Adnan Rashid – Questions Atheism Speakers Corner 2022
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Before you go to religion religion is throw it out of the picture. I'm not discussing religion with you. It's not religion. Forget religion who cares about religion? What? To get religion? You may be wondering why I said that. There's only one way to find out. Let's watch the video. Me I don't know I'm one person
agnosticism aside
atheists don't exist. Atheism as an idea exists.
But atheism or atheists, atheists don't exist. Most atheists, all atheists, I believe are agnostics. They just don't have enough conviction to believe in a creator. Right? Yeah, I mean, there is because to claim to be an atheist, it is a position to hold. And you have to sustain that position with evidence. Can atheists prove God doesn't exist? Absolutely not. They cannot in the sense, okay, I think that you can prove, we can prove. It depends on how you define evidence. So if you are if you are purely naturalistic, if you don't want to go into metaphysical discussions, philosophical discussions, then we are limited with evidence, then we are confined to your view of evidence. What
do we mean by evidence? Evidence, you have to expand you have to argue philosophically, you have to look at metaphysical realities as well. So in Islam, that the evidence is is that everything is so complicated, and that way we are the way that we are the Islam the evidence is the universe is not self created. We did not create it. Okay. It did not create itself, then where did it come from? It has a beginning. It has a beginning. I agree with that. Yeah, yeah, there you go. So this is the evidence in Islam historically, from the Quran, what I just said, it is directly from that book, that the universe did not pop into existence by itself or out of nothing, number one, number two, we
did not create the universe, the humans, okay, or any other species for that matter. And it did not create itself because it cannot create itself. Okay, it cannot it for it to create itself. It has to be in existence in the first place. Right. Okay. See, I don't I don't know. I don't I don't feel like I know enough or I'm smart enough to. So think about the creation, put your agnosticism aside. Go with facts go with things you can assess. Not things you don't know about, right? There are many wild ideas out there. In human minds, many, many wild ideas. If we start taking every single idea.
Seriously, then we are in big trouble. Right. That's why we have to go with facts. What are the facts? The facts are the universe exists? We agreed.
We agreed had a beginning. Right? Yeah, we both agreed. Yeah. Right. Then there are three options.
It came from nothing.
Can that be a possibility? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. No, Nothing comes from nothing. That's a logical impossibility. I don't know. No, that's the universe. No, Nothing comes from nothing. Okay, that's a logical impossibility. So you're not being illogical. Okay, okay. Okay. So, so the universe, first option is it came from nothing, that option is out. Okay. Okay. The second option is it created itself.
That option is out. Logically, the third option being something created is something creative. I mean, we, the third option is we the humans, or the species,
we created it, that option is also out. Because there is no evidence for that we are not kept we are within the universe, we are within the universe we cannot be.
And if these three options are out, then what is what is the only option left and all powerful.
Let's say all be an unknown entity, created the universe put it there. And this entity has to have at least two qualities, if not more, at least two qualities. Number one, extremely powerful. Because the universe contains immense power. We have billions of galaxies. And even if we were to look at our own galaxy, we see immense power. What do I mean by power, we see energy, we see planets. Let's talk about our solar system. Let's narrow narrow the discussion down to our solar system. Our solar system consists of the sun that shines upon us right now. It's a burning Ball of Fire each and every single second. I mean, it's the right now you can't look at it. You can't I mean, if you look at it,
you can see it but you can't look at it. Because it will you know basically it will die
Amid your eyes, right, right. Yeah. Okay. Why? Because there is immense light coming from where is this light coming from? It's coming from explosions taking place on the surface, the heat is coming from those explosions, the radiations are coming from those explosions. And each one of those explosions or one of those flares when the explosion takes place, you see those flares? Each one of those flares is equivalent to, at least, if not more, 200 billion atomic bombs.
How many? How many? 2,000,000,200 200 200 billion? Can you imagine 1010 Atomic Bomb bombs going off on this planet? Yeah, so the modern technology, so I get what you're saying, like, everything is so powerful. It doesn't stop there. It's a lot bigger than
these explosions. So so now the sun is so powerful, it contains so much energy, it is forever exploding, forever burning nonstop. We don't know the supply of energy, we don't know the source of energy, it's happening. We know it's happening. And then it's rightly placed.
It has a constant, it has been placed.
At a spot.
