Human understanding of the universe has made remarkable progress over the past few centuries.
For a long time, people believed that the Earth was the centre of everything. Later, scientific discoveries showed that the Earth revolves around the Sun. We then learned that our Sun is just one star among billions in the Milky Way galaxy, and that our galaxy itself is only one of billions of galaxies in the observable universe.
With each new discovery, the universe appeared larger and more astonishing than we had imagined.
But these discoveries also raised a fundamental question: Where did the universe itself come from?
Modern science has made significant progress in understanding the universe’s early history. According to the Big Bang model, the universe was once extremely hot and dense. It then began to expand, gradually cooling as matter formed and stars and galaxies eventually emerged.
The Big Bang was not an ordinary explosion in an empty space that already existed. Rather, it describes the expansion of space itself and the universe’s development from its early, hot, dense state.
Several important observations support this scientific model. It has helped us understand how the universe has evolved over billions of years.
However, we must make an important distinction here.
The Big Bang theory explains the universe’s early development, but it does not, by itself, prove or disprove the existence of God. Nor does it establish that the universe came into existence from absolute philosophical nothingness.
The scientific account of the universe’s early history and the deeper question of why anything exists at all are related, but they are not identical.
This brings us to another difficult question: what existed before the universe?
The answer isn’t as simple as it may seem. According to our current understanding, time itself is closely connected with the universe. If time as we know it began with the universe, asking what happened before it may not have the same meaning as asking what happened before an ordinary event.
At the same time, our scientific knowledge of the universe’s earliest moments remains incomplete. We cannot confidently claim that we have answered every question about the beginning of the universe.
Even if science eventually explains more fully how the universe developed from its earliest state, another question will remain: Why does the universe exist at all?
Why is there something rather than nothing?
Why do the laws of nature exist, and why does the universe follow them?
These questions take us beyond describing physical processes and toward the deeper question of existence itself.
Consider an ordinary example. When it rains, science can explain how water evaporates, how clouds form, and how changes in temperature and atmospheric conditions lead to rainfall. These explanations help us understand the process.
But questions can arise at another level. Why does nature operate according to these laws? Why do the basic conditions that make such processes possible exist in the first place?
This does not mean that science has failed. On the contrary, scientific explanations have greatly expanded our understanding of the natural world. The point is simply that explaining how something happens and asking why there is a universe in which it can happen are two different kinds of questions.
The first concerns the processes taking place within the universe. The second asks about the ultimate basis of the universe’s existence.
This distinction matters because discussions of God’s existence should not rest on gaps in scientific knowledge. A scientific question unanswered today may be answered through future research. The deeper philosophical question, however, is not merely about what science has yet to discover. It concerns the universe’s existence and the laws that govern it.
As we study the universe more closely, another remarkable feature becomes apparent: it operates according to a consistent order. We can describe its behaviour through mathematical relationships and physical laws. The forces of nature and the conditions prevailing in the universe have made the formation of stars, planets, complex chemical structures, and, eventually, life as we know it possible.
These observations raise further questions. Why does the universe have this particular order? Why are its laws the way they are? And how should we understand the fact that the universe permits the emergence of such complexity?
The existence of order does not, by itself, settle the question of God. We must examine the arguments carefully rather than jump to a conclusion. But it does provide a meaningful starting point for the next stage of our discussion.
We have moved from asking how the universe developed to asking why it exists and why it has the particular structure we observe.
Why is the universe the way it is?
That is the question we will explore in the next part.
Shahzad Shami
The writer is an engineering graduate and a seasoned banker. He has held senior roles in the banking sector, both in the UK and abroad. His most recent role was Country Head of Saudi Operations.