Search for God

Dr Shakeel Ahmad, UK

Tabligh Training CourseJan 2014

A Search

Remains a search

Blind belief is not enough

Still a search, even after belief is established

Personal relationship with God needs to be established

Until nafs-e-mutmainah

Helping your needy brother

Tabligh is about helping our needy brothers and sisters

We must not think of them as ‘bad’

Atheism in UK population

No religion15% (2001) – 25% (2011)

Christian faith72% (2001) – 59% (2011)

Practicing Christians65% (2001) – 45% (2011)

Muslims 5%, others 4% (2011)

To conceptualise a creator of the universe

Simple?All what we see in the creation must have come from a source. All this functions well and in accordance with some laws.

Hard?Where did the Creator come from? How did all this begin? How can we relate to this Being?

Believing needs self discipline Fact of nature - no discipline , no growth

Equally true for moral-spiritual spectrum

Specially when used to life with self interest

Belief in God incorporates acceptance of authority of God, who then guides us how to live our lives

Short term gains are to be given up for the sake of more substantial benefits to one self and society – not easy for most

Hard work – ‘rather not believe’

Evidence for existence of GodEvidence consists of:

Psychological factors Observation of the creation Rational deductions At a humanistic level with social observations Experience of individuals What the messengers claim What the scriptures claim Historical evidence

1. A universal quest for God exists

Throughout human history – including now

Existed independently in all societies

Is this just curiosity or inherent to our make-up?

Approx ¾ of world population believe 8b – 2.8b Christians, 2b Muslims, 1b Buddhists, 900m Hindus, others [15m Jews]

Onus of proof on the non-believer as well

2. Our conscience

Our inner self Our mind Our heart

We feel better with the good We feel bad with evil

Evidence is inherent in our creation

Godliness – the term for goodness in a person! An atheist doing ‘good’ is acting on the ‘God’ in him

3. Out of sight, is not out of mind Cant see, cant hear, cant touch – is that good enough

a reason to conclude there is no God?

Empty room? Eyes closed? Need the right instruments to recognise the existence

of matter or radiation

Same is true to perceive God – we need the right instrument – in our psyche

Our perceptions are very limited – need special preparation to perceive the Being

4. Ultimate source of all creation

Previously believed that universe existed from ever – ‘no Creator’

Singularity – origin of all creation including time and space – source?

That ultimate source is the ultimate Creator (God)

Dr Abdul Salam – two of the four fundamental forces of nature are the same-Gravitation-Electromagnetic Electro-weak theory-Weak nuclear force Grand unified theory-Strong nuclear force

5. Unique nature of the source of creation Aristotle – ultimate first cause of creation cannot be a

created thing itself– loss of energy at each step – stopping the cycle of creation

Science of entropy – loss of energy in creation of matter from matter – resultant matter is less than parent matter Creation of universe created a lot of matter out of no matter – unique

Quran (& Bible) – origin was from ‘word’ – vision (of the Creator) and His will for it to happen.

Hence :1. Origin of all creation is the Creator – and is not a created thing2. The Creator is infinite with no beginning, and no end

6. Intelligent design

Even a small invention or task requires planning to produce positive result - growing vegetables in your garden- broken pottery from archaeological site implies wisdom of an ancient civilisation

Our universe is complex, immense and continuously evolvingFlawless functioningLots of laws that govern its functioning

We are still discovering these laws

Hence it must have been designed with wisdom and planning

This design requires an ‘all wise’ creator

7a. Creation of Consciousness

Time line of development of life on earth

Humans spread around earth

.............Life begins Unicellular Multicellular Plants Marine animals Reptiles Mammals

Land animals Genus Homo Neanderthals die

A J M (pbut)

______________________________________ 4b 2b 1b 500m 250m 2m 100k

25k 6k 2k 1.4k

A = Adam (pbuh)J = Jesus (pbuh)M = Mohammad (pbuh)

7b. Creation of consciousness Laws of creation of life: consciousness can only be

created out of consciousness

Lot of conscious life exists

Hence there must be a conscious creator before life existed

Denying existence of Creator is like denying our own existence!

