Counter From Muslim

Question: Wouldn’t you love for someone to simply show you the evidence for Allah’s existence? No telling off. No statements of “You just have to believe.” Well, here is an attempt to candidly offer some of the reasons why you should believe Allah is our creator?

1. Everything we can sense has been designed and made..

Let’s talk about you for a little while. You are the most intelligent creature walking the planet. You have a brilliant brain and 5 amazing senses. Using all 5 you’re going to deduce the following: everything around you has been deliberately designed and created.

You can divide objects around you into 2 groups

Objects made by people
Living things, you see in nature
Let’s have a closer look at things made by people. How do you know if an object was made by a person (man-made)? For example, your phone or tablet. You know it was made because someone gave it a shape, decided how slim and shiny it would be and gave it a colour. You didn’t witness the whole design process or see the Chinese factory worker who assembled it but you know it all happened. If you took everything you sense i.e. music, perfume, YouTube videos, smoothies they are all made by someone and they all take time and effort: it’s undisputable.

1. The natural world has been precisely designed

Now, let’s turn our attention to living things in nature. So, who made them? Just like man-made objects, living things like you, sunflowers, cats, the moon have a size, shape and colour, they can grow but only to a certain height and then they stop. Living things all have a beginning and an end. You were born and one day you will die. Plants, animals, the sun, stars all have an end date. If you agree that a complex phone has a designer, then it makes sense to say an even more complex ‘object i.e the Sun or a spider also has a Creator. The Sun is like a giant nuclear engine. It gives off more energy in a single second than mankind has ever produced. It converts 8 million tons of matter into energy every single second, and has an interior temperature of more than 20 million degrees Celsius. Sometimes we find evidence in the animal kingdom. Take the golden orb spider for instance. Pound for pound, the dragline silk of this spider is five times stronger than steel, and is twice as strong as the material that currently makes up SWAT teams’ bulletproof vests. In fact, due to its amazing strength and elasticity, it has been said that you could trap a jumbo jet with spider silk that is the thickness of a pencil!

1. The Big Bang didn’t happen on its own

Scientists are convinced that our universe began with one enormous explosion of energy and light, which we now call the Big Bang. The Big Bang Theory states that 12-15 billion years ago, the universe came into existence from one extremely hot and dense point and something triggered the explosion of this point that brought about the beginning of the universe. The universe, since then, has been expanding from this single point.

Scientists have no explanation for the sudden explosion of light and matter. Yet, astonishingly well before telescopes were even invented, Prophet Muhammad (saw) used to recite a verse of the Quran to his companions that ultimately stated that the universe is expanding.
“And the heaven We created with might, and indeed We are (its) expander.”
Adh Dhariyat (51:47)
At the time of the revelation of the Quran, the word “space” was not known, and people used the word “heaven” to refer to what lies above the Earth. In the above verse, the word “heaven” is referring to space and the known universe. The verse points out that space, and thus the universe, happens to be expanding.

That the Quran mentioned such a fact centuries before the invention of the first telescope, at a time when there was primitive knowledge in science, is considered remarkable. This is more so considering that, like many people in his time, Prophet Muhammad (saw) was illiterate and simply could not have been aware of such facts by himself. He would only have known this because he had received divine revelation from the Creator and Originator of the universe.

It is also mentioned in the Quran: “He (God) is the Originator of the heavens and the earth…” Al Anam (6:101)

“Is not He who created the heavens and the earth able to create the likes of them? Yes; and He is the Knowing Creator. His command is only when He intends a thing that He says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.” Yasin (36:81-82)
The above verses describe how the universe had a beginning, that God was behind its creation, and all that God needs to do to create is to say “Be,” and it is. This is the explanation as to what triggered off the ‘Big Bang’ that brought about the beginning of the universe.

1. All living things are governed by fixed natural laws

The universe operates by uniform laws of nature. Much of life may seem uncertain, but look at what we can count on day after day: gravity is always there keeping us on the ground, a hot cup of tea left on a counter will get cold, the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening, and the speed of light doesn’t change — on earth or in galaxies far from us. How is it that we can identify laws of nature that never change? Why is the universe so orderly, so reliable?

We all need food, water, air, heat and sunlight to survive. We depend on these things but have no control over them. We’re not as self-sufficient as we think. Who is ensuring we get these necessities every day? You could say we’re a bit like a cute kitten that depends on its carer for milk and shelter. But who is beneficently taking care of our basic needs every day?

There are certain instincts that we share with animals, no one tells us we must have friends, we just crave company. As we get older we begin to find the opposite gender attractive and want to have a relationship. We have no control over how our bodies change during puberty. Who put those feelings, needs and desires inside us?

Humans are very clever, scientist can clone animals, transplant hearts, fertilize eggs in petri dishes, plastic surgeons can restructure your nose and give you a tummy tuck but they can only work with an existing human body, they can’t give life to a dead person or stop a person from dying. The complexity of the laws of nature point to a deliberate designer, Allah, who not only created us with needs, but then mercifully sustains and provides for us.

1. You don’t have to see your Creator to know He exists

Why can’t I see my Creator? That’s a good question. On the other hand, are there things you believe in but you can’t see? i.e. gravity, love, jealousy, you can only see the effects or results of them, but you can’t touch or feel them. You can think and reason the difference between us and animals is that we can understand things even if we can’t see them. An animal must see or sense danger and then it will react. We can understand something is dangerous even if we don’t see or experience it, right? So, if we see paintings without seeing the artist in action, would we deny the artist existed? In the same way, we can believe that Allah created everything without having to see Him (or touch, or hear, etc.). In an ideal world if we could see Allah then everyone would believe in Him and obey Him and there would be no atheists and everyone would be Muslim and live happily ever after in Jannah…. However, Allah in His wisdom has decided in this world we cannot see Him. When He created, us He gave us the free will and intelligence to either acknowledge the multitudes of signs that point to Him being the designer and creator of the universe or to deny His presence, as a test for mankind.

1. Allah encourages us to mindfully believe in Him

In the Quran Allah encourages us to use our minds and realise he has created the world around us.

Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding. Ali Imran (3:190)

And Allah has sent down rain from the sky and given life thereby to the earth after its lifelessness. Indeed, in that is a sign for a people who listen. An Nahl (16:65)

This is the creation of Allah. So, show Me what those other than Him have created. Rather, the wrongdoers are in clear error. Luqman (31: 11)

Or were they created by nothing? Or were they the creators [of themselves]? Or did they create the heavens and Earth? Rather, they are not certain. At Tur (52:35-36)

God creates what He wills for verily God has power over all things. An Nur (24:45)