Does God Exist?(And how do we know?)

Camp UK – August 2016Amina Inloes

Warm-up: Does God exist?With a partner, debate the existence of God.

Jot down the arguments you both used.

Share your arguments.

How can we know about God?Logic and reason What we hear Intuition or

experience

Which is most important to you?What are the advantages and disadvantages of these?BBC The Big Question: Which of the 3 approaches is this woman (at 40 minutes) using?

Is it convincing? Why or why not?

Rational arguments in the Qur’an and hadith (selected)

• Argument from design• First cause• Inner nature (fitrah)• “Pascal’s Wager”

• “But none will grasp the message except those with intellect.” (Qur’an 2:269)

• “We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth.” (41:53)

• “Have they not pondered upon themselves? Allah created not the heavens and the earth, and that which is between them, save with truth and for a destined end.” (30:8)

• “And if you obey most of those in the earth, they will lead you astray from Allah's way; they follow but conjecture and they do but guess.” (6:116) 

• “And they will say, ‘Had we listened or applied reason, we would not have been among the inmates of the Blaze.” (67:10)

Rational arguments in the Qur’an and hadith (selected)

• Argument from design• First cause• Inner nature (fitrah)• “Pascal’s Wager”

• “The intellect is the messenger of the truth.” – Imam ‘Ali (A)

• “Allah has two authoritative proofs over people: a manifest proof and an inward proof. The manifest proof is represented by the prophets and messengers and Imams – peace be upon all of them –and the inward proof is represented by the intellect.” – Imam al-Kazim (A)

• “Allah has only sent prophets and messengers to Allah’s servants in order that they may come to an understanding of Allah, so the ones who best heed their call are those who have the best inner knowledge, and the ones who know Allah’s command the best are those that have the best intellects, and those that have the most perfect intellects will be the ones with the highest status in this world and in the Hereafter.” – Imam al-Kazim (A)

Argument from designIn the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day, and the ships that run in the sea with that which profits people, and the water that Allah sends down from the clouds, then gives life with it to the earth after its death and spreads in it all (kinds of) animals, and the changing of the winds and the clouds made subservient between the heaven and the earth, there are signs for a people who understand. (2:164) O people! A parable is set forth, therefore listen to it.

Those whom you call upon besides Allah cannot create a fly, though they should all gather for it, and should the fly snatch away anything from them, they could not take it back from it. Weak are the invoker and the invoked. (22:73)

If the truth followed their own whims, the heavens and the earth and all between them would surely have fallen into ruin. From this reminder, they turn away. (23:71)

Imam al-Sadiq (A) said, “If you saw a single door [on its own], from what normally comprises a pair [of doors], with a protruding attachment, would you ever imagine that this [single door with a protrusion] was created in such a way without purpose? Rather you would certainly know that it was made in such a way to connect with another part... In the same way you find a male animal as if he is part of a pair equipped for its female partner, and they unite in order to procreate and carry on. Destroyed, defeated and wretched are the claimants of [atheist] philosophy. How did their hearts get blinded from this wonderful creation so as to deny the organization and purpose in it?”

Imam al-Sadiq (A) was asked by al-Mufaddal, ‘O my master, there is a group of people that claim that this [creation] is the doing of nature [itself]’.

The Imam said, ‘Ask them about this nature, does it have knowledge and power to carry out such actions [as creation] or not? For if they answer that it has knowledge and power, then what is preventing them from acknowledging the existence of a creator? – for verily this is His creation. If they claim that nature does these actions without knowledge or without purpose while having witnessed the exactness and wisdom therein, it is [obviously] known that this is the work of a very wise creator, and what they have called ‘nature’ is the very system running through creation.’

In The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware. Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, and support them as they grow, sharing nutrients with those who are sick or struggling and creating an ecosystem that mitigates the impact of extremes of heat and cold for the whole group. As a result of such interactions, trees in a family or community are protected and can live to be very old. In contrast, solitary trees, like street kids, have a tough time of it and in most cases die much earlier than those in a group.

Drawing on groundbreaking new discoveries, Wohlleben presents the science behind the secret and previously unknown life of trees and their communication abilities; he describes how these discoveries have informed his own practices in the forest around him. As he says, a happy forest is a healthy forest, and he believes that eco-friendly practices not only are economically sustainable but also benefit the health of our planet and the mental and physical health of all who live on Earth.

Interlude – Is this design?

First Cause (or a Creator)

أم خلقوا من غير شيء أم هم الخالقون أم خلقوا ماوات واألرض بل الk يوقنون kالس

“Were they created by nothing, or were they themselves the creators? Or did they create the Heavens and the earth? Nay, they have no firm belief” (53: 35-36)

1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause.2. The Universe began to exist.3. Therefore, the Universe had a cause.

Did the universe have a beginning?

Creator of the heavens and the earth from nothingness, He has only to say when He wills a thing, “Be,” and it is. (2:117)

Do they not reflect within themselves: Allah did not create the heavens and the earth and what is between them two but with truth, and (for) an appointed term? And most surely most of the people are deniers of the meeting of their Lord. (3:8)

Had there been in heaven or on earth any deities other than God, both [the heaven and earth] would surely have fallen into ruin. But limitless in His glory is God, enthroned in His awesome almightiness far above anything that people may devise. (21:22)

Does God Exist? The Cosmological Argument

Imam al-Baqir (A) was asked by a scholar from Damascus, ‘So, the thing, did He create it from something else or from nothing?’ The Imam replied, ‘He created a thing whereby nothing existed before it. Were He to have created from something then there would be infinite regress and there would always have been something existing alongside Allah when in actual fact Allah existed when nothing else was in existence.Imam al-Sadiq (A) when asked by Abu Shakir al-Daysani, ‘What is the proof that you have a creator?’ The Imam (A) answered, ‘I found within myself that there can only be one of two possibilities, that either I was the one who created my own self or that someone other than me created me, so if I created myself, then that can only mean one of two possibilities, either I created myself and I was in existence beforehand or I created myself from non-existence, so if I created myself and I was already in existence beforehand, then I was free of any need to be created by the fact that I already existed. If I was in non-existence then surely you know that non-existence cannot bring about anything into existence. Thus, the third meaning affirms that I have a creator and He is Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.’ Abu Shakir had no response, so he stood up and left.

