Recently, msn.com featured 16 questions atheists want religious people to answer. Below are brief answers to all of their questions.
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16. Why Is Belief a Requirement Instead of Actions? Many religions prioritise belief over behaviour. A murderer who repents and believes may go to Heaven, while a kind atheist might be doomed.
The religion of Islam rejects the idea that someone can sin their whole life and then only believe and go to heaven. The Holy Qur’an teaches: “There is no acceptance of repentance for those who continue to do evil until, when death faces one of them, he says, ‘I do repent now;’” (An-Nisa’ 4:19).
In Islam, repentance is only acceptable if we change our ways and make amends. (An-Nahl 16:120, Al-Furqan 25:71, Aal-e-‘Imran 3:136)
As for the question of why “a kind atheist might be doomed,” my question is: if a kind atheist neglects his physical health, will he still get sick even though he is kind to people? If a kind atheist neglects his mental health, will he still suffer from depression even though he is kind to people? Kindness does not erase the law of gravity. Likewise, neglecting the soul has consequences. If a person neglects his spiritual health, it only makes sense that he would spiritually suffer. The Holy Qur’an teaches the logical principle that, “man will have nothing but what he strives for;” (An-Najm 53:40). In Islam, belief and action are inseparable, and mere lip service is meaningless.
15. Why Are There No New Religions With Verifiable Miracles? New religions emerge, but none come with the same awe-inspiring stories or widespread miraculous proof that older ones claim.
Every prophet came with living signs, not stunts. Many people have a misunderstanding regarding what a miracle is. In the Islamic paradigm, a miracle (Mu’jizah) is that which renders the opponents of a prophet of God unable to produce the like thereof.
An example from this era is that, at a time when he was unknown and completely alone, the Promised Messiah (as) published prophecies where God Almighty informed him that people would flock to him in large numbers and his movement would spread throughout the world. [1] The constant worldwide progress of his movement and his devotees coming from every land, is a continuing sign today.
Every prophet of God comes with powerful signs of support from God Almighty. However, prophets of God do not nor have they ever shown supernatural spectacles according to the expectations of the misguided people of their time.
The disbelievers at the time of the Prophet Muhammad (sa) demanded that he show miracles based on their misunderstandings of their older religions. They said they would only believe if he (sa) showed them angels face-to-face, or caused the heavens to fall on them, or if he ascended to heaven and came back down. The Holy Qur’an commands the Prophet Muhammad (sa) to simply reply, “Holy is my Lord. I am but a human being sent as a Messenger” (Bani Isra’il 17:94). The Holy Qur’an rejects their expectations because they are based on the exaggerated stories that had been added to their religions by people over time.
14. Why Do People of Faith Fear Death if Heaven Awaits? If eternal bliss is promised after death, why do many religious people still fear dying? Why pay hospitals, doctors, and alternative medicines? Spend huge chunks of money to get cured and continue living life.
Islam does not guarantee paradise for Muslims simply because they have believed. So, striving in this life matters and doing good matters to us. The teachings of the Holy Qur’an encourage us: “And seek the Home of the Hereafter through that which Allah has bestowed on thee; and neglect not thy lot in this world; and do good to people as Allah has done good to thee;” (Al-Qasas 28:78). This is one of the reasons why we strive to spend our lives doing as much good as we can. Muslims are taught to pray, “Our Lord, grant us good in this world as well as good in the world to come,” (Al-Baqarah 2:202).
13. Why Does God Seem to Support Slavery, Genocide, or War in Holy Texts? From the Old Testament to various religious wars, sacred texts often portray God as endorsing actions we’d now call crimes against humanity.
Islam only permits Muslims to fight against those who fight against them, and gives no room for killing civilians or anyone who does not fight against them. The Holy Qur’an is clear: “Fight in the cause of Allah against those who fight against you, but transgress not.” (Al-Baqarah 2:191)
On slavery, Islam struck at slavery’s foundations and taught equal dignity, intermarriage, and freeing of slaves as virtues, causing the system of slavery to wither.
