The existence of God

(Late) Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

The existence of God is a subject that has remained the prime concern of scholars in every age. When a human being ponders upon himself and the universe around him, he is naturally led to the question: who is my Creator and the Creator of the world? This subject has preoccupied man throughout history.

There have been two periods of the study of this subject. In the pre-scientific period theologians applied the argument that there is design in the universe. That is, if there is design, there must be a designer. This argument is known as the argument from design.

In the post-scientific period, many findings gave rise to new developments in the subject. In the first half of the twentieth century, the Big Bang theory was propounded, which has now gained general acceptance among scientists. The Big Bang theory states that the universe began about 13 billion years ago. This provides further evidence for the existence of God, because where there is a beginning there is a beginner. Without a beginner, the beginning is inconceivable.

Ancient philosophers believed that matter was eternal, that is, the universe had existed forever – it had neither a beginning nor an end. This concept had no place for a Creator. But the discovery of the Big Bang has proved this notion untrue.

Modern science has made another important discovery which is in favour of the existence of God. Science has discovered an invisible world apart from the visible world. This invisible world is that of the subatomic particles. This new scientific finding has shown that the demand for a visible God is unwarranted.

This is because with our two eyes we cannot see anything, even the visible, as after reaching a point the ‘visible’ also becomes invisible. This fact has been explained in detail by Sir Arthur Eddington in his book, Science and the Unseen World (1929).