Human nature (fitrah)ال عليها kاس الن فطر kتي ال kه الل فطرة حنيفا للدين وجهك فأقم

يعلمون ال kاس الن أكثر kولكن م القي الدين ذلك kه الل لخلق .تبديل

So set your face purely to the din – the nature which Allah created humanity upon. There is no change in Allah’s creation. That is the right din, but most people do not know. (30:30)kتهم وأشهدهم على ي ك من بني آدم من ظهورهم ذر وإذ أخذ رب

كم قالوا بلى شهدنا أن تقولوا يوم �أنفسهم ألست برب � � kما أشرك آباؤنا kا عن هذا غافلين * أو تقولوا إن kا كن القيامة إن

kة من بعدهم أفتهلكنا بما فعل المبطلون ي kا ذر �من قبل وكن

When your Lord drew forth from the Children of Adam – from their loins – their descendants, and made them testify concerning themselves “am I not your Lord?”, they said “Yes! We do testify!” – lest you should say on the Day of Judgment “we were not mindful of this.” Or lest you should say “our fathers before us took false gods, and we are their descendants; will You destroy us because of what they did in falsehood” (7:172-3)

Every newborn is born with the inner nature that Allah gives it - that is, inner knowledge that affirms that Allah created it. This is meaning of Allah's words: "If you ask them who created the heavens and the earth, they will surely say, Allah.“ – Prophet Muhammad (S)

A Christian view

The “God-shaped hole”

This is what it is here for.

This is what it can do.vs

.

Purpose

CausalityFixed moral codePeople create

artifactsSupernatural beings create natural things

When a wave like mountains covers them they call upon Allah, being sincere to Allah in obedience, but when Allah brings them safe to the land, some halt. Only ungrateful betrayers deny Our signs. (31:32)Aspects of human nature

(fitrah)

Are there atheists on a sinking ship?

“Pascal’s Wager”

Humans all bet with their lives either that God exists or that he does not. A rational person should live as though God exists and seek to believe in God. If God does not actually exist, such a person will have only a finite loss,, whereas they stand to receive infinite gain and avoid infinite loss.

1.God is, or God is not. Reason cannot decide between the two alternatives.

2.A Game is being played... where heads or tails will turn up.

3.You must wager (it is not optional).4.Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering

that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing.

5.Wager, then, without hesitation that He is. (...) There is here an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain, a chance of gain against a finite number of chances of loss, and what you stake is finite. And so our proposition is of infinite force, when there is the finite to stake in a game where there are equal risks of gain and of loss, and the infinite to gain.

6.But some cannot believe. They should then 'at least learn your inability to believe...' and 'Endeavour then to convince' themselves.

Imam al-Sadiq (A) said to ‘Abd al-Karim ibn Abi al-‘Ajwaa’, who denied the creation and end [of the universe]: ‘If it is as you say – and, of course, it is not – then both of us will be saved. However, if it is as we say – which, of course, is the truth – then we will be saved, and you will be destroyed.’ Then ‘Abd al-Karim turned to his disciples and said, ‘My heart is anguished and anxious, so take me from here,’ so they took him away, and he soon died.

Discussion• Are these arguments convincing?• What are the advantages and

disadvantages of them?• Is believing in these arguments the

same as having faith? Can you reject these arguments and believe in God?• Can you use scientific/material

arguments to prove God or spiritual realities? Should you?• Can you test prayer? Should you? Have

you? Are there aspects of prayer that can’t be quantified?

Miracles• “Then do they not reflect upon the Qur'an? If it had been from other than Allah , they would have found within it much contradiction.” (4:82)

• “Say: If all mankind and the jinn would come together to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce its like even though they exerted all and their strength in aiding one another.” (17:88)

• Story of Moses, the Pharaoh, and the Pharaoh’s magicians

• Jesus

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• They swear by Allah with the strongest of their oaths, that if a sign came to them they would most certainly believe. Say: “Signs are only with Allah. How can you be certain that when it comes, they will not believe?”

• The parting of the Red Sea and the golden calf (Qur’an 2:47-61)

Are miracles effective proofs of God? Why or why not?

Fate?

Spiritual experiences and intuition?

Imam ‘Ali said in reply to Dha‘lab’s question about his being able to see his Lord, ‘Woe to you O Dha‘lab! I do not worship a Lord Whom I cannot see!’ So Dha‘lab asked, ‘But how do you see Allah? Describe Allah to us.’ The Imam (A) replied, ‘Woe betide you! Eyes do not see Allah by sight; it is the hearts that behold Allah with the realities of faith.’

‘When I was taken on my Night Journey to the heavens, Gabriel took me up until a place wherein he himself had never set foot. The veils were pulled away for me and Allah, Mighty and Exalted, showed me whatever He liked from the light of His Greatness.’ – the Prophet (S)

‘Verily Allah, Blessed and most High, displayed to His Prophet in his heart, whatever He liked from the light of His Greatness.’ – Imam al-‘Askari (A)