Author: Obaidullah Nimruzi
A Concise Overview of the History and Ideologies of Communism
(Part 11)
A Rebuttal of the Ideas and Beliefs of Communism
In the belief of all human beings, God exists. At the core of every living being is an innate sense that there is a divine presence watching over them, observing their actions in all circumstances and fully aware of their deeds and behavior. Among Muslims, this belief is profound, certain, and complete, requiring no proof, justification, or reasoning. Muslims accept God through all His manifestations in the universe and all His attributes as presented in the Qur’an and Sunnah, and they worship Him accordingly.
However, there are also groups of people who acknowledge the existence of God but lack knowledge of His attributes, scope of power, or nature. They seek to discover these truths through evidence and reasoning. By exploring the natural world, witnessing the mesmerizing beauty of galaxies, hearing the roar of ocean waves, and observing the diversity of living beings, they reach the conviction that God truly exists—transcending all things and all creatures—and that He alone deserves worship and devotion.
There is yet another group who confine God to mosques and temples. Instead of allowing God to guide them, they impose limits upon Him, deciding when He may intervene and when He must remain silent and merely observe.
These different conceptions of God in people’s minds and hearts fall into three distinct categories:
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The first group consists of Muslims, who possess a sound and correct understanding of God rooted in the Qur’an and Sunnah.
2. The second group includes sincere seekers of divine knowledge who, through the discovery of truths, come to a strong and well-founded faith in God.
3. The third group comprises those who have a flawed and incorrect view of God, often shaped by a desire to escape responsibility and divine constraints.
This article focuses on theology and the different conceptions of God.
Conception of God
Most people imagine the existence of God as something strange and beyond human understanding. This perception, however, is incorrect, as it portrays God as a mental construct or as something vague and unclear. Believers, at the very least, affirm that there is a Creator of this universe and they believe in Him. However, the problem for some is that they do not know who or what He is. Some even claim that such knowledge is unattainable. In contrast, the prophets and divinely guided scholars not only consider the knowledge of God possible but also claim to possess certain and experiential understanding of Him—even claiming that He can be seen and witnessed.
Essentially, the subject of God’s existence is a matter of being, not something to be proven—it is not a speculative issue open to doubt. God must be known through Himself, as there is nothing outside of Him through which we might come to know or prove His existence. Therefore, we can only point to the general method of knowing God.
Methods of Knowing Allah (SWT)
There are three progressive stages for attaining knowledge of God:
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The First Stage: Through the Signs in the Universe and Within Ourselves
This is the path of knowing God through His signs in nature and the experiential method. One begins by recognizing divine truths through natural phenomena and the study of the Qur’anic verses. Understanding God through internal signs (within oneself) is more fruitful, as it is often accompanied by self-improvement and purification. Reflecting on both internal and external signs leads to the recognition of God and ultimately guides a person toward divine law and truth. For beginners, this is the most suitable and accessible method.
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The Second Stage: Through Reason
This path belongs to the intellectual elite who, after contemplating nature and divine signs in creation, use logic, philosophy, and reason to understand God. It involves deducing the attributes and presence of God through rational arguments.
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The Third Stage: Through the Heart
This is the way of the spiritual elite—the saints—open only to those who have journeyed through the theoretical paths of nature and rational arguments and then advanced to the realms of love and mysticism. In this stage, one attains direct witnessing and presence with the Divine.
The true God is the One who manifests in all things, and the ultimate realization of the gnostics is to see God in everything.
From the mystical perspective, God is the very essence of existence, and all things apart from His essence are merely manifestations of Him. These manifestations, in truth, reflect and reveal Him. If a person reflects deeply, they will see God in every manifestation of existence. All things are like transparent mirrors that display God—they are His signs, as mentioned in the Qur’an. However, such vision is reserved for the people of spiritual insight. The rationalists, philosophers, and scientists are generally deprived of it unless they too accept such a perspective and path of inquiry.
In other words, people attain knowledge of God in three ways:
1. Imitation (Taqleed): Through sensory perception and physical observation.
2. Reasoned Inquiry: Through intellect and logical deduction.
3. Unveiling and Witnessing (Kashf and Ru’yah): Through inner spiritual experiences.
A Final Note
It is important to emphasize that this intellectual journey to know God will be fruitless unless accompanied by practical spiritual progress. Perfection is achieved through both knowledge and action. These two paths must be pursued simultaneously and harmoniously.
The empirical method of knowing God—by reflecting on nature and creation—is the most basic and universal approach. When a person contemplates the heavens and the earth and all that lies within them, they are involuntarily moved to acknowledge the wisdom and purpose behind these awe-inspiring phenomena. Recognizing wisdom and knowledge leads naturally to affirming the existence of a wise and intelligent Creator.
A person with a theistic worldview sees God in everything—whether gazing at nature or studying the physical and chemical laws governing it. Human beings are only discoverers of these laws, not their creators. Therefore, they must ask: Where did all this come from, and who created it?
In truth, the more knowledge a person possesses, the more they are amazed by the wonders of creation and drawn into deeper contemplation.
The argument of cause and effect—moving from effect to cause—is one of the philosophical proofs of God’s existence and often considered the foundational argument by philosophers. God also frequently references nature and His creation in the Qur’an, encouraging us to reflect upon them. Consider the following verses:
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Surah Al-Ghashiyah, Verses 17–18:
“أَفَلَا يَنظُرُونَ إِلَى الْإِبِلِ كَيْفَ خُلِقَتْ * وَإِلَى السَّمَاءِ كَيْفَ رُفِعَتْ”
Translation: “Do they not look at the camels, how they are created? And at the sky, how it is raised?”
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Surah At-Tariq, Verse 5:
“فَلْيَنظُرِ الْإِنسَانُ مِمَّ خُلِقَ”
Translation: “So let man observe from what he was created.”
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Surah Al-A’raf, Verse 185:
“أَوَلَمْ يَنظُرُوا فِي مَلَكُوتِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ مِن شَيْءٍ”
Translation: “Do they not look into the realm of the heavens and the earth and everything that God has created…?”
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Surah Qaf, Verse 6:
“أَفَلَمْ يَنظُرُوا إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَوْقَهُمْ كَيْفَ بَنَيْنَاهَا وَزَيَّنَّاهَا وَمَا لَهَا مِن فُرُوجٍ”
Translation: “Do they not look at the sky above them—how We built and adorned it, and how there are no rifts in it?”
These and many other verses indicate God’s special attention to the natural world and the signs embedded within creation.
Proving God Through Rational Arguments
Numerous arguments and extensive literature exist on proving the existence of God. Regarding the necessity of a Creator for every created being, it is important to note that any entity that is dependent and not self-sufficient requires a Creator. One of the most compelling arguments in this field is the Argument from Design.
The Argument from Design
Theists have offered many arguments for the existence of God, but the most compelling and persuasive among them is the Argument from Design. This argument appeals both to reason and to the human conscience and has always held great significance for philosophers and scientists.
Core Principles of This Argument:
1. In every corner of this vast universe, one can observe signs of order, calculation, laws, and purpose.
2. Any system that exhibits such order must have a wise and intelligent designer.
Thus, through this concise yet powerful reasoning, it becomes clear that there exists an all-powerful Creator who brought the universe and everything within it into being—beyond human imagination, perfect and mighty. He alone is worthy of worship and submission.
Continues…
