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Islamic Thought on the Existence of God: Contributions and Contrasts with Contemporary Western Philosophy of Religion

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Islamic Thought on the Existence of God: Contributions and Contrasts with Contemporary Western Philosophy of Religion Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change Series IIA, Islam, Volume 16 Islamic Thought on the Existence of God: Contributions and contrasts with Contemporary Western Philosophy of Religion by Cafer S. Yaran The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Copyright © 2003 by The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Gibbons Hall B-20 620 Michigan Avenue, NE Washington, D.C. 20064 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Yaran, Cafer S. Islamic thought on the existence of God : with contributions from contemporary Western philosophy of religion / by Cafer S. Yaran. p.cm. – (Cultural heritage and contemporary change. Series IIA Islam; vol. 16) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. God (Islam). 2. Islamic cosmology. 3. Philosophy, Islam. 4. Philosophy, Comparative. 5. Philosophy and religion. I. Title II. Series. B745.g63y37 2003 2003015390 212’.1—dc21 CIP ISBN 1-56518-192-1 (pbk.) Table of Contents Foreword V Preface VII Introduction a. Belief in God in Islamic Thought 1 b. The Role of Arguments in Belief in God 4 Part One. The Argument from Religious Experience Chapter I. The Argument from Religious Experience 11 a. Evidence: Experience of the Presence and Activity of God b. Evaluation: Illusion or Reality? Part Two. The Teleological Arguments Chapter II. The Argument from Wisdom (Óikmah) 33 a. Evidence: The Fine-Tuning of the Universe and Its Scientific Laws b. Evaluation: The Many-Worlds Hypotheses, and Divine Design Chapter III. The Argument from Providence (‘Ināyeh) 89 a. Evidence: The Anthropic Nature of the World and Its Beauty b. Evaluation: The Problem of Evil, and Divine Providence Chapter IV. The Argument from Creation (Ikhtirā’) 119 a. Evidence: The Origin of Life and Consciousness b. Evaluation: The Interpretations of Evolution, and Divine Creation Part Three. The Cosmological Arguments Chapter V. The Kalam Cosmological Argument 165 a. Evidence: The Temporality (Óudūth) of the Universe b. Evaluation: The Principle of Uncertainty, and the First Cause Chapter VI. The Falsafa Cosmological Argument 179 a. Evidence: The Contingency (Imkān) of the Universe b. Evaluation: The Principle of Causality, and the Necessary Being Chapter VII. The Disputed Position of the Ontological Argument 189 a. Are the Philosophers’ Arguments Ontological or Cosmological? b. Does the Cosmological Argument Presuppose the Ontological Argument? Conclusion 195 Bibliography 201 Index 223 Foreword Cafer S. Yaran Until recently, not only atheistic philosophers, but also contemporary religious thinkers have been willing to accept that, since the criticisms of Hume and Kant, and science since Darwin’s theory of evolution, philosophy has demonstrated that the traditional arguments for the existence of God have no force. Of late however, there has been considerably more interest in the arguments for the existence of God. Together with the argument from religious experience, particularly the teleological and cosmological arguments seem to have had a revival. This may be due in part to the scientific support coming form the fine tuning of the universe, the Anthropic Principle, and the Big Bang theory. Moreover, there has been also a more theistic and traditionalist turn in the philosophy of religion. As Kai Nielson expresses regretfully, “The philosophy of religion in Anglo-American context has taken a curious turn in the past decade. What has come to the forefront . is a group of Christian philosophers of a philosophically analytical persuasion, but hostile to even the residues of logical empiricism or Wittgensteinianism, who return to the old topics and the old theses of traditional Christian philosophy and natural theology” (1989, 7-8). Throughout history, the natural theology of the major theistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam has advanced and used more or less the same arguments for the existence of essentially the same God. Correspondingly, with similar counter-arguments, the atheists in each theistic tradition have objected and rejected the existence of this God. In theistic religions, the teleological and cosmological arguments accompanied by religious experience and commitment to the revelation have often been the major arguments used for proving or supporting the existence of God; while the problem of evil has been the main objection against the existence of God. It has been recognized recently, particularly thanks to the works of William Lane Craig, that most of the arguments used in the Christian tradition for the existence of God have a medieval origin in Islamic theology and philosophy. On the other hand, modern arguments for the existence of God, including the Kalam cosmological argument, have recently been reformulated and skilfully defended by Christian theologians and philosophers. Ironically, contemporary