Written by: Shahzad Shami
Part One: The Question of God — What Is the Foundation of Existence?
When human beings first looked up at the sky, observed the stars, watched the Sun rise and set, and witnessed the changing seasons, a fundamental question must have arisen in their minds:
Why does all this exist?
The question may sound simple, but it leads us towards one of the deepest mysteries of human thought. Why is there a universe at all? Why does anything exist rather than nothing? And if everything around us exists for some reason, what is the ultimate foundation of existence itself?
Throughout history, human beings have tried to answer these questions. Different civilisations and religions have offered different explanations. With the development of science, our understanding of the universe has expanded enormously. We now know that the Earth revolves around the Sun, that the Sun is one star among billions in our galaxy, and that our galaxy is only one among countless galaxies in the observable universe.
Science has also helped us understand how stars form, how planets develop, how life functions, and how the human body works. Discoveries in physics, chemistry, biology and genetics have revealed many of the mechanisms through which nature operates.
These achievements are remarkable. Yet they bring us back to an important distinction.
Explaining how something works is not always the same as explaining why it exists.
For example, science explains how the Earth revolves around the Sun. It describes gravity and the laws governing the movement of celestial bodies. But a deeper question remains: why do these laws exist in the first place? Why is there a universe governed by laws at all?
This does not mean that science is incapable of answering important questions. On the contrary, science has answered many questions that once seemed beyond human understanding. Nor does it mean that every unanswered question is evidence of God. Such a conclusion would be premature.
The question we are considering is more fundamental.
Suppose that one day we understand every process in the universe, from the movement of the smallest particles to the formation of the largest galaxies. Would that knowledge, by itself, explain why the universe exists at all?
To understand this problem, let us consider the things we encounter in everyday life.
A building depends on its materials, its foundations and the people who construct it. A human being depends on parents for birth and on food, water, air and suitable conditions for survival. Plants depend on sunlight, water and nutrients. The Earth exists within a larger cosmic system governed by physical laws.
In each case, we find something that depends, in one way or another, on something else.
This leads us to a basic question: if the things within the universe depend on other things, what explains the existence of the universe as a whole?
Could the universe itself be the ultimate reality, requiring no further explanation? Or is there a more fundamental reality on which the universe depends?
These are philosophical questions, and they deserve careful consideration.
We should not begin by assuming that everything must have a cause and then simply declare that God is the cause. That formulation immediately raises another question: if everything needs a cause, then what caused God?
The more precise question is whether everything that exists must be dependent on something else, or whether there can be a fundamental reality that does not depend on anything beyond itself.
In Islamic thought, this question leads towards the concept of Wajib-ul-Wujood, commonly translated as the Necessary Existent: a reality whose existence does not depend on another reality, while everything else ultimately depends upon it.
This concept does not, by itself, settle every question about God. We must still consider what such a fundamental reality would be like and whether there are good reasons to identify it with the Creator described in Islam.
But it gives us a starting point for a serious inquiry.
Modern cosmology has added another dimension to this discussion. According to the Big Bang model, the observable universe developed from an extremely hot and dense early state approximately 13.8 billion years ago. Space itself has been expanding, and scientists continue to investigate the universe’s earliest history.
The Big Bang is not, by itself, proof of God’s existence. Scientific research into the early universe does not automatically establish a religious conclusion. Nevertheless, it raises questions about the nature of cosmic beginnings, the role of physical laws and whether our understanding of the universe’s history also explains its ultimate existence.
We must also be careful about the word beginning. Questions about what happened before the Big Bang are complicated because our familiar understanding of time is connected to the physical universe. Scientists and philosophers continue to examine what this means for our understanding of cosmic origins.
Even if we eventually develop a more complete account of the universe’s earliest moments, the deeper question may remain: why does this reality, with its particular laws and properties, exist at all?
This is where the question of God enters our discussion—not as a substitute for scientific investigation, but as a possible answer to a question that goes beyond describing physical processes.
The Islamic understanding of God begins with the idea that Allah is not merely one powerful being among other beings within the universe. He is the Creator on whom the existence of the universe itself depends. He is not a product of the universe, nor is He subject to the limitations that govern created things.
Whether this understanding provides the most convincing explanation is something we must examine through reason, observation and, eventually, revelation.
We should therefore avoid rushing towards a conclusion. A serious inquiry requires us to consider the evidence, understand the alternatives and distinguish between what science establishes, what philosophy argues and what religion claims through revelation.
Our journey will examine the beginning of the universe, the remarkable order of its laws, the emergence of life, evolution, genetic information and human consciousness. We will also consider whether the universe can be its own ultimate explanation and whether the idea of a necessary, intelligent Creator offers a more complete account of existence.
The purpose is not to manufacture a conflict between science and religion. It is to follow the questions wherever careful reasoning takes us.
For behind our knowledge of galaxies, particles, living organisms and the human mind lies a question that remains remarkably simple:
Why is the universe the way it is?
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