By Mohamed Jafaran Khan

“Have they not reflected upon their own being? Allah only created the heavens and the earth and everything in between for a purpose and an appointed term. Yet most people are truly in denial of the meeting with their Lord!”
Quran 30:8

As the alarm rings, we slowly open our eyes to the rise of a new day. As we take on our initial steps of the day, preparing ourselves for our morning routine, we engage in actions that have been ingrained in our daily lives for years. The simple act of gazing into the mirror, washing our faces, and brushing our teeth may seem routine, but it is in these moments that we often overlook the immense blessings bestowed upon us. The gift of sight and mobility to engage in even such simple tasks are immense blessings that we have. In acknowledging this, a natural question arises: How does one express gratitude for these bestowed blessings, and towards whom should this gratitude be directed?

As someone who was raised in a Muslim family. I was taught from a young age to express gratitude to Allah (s.w.t) for the countless blessings bestowed upon us. The five daily prayers also further reinforced the concept of acknowledging and thanking the Creator. Since young, I was aware of Islam’s emphasis on moral values and the mercy and benevolence of our Lord but it wasn’t until a period of personal hardship that I delved into the profound questions of existence and the role of religion in our lives. This curiosity kindled me to pursue the path of learning more about Islam on a deeper level and seek answers to why Islam is the true religion of God.

In my pursuit, of wanting to learn more about Islam, I chanced upon Ustad Sameer’s classes which helped me in understanding Islam on a deeper level. One of the classes I attended was the Why Islam class held over 8 Fridays. The sessions provided me with a toolkit that helped me to understand the fundamental logical arguments that constitute why God exists, and also how these logical arguments bring us to the conclusion that Islam is the true religion of God. Insha ‘Allah, I will be sharing with you these arguments and how they could be applied practically.

Understanding Why God Exists? As we begin to look into why God exists. we will look into the argumentative structure which provides us with the understanding and the rational proof that God exists.

The first argument structure is known as the Argument from Contingency (AFC). The argument from contingency states the following.

Before we look further into the argument, Let’s understand what Contingency means. Contingency means that a thing needs something else to make it the way that it is. For example, The sun needs something for it to shine, The wind needs something to make it blow, and The leaves on the trees need something to make them green. The fact that something depends on something else to exist would make it contingent. Alright, let’s look into the argument now.

💡 Argument from Contingency (AFC)

The Universe Exists Contingently Everything that exists contingently needs a necessary being to exist. Therefore the universe needs a necessary being to exist. Looking into the AFC argument above, we can agree that as per scientific observations around us, the universe exists contingently meaning that the Universe is dependent on multiple entities for its existence. As an example, let’s first look into ourselves on what we need as humans to survive. As humans, we need food, water, and oxygen constantly to exist and as a matter of fact, we need oxygen to be able to breathe every few minutes. Anything being in a state of dependence is known to exist contingently, which means that everything in the universe is dependent on something other than itself.

Let’s for an instance, consider the Sun, a celestial body crucial for the existence of life on Earth. The Sun’s energy sustains various ecosystems, providing the necessary conditions for photosynthesis and supporting the intricate web of life. Without the Sun’s constant radiation, Earth’s environment would be inhospitable. This interdependence illustrates that even at a fundamental level, entities in the universe rely on one another for their sustained existence.

Therefore, this proves to us that we exist contingently and that we depend on something other than ourselves for fundamental necessities such as survival.

Based on this proof, we will come to realise that something that is dependent in essence is unable to fulfil the need of another dependent entity. Therefore, it become imperative that the chain of dependence is sustained by what is not dependent – the Necessary Being (God).

Illustration explaining the domino effect which showcases the interdependence of contingent entities, ultimately tracing back to the necessary being.

Who is the Designer? The next argumentative structure that we went through was the Argument of Design & Variety, which further solidifies the rationale behind the existence of a necessary being.

🎨Variety in the Universe

Fact One: The universe displays great variety. Fact Two: The necessary being either created the universe through its agency or produced the universe involuntarily as a cause involuntarily produces its effect. Fact Three: The variety in the universe could not have been produced by an involuntary cause. = Therefore the necessary being created the universe through its agency.

🎨Design in the Universe

Fact One: The universe displays great design. Fact Two: The necessary being either created the universe through its agency or produced the universe involuntarily as a cause involuntarily produces its effect. Fact Three: The design in the universe could not have been produced by a knowledgeless cause. = Therefore the necessary being created the universe through its agency. Looking into what “agency” is and what “causes” are : An agency is something that is alive and can see the possibilities of decisions it can make before it. It should be also able to choose and make a particular decision and should have the power to make the decision through its free will. It should also have cognizance of the decisions that it makes. These would be the factors that would constitute one to be an agent.

While there is an agency, there are also Causes. Causes are lifeless and involuntary, they cannot produce another effect other than the particular cause they were designed for, and they also do not have a skill or ability.

Alright, so why are we learning about agency and causes?

