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Proving The Existence Of God to an Atheist
Congratulating an Atheist
Normally, when I meet an atheist, the first thing I like to do is to congratulate him and say, ” My special congratulations to you”, because most of the people who believe in God are doing blind belief – he is a Christian, because his father is a Christian; he is a Hindu, because his father is a Hindu; the majority of the people in the world are blindly following the religion of their fathers.
An atheist, on the other hand, even though he may belong to a religious family, uses his intellect to deny the existence of God; what ever concept or qualities of God he may have learnt in his religion may not seem to be logical to him.
My Muslim brothers may question me, “Zakir, why are you congratulating an atheist?” The reason that I am congratulating an atheist is because he agrees with the first part of the Shahada i.e. the Islamic Creed, ‘La ilaaha’ – meaning ‘there is no God’. So half my job is already done; now the only part left is ‘il lallah’ i.e. ‘BUT ALLAH’ which I shall do Insha Allah. With others (who are not atheists) I have to first remove from their minds the wrong concept of God they may have and then put the correct concept of one true God.
Logical concept of God
My first question to the atheist will be: “What is the definition of God?” For a person to say there is no God, he should know what is the meaning of God. If I hold a book and say that ‘this is a pen’, for the opposite person to say, ‘it is not a pen’, he should know what is the definition of a pen, even if he does not know nor is able to recognise or identify the object I am holding in my hand. For him to say this is not a pen, he should at least know what a pen means. Similarly for an atheist to say ‘there is no God’, he should at least know the concept of God. His concept of God would be derived from the surroundings in which he lives. The god that a large number of people worship has got human qualities – therefore he does not believe in such a god. Similarly a Muslim too does not and should not believe in such false gods.
If a non-Muslim believes that Islam is a merciless religion with something to do with terrorism; a religion which does not give rights to women; a religion which contradicts science; in his limited sense that non-Muslim is correct to reject such Islam. The problem is he has a wrong picture of Islam. Even I reject such a false picture of Islam, but at the same time, it becomes my duty as a Muslim to present the correct picture of Islam to that non-Muslim i.e. Islam is a merciful religion, it gives equal rights to the women, it is not incompatible with logic, reason and science; if I present the correct facts about Islam, that non-Muslim may Inshallah accept Islam.
Similarly the atheist rejects the false gods and the duty of every Muslim is to present the correct concept of God which he shall Insha Allah not refuse.
Quran and Modern Science
Many atheists demand a scientific proof for the existence of God. I agree that today is the age of science and technology. Let us use scientific knowledge to kill two birds with one stone, i.e. to prove the existence of God and simultaneously prove that the Quran is a revelation of God.
If a new object or a machine, which no one in the world has ever seen or heard of before, is shown to an atheist or any person and then a question is asked, ” Who is the first person who will be able to provide details of the mechanism of this unknown object? After little bit of thinking, he will reply, ‘the creator of that object.’ Some may say ‘the producer’ while others may say ‘the manufacturer.’ What ever answer the person gives, keep it in your mind, the answer will always be either the creator, the producer, the manufacturer or some what of the same meaning, i.e. the person who has made it or created it. Don’t grapple with words, whatever answer he gives, the meaning will be same, therefore accept it.
Theory of Probability
In mathematics there is a theory known as ‘Theory of Probability’. If you have two options, out of which one is right, and one is wrong, the chances that you will chose the right one is half, i.e. one out of the two will be correct. You have 50% chances of being correct. Similarly if you toss a coin the chances that your guess will be correct is 50% (1 out of 2) i.e. 1/2. If you toss a coin the second time, the chances that you will be correct in the second toss is again 50% i.e. half. But the chances that you will be correct in both the tosses is half multiplied by half (1/2 x 1/2) which is equal to 1/4 i.e. 50% of 50% which is equal to 25%. If you toss a coin the third time, chances that you will be correct all three times is (1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2) that is 1/8 or 50% of 50% of 50% that is 12½%.
A dice has got six sides. If you throw a dice and guess any number between 1 to 6, the chances that your guess will be correct is 1/6. If you throw the dice the second time, the chances that your guess will be correct in both the throws is (1/6 x 1/6) which is equal to 1/36. If you throw the dice the third time, the chances that all your three guesses are correct is (1/6 x 1/6 x 1/6) is equal to 1/216 that is less than 0.5 %.
