By Nur Hazlinda

“Haz, why is it important for you to be religious?” A close friend of mine who’s not a Muslim (yet) asked me over a conversation. Surprisingly, I didn’t have an answer. I went back home and pondered quite a bit on the question, why do I believe in Islam? Why is it important for me to be practicing?

Being a born Muslim, I didn’t rationalise religion. My parents told me to pray, so I did. During Ramadan, Muslim students get released early from school if they fast, so I did too. When I go for family events, most of the women adorned the hijab, so I did too, to fit in. But as I grew older, I was faced with temptations, and to overcome them I had to strengthen my belief. It was no longer enough to do something just because my parents told me to do.

That’s when I started to think more deeply about Islam. Why shouldn’t I drink? Why must I dress modestly? And eventually it led to the question of “Does Allah (god) really exist?” and that’s really the foundation of any religion.

I am truly truly blessed to be born into a Muslim family, so the barriers of entry were especially low. It wasn’t difficult for me to believe that God exists. I had certainty even without rationalising it. It was also easy to see the effects of prayers, being “religious”. However, the problem comes when I try to explain this to someone outside of the religion. How can I help them feel the same way I feel about Allah, the most loving, most merciful and the most powerful. If only it was as easy as taking a piece of my heart and planting it in theirs.

Rose of Madinah’s “Why Islam” classes on Fridays has definitely been helping me come up with some substantial answers to those questions. It has been humbling to say the least! Being a Muslim my entire life, I can finally attempt to explain to others why God exists. And in this week’s class, I have reaffirmed my conviction in the oneness of God.

Polytheism broadly relates to the belief in multiple gods. Why is it that there must only be one God? Going back to the first 2 lessons where we learnt about the necessary being, is it possible to have more than one necessary being?

We logically understand that polytheism will lead to chaos. The chaos in polytheism can be understood through 2 arguments.

Argument 1

“Polytheism is inconsistent with the unity, regularity, and design that we observe in the universe”

Fact one: If there were more than one god then the universe would not be harmonious, nor would it be predictable, nor would it display evidence of design.

• For example, when we work in groups, there will definitely be disagreements and inefficiencies. We need time to negotiate, work around disagreements and come to a conclusion.
• So if there were multiple gods controlling the world, the world will be in chaos. If one god wanted it to rain in Singapore but the other god wants it to be sunny, how will they come to consensus? Is the earth going to wait for them to decide? Of course not!
• In the macro-scale, the smallest of difference, such as the earth being slightly closer to the sun or rotating faster, has very large implications.

Fact two: But the universe is harmonious, it is predictable, and it does display evidence of design.

• There is no lack of consensus in how the universe works, there is unity in the geographical processes, regularity across different situations and every single thing we see from the human body to the universe is perfectly calculated and designed.

Conclusion: Therefore it is not the case that there is more than one god.

Argument 2

“Polytheism is inconsistent with belief in godhood, which has to be tied to the idea of omnipotence”

Fact One: If there is more than one god then all of the gods are contingent.

• For instance if we look at the Greek mythology, each of the “God” has a different power, and they are all fighting to get power.
• Hence, every one of them are dependent on one another.

Fact Two: If all of the gods are contingent then there is no necessary being on whom the universe can depend.
Fact Three: If there is no necessary being on whom the universe can depend then the universe cannot exist.
Fact Four: But the universe exists.

Conclusion: Therefore there is a necessary being on whom the universe depends

• Therefore the gods are not ALL contingent
• Therefore there is only one god.

The world points towards singularity. Every country only has 1 president, if there were multiple presidents, how will the country function? Who gets the veto power? Then the one that has the veto power, is the true president. Likewise, the universe can only function if there was one necessary being. If not, the world would have ceased to exist long before we were born.

Inshaallah, I hope that these arguments have strengthened your conviction in the oneness of God, like it has done for me. Do join us on Fridays for the rest of the series if you want to learn, very logically and rationally, about the existence of God and how we can prove them to ourselves and others!

Do You Believe in One God
& Ready to [Re]start your Journey of Faith & Gratitude as a Muslim?