For example, in the United States, it was unthinkable for a master to marry his/her slave and integrate their children as equals into their family. The reason was that they saw their slaves as inferior beings. However, Islam taught equality and integration on every level of society, especially in the family unit, where it is the most effective.
The American Emancipation Proclamation was noble in words, but it started a different era of oppression for African Americans because they were still considered inferior by the people.
Islam uniquely humanised and integrated former slaves into leadership roles. It removed the idea of one class of people being lesser than another from the psychology and worldview of people altogether. During early Islam under the watch of Prophet Muhammad (sa) and his Rightly Guided Khulafa (Caliphs), former slaves attained the highest ranks in society, like generals, governors, and renowned teachers, and they married into noble families as equals.
12. Why Are Women Often Secondary in Religious Hierarchies? Many religious traditions place men in positions of power while limiting women’s roles. Atheists ask: If God created everyone equal, why institutionalise inequality?
The teachings of Islam on women and men are based on equity, not equality. Different responsibilities do not mean different worth. The Qur’an repeatedly affirms equal spiritual dignity: “Whoso does good, whether male or female, and is a believer, shall enter Paradise and they shall not be wronged a whit.” (An-Nisa’ 4:125)
The reason this question arises is because of an uncomfortable reality: our society treats the role of the stay-at-home mother as inferior. Women who choose to have children and make them their first priority are made to feel that they are wasting their potential.
Islam honours caregiving roles that modern society often looks down on, while still giving women public, spiritual, and economic rights centuries ahead of the world.
It is ironic that our feminist society treats the uniquely feminine role of being a mother, which women naturally excel at, as being of secondary importance. On the contrary, the Holy Qur’an teaches: “And covet not that whereby Allah has made some of you excel others. Men shall have a share of that which they have earned, and women a share of that which they have earned.” (An-Nisa’ 4:33)
11. Why Do Some Religious People Avoid Questions Instead of Answering Them? Many atheists find that asking tough questions about faith is met with deflection or anger. Why is that?
No doubt it is frustrating for atheists if their genuine questions are met with deflection and anger. Such responses from some religious people are not reflective of the religious teachings they attribute themselves to.
The Holy Qur’an is filled with the questions opponents asked, followed by their answers. Based on this Islamic tradition, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has always answered questions about faith from people of every perspective.
The Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community started The Review of Religions, one of the longest-running comparative religious magazines. Presently, on its YouTube channel under @TheReviewofReligions, there are many open discussions with atheists answering every type of question.
10. Why Doesn’t God Communicate Today Like He Allegedly Did in the Past? The Bible and several other religious texts talk about direct communication with God, be it the oracle, or God telling Noah about the flood, [or] doomsday calls. So, why is it that at present with the world still heading towards doom in several areas, God stays silent.
Islamic history is filled with saints throughout the centuries who received revelations from God Almighty that were fulfilled. This tradition has continued in the present age, when God Almighty sent revelations and prophecies to the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the Promised Messiah (as).
For example, just a decade before the First World War, the Promised Messiah (as) prophesied the coming of an imminent calamity where the powerful Czar of Russia would be reduced to a pitiable state. [2] The contrast between the grandeur of the Czar, at the time this prophecy was made, with the humiliation he was reduced to shortly after is one sign among his many signs.
These are not just stories of the past; God Almighty continues to communicate to the Khulafa (Caliphs) of the Promised Messiah (as) and his followers. People right now still get answers in dreams and prayer. Each year, the Khalifa of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community presents testimonies and personal experiences from across the world of Ahmadi Muslims who received such specific communications from God Almighty that, when events transpired exactly as they had been informed, there was no doubt that it was outside of human capacity. Islam is a living religion because it has a living God.
9. Why Are So Many Religious Texts Open to Interpretation? If God wanted to guide humanity, why would His messages be so vague or contradictory that endless denominations and conflicts emerge from them?
Any sentence ever spoken can be misinterpreted.
