A dialogue between
an atheist and Muslims, worth reading.
The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and
then asks one of his new students to stand.
Atheist Professor : "You're a Muslim, aren't you,
son?" Muslim Student : "Yes, sir."
Atheist Professor : "So you believe in God?" Muslim
Student : "Absolutely."
Atheist Professor : "Is God good?" Muslim Student :
"Sure! God's good."
Atheist Professor : "Is God all-powerful? Can God do
anything?" Muslim Student : "Yes."
Atheist Professor : "Are you good or evil?" Muslim
Student : "The Koran says I'm evil."
The professor grins knowingly. "Ahh!
THE KORAN!" He considers for a moment.
Atheist Professor : "Here's one for you. Let's say there's
a sick person over here and you can cure him... You can do it. Would you help
them? Would you try?" Muslim Student : "Yes sir, I would."
Atheist Professor : "So you're good...!" Muslim
Student : "I wouldn't say that."
Atheist Professor : "Why not say that? You would help a
sick and maimed person if you could... in fact most of us would if we could...
God doesn't. Muslim Student : [No answer.]
Atheist Professor : "He doesn't, does he? My brother was a
Muslim who died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. How is this
God good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?" Muslim Student : [No answer]
The Atheist Professor is sympathetic. "No, you can't, can
you?"
He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the
student time to relax. In philosophy, you have to go easy with the new ones.
Atheist Professor : "Let's start again, young fellow."
"Is God good?" Muslim Student : "Er...
Yes."
Atheist Professor : "Is Satan good?" Muslim Student :
"No."
Atheist Professor : "Where does Satan come from?" The
student falters. Muslim Student : "From... God..."
Atheist Professor : "That's right. God made Satan, didn't
he?"
The Atheist Professor runs his bony fingers through his thinning
hair and turns to the smirking, student audience.
Atheist Professor : "I think we're going to have a lot of
fun this semester, ladies and gentlemen."
Atheist Professor turns back to the Muslim. "Tell me, son.
Is there evil in this world?" Muslim Student : "Yes, sir."
Atheist Professor : "Evil is everywhere, isn't it? Did God
make everything?" Muslim Student : "Yes."
Atheist Professor : "Who created evil? Muslim Student : [No
answer]
Atheist Professor : "Is there sickness in this world?
Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All the terrible things - do they exist in this
world? " The student squirms on his feet. "Yes."
Atheist Professor : "Who created them? " Muslim
Student : [No answer]
The Atheist Professor suddenly shouts at his student. "WHO
CREATED THEM? TELL ME, PLEASE!"
The Atheist Professor closes in for the kill and climbs into the
Muslim's face.
Atheist Professor : In a still small voice "God created all
evil, didn't He, son?" Muslim Student : [No answer]
The student tries to hold the steady, experienced gaze and
fails. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace the front of the classroom
like a aging panther. The class is mesmerized.
Atheist Professor : "Tell me," he continues, "How
is it that this God is good if He created all evil throughout all time?"
The Atheist Professor swishes his arms around to encompass the
wickedness of the world.
Atheist Professor : "All the hatred, the brutality, all the
pain, all the torture, all the death and ugliness and all the suffering created
by this good God is all over the world, isn't it, young man?" Muslim
Student : [No answer]
Atheist Professor : "Don't you see it all over the place?
Huh?"
Pause.
Atheist Professor : "Don't you?" The professor leans
into the student's face again and whispers, "Is God good?" Muslim
Student : [No answer]
Atheist Professor : "Do you believe in God, son?" The
student's voice betrays him and cracks. "Yes, professor. I do."
The Atheist Professor shakes his head sadly. "Science says
you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have
you? " Muslim Student : "No, sir. I've never seen Him."
Atheist Professor : "Then tell us if you've ever heard your
God?" Muslim Student : "No, sir. I have not."
Atheist Professor : "Have you ever felt your God, tasted
your God or smelt your God... in fact, do you have any sensory perception of
your God whatsoever?" Muslim Student : [No answer]
Atheist Professor : "Answer me, please." Muslim
Student : "No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't."
Atheist Professor : "You're AFRAID... you haven't?"
Muslim Student : "No, sir."
Atheist Professor : "Yet you still believe in him?" Muslim
Student : "... yes..."
Atheist Professor : "That takes FAITH!" The professor
smiles sagely at the underling. "According to the rules of empirical,
testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do
you say to that, son? Where is your God now?" [The student doesn't answer]
Atheist Professor : "Sit down, please."
The Muslim sits... Defeated.
Another Muslim raises his hand. "Professor, may I address
the class?"
The professor turns and smiles. "Ah, another Muslim in the
vanguard! Come, come, young man. Speak some proper wisdom to the
gathering."
