaning and value
because its inevitable conclusion is
that mental axioms are an illusion,
moral values are an illusion,
meaning or purpose for existence
is an illusion,
and free will is an illusion
Rather, the human, with all his spiritual
non-materialistic components
which constitute the core of his humanity
is nothing but an illusion!
As the atheist, William Provine
Prof. of History of Biology
at Cornell University says,
"It starts by giving up
an active Deity,
then it gives up the hope
that there's any life after death.
And when you give those two up
the rest of it follows fairly easily.
You give up the hope that
there is an immanent morality
...If you believe in evolution you
cannot hope for there being any
free will. There’s no hope
whatsoever of there being
any deep meaning in human life.
We live, we die, and we’re gone.”
Keep in mind, when you
abandoned your religion,
announced it to your
friends, and celebrated
the 'end' of the questions and doubts
that plagued you as a Muslim;
keep in mind that you entered
a deep turbulent ocean
of doubts, questions and contradictions!!
You left the most trustworthy handhold
to fall into a bottomless abyss!
You cannot escape this truth
except by turning a blind eye
Now, dear viewers, let's answer some
of the objections to the episodes thus far
First: I mention some verses of the
Noble Quran throughout the episodes
Some said that an atheist
shouldn't be addressed with the Quran
To begin with, this series is not only
addressed to atheists and skeptics
but also to the believers
to solidify their faith, as explained
Nevertheless, even when
addressing atheists
we shouldn't be criticized
for citing these verses
If I had said,
"O atheist, Allah says such and such
so you must submit because Allah says so,"
then the criticism would be valid
because atheists do not recognize the
existence of a Creator in the first place
However, the verses are in the context
of explaining the harmony in the Islamic
system and the consistency between
what Islam ascribes to Allah
and reality, as opposed
to the contradictions in atheism
Harmony is evidence for truth and
contradiction is evidence for falsehood
"If it had been from
[any] other than Allah,
they would have found within it
much contradiction."
(Quran Translated Meaning 4:82)
More importantly
We should not say that an atheist
should never be addressed
with the Quran
Rather, many of the verses contain
logical evidence for addressing atheists
As Allah Almighty says,
"Were they created by nothing,
or were they themselves the creators?"
(Quran Translated Meaning 52:35)
We reason with atheists using
the rational argument in this verse;
not because this testimony is in the Quran
We did not say,
"O Atheist, the Quran says
that Allah exists, so
you have to believe that Allah
exists." We didn't say that!
Second objection: Some said,
"You have deduced the existence of 'Allah'
but Allah is the name of
God in the Islamic perspective
whereas the extent of your arguments
is to prove the existence of a Creator.
Your claim that you have proven
the existence of the Islamic God"
—according to the objector—
"is a jump to an arbitrary conclusion
that exceeds the verified evidence."
The answer to this objection is that
the episodes demonstrate both the
existence of a Creator
Who oversees this universe
AND some of His Attributes
that manifest in His creation
Only Islam gives the correct perception of
the Attributes of the Overseer Creator
In the altered books, such as
the current Holy Book
the Creator is described inappropriately
such as the story that He wrestled with
Jacob until Jacob almost beat Him
or that He rested after creating
the heavens and the earth, etc.
Such descriptions are inconsistent with
the Divine Attributes of Ability and
Wisdom, which we discussed in this series
In Episode 6 for example
we mentioned that the existence of
a Creator with Attributes of Absolute
Perfection provides the foundation
for the existence of immaterial values
such as goodness and truth and
establishes an absolute
basis for morals
Therefore, the evidence
does, in fact, indicate that
when you prove
the existence of a Creator
He must be the Creator in
the Islamic concept
with Attributes befitting His Ability,
Knowledge, Wisdom and Mercy;
all of which necessitate His Divinity
and make Him worthy of worship!
So, I did not exceed the verified evidence
or jump to conclusions
by mentioning 'Allah'
Third objection: Some said,
"You establish the validity of Islam
on the invalidity of atheism;
even though the invalidity of atheism
does not necessarily
mean the validity of Islam."
In truth, I never made such a claim
in the previous episodes:
I did not establish the validity of
Islam on the invalidity of atheism!
The previous 13 episodes
are only the
beginning of this series which will
extend, Allah willing, and what we've
discussed thus far is only the innate
evidence for the existence of Allah
with some other benefits
here and there
Innate evidence is only one part
of the evidence for Allah's existence
As for the other evidence for
the validity of Islam such as
the prophethood of Muhammad, Peace
& Blessings upon him, Islamic legislation,
and that the Quran
is the word of Allah;
all this has not been discussed yet!
Fourth: Some people objected to
listing some terms and quotes in English
In fact, this was deliberate
for several reasons such as:
Establishing the credibility
of some quotes;
as some Darwinian and atheistic quotes
are shocking and unbelievable
which may lead some to think that
the original text must be different
and that we either misquoted
or committed a translation error
So, we quoted the text in its original
language, for better authentication
Sometimes, we even list
the English reference
to make it easy for
the viewer to look it up
for verification and
further research if desired
especially since many of the
cited references aren't translated
Sometimes, we provide English terms
when there are no familiar
Arabic translations
in the scientific community
We list the terms
in their original language
so that the viewer
can get the full meaning
Fifth objection: On the
so-called Darwin's theory
I only discussed
one specific aspect which is
the moral consequences
of Darwinian evolution and
the theory's explanation for innate
components and some behaviors
Yet, some thought that I
was discussing the theory itself,
started defending it,
trying to prove its validity
while expecting me to respond!
Here I'd like to point out that
my methodology in this series is:
Identification,
accuracy,
and organization into different topics
Thus far, I haven't discussed
Darwinian evolution itself
Rather, the theory's
scientific discussion in detail
will come, Allah willing, after discussing
the rational evidence for the
existence of Allah Almighty
This was the conclusion of the innate
evidence for the existence of Allah
We will next move to the rational evidence
with its many useful and convincing
arguments and answers, Allah willing
Stay tuned! Peace and
mercy of Allah be upon you!