We need to discuss the agency and causes as it’s foundational to the understanding of the Argument of Design and it is important to know to prove that God is a necessary being but also a volitional agent. A volitional agent states that God is alive and made everything with an independent free choice and that he could have made everything differently(or not made it at all). In this argument, We are arguing that God must be a volitional agent which would mean that God creates everything including the causes and effects which are actually regular associations. Let’s also delve deeper into the Quran where it provides proof on the existence of variety present in Allah’s creation. Allah mentions in the Quran in Surah Baqarah Verse 164 that

إِنَّ فِى خَلْقِ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱخْتِلَـٰفِ ٱلَّيْلِ وَٱلنَّهَارِ وَٱلْفُلْكِ ٱلَّتِى تَجْرِى فِى ٱلْبَحْرِ بِمَا يَنفَعُ ٱلنَّاسَ وَمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مِن مَّآءٍۢ فَأَحْيَا بِهِ ٱلْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا وَبَثَّ فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ دَآبَّةٍۢ وَتَصْرِيفِ ٱلرِّيَـٰحِ وَٱلسَّحَابِ ٱلْمُسَخَّرِ بَيْنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ لَـَٔايَـٰتٍۢ لِّقَوْمٍۢ يَعْقِلُونَ ١٦٤

“Verily in the creation of the heavens and the earth; the succession of night and day; and the ships that sail the sea with profit for mankind; the rain which God sends down from the sky and then gives life therewith to the earth after its death; the animals of all kinds that He scatters through the earth; the changing of the winds and the clouds that they swirl between the sky and the earth; (in all of these) are surely great and numerous signs for those who reflect.”
Quran 2:164

Based on this verse we can see the existence of Variety. This verse mentions variety through the mention of the creations of the heavens and the earth, the night and the day, the ships that sail, the variation in animals that He has created, and the different winds and clouds. Through this verse and based on our observational evidence, we can agree that the existence of variety can be seen among the creations. This leads us to understand that If God were to be an necessary being who is an involuntary cause, then this would cause the Universe to be homogenous and the universe would be lacking variety. However we do not see this being the case in the Universe.

From this, we can see that God is a volitional agent from the observations of the great variety of His creations or through the creation that exists through His Agency. While we look at the creations we also see the differences in designs among them. Could it be such that all these differences in design could exist with no purpose or agent in place?

Let’s take, for example, the ears that we have which allow us to hear. The ear that we have goes through a set of processes before the sound is delivered to our brain through nerve impulses. Sound waves first enter the ear canal and cause the eardrum to vibrate through three small connected bones called ossicles. This motion sets the fluid moving in the inner ear. The moving fluid that bends the thousands of delicate hair-like cells in the inner ear would cause the vibrations to transform into nerve impulses while these processes occur in real-time. Isn’t this amazing? Could it be such that the design of the three small bones which are less than the size of a coin be designed without a purpose or meaning? The design of the ear couldn’t have been produced by a knowledgeless cause. Therefore the necessary being created the universe through its agency.

Why One God? Next, we shall look into the argument of the oneness of God which states that

👆🏼 Argument of Oneness of God

If there were to be more than one god, the universe would not be harmonious But the universe is harmonious, it is predictable, and it does display evidence of design. Therefore it is not the case that there is more than one God. Polytheism believes in the existence of more than one God. The Argument of Oneness looks into breaking down how the existence of more than one God isn’t rational. Let’s say if there were to be two gods and the gods were discussing the different seasons to be present in a particular hemisphere and the gods differ in opinion. This conflict in opinion would therefore cause conflicts to emerge among the gods. As such when such conflict occurs, we would notice great chaos emerge in the universe, causing disharmony.

However, we do not see the existence of such disharmony in our universe, as we observe how the days transit beautifully into the night, how the seasons change on a timely basis, and how the moon’s course moves on a measured basis. This therefore shows how that the universe is harmonious and predictable and is purposeful with their clear evidence of design. Therefore this proves the case that there cannot be more than one God.

There also exists a second argument for the existence of God which states the following:

👆🏼 Second Argument for Oneness of God

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

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 argument states how the existence of more than one God, would make other gods contingent. These could be proven based on the Greek gods’ mythology where they have different gods who excel in different powers. This suggests that the gods would be dependent on each other for the different powers that they each have. Another example would be if there were to be gods who created different entities of the universe. For example, if there is to be a god of the Sky and another god of the Sea which would mean interdependence between the two gods. But this could easily be dismissed based on scientific observations as we know that the formations of the cloud are dependent on the evaporation of the seawater.

Based on this observation, we can conclude that both the gods would be contingent on each other. Therefore, we can agree that if there were more than one God, then all of the gods are contingent. This would mean that if all the gods were contingent, there wouldn’t be a necessary being that is independent and self-sufficient. If we do not have any necessary being, this would mean the universe would cease to exist. However the universe exists, therefore this states that there is a necessary being and that there could not be more than one God. Therefore there only exists one God.

وَإِلَـٰهُكُمْ إِلَـٰهٌۭ وَٰحِدٌۭ ۖ لَّآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ ١٦٣

And your god is one God. There is no deity [worthy of worship] except Him, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
Quran 2:163

Alhamdulilah, these arguments have helped me to increase my conviction on why Islam is the true religion. I hope that these arguments I have written will also strengthen your conviction that there can be only God and that why Islam is the true religion. I also believe that this toolkit which I have mentioned as the Rational Believer’s toolkit is something that is meant to be shared and something every person should know about, as it contains logical arguments that prove the existence of God and also increase the conviction in Muslims on why Islam is the true religion of God.