The Logic of Allah's Existence
Excerpt:
geocities.com
I've debated many Muslims on the net (in chats, via email, on usenet), and I've also debated with a few Muslims in person (at my local university, at the work place). One thing that the real time Muslims ask that the cyber-Muslims rarely do is why I'm an Atheist, which is often followed by "why not Islam?" They can understand how an educated Westerner would reject Christianity, but why reject Islam? Especially when you're already familiar with its tenets. Here I will give a quick run through the reasons I don't believe in the existence of Allah. Surely, if Allah does not exist, then all other claims of Islam fall with Him. I will explore some of His alleged attributes, the attempted arguments for His alleged existence, and what life without Allah means (if anything). These are the reasons why I chose Ilhad (Atheism) rather than Islam.
ALLAH AND OMNISCIENCE
One of the definitions that Muslims, I assume, would agree to for Allah, is that of a being who is, among other things, infinite in knowledge. Allah knows all things, even what your heart conceals. This makes sense for a being that is unlimited; such a being should know all things at all times. With this I would like to explore this idea, and begin with an attempt to apply the popular "free will" argument to this concept.
Suppose it is the time just prior to the creation of the earth. For the sake of a rough estimate to just throw out there, we'll say this is six billion years ago. At this point, does Allah know what sins Bob Smith of Chicago Illinois is going to commit in July of 2001? If the scope of what Allah can see, and what Allah knows is unlimited, then surely He knows what Bob is going to do, and knew such things six billion years before old Bob was even born! That being established, suppose that before the first human is even created, the following HYPOTHETICAL discussion takes place between God and one of his angels:
ANGEL: Oh Allah, the most benevolent, ever-merciful, will your servant Bob Smith ever commit a sin?
ALLAH: Yes he will.
ANGEL: Ya Allah, could you please name one sin he will commit?
ALLAH: Bob will consume eight ounces of khamr on July 4th, 2001.
Now, if Allah knew what Bob was going to do before he was even born, how could Bob do anything else? If Bob decided to instead heed the Islamic prohibition on liquor, then that would make Allah a liar six billion years prior, which is impossible. However, if Allah knows everything Bob is going to do, then it it is as if he is pre-programmed, and the events of Bob's life are obviously predetermined. If Bob's life if predetermined, he cannot be considered guilty of any "sin" he "commits."
This sort of concept begins to hi-light the illogical notion of Allah's omniscience with regards to His creation. Rather than focusing on one being, let us consider his entire creation. At what point is an action the will of Allah, and at what point is an action the result of an independent decision on the part of one of His creations? Do these two things overlap? At the very creation of the universe, Allah must have instantly known everything that was going to happen, from this moment, all the way to judgment day, and every day in paradise, with his servants and their seventy virgins relaxing by a river of khamr. That means that Allah already knew who was going to believe, and who was not, how many would go to hell, how many would go to heaven, which prophets would be killed, et cetera. The entire history of life, past, present, and future, was predetermined. All these events have already happened in the mind of Allah, thus every being is simply going through the motions. There is no way you can truly change your life, as everything you will ever do, was already "written." You have no real choices, as there is only one possibility for you considering that it was already known what you were going to do before you or your ancestors were even created. Thus, it would seem that free will and an eternally omniscient Allah are wholly incompatible and incoherent.
On a similar track, the very idea of prayer comes off as totally absurd in light of Allah's alleged omniscience. What are you praying for? If a farmer in Afghanistan prays for rain, he is wasting his time. Billions of years before that man was even born Allah already decided whether or not it would rain that day. Allah knew exactly when every single event would and would not happen, thus to pray for something seems a bit pointless. A prayer for change is worthless, as all things are predetermined if Allah is omniscient. Thus, one would have to conclude that prayers are not for asking for change, but rather meant only to praise Allah. It seems unbecoming of an infinite being, watching over an infinite universe, to order that men praise him five times a day (bargained down from fifty after Muhammad and Moses questioned Allah's original orders according to certain ahadith). Furthermore, due to Allah's omniscience, Allah already knew from the very start who would praise Him, when, and how many times. He knew the exact amount of prayers He would receive over the course of history, thus the idea of prayer being only a method of praising Allah is a bit unspectacular. The idea of prayer being a source of psychological benefit is also absurd, as it was already predetermined who would go crazy and who would benefit psychologically.
Another problem with Allah's alleged omniscience is that it cancels out His attribute of being omnipotent. It is totally illogical to claim that a being is both all-knowing and all-powerful. If Allah, six billion years ago, knew everything that would happen after that point, for the rest of eternity, then He would be limiting Himself. Does Allah know every decision and action He will make after that point? If so, he cannot do otherwise. As George Smith put it, "If God knows the future with infallible certainty, he cannot change it-in which case he cannot be omnipotent. If God can change the future, however, he cannot have infallible knowledge of it prior to its actual happening-in which case he cannot be omniscient." [Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God, (1989, Prometheus) p. 74]
To make it more clear, consider the following sequence of statements:
(1) Allah is omniscient, i.e. He knows all things.
(2) Allah is omnipotent, i.e. He can do all things.
(3) Allah knows everything that He will ever do after this point [from (1)].
(4) Allah can do anything He pleases, at anytime He pleases [from (2)].
(5) Allah can change His mind about what he planned to do [from (2) & (4)].
(6) If Allah can change His mind, and do something different from what he originally planned to do, then He did not originally know what He was going to do.
If Allah knows everything that will happen, then He cannot change it. If it is open to change, then He does not know everything that will happen. For example, if Allah, six billion years ago, told His angels that "on December 31, 2001 I will make it snow in Montreal, Canada," He, from that point, is locked to that event, and is no longer free. If on December 31 2001 it does not snow in Montreal, then Allah either lied (which surely Allah does not do), or He did not really know what was going to happen. However, if Allah knows that He will make it snow on 12/31/2001 six billion years before He does so, but decides on December 23rd not to make it snow, then He really didn't know what was going to happen, as He made an incorrect prediction six billion years prior.
With the concept of omnipotence and omniscience, Allah is continually contradicting Himself, and continually locking Himself to an event. Either he knows what He is going to do, and cannot change it, or He is not so sure what will happen, and is free to make any decision. The only way to escape this contradiction is to admit that Allah is either not omnipotent, or not omniscient. If the Muslim wants to present a logical deity, then he must admit that this deity, Allah, is a limited being due to the fact that one of the aforementioned unlimited attributes must be discarded. |
