I Am in a Muddle!

Published in April 16, 2017

Translated by: Ahmed Fathy  

Introduction:

  We have received this email message, and we quote a segment of it, followed by our reply: (... Peace be with you, Dr. Mansour ... I'm...from Algeria, and I apologize for my bad Arabic, as I'm a francophone, and I cannot really express myself in Arabic very well ... I've come across your website four years ago, and I browse through it on a daily ever since, but my problem is that I simultaneously read websites and watch videos of Arab atheists as well ... I feel my faith is leaving me; I'm afraid I've become nearer to atheism myself, but when I read your articles, I feel faith is restored to me, only temporarily ... I'm no longer sure if I'm atheist or a Quranist ... I live within a complete muddle and many contradictory thoughts and theories confuse me ... I suffer insomnia because of this; and I've begun to doubt God's existence ... Could you please help me with any advice? I feel I'm shattered and devastated; I'm fluctuating and oscillating between atheism and Quranism ... thank you in advance ...).

OUR REPLY:

Firstly: about doubt in general:

1- It is OK that one would have doubts sometimes; constructive doubt leads to questions that lead in their turn to True Faith, as in the case of Abraham; see 6:75-81, and even after Abraham became a prophet who received divine revelation, he had doubts driving him to ask God to show him how the dead are resurrected: "And when Abraham said, "My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead." He said, "Have you not believed?" He said, "Yes, but to put my heart at ease." He said, "Take four birds, and incline them to yourself, then place a part on each hill, then call to them; and they will come rushing to you. And know that God is Powerful and Wise."" (2:260). God did not want Muhammad to doubt anything and He has told him the following: "If you are in doubt about what We revealed to you, ask those who read the Scripture before you. The truth has come to you from your Lord, so do not be of those who doubt." (10:94). This is constructive doubt leading to the Truth.

2- Doubts are constructive if one truly and faithfully seeks reaching the Truth and be in a quest for it, and God will Guide one in that case. Of course, seeking the Truth begins with doubt as the first step in this intellectual endeavor or jihad within mental processes of thinking or within academic research, and such faithful endeavor is rewarded by the light of guidance from God, as we infer from this verse: "As for those who strive for Us-We will guide them in Our ways. God is with the doers of good." (29:69). Thus, guidance is an individual, personal responsibility, not the responsibility of society or the State, as we deduce from this verse: "Whoever is guided-is guided for his own good. And whoever goes astray-goes astray to his detriment. No burdened soul carries the burdens of another, nor do We ever punish until We have sent a messenger." (17:15). Some people adopt destructive doubt as a method that leads to nothing but misguidance as one becomes misguided, and sometimes misguiding others when they spread destructive doubt among others, as atheists do in cyberspace now.

Secondly: doubt, Islam, and Muhammadans:

1- Constructive doubt is beginning to happen now in the Arab world; many Arabs see how Wahabis terrorism and sectarian civil wars occur falsely in the name of Islam, as criminals and terrorists attribute their atrocities to the name of Islam, calling themselves as 'Islamist ' movements, organizations, countries, etc., but many Muhammadans are disillusioned now. A query is raised here: is Islam responsible for crimes of such evil powers? Of course not, and seekers of the Quranic Truth who dig and toil for it in research will pose this question: what is the number of Wahabi criminals?! Why do they confiscate and hijack the name of Islam as though they were representative of it?! Who deputized them to talk in the name of 1.5 billion persons?! Why the world call them falsely as 'Islamists' and think they embody Islam?! No one indeed is to be appointed as spokesperson for Islam, since all human beings do good and bad things and are not perfect. If we to imagine this silly notion that someone is embodying Islam, this means that this person is not going to be judged on the Last Day at all; a demi-god he would be! No mortals are infallible or never err, and even prophets and messengers, including Muhammad, of God will be judged on the Day of Resurrection. From the Quran, we know that Muhammad said the following: "Say, "I fear, should I defy my Lord, the punishment of a tremendous Day."" (6:15). Hence, constructive doubt leads to the shore of true faith in the Quranic Truth; one reaches the conclusion that Islam (i.e., Quranism), as a celestial religion of God, has nothing to do with the deeds of the Muhammadans.             

2- Destructive doubt serves well groups of terrorists and power-seekers who hijack the name of Islam, as they distort intentionally meanings of Quranic verses and they propagate and adhere to false narratives/hadiths ascribed falsely to Muhammad some 200 years after his death. 

