For most of my life, I have observed people around me, and occasionally myself, engaging in dhikr (the remembrance of Allah). However, I had hardly ever seen a non-Muslim doing the same. Lately, I met a person who is not Muslim, yet he was engaged in profound remembrance. He had a counter mounted on his finger, and for the rest of the day, he chanted the names of gods.
This encounter put me in an uncomfortable position regarding my faith. It forced me to face difficult questions: If he is as sincere in his faith as Muslims are, then what is the difference? Is it merely that he was born into a different religious upbringing while I was born into an Islamic one? Isn’t this human conditioning 101? If everybody is sincere and believes in a variety of things, then what is the truth?
Although I had considered this sort of “edge case” in my belief long ago, facing it first-hand forced me to look at religion from a different vantage point.
The Vacuum for Faith
Generally, there are three types of beliefs, each with its adherents: Atheism, Agnosticism, and Theism. I categorize Atheism and Theism in the same box because atheists also adopt philosophical positions about reality, even if they reject religious explanations.
Humans have an innate need for spiritual connection. Because of this, you will find people believing in all sorts of things, believing in people, matter, or different isms. Yet, there has to be one objective truth that answers the creation and origin of life and the universe.
An agnostic might argue that the complexity of existence and the limits of human knowledge make it impossible to determine the origin of the universe with certainty. From this perspective, the most cautious answer becomes: “We do not know.”
However, throughout history humans have consistently shown an inclination toward believing in a higher power. This suggests that while uncertainty exists, humans may also possess an innate tendency to search for meaning beyond the material world.
Science and Its Limits
Atheists often back their claims with science. In my opinion, this is not the right way to prove or reach a logical conclusion regarding the origin of the universe. I am not against science; I will even back my points based on scientific facts. However, science works only to a certain extent because science is time-bound and has an origin itself.
Consider energy. I once had a discussion with an atheist who stated, “If anyone comes to me and creates energy out of nothing, then at that point I will believe there is a God.” His argument relied on the laws of thermodynamics, specifically that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. While his argument was somewhat logical on the surface, it breaks down if we look deeper.
If energy can’t be created nor destroyed, then all the world we have must have always existed. That makes sense, but only for so long.
We have cosmological evidence that the universe is expanding; we see galaxies and stars moving apart in spacetime. From this cosmological fact, we can deduce that at some point, the universe was smaller. By this logic, the Singularity and the Big Bang make sense. However, if we go further back, the laws of thermodynamics and Newtonian physics do not hold.
The point is this: if time, the laws of thermodynamics, and science itself started at the inception of the singularity or later, how can we use these measures to prove the origins of the singularity itself? Therefore, science cannot answer the origin of the universe. It can never do so because it is bound and incapable; science describes phenomena within the universe, not the cause of the universe itself.
At the end of my discussion with this atheist, I mentioned this: Nobody is going to come to you and prove it otherwise. We are in a situation where we find ourselves here, and it is our curiosity and our problem that requires us to look for answers.
On Conditioning
As I mentioned, humans have a vacuum that compels them to align themselves with something. Therefore, I believe that the Originator, the one who caused Singularity, has carved us in a way so that we search for Him.
People are filling this spiritual vacuum with all sorts of things, with all the isms, but there has to be one objective truth about the universe which explains reality and makes logical sense. People believing in all sorts of things, and being passionate and honest about their beliefs, does not negate the objective truth. After all, we are the same species and designed in a certain way, so humans can act in similar manners regardless of their specific dogma.
So, it majorly boils down to the fundamental question: What is truth?
Go look for it. Question everything. It is your responsibility, and nobody is going to hand it to you.
For me, Islam makes the most sense, and it is the truth.