Sceptics tell us:- There is no proof that God exists. It is believers who have to prove that God exists. Any textbook on logic can show you that it is not unbelievers who have the burden of proof of showing that God does not exist. It might also be helpful for those who think that the Quran constitutes a proof for any one other than those who think it divine. All arguments of this nature to an unbeliever appear to be circular, as the conclusion is also in the premise.

The answer is that something has to be regarded as fundamental and self-existing before thought can begin, even before consciousness comes into existence, even before Space and time and or phenomena whatever. We live not only by facts, but also by meaning and values. The notion of God provides us with a framework of reference within which all experiences can be interpreted in a self-consistent manner. By a life built on this, the individual can achieve inner integration without inner contradictions and conflicts and harmony with the cosmos, of which he is an interacting part and on which he is dependent.

It might be argued that this is a purpose for the concept of God, but it does not prove the existence of anything to which the concept refers. The answer is that the cosmos does exist - it a basic given fact. It does contain matter, energy, forces, order, life and consciousness. All these interact and form a whole and all arise from this whole by differentiation both in the Universe and in man as the child develops consciousness. Consciousness has priority because without it we would not know Reality. And yet experience shows that Reality is much greater than what we are conscious of. There is, therefore, a distinction between the Real World and World we perceive caused by the level of consciousness, between Heaven and Earth.

There are three kinds of proof:-

(b) Through reason - usually analogy. We experience that A is connected with B. When this happens i.e. it is repeated either in our experience or corroborated by the experience of others who are like us, then the probability of that connection is increased. If we see A then we can deduce B with a certain probability. If we see B then we can deduce A. But if we define A as connected with B (e.g. Human beings have the characteristic mortality) then it is certain that A will be connected B. If we experience something which looks like A but is not connected with B, then we say it is not A but some other name will have to be used for it. (A man who is not mortal may be called a god for instance).

(c) An experience acquires value when it is processed and assimilated into a greater system of experiences into which it fits in a self-consistent manner. The system is always more than the sum of the parts owing to the pattern. It is not possible to predict the characteristics of the whole from a study of the parts. The whole has a modifying and controlling affect on the parts. In fact, the parts arise because they have a function with respect to the whole. We can see this as the adult evolves from the single fertilized egg and the Universe arises from the Primeval Atom, and the consciousness of the child develops. The perception of this self-consistency is called Insight and there are several degrees of it, intuition, inspiration and revelation. Our knowledge proceeds by progressive synthesis from the particular to the general. But the process in reality is the reverse of this.

All three proofs depend upon the existence of suitable faculties and the power of these varies. Some can see more through their senses than others. Some are blind and deaf to various degrees. The range of forces which affect us is much greater than we have senses for. Even out of that which we can sense, the amount that we are actual aware of is very small and depends on our attention which is governed by our interests. It can be directed and can expand or contract. The actions we do cause reacts from things and people in the environment and this becomes data. Therefore what we see also depends on what we do. Training and habit causes reinforcement of certain things while ignoring other things. This produces a certain bias just as motives and interests do. All new data is interpreted by association with previous experiences and within a framework produced by it. Therefore, previous experiences, controlled by particular environments and cultures, also create a bias.

The same considerations apply to reason and insight. Intelligence and sensitivity varies. Assumptions, motives and actions affect them.

If you see a table then there is no need to prove it except to the blind. But the blind can always reject it by arguments based on words. Having heard a description, he can, for instance, give it another name. But this cannot make the slightest difference to one who experiences it. The experience itself is merely an aspect of the real object, which depends on the relationship of the person with the object and its relationship with all other objects.

The fact is that Reality R is much greater than exists within our experiences or knowledge E. And the world of experience is greater than what we manage to describe in our theories D. Nor is D the same as E and both are different from R. But it is also true that whatever exists in our experience and knowledge is caused by that greater reality. R > E > D.

There are number of notions of what the word God means. It ought to mean that which is worshipped as supreme in the world and in the life of the individual, that to which he subordinates himself and all things. The idea of God arises from awareness, often vague, of the Unity behind all things and a sense of being part of it. It may even be connected with the generalization of the experience of arising by differentiation from a single fertilized egg. Certainly, it is a universal experience, though it is conceptualized variously. This awareness of Unity and origins is lost when the mind involved in worldly affairs fixes on separate objects and events and compartmentalizes his life. The concept of God that is accepted in Islam is the one described so comprehensively in the Quran. This is named "Allah". It should not be confused with any other concept of God.

From the Islamic point of view the belief in Allah and in the Quran is an inspiration into minds that are receptive and have the appropriate faculties.

"This is indeed a noble Quran in a Book kept hidden which none touches save the purified, a revelation from the Lord of the Worlds." 56:77-80

Many of us know that human beings have faculties other than reason and that these are also valid. We can see with our senses, we have insight and can see connections and patterns, we have feelings and the capacity for love and understanding, and the capacity for sympathy and empathy. None of these have anything to do with logic.

