IN THE NAME OF ALLAH THE MOST GRACIOUS THE MOST MERCIFUL

AND

MAY PEACE AND BLESSINGS OF ALMIGHTY ALLAH BE ON OUR BELOVED PROPHET

MUHAMMAD S.A.W

PERFECTION ONLY BELONGS TO ALLAH

Atheism

History

Darwinism Materialism

Basis of Atheism

The Problem of Evil

Refutations of those basis

The problem of Religion and Reason

Arguments for the

existence of God

And

“ I don’t see any God up here…”Yuri Gagarin

History of Atheism

- No, It is not a modern phenomena.

- Buddhism (500 BCE) is an atheistic religion.

- During the Greek Civilization (2600 BC – 146 BC) they have people like :

- Democritus (460BCE-370BCE) the founder of Materialism. - Epicurus (341-270BCE)The first recorded atheist to declare his disbelief openly.

- The Dark ages (300 CE-1000 CE)

- Christianization of Europe- Disrespect for the human intellect, hence, the intellectual heritage of the Greeks were

buried.

- The Islamic Civilization ( 600 – 1400 CE)

- Revived the intellectual heritage of the Greeks. The Muslims benefited , criticized , corrected, added to it from their own and molded it with an Islamic worldview.

- Then, it was given back to the Europeans.

- The Renaissance (1400 – 1700 CE)

- Uplifted the role of logic and science- The feud between the Church and the Scientists, Religion and Reason- Galileo Galilee (Galileo was forced to recant his heliocentrism and spent the last years of

his life under house arrest on orders of the Inquisition.)- Thomas Hobbes.- Baron of D’holbach- David Hume

- Modern Era

- Karl Marx (Founder of Communism)- Friedrich Nietzsche

- Recent Propagators of atheism.

- Richard Dawkins (Evolutionary Biologist)- Sam Harris (Neuro-Scientist)- Christopher Hitchens (Literary critic)

History of Atheism

“ Civilization will not attain perfection until the last stone from the last church falls on the last

priest….” Emile Zola

The 2 Basis of Atheism

Darwinism

Materialism

Darwinism (Charles Darwin 1809-1882)

- Life originated from inanimate matter

- All species originated from a common ancestor ; The first living organism that emerged 3.7 billion years ago.

- The process of evolution.

Evolution :

Change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations, as a result of natural selection (Survival of the Fittest)acting on the genetic variation among individuals, and resulting in the development of new species. (Dictionary.com)

- Human beings evolved from ape.

- Natural selection (Survival of the Fittest)

- Random Mutations

SAFARI MENJERIT!

WOOHOOO!!!!!

But what’s the relation between Darwinism and

Atheism?

The Church says that life emerges on earth all of a sudden

But….

Darwinism says that species did not emerge all of a sudden but through the gradual process of evolution…

Human beings will try everything to go againstTheir enemy…

Materialism

• A theory which says that physical matter is the only reality and that everything, including thought, feeling, mind, and will, can be explained in terms of matter and physical phenomena.

• Life originated from inanimate matter.

• Matter has no beginning and is eternal.(Similar to our conception of God)

• There is no such thing as supernatural.

“There is no god but Matter…”Karl Marx

• Their 3 main problems with Theism :

1) God cannot be perceived, why believe in Him?

2) The concept of something coming out from nothing is illogical.

3) There is no purpose whatsoever, Chaos is everywhere.

It seems that their conception of matter has so many similarities with our conception of God….

But why don’t they say that matter is God?

The main difference is consciousness and self-awareness….

Other arguments

1) The Problem of Evil. If God exist why there is so much sufferings in the world?

“ Is God willing to prevent evil but not able, then he is not omnipotent.

Is He able but not willing, then he is malevolent. Is God both able and willing then whence commeth evil? If He is neither able nor willing, then why call him God? “

Epicurus

2) Religion is the product of wishful thinking..fantasy....looking at the world as we want...not as it is... The impulse was hardwired in the human brain, if any misfortune happens...we want to believe that there’s purpose behind it...there’s someone who is responsible for it...

3) In the ancient times, human beings believed in God out of fear of the unknown natural phenomena, disasters….but now, science has removed that fear….we don’t need God anymore…

4) Religion are based on belief…without sufficient proof…

5) Religion is the invention of the ruling class to make the process of command and control a lot easier. (Theocratic Fascism , a term coined by Christopher Hitchens)

Ya Azhariyyin wa Azhariyyat..What will be Your Response?

