Refutation
Critic:-
If Allah can do anything, he is not restrained by physics. He can do anything, even the impossible. He could create a square circle.
Since moral evil exists, obviously, and if Allah has no constraints and no limits then, since he has failed to use his powers to create a world without evil, he is responsible for all evil and is thus himself, evil.
Such considerations are why St. Thomas Aquinas and other Christian scholastic theologians have denied that God is unlimited.
Comment:-
Thomas Aquinas tried to adapt what he had learnt from Arab Muslims to Christianity but either failed to understand what they were saying or deliberately twisted the argument to support the Pauline doctrines of the Church that Jesus, a limited man, is God.
When speaking about Allah (rather than the Christian notion of God), He is the Absolute, the creator of all things, including what we call good and evil. Allah is Truth and Goodness and Beauty - these are His Attributes. The Old Testament and the Quran both affirm that all things Allah created were good. Evil, falsehood etc. are the absence of these Attributes. He also created Satan for a purpose. It is by overcoming temptations that development takes place just as exercises against weights cause muscles to grow.
Human beings judge things subjectively as good or evil according to whether it gives them pleasure or pain. These can also be seen as reward and punishment for right or wrong actions. But both lead to development because one attracts to a goal and the other repels from the opposite. They are, therefore, objectively good. We must not confuse human judgments with Allah's.
Allah is also the creator of all the Laws. It is these laws which limit, make things recognizable, regular and controllable when known, and make things possible or impossible. He is not subject to the Laws. He does things by His Will or Command. No limitations apply to His Will. We cannot, therefore, say this or that is impossible for Him, but only that such and such is His Will or is not His Will. It could be that He has created numerous other Universes where things are possible which are not possible here. This world is described by the laws that operate here. If other laws were to operate here then everything including creatures that arose would be different, but the creatures would be adapted mentally to those conditions.
Critic:-
Sir, I will explain simply for you:
1. Allah can either make an indestructible object or He cannot.
2. If he cannot, then obviously, He is not omnipotent
3. If he does, then he cannot destroy it and He is not omnipotent
Ergo Allah is not omnipotent.
Comment:-
Destructible and indestructible are abstract definitions. The question is who are they destructible or indestructible for. They are things, which have limits in time and space and cannot, therefore, be indestructible. But Allah who created them is self-existing and not destructible.
1. Allah can either make an indestructible object or He cannot.
2. If He can then He is omnipotent.
3. If He cannot then he is not Allah.
The fallacy in these purely logical arguments is that the terms used are established by definition and not observation.
According to Zeno, logic shows that a hare can never overtake a tortoise:- Because, when the hare has traversed the distance between it and the tortoise, A to B, the tortoise has also moved a bit further to C. When the hare covers this new distance B to C, the tortoise has moved still further to D. As there are infinite points, this goes on to infinity. Obviously, the reality is different from logic.
When speaking about Allah, the Creator, it is an obvious mistake to use ideas which refer to the created world. It is like trying to describe an experience by measurement or describing lengths in pints and so on. These are stupid arguments. Allah is not a thing limited by time and space.
Here are a few more argument to impress these silly people:-
A door half open is a door half closed. If we multiply the two sides of an equation by two the equation is still valid. Therefore, a door fully open is a door fully closed.
This river can be spanned by a 6 foot plank. Two 3 foot lengths equal a 6 foot length. Therefore, this gap can be spanned by two 3 foot planks. Why then do people fall through?
Drinking large quantities of whiskey and orange juice causes drunkenness. So does brandy and orange juice, rum and orange juice, vodka and orange juice. The common ingredient is orange juice. Therefore, orange juice is the cause of drunkenness.
This glass is half full, wonderful. Not at all, this glass is half empty, terrible.
But here is another argument for the discerning:-
Scientist:- According to Newton Laws of motion, changes in motion are caused by a force.
Questioner:- How do you know there is a force?
Scientist:- You measure it by the change in motion.
Questioner:- A is proof of B and B is proof of A?. The Questioner being a logician pulls out all his hair in frustration.
A Muslim:- We know Allah by His effects, the changes in the Universe and the Constancy.
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