islam for beginners| part one | 2-the prophets and reason

A series of introductions to Islam through several articles accompanied by video clips.

Nov 30, -0001 - 00:00
Jul 22, 2021 - 22:02
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In the previous article, we have discussed how the mind perceives the existence of God, and we concluded that the human mind will easily accept His existence when it frees itself from all biases. Moreover, we established that with careful examination, it will deduct that the whole universe wouldn’t have existed without the existence of God.

 

As a quick reminder, let’s go through some of the facts that have been mentioned previously:

Everything around us is either eternal and infinite or created which means that it started at some point in time. The first hypothesis is rejected by both reality and science. As far as reality goes, we know that everything around us has a beginning and an end, unlike eternity that has no beginning. The latter, on the other hand, supports the idea that matter can be traced back to more than 13 billion years ago. Consequently, this universe isn’t eternal, which leaves us with the choice that the universe was created at a given point in time.

 

Material things need a reason or an agent to exist. This reason either needs or doesn’t need another cause for it to exist, which is a sequence of causes or reasons that will have us go in circles without reaching a real conclusion. It also means that the universe wouldn’t exist in the first place. Because the universe does exist, the idea of the infinite sequence of creators becomes irrational, for it contradicts reality as the universe already exists.

 

Hence, the only proposition we are left with is that God is the uncreated Creator and is the uncaused cause of all things. God’s self-existence is attributed to the fact that He is not a part of this universe; it is not made up of energy and matter, like all other creatures that need a creator and a reason, for Him to exist.

 

God (also known as Allah in Islam) is the creator of the universe but isn’t a part of it, so He needs no other creator to exist.

Someone might wonder why God isn’t a part of the universe. The answer is, if He were a part of it, He would need another creator, and His creator would need another one, and so forth.

Why? Because those creators are a part of the universe and subject to its laws which would lead us to an infinite regress as previously mentioned.

 

To explain the idea of infinite regress, let’s use this example. If a soldier opens fire, and he acts per the order of his superior, and the superior acts on the command of his superior, and so on. Suppose there is an unlimited number of commanders, the soldier would never receive the order to shoot. Since the soldier has been able to take any action, then there is only one commander who gave the order. This shows why this limitless sequence of creators goes against logic.

 

The Creator of this universe, Who formed it according to meticulous biological, chemical, and physical laws, is wise and all-knowing. It is nonsensical to think that He who created this flawless system would let humans live aimlessly, to have fun, die, and turn into nothingness, just like animals.

This goes against sound judgment, therefore; the human mind will always look for this ultimate goal for which it was created. The absence of purpose would mean no measures.

Yes, it would mean that there are no measures as we wouldn’t know right from wrong. We would have no moral or ethical codes, as we don’t have a divine source of guidance.

This would leave us to the flawed human sources that depend on biases, interests, desires, and prejudices. In fact, we would go about our lives feeling lost which would be favored by some due to modern civilization and rejected by some for other reasons.

Hence, we need to have a divine and holy insight to lead a better life and regulate our moral codes. This insight is the revelationthat is sent by God through his prophets.

 

Islam has a solid rational system that does not contradict logic. It is true that there are matters that go beyond human knowledge and awareness, nevertheless, they don’t oppose reason. The human mind is the creation of Allah Whose message can’t oppose his creation. Reflect carefully on God’s words “His is the creation and the command” (7:54) We are His creation, and the revelation is his will. Both His creation and His will go hand in hand since they are from the same source. He says “Does He who created not know, while he is the Kind, the All-Knowing? (67:14)

So how do we recognize those prophets, and how can we tell the true prophets and the deceitful ones apart? This is what will be discussed in the next article.

 

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دكتور/ عبدالله رشدى باحث في شؤون الأديان والمذاهب بالأزهر الشريف، والمتحدث الإعلامي السابق باسم وزارة الأوقاف.