A Letter to Atheists

Hi there,

I am writing this as I went off line for no reason that I know!

Anyways, I was reading the tweets some of you posted when I went ‘silent’ and some of them were trying to be funny and making fun of me. Moreover, as usual, some of you rushed into re-tweeting those posts with the ‘winning’ feeling!

Islam teaches us to give others the benefit of the doubt, especially when I am not aware of his/her situation. I hoped that you had the patience to wait until I am back before you rush into conclusions and some immature comments.

Today, I spent some time with some of you, and to be honest with you, I wanted to leave the conversations so many times but I did not want you to get the feeling that ‘he is running away’.

Why did I want to leave the conversation?

1) It was not the suitable time for such conversation with more than 12 persons.

2) I am a husband and father, a medical doctor and psychotherapist who have patients to take care of; such conversations take much longer than I can offer of my time.

3) Some of you seem to be twitter fan and have plenty of time, while I am not.

4) I had such conversations hundreds of times before, and I am almost done with the same questions, repeated comments, and fake information about God, Islam, Quran and Mohammad.

5) It is not something that amuses me to listen to the bad language from some persons, especially those who claim they are truth-seekers and non-believers.

You might ask now: if you were so concerned about leaving the conversation, then why do you bother yourself talking to us?

Well, it is part of my nature as a human, as a Muslim, and as a MD & psychotherapist to try my best to guide others to what I believe the best for the self and the community.

Now let us get back to the conversation. To cut the long story short, and to try to gather what I want to answer you all, I would appreciate it if you read this:

The way I understand my existence is so simple; I am a human being who consists of two parts: the physical part, the body with its all components (this part is so obvious and no one can deny it or argue about it); and the other part that gives the body its existence, the part that brought the body from the none-ness to the existence, the part that makes the body differs from other physical forms in the universe, the part that makes the body sense, feel, think, reason, and react.

The other part is the one that we may argue about, as it is not obvious as a physical sensible entity. You may call this part (or component) different names, depends on your source of information (east, west, modern science, religion, all together): ‘secret’, ‘soul’, ‘energy’, etc.

The body has its own needs and desires (instincts): air, water, food, excretion, sex, shelter, etc. Now after I search for my ‘physical’ needs and fulfill them, I start to have other needs to fulfill (mainly with other humans): company, love, belonging, sexual intimacy, etc. But after that, I still have the urge to fulfill other needs, that are summarized in the two questions (who am I why am I).

Yes, I know we reached to a limit in such a materialistic life where we (deny) or even (forget) to stop and ponder in our existence, but this is a fact, we do think of these questions.

Here comes the philosophies, science, and religions trying to offer answers for such questions.

In the east, they had the unseen as the solution, hence Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. They believed in supernatural multiform powers and gods, and refer almost everything to the (un-known).

In the west, there was the Greek and Roman philosophy with its different schools in describing the human nature and the purpose of life. They shared some beliefs with the Eastern, that is why they searched for a super power, a creator, a controller, and they formed it in many forms: Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Dionysus, Hades, Hephaestus, Hera, Hermes, Hestia, Poseidon, Zeus, Eros, etc. Later on, and after Christianity, Constantine (who was influenced by these forms) stated Catholic Christianity with Trinity.

After a while, and with the doctrine nature of Church and its God’s men, in addition to the refusal of the scientific evidences by the church, along with the un-logical stories mentioned in the Bible (such as the age of the earth and humans), the west came to the agreement so called ‘secularism’ where they put the religion aside and limit it to the church ONLY.

Since then, the modern science started to play the role of God in this life, especially in the west that rejected the ‘none sense’ of the Church.

As for me, a person who believes in Islam (the religion from Adam until Mohammad), I believe that there is a creator who created the whole universe. This creator should not be as any other thins that might come to my mind, otherwise, he is just like other creatures that makes him no more a creator.

Here comes some questions:

Why should there be a God? Why can’t we live without the need to God? What are the evidences that God exist? What makes my God the real one? What about others? What does science say about God? What about Islam? What makes it unique? What about the none sense and the stories we hear about Mohammad, holy war, Jihad, Women in Islam, etc.

Causality is a foundation that no one (atheists, agnostics, chaotic, etc.) can ignore, there has to be a reason for anything to happen, whether we realize the reason or not.

Let me begin by stating that science does not reject the existence of God, and there is no single evidence that God does not exist from a scientific point of view. The only thing that some scientists do is that they take one-step back to explain the beginning of time and place, but they never come to the (initiator, creator, and founder).

People like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and others would make me smile when they deny God but believe in an advanced form of civilization that came from the outer space and put the seed to our universe, galaxy, or earth! Therefore, the only thing they did is that they replaced God with another creator! Yet, still the question: who created those seeders?

Now you might argue that the same question applies to my God ‘who created him’?

The answer is: there should be a point where everything started from, otherwise we will end up with the infinite non-stopping chain that has been refused and rejected long time ago by scientists.

People like Darwin, Einstein, and Newton did not reject God or even question his existence the only thing they questioned was religions and their applications.

Darwin was increasingly troubled by the problem of evil, especially after he lost his daughter Annie.

Einestien said, “God doesn’t play with dice”, but he had a problem believing that God who created such a beautiful universe would chose Jews to be his ‘chosen people’.

And here I recommend a book written by Sir Antony Flew (There is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind). In this book he does not believe in any religion or even in a hereafter life, but after 80 years of Atheism, such a scientist changed his mind.

Some people have a problem with religions or with the way they understand God or his actions, that is why I call such form of Atheism “Psychological Atheism” where a human cannot deny God’s existence but he/she cannot understand the way God acts.

And here I recommend a book written by an ex atheist (who is a professor in Mathematics) Jeffrey Lang, and the book’s name is (Even Angels Ask: A Journey to Islam in America)

As for Islam, I know this is not easy, especially with it’s bond to the church in the western mentality and the role of Media corrupting Islam and disfiguring everything that has anything to do with it.

Islam is not Taliban only, Islam is not Saudi Arabia, Islam is not the eastern mentality where males dictate and over rule females and insult them, Islam is what you read (and understand) in the Quran and Prophet sayings.

I recommend this book written by an ex atheist (who is a medical doctor) Dr. Maurice Bucaille: (The Bible, the Qu’ran and Science: The Holy Scriptures Examined in the Light of Modern Knowledge)

I am a Muslim, and because I believe Islam has everything I need, I learn because Islam teaches me to seek knowledge and learn; I love my self and help others because Islam teaches me so; I love my wife (who is an ophthalmologist, an eye surgeon) and support her with my income so that she become a good example of the Muslim Woman, simply because Islam taught me to be the best man for my mother, sister, wife, and daughter; I am trying to be the best physician and psychotherapist because Islam teaches me to be honest, decent, and professional at what I am doing.

These are just examples, and everything I mentioned here has a proof from Quran and Prophet’s sayings.

Islam is not simply about rituals, it is an art of life.

I know this was too long, but I wanted to share what I had with you all.

I apologize if I hurt anyone by mistake.

Thank you all