Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part III — Page 42
BarĀhĪn-e-a H madiyya — Part three 42 and His reward and punishment. It would not have been necessary, then, for God to provide any other means of arriving at perfect cer- tainty. But this is not the case; no matter how deeply one may study the universe, one will not find such a writing, and will have to depend on one’s own speculation and nothing else. This is the reason why all the sages agree that pondering over the heavens and the earth does not provide factual testimony regarding the existence of the Creator. All one obtains is speculative evidence to the effect that the there ought to be a creator; and even this evidence will only be valid in the eyes of those who believe that it is impossible for things to come into existence by themselves. It will not, however, stand in the eyes of an atheist who believes the universe to be eternal, and contends that if nothing can come into existence without a creator, then how can God come into existence without a creator; and if this is possible, why then should it not be assumed that all creation, which no one has witnessed being created, came into existence without a creator. I would like to point out that the reason why an atheist is able to argue with a rationalist regarding the existence of the Eternal God is that the study of creation does not provide factual testimony of His existence; that is, it does not prove that the Creator actually exists, but only that He ought to exist. Thus, evidence regarding the existence of the Creator of the universe, based only on reason, becomes ambiguous in the eyes of an atheist. As such, I have already discussed this point to some extent in Footnote Number Four, where I have proven that reason can at best prove the need for something, not its existence; and that proving the necessity of a thing and to substantiate its very exist- ence are two things altogether different. Therefore, anyone whose understanding of God is limited to the study of creation alone is in no position to affirm that God actually exists. Rather, the reach of his knowledge extends only to the possibility that He ought to exist, and that, too, if the person is not inclined towards atheism. This is the reason why past philosophers who confined themselves merely to rational arguments fell into grave