If it was moved, backwards or forwards, we will cease to exist, we the planet Earth would cease to exist. So it's like a clock. It's like a very sophisticated system, the solar system in particular, forget about the galaxy. Forget about our galaxy and billions of other galaxies and what they contain. Okay, so I'm trying to explain to you the power of the one who has put all of this there. Yeah. And I know, if there is one, it's crazy. No, no, there is I mean, to me, it's clear, there is no f. And there is no but there is there is there is someone because look,
the solar system is far more sophisticated than your your skyscrapers and your private jets you fly around on your computers is far more sophisticated than that it's mathematically placed is mathematically planned. Okay. And it cannot just fall into place by an accident. Right? Because accidents occur again. And again, they can happen anytime. And we know we've been here for millions of millions of years. And we are still in, we still surviving, we still get the right amount of heat, the right amount of light, the right amount of
radiations. Okay, if the sun is moved from its constant where it is right now, let's say an accident happens, the sun moves, moves from his place. few yards backwards, we're screwed. Yeah, we're finished, we're gone, we've gone. So now you tell me there are two options, there is no third option. Either this is uncontrolled,
unplanned accident, that happened. And here we are. Or it is planned, controlled. And here we are.
There is no third option. There is no third option. And this is what we are told in the Quran, that these are three options, the universe, it came from itself,
or it came from nothing, or you created it. If these three options don't exist, then think of a fourth option, which is the creator, or the maker, the designer, the Sustainer, the planner, call him what you like, call him what you like, and this is my question. I'm assuming ignorant towards Islam. I don't even know your prophet. It's Muhammad. Right? And
how do you know he doesn't exist? No. I'm not saying that he doesn't exist. I'm asking me I want to know more about about your religion. First question is God.
I'm okay. And first question is God and who is God in Islam? I'm not sure. Okay. God is just trying to God is the one I explained to you just now. Right? This is God. To us. This is God, the powerful. And now the second quality, I was gonna come to the first quality, the first characteristic is power, immense, extreme power that you cannot measure me and you cannot measure. All of all of us put together with our calculators and devices, we cannot measure his power, because we don't even know what's out there. We don't even know what's out there. We only know what we can see with our little devices and little telescopes and the Hubble and whatever, whatever the names, you know,
Hubble telescope and all those. I'm sure there are more sophisticated things now. Okay, I'm a bit
outdated. Yeah. On these things. I'm not I'm not a scientist. I don't study science. I'm a materialist. I study history. So I'm just trying to I'm trying my best to explain these things philosophically. I am a scientist and I think that that's why I struggle with religion, any any religion and trying to pick one or before you go to religion, religion is thrown out of the picture. I'm not discussing religion with you. I'm discussing. How did the universe come about? How did we get this solar system? How did we get our galaxy and then Billy
Over the galaxies. Where did this come from? Is the question it's not religion, forget religion, who cares about religion, religion comes later brother, religion is very, very late. First we need to address the entity that is responsible for all of this, either is an accident or grand, magnificent, civilized accident, civilized accident, I'm calling it a civilized accident right? Or this is not an accident. This is a planner, a very powerful entity and who's not only powerful, also very intelligent, very, very intelligent and wise how, because in order to make the solar system, you have to be very intelligent, you have to be able to calculate, you have to have cognition, you have
to have a will, you have to have power to implement to apply that will. Okay, so all of these characteristics are there, we can we can actually deduce these characteristics from what we see around us. So this is very, very important. Now, you tell me whether this is an accident, or this is intentional
implementation of a plan? To me, I don't know, I'm one person.
What what is more? Looking at what I said, What is more probable? I don't even know if I can put like a probability on things to beyond what makes more sense. A plan or design, mathematics,
which, which is definitely the case there is mathematics between the Sun and the Earth. There is mathematics going on, right? The solar system is mathematically placed not only the sun, in fact, other planets are directly relevant to our existence on this planet. If you mess with the moon,
if you mess with it, forget the sun, leave the sun in its place. You mess it the moon, what do you think's gonna happen? I mean, I'm not an astrophysicist.
And it doesn't stop the ecosystem we have on this planet. The ecosystem? How animals live? The bee. just mess with the beat. just mess with the bee. And that's it. Game over. Yeah, right. So I don't know who came over here. Yeah. These are very basic examples. I'm giving you childish example. These are childish example. Let's not get sophisticated. Let's get childish, right. Okay. Even if you use two brain cells, you don't have to use all those brain cells in your brain to brain cells, you can see Hold on a second, this cannot be an accident. This is not an accident. This is not unplanned, random events. This is someone giving those wings to the bee, the ability to go around, okay, do
what it does, and then facilitate our ecosystem.
And then it isn't, I mean, if we come to Planet Earth on this little tiny.in, the grand scheme of things, there is a lot happening here in the planet earth, before we get to the sun, the solar system, and then beyond, in our galaxy, within our galaxy and beyond. Within all of those billions of galaxies.
There is a world that's not known to us. Okay, all of this is not accident, my brother. This is not accident. I'm open to that idea. Yeah. Okay. Are you open to that idea? I'm glad you're open now. Okay, open a bit more of the open your heart a bit more.