We know also that the capacity to see and understand anything, including logical arguments, varies. What is proof to one is not proof to another. Try proving the Relativity Theory to a child or even to a graduate in the arts who has no facility with mathematics.

We also know that the belief in logic is itself illogical, because if you want to prove its validity you have to use logic. This is a vicious circle. We also know the limits of logic:- that the inference is already contained in the premises; that these can be constructed by defining the terms; and that you can prove anything you like if you choose appropriate premises with terms appropriately defined. It depends on your motives and on your assumptions and concepts. Actions cause reaction from the environment and this constitutes data. Interests direct attention and selects data. We are not conscious of all the data and their associations and patterns which might be relevant to the answer to a question. Nor are we aware of all the questions that might be asked because these depend on previous knowledge.

We also know that in a logical argument these premises are assumptions as are also the axioms of logic. If we wish to prove these premises then we will have to start with still other premises which have been assumed and so on. This can lead us into vicious circles or else to an "ultimate assumption" which explains everything but is not itself explicable. All arguments turn out to be circular because they are based on some assumption which reappears in the conclusion.

But we can start with an assumption also in science - most theories come by inspiration - and then try to prove or disprove them. If they cannot be disproved then we accept them. It is not possible to disprove the "ultimate assumption".

Consider the following vicious circles:-

Assertion:- All changes (of motion etc.) are caused by the action of forces.

Answer:- We measure them by the change in motion - that's how.

Conclusion:- This is a vicious circle, one upon which the whole of science is based. Force is an "ultimate assumption".

In religion, which deals not just with material facts, but with the process of living, the ultimate assumption is Allah instead of force. We do not need to prove that Reality exists.

Skeptics might say:- But there is a difference: force is not an anthropomorphic notion. The answer is:- Allah is not an anthropomorphic notion either. The term refers to the ultimate fundamental self-existing Reality. Allah pervades all things. When we speak about Allah hearing or seeing everything we do not think He has ears and eyes. We have symbolic language.

Islam does not make the unwarranted dichotomy between matter and consciousness and between these and life. Inertia, behaviour and sensitivity are properties of all phenomena though to various degrees. Human beings are material bodies, but they are alive and they also possess consciousness. There is no universe without conscious observers. Matter, life and consciousness are facts. The Universe does contain them. The whole cannot be less than the parts. Therefore, the whole of existence is more than just the material Universe.

Skeptics tell us that Science can adequately explain all things by means of Laws that can be regarded as self-existing. But Scientists tell us that the Universe was created by a Big Bang. There were no Laws of the Universe before it was created. It is the arising of these Laws which makes the Universe. But even if the Universe has no beginning it is certainly changing and there is something that is constant and eternal underlying these changes. The fact that we can cognize and recognize things implies that there are patterns and regularities which persist. There is a Principle of Conservation underlying things, which ensures that things change into one another but do not arise out of nothing and disappear into nothing. This would make prediction and control impossible.

On the other hand it could be said that our minds have formed in contact with, and in adjustment to the world, therefore, they understand and can deal with the world. The ideas about the world in science are not truths about the world but ways in which the mind deals with it. But this merely shifts the explanation of the ultimate to the mind. When speaking about the Absolute, the relative notions of matter and mind have no relevance. The whole Universe can be regarded as being in the mind of God, but the object in it can still have inertia or materiality with respect to each other.

Skeptics assert that people believe in a God of gaps. If there is a gap in our scientific knowledge, they immediately say, "God did it." Over time, many of these gaps have been filled in. This might be case with the Big Bang. If you don't know something, "I don't know" is a better answer than "God did it." It is possible to imagine millions of different possible creators, some intelligent and some not. Why Allah?

The answer is that a gap in knowledge implies something between two known things. The beginning of the Universe is not a gap. Nothing can be known about existence before the creation of the Universe. The notion of God covers both that which we do not know and that which we do know. It also covers that which is predictable and that which is not predictable.

If there were many separate systems that had no interaction with each other, then as far as any system is concerned, the others do not exist. But if there is interaction, then there is a whole greater than the parts. This whole must be organized to accommodate all as parts in harmony, otherwise there will be chaos. Chaos is a state in which nothing can be recognized because there is no regularities of any kind. Cognition presupposes order.

The Universe must, therefore, be a single unit and this is recognized by the word itself, "Uni".

The Universe did not, however, exist always and it does keep changing. Long before the Big Bang Theory was invented, the Quran asserted that the Universe has a beginning, a direction of development and will have an end. It was also known by Hindus thousands of years ago that the Universe is like the breathing in and out of Brahma. In other words, it is asserted by those who have insight, inspiration or revelation that there is a greater self-existent reality from which the Universe arises - there may be several Universes depending on what we mean (the galaxy was once thought to be the Universe, but the notion of Universe keeps expanding).