Let us apply this theory of probability to the Quran, and assume that a person has guessed all the information that is mentioned in the Quran which was unknown at that time. Let us discuss the probability of all the guesses being simultaneously correct.
At the time when the Quran was revealed, people thought the world was flat, there are several other options for the shape of the earth. It could be triangular, it could be quadrangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, heptagonal, octagonal, spherical, etc. Lets assume there are about 30 different options for the shape of the earth. The Quran rightly says it is spherical, if it was a guess the chances of the guess being correct is 1/30.
The light of the moon can be its own light or a reflected light. The Quran rightly says it is a reflected light. If it is a guess, the chances that it will be correct is 1/2 and the probability that both the guesses i.e the earth is spherical and the light of the moon is reflected light is 1/30 x 1/2 = 1/60.
Further, the Quran also mentions every living thing is made of water. Every living thing can be made up of either wood, stone, copper, aluminum, steel, silver, gold, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, oil, water, cement, concrete, etc. The options are say about 10,000. The Quran rightly says that everything is made up of water. If it is a guess, the chances that it will be correct is 1/10,000 and the probability of all the three guesses i.e. the earth is spherical, light of moon is reflected light and everything is created from water being correct is 1/30 x 1/2 x 1/10,000 = 1/60,000 which is equal to about .0017%.
The Quran speaks about hundreds of things that were not known to men at the time of its revelation. Only in three options the result is .0017%. I leave it upto you, to work out the probability if all the hundreds of the unknown facts were guesses, the chances of all of them being correct guesses simultaneously and there being not a single wrong guess. It is beyond human capacity to make all correct guesses without a single mistake, which itself is sufficient to prove to a logical person that the origin of the Quran is Divine.
Creator Is The Author Of The Quran
The only logical answer to the question as to who could have mentioned all these scientific facts 1400 years ago before they were discovered, is exactly the same answer initially given by the atheist or any person, to the question who will be the first person who will be able to tell the mechanism of the unknown object. It is the ‘CREATOR’, the producer, the Manufacturer of the whole universe and its contents. In the English language He is ‘God’, or more appropriate in the Arabic language, ‘ALLAH’.
Quran is a book of Signs not Science
Let me remind you that the Quran is not a book of Science, ‘S-C-I-E-N-C-E’ but a book of Signs ‘S-I-G-N-S’ i.e. a book of ayaats. The Quran contains more than 6,000 ayaats, i.e. ‘signs’, out of which more than a thousand speak about Science. I am not trying to prove that the Quran is the word of God using scientific knowledge as a yard stick because any yardstick is supposed to be more superior than what is being checked or verified. For us Muslims the Quran is the Furqan i.e. criteria to judge right from wrong and the ultimate yardstick which is more superior to scientific knowledge.
But for an educated man who is an atheist, scientific knowledge is the ultimate test which he believes in. We do know that science many a times takes ‘U’ turns, therefore I have restricted the examples only to scientific facts which have sufficient proof and evidence and not scientific theories based on assumptions. Using the ultimate yardstick of the atheist, I am trying to prove to him that the Quran is the word of God and it contains the scientific knowledge which is his yardstick which was discovered recently, while the Quran was revealed 1400 year ago. At the end of the discussion, we both come to the same conclusion that God though superior to science, is not incompatible with it.
Science Is Eliminating Models Of God But Not God
Francis Bacon, the famous philosopher, has rightly said that a little knowledge of science makes man an atheist, but an in-depth study of science makes him a believer in God. Scientists today are eliminating models of God, but they are not eliminating God. If you translate this into Arabic, it is La illaha illal la, There is no god, (god with a small ‘g’ that is fake god) but God (with a capital ‘G’).
“Soon We will show them our signs in the (farthest) regions (of the earth), and in their own souls, until it becomes manifest to them that this is the Truth. Is it not enough that thy Lord doth witness all things?” [The Holy Quran Verse:41 Chapter:53]
– Dr. Zakir Naik
Source: Do You Know?
beautiful. jazak Allah khair brother!
It’s impossible to prove the existence of any god. God is just another word for magic. It’s fair to say there’s no magic in the universe because magic is a childish idiotic idea. There’s no evidence for magic and of course it’s impossible.
