Friday, October 31, 2008

How many creators are for the universe? Is God/Allah one?


To become a Muslim you must believe (not to obey) in two things:
1. The Creator of the universe is One
2. Mohammad is His Messenger

Officially to become a Muslim you only have to declare the Shahadah as follows:
"ASH-HADU ANLA ELAHA ILLA-ALLAH WA ASH-HADU ANNA MOHAMMADAN RASUL-ALLAH".

The English translation is:

"I bear witness that there is no deity (none truely to be worshipped) but, Allah, and I bear witness that Mohammad is the messenger of Allah"


In other words, as a Muslim you must be literally convinced that there's only one
Creator for this universe and Mohammad is His Messenger to the point where you can be held a witness about it. The notion of being a witness means that the belief of "Only one creator & Mohammad is his messenger" is a fact that you experienced or witnessed, to the point where you can provide a testimony about it. You are just fooling yourself if you declare the Shahadah but still not convinced about it.

How do we know that there's a creator for this universe in the first place?

The universe (creature) exists, that's a fact, it can't be created by itself, that's a certainty, so there must be a creator for it. Thus, we know that there's a creator because there's a creature (universe).

Was the universe created by one or multiple creators?
The creature (universe) was our tangible evidence that proves there's a creator for this universe. Therefore, to know more about that creator, we need to examine the evidence.

There are different kinds of people, animals, plants, planets, stars, etc.. Is it possible that there's a creator for each type? Seems possible but if you carefully examine all those things around in this universe you will notice they are made of directly or indirectly out of atoms and its derivations. In other words, that indicates that the Creator is one since He's using the same fundamental elements and the same system. If there are multiple creators, then we expect to have different creature and different systems which don't exist.



Thursday, October 30, 2008

Does God/Allah exist?

A question is considered to be somehow Satanic by some Muslims. You ask them why? They would answer by telling you 'not to question your faith'! It will just open a gate for Satan to enter your heart! That's very convincing indeed! How can you believe in & obey someone who you are not sure that exists or not?!


Why are we raising the question in the first place?

Because the universe (mankind, planets, stars, galaxies, etc...) exists, that's a fact, yet we are not sure if someone created it or not.

How has the universe been created?
(actually is being created)
There's two possibilities here:
1. Created itself
2. Was created by someone else

Did the universe create itself?
True, everything in this universe is directly or indirectly created and being created by other thing(s) from the universe. For instance, people are basically created by a combination of semen & an egg--which (semen & egg) are created inside the body through some complex processes and interactions of several materials that we obtain from food, the root source of food is vegetables which are created through some complex interactions between some minerals & water & sunlight....

However, the fundamental elements of everything in this universe are the atoms and its derivations (energy, photons/light, etc..). They do exist, that's a fact but are they capable of creating themselves? Which one of them was there first? How they got propagated? How they got combined together to form very sophisticated objects and systems? If you don't have something how can you give it? If the brick is the most fundamental element of the house, can I attribute the creation of the whole house to the brick because it was the fundamental element of it?

That's just impossible.

Was the universe created by someone?

Apparently Yes because the first possibility is totally impossible. Whoever created this universe must be something beyond this universe and its limits (whether known or to be known), something not made of atoms or its derivations. How does he exist? I don't know how but I know for sure that he exists.

Who is Allah/God?
I'm a Muslim, I believe there's a Creator for this universe, I call him Allah or God, the name doesn't matter, they just refer to the same thing. Herein what the Creator describes himself in Quraan:

"Say: He is Allah, the One!,
Allah, the eternally Besought of all!,
He begetteth not nor was begotten,
And there is none comparable unto Him."
AL-Ikhlas (Surah/Chapter 112)


قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ

اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ

لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ

وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ

سورة الإخلاص


Herein a lengthy description of Allah by Imam Ali Ibn Abu Talib:

"Praise is due to Allah whose worth cannot be described by speakers, whose bounties cannot be counted by calculators and whose claim (to obedience) cannot be satisfied by those who attempt to do so, whom the height of intellectual courage cannot appreciate, and the divings of understanding cannot reach; He for whose description no limit has been laid down, no eulogy exists, no time is ordained and no duration is fixed.

He brought forth creation through His Omnipotence, dispersed winds through His Compassion, and made firm the shaking earth with rocks.

The foremost in religion is the acknowledgement of Him, the perfection of acknowledging Him is to testify Him, the perfection of testifying Him is to believe in His Oneness, the perfection of believing in His Oneness is to regard Him Pure, and the perfection of His purity is to deny Him attributes, because every attribute is a proof that it is different from that to which it is attributed and everything to which something is attributed is different from the attribute.

Thus whoever attaches attributes to Allah recognises His like, and who recognises His like regards Him two; and who regards Him two recognises parts for Him; and who recognises parts for Him mistook Him; and who mistook Him pointed at Him; and who pointed at Him admitted limitations for Him; and who admitted limitations for Him numbered Him.

Whoever said in what is He, held that He is contained; and whoever said on what is He held He is not on something else. He is a Being but not through phenomenon of coming into being. He exists but not from non-existence. He is with everything but not in physical nearness. He is different from everything but not in physical separation. He acts but without connotation of movements and instruments. He sees even when there is none to be looked at from among His creation. He is only One, such that there is none with whom He may keep company or whom He may miss in his absence."
Nahjul Balagha - Sermon 1