Take, for example, the simplest expression of “all men are created equal,” which the United States founding fathers gave as a self-evident truth. Throughout American history, these words have been understood to exclude different groups of people.
The Supreme Courts in different eras have interpreted sentences from the Constitution in fundamentally conflicting ways. The highest court, filled with members who devoted their entire lives to understanding a short document, assert that the judgments of the Supreme Courts of other eras were completely unconstitutional.
As long as human beings have free will, we can and will disagree on the interpretation of teachings that affect our lives. The Holy Qur’an contains teachings about every aspect of our lives. It describes deep philosophical truths in poetic language, and it gives do’s and dont’s in simple legalistic language. It teaches lessons through narratives and explains the spirit of its message through metaphors. It gives straightforward rules and also gives the underlying reasons for when wisdom dictates that exceptions must apply.
I challenge atheists to come up with any one sentence that cannot be misinterpreted. Misinterpretations become all the more exacerbated when people have malicious intent. This holds true whether interpreting a legal document, a book of poetry, or a religious teaching.
Interpretation isn’t a flaw in revelation; it’s an inescapable consequence of freedom of thought and diverse views. This is why Islam has taught that the prerequisite for a correct interpretation is pure intent. The Holy Qur’an says: “He it is Who has sent down to thee the Book; in it there are verses that are decisive in meaning — they are the basis of the Book — and there are others that are susceptible of different interpretations. But those in whose hearts is perversity pursue such thereof as are susceptible of different interpretations, seeking discord and seeking wrong interpretation of it. And none knows its right interpretation except Allah and those who are firmly grounded in knowledge;” (Aal-e-’Imran 3:8).
8. Why Does Faith Reward Belief Over Evidence? Belief without evidence is discouraged in most aspects of life. However, faith, believing without evidence, is regarded as a virtue in religion. Why?
Islam does not ask anyone to blindly believe in the truth of the Holy Qur’an without evidence. The Holy Qur’an repeatedly tells us to consider its truth by making use of our ‘ilm (knowledge), ‘aql (intellect and understanding), shu‘ūr (perception), fikr (consideration and examination), etc.
When Islam calls us to believe, it tells us to base our belief on reasoning and evidence. For example, when the Holy Qur’an tells us there is a Creator, it does not tell us to believe without reason or evidence. It explains the logical need for a cause of all causes, and in one place, presents the origins of the universe in the Big Bang:
“Do not the disbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were a closed-up mass, then We opened them out?” (Al-Anbiya’ 21:31)
Islam rejects blind faith. It asks for conviction based on knowledge, reflection, and experience.
7. Why Is Eternal Punishment a Reasonable Response? Does one finite mistake account for infinite suffering, in life and beyond in death? Atheists question the morality behind heaven and hell, especially when many religions account it as sin for merely questioning the existence of God and disbelieving it.
Islam does not teach a concept of eternal punishment. The Holy Qur’an has described the duration of heaven differently from the duration of hell. In one place, the duration of Hell is described as: “They shall be in the Fire, wherein there shall be for them sighing and sobbing, Abiding therein so long as the heavens and the earth endure, excepting what thy Lord may will.” (Hud 11:107-108)
However, about heaven, the next verse says: “They shall be in Heaven; abiding therein so long as the heavens and the earth endure, excepting what thy Lord may will—a gift that shall not be cut off.” (Hud 11:109)
The words “shall not be cut off” describes a difference between heaven and hell: only heaven is eternal.
In Islam, even punishment is a mercy. The fundamental attributes of Allah are grace and mercy (Al-Fatihah 1:1). Hell is repeatedly described in the Holy Qur’an with the word ma’wa, which means a place one goes to for refuge. For example, while a hospital is a place of pain that we avoid by making healthy choices, it is a refuge for those who are ill, and its treatment is a mercy despite being painful. Just as treatment for physical illnesses is naturally a painful process, treatment for spiritual illnesses is also a natural process.