Don't be biased towards evidence and basic facts that you can actually assist and see all of this just just be very basic. There are two options, there is no third option. There is no third option, either this is all a very magnificent civilized accident. That continues to happen. It doesn't it's not sobbing is it? These accidents are not stopping. We are still getting mathematically plant species popping up every single day. Every single right now as we speak. Things are coming into being okay according to a system, there is a system that is mathematics 21 days, you give the right amount of heat to an egg.
And 21 days later a chick hatches. A chick comes out, right with fully formed wings, big eyes, lungs, our digestive system, and there is nothing inside that shell. You can't go in nothing comes out just the right amount of heat 21 days.
Okay, not more, not less. Who the * is doing this? Is this is this an accident?
Okay, there's a scientific explanation for that. But I see what you're saying. And
it comes to explanations when it comes to when it comes to explanations. You can make an elephant look like look like
a pigeon. Let's I thought pigeons was pigeon came to my mind. And I'm from Pakistan. In Pakistan. The police can definitely do that. This is a joke by the way.
There's a joke. You can follow the joke about the Pakistani
bullies
that there was a there was a big businessman who had his private Zoo. He lost one of his deers. Someone stole the deer or someone killed the deer. And he called the police. You have to find my deer, or I'm going to do X, Y and Zed. The police gets worried and they go, and then they bring an elephant after a while, right? And they are beating the elephant. The elephant is saying I am the deer. I'm the deer. So the joke is that they can make an elephant confess to be a deer. Okay, yeah, that's the joke. So it was a side joke. It was a digression. But coming back to our point, you see, what was the initial point the elephant in the pigeon?
Trying to prove things with scientific explanations, people, academic scientists can do wonders. They can do wonders they use this intelligence that has been given to them. It has been put in the minds they don't even think about this intelligent Where the * did this come from? Can Can random blind processes give us cognition that we use today to reject
the source of this cognition?
I'm asking you a question. Can random blind processes, random blind, unplanned processes give us cognition that you and I have? Can random blinds processes give us cognitive?
The cognition you and I possess the ability to think, ability to think to calculate to assess, and to reach conclusions. This is what we call cognition. Yeah, I mean, there's a whole science behind it. No neuroscience? Of course, I know the science behind it. I don't I don't study it. But I know there is science behind it. Of course, I am asking you a philosophical question. Can random blind, unplanned facies processes give you the cognition? You possess an iPad OS today? Yeah, I'm not sure. I don't know. No. The question is, the answer is no.
Because cognition is not random. is not blind. Okay. We have the ability to think to assess to reach certain conclusions and draw conclusions, right? Yes, this cannot come from blind, unplanned random processes. Yes, as scientists, some scientists not all scientists, by the way, by the way, when people say science, they think science is all for atheism. No, there are actually the moment the biggest number of scientists in the world are theists. Did you know that? atheists, theists theists? Yes, people who believe in a god? Yeah. Okay, whether they're Christians or Muslims, or Jewish, okay.
The highest number of scientists,
okay, in the world, in the world are
in the world are theists.
That's what my research
tells me. Yeah, anecdotally, I can speak to that too. I know. Okay, so that's science. When you say science, what do you mean science science can be twisted? It can it can be used to make any argument. It can be used to make an argument for God. It can be firstly, God is not a question of science as we know it today. Science, Science, today's Eurocentric, it has been developed in its current form in the West. And the West became agnostic increasingly, especially in the last two centuries. Okay. Since the Enlightenment since the 18th century, Western scholars, thinkers, philosophers, even philosophers of science have been basically very naturalistic or
empiricist. In their approach to science, okay, they used a number of different methods to reach the conclusions, right? So, currently, science is Eurocentric, or
it's more westernized. Right? We back in the day we had scientists working in the Muslim civilization. for over 1000 years. We had the best scientists in the world. But science wasn't like it is today that science was not agnostic, or atheistic that science was completely theistic. And they were still making progress. They were still coming up with theories and ideas. And that's why we are here today. We are standing on the shoulders of Muslim giants
to add the caveat Muslims, right. Will today science today. Today, right now as we speak, stands on the shoulders of Muslim giants. People like Newton, in the 18th century and other scientists were directly directly inspired by Muslim authors from the Middle Ages. And science was not atheistic or agnostic at that time today. Some bigots are using science
Somehow as an argument against God, it doesn't work. It doesn't work like that. Okay, because there are others doing the same thing. They're using science to prove God.
