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The requisite belief of individuals in the Creator originated before the appearance of any evidence of this existence. The existence of this Supreme, Powerful and Wise Being Who is behind the creation of the universe has been the main concern of philosophers of all times. They have tried to establish or refute this idea with elaborate arguments that have sometimes been totally unconvincing, even to themselves.
Instead of the philosophical approach, we shall rather go through the simple arguments of the Qur’an and the authentic Sunnah.
1. THE PURE NATURE IN PEOPLE (THE FITRAH)
The intuition of perceiving the existence of the Creator is inborn in human nature. It is the intuitive ability to distinguish between right and wrong, true and false. It is the human being’s instinctive realization of Allah’s existence and oneness, and his self surrender to Allah (subhaanahu wa ta’alaa). The Qur’an refers to this innate tendency as follows:
Therefore set your face (O Muhammad) steadfastly towards the true faith, turning away from all that is false, in accordance with the [pure Islamic] nature with which Allah has created people. No altering let there be in the laws of Allah’s creation. This is surely the True Religion, but most people do not know it. (Ar-Rum - 30:30).
This aayah indicates that people start with equal abilities to recognise their Lord. But their abilities may subsequently be blurred by self indulgence or unfavorable environmental influences. This is also depicted in the following hadith:
Every child is born with the pure fitrah [to recognise his Lord]; it is only his parents that later turn him into a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian. (Muslim).
2. THE GREATNESS AND PERFECTION OF THE CREATION
Every single creation in the universe is so well made, and so skillfully designed, that any sensible person cannot but submit to the existence of the All-Wise, Almighty, All-Knowing Being behind it all. Allah says:
Verily, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, in the alternation of night and day, in the sailing of the ships through the ocean for the profit of people, in the water which Allah sends down from the skies reviving with it the dead earth and dispersing over it all kinds of beasts, in the change of the winds, and in the clouds that run their appointed courses between heaven and earth; in all of this, indeed, there are signs for rational people. (Al-Baqarah - 2:164).
This passage is one of many in which the Qur’an appeals to those who use their reason to observe the daily wonders of nature, including the evidence of people’s own ingenuity (the ships), as indications of a conscious Power pervading the universe.
The creation is so intricate and yet so perfect that no defect can be detected anywhere, no matter how hard one tries.
3. THE WEAKNESS OF PEOPLE
The perfection of the creation should be in itself a sufficient proof of Allah’s existence. But when we add to that the limited power of people and their obvious inability to imitate any of Allah’s creation, certitude should engulf our spirits and we should bow low to the One who made all this wonderful world. The Qur’an repeatedly reminds us of our inability to parallel Allah’s creation. For example:
You (people) have been granted very little knowledge. (Al-Isra - 17:85)
He knows all that lies open before people and all that is hidden from them, whereas they cannot attain to ought of His knowledge save that which He wills them to attain. (Al-Baqarah - 2:255).
4. CASUALITY
The notion that every effect must have a cause is well established in the minds of people. On this notion they base all of their actions and responses. All scientific experiments have this implicitly built into them. Yet, when it comes to the creation of the universe that, by their standards, must have a cause and a Creator, they become hesitant to submit to the truth! Allah (subhaanahu wa ta’alaa) ridicules this attitude by some people. He asks them: Did you come into existence by yourself? Was it a mere chance and spontaneous generation that you came into being? Are you not the handicraft of a Wise and Wonderful Creator? You obviously did not create the wonders of the starry heavens and the fruitful globe of earth. But you can assign no definite cause to explain it, and you yourselves have no firm belief!
The absurdity of the unwillingness to admit the existence of a Creator initiating all of creation is exhibited in this argument to which they can give no reasonable answer since they have no firm belief about that.
Were they created of nothing? Or were they, perchance, their own creator? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Surely they have no firm belief. (At-Tur 52:35)