Muslim scholars have not shown much interest in developing these arguments, and have rarely produced philosophical books dealing independently with them for the Muslim or non-Muslim intellectual world. It is the intent of this philosophical exploration of the major Islamic arguments for the existence of God worked out in relation to contemporary Western philosophy of religion, to provide an overall vision of the arguments of the theistic traditions. Hopefully, this may contribute to a stronger cumulative case for belief in the existence of God, which is the most common ground among the three Abrahamic traditions. I could not manage to write this work without help from others. I am especially grateful to Professor Paul Badham of the University of Wales, Lampeter, for his guidance on earlier drafts of a manuscript on the argument from design. I wish to thank Professor George F. McLean for his reading the manuscript and making very valuable suggestions to improve it. I would like to thank Dr. Burhanettin Tatar, Dr. Mawil Izzi Dien, Dr. Gary Bunt, Dr. Wendy Dossett, Dr. James Robinson, Dr. Muhsin Akbaş, Dr. İsmail Hacınebioğlu, Dr. Metin Yasa and Mr Hasan Atsız for their various helps. My final thanks go to my wife, Mine, and my children, Feyza and Cüneyt, for their constant moral support. Preface George F. McLean This work on the Islamic approaches to the existence of God by Professor Cafer S. Yaran is of special moment for our times. This is so in part because it studies in detail the recent developments in the sciences and draws upon the philosophy of religion in Western thought. It codifies the great advances which have been made in recent decades in the life sciences and especially in physical sciences both at the macro, even galactic, level and at the micro level. It brings all this to bear on the Islamic arguments for the existence of God, especially its teleological argument. The result is a true revival and renewal of the Islamic sciences of religion -- to paraphrase al-Ghazali’s famous work. This in itself is a major accomplishment. Yet, while enriching the Islamic teleological proofs by the ever increasing data from the physical science, the author does not reduce the force of the arguments thereto. As metaphysical the issue is not quantitative; any instance of teleology no matter how slight directs the mind to the fundamental source of order and of ordering. While the intricacies of the universe Professor Yaran marshals overwhelm the mind with the beauty and splender of their order, everything that is good, including the movement of a little finger or the smile on a child’s face, reflects divine power and love. This has been the transforming insight of all the great religions. God is not an hypothesis, but the apodictic basis for hope, meaning and commitment of over one billion Moslems with a tradition of well over a millennium. It inspires a great civilization with deep concern for social equality and the poor; it transforms giving a cup of water into a truly religious act. But in our times this work takes on very special significance. When Thomas Aquinas began his great summary of theology his first step, after examining the nature of theology as a science, was to articulate his classical five ways or arguments to the existence of God. They were not responses to a question about a God who might or might not exist – that would be no God at all. Thomas’ purpose was to open pathways for the human mind from man to God: to “bind back” (the etymology of the term “religion” as re-ligatio) man to God. Similarly, the Hindu Vedanta Sutras begins by describing the Brahman as that from which, in which, and into which all is. For our day this has become the central issue. The Enlightenment attempted to separate religion from daily life, the sacred from the profane, and Church from state. It proposed a secular fundamentalism or man-without-God, which Islam has always rejected. A contrasting religious fundamentalism would focus on God-without-man. The tragic drama of our days consists in the conflict of these two fundamentalisms. The importance of this work by Cafer Yaran lies precisely here. For it bridges the vast and perilous gulf between these two fundamentalisms reopening the path from man to God and refounding religion as this search for God -- the infinite, the compassionate and the merciful. This is the desperately needed contribution of this work on Islamic thought on the existence of God, namely, to bridge between man and God -- and thereby between man and man in these times of great confusion and deep peril. Introduction Belief in God in Islamic Thought Belief, or rather faith, in God is the first, most essential and central conviction in Islam, as it is in most of the other great world faiths. This is so also in the other theistic and originally Middle Eastern religions, Judaism and Christianity. The first thing a Muslim is required to believe is the existence and unity of God. Muslim theologians usually count the essential principles of faith as six; which they recognize can be reduced to three, namely, faith in God, in the prophethood, and in the Day of Judgement.
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