Voice of British Muslim Women

Aroosa Akram, Slough

It is common knowledge that atheism is disbelief in God, however atheism in its general and basic form is the lack of belief in all deities. This is of course the opposite of theism in which all classical theistic religions like Islam, Christianity and Judaism and Hinduism believe that there is a deity and we in Islam believe in One God.

In Islam, the singularity and existence of God is ingrained in the teachings. However, ‘modern-day atheism’ is about emergence of a different atheistic way of thinking. This is called ‘new atheism’ and it is not just about disbelief in a God or deities, but is the argument that ‘all religion is evil’. The term ‘new atheism’ was coined by the agnostic journalist Gary Wolf in 2006 and two of its well-known ‘preachers’ are Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris.  New atheists take a Darwinian approach and believe that science is the cause and effect. They see religion merely as a set of ideas.

Richard Dawkins has said the creation of the universe was a “happy chemical accident”. Now, Islam argues that God created the universe as it says in the Holy Qur’an, “And among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the diversity of your tongues and colours. In that surely are Signs for those who possess knowledge (30:32).[i]

However, as no atheist is going to believe what the Holy Qur’an says, we may use an argument here which is purely based on logic. Such an argument is presented by an American Scientist called Dr. Harry L. Shipman who said in his book, Black Holes, Quasars and the Universe in 1976: ‘The Big Bang Theory leaves one unanswered question. Who created the material that exploded as the Big Bang? For this the astronomer has no answer. We may be able to look back to the early seconds of the evolution of the universe, but our vision stops there. This book ends by leaving the problem of creation to the philosopher and the theologian’. [ii]

This is explained in the Qur’an as: ‘Do not the disbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were a closed-up (mass) and we opened them out? And we made from water every living thing’.[iii]

As Muslims we cannot take the ‘God of the Gaps’ view in which everything that science cannot prove, God could be the answer, because we believe in an Omniscient Creator. However, the creation of the universe by a God/ deity/ superior being is supported by one of the most renowned scientists, Sir Isaac Newton. Newton said “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.” [iv]

Here, Sir Isaac Newton takes a logical argument. One that has been supported by Aquinas, the famous philosopher from the 13^th century, who argued in his famous ‘five ways to prove the existence of God’ which took a logical approach to prove the existence of God. He tried to prove the existence of God through the creation of the universe. In his 5^th argument, he says that the world is intelligently and beautifully designed in nature, like the relationships between planets and gravity. This is very well explained through William Paley’s analogy of a watch which aims to prove the same argument as Aquinas – if you are walking and see a stone – you would consider it normal and mundane, However, if you were walking and see a watch, that’s unusual because this watch has gears and has been perfectly designed to make the hand move, all to fit within that specific watch designed by a designer as it wouldn’t have naturally ended up there. Muslims take this designer to be God. In the Qur’an it says ‘He (God) is the Originator of the heavens and the earth…’ (2:118) [v]

This is essential in disproving new atheists like Richard Dawkins when he says “There’s real poetry in the real world. Science is the poetry of reality”.

So what we see here is that ‘new atheism’ which believes in the idea that science is the originator can be refuted as science itself was mentioned in the Holy Qur’an with the idea of a big bang, proving the existence of an intelligent and superior being.

To refute ‘new atheism’, we must find a common ground or understanding. We, as humans, all believe in logic and so we must argue from a logical point of view that the creation of the universe was not a “happy chemical accident”. Muslims believe it was created by One deity, God. It can be proved through the creation of the universe that we behold and beyond that there is a Supreme, All-Powerful, All-Knowing Creator, Who created this universe with intelligent design. Muslims call this Creator Allah.

[i]https://www.alislam.org/quran/view/?page=471&region=E2&CR=

[ii]Black Holes, Quasars and the Universe, 1976

[iii]https://www.alislam.org/quran/view/?page=369&region=E2&CR= The Holy Qur’an (21:31)

[iv]Our Solar System and the Stellar Universe, By Charles Whyte, p.131. 1923

[v]https://www.alislam.org/quran/view/?page=18&region=E2&CR= The Holy Qur’an, (2:118)