Questions of the nature of God, and the existence of Hell, Paradise, or
Angels, cause us some difficulty, because we cannot perceive them, one of
the criteria listed above. Is it possible to prove their existence despite our
non-perception of them? Let us start with the existence of God. As
outlined earlier the existence of God can be proven by contemplating upon
all known things, and deducing that they are all limited and dependant. The
sum of all limited and dependant things is limited or finite and all finite
things have a beginning and end. All finite things must have been created,
as an external force is required to move something into a state of existence.
All dependant things are not self-sustaining, they therefore require a force
to sustain them, and they do not exist of their own accord. The force we
have identified, through rational proof, we have called God or Allah. This
proof has come through examining all within our perception therefore
meets our limit of perception criteria. The fact that God is infinite and selfsubsistent,
and we cannot perceive Gods nature or description is not of
concern in proving Gods existence. And to spend time trying to perceive
what we cannot is counter productive and will not lead to ‘peace of mind’.
We have intellectually brought a convincing argument for the existence of
God. We must also examine if this agrees with mans nature. Man has
certain instincts and organic needs, the satisfaction of which he constantly
strives for. The organic needs are for food and drink, without which man
will die.
Instincts can be categorised as three: Survival or self preservation,
Procreation or sexual, and Religiousness. We can see clearly certain
manifestations or traits in man reflecting his desire to satisfy these instincts.
Thus man acquires goods and nice objects, likes to own property, wants a
job and income, can be greedy, and may save for the future, in attempting
to satisfy his instinct for survival. Similarly compassion, affection, love,
marriage, and sexual tendencies are expressions of the procreational
instinct in man. The desire to worship, sanctify, revere or approach
something of greater power or influence is part of man’s instinct of
religiousness.
In a highly material and secular world many would deny the instinct of
religiousness in man. The facts disagree with this opinion. Even in the
most avowed of atheist societies, such as Communist Russia, where the
creed of Communism denies the existence of a Creator we find busts and
statues of men prominently displayed in order to satisfy man’s desire to
look up to something greater than him. Man has gone in some societies
from the worship of the Creator to the worship of men like Lenin or Marx.
In the West the situation is no different with man often worshipping or
revering politicians, influential businessmen, celebrities, Royalty, or even
sports personalities. Such a situation of human worship is not ultimately
satisfying as all men are equally limited and dependant and man cannot
affect mans ultimate destiny. We see politicians and philosophers making
mistakes, businessmen at times failing, and no sportsman could alter his
destiny.
If man is to satisfy his instinct for religion he should only revere that which
has control over him, and to which he will ultimately return. To worship or
sanctify the relationship with God means man has a particular focus in life,
that of acknowledging his shortcomings, and seeking guidance for all
matters in life from the only source with absolute knowledge and
understanding. To worship only the Creator, the one with absolute
knowledge and control can be the only truly satisfying form of worship, in
full agreement with man’s instinct for religion. Worship or looking up to
other men or material things like money is intellectually weak and doesn’t
satisfy our instincts.
Whilst man may believe in the existence of God through use of his
instinctive emotions, this can be unreliable and dangerous as emotions
change and can add errors to one’s beliefs and actions. In history we see
many examples of men going far astray in believing fantasies or
superstitions, or attributing human qualities to God, talking of a son of
God, God reincarnate etc. all of which is false and can lead easily to
disbelief. For this reason it is obligatory for the Muslim to believe in the
existence of God not solely through instinctive emotion, but with use of
the mind. The believer must be intellectually convinced of the existence of
God or else emotions of belief could be adversely changed. Concepts
which people are convinced of will not change unless a stronger intellectual
argument is brought, so use of the mind is required for a lasting
understanding and belief.
"Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the
alteration of night and day, these are indeed signs for men of
understanding" (Qur’an 3:190)
The Qur’an includes hundreds of verses directing man to look and
contemplate deeply upon the universe and creation, to look at its
interrelationships, and attributes which guide one to belief in the Creator,
through use of the mind and ration.
"Lo in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference
of night and day, and the ships which run upon the sea with that
which is of use to men, and the water which Allah sends down from
the sky, thereby reviving the earth after its death, and dispersing all
kinds of beasts therein, and (in) the ordinance of the winds, and the
clouds obedient between heaven and earth: are signs (of Allah’s
sovereignty) for people who have sense." (Qur’an 2:164)
The existence of God we have covered using intellectual and instinctive
arguments and by utilising all evidences within our perception. From this
position we need to question the rest of the creed (aqeeda) and challenge
the correctness of its articles. We start by examining the question of divine
guidance. What has God given us, what is the mechanism for man to solve
his problems?
