THE IMPOSSIBLE GOD
By Abu Adeeba & Abu 'Abdur Rahman
INTRODUCTION
There is a breed of Sikhs who
have committed intellectual hari-kari in a desperate attempt
to vindicate their acceptance of a religion they know to be
contradictory.
Their contention is two-fold:
-
God is all-Powerful (Omnipotent);
thus, not subject to nor bound by human logic; that is,
the fundamental laws of bi-valued logic.
-
Since God transcends human logic;
thus, He can do all things.
Based upon these premises, these
Sikhs have no problem in unashamedly acknowledging their
understanding of God to be contradictory as delineated in
their scripture - Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
They further dispute the
accusation made by Muslims that the theology-proper of
Sikhism is contradictory and false, as wholly unjustified,
contending that Sikhism rejects the argument as errant.
Instead, they conveniently adopt an inexplicably irrational
approach to try and justify their indefensible stance.
In this article, insha'Allaah
(God-Willing), we will respond to this issue.
A
PARADIGM-SHIFT AWAY FROM RATIONALITY
"They [Sikhs] are wholly
different from other Indians, and they are bound together by
an objective unknown elsewhere."
These Sikhs postulate that Truth
is God, and God transcends rationality; but, since man is
bound by rationality, man is incapable of consciously
knowing the Truth (God); and up until man transcends the
conscious (rationality) to become one with God, the Truth
will remain elusive.
However, such a postulate is
convoluted and self-defeating since we assert that Sikhism
is contradictory not on that which is claimed to be
transcendent, but that which is subject to observation:
That which is proposed or stated; that is, the Guru
Granth Sahib, which is a book of propositions. Hence,
when a Muslim states that the Nirgun-Sargun concept
of God is contradictory, it is not that the Creator is
contradictory, but rather the man-invented theology-proper
of Sikhism that is contradictory and false.
To assert that a
paradigm-shift be made when one attempts to determine the
truth or falsity of a necessary proposition concerning God,
on the basis that the said proposition transcends
rationality, is self-defeating.
Why?
To begin with, any meaningful interpretation of a given
proposition can only be made by the use of one's rationale.
And since the proposition is tangible, it is subject to
rational scrutinisation, which allows one to determine its
truth or falsity. Thus, one does not need to become one with
God to determine the truth-value of an alleged divinely
revealed proposition.
For example, Sikhism's concept
of God is that He is both Nirgun (attributeless,
formless, transcendent) and Sargun (attributed,
personal, immanent, diffused in creation, manifest)
at the
same time, which of course is contradictory.
Is it possible for one to make a
paradigm-shift away from the use of human reasoning to other
than human reasoning to disprove this contradiction?
-
If the answer is yes: the one
asserting this will have to make recourse to human
reasoning and rationale in order to prove that a
non-rational approach is needed to disprove this
contradiction. Hence, the argument is self-defeating and
false.
-
If the answer is no, then a
paradigm-shift is impossible.
-
If the answer is that an answer
cannot be given because it transcends rationality, then
a claim to truth cannot be proven since it is impossible
to conceive. Therefore, their belief is no truer than
the one who brazenly states that 'the moon is made out
of cheese'!
Hence, to postulate a
paradigm-shift away from rationality is self-defeating and
impossible.
GOD
CAN DO THE IMPOSSIBLE
Since truth is only determinable
through the use of rationality, one is bound by this in
one's understanding of God.
Thus, how plausible is the claim that God can do
everything?
The stupidity of the claim that
God transcends rationality; and thus, can do everything, is
again a self-refuting argument.
When God is said to be able to
do everything, the correct interpretation is that he can do
everything possible. The conclusion is, therefore,
that God is spoken of as omnipotent in as much as he is able
to do everything which is possible absolutely.
The scholar 'Ali ibn Abil 'Izz
(d.792 AH), in his commentary to the great book of Islamic
Creed by Imaam At-Tahaawi (d.321 AH), wrote:
Allaah's saying: "Allaah has
power over all things." (Qur'an 59:6)
...As for the followers of the prophetic way, they believe
He has power over everything. Thus, everything that is
possible is included in the above statement. As for
what is impossible by itself, such as, a thing both
existent and non-existent [contradiction] at the same time,
has no meaning. Their existence cannot be imagined.
It cannot be considered as 'a thing' by anyone endowed
with wisdom.
Whatever does not imply a
contradiction is, therefore, among those possibilities in
virtue of which God is described as omnipotent; for
that which implies contradictions cannot be true, right or
correct; since no intellect can conceive of it.
It is impossible to conceive
of that which transcends the rationale; thus, impossible to
argue that God can do anything that transcends the rationale
- since it is incomprehensible; thus, a meaningful
interpretation is impossible to forward. Therefore, as we
said above, in the case where God describes Himself, such
descriptions are subject to rational scrutinisation.
Thus, to say that God transcends rationality, and conclude
from that that He can do anything, is impossible and
self-refuting.
Hence, it is impossible to conceive of that which is
impossible.
CONCLUSION
This so-called 'self-realised'
approach by these Sikhs is not only incriminatory, but also
indicative of the highest degree of compounded ignorance
and
blind-following.
We have proven that it is
impossible to determine the truth or falsity of that which
is impossible to conceive.
We have also shown that a paradigm-shift away from
rationality to determine the truth or falsity of a necessary
proposition concerning God, on the basis that the said
proposition transcends rationality, is self-defeating.
These two fundamental factors refute the claim that God can
do anything because He transcends rationality.
But, as for the one who begs the
question and doggedly maintains that God transcends logic
and rationale and can thus do impossible things; thereby
rejecting the law of non-contradiction, then one must
conclude that the truth or falsity of God's Truth is
impossible to determine.
If one were to affirm that God
is true, how would one prove this affirmation when God can
do impossible things? Such an affirmation would also be a
negation at the same time since God can do the impossible -
truth would be rendered meaningless.
What would it take to shake the
foundations of logic? An impossible universe; if the nature
of the universe were such that it could totally change every
second, if this is even conceivable, the laws of logic would
not be applicable. Fortunately, we do not live in such a
universe; we could not, there would be no 'we'. This type of
universe is not possible and cannot be given meaning
precisely because it contradicts reality, rationale and
logic.
"Will they then not use
their intellects?" (Qur'an 28:60)
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