This ultimate self-existent Whole or Absolute is something in which whatever is actualized exists as potentialities. It is a reservoir for everything. Since it is the ultimate Whole there cannot be anything outside it by definition. There can be no external cause for anything that happens in it. All ultimate causes are within it. This is defined as Intention or Will. The notion of Purpose is connected with this. It is the ultimate cause. All phenomena, therefore, arise from an ultimate Intention directly or indirectly. There are no gaps.

When human knowledge advances then we may say that it is obtained from this Ultimate Mystery. That is, our consciousness expands and penetrates a little more into it and the area of the unknown diminishes a little. But this expansion of consciousness is still merely an actualization of the potentiality within the whole. This can be understood best by a diagram. Make a circle X denoting the whole. Within it make a small circle Y denoting human knowledge. The area in X outside Y is denoted by Z. Then Y can be regarded as expanding owing to information entering it from X.. This causes Z to diminish.

However, this is given only by way of illustration. In fact X is Infinite and cannot be confined within a circumference. A better illustration may be as follows:-

We have a series:- A causes B which causes C which causes D and so on until we come to N which may cause A. This is a closed circle. But we have to explain the existence of this circle. So we find some cause for it, which has causes and so on. We can continue this process ad infinitum. If this is represented by a line A to X, where A is total ignorance and X is total knowledge, defined as the knowledge of God *, then we have a cut off point M, below which we have knowledge and above which we have the Mystery of God. As knowledge increases the point M is raised but it never reaches X.

*Note that all things are defined according the information (or order) or the Truth they contain. Since God is defined (in Islam) as the ultimate objective reality, then He is the source of the total amount of Truth.

"Allah, He is Reality, and that which they invoke besides Him is the False." 31:30

"Allah, He is the manifest Truth." 24:25

"We created not the heavens and the earth and all that is between them save with Truth and for a term appointed." 46:3 See also 15:85, 16:3

"Were there in both (heaven and earth) gods beside Allah, both would surely have been disordered. Glorified is Allah, the Lord of the Throne, above all they ascribe unto Him." 21:22

Skeptics would say that the Big Bang is not a "proof" of Allah's existence. Nothing is. It all boils down to a matter of faith. Do you believe in God because of Big Bang? But then the belief in the validity of your senses, Logic, Mathematics, Science, Community, Love, Democracy, Humanity, the existence of the Universe and of yourself, they are all matters of faith.

But the question is what is meant by faith? It is falsely regarded as "blind belief". In fact, it refers to the confidence that leads to action. It is something essential to living, being one of the three basic life principles:- faith, love and hope. Their absence is doubt, apathy and despair. Their opposites are confusion, hate and fear. Their perversion is delusion, greed and aggression. These are diseases.

All explanations consist of relationships between the thing to be explained with something assumed. One can only begin thinking with something which is itself an assumption. If this assumption leads to contradictions and confusion then the assumption is modified until it stops causing this contradiction. But this requires that things should be consistent.

But why is consistency a requirement? The answer is that it enables us to live in adjustment to the real world. Since those who are not adjusted die out leaving only those who do adjust, then the principles or factors which allow this adjustment survive and the others are discarded.

To put it in another way Reality itself, Allah, ultimately determines what is right and wrong, true or false. But there are a variety of conditions in the world at the same time as well as due to changes in time. There may, therefore, be several things, each right or appropriate for a different set of conditions.

But how do the assumptions arise?

The process of living requires adjustment to the real world. This is done through the senses and feelings and the processing of the data of experience (mostly unconsciously) according to our inherent nature. This nature is formed by the materials, forces and laws which operate in us as well as in the Universe and by a long history of adjustment to the world.

Faith, therefore, depends on:-

(1) How the data of experience fall into a pattern, a self-consistent system. This is not a rational but a supra-rational process. This may take place to various degrees and we may be conscious of it to various degrees.

(2) On the harmony between this system and the laws of human nature. However, we have to distinguish true faith from prejudices and rationalizations. These are inconsistent with the laws of human nature and the external world from which they derive.

(3) It does not refer to blind belief, but to the confidence with which actions are carried out. This confidence is essential for any achievement. Life requires action. Doubt is a state of conflict or contradiction and the discomfort this causes has the function of activating us to seek the explanation and remove the conflict.

Hence:-

Of course, the above explanation has only academic significance, whereas Islam is about the process of living and existing. It is necessary to act accordingly. This is where faith applies.

The Skeptic might say:- Your idea of God appears to be something wholly natural. But why pray to God. Can mere uttering of words change anything?