And when we see science today, which is entirely naturalistic and empiricist, in its approach, when you look at the philosophy of science, it defines evidence in a particular way. Okay? And then everyone has to stick to that definition of evidence. And it brings it down to physical evidence. Okay, unless you show God physically, we're not going to believe him. So therefore, God, because it's a metaphysical idea. It is a supernatural thing. It cannot fit into the domain of science as we know it today, because science is entirely naturalistic science does not comment on the supernatural. It does not deal with the supernatural. It has nothing to say on the supernatural
phenomenon. Right. So science is not relevant to our discussion, brother. Yeah, sciences, science cannot help us. Nor can it, you know, you know, it doesn't help us or it doesn't not help us. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, you can. That's my issue with religion is that you can use science in a discussion on God. Yeah, okay. Yeah, science, science is limited. It's limited by scope is limited by his definition of evidence. So we cannot use science as a tool to either argue or argue for or against God. And that's what sucks about it, right? Because if there was evidence to prove or science proves one way or the other, it doesn't. It doesn't. I know, it sounds the question. The metaphysical
question remains, where did this all come from? The science doesn't tell you. Yeah, science doesn't tell you where it all came from, why it came in the first science doesn't tell you where and why. Science is very, very limited. It can only go up to a certain limit, right? And there's theories just like religion, you know. And that's why the atheists and agnostics they call it the God of gods, right? They call this god, you're disputing this God to fill these gaps and all these, you know, so I only have a few minutes left, but my main purpose in coming here was to just learn a little bit more about if you learn anything today. I did. Yeah, a little bit. Um, I guess, I guess,
where can I go to learn more? Is it a matter of
if you're looking for signs in there, it's not about not looking for science. I just want to read the book on metaphysical realities. Okay. This is a book revealed by the Maker of all of this, we believe, and we have reasons to believe that as well. We have no doubt I have no doubt that this book comes from the maker of the universe, the entity, and he tells us what he wants from us. He's telling us in this book, what he wants from I am the one who made you, I'm the one who formed you look, for example, you go to chapter two of the Quran, it tells it tells us who he is.
chapter two verse 116, and 17, you know, off the dome, I mean, I have some verses memorized, so, okay, so
and then somebody, chapter two, verse 117, Originator of the heavens and the earth.
Okay, that means the originator of the universe, okay. When He decrees a matter, He only says to be and it is it becomes. So he has the power to bring all of this about, this is not a question of science. This is a question of metaphysics, the supernatural. Okay. So all of this is supernatural, by the way, you choose to look at it through a naturalistic lens, to or in a to through through an empirical lens, you choose to do that. But there are other realities beyond beyond your naturalistic and empirical lens that cannot be seen through that lens. This is what you have to look into. Right? There is there is a reality out there that science fails to show you cannot show you has not had
does not have the ability to show you. That's it. I will I will read up brother and I will come to a conclusion as best as I can. Yeah, and if you have questions keep coming back at you from London now from the US, man. Oh, yeah. How do you go back to 20? Oh, you're leaving soon? Yeah, okay. But in any case, keep in touch, stay in touch with us.
I don't know if you have our social media accounts. You can get in touch when I find this somewhere. There's other things going on. You will find it there. But I don't know these guys. There are so many comments on the videos they don't have. They don't have the time to check all those. I'm on Instagram. I'm on Instagram. I'm on Facebook. You can find me at Nan Rasheed, my name is Adnan Rashid, you'll find these videos and you will see my name there is type that name and message me and just hope that I see the message.
I get a lot of messages as well. So sometimes I can't respond. But But don't stop. If you don't get a response from them or for me, don't stop me research. Look into these discussions, talk to Muslim intellectuals, intellectuals. That's a very important caveat. Don't go to an imam in the masjid and ask him questions. He cannot
answer because imams are not trained to answer these questions, you must go to Muslim academics and intellectuals who are able to address these questions. I'm not saying imams are not intellectuals that are intellectually moms, but not every single Imam is trained in these kinds of things to answer these questions or to address these points. Gotcha. Okay. Your name?
Charlie, Charlie, what's your man? My name is Adnan. Rishi. Okay. Okay, gotcha. Thank you so much. Let me get your Instagram. Let me write it down real quick. Oh, yeah. I don't have service here. So I'm just gonna type it in my notes. Okay.
Do you mind typing it? Yeah. My name. Oh, your Instagram? Yeah, my Instagram would be Mister Mister something. One second. If you just type in your name, maybe I'll be able to find
you on Instagram. There's only one anonymous sheet. So so far I know. Okay. Not being arrogant.
That I know that I know of. Okay, so Inshallah, if you if you Yeah, Instagram might be the best place to remind me who you are. We had a conversation and you have more questions. We can take it from there. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. All right, guys. You're still here. You must have found the video very interesting. You want to know more about my mind? What goes on? In my mind when I'm giving Dawa talking to people having these conversations and why ask certain questions in the way I asked them. You want to know more about that. There's a link in the description. Click on that link and you will find a video explaining all of that