(Disclaimer: this is not meant to offend anyone. It is very understandable and normal that someone brought up in the Western education system without any access to the Islamic universe of reference, will simply not have come across the Islamic philosophical arguments that make the non-existence of God all-but-nonsensical. Fortunately, if you happen to be an atheist and are now on my email list, I’ve got your back and will save you from the error of your ways. You’re welcome. Infidel. 😉 ).
I challenge any atheist in the world to read through this article, and remain an atheist by the end of it.
Believe me, you weren’t taught this in school. (Unless your school was an excellent Madrassa).
Ready?
Let’s explore…
Why has God’s non-existence always been considered nonsensical in Muslim understanding?
If we want to talk about the existence of God, we first need a clear categorisation of existence itself.
There are three categories of existence.
By the time you understand each of the three categories of existence, you will most likely find it completely irrational to not acknowledge the existence of “Allah”, by the Muslim definition.
CATEGORY ONE: Impossible Existence
Impossible existence is defined as ‘that whose existence is rationally impossible or inconceivable’.
Nothing in the category of impossible existence exists, by definition.
It’s hard to come up with examples of this, but we could include things like a four sided triangle or a three sided circle. These things by definition do not exist unless we change the meanings of words.
Things like unicorns and fairies happen to not exist, but they don’t fall into the category of ‘rationally impossible and inconceivable’. They could exist. They just happen not to (…or so we think!).
This category of “impossible existence” literally cannot possibly exist. If you claim anything in this category does exist, you either don’t understand the category, or you’re being irrational.
This brings us onto the next category. If I was to ask you what the opposite of “impossible” existence is, you would probably say… “possible” existence.
(And, you’d be wrong, but more on that later.) For now, let’s look at…
CATEGORY TWO: Possible Existence
The second category of existence is “Possible Existence”. This is defined as ‘that whose existence is rationally possible and conceivable’.
In other words, it may exist or it may not exist.
This includes things like: trees, tables, laptops, cups…
…but it also includes things like fairies, unicorns, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, trolls, goblins, and other things that happen to not exist, but rationally speaking, could hypothetically exist.
Everything that we know exists within time, space and matter, including things that we have perceived with our five senses falls into this category. However, a lot of things that don’t exist, but are ‘possible’ – albeit very unlikely – also fall into this category. If you can dream it up, its existence is in the “possible” category. If you literally can’t dream it up, its existence is in the “rationally impossible” category.
For clarity, here are more examples of “possible existence” (category two). It includes everything you can think of that exists, as well as everything you can think of that doesn’t exist. For example, everything from horses, and dinosaurs to unicorns and fairies are all possible existence.
Obviously, horses exist, dinosaurs used to exist, and unicorns do not exist. But they’re all in the same category of “possible existence”, because they could hypothetically exist, even though they may happen to not exist.
Make sense?
Great.
Now, if you’re trained in logic, you will intuit that this picture is incomplete.
Possible Existence is not the TRUE opposite of Impossible Existence.
Impossible existence cannot exist, by definition.
Possible existence may or may not exist.
There must by extension, be a third category of existence, which is…
CATEGORY THREE: Necessary / Definite Existence
This is defined as ‘that whose non-existence is impossible or rationally inconceivable’.
In other words, that whose existence is rationally necessary, by definition.
This is the true opposite of impossible existence. .
Category one (impossible existence) are things that can’t exist, by definition.
Category two (possible existence) are things that may or may not exist.
Category three (necessary/ definite existence) is that which must exist, and can’t not exist, by definition.
When Muslims make their declaration of faith, they are literally saying “La ilaha il Allah”, meaning “there is no god – there is nothing worthy – except Definite Existence”.
In other words, when we worship Allah, we’re not worshipping something that may or may not exist. We’re worshipping something that literally must exist and can’t not exist. That for whom non-existence is literally, rationally inconceivable.
Anyone who claims that Impossible Existence exists is being irrational. In the same way, anyone who claims Definite Existence does not exist, is being equally irrational.
An atheist could try to take the label ‘god’ and put it on something in ‘possible existence’ or claim that ‘god’ is in the category of ‘impossible existence’… but then I’d have to agree with them and say, ‘yeah, that so-called ‘god’ thing you’re talking about doesn’t exist… but that’s not the thing I’m talking about and worship!”.
If you follow the logic of this article, then you will know without a shadow of doubt that Allah, as Muslims define it, must necessarily, absolutely exist, and that it is irrational to claim otherwise.
Every single argument an atheist has ever put forward against God’s existence is not an argument against Definite Existence. It’s an argument against something whose existence is merely ‘possible’. In other words, they’re arguing against fictional creatures that may have god-like powers.
None of the arguments of atheists work against our definition of Allah, whose attribute “al-Haqq” in Islamic theology equates to “wajib al-wujood” or “necessary existence”, defined as “that for whom non existence is impossible”. (“Allah” is the word that encompasses all the other true names, and attributes of Allah, including Al-Haqq.)
In other words:
I never believed in the ‘god’ that atheists say doesn’t exist.
Atheists are half way there.
They say : “la ilaha” – there is no god.
We complete it with : “il Allah” – except Allah (Definite Existence)
The Path To Spiritual Connection
Aside from proving God’s existence (you’re welcome), there is another more salient point to this email.
Which is to point out that there is an enormous difference between:
- Not believing in God,
- Believing in God,
- Knowing God exists and
- Being deeply, spiritually, connected with God.
Not believing in God is like being lost at sea and having no hope for the light of divine guidance.
Believing in God (without knowing for certain) is like being lost at sea, but having hope that there may be land nearby, with a lighthouse to guide you.
Knowing that God exists, is like seeing the lighthouse far away on the horizon and hoping that someday you may reach it…
Being deeply, spiritually connected with God, is like being inside of the lighthouse, encompassed by the light and ultimately becoming a source of light for those around you.
If you want to go from knowing God exists to being spiritually connected with Allah, and experiencing all of the benefits that come along with that, I highly recommend you check out my upcoming coaching programme, The Spiritual Switch:
