"2- Beginning of the Universe"

If something has always existed it doesn’t need a creator.  In the first part of the 20th century some physicists held the view that the universe had always existed.  If the universe had always existed it wouldn’t need a creator.

However, according to Cosmology the universe had a beginning some 14 billion years ago with a cosmic event commonly known as the ‘Big Bang’[2].

Imagine you heard a loud bang, and you asked ‘where did that sound come from?’ Would you be satisfied with the answer that it came from ‘nothing’ and it ‘just happened?’ Of course not!  You would say ‘what was the cause of that loud bang?’ In the same way, rationally the ‘Big Bang’ must also have a cause that bought it about.  Now we can ask since the ‘Big Bang’ has a cause, what was the cause of that cause? Then we can ask, what was the cause of that cause? And so on and so on.  But this can’t go on forever and must end with a first cause, because of the following example:

Imagine a sniper who has just found his target and calls back to base to get permission to shoot.  The person at the base tells the sniper to hold on while they seek permission from someone else higher up.  So the guy higher up seeks permission from the guy even higher up and so on and so on.  If this goes on forever, will the sniper ever get to shoot the target?

The obvious answer is that he wouldn’t be able to shoot.  The only way the sniper can shoot is if someone gives permission without asking for anyone else’s permission.  That person would be the first cause of the sniper shooting.  In the same way, the Big Bang must have a first cause.

We can conclude that this first cause must be powerful as it brought the whole universe into existence, and it must be intelligent as it caused the ‘laws of science’ which govern the universe.  Also, this first cause must be timeless, spaceless and immaterial, because time, space and matter began at the ‘Big Bang’.  Finally, since it is uncaused it must have always existed.

All of these attributes of the first cause make up the basic concept of God.  God is the uncreated first cause of the universe.

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[2] Derek Raine, An Introduction to Science of Cosmology

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Reasons for one God "1- The Universe"

 

When we reflect upon the nature of our world, we see order everywhere from the water cycle to the movement of the earth around the sun.  Commenting on the order found in the universe, the physicist Stephen Hawking explains that the overwhelming impression ‘‘is one of order, the more we discover about the universe, the more we find that it is governed by rational laws.’’[1]  This observation is shared by the vast majority of scientists.

Since the universe has order and is governed by the ‘laws of science’, we should question how this order came about.  The most effective way to answer this question is to reason to the best conclusion.  Take your mobile phone for example, your phone is made of glass, plastic and metal.  Glass comes from sand, plastic comes from oil and metal is extracted from the ground.  Imagine you were walking in a desert (where there is lots of oil, sand and metals in the ground), and you found a mobile phone lying around.  Would you believe that it came together by itself? That the Sun shone, the wind blew, lightning struck, the oil bubbled to the surface and mixed with the sand and metal, and over millions of years the mobile came together by chance?

No one would believe such an explanation.  A mobile phone is clearly something that was put together in an organized way, so it would be rational to believe that it must have an organizer.  In the same way, when we see the order in the universe, isn’t it rational to say that the universe also has been organized in an amazing way by some being?

This organization is best explained by the existence of God.  God is the one who brought about the order in the universe.

[1] Antony Flew, There Is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind

 (Astronomy & Astrophysics)

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Can there be more than one such creator?

The Quran tells us that this is impossible:

“God never had a child, nor have there been any gods beside him.  [Had there been any], each of them would have appropriated to himself what he created, and some would have overcome others…” (Quran 23:91)

This Quranic argument was paraphrased by some Muslims theologians in a way somewhat like the following:

The assumption that there are gods beside the one true God leads to false consequences and must therefore be false.  If there is more than one god, then:

(a)   if every detail of everything in the world was the result of the action of one of the gods, it cannot at the same time be the result of the action of another god.  But if,

(b)  some things in the world were created by some gods, and others by other gods, then each god would rule independently over what he created, which means that nothing in his world can even in principle, be influenced by anything outside it.  But this contradicts the observed unity and interdependence of the world.  And if that is impossible, then

(c)   some gods will overcome others, but if that happens then the ones who are vanquished cannot be true gods. There can, therefore, be no more than one creator.

How does this creator create?  Since He is self-sufficient, He cannot be said to depend on anything outside Himself in any actions, and cannot therefore be said to produce His effects the way natural causes do.  But if He is not a natural cause, He must be a volitional agent.  And since intention implies knowledge, and knowledge and intention imply life, he must be a living being.  Since He is an eternal and everlasting being, all His attributes must reflect this quality; thus He must be not only knowing, but all-knowing, not only powerful, but all-powerful, etc.