Refuting Darwinism

1)The Missing Link

Darwin writes in his book The Origin of Species under the chapter of “Difficulties of the Theory” :

“…Why, if species have descended from other species by fine gradations, dowe not everywhere see innumerable transitional forms? Why is not allnature in confusion, instead of the species being, as we see them, welldefined?… But, as by this theory innumerable transitional forms must haveexisted, why do we not find them embedded in countless numbers in thecrust of the earth?… But in the intermediate region, having intermediateconditions of life, why do we not now find closely-linking intermediatevarieties? This difficulty for a long time quite confounded me. ”

He explains further :

“ If my theory be true, numberless intermediate varieties, linking most closelyall of the species of the same group together must assuredly have existed...Consequently evidence of their former existence could be found onlyamongst fossil remains .“

2) Irreducible ComplexityWhat is the use of half an eye/leg?

3) Fossil records refutes the theory of evolution… Species emerges out of a sudden…

Numerous number of fossils of different species dated to the alleged Cambrian explosion were found.

Survival of The Fittest ?

- There is a species of Pine tree that emits a chemical substance which attracts insects that will eventually gobbles it up.

- There is a species of antelope that emits a

substance in a way that it makes the predators follow its trails.

Al-Bahsu Anil Haqiqah Al-Kubra, Dr O’ssam Qassaab.

Isn’t that suicidal?

But why are these species still with us and have not gone extinct?

What happen to ‘Survival of The Fittest’?

Refuting Materialism- Matter has a beginning. 1) The 2nd law of Thermodynamics, Law of Entropy.

Ex : The flow of heat will always follow one direction, from warmer to colder bodies. It is irreversible. Gas always flows towards a vacuum or moves from a point of higher pressure towards that of a lower till it’s presence becomes uniform.

All natural or spontaneous processes occurring without the intervention of an external agency are irreversible. All things has a beginning.

“If the universe has existed from eternity, then it would have long since run out of useful energy and ground to a halt. Therefore, quite unintentionally science proves that our universe had a beginning. And in doing so it proves the reality of God, for whatever had a beginning did not begin of itself but demands a Prime Mover, a creator, a God “

Edward Luther Kessel, The Evidence of God pg 50-51

3) The Motion of electron.

4) The alternate transformation of energy. Matter Energy Matter Energy…….

5) Chemistry and the Fanaa’ of matter

6) Solar energy Sun is our solar system’s main source of energy.

It comes from the long series of nuclear explosion inside the sun, and the explosion gradually lessen the sun’s energy through time.

If it has existed from eternity why is the sun still with us today?

The prominent English physicist, Roger Penrose, in his book The Emperor's New Mind, writes:

“ What is it that gives a particular person his individual identity? Is it, to someextent, the very atoms that compose his body? Is his identity dependent uponthe particular choice of electrons, protons, and other particles that composethose atoms? There are at least two reasons why this cannot be so. In the firstplace, there is a continual turnover in the material of any living person's body.This applies in particular to the cells in a person's brain, despite the fact that nonew actual brain cells are produced after birth. The vast majority of atoms ineach living cell (including each brain cell)—and, indeed, virtually the entirematerial of our bodies—has been replaced many times since birth. The secondreason comes from quantum physics…If an electron in a person's brain wereto be exchanged with an electron in a brick, then the state of the system wouldbe exactly the same state as it was before, not merely indistinguishable from it!The same holds for protons and for any other kind of particle, and for wholeatoms, molecules, etc. If the entire material content of a person were to be exchanged with corresponding particles in the bricks of his house then, in astrong sense, nothing would have happened whatsoever. “

6) The human soul exists!

Refutations of the problem of Evil

- What is your definition of God?- Suffering is relative….Remember the 3 glass of water metaphor.- Without suffering there will be no blessings and bliss- Allah do not see through the perspective of human beings. There is always a purpose behind everything.- Evil is nothing but the absence of Good…- Some people were trapped in a Christian Manichean world view, and that

is good and evil are 2 separate entities.- What is the sign that your body is in a bad state…? Pain…it’s pain…if you

see it in this way…it’s nothing but good…

السالم عبد الدين عز العلماء سلطان كتاب والرزايا “ من والمحن والباليا الفتنوالمحن البلوى : ” وفوائد

وقهرها • الربوبية عز معرفةوقصرها • العبودية ذل معرفةإليه • إال الشدائد دفع في ملجأ ال إذ تعالى لله اإلخالصإليه • وإالقبال إليه اإلنابةالتضرع•المصيبة • عنه صدرت من عن الحلمجانيها • عن العفوعليها • الصبر• " أحمد " إمام بالرخاء تفرحون كما بالبالء ليفرحون كانوا إن بيده نفسي والذي فوائدها ألجل بها الفرحالطيبات • من تضمنته لما عليها الشكروالخطايا • للذنوب تمحيصهابلواهم • على ومساعدتهم البالء أهل رحمةالعافية • نعمة قدر معرفةالفوائد • من طيها في معرفةالتكبر • من يبعدكالرضا•

Benefits of Tribulations

Arguments for the Existence of God

1) Al-Quran

2) Logic

3) Scientific

1) Al-Quran

• Ibn Rushd in his book Manaahijul Adillah :

1) Dalilul I’naayah (Harmony) - Coincidence cannot produce harmony, therefore, harmony

must be the product of none other then Al-Qaasid and Al-Muriid.