Thirdly: doubting God:

1- Whatever the degree of disbelief and polytheism of a person is, deep down inside himself/herself, they cannot deny God's existence, as innate instinct asserts this undeniable fact. Reality and nature around us prove God's existence; in times of ordeals and calamities, even doubters seek the aid of God; see 10:12, 10:22, 17:56, 30:33, and 39:8. Even the self-deified Moses' Pharaoh, whose assumed superiority and haughtiness we read in 79:23-25, 28:38, and 39:36, remembered his innate instinct of monotheism and submission to God the Creator when he was drowning, when it was too late for him; see 10:90-92.   

2- The human mind cannot deny God's existence; no creatures can claim they created the universe and human beings; the Quran itself never call us to believe in God's existence or provide proofs of this fact; rather, it provides proofs to negate and refute polytheism: the existence of other deities created by mortals. This is shown in the testimony of Islam: (There is no God but Allah); see 17:42, 23:91, and 27:61-64.

3- The topic of creation begins with constructive doubt, until one reaches the conclusion that the Creator of the Universe is the Powerful God, Allah, as the Immortal Supreme Being. Hence, the Quran never focuses on proving God's existence, but on negating the existence of other gods/deities as there is Only One Creator of the universe: God/Allah, within many verses with different styles: "Do they associate with God partners who create nothing, and are themselves created?" (7:191); "Is He who creates like him who does not create? Will you not take a lesson? And if you tried to enumerate the favors of God, you will not be able to count them. God is Forgiving and Merciful. And God knows what you hide and what you disclose. Those they invoke besides God create nothing, but are themselves created. They are dead, not alive; and they do not know when they will be resurrected." (16:17-21); "O people! A parable is presented, so listen to it: Those you invoke besides God will never create a fly, even if they banded together for that purpose. And if the fly steals anything from them, they cannot recover it from it. Weak are the pursuer and the pursued. They do not value God as He should be valued. God is Strong and Powerful." (22:73-74); "And yet, instead of Him, they produce for themselves gods that create nothing, but are themselves created; that have no power to harm or benefit themselves; and no power over life, death, or resurrection." (25:3); "...Or have they assigned to God associates, who created the likes of His creation, so that the creations seemed to them alike? Say, "God is the Creator of all things, and He is The One, the Irresistible."" (13:16); "O people! Remember God's blessings upon you. Is there a creator other than God who provides for you from the heaven and the earth? There is no god but He. So how are you misled?" (35:3); "Such is God's creation. Now show me what those besides Him have created. In fact, the wicked are in obvious error." (31:11). Pondering on these verses would entail separate lengthy articles.   

4- Constructive doubt asserts one's faith, guidance, and submission to the One God; it is enough to ponder daily how the Creator of the universe has created you; this is the link between human beings and Almighty God, and this makes us take pride in pronouncing the testimony of (There is no God but Allah), as you are not like the polytheists who worship and adore mortals and creatures. 

Fourthly: remembrance of God asserts guidance:

1- When one's heart is filled with the Truth, within the remembrance of God, there will be no room for doubts: "Those who believe, and whose hearts find comfort in the remembrance of God. Surely, it is in the remembrance of God that hearts find comfort."" (13:28).

2- Performing the five daily prayers is to remember God on regular basis, and you have to feel piety and the fear of God while you pray, especially when you implore Almighty God to guide you to straight path when you recite the Quranic Chapter One: "Guide us to the straight path." (1:6).

3- If you desire that God will remember you with his mercy, you must remember him by glorifying His Name a lot on a daily basis: "So remember Me, and I will remember you..." (2:152). All of us are mortal weak creatures; this fact should never leave our minds: "...You can neither pierce the earth, nor can you match the mountains in height." (17:37). Any human beings would scream if a microscopic bacteria would harm their bodies and cause pains to it, and yet, it feels unimaginably great when we know that the Great God remembers the names of those who remember and glorify Him. you must take pride in this and feel that God provides you with dignity as the best of His creatures.    

4- Please look at yourself at the mirror and remember that God has created you with all your looks and physical features; remember how God addresses human beings in these verses: "O man! What deluded you concerning your Lord, the Most Generous? He Who created you, and formed you, and proportioned you? In whatever shape He willed, He assembled you." (82:6-8).

Lastly:

 Atheism is an ailment of the heart, mind, and soul, whereas the monotheistic belief of (There is no God but Allah) relieves the heart, mind, and soul; this topic entails a lengthy article to be written by us someday to further explain it in detail.