Title: Existence of God Question: Why do you believe in the existence of God? What is the evidence for His existence? Answer: An aspect, which seems quite intriguing, is the 'taken for granted' approach of a large number of people regarding the existence of God. There are a number of people around us, who believe in the existence of God, not based on any explainable reasons, but merely because that is how it is or that is how it should be. This general approach may, at first sight, seem unsubstantiated. However, religions, claiming to be divine, have another explanation for this apparently 'unsubstantiated' and 'taken for granted' approach of man. According to the divine religions, this approach is the result of an unbroken chain of information that man has received over the generations, starting from the first man - Adam (pbuh). These religions hold that unlike the human race, in general, Adam (pbuh) directly experienced and interacted with God. Subsequently, God selected the best of men in various generations and at various places and directly interacted and communicated with them; He delivered them His messages, informed them of His likes and dislikes; gave them irrefutable signs of His existence; and educated them regarding the purpose of this life as well as the consequences of success or failure in it. God talked to Noah, He addressed Abraham, He conversed with Moses, He gave His message to Jesus and finally He revealed His word upon Muhammad (pbut). Starting from Adam and ending at Muhammad (pbut) the history of the communication and interaction with God is transmitted from one generation to the other in unbroken chains of transmission. Man has considered this transmission to be so authentic and reliable that it has generally led him to accept the existence of God, without asking for any other evidence to support it. For a person born in a family, which ascribes to the belief of the existence of God, this transmission of information regarding the existence of God, generally, provides the beginning for his belief. Thus, for a child born in a Jewish, a Christian or a Muslim (or any other creed, which believes in God) family, this information is the starting point of the stated belief. However, as time goes on, the child - depending upon his internal abilities as well as the support that he gets from his external environment - develops the ability of inquisition and of testing the information that it has received from its elders. This is the time, when a growing child (or a grown up adult) starts looking for the evidence to either support the information that his elders gave him or to gather sufficient basis to reject the information so transmitted to him. I too have gone through these phases in life. Today, I believe in the existence of God for exactly the same reasons on the basis of which, at reading a letter, I believe that it was written by a (good or a bad) writer; at seeing a building, I believe that it was designed by an architect and constructed by an engineer (with his team of workers), or at eating a delicious meal, I believe that it was carefully prepared by an expert cook. For me, being skeptical about God's existence is exactly like being skeptical about the existence of the writer, even after having received a letter; or about the existence of the architect or the engineer, even after seeing a beautiful building; or about the existence of the expert cook, even after having one's fill of a delicious meal. When I look in the mirror, I see a beautiful piece of art. The eyes, the nose, the lips, the neck, the arms, the hands, the legs and the feet - everything is beautifully arranged in a perfect balance. A piece of art, indeed; yet, not merely that. A masterpiece of boundless wisdom, as well. For the eyes, the nose and all the other visible parts of my body are not merely beautiful in their arrangement, but are working according to specific and well chalked-out rules. Rules, which are so scientific, that they become predictable. Man considers these rules so predictable and reliable that academic disciplines have been derived from these rules and are very confidently taught at universities and colleges. Yet, it does not end here. This beautiful piece of art and wisdom is also endowed with a 'divine spark'. Although, surrounded by a corrupt and unjust world, I have been endowed with the ability to distinguish between 'right' and 'wrong' and 'good' and 'bad'. I am not just a physical being; on the contrary, I also have a moral touch to my existence. All things remaining the same, I would like to do 'good' and avoid indulging in 'bad'. Yet I know that I have not learnt this 'goodness' from my environment, for had that been the case, my inclinations would have been the opposite of what they now are. When I talk to my neighbor, a passer-by, a relative, a friend, a stranger, in my own environment, in the west or the east - I realize, with some surprise, that, like the standardization in my physical being, there is a significant degree of standardization in my moral and spiritual existence, as well. For in very little time, I realize that, in the heart of his hearts, every reasonable person - irrespective of his race, creed, color or socio-economic background - admires truthfulness, justice, kindness and consideration toward others and shuns lewdness and transgression. This is man - a masterpiece of art and wisdom. I look further and realize that this masterpiece came into being, without any apparent desire on its own part, and one day it will have to depart the scene, though, now it does not want to let go of life. The environment, which surrounds man not only allows him to sustain and continue his life, but also provides adequately for the satisfaction of all his physical, emotional and esthetic needs. It provides for the complete satisfaction of his thirst, his hunger and his other physical