> Answering hard questions of Atheists

[salman]

In this thread we will answer hard questions posted by God and religion rejectors i.e. atheists, agnostics etc. The thread will be updated frequently so keep in touch. Also, this thread will only be used as informational purpose not as a discussion, so it will be locked.

This post (the first) will have a list of questions and they will be linked to the post where its answer is posted. insha'Allah (by the will of Allah) this will make the navigation much easier.

Users can PM me the questions which are not found in the list and we'll try to add the answers as soon as we could, insha'Allah. You can also PM me the answers to the questions and we'll add them up as well.

We will replace the word 'God' with 'Allah' as it is a better word, which represents one of the attributes of the Creator!

1- If you say that everything was created by Allah (God), then who created Allah? (Answering hard questions of Atheists)

2- Why does Allah not show Himself? (Answering hard questions of Atheists)

3- If you say that Allah is omnipotent (all powerful, can do everything), then can He make a rock so big that He can't even lift? (Answering hard questions of Atheists)

4- Can Allah make another Allah exactly as Himself? (Answering hard questions of Atheists)

5- Why only one Eternal and Everlasting (Answering hard questions of Atheists) as you mentioned in this thread?

6- Why Allah? Why not flying spaghetti monster or invisible flying pink unicorns? (Answering hard questions of Atheists)

[salman]

Who created Allah (God)?

One of the attributes of Allah is that He is Eternal. By definition Eternal is forever with no beginning; therefore the question is absurd. Only temporal/non-eternal beings are created. By logic, everyone agrees with the fact that there was something Eternal which gave life to this universe and its inhabitants. We believe that this Eternal is Everlasting and intelligent Being and we call Him Allah.

wallahu a'lam (And Allah knows best)

[salman]

Why does Allah not show Himself?

Allah does not to do ungodly things. By definition, He is not like His creation and not within His creation. If we assume that He were to show up, what evidence do you have that you will believe in Him? Present a logical evidence that you will believe in Him if He were to show up! It is not logical to say: "I will believe in Him because He will be in front of me". The classical arguments presented in the Qur'an tell us that when miracles were revealed to people in the past, they said it is magic. So what evidence do you have that you won't say the similar thing?

Answer by brother Qatada:

"Allah tests us and sends guidance to us -Will we obey Him (by doing good and abstaining from evil) without seeing Him? This is part of our test. If Allah was clearly watching us, while we watched Him - then none of us would even feel inclined to sin out of awe and fear for Him.

We know it requires faith to believe in Allah without seeing Him. Yet there are many signs (aayaat) that He has given us which help us in accepting and strengthening in this faith. These will be discussed later insha Allah (God willing.)" [Who 'created' God?]

wallahu a'lam (And Allah knows best)

[salman]

If Allah is omnipotent, then can He make a rock so big that He can't even lift/move?

First, we have so far explained in this thread that the Eternal must be limitless and Allah Ta'ala is limitless. Second, this question is absurd like the question "Who created Allah", answered above, because Allah does not do something which does not make Him Allah anymore i.e. Can He die?. In simplest of words, Allah does not do things which contradict one of His attributes. In the question, the rock is temporal/created and you are comparing it with uncreated, the Eternal. By definition, Allah is not like His creation and neither within His creation; thus the laws of the universe does not subject Him since He is outside of them and hence cannot be compared to its creation by bringing Him into the creation.

A similar answer given by brother Ansar al-'Adl:

"Atheists attempt to use this question to prove that the concept of omnipotence is self-contradictory. But the problem here is a contradiction in terms. This issue becomes even more clear when we examine a related question: "Can God create an uncreated being?" The problem here is that the questioner has already defined the being to be uncreated and then proceeds to ask for something that contradicts that definition. The problem is in the questioner's terms, not any lack in God's potential. The same is true when asking God to make a circle with four sides. Having already provided a definition of a circle that could never include a four-sided figure, such a question is absurd. Something is certainly self-contradictory here, but it is the questioner's terminology and not the omnipotence of God.