Ali-Imran : 191

2) Dalilul Ikhtiraa’ (Design)

Design can ONLY come from a conscious and intelligent being.

At-Tur : 35

Al-Hajj : 73

Logic• Al-Imam A’dhaduddin Al-Iji in His Book Al-Mawaaqif :

1) Dalil Al-Imkan Wal-Wujub - No Mumkin can create itself, hence, if everything is Mumkin then nothing will exist.

2) Al-A’aalam were made up of 2 things :

1) Jauhar 2) A’rad - Everything that is not free from Haadis is Haadis

- Both are possible/Mumkin (Wujud aw al’adam), hence both need an outer cause.

Al-An’aam : 77

3) Anselm’s Ontological Argument

“ God is something that than which nothing greater can be conceived."

If you can conceive(faham)it in your mind, then that being we call God must also exist in reality, because, if He only exist inside our minds then that means he’s not something that than which nothing greater can be conceived .

Something that than which nothing greater can be conceived must exist in the minds and in reality.

4) Inference

By analysing the designed you will know the designer.

Scientific

“ A very interesting paradox emerges at this point: While DNA canonly replicate with the help of special proteins (enzymes), the synthesis ofthese proteins can only be realized by the information encoded in DNA. Asthey both depend on each other, either they have to exist at the same timefor replication, or one of them has to be "created" before the other.”

Harun Yahya, Evolution Deceit pg 143-144

Francis Crick the co-founder of the structure of DNA said :

“ An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that, in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle. ”

Francis Crick, Life Itself: It's Origin and Nature 1981, p. 88.

- Nature is complex.

- Nature has no consciousness.

Complexity can only be produced by a Conscious being…

Therefore Nature is the created and not the creator.

It is God who created everything.

1) Al-Quran

• Ibn Rushd in his book Manaahijul Adillah :

1) Dalilul I’naayah (Harmony) - Coincidence cannot produce harmony, therefore, harmony

must be the product of none other then Al-Qaasid and Al-Muriid.

Ali-Imran : 191

2) Dalilul Ikhtiraa’ (Design)

Design can ONLY come from a conscious and intelligent being.

At-Tur : 35

Al-Hajj : 73

Al-Musthanbataat- Rationalism, is it a problem in Islam?

- Imam Al-Ghazali’s trust of the human intellect, after a period of distrust on it’s credibility.

- Imam Ibn Rushd in his book Faslul maqal writes : “ As-Syar’ demands human beings to use their intellect in order to know

Allah.“ Faslul Maqal pg 25.

- Imam Muhd Abduh, Jamaluddin Al-Afghani, Dr Mahmud Hamdi Zaqzuq, Dr Sulaiman Dunya, Malik Bennabi etc… all agreed that one of the biggest,the main reason and the main culprit for the decline of the Islamic Civilization is Muslim’s disrespect of the human intellect.Let’s not let history ( Feud between The Church and the Scientists) repeats itself.

“ Don’t think too much…you will go astray…”

I think it’s time to rephrase this destructive claim…..

“ Develop your mind, think correctly and you will reach HIM…”

Reference1) The God Delusion , Richard Dawkins

2) The End of Faith , Sam Harris

3) God is not Great , Chrsitopher Hitchens

4) Religion : The Root of All Evil by Richard Dawkins, BBC

5) The History of Disbelief by Jonathan Miller , BBC

6) God Arises , Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

7) The Atlas of Creation , Harun Yahya

8) The Evolution Deceit , Harun Yahya

9) Mizanul Amal , Imam Al-Ghazali

10) Al-Munqidh Min Ad-Dhalaal , Imam Al-Ghazali

11) Faslul Maqal , Imam Ibn Rushd

12) Manahijul Adillah , Ibn Rushd

13) Syarhul Mawaaqif , Imam A’dhaduddin Al-Ijiy

14) Al-Islam fi Muwajahati Tayyaarat Al-Maaddiy A-Mu’aasir , Dr Jamal Sa’ad Mahmud Jum’ah

15) Al-Fikri Al-Islamiy Al-Hadis Yuwaajihu Al-Ilhaad , Dr Mahmud Abd Hakim Uthman

16) Al-Bahsu Anil Haqiqah Al-Kubra , Mohandes Assaam Qassaab

17) Ibn Rushd Wa Falsafatuhu , Dr Al-Mu’ti Muhd Al-Bayyuumi

By : Muhd Noor Bin Muhd Deros 2008