Muslims: What are your reasons for god-belief?

[Tony]

raised by a spiritualist, tried wicca, spiritualism, various occult practises, christianity (for some time), atheism, and hedonism. Was christian for some time due to proof via answered prayers and physical feelings-I saw the truth was there somewhere. Then was in a position to consider Islam and the truth became apparent from talking to Muslims. When I converted at a mosque the imam touched my chest and I repeated Allahu Akbar three times, I felt something stir inside like a release of tension. Alot of the things I had witnessed through dabbling in the occult were explained along with ghosts, mood swings and perceived spiritualism. Islam is the means by which I adhere to Allah. Feel free to ask any questions. This is the absolute truth, "None but Allah is worthy of praise and Muhammed is his true messenger". When you become a Muslim there is no denying the truth, there maybe a choice to live as though you deny the truth, but the truth really has to remain in your heart. Hope you find some answer here. Peace

 

[Karina]

Clearly some people find great comfort in having a God who will take care of those who please him and simply WANT to believe because it comforts them Then there are those that believe in God for reasons given by the French philosopher Blaise Pascal in what has become known as Pascal’s Wager which basically comes down to there’s nothing to lose by believeing in God.

So that, IMHO is why people believe in God and I’m with Pascal. The interesting question is how and why people stretch the belief in God to believing that one religion out of the hundreds of others is the ‘true’ religion. Again, I believe that comes down to the natural inclination of people. It is without doubt a fact that 99.9% of people who follow a particular religion do so because they were born into it and it is a natural trait within people to defend their clan, tribe, race, team, religion, etc. There are other traits within us that expalin why certain people who were not born to a particlar religion choose a particular religion and again that is because of a trait within the individual not because the individual has discovered the ‘truth’ or found the ‘proof.’

Well, that’s my opinion which I am sure is not shared by the majority of the members here otherwise this would be a forum for agnostics.

Hehe, I've just written an essay on our perception of mental illness - the fine line between 'madness' and 'sanity' and Pascal's quote:
"Men are so necessarily mad, that not to be mad would amount to another form of madness" was my introductory line! He was quite a guy.

Anywhooooo, that's by the by.

Thinker - very interesting.

I really love this topic, but I have so much to say and so many thoughts and millions of questions, it would take me forever to write them!
It all hurts my head a little sometimes, and besides, due to my line of study over the years, I can't help looking at everything Psychologically - even the reasons behind why people 'believe'.

Ok sorry for my ramblings. Carry on...............

 

[Tony]

Your qoute wisest is he who knows he knows not. Should be wisest is he who knows Allah, intellect is worthless in the hellfire. Peace

 

[Karina]

Your qoute wisest is he who knows he knows not. Should be wisest is he who knows Allah, intellect is worthless in the hellfire. Peace

I love you too !

 

[Tony]

Hehehe Peace. have you read sophies world bu jostein gaardener

 

[Woodrow]

I see you looking for 2 different things in your question

"Re: Muslims: What are your reasons for god-belief?"

1. being the REASON for us believing in God(swt). Not proof, verification etc, but personal opinion and explanation of our need.

For that my answer is short. My personal reason for believing in God(swt) is because it is on the path to avoid hellfire.


2. I see the second deeper meaning of your question as being "What proof/evidence do I have of God's existence.

a. The "big Bang Theory" if verified this is verification of an instant creation of matter, well within the realm of how I believe Allaah(swt) created the universe. One moment nothing, then in the moment of a single thought all of creation is formed.

b. The laws of conservation of matter and energy. Neither can be created nor destroyed through normal physical laws.

since matter and energy did not exist in the physical plane prior to the moment of creation, it is evidence the physical world was created by a force independent of the physical realm of existence.

The Newtonian laws of Motion. A stationary object will remain stationary unless acted upon by an outside force. We know the universe is expanding and in movement. Whatever initiated that movement is not part of the physical world.

c. The concept of life and death. From a physiological view I can not find any evidence that life and death are the result of inter molecular activity

d. revelation of a creator through the Prophets(PBUH)

 

[coddles76]

I have found no god hypothesis which is neither superfluous nor demonstrably false. In the case of the former, Occam's razor does away with them. In the case of the latter, the evidence depends on the particular set of claims in question. For example, many god hypotheses involve him creating all modern species more or less in their present state at or near the beginning of time; these are contradicted by the body of evidence supporting common descent of biodiversity.

Interesting Answer.
Ok, since the evidence depends particular set of claims we'll just concentrate on one singular claim, so I ask just give us evidence on the current creation of humankind. How were humans created?

 

[Thinker]

Interesting Answer.
I ask just give us evidence on the current creation of humankind. How were humans created?

Are you suggesting that because we don’t have proven answers to certain questions that in itself is evidence that there is a God? Are you suggesting that because we can’t answer a particular question now that we will never have answers for that question? If you are you are deluding yourself.

 

[wth1257]

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Why?

 

[Karina]

Hehehe Peace. have you read sophies world bu jostein gaardener

Yes I have actually, my tutor at college gave it to me to read a couple of years ago - a good intro to philosophy for novices like me! Would love to read more philosophy stuff, but too little time with exams coming up.

 

[coddles76]

Are you suggesting that because we don’t have proven answers to certain questions that in itself is evidence that there is a God? Are you suggesting that because we can’t answer a particular question now that we will never have answers for that question? If you are you are deluding yourself.