6. Why Do So Many Religious People Just Happen to Believe in the Religion They Were Born Into? If one religion is the absolute truth, shouldn’t more people be converted by evidence rather than geography?
This is a sociological question presented as if it is a religious question. This question applies to countless secular ideologies, including atheism itself.
For example, among the most violently oppressive governments in human history are countries that practised state atheism, like the Soviet Union, China, or Cambodia. Under their purges, millions of people were killed by the government, and populations were forced to become atheists. The descendants of this abrupt influx of ‘converts’ largely remained atheists.
Why do so many atheists just happen to adhere to the ideology they were born into?
Islam condemns those who blindly believe in the religion they were born into. The Holy Qur’an says: “And when it is said to them, ‘Follow that which Allah has sent down,’ they say: ‘Nay, we will follow that wherein we found our fathers.’ What! even if their fathers had no sense at all and no guidance?” (Al-Baqarah 2:171)
It is the neglect of spirituality that causes many people to blindly follow the religion of their parents. Their carelessness towards their spiritual health reveals how spirituality is not a priority for them, and they unfortunately suffer the natural results. The Holy Qur’an has throughout explained the wisdom of its teachings so people accept and follow it based on its merits.
5. Why Are Miracles Always Anecdotal? Why don’t we witness confirmed, widespread miracles today, such as amputees growing back limbs or natural disasters stopping because of prayer?
This is a different wording of question #15 and was already answered. In summary, prophets of God do not nor have they ever shown supernatural spectacles according to the expectations of the misguided people of their time.
However, every prophet of God comes with powerful signs of support from God Almighty, and such signs and miraculous examples of acceptance of prayer have also been shown in this age in the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
4. Why Does God Speak Differently to Everyone? From divine interventions to contradictory interpretations of scripture, religious experiences vary greatly. If God were almighty and omnipresent, why would he allow for such confusion?
It is only when people fabricate religious texts that there is a vast difference between what they say, because they are independently a product of separate minds.
God does not speak differently to people. All true prophets of God brought essentially the same message. When it comes to the existence of God, an original monotheistic concept of God survives in every part of the world, even in the most polytheistic cultures.
Take Hinduism as an example, which teaches a concept of One God Who is supreme over all other gods. Hindu temples are filled with idols, but Hindus still consider themselves monotheistic. Even in Greek mythology, which added so many gods to their original religion, there is still a concept of a God of gods. In Zoroastrianism, there is the God of good who prevails and is supreme over the god of evil. In Christianity, it is the Father who is supreme, as the holy ghost intercedes with Him and Jesus begs of Him. Christians insist that they are monotheistic.
The Holy Qur’an teaches, “We did raise among every people a Messenger who enjoined: Worship Allah alone and shun every transgressor.” (An-Nahl 16:37)
Thus, no matter how many different gods polytheistic peoples added to the original monotheistic religions revealed to them, there always remained a God of gods. While the gods they invented were different from one another, a universal concept of monotheism consistently survived in every culture, despite their being completely isolated in different parts of the world. This historical consistency is the result of God Almighty originally revealing Himself through true prophets sent to every part of the world.
3. Why Does Religion Thrive in Poverty but Shrink in Wealthy Nations? According to sociological research, religious belief increases in less developed nations and decreases in more developed, educated ones. Does faith cover the gaps that would otherwise be filled by stability, healthcare, and education?
This is not a new phenomenon; the followers of prophets of God have always been largely from among the poor. The Holy Qur’an records the disbelievers as saying: “We see that none have followed thee but those who, to all outward appearance, are the lowest of us.” (Hud 11:28)
Wealth can cause us to forget how frail we are, while hardships awaken reflection. Since time immemorial, the wealthy have more often neglected spirituality and been deficient in this one characteristic that makes us distinctly human.
Our capacity for spirituality is what distinguishes us from the animal kingdom. The earliest signs of spirituality in our species were rituals related to the dead because they indicate a possible belief in the afterlife. [3] This marked a fundamental advancement to a higher level of consciousness and intelligence above other animals.
