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According to the Qur’ān the existence of God is a reality found in the intuition
of every person. There is no doubt about the fact that the perception of Creator
is found in the intuition of every person. The Qur’ān says that before mankind
was created, the Almighty took a covenant from the spirits of all individuals
about His being their Creator. At that time, all of them acknowledged this fact,
which was subsequently made a part of their intuition by the Almighty. A person
who still denies this fact is bound to be doomed in the Hereafter. The Qur’ān
says:
When your
Lord drew forth from the children of Adam from their loins their descendants and
made them testify upon themselves [saying]: Am I not your Lord. They said: Yes
indeed we do testify. [This was done] lest you should say on the Day of
Judgement: Of this we were unaware or [you put forward the excuse] that our
forefathers were idolaters and we were their descendents after them. Will you
then destroy us in retribution of the misdeeds of the evil doers. (7:172-73)
A person’s concept about God may be incorrect but as far as
the question of whether there is a God is concerned, human intuition needs no
external agency to point this out. Consequently divine Books only correct our
conception of God by explaining His attributes and His practices. One therefore
cannot have any genuine ground if one persists in denying His existence -- one
can however have an incorrect perception about Him.
Atheists are people who are not new to this world. One can
only have a dialogue with atheists if they are willing to exchange views on the
basic questions of life. It is not our responsibility to convince people who are
not ready to exchange views. However, if one does find an atheist who is willing
to talk, then instead of talking to him on the basis of Divine Books, he should
be tackled through his intuition and through the fact that without a God, the
cognizance of morals found within every person cannot be explained. |