1. Introduction
1.1 What We Will Prove
Islam can be condensed in its simplest form to two statements: 1) that there is one God, and 2) that Muhammad (SAW) was a prophet sent by that one God. These are essentially the statements of the testimony of faith which is what people say if they want to enter Islam: “I testify that there is no god except Allah, and I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.”
These two statements are sufficient to prove all other beliefs of Islam, including the rest of the six pillars of Islam like the angels and the Day of Judgement. That is because if the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was the prophet of God and has informed us of these facts, they must be true. So, as long as we prove he was the prophet of God, all the information he gave us is also proven true.
Some people said it is enough to prove the second statement because the existence of God is implied by the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) being a true prophet. However, the best method is to prove both statements, like it is in the shahadah.
1.2 How It Will Be Proven
The existence of one God will be proven based on two sources of knowledge: logic (rational arguments) and observation.
The truth of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) will be proven based on multiple sources including logic, observation, and testimony.
Logic refers to rational arguments, not to understanding the reason for things. We do not mean “I don’t understand why he did something, so it’s illogical.” We mean rational arguments about the possibility or impossibility of propositions, like in math.
1.3 The Flaws of Scientism
Some atheists or agnostics who are materialists and naturalists claim only science or observation is a valid source of knowledge. So, they say, until we can observe God or scientifically prove His existence, it is wrong to believe in him.
This claim collapses if you look closely at what science actually is. Science is not just direct observation. In fact, it is based on a lot of other sources of knowledge including logic and testimony.
Most theories and discoveries are based on logical extrapolations from observation.
For example, the make-up of the earth’s core is not directly observed but extrapolated from other observations.
Even the existence of atoms, electrons, and protons is not proven by direct observation. We cannot directly “see” them since they are too small to reflect photons like normal objects reflect them. However, their existence is proven through indirect means.
In addition to that, unless a person relies on the testimony of the lab technicians, the scientists, the publishers, and many others, science is not possible. If one did not consider testimony a source of knowledge, he would only believe in what he sees directly himself.
So, science relies on the assumption that testimony and logic are valid sources of knowledge.
Thus, those who claim that nothing is proven except through science and try to discredit logic and testimony as valid sources of knowledge do not even understand what science is.
2. Why Should We Believe In Islam
2.1 Prophethood
2.1.1 Overview
We prove that the Prophet (SAW) was a true prophet of God based on his character and his miracles.
Miracles are events, occurrences, statements, or actions that are not normally possible in the natural world. When such a miracle occurs for a man who claims to be a prophet of God, that proves his claim true since it shows God’s support for him.
The main miracles used to prove the Prophet (SAW)’s veracity are the Quran, his prophecies, his physical miracles, and his humanly impossible knowledge.
2.1.2 Prophecies
Prophecies are a proof of prophethood when a man consistently predicts things about the future that are difficult to predict. It is miraculous when he does it not just once (which could be a coincidence) but does it multiple times without ever getting it wrong.
Prophecies are such an evidence that every generation can see some prophecy come true within living memory.
An example of a prophecy that came true within the Prophet (SAW)’s lifetime is God saying in the Quran ⟪The Byzantines have been defeated In the nearest land. But they, after their defeat, will overcome. Within three to nine years. To Allah belongs the command before and after. And that day the believers will rejoice.⟫ (30:2-4)
This prophecy was made at a time when the Byzantine Empire was close to complete collapse, and the Sassanian Persian Empire had captured Syria and Egypt from the Byzantines.
No false prophet would ever look at this situation and decide it was a good idea to predict the Byzantines winning and link the entire veracity of his religion on a geopolitical event entirely out of his hands which seemed unlikely at the time.
But, this is what the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) did, not just predicting their victory but making this prophecy part of the central religious text, the Quran.
Then, within the allotted time, the prophecy came true and the Byzantines defeated the Persians in battle, regaining control of Syria and Egypt. No one can claim this prophecy was written after the fact since the Quran as a text traces back to the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) or right after his death based on both manuscript and oral evidence.
This prophecy alone is an extremely strong proof of his prophethood, and many people accepted Islam when it came true. A short video explaining more historical details can be found here.
An example of a prophecy that came true after his death is something the Prophet (SAW) said while sitting in a leather tent: “Count six signs before the Day of Judgement: my death (occurred in 632 AD), the conquest of Jerusalem (occurred in 637 AD), a plague that afflicts you like a plague that kills sheep (occurred in 638 AD), then an increase in wealth to the point people would be unsatisfied even if they were given one hundred dinars (referring to the prosperity that occurred in the caliphate of Uthman during 644-656 AD), then a civil war that no Arab house will escape (occurred during 656-661 AD then again during 680–692 AD), then a truce between you and Banu al-Asfar who will betray you and attack you with an army of eighty flags with twelve thousand [soldiers] under every flag.” (Sahih Bukhari)
Imagine the audacity of predicting the conquest of Jerusalem while you are living only in a leather tent! This cannot be from anyone other than a prophet of God.
Except the last part of the prophecy which is yet to happen and will occur in the future, the Prophet (SAW) predicted every major event after him beat by beat.
Our generation also gets to see the vindication of a prophecy in front of our eyes. An example of a prophecy coming true right know is the Prophet (SAW) saying, “[One of the signs of the Day of Judgement is] that you will find barefooted, destitute shepherds competing with one another in the construction of tall buildings.” (Sahih Muslim)
Today, you see the tallest building in Dubai and Saudi Arabia trying to compete against them to build something taller. These were people who barely had money to live in tents even a few generations ago until oil was discovered on their lands and they became wealthy enough to compete in skyscrapers. Who could predict such a turn of events except God and His prophets?
