Proving the Existence of the ‘Necessary Existent’ Part 1 – Deductive Arguments

Inductive vs Deductive Arguments  Importance of belief  Deductive arguments offer ‘logical’ certainty  Inductive arguments, also knows as the ‘scientific method’ offer a likelihood of truth

Deductive Argument  P1: All men are mortal  P2: Socrates is a man  C: Therefore, Socrates is mortal

Inductive argument  P1: The sun has risen in the east every morning throughout the history of the Earth  C: Therefore, the sun will rise in the east tomorrow morning

What type of argument is better?  While a deductive argument, if valid and sound, offers logical certainty, it may nonetheless be inferior to an inductive argument in terms of its ability to convince

Quran and Risale-i Nur method  The Risale-i Nur focuses on inductive arguments, since its aim is to strengthen belief.  Deductive arguments, despite their strength, often fail to convince.  But nonetheless, Said Nursi corroborates his inductive proofs with two closely related deductive arguments

Ayetul Kubra – The Supreme Sign  “…since change and mutation are to be observed in the world and all things, the world must be ephemeral and created; it cannot be uncreated. If it is created, then there must be a Maker who created it.”

Argument from the Temporality of the Universe  P1. Whatever begins to exist has a sabab (cause) for its beginning to exist.  P2. The world began to exist.  C. Therefore, the world has a sabab (cause) for its beginning to exist.

Change = Temporality  The fact that we exist in a material, changing universe also means that we live in a temporal world – one where time exists.  In other words – changes occur in time.

Impossibility of an ‘Actual Infinite’  Imam-i Ghazali showed the absurdity of infinities of differing sizes

Impossibility of an ‘Actual Infinite’  “For instance, the sphere of the Sun completes one revolution in one year, while that of Saturn makes one in thirty years. Therefore, the revolutions of Saturn are one-thirtieth of those of the sun.”  But if the universe is infinitely old, and both the Sun and Saturn have made infinite revolutions, how is it that one has made more revolutions than the other?

Impossibility of an ‘Actual Infinite’  It is impossible for there to be an infinite amount of past time in the universe’s history, or an infinite number of past events or changes.  For events continue to occur, and as Imam-i Ghazali would say, how can one more be added to the infinite?

The need for a Necessary Existent  Since there cannot be an infinite number of past temporal events, the universe must have had an absolute beginning.  And since a non-existent thing cannot create itself, the universe must have been brought into existence by something other than itself.  Since the notion of an endless chain of explanations is absurd, we have no alternative but to posit a Necessarily Existing (Vacibul Vucud) being, with Whom the chain of apparent explanations stops.

Vacibul Vucud – The Necessary Existent  This name draws attention to the fact that since ephemeral things (like the universe) exist, a Creator of those things is absolutely necessary.  Ephemeral, finite beings cannot be explained by other finite beings, because they too are created.  Hence, the Necessary Existent is required

Argument from Contingency  “… if there is no cause to be found in the essence of a thing either for its being or for its non-being, so that these two are equally possible, that thing cannot be necessary and eternal.”  “… Hence the existence of a Necessary Existence becomes necessary, whose like cannot exist, whose similitude is impossible, all other than whom is contingent and created by him.”

Al-Farabi’s Argument from Contingency  All beings are either contingent or necessary.  If they are contingent, they rely upon some other for their existence.  Since no contingent thing can adequately explain other contingent things…  and since an endless chain of contingent causes is absurd…  a Necessary Existent becomes necessary, that requires nothing but itself to exist.

Contingency vs Necessity  All things in the universe are contingent  Contingent things can’t explain their own existence or form  Necessary things exist as a necessity of their own nature  Their non-existence is impossible  Time, space and matter all exist contingently

Contingency vs Necessity  The only things that may be defined as ‘necessary’ are a being like God, or abstract things like numbers.  But as William Lane Craig would say, “numbers don’t have the ability to create anything”.  That leaves us with only God – Allah – as a suitable explanation for the universe’s existence.

The Necessary Existent must possess Will  The impossibility of an actual infinite precludes the infinitude of time.  Therefore, the cause of the universe’s existence must be something that exists timelessly.  if the cause of the universe’s existence is something lifeless and deterministic, like some sort of machine that possesses no will, but yet exists timelessly, why did the universe have a beginning?

William Craig:  Why does a universe with a beginning exist rather than an eternal universe with no beginning?  How can an effect with a beginning originate from a changeless, permanent cause.  “That’s the real head-scratcher! I think al-Ghazali and those medieval Muslim theologians were dead on concerning this argument for a free agent as the cause of the universe.” (Craig, 2010)

Will…  The only way a temporal world could be created by an eternal or timeless cause would be if it possesses ‘will’, so as to freely choose to create a universe with a beginning.  In Islam, Allah is known to possess Kulli Irade - absolute will.

Will…  Not only are contingent things unable to explain their existence, they are also unable to explain their ‘form’ or nature.  All things self evidently have a particular form or essence.

Will…  Who or what determines, out of the innumerable possibilities, that particular form?  Other contingent things cannot be the true cause of the existence or form of other things, since they too are created; their form too is determined by something else.  Again, a Necessary Existent, Who has the ability to choose that form from among countless choices, is absolutely necessary.

Concluding words from Ayetul Kubra  “As for contingence, it prevails over and surrounds all of the cosmos. For we see that all things, universal or particular, big or small, from the atom to the planet, all are sent to the world with a particular essence, a specific form, a distinct identity, particular attributes, wise qualities, and beneficial organs. Now to bestow on that particular essence and quiddity its peculiarities, from amongst the infinite possibilities available; to clothe it in its specific, distinctive and appropriate form, from among the possibilities and probabilities that are as numerous as the forms that may be conceived … all of these are indications, proofs, and affirmations to the number of the innumerable possibilities of the necessary existence, infinite power and unlimited wisdom of the Necessary Existent, Who creates, chooses, specifies, and distinguishes the quiddity and identity, the form and shape, the attribute and situation of all contingent beings.”