Everything else about us, whether culture, ethics, theory of mind, etc, is just a more advanced version of a behaviour that can be demonstrated among animals. [4] Ironically, the spirituality that many atheists look down on is the height of our evolution as a species. For a human to simply ‘eat, drink, and be merry’ is to devolve to an animal life. This is why the Holy Qur’an has described a life without spirituality as living similar to any other animal: “They have hearts but they do not use them for understanding, they have eyes but they do not use them for seeing, and they have ears but they do not use them for listening. They are like cattle;” (Al-A‘raf 7:180).
Islam reminds the wealthy that a life of comfort should not cause them to forget that they are human. The Holy Qur’an teaches, “Mutual rivalry in seeking worldly increase diverts you from God till you reach the graves.” (At-Takathur 102:2-3)
2. Why Are God’s Rules So Culturally Specific? Why do religious laws differ greatly in time and place if God is universal? Gender roles, dress codes, and dietary regulations appear to be culturally based rather than divinely inspired.
All divinely inspired religions are the same in that they come with two basic purposes: teaching us to fulfil our responsibilities to God and to our fellow creation.
Firstly, as was covered before, all religions in their origins taught the worship of one God, and even today most theists still claim to be monotheistic, though people invented other concepts of gods as they became distant from their original teachings. Secondly, all true religions teach the same basic moral principles of treating others as we would like to be treated.
As for specifics like teachings on gender roles, dress codes, and dietary regulations, they have always been revealed on timeless principles, while allowing flexibility for the specific needs of diverse peoples.
For example, on gender roles, the teachings of God have always been based on the differences in the creation of male and female, described in the Holy Qur’an as: “Surely, your strivings are diverse” (Al-Lail 92:5). Gender roles are consistent with the natural strengths of men and women. On clothing, God Almighty has taught since the time of Prophet Adam (as): “O children of Adam! We have indeed sent down to you raiment to cover your shame, and to be an elegant dress;” (Al-A‘raf 7:27). The purpose of clothing has always been to show basic human dignity and prevent shamelessness. People across the world have always followed these simple teachings in the modest clothes found in diverse cultures.
Religious evolution has now reached its height through a universal religion for all mankind. The Holy Qur’an has taught universal aims that “are decisive in meaning” and have always been “the basis of the Book.” However, it leaves flexibility in application by making the details “susceptible of different interpretations”. (Aal-e-‘Imran 3:8) All previously revealed timeless principles have been brought together in the religion of Islam, while still having flexibility for their application among the diverse Muslim cultures across the world.
1. Why Does God Need Worship If He’s Perfect? Nothing should be lacking in a flawless being. Why, then, does God want or require unceasing adoration, observance, and obedience? Is it his or our benefit?
When parents tell their children to listen to them, it is for the child’s own benefit. Adults do not feel the need to impress children. Does an adult’s ego inflate by having a three-year-old listen to him? Only a child would make this assumption.
An atheist may not understand how great the difference is between God and His creation, but they can understand the difference between a parent and a child. In religion, the concept of God is greater than the difference between parent and child. If a parent tells their child not to be ungrateful, it is to develop the character of the child, not out of selfishness. The Holy Qur’an says, “He who follows the right way follows it only for the good of his own soul: and he who goes astray, goes astray only to his own loss.” (Bani Isra’il 17:16) Through worship (ibadah), we benefit only ourselves by obeying God. Allah Almighty does not benefit from our worship. Rather, the Holy Qur’an teaches that the disbelievers who oppose His message “shall not harm Allah in the least;” (Muhammad 47:33).
About the author: Rizwan Khan is a Missionary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the USA and a volunteer with The Existence Project from The Review of Religions.
ENDNOTES
[1] Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V, pp. 92-95
[2] Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V, p. 218
[3] https://popular-archaeology.com/article/finding-the-roots-of-religion-in-human-prehistory/
[4] https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13860-six-uniquely-human-traits-now-found-in-animals/
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