Mankind’s Greatest Question? by no author available

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 selfsustaining, they therefore require a force to sustain them, 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 self-subsistent, 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 are 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 utilizing all evidences within our perception. From this position we need to question the rest of the creed (Aqeedah) 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?