The same is true when we come to the case of create a stone which cannot be lifted. Aside from the problem that we are placing an infinite unrestricted being under the finite restricted laws of our universe, the concept of the stone is self-contradictory. Basically, such a stone could not exist because it is conceptually incoherent. When one asks if God could create such a stone, one would normally identify the properties of such a stone. But here we haven't been given absolute properties, but instead we've been given properties of the stone relative to God's properties. The questioner has identified the potential stone as something so big that God couldn't lift, so even though we already know that there is nothing God cannot lift, they have used that as an attribute for the stone. Automatically, the concept of such a stone is nullified. Now, when they ask could God create such a stone, the answer is no, but that doesn't imply a lack of potential on the part of God. Instead, it reflects the fact that the concept of such a stone is illogical, unreal, inadmissible. It is very similar to asking if God can die. Well, death isn't an ability, its the inability to live. The immortal cannot die because that defies His attribute of immortality. Similarly, the omnipotent cannot create a task that He can't complete because such a task is merely a figment of one's imagination and could not exist.

You're basically asking, if God can do anything, can He make it impossible for himself to do something? The question is illogical and self-contradictory because the argument contradicts the premise. Once you have already established that God can do anything, then that's a set attribute and part of His nature. Therefore, He can do anything that is consistent with His nature, anything that is absolute.

Can God make 1=2? Well if 1=2, then it wouldn't be 1! So the idea is self-contradictory, not God.

The question also reminds me of the idea of what happens when an immovable rock meets an unstoppable force? The two things cannot exist in the same universe. Likewise, if God exists then all things which contradict His attributes are imaginary, non-existant and impossible. They are forever bound to the realm of imagination and cannot be brought into existence.

Shaykh Ibn Abil-'Izz (d. 1389CE) also answered this question in Sharhul Aqeedah Tahaawiyyah (p.137), in his discussion of the following verse:

And Allah, over each thing, is omnipotent; all-powerful [al-Baqarah 2:284]

This includes all that is possible. As for what is in intrinsically impossible - such as there being a thing that exists and does not exist at one and the same time - then, this has no reality, nor is its existence conceivable, nor is it termed 'a thing' by agreement of those with intelligence. Included in this category is: [Allah] creating the likes of Himself, making Himself non-existent, and other impossibilites.

This also serves as a reply to the question posed by some: 'Can Allah create a stone that He is unable to lift?' The argument being that if Allah cannot create such a stone, He is not all-powerful; but if He can, then likewise He is not all-powerful. The fallacy of this argument lies in the fact that such an affair is, in itself, impossible and exists only in the minds of certain people. And not all that the mind conjures-up has an existence that is possible, nor is it always termed 'a thing.'

Hopefully that makes the issue clear.

And Allah knows best." [Can God create a stone that He cannot lift?]

wallahu a'lam (And Allah knows best)

[salman]

Can Allah make another Allah exactly as Himself?

The question is self contradictory. How can you have a god and he is created at the same time? One of the attributes of Allah that He is Eternal--uncreated. Once something is created then it is not Eternal anymore. If the new supposedly god is like Allah then he cannot be created and the idea that he is created and like Allah is contradictory. Thus by definition, there can never be another Eternal, Allah.

We have explained here in details why Allah is limitless.

wallahu a'lam (And Allah knows best)

[salman]

Why only one Eternal and Everlasting?

If something does not occupy the whole space then it is not Eternal and since the Eternal occupies the whole space therefore, there is no space left for another Eternal. Even if we were to assume that there can be multiple Eternals, by the definition there can be one or multiple things only because they are distinct from each other, either in space or time. Therefore, to state that there can be multiple Eternals is to state that there are multiple Eternal distinctions between the Eternals. Thus the supposedly multiple Eternals will not satisfy the basic definition of an Eternal--the Eternal must always have what it needs to create the reality. It cannot acquire from something else because the Eternal cannot change or give up something (i.e. one of its attributes or state) to get something else--further explained in thread: Does Allah (God) Exist?

wallahu a'lam (And Allah knows best)

[salman]

Why Allah? Why not flying spaghetti monster or invisible flying pink unicorns?

What we have here is difference in naming the Eternal, we call him Allah because it is one of His unique attributes-as it roughly means only one. We know Him by His attributes and we call/name Him by His attributes. You can call Him the Eternal or the Most Beneficent, the Creator etc. Allah Ta'ala tells us that all good names belong to Him. Therefore, we should call Him by something which illustrates one of His unique attributes, not some mambo jambo. Let us read following passage from the Qur'an, which clearly tells us some of His attributes.

"Say: He is Allah, the One! Allah, the eternally Besought of all! He begetteth not nor was begotten. And there is none comparable unto Him." [112:1-4 - interpretation of the meaning]

wallahu a'lam (And Allah knows best)