Since no matter in any form can answer to these attributes, and since all these attributes are implied by the two attributes of eternity and everlastingness, no form of matter can be either eternal or everlasting, and thus no matter of any form can play the role of that ultimate cause.  This much of the attributes that an eternal and everlasting creator must have is enough, I suppose, to show that it cannot be matter.

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The nature of matter

 This conclusion can be further confirmed by what modern science tells us about the nature of matter.

Why should He be the God of Islam?

Some might say, ‘Granted that this god is a personal and living God, and that He has the attributes which you mentioned, why should He be the God of Islam and not, say the Christian or Jewish God?’  The God of Islam is the God of all true prophets of God from Adam down to Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.  But it is a basic claim of the religion with which Muhammad came that previous religions (including Christianity and Judaism) have not been kept in their pristine form which those prophets advocated, but have been tampered with and distorted.  The only religion whose book has taken upon itself to be preserved from any such distortions is the religion of the last of God’s prophets, namely Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him.  This is not to say that everything in those religions is false or bad.  No!  There is much in them that is good and true; it is only those elements in them that contradict Islam which must be false or bad.  But even if they were to be purged of everything that is not in consonance with Islam, they would still be less perfect than Islam is, especially in their conceptions of God, therefore unsuitable for being universal religions.

Having said this, let me give one example of a non-Islamic religious belief which the Quran considers to be a stupendous blasphemy against God, namely that He has children.  At the time of the Prophet, some Arabs believed that the angels were the daughters of God, while some Christians believed that Jesus was the son of God, and some Jews believed that Ezra was the son of God.

  Just as the Quran gave arguments for the impossibility of there being any gods besides the one true God, it also gave elaborate arguments to show the impossibility of Him having a child, whether male or female.  If the Creator is one and self-sufficient, then He is also unique, ahad:

“…Nothing is like Him...” (Quran 42:11)

But if so then:

“He neither begets nor is He begotten.” (Quran 112:3)

“…How can He have a child if He has no wife, and if He created everything?...” (Quran 6:101)

The Quran is here saying that the claim that God has children contradicts the facts (acknowledged by those who make this claim) that He is the Creator of everything, that He is self-sufficient, and that He has no spouse.  Now if He is the creator of everything, this necessarily includes the one who is claimed to be His child.  But if this is created by Him, it cannot be His child; it has to be one of His creations.  One does not create one’s child; one begets it.  If it is insisted that the child is actually begotten and not created by God, this will entail the following false consequences:

The begotten child must be of the same nature as its father, in which case God will not be unique or one.

God will not be the creator of everything.

God will have to have a spouse, who must of course be of the same nature as He is, otherwise they cannot beget anything.

But in that case the number of beings who are of the same nature as God will be raised to three.

If the child is begotten then it cannot be eternal, i.e. it cannot be of the same nature as the father.

It must therefore be temporal; but in that case it has to have a creator.  But if the God who is its father cannot at the same time be its creator, then there must be its creator, then there must be another creator besides that God the father; but in that case, this other creator will be the one true creator because it was through his power that the first one was able to beget its son.  This will raise the number of gods to four.

No wonder than that the Quran said about those who claimed that God has a child:

“You have indeed come with something most monstrous, of which the skies almost burst, the earth split asunder, and the mountains fall down in utter ruin.  All this because of their attributing a child to God.” (Quran 19:89-91)

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The Creator?

At first:Can It Be Matter?

A very popular question among atheists is, ‘Granted that the existence of temporal things necessitates the existence of an eternal cause, why should that cause be the God of religion?  Why can’t matter be eternal and be therefore in no need of an eternal creator?’ 

 I shall argue, on an Islamic basis but at the same time also on a rational basis, that the attribute of eternity entails other attributes, which matter does not and cannot have, and cannot, in view of this, play the role of the original and ultimate cause of temporal things.  Muslim theologians say that eternity of existence logically implies everlastingness.  This is true because, if something is eternal then it does not depend for its existence on anything outside itself.  If this is so then it can never pass away, because only those things pass away that lose some of the external conditions on which they depend for their existence.  If the ultimate cause of temporal things is eternal and everlasting, it must of necessity be self-sufficient, [in Arabic] qayyoom and ghanee.

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What is a Miracle in islam?

God sent the Prophets and Messengers primarily to guide humankind.  They were humans, of outstanding character, pious and trustworthy, that the people could emulate and look to for direction.  They were not gods, demi-gods or saints with divine qualities, rather they were mere mortals charged with a difficult task.  They possessed exceptional characteristics because they were obligated to face extraordinary trials and tribulations in order to spread the message to worship God Alone. 

“And I (God) created not the jinn[1]  and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone)”.  (Quran 51:56)

   

In order to make each Prophet credible in his particular time and place, God granted them miracles, pertinent, relevant and understandable to the people to whom they were sent.  In the time of Moses magic and sorcery were prevalent therefore Moses’ miracles appealed to the people he was sent to guide.  In the time of Muhammad, the Arabs, although predominantly unlettered, were masters of the spoken word.  Their poetry and prose were considered outstanding and a model of literary excellence and the miracle of Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, was of this nature and much more..The miracle that defined Prophet Solomon was his unique kingdom.  At the time of Jesus, the Israelites were very knowledgeable in the field of medicine.  Consequently, the miracles Jesus performed were of this nature and included returning sight to the blind, healing lepers and raising the dead.   

“And you heal those born blind and the lepers by My leave.   And behold!  You bring forth the dead by My leave.” (Quran 5:10)

A karamah is an extraordinary matter or event that is brought about at the hands of a believer who obeys God, refrains from sin and whose piety at a very high level in the sight of God. Unlike a miracle which is meant to be done publically so that people would recognize the truthfulness of the Prophet, akaramah usually only benefits the one to whom it is given.  A karamah could include such things as knowledge, power or something astonishing such as thekaramah that was given to Usayd ibn al-Hudayr, one of Prophet Muhammad’s companions. A group of angels in a cloud of light shaded Usayd when he recited Quran[2].  A karamah also occurred for Maryam, the mother of Prophet Jesus.

So her Lord accepted her with goodly acceptance.  He made her grow in a good manner and put her under the care of Zakariya .  Every time he entered her praying place, he found her supplied with sustenance.  He said: “O Maryam (Mary)!  From where have you got this?”  She said, “This is from God.  Verily, God provides sustenance to whom He wills, without limit.” (Quran 3:37)

A miracle results in nothing but good and is given by the Almighty to the Prophets as a sign of their veracity.  This is coupled with a life of exemplary morals and character, and a message of goodness. 

Magic can also bring about something extraordinary; however no good can come from magic.  It is performed by evil people and is done by seeking the help of the devils and drawing close to them[3].  Miracles cannot be learnt or undone, whereas magic can be learnt, cancelled out or undone.

Prophet Moses’ encounter with the magicians at Pharaoh’s court explains the difference between magic and miracles.

They said: “O Musa (Moses)! Either you throw (first), or shall we have the (first) throw?” He (Moses) said: “Throw you (first).” When they threw they bewitched the eyes of the people, and struck terror into them, and they displayed a great magic.  And We revealed to Moses, “Throw your stick,” and behold! It swallowed up straight away all the falsehoods which they showed.  Thus truth was confirmed, and all that they did was made of no effect.  So they were defeated there and returned disgraced.  And the magicians fell down prostrate. (Quran 7:115-120)

The magicians understood that Moses was not preforming a trick or illusion as they had done.  They understood deception well and knew that Moses’ actions were a miracle.  Thus they accepted the truth and fell down in prostration to God, knowing full well that it would bring about their death for disobeying Pharaoh.   

Miracles can be of two types; those that occur at the request of the people, who want a sign of the veracity of the Prophet who was sent to them and the second type,  occur without being requested.  An example of the first type is when Prophet Saleh’s people requested he bring out from behind the mountain a she camel and her offspring. As well, when the unbelievers in Mecca asked the Prophet Muhammad to show them a miracle, he showed them the splitting of the moon.  One of Prophet Muhammad’s companions mentioned this event saying, “We were with God’s Messenger at Mina, when the moon was split in two parts.  One part was behind the mountain and the other one was on this side of the mountain.  God’s Messenger said to us, “Bear witness to this”[4].

An example of the second type is what happened when the tree trunk cried and longed for Prophet Muhammad.  He, the Prophet used to give his Friday speech while leaning on a palm tree.  One of his followers suggested they make a pulpit for him and they did. So the next Friday when the Prophet stood on the pulpit, the tree trunk began whimpering for him like a child. 

Muslims believe that the Quran itself is a miracle.  Prophet Muhammad said, “Every Prophet was given miracles on account of which their people believed; but, I have been given divine revelation which Allah has revealed to me, so I hope that my followers will outnumber the followers of other Prophets on Resurrection Day.”[5] Prophet Muhammad was implying that the Quran itself is the greatest miracle of all time; it is a miraculous book filled with miracles of all kinds.  Its revelation, literary excellence, and its content, including scientific, prophetic and historical information, all contribute to Quran’s status as a miracle. 

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Footnotes:

[1] To learn more about the Jinn, please see: http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/669/viewall/

[2] Saheeh Al-Bukhari

[3] For details, please see: http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/5246/

[4] Saheeh Muslim

[5] Saheeh Al-Bukhari

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Poster:Tree of the Prophets

This is a nice poster that illustrates the tree of the beloved prophets, their ages, times of their lives and other information.

 

 

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