“A theologian is a person who uses the word ‘God’ to hide his ignorance.”
— Lemuel K. Washburn
Islam is good for nothing but producing suicide bombers.
“The Quran rightly says it is spherical”
Big deal. How hard was it to figure that out?
@bobxxxx
Say: “In whose hand is the dominion over everything, He who gives protection and from whom no protection can be given, if you have any knowledge?” They will say: “Allah’s.” Say: “So how have you been bewitched?” The fact is that We have given them the truth and they are liars. The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 23, Verses 84-90
In the above verse, God asks people, “So how have you been bewitched?” The word “bewitched” in the verse implies a state of mental numbness that takes control of people as a whole. An unthinking person’s mind is benumbed, his sight becomes fuzzy, he acts as if he does not see the facts before his eyes, and his faculty of judgement weakens. He becomes incapable of grasping even a plain truth.
One of the greatest ways in which people are deceived, however, is in their supposition that they can escape their responsibilities to their Lord by not thinking. This is the main reason why people do not think about death and life after death. If man thinks that he will die one day and remembers that there is an eternal life after death, he will necessarily have to strive strenuously for his life after death. He, however, deceives himself, supposing that he is saved from such responsibility when he does not think of the existence of the hereafter. This is a great self-deception, and if man does not attain the truth in this world by thinking, he will understand, with death, that there is no escape for him.
@bobxxxx
God created the universe to show the signs of His creation. However, the unbelievers cannot understand this fact since they do not have the ability to “see” this divine purpose. As the Qur’an expresses it:
“They have eyes with which they do not see.” The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 7, Verse 179. With their materialistic vision, they do not have the wisdom and comprehension to grasp this important reality. Believers are quite different from this “blind” category, because they realize and accept that the whole universe is created by God with a certain aim and wisdom. This belief is a first step of faith.
In the Islamic tradition, progress in faith is in three steps: being informed, seeing and experiencing. Seeing the signs of God and not being “blind” like the unbelievers, require a high degree of concentration. In the Qur’an, the believers are called to observe and notice the signs of God around them and this is only possible by being careful:
“See you the seed that you sow in the ground? Is it you that cause it to grow, or are We the Cause?” The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 56, Verses 63-64
“See you the water which you drink? Do ye bring it down (in rain) from the cloud or do We?” The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 56, Verses 68-69
And God states in another verse that the blind could not be held equal to the seeing and asks “Will you then consider not?” The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 6, Verse 50.
One should train oneself to recognize the signs of God and should always keep them in mind. Otherwise, the mind will start to wander, jumping from one topic to another, wasting time in thinking about useless things. This is a kind of unconsciousness; you cannot control your mind when you lose concentration in God. You cannot focus on a subject. Indeed, you cannot conceive the truth behind events, nor can you ever have the competence to affect the course they take. On the contrary, your mind is directed by stray happenings. You are “bewildered” all the time, which is not the attribute of the believer, but of the unbeliever.
Believers, on the other hand, are the ones who direct their minds better to perceive God, and who try in better ways to serve His religion.
Interesting post. One might take a shot at proving the existence of God by logic (usually heavily driven by faith, in this instance) but you can’t argue with the fact that there’s just NO empirical evidence of God’s existence.
Regarding your take on atheism, there’s a distinction between (a) lack of belief in God, and (b) believing that God does not exist. One might say that this is like splitting the hair, but it is an important distinction that many don’t recognize. Your definition of an atheist is restricted solely to (b).
On a lighter note – “What if God wanted me to be an atheist?” 😉
Asslamualaikum
Thank you for your thought provoking post, well done.
I respect an atheist more than a Munafik, however these people use their logic to prove that there is no God, or even God is evil.
If these people know basic physics, and understand the basic law of relativity and dimension, and time and space phenomena, then he has no choice but our knowledge and logic has limitation.
Allah (SWT) in Holy Quran stated that his real nature is beyond comprehension of human knowledge and the day we all understand will be the day of resurrection, then it will be too late for whoever to say Sha ha Da.
I fully agree with you that a genuine atheist is easier to revert to Islam than so many Munafq who we are seeing nowadays.
reagrds,
kyaw kyaw Oo ( a Burmese Muslim)