In addition to these true prophecies, there is no prophecy from the sayings of the Prophet (SAW) that has ever come to be false. They have either been fulfilled or are yet to be fulfilled.
More discussion on prophecies can be found in the book Forbidden Prophecies by Abu Zakariyya.
2.1.3 Miracle of the Quran
The Quran is a miracle in many different ways.
The first miracle is the challenge of the Quran. The Quran says, on its third page, ⟪And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah like it and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful. But if you do not – and you will never be able to – then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers.⟫ (2:23-24)
The Arabs of the time were immersed in poetry. It was the highest form of their culture and their main pastime. When the Prophet (SAW) brought them this Quran which convinced people of its divine origin simply by them hearing it, they accused the Prophet (SAW) of writing poetry and casting magic, even though the Prophet was never known to write poetry before or have learned magic.
So, God challenged them to make something like the Quran if it is just manmade. Just like the Quran convinced people to join Islam, they could have made something that would convince people to their own religion. They had poets, and they had people they claimed to be magicians. But, they could not do it.
Instead of fulfilling this simple challenge, they fought battles against the Muslims. Who would risk their lives for a cause they could fulfill only by writing some poetry?
Their failure to fulfill this challenge despite being the people best suited to fulfill it is the strongest proof that the Quran does not come from anyone except God.
Even their accusations against the Quran that it was magic indicate their concession that the Quran must have come from the supernatural. They could not explain it as purely coming from the Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
Another miracle of the Quran is its narration of prophetic stories in great detail even though the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was never known to have studied previous scriptures.
The Quran’s author is so familiar with the stories of the previous scriptures that, in addition to narrating them in great detail, the author corrects aspects of the stories intentionally.
An example is in the story of Moses in Exodus: ⟪Then the LORD said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow.⟫ (Exodus 4:6)
God corrects this story in the Quran: ⟪And draw in your hand to your side; it will come out white without disease – another sign,⟫ (Quran 20:22)
The author of the Quran knows not only the story of Moses (AS) but the text of the Torah closely enough to correct its claim about the hand being ⟪leprous⟫ to being ⟪without disease⟫. This was impossible for the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), who was an unlettered man never known by his people to have studied these things in detail.
There are many more miraculous aspects of the Quran including its literary and linguistic style, historical information, and more. A book on the linguistic miracles is The Miraculous Language of the Qur’an by Bassam Saeh. A book on the onomastic and historical miracles is The Onomastic Miracle of the Quran. Other books to read include The Eternal Challenge by Abu Zakariya.
2.1.4 Other Proofs and Resources
There are many other proofs of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)’s prophethood including the physical miracles he performed which were reported by too many people to have been fabricated and impossible knowledge he demonstrated in many instances.
A good book that details many of these proofs of his prophethood is The Final Prophet: Proofs for the Prophethood of Muhammad (SAW) by Mohammad Elshinawy.
Another source is the Proofs of Prophethood series by Farid Responds.
Even one of these proofs would be extremely strong reason to believe in the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), but all of these combined compel any rational and sincere person who researches this evidence to believe in him.
2.2 Existence of God
2.2.1 Overview
God is proven based on rational arguments combined with observation and intuition.
There is a famous story about an old woman who meets a philosopher scholar and asked him, “What do you do?” He responded, “I have written nineteen proofs of the existence of God.” She said, “So you had nineteen doubts??”
The lesson in this story is that the existence of God is intuitive to humanity. One only needs proof when that intuition is corrupted. On every step of a rational argument, some people’s intuition would take over and say, “That makes complete sense. God exists.” Some just see that they were born and conclude God exists without needing any of the steps in between. But, people with insincerity who only wish to doubt can prolong even a fully explained proof as much as they want.
So, a rational proof is useful, but you should not forget that it is like a crutch for people whose intuition is not working. You can skip this section (2.2) if you already believe in God.
2.2.2 Types of Arguments
There are many types of arguments for the existence of God. Some arguments use causation, some arguments use the design of the universe, some arguments use contingency, some arguments use morality, some arguments use consciousness, and more.
For the design argument, Allah says ⟪Indeed, in the alternation of the night and the day and [in] what Allah has created in the heavens and the earth are signs for a people who fear Allah⟫ (10:6)
For the causation argument, Allah says ⟪Or were they created by nothing, or were they the creators [of themselves]? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Rather, they are not certain.⟫ (52:35-36)
Different arguments are effective for different people, and some people do not even need any argument. I will mention one version of the causation argument in this article.
2.2.3 Argument from Causation
In this argument, we will prove that an eternal first cause exists, then that the first cause has will, power, and knowledge, then that the first cause is one without partners.
[The Existence of God]
The first steps are:
- You were born i.e. began to exist.
- Everything that begins to exist must have a cause.
- Hence, you had a cause.
The first premise needs no justification.
The second premise is justified by the following:
- Something that began to exist was either caused by something else, caused by itself, or came from nothing.
- Being caused by itself is paradoxical and contradictory. How can you do something “cause yourself” before you even exist?
- Coming from nothing is definitionally absurd. Nothing is nothing, it cannot lead to the existence of something.
- Hence, the thing that began to exist must have been caused by something else.
The converse of the aforementioned second premise is that:
- If something does not begin to exist i.e. always existed or never existed, it does not need a cause.
That is because:
- We needed a cause for things that began to exist because of the change from non-existence to existence.
- If something always existed and never began to exist, there is no change in reality.
- Hence, we do not need an explanation or cause for