Episode 15 - Why Must There Be a Creator?
Introduction and Confirmation of the Previous Evidence
Peace be upon you. In the past two episodes, we explained that the evidence for the existence of the Creator is: everything; because the existence of beings and their perfection must have a Creator. And we explained that this is a conclusive evidence for the possessor of a sound heart and mind.
We mentioned that our discussion of doubts is not part of the evidence. If you feel complexity in discussing them, it is due to the difficulty of explaining the obvious to someone who argues about the self-evident, not because proving the existence of God is a complex process.
Response to the Doubt "Why Do We Assume the Existence of a Creator?"
The skeptic may say to you: You infer the existence of the Creator from the existence of beings and their perfection. Let us put aside their perfection for a moment, why do you assume that the existence of beings necessarily requires a Creator? This is an assumption without evidence. It is true that we do not know the reason for the beginning of life on Earth, but science may reveal the reason in the future. Instead of assuming the existence of a Creator to comfort yourself from thinking, seek the scientific reason for the beginning of life.
We say to him: Alright, let's postpone the issue of perfection and that this precise system must have an omniscient, capable, wise doer. We will discuss with you the issue of creation.
Quranic Evidence for the Necessity of the Creator
God Almighty says... "No, that's not an argument! Do not argue with me with 'God says' when I do not even acknowledge the existence of God in the first place!"
I argue with you based on the evidence within what God says. I know you will not accept the phrase "God says," so let me keep this phrase aside, and let's discuss the rational evidence present in what I believe is the word of God. Alright? "Alright."
God Almighty says: "Were they created from nothing, or are they the creators? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Rather, they are not certain." [At-Tur:35,36]
Analysis of Creation Possibilities
"Were they created": O mankind, what created you? That is, what brought you into existence after you were not? What are the proposed possibilities?
- That nothingness (non-existence) is what brought you into existence.
- That you brought yourself into existence.
- That there is someone who brought you into existence.
The first two options are clearly invalid: for nothingness does not bring anything into existence. And you, O mankind, after you exist, you cannot add a single day to your existence, nor can you prevent your aging and death. This is while you are complete in body and mind; how can you bring yourself into existence from non-existence in the first place? So, the third option remains: that you were brought into existence by something outside of you.
You will say: "I was created from my father and my mother's egg." Alright, what caused this cause? You will say: "You will end up with Adam whom God created, and I will say to you: rather, a cell evolved, and we will not agree..."
No, no, no! Wait. Whatever the explanation for the origin of the human race, in the end, the series must stop at a certain point, even if we disagree on this specific point. But there must be this point: (the starting point). Causes cannot be sequential to infinity; this is impossible.
The Impossibility of Infinite Causation
Why is it impossible to have a sequence without a beginning? "I do not accept this statement." This is your problem: you do not accept the self-evident intellectual premises that do not need proof.
The sequence is impossible because it means that nothing happens in the end. How? Why does the sequence lead to nothing happening?
I will give you an example that illustrates why: imagine that we have a prisoner who has been sentenced to be released. The soldier guarding this prisoner said: I will not release him until my commander orders me to. His commander said: I cannot order that until my commander orders me. The commander of the commander said the same thing... to infinity, then this prisoner cannot be released. If we find that he has been released, then we know for certain that the chain stopped at a certain point: at the one who ordered his release without waiting for an order from others.
If you see dominoes falling one after another, and you know that each stone does not fall until the one before it falls, then you know for certain that there is someone who moved the first stone, and you cannot say: there is no beginning to their fall.
And exactly in our case: if beings exist only because of something before them and so on... to infinity, then they would not exist at all. But beings do exist, so this indicates that the chain of causes was broken; it stopped at a first cause that has no cause before it for its existence.
This first cause, either its existence is preceded by non-existence, or it is not preceded by non-existence. If it is preceded by non-existence, it would need a cause to bring it from non-existence to existence, and we have proven that there is no cause before it.
It remains that this cause is not preceded by non-existence but is eternal: with no beginning, self-existent: existing by itself, not needing anything else to bring it into existence.
Let's return to the verses: what applies to you, O mankind, applies to the heavens and the earth. It is not the human race that brought the heavens and the earth into existence after their non-existence, nor did they bring themselves into existence, nor was it non-existence that brought them into existence; so they must have a Creator.
From the First Cause to the Attributes of God
The skeptic may say: Alright, even if we grant that there must be a cause - let's call it the first cause for example - why do you name it (God) and attribute many qualities to it?
The answer: Because what we have proven in the previous discussion is not only that there is a first cause, but the creation of this cause indicates that it is characterized by power, life, and will: for if it were not alive, it would not have given life to creatures, for the one who lacks something does not give it. By its will, it willed to bring creation into existence, and by its power, it executed its will.
And when we come to explain His perfection in creation and the details of this creation, we will see that they indicate other attributes as well: such as lordship, knowledge, wisdom, mercy, greatness, sovereignty, and others... simply, this Creator -with these attributes- is the one named in the Islamic system as (God).
Conclusion of the Rational Evidence for the Existence of God
Therefore, faith in the existence of God is not just an emotional, submissive issue, but an evidential, inferential, intellectual issue, in addition to it being an innate issue as we explained in the series (The Innate Evidence for the Existence of God).
Our belief in the existence of God stems from deriving certain knowledge from the necessary premises. We do not say: we do not know who initiated the universe, so we assume the existence of God to solve that, no. Rather, we say: the necessary rational inference indicates that the universe must have an eternal Creator who has no creator, and some of the attributes of this Creator as well.
And we do not say: we found the series of causes continuing to infinity, so we wanted to put an end to it, so we assumed the existence of God out of laziness to think... no. Rather, our inference is based on the impossibility of the sequence of causes to infinity; because its necessary result is the non-existence of existence in the first place, which contradicts perception and reason.
And when the atheist says: science may reveal -in the future- the cause of life, we say: whatever science discovers, it will not reveal that non-existence created life, or that life created itself, or that the cause of life is sequential to infinity. Science does not reveal what contradicts these intellectual axioms; because the negation of intellectual axioms leads -in essence- to the negation of experimental science as we explained in the fifth episode.
Conclusion
In the next episode, we will answer the question: Alright, if God created creation, then who created God?
Peace be upon you and the mercy of God.