The Muslim looks around the room.
Another Muslim : "Some interesting points you are making,
sir. Now I've got a question for you. Is there such thing as heat?"
"Yes," the professor replies. "There's heat."
Another Muslim : "Is there such a thing as cold?"
Atheist Professor : "Yes, son, there's cold too."
Another Muslim : "No, sir, there isn't." The
professor's grin freezes. The room suddenly goes very cold.
The second Muslim continues. "You can have lots of heat,
even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat but
we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit 458 degrees below zero, which is
no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as
cold, otherwise we would be able to go colder than 458 - You see, sir, cold is
only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold.
Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the
opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it."
Silence. A pin drops somewhere in the classroom.
Another Muslim : "Is there such a thing as darkness,
professor?" Atheist Professor : "That's a dumb question, son. What is
night if it isn't darkness? What are you getting at...?"
Another Muslim : "So you say there is such a thing as
darkness?" Atheist Professor : "Yes..."
Another Muslim : "You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not
something, it is the absence of something... You can have low light, normal
light, bright light, flashing light but if you have no light constantly you
have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to
define the word. In reality, Darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to
make darkness darker and give me a jar of it. Can you... give me a jar of
darker darkness, professor?"
Despite himself, the professor smiles at the young effrontery
before him.
This will indeed be a good semester. "Would you mind
telling us what your point is, young man?"
Another Muslim : "Yes, professor. My point is, your
philosophical premise is flawed to start with and so your conclusion must be in
error...."
The professor goes toxic. "Flawed...? How dare
you...!""
Another Muslim : "Sir, may I explain what I mean?"
The class is all ears.
"Explain... oh, explain..." The professor makes an
admirable effort to regain control. Suddenly he is affability itself. He waves
his hand to silence the class, for the student to continue.
Another Muslim : "You are working on the premise of
duality," the Muslim explains. "That for example there is life and
then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of
God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science cannot even
explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism but has never seen, much
less fully understood them. To view death as the opposite of life is to be
ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is
not the opposite of life, merely the absence of it."
The young man holds up a newspaper he takes from the desk of a
neighbor who has been reading it. "Here is one of the most disgusting
tabloids this country hosts, professor. Is there such a thing as immorality?"
"Of course there is, now look..."
"Wrong again, sir. You see, immorality is merely the
absence of morality. Is there such thing as injustice? No. Injustice is the
absence of justice. Is there such a thing as evil?" The Muslim pauses.
"Isn't evil the absence of good?"
The professor's face has turned an alarming color. He is so
angry he is temporarily speechless.
The Muslim continues. "If there is evil in the world,
professor, and we all agree there is, then God, if he exists, must be accomplishing
a work through the agency of evil. What is that work, God is accomplishing? The
Quran tells us it is to see if each one of us will,
of our own free will, choose good over evil."
The professor bridles. "As a philosophical scientist, I
don't vie this matter as having anything to do with any choice; as a realist, I
absolutely do not recognize the concept of God or any other theological factor
as being part of the world equation because God is not observable."
"I would have thought that the absence of God's moral code
in this world is probably one of the most observable phenomena going," the
Muslim replies. "Newspapers make billions of dollars reporting it every
week! Tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a
monkey?"
"If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process,
young man, yes, of course I do."
"Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes,
sir?"
The professor makes a sucking sound with his teeth and gives his
student a silent, stony stare.
"Professor. Since no-one has ever observed the process of
evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going
endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist,
but a priest?"
"I'll overlook your impudence in the light of our
philosophical discussion. Now, have you quite finished?" the professor
hisses.
"So you don't accept God's moral code to do what is
righteous?"
"I believe in what is - that's science!"
"Ahh! SCIENCE!" the
student's face splits into a grin. "Sir, you rightly state that science is
the study of observed phenomena. Science too is a premise which is
flawed..." "SCIENCE IS FLAWED..?" the professor splutters.
The class is in uproar. The Muslim remains standing until the
commotion has subsided.
"To continue the point you were making earlier to the other
student, may I give you an example of what I mean?"
The professor wisely keeps silent.
The Muslim looks around the room. "Is there anyone in the
class who has ever seen the professor's brain?"
The class breaks out in laughter. The Muslim points towards his
elderly, crumbling tutor.
"Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's
brain... felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's
brain?"
No one appears to have done so. The Muslim shakes his head
sadly. "It appears no-one here has had any sensory perception of the
professor's brain whatsoever. Well, according to the rules of empirical,
stable, demonstrable protocol, science, I DECLARE that the professor has no
brain."
The class is in chaos.
The Muslim sits... Because that is what a chair is for.