8a. Evolution of life

Darwin –natural selection, survival of the fittest Wallace – 3 stages of ‘spiritual ‘ evolution

i) creation of organic from inorganic matterii) creation of consciousnessiii) cognitive complexity of man

Problem: Role of ‘chance’ implies lack of planning and atheism

Current evolutionary biologists are beginning to refute role of chanceProbability of Chance theory = wind blowing through a scrap yard leading to making of a jumbo jet

8b. Evolution of life

Development of speechChance theory would mean much slower evolution, going through several stages

Appears at the human stage, not before not afterKey role in social, psychological, moral and spiritual development No evidence of interim variable stages of speech that then lost viability due to lack of survival

Hence – planned evolution, which is evidence for a conscious Creator

9. Testimony of the most truthful

Who are the most truthful and most trusted in any society? politicians, artists, writers, sociologists, scholars, prophets

The prophets, even the adversaries recognise this

Prophets - lived in different times - in different parts of the world - no direct communication with each other

All prophets had one common theme: a creator and sustainer God

10. Life account of prophetsAmazing in a very similar manner Alone in the beginning Recognised having utmost moral dignity Claim to prophethood without any demand for worldly gains Opposition develops soon as they make this claim Materially weak against opposition No vengeance against ruthlessness of opposition Kindness and justice throughout Ultimate victory of their mission

All prophets attribute: -their mission to be under God’s guidance-their success to be God’s blessing-they become even more humble in success

11. Wisdom of Divine guidance Prophets have received guidance according to human need

Perfectly suited to needs of society at the time of revelation

Quran – pinnacle of Divine guidance – to address universal complexities of contemporary society

Historical and current evidence that solutions to problems are best found in prophetic guidance

All prophets claimed this guidance to be from ‘God’

12. Source of hidden knowledge

Prophets gave mankind knowledge about times before, concurrent and after the time of the revelation

Quran – knowledge about history, cosmology, biology, evolution of life, archaeology, psychology, atomic energy, presence of extra terrestrial life, geography, politics, future developments etc

What is the source of this knowledge?a. Knowledge is beyond human scholarshipb. Prophets do not claim to be the originators of this knowledge but claim that

they only act as messengers c. ... and that they receive it from Godd. We keep discovering through scientific process the truth of this knowledge

This provides strong evidence about the source of this knowledge as a Being that created us and has all knowledge about us, more than we have.

13a. Prophets’ instruments to recognise God Evidence

– all creation, particularly creation with consciousness

Witness -balance in laws of nature (eg spontaneous jungle fire leading to healthier soil & stronger genetic material for plants, hurricane leading to adjustment of sea water temperatures thus becoming more conducive to life, human life lived in accordance with God’s guidance meets success and one without is lacks success) - truth of prophets gaining victory over ‘mightier falsehood’

Experience – personal communication with God

13b. Experiencing God - leaves no doubt

The natural quest – has a purpose- basis for individuals to seek God and make effort towards Him

Prophets describe the method:Refrain from pursuing the worldly gainsLive a moral lifeLife with utmost truthfulness Prayer and meditation

Such lifestyle develops the right instrument to communicate with God - ‘psychic-radio’ to receive revelation

Communication becomes two-sided as it develops

Acceptance of prayer is profound evidence

Prayer exercise

How many have had their prayers accepted?

This is evidence of immense blessings of God on a community that lends its effort to prayer in order to achieve growth and success

14. Cycle of belief and disbelief

The prophet establishes unity of God in the society

Another God sent stands alone A just society is formed

Downfall of the nation Overtime they drift from the original teachings

Suffering begins

Repeat of this cycle over time in human history is strong evidence for existence of God

The illusion of the ‘God delusion’

Richard Dawkins makes the following four arguments to suggest non-existence:

1. ‘Downside’ of religion eg conceptual abstractions Downside of misunderstandings or manipulations, not the actual teachings

Anyway, downside of anything does not prove non-existence of the source of that thing

2. Problems due to religion eg divisions and conflictsYes, but again due to distortions, not the original teachings. If something is distorted and there is consequent suffering, still does not rule out the creator of the thingAnalyse societies where true teachings are followed – we find peace

3. Progress is not related to religionHistorical evidence is to the contraryReligious principles have always been relevant to progress including Western progress

4. God concept is a product of human thought over timeAnswer seen in previous slide

The Godless void

Remove water from a glass and it fills with air

Remove the real God from our mind and it fills with other gods‘Let us live life to its full’ – hedonism‘It is my life’ – selfishness‘What do I get from this?’ – materialism

Our psychological satans become our gods

Understanding of Truthis only possible through

Allah’s appointed people

The Promised Messiah

HAZRAT MIRZA GHULAM AHMAD (may peace be on him)

Conclusion

Invite to an open minded enquiry

Not like the Russian cosmonaut - ‘did not find God in space’... or Shelley, the English poet – ‘did not find God in caves’

Enquiry as recommended by the prophets

http://www.alislam.org/allah/Search-for-God.pdf