needs. Indeed it is full of all the amenities that man required for a comfortable and enjoyable life. Like a furnished and a well-equipped palace, this environment is stacked with signs of gracious providence. A closer look at this environment shows that, like man, it is also running according to mathematically predictable rules. So predictable are these rules that relying on them, man is even willing to risk his life and plan his journeys outside the limits of his small abode - the earth. Ask a qualified person to tell you the position of any given star or a planet at any given time in the future or the past and relying on the rules governing the environment, he will accurately tell you its exact location. So sure would he be of his assessment that he would even be willing to bet on it. Any one interested in finding out the predictable nature of the environment should study the history of scientific development. All of man's scientific discoveries and inventions are nothing but a step forward in discovering, imitating or utilizing the design inherent in the environment, which surrounds him. This, then, is the environment that man lives in. This is the data I have about myself and the environment that I live in. I believe in God, because I do not have any other explanation for my own existence or that of what surrounds me, except that of believing in a Wise designer and a Providing Creator. The only alternative answer given to the question 'Why do we exist', is: 'We just do'. 'By pure chance'. Sometimes, I find it very hard to believe that any reasonable person could have the courage to give that answer. Yet, whether I believe it or not this is the only alternative answer. Just imagine, where would humankind have been today - the beginning of the twenty-first century - had our scientists and explorers given the same answer to every question that arose in their minds. Imagine Newton saying at watching the apple fall: 'The hell with 'Why it falls' as long as it falls nearer to me than to him'. Imagine Einstein declaring: 'What do I care if there is a relationship between mass and energy'. Imagine Edison saying: 'Lets just eat, drink and be merry - even if it is in candlelight' (but then, where would have the candles come from - there would only have been 'sunlight' or no light). Where would we have been? Don't you find it strange that when a Newton discovers a force behind the 'falling apple', he is acclaimed for his 'great' discovery. Yet, when man discovers the hand of a Wise, Merciful, Provident Creator behind his existence, he is declared to be dogmatic!!! I wonder why. It was, in fact, not accepting the answer: 'things just do happen', but rather finding explanations for how and why they actually did that has led to all the development in science and technology. We sought explanations to all the phenomena surrounding us, based on the unshakable belief that there is, indeed, wisdom and design within ourselves as well as in the world that surrounds us. Yet, for some unknown reason, some people are not willing to accept an explanation for the existence of the material world, for ourselves, for why we come to life and why we die. The existence of God answers all these questions. It puts all the pieces of the puzzle in place. It enlightens our existence and gives meaning to our own existence and that of all that surrounds us. The Qur'an declares: [Belief in] God is the light of the heavens and the earth. If I were suddenly to disclaim the theory of gravitation merely on the grounds that man may discover an alternative explanation for the 'falling apple', I am sure people would put me in an asylum or if I am lucky, they would not even bother to notice me. They would indeed be correct in doing so. Such unfounded remarks cannot be held as a reasonable challenge for the theory of gravitation, because the theory has successfully and sufficiently explained the phenomenon of the 'falling apple'. What should and would be considered as a reasonable challenge for the theory of gravitation is, at best, an alternative theory, which adequately explains the phenomenon, or, at least, raises sufficient questions, which remain unanswered by the theory of gravitation and, thereby, render it redundant. Similarly, the existence of God is not challenged by the 'by mere chance' answer, for it explains nothing. In fact, this answer insults the human existence and refutes all logic in man's scientific and technological endeavors. What actually could really have been a challenge to the belief regarding the existence of God, was an alternative explanation of the phenomena of the existence of human life and the physical world. No such explanation could yet be presented. Divine religions declare that none can be. Nevertheless, till such time that an alternative satisfactory answer is provided, I find it compelling to submit that the portrait of man and the landscape that surrounds him was designed and painted by an expert artist and engineer; that man's abode was gracefully furnished with all that man needed, by Providence unbound and that the infinite wisdom entailed in the physical world - within and outside man - clearly points toward a Wise Creator. The Qur'an ( Al-Baqarah 2: 164) invites us: In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of the night and the day; in the ships that sail the oceans with cargoes, which are beneficial to man; in the water, which God sends down from the sky and with which He revives the earth after its death [and as a result] disperses over it all kinds of animals; in the changing directions of the winds and in the clouds that have been placed between the earth and the skies: surely, in all these are great signs for the wise. I am not willing to ascribe the magnificent world that surrounds me and the piece of excellent artistry that is within me to a mere improbable accident. Are you? March 14, 2001