I'm saying that everything has a reason and quite enough evidence to back up that reason, for the logical thinking mind that is. That means that Gods creation has a reason and has MORE than enough evidence, Its just are duty to search for it.

 

[hatsoff]

I'm saying that everything has a reason and quite enough evidence to back up that reason, for the logical thinking mind that is. That means that Gods creation has a reason and has MORE than enough evidence, Its just are duty to search for it.

To what evidence are you referring? I have never seen any good evidence for the existence of a disembodied mind which created the universe with supernatural powers.

 

[Woodrow]

To what evidence are you referring? I have never seen any good evidence for the existence of a disembodied mind which created the universe with supernatural powers.

Does that mean you believe in a disembodied mindless void without direction or intelligence or viability, that accidentally created the universe using an uncontrolled, unverifiable, invisible, undetectable force?

 

[coddles76]

To what evidence are you referring? I have never seen any good evidence for the existence of a disembodied mind which created the universe with supernatural powers.

You have already made that point. I would just like you to answer the question I have already stated with appropriate evidence. How was man created? Thats the evidence I would love you to refer to and answer just so we all know

 

[hatsoff]

You have already made that point. I would just like you to answer the question I have already stated with appropriate evidence. How was man created? Thats the evidence I would love you to refer to and answer just so we all know

Are you saying that you agree there is no good evidence for the existence of God? If not, then I invite you to present what you think it is.

As for your question, man evolved from lower primates; he was not "created." This is biological evolution, and it is supported by a vast body of evidence. If you have never taken an introductory biology survey, you can peruse the evidence for this on internet sources such as the talk.origins archive.

 

[hatsoff]

Does that mean you believe in a disembodied mindless void without direction or intelligence or viability, that accidentally created the universe using an uncontrolled, unverifiable, invisible, undetectable force?

No. I have no evidence regarding specific hypotheses on the origin of spacetime itself. But I do know that the physical universe exists. Postulating the existence of other realities, e.g. God, is an amusing exercise, but does not get us anywhere.

 

[coddles76]

Are you saying that you agree there is no good evidence for the existence of God? If not, then I invite you to present what you think it is.

As for your question, man evolved from lower primates; he was not "created." This is biological evolution, and it is supported by a vast body of evidence. If you have never taken an introductory biology survey, you can peruse the evidence for this on internet sources such as the talk.origins archive.

Just to establish a correction in your response, I haven't agreed or said anything, what I have said and interested in is your evidence plus theory behind there NOT being a creator.
Is it fair to ask how these lower primates were formed?

 

[hatsoff]

Just to establish a correction in your response, I haven't agreed or said anything, what I have said and interested in is your evidence plus theory behind there NOT being a creator.
Is it fair to ask how these lower primates were formed?

Then I repeat my invitation to share with me this evidence you think you have for the existence of your supernatural creator-deity.

As for your question, I find it hard to believe that you are not already at least dimly aware of my answer: lower primates evolved from even earlier life forms. So, why then are you asking? I imagine you want me to admit that I don't know something or other regarding the origin of life. Very well. We now know that all biodiversity shares a common ancestor. How that ancestor itself evolved is somewhat of a mystery, though several promising hypotheses have been proposed, e.g. the iron-sulfur world theory.

 

[coddles76]

Then I repeat my invitation to share with me this evidence you think you have for the existence of your supernatural creator-deity.

As for your question, I find it hard to believe that you are not already at least dimly aware of my answer: lower primates evolved from even earlier life forms. So, why then are you asking? I imagine you want me to admit that I don't know something or other regarding the origin of life. Very well. We now know that all biodiversity shares a common ancestor. How that ancestor itself evolved is somewhat of a mystery, though several promising hypotheses have been proposed, e.g. the iron-sulfur world theory.

The Holy Quran is the only required evidence and the miracle of all miracles!!!

No need for me to ask, you have already put yourself into that predicament and thanks for your admittance. You see Muslims don't have this problem of mystery. Everything is very clear and precise and has no room for mysteries. This is what makes Islam so appealing and beautiful and solves all mind tangles that the human experiences throughout life. Our creator has already given us the rules and tools to succeed in life with a guarantee of success.
People like yourself will always have mysteries flowing through your mind and only the acceptance of Allah SWT will free yourself of this mystery web. So I wish you all the best luck in solving your mysteries and pray that one day you will free yourself from this tangle.

 

[Woodrow]

No. I have no evidence regarding specific hypotheses on the origin of spacetime itself. But I do know that the physical universe exists. Postulating the existence of other realities, e.g. God, is an amusing exercise, but does not get us anywhere.

How does that compare with:

No. I have no evidence regarding specific hypotheses on the origin of spacetime itself. But I do know that the physical universe exists. Postulating the existence of other realities, e.g. spontaneous creation, is an amusing exercise, but does not get us anywhere.

I can recall a time when Einstein speculated that matter was simply a warp or disruption in the space-time continuum and gravity was a state of being and not a force.

He presented some very strong evidence to validate his views. Yet, looking back it seems he had forgotten his own words "If you are faced with multiple explanations, the simplest one is usually the correct one."

The existence of God(swt) seems to be the simplest explanation possible. I wonder why Einstein forgot that?