We are part of the Universe, made of the same materials, energies and forces. These are passing into us and out of us, from and into other things and creatures. We interact with our surroundings through mechanical, chemical, and electro-magnetic means and through all kinds of micro-organisms, and no doubt at the Quantum level. We have a function with respect to the field in which we exist at all these levels. We are transforming organs. We fulfill this function according to our nature. And our own nature also changes, for good or evil, according to how we function and interact with the Cosmos.

We can divide material objects into crystals and cells; these into molecules; these into atoms; and so on, into sub-atomic particles until we come to a quantum or sub-quantum world. This seems like a field, a network of forces in which the knots are particles. At each point forces are converging and diverging. Everything is connected, and any event in one place affects other parts. What we do, therefore, affects the field and the field affects us.

We ourselves consist of materials and energies which are constantly passing into us from other things, are processed within us, and go out of us, and becoming part of other things. We cannot, therefore, identify ourselves with the materials we are composed of and are not separate from other things. A person could be defined as a bundle of information or Truth, but even this changes throughout his lifetime according to his actions and interactions. Taking Time as whole, a person will then be the result of all his thoughts, motives and actions.

We do not know what reality apart from our experiences of it is like and our experience of it depends on our capacities and forms a small part of the total possibilities. We know this because experiences come and go, other people tell us of experiences we have not had and animals and instruments react to things we do not see. The world we experience contains consciousness. Indeed, the world we experience cannot exist without consciousness. Its existence is essential prior to any knowledge. And if the Universe is accessible through our intelligence and rationality then it is intelligent and rational.

The idea that the ultimate total Reality is dead and inert is absurd.

Prayer consist of a concentration of thoughts, desires and actions that modify us. It is a form of self-modification and reinforcement of the attitudes expressed in the prayer. But we also affect the environment directly, or indirectly through the actions flowing from the person so modified. The environment reacts, and in turn affects us, directly or indirectly. The forces involved may be electro-magnetic, chemical, mechanical, biological, or psychological. There is probably also a more fundamental force usually known as Spirit or Word (a fundamental type of vibration) which has not yet been discovered by science but is responsible for all the various so called super-normal, supernatural or paranormal phenomena. They are, of course, only so because they are not yet well known like electricity used to be.

According to Physicists, underlying all physical phenomena there is a Quantum or sub-quantum field that is constantly fluctuating. That is, pairs of particles, positive and negative are constantly arising and mutually annihilating. It is potentially a source of infinite energy. Everything comes out of it. It is perfectly possible for the human mind to contact it given appropriate states and techniques. Human beings are the most sophisticated of all instruments with which we also have the most intimate contact. They have arisen in contact and adjustment to Total Reality.

The Skeptic might ask:- But why do you believe that the Quran is from God? What can this possibly mean? It is a book like any other and contains the opinion that might be right or wrong like others. It is not even based on scientific research or logical arguments. Why should the instructions in it be obeyed?

The Answer is:- We have to live and adjust to the World and its forces and laws. This requires that we have correct knowledge, correct motives and do correct actions. Knowledge cannot be created, but depends on perception and this depends on the capacity for perception that varies among people. Those who are more intimately connected with reality owing to heightened consciousness and also undertake to guide the rest of us are defined as "Messengers of Allah". The ideas which descend from this heightened consciousness are defined as "revelations" which may be recorded and communicated and is then defined as "Scripture". They are obeyed because it is for the benefit of the person himself to obey them and he has a built-in need to benefit himself.

You can see that not only has a rational explanation been given but the Quran, which is a revelation, has also been quoted. Each supports the other. In science, theories are often formed through inspiration, but they are tested by rational arguments in order to ensure that they do not come from a sub-rational subjective source such as fantasy, illusion, wishful thinking, prejudice and self-interest. The same can be done with revelations. But we have to be aware that not everyone receives inspiration or can understand the proofs. It is better to undergo a discipline that will get rid of the obstructions to correct thinking and perception.

In summary, and to formulate these ideas in terms of scientific concepts only because this might be better understood and without being dogmatic or claiming literal truth the case for the existence of God may be stated as follows:- Things belong to larger systems which belong to still larger systems and so on. Things can be divided into smaller parts that can be divided into smaller parts and so on until the distinction between the parts disappears and they all merge into the whole. The objects of sensation change into concepts. There are atoms, sub-atomic particles, quarks, and now strings Matter can be regarded as an epiphenomenon, due to local eddies of energy. Energy can be regarded as forms of order, of vibrations, or frequencies of waves in Space-time. The fundamental vibrations can be described as the Words of God. The basic Quantum or sub-quantum field, the reservoir of all potentialities, could perhaps be thought of as the mind of God. The Universe and all its contents can be regarded as the thoughts of God. Consciousness may be regarded as referring to connection with this Field. All our knowledge consists of objects in our consciousness.

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