GORAP — The Basic Dawah Conversation · G — God's Existence
G — The universe had a beginning, so it had a beginner
Handle with care. Do not claim science has proven God. Say what is accurate: the universe is not eternal, and the rest is reasoning.
In short
- 1.**The universe is not eternal.** Reverse the observed expansion and it shrinks to nothing — it had a beginning.
- 2.**From nothing, nothing comes.** You would never accept that a loud bang, or a pink elephant in your living room, came from nothing.
- 3.**It could not create itself.** That would mean existing before it existed — like a mother giving birth to herself.
- 4.**So it has a Creator.** That is not a leap of faith; it is the only remaining option.
The claim being examined
If the universe is not eternal, then it began. Anything that begins needs an explanation for why it began.
The Islamic position
The universe came from nothing, created itself, or was created. From nothing, nothing comes. Self-creation requires a thing to exist and not exist at the same time. Only the third option survives.
Analysis
This is the Qur'anic form of what philosophers call the cosmological argument, and Q 52:35–36 poses it as a three-way question centuries before Kalam formalised it: were they created by nothing, are they their own creators, or did they create the heavens and the earth? Cosmologists do not agree on what preceded the Big Bang, but the standard model does not describe an eternal past-infinite universe. Keep the argument at the level the manual pitches it: the three options and why two of them collapse. Do not overstate what physics has proven.
From the Qur'an
Qur'an 52:35–36
أَمْ خُلِقُوا مِنْ غَيْرِ شَيْءٍ أَمْ هُمُ الْخَالِقُونَ أَمْ خَلَقُوا السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ ۚ بَل لَّا يُوقِنُونَ
Or were they created by nothing, or were they the creators of themselves? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Rather, they are not certain.
Sources
iERA, Pocket Dawah Manual — God's Existence · Qur'an 52:35–36 · iERA / Mission Dawah, Pocket Dawah Manual, pp. 13–15
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