Proof of the existence of Allah

 

Assertion:-

Islam, Surrender to Allah, is based wholly on the assumption that Allah as described in the Quran exists. But there is no scientific proof for the existence of Allah. Therefore….

Comment:-

Do we need "scientific proof" for the existence of Allah? You are making the belief in Allah dependent on your belief in the validity of "science"? Why? Is science prior to Reality or is Reality prior to science?

Let us go a step further and ask: what is the proof of the validity of science? Is it not that it should conform to Reality? Or rather that it conforms to our experience and perception of Reality? But to a large extent it is science itself that produces our perception of Reality. There is a vicious circle here.

The Islamic position is deeper than that. It is that Allah has created the Universe. It is Allah who is the fundamental Absolute Reality and that what we call Reality, the created world to which science must conform, must itself conform to Allah. Existence is not static but changes and has a direction of change. It consists of facts as well as values and meanings. We have three circles:- Science, S, is dependant on and describes a small part of Existence, E, which is dependent on and describes a small part of Allah, A. However, E is a manifestation of A, and in so far as S is a product of human faculties that arise from and in adjustment to E, S is a manifestation of E, and ultimately of A. The proof of Science is the real, and the proof of the Real is Allah.

Do you need proof that you exist? Or that you are conscious? Or that the Universe of which you are part exists? Or that there are causes for things existing? Or that things that exist produce manifestations - i.e. they demonstrate their existence? There are "self-evident truths" that cannot be reduced to anything else and there are truths built into our own nature and faculties in so far as we are part of Reality and have to adjust to it outwardly and inwardly .

Knowledge requires:- (a) That something should exist. (b) That it should have affects on us and other things. (c) That we have the capacity to be aware of it. (d) That we place attention on it, and this depends on motives. (e) That we have appropriate instruments and techniques (f) That we have an appropriate conceptual system. (g) That we have a Frame of Reference within which the data is interpreted and organised. As knowledge advances the understanding of this framework needs to be modified.

For Muslims the evidence for the existence of Allah is all around us. We only need to look and become aware. It is a question of seeing the wholeness of existence rather than having fixations on things in isolation.

"Verily, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, and in the ship that sail the seas with that which profits mankind, and in the rain which Allah sends down from heaven and quickens therewith the earth after its death, and spreads abroad therein all kinds of animals, and in the shifting of the winds, and in the clouds that are pressed into service betwixt heaven and earth, are signs for people who can understand." 2:164

"He it is who made you spring from one soul, and gave you a settlement and a depository (or a temporary and a permanent residence). Now have We detailed the signs unto a people who have discerning. He it is who sends down rain from the heavens; and We bring forth therewith growths of all kinds; and We bring forth there from green crops, from which We bring forth grain in full ear; and the palm, from its sheathes come clusters of dates within reach; and gardens of grapes and olives and pomegranates, alike and unlike; - behold its fruit when it fruits and ripens! Verily, in that you have a sign for the people who believe." 6:99-100

The signs of Allah (Ayat) are not only the phenomena in the world, but also within us and in the revelation of the scriptures and the guidance of Prophets.

"Vision comprehends Him not, but He comprehends all vision, for He is the Subtle, the Aware. Now has insight (or proof) come unto you from your Lord, and he who sees therewith it is for his own good; but he who is blind thereto, it is against his own soul. And I am not your keeper. Thus do We expound Our Signs in various ways, that they may say: You have studied, and that We may make clear to those who have knowledge." 6:104-106

"O children of Adam! Verily, there will come to you Messengers from amongst you, narrating unto you My Signs; then whoever fears Allah (refrains from evil) and does what is right (makes amends), there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve." 7:35

"We will soon show them Our signs on the horizons and within themselves, until it become manifest unto them that it is the truth. Is not your Lord sufficient , since He is Witness over all things? What! Are they still in doubt about the meeting with their Lord? What! Does He not encompass (surround and penetrate) all things?" 41:53-54

Science is a progressive study and discovery of what is real and is, therefore, incomplete at any given time. Its nature and progress is dependent on human faculties, their power and limitations and the direction of its enquiry depends on human motives. It assumes that there is an Objective Reality "OR" which is different from the image in the mind, the Subjective Reality "SR" and tries to make "SR" correspond to "OR".

All proof depends on the existence of certain assumptions that are taken for granted and the proof is an explanation in terms of that assumption. It has three aspects:-

(a) The fundamental Assumption, A. (b) The thing (of which we are uncertain) that is to be proved, T. (c) The process of proof P. This consists of showing that T fits in a self-consistent non-contradictory manner with A.

For Islam, the fundamental Assumption is Allah.

In order to know things fully, we need to know (1) their characteristics, (ii) how they behave, (iii) what forces and processes operate in them (iv) what they consist of, (v) what their parts are (vi) how the parts are related to each other and (vii) to the whole, (viii) what their relationship is with other things, (ix) how they came to be (x) how they fit into the scheme of all things.

A distinction can be made between several levels of existence, each of which depends on the next more fundamental underlying one, and knowledge is not complete until things are linked through these levels to the source of existence:-

(1) The observed phenomena, the objects and events.

(2) The various classes or families to which things belong.

(3) The substances of which things are composed.

(4) The forces behind the phenomena and the Laws they obey. These create a field of potentialities in which actuality arises as a subset.

(5) The systems to which things belong and their function in them.

(6) The Principles behind the Laws. These must also give rise to the kind of notions by which we apprehend things. Different sets of concepts would give us different kinds of reality or different views of reality.

(7) The fundamental nature of existence that gives rise to those Principles.

(8) The Absolute Source.

Question:-

It is asserted that one can prove logically Allah does not exist by questions such as "Can Allah create a stone that he cannot lift?" He cannot be Almighty if he cannot or can. How would you answer that?

Comment:-

The Question is meaningless, gobbledygook, because by definition Allah is Almighty.

A Critic:-

It is not meaningless. On the contrary it has a very clear meaning.

Comment:-

Here we see the difference between the two attitudes mentioned before between those who base themselves on verbal logic and those who base themselves on perception.

In fact, the difference shows that there is a difference of perception as to what has meaning and what has not. Therefore, perception is much more basic than logic and transcends it.

For the logician the statement has meaning for Muslims who accept the Quran it cannot have meaning:-

Put the statement in the form:-

Either "Allah cannot create a stone that He cannot lift."

Or "Allah can create a stone that He cannot lift."

For Muslims Allah, as described in the Quran, is Almighty, who can do as He likes. Therefore, the statement "Allah cannot create..." is a self-contradiction. It does not make sense. And "Allah cannot lift…" is also a self-contradiction. It does not make sense.

Both answers, if Allah cannot create or if He cannot lift imply that Allah is not Almighty. The question, therefore, is not a question at all. It is based on a pre-assumption which re-appears in the answer.

But there could also be another answer: "Allah can create or lift as He wills." That is: it is not a question of either/or, we recognise that a third factor, namely conditions, determine the relationship between any two things. This allows a range of things to exist. "A has a relationship B to C under condition D". This I believe to be much more compatible with Islam and should be the basis of Islamic Logic. However in the case of Allah, there is no distinctions, His Will defines everything.

As it is, the spurious argument has the same form as:-

"Verbal statements are lies?"

If this statement is true then it is a lie, because it is also a statement. If the statement is a lie then it is true, because what it says is false.

Logic gets into vicious circles when dealing with Absolutes. It can only deal with limited things such as "Some verbal statements are lies."

Ultimately it is a question of perception whether or not all this is understood.

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