The following reflects my own personal thoughts and not the thoughts of all muslims everywhere.
This is obviously a discussion that will take much longer than a single blog post to cover, but I'd like to just share my thoughts on the issue.
Atheism as I understand it, is the denial of the existence of God. Islam is the complete opposite: the belief in the existence of (one) God, and all the rest that follows from that belief.
A common argument from Atheists is that God must not exist because we haven't proven God exists. We can smash atoms, and find the edges of the Universe, but we haven't yet found any (at least to them, satisfactorily) empirical evidence that God exists. This is the most arrogant thing I have ever heard. It implies that we, humans, know all there is to know about everything and have every available means, right now, today, to detect and test everything. Rubbish, we haven't "detected" God, because we don't have the technology, simple as that. Keep working, and one day we might, but this opens up a whole new can of worms from the theist side about God allowing that to happen, and so on. We are muslims, we believe in Allah (SWT), the Angels, and the Jinns, so we believe they have mass and energy and other attributes and it is therefore only natural to assume that there is SOME way of measuring and detecting them. Of course, we may NEVER reach the level of technological advancement to do so before Judgement Day hits.
The next argument Atheists like to throw around is the usual "What kind of just and merciful God creates diseases and poverty and hunger, and lets children die and the corrupt flourish, etc." More arrogance. Yes, these, to us, in our little bubble, are all very horrible things. It certainly does seem that God isn't being kind and merciful, but there we go again assuming we know everything. The simplest explanations include
a) God is MUCH smarter than we are, it's foolish to pretend we can fully understand everything He does,
b) these hardships ARE a mercy because they're a mere slap on the wrist compared to the punishment in the afterlife,
c) if the (seemingly) innocent are punished then we can probably be sure they're are going to have a VERY easy trial on judgement day, and
d) the corrupt sometimes flourish because this life might be all they're getting.
Humans have a history of rejecting things they don't understand. Didn't they reject the notion that the Earth was round at one point? Didn't they reject the notion that all humans are created equal? And we're STILL rejecting things, like climate change. We are not as clever as we like to think we are.
Finally, belief is the name of the game. OF COURSE God can prove He exists: He is able to do all things, but then the game would be over. He Himself said that:
And they say: "Why has not an angel been sent down to him?" Had We sent down an angel, the matter would have been judged at once, and no respite would be granted to them. (Quran 6:8)
The challenge is to believe without seeing, without repeatable and measurable evidence, with just a handful of Holy Books and a list of Prophets and Messengers, with some prayers answered and some not, with a great mish-mash of good and wicked people flourishing and being punished, with all the mixed messages and mystery. That's why it's called faith.
To summarize: a) we haven't "proven" God exists with technology because our technology isn't advanced enough, b) God is smarter than we are and does things we may not understand, and c) God isn't going to send an angel or just appear to us because that will end the trial; the point is to believe. d) if you are wondering what the point of the trial is see b).
This is obviously a discussion that will take much longer than a single blog post to cover, but I'd like to just share my thoughts on the issue.
Atheism as I understand it, is the denial of the existence of God. Islam is the complete opposite: the belief in the existence of (one) God, and all the rest that follows from that belief.
A common argument from Atheists is that God must not exist because we haven't proven God exists. We can smash atoms, and find the edges of the Universe, but we haven't yet found any (at least to them, satisfactorily) empirical evidence that God exists. This is the most arrogant thing I have ever heard. It implies that we, humans, know all there is to know about everything and have every available means, right now, today, to detect and test everything. Rubbish, we haven't "detected" God, because we don't have the technology, simple as that. Keep working, and one day we might, but this opens up a whole new can of worms from the theist side about God allowing that to happen, and so on. We are muslims, we believe in Allah (SWT), the Angels, and the Jinns, so we believe they have mass and energy and other attributes and it is therefore only natural to assume that there is SOME way of measuring and detecting them. Of course, we may NEVER reach the level of technological advancement to do so before Judgement Day hits.
The next argument Atheists like to throw around is the usual "What kind of just and merciful God creates diseases and poverty and hunger, and lets children die and the corrupt flourish, etc." More arrogance. Yes, these, to us, in our little bubble, are all very horrible things. It certainly does seem that God isn't being kind and merciful, but there we go again assuming we know everything. The simplest explanations include
a) God is MUCH smarter than we are, it's foolish to pretend we can fully understand everything He does,
b) these hardships ARE a mercy because they're a mere slap on the wrist compared to the punishment in the afterlife,
c) if the (seemingly) innocent are punished then we can probably be sure they're are going to have a VERY easy trial on judgement day, and
d) the corrupt sometimes flourish because this life might be all they're getting.
Humans have a history of rejecting things they don't understand. Didn't they reject the notion that the Earth was round at one point? Didn't they reject the notion that all humans are created equal? And we're STILL rejecting things, like climate change. We are not as clever as we like to think we are.
Finally, belief is the name of the game. OF COURSE God can prove He exists: He is able to do all things, but then the game would be over. He Himself said that:
And they say: "Why has not an angel been sent down to him?" Had We sent down an angel, the matter would have been judged at once, and no respite would be granted to them. (Quran 6:8)
The challenge is to believe without seeing, without repeatable and measurable evidence, with just a handful of Holy Books and a list of Prophets and Messengers, with some prayers answered and some not, with a great mish-mash of good and wicked people flourishing and being punished, with all the mixed messages and mystery. That's why it's called faith.
To summarize: a) we haven't "proven" God exists with technology because our technology isn't advanced enough, b) God is smarter than we are and does things we may not understand, and c) God isn't going to send an angel or just appear to us because that will end the trial; the point is to believe. d) if you are wondering what the point of the trial is see b).
