Why Is the Existence of a Creator a Necessity?
Peace be upon you
In the past two episodes, we showed
that the evidence for the existence
of the Creator was:
Everything!
because the existence of creation
and its fine-tuning
necessitate a Creator
We also showed that this is
conclusive proof for anyone
of sound heart and mind
and that our arguments
to address misconceptions
are not part of the evidence
Therefore, if you felt that the
arguments were overly complicated
it is because of the difficulty in
explaining the glaringly obvious
to those who argue
about necessary axioms;
not because proving the existence
of Allah is a complex process!
The skeptic may say,
"You are deducing the
Creator's existence from the existence
of creatures and their perfected design.
Let's put aside the perfect design
for now. Why do you assume that
the existence of life forms
requires a Creator?
This assumption is
not based on evidence.
It is true that we don't know the reason
why life originated on Earth,
but science may reveal the cause
in the future.
So, instead of assuming a Creator
—to relieve yourself
from the task of thinking—
look for the scientific cause
for the origin of life."
We reply, "Okay. We'll postpone
the discussion on fine-tuning
and how such intricate order necessitates
an All-Knowing, Capable, and Wise Doer
We'll discuss the issue of
'bringing things into existence'
Allah the Exalted says:..."
"No! Not an acceptable argument!
Don't use 'Allah says' since I don't cede
that Allah exists in the first place!"
"I am merely using the argument
contained in Allah's Words.
I know you won't acknowledge the phrase
'Allah says', so leave the belief to me
and just discuss the rational argument in
—what I believe to be—
Allah's word
Agreed?"
"Agreed."
Allah says,
what can be translated as,
"Or were they created by nothing, or
were they their own creators?"
(Quran 52:35)
"Or did they create
the heavens and the earth?
No, they have no certainty."
(Quran 52:36)
“Or were they created”
You (Man) what created you?
What made you exist
after you weren't there?
What are the proposed possibilities?
1- That you were created by nothing
2- That you created yourself
3- That Someone created you
The first two possibilities are
clearly invalid:
because nothing begets nothing
and you —the human being—
after you came into existence
are not able to increase your lifetime or
prevent your aging and death
by a single day; even with your fully
developed body and mind, so how could you
have initially created yourself
from nothing?
So, we are left with the third option:
that you came into existence by
an external cause
You'll say, "I came into existence from
my father's sperm and my mother's ovum."
Very well
This cause, in turn, who caused it?
You will say, "You will end up with
Adam whom Allah created, whereas
I will say it's a cell that evolved
and we will not agree."
No, no, no!
Hold on!
Whatever the explanation is for
the emergence of the human race;
in the end, the chain of causality
must stop at a certain point
Even though we may differ over
what this particular point is;
this limit must exist
(i.e the starting point)
The causes cannot regress
infinitely. This is impossible!
"Why is an infinite regress impossible?
I do not accept this statement."
This is your problem:
You don't acknowledge necessary truths
which require no proof
Infinite regress is impossible because
it means that, ultimately, nothing happens
"How is that?
Why does infinite regress lead to nothing?
I'll give you an example
to explain why it is impossible
Imagine that we have a prisoner
ordered to be released
and the soldier who guards this prisoner
says, "I will not release him
until my commander gives the order."
and his commander says, “I cannot give
that order until my commander orders it.”
and the commander of the commander
says the same, ad infinitum...
This prisoner will never be released!
If we find that, in fact
he was released
we can be certain that the chain
of command stopped at a certain point:
with someone who gave the order for
the release without waiting for an order
from someone else
Similarly, if you see a row
of dominos tumbling before you
and you know that a domino
cannot fall until the one before it falls
then you are certain that someone
tipped over the first domino
You cannot say that there was no starting
cause to trigger this domino effect!
Similarly in our case
if creatures require an infinite
regress of causes to exist
there would be no creation
in the first place
But there are creatures
which proves that the
causal chain had a starting point
—a First Cause—
that requires no prior cause to exist
This First Cause's
existence is or isn't
preceded by His non-existence
If His existence was preceded
by His non-existence
then He required a cause
to bring Him into existence
But we just proved
the First Cause has no prior cause
so, this First Cause
is not preceded by His non-existence
but is Eternal with no beginning;
autonomous;
not requiring any cause to exist!
Let's go back to
the Quranic signs:
"Or were they created by nothing,
or were they their own creators?"
"Or did they create
the heavens and the earth?
Rather, they have
no certainty." (QTM 52:35-36)
What applies to you, the human being,
applies to the universe and the earth
Mankind didn't bring them
into existence after they did not exist
nor did they create themselves
nor were they created by nothing
They all needed a Creator!
The skeptic will say,
"Well, even if we concede that
there is a cause
—call it a First Cause if you wish—
why do you call this cause 'Allah' and
claim numerous Attributes for Him?"
The answer —that follows from
the previous discussion— is:
Not only is there a First Cause
but the fact that He caused
creation shows that He
has the Attributes
of Power, Life and Will
Were He not Living, He could not have
gifted life to creatures,
as one cannot give what one
does not have
By His Will, He Willed creation
to exist and through His Power
His Will was done!
Once we start discussing the perfect
design and exquisite detail in creation
we will see that this indicates
other Attributes as well
such as Lordship, Knowledge,
Wisdom, Mercy, Greatness
Self-Subsistence and other Attributes
Simply put, this Creator —with these
Attributes— in the Islamic system
is called "Allah"!
Therefore, the belief in the
existence of Allah is not merely an
emotional submissive issue
but an evidential, deductive
and rational issue
as well as an innate truth
as we have shown in previous episodes
on the innate proof for Allah's Existence
Our belief in the existence
of Allah comes from deriving
indisputable knowledge
from necessary axioms
We never say, "We don't know what
created the Universe, so let's just assume
that Allah exists to resolve the issue."
No!
Rather, we say that
it is a necessary logical deduction
that the universe must have
an Eternal Creator
—with certain Attributes—
Who has no creator
Likewise, we do not say that
we found the chain of causes
going to infinity
and wanted to put an end to it
so we assumed the existence of Allah
to relieve ourselves
from the effort of thinking
No! Our deduction is based
on the impossibility
of infinite regress in causes
because its necessary result
is the absence of existence;
which contradicts observation and mind
When an atheist says, "Science may
reveal the cause of life in the future,"
we say, "No matter what science
discovers, it will never show
that nothing created life
or that life created itself
or that the cause of life is a sequence of
events trailing back into perpetuity
Science does not reveal what
contradicts mental axioms
because the invalidation
of mental axioms basically
leads to the abolition of science
as we demonstrated in Episode 5."
In the next episode
we will answer the question:
If Allah created the creation
then who created Allah?
Peace & Mercy of Allah be upon you