Dawah to Atheists and Deists Part III

FITRAH

It is Natural to Believe in God

The Prophet (pbuh) related that when Allaah created Adam, He took a covenant from him in a place called Na‘maan on the day of ‘Arafah. Then He extracted from him all of his descendants who would be born until the end of the world, generation after generation, and spread them out in front of Him in order to take a covenant from them also. He spoke to them face to face saying: “Am I not your Lord?” and they all replied, “Yes, we testify to it.” Allaah then explained why He had
all of mankind bear witness that He was their creator and only true God worthy of worship. He said, “That was in case you (mankind) should say on the Day of Resurrection, “Surely we were unaware of all this. We had no idea that You, Allaah, were our God. No one told us that we were supposed to worship You alone.” Allaah went on to explain that it was also in case some people would say: “It was our ancestors who made partners (with Allaah) and we are only their descendants; will You, then destroy us for what those liars did? This was the Prophet’s (pbuh) explanation of the Qur’anic verse in which Allaah said:

 “When your Lord drew forth from the loins of the children of Aadam their descendant and made them testify concerning themselves, (saying): ‘Am I not your Lord?’ they said, ‘Yes, we testify to it.’ (This) in case you say should say on the Day of Judgement, ‘We were unaware of this.” Or in case you should say, ‘It was our ancestors who made partners (with Allaah) and we are only their descendants. Will you then destroy us for what those liars did?’” Soorah al-A‘raaf, (7):172-3.

The verse and prophetic explanation confirm the fact that everyone is responsible for belief in God and on the Day of Judgement excuses will not be accepted. Every human being has the belief in God imprinted on his soul and Allaah shows every idolator, during the course of his life, signs that his idol is not God. Hence, every sane human being is required to believe in One God who is without partners.

Man’s Natural Disposition : the Fitrah

Since Allaah made all human beings wear to His Godhood when He created Aadam, this oath is printed on the human soul even before it enters the fetus in the fifth month of pregnancy. So when a child is born, it has with it a natural belief in Allaah. This natural belief is called in Arabic the fitrah. If the child were left alone, it would grow up aware of Allaah in His unity, but all children are affected by the pressures of their environment whether directly or indirectly. The Prophet (pbuh) reported that Allaah said, “I created My servants in the right religion but the devils made them go astray.” The Prophet (phuh) also said, “Each child is born in a state of fitrah, but his parents make him a Jew or a Christian. It is like the way an animal gives birth to a normal offspring. Have you noticed any (young animal) born mutilated before you mutilate them” So just as the child’s body submits to the physical laws which Allaah has put in nature, its soul also submits naturally to the fact that Allaah is its Lord and Creator. However, its parents try to make it follow their own way and the child is not strong enough in the early stages of its life to resist or oppose its parents.

Humans Created with a Need to Worship

Allaah created humans with a need to worship to compliment their natural belief in God The first command in the Qur’aan is to worship:

 “O human kind! Worship your Lord, Who created you and those before you so that you may become pious.” (Soorah al-Baqarah, 2: 21)

Humans everywhere, in every corner of the earth, in every era are involved in worshipping God. The worship may be distorted in form and content. But, nevertheless, they are obsessed with worshipping God.

Times of Crises

Even those who deny God, when death overtakes them at the point of death or calamity the call out for God.

 “When being drowned caught him, he (Fira’wn) cried: ‘I believe that none has the right to be worshipped but He in whom the Children of Israa’eel believe. And I am one of the Muslims.” (Soorah Younus, 10: 90)

“When I show favor to a human being, he withdraws and turns away; but when evil touches him, his supplications become long.” (Soorah Fussilat, 41: 51)

 “They denied them [the signs] wrongfully and arrogantly, though their own selves were convinced of them.” (Soorah an-Naml, 27: 14)

Yusuf Islam mentioned that the first time he reached out for God was when he was swimming and started to drown a voice welled up from inside him: “O God! Save me and I’ll be good.”

The atheist on a Boeing 747 sees an engine fall of one of the wings and the plane turns downward in a death dive, screams out: “O God! O God! O God!”

SIMPLE STEPS FOR DA’WAH TO DEISTS, ATHEISTS & AGNONSTICS DEIST: CONFUSED

1.      Clear Doubts: Find out the reason for their confused beliefs: Bad experiences, etc. Focus on Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah (Unity of Lordship and Dominion) followed by Tawheed al-Ibaadah (Unity of Worship)

Deist: If Islaam is good for you, that is fine. The most important thing is to be good.

Q: How do you define “good”?

Deist: I can’t accept organized religion. It’s full of corruption.

Q: Would you prefer a disorganized religion of your own making?

Deist: God is Love.

Q: Should he Love Hitler, Pol Pot, Ghengis Khan, etc.?

Deist: What kind of God would put good people in the hell fire? Is Mother Theresa going

to Hell?

Q: Your focus is on the rights of people, but what about the rights of Allaah? The purpose

for which you were created?

2.      Explain Purpose: Creation is for a reason and is based on reason. A God who creates humankind and does not inform them of their purpose and what He wants from them is not a very wise, nor a very merciful God.

3.      Help them find the courage to submit and surrender themselves; to place their foreheads on the ground.

4. Encourage them, as the Prophet (pbuh) said to Mu‘aath concerning the rights of the servants on Allaah, that He put them in paradise if they worship Him alone.

ATHEISTS: ARROGANT

True atheists are few in the world. Most people are either deists or agnostics. The true atheists heart is in complete darkness, a truly evil state. It is much more difficult to reach a true atheist than those who do worship false gods, whether they worship human beings or idols or animals. At least, they recognize the need to worship.

1.      Clear Doubts: Find out the reason for their disbeliefs: Bad experiences, etc. Focus on Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah (Unity of Lordship and Dominion) followed by Tawheed al-Ibaadah (Unity of Worship)

2.      Use Qur’aanic Arguments to prove God’s existence. Establish God’s existence or at least the possibility of His existence through the logical arguments mentioned in the Qur’aan.

AGNOSTICISM: LAZINESS

1. Prove God’s existence. The agnostic starts from the premise that he does not know whether there is a God or not and that it is unknowable. Question why they believe it is unknowable.

2. Motivate. The agnostic says, “What does it matter whether there is a God or not? I really don’t care.” Discuss the meaninglessness of life without purpose and the need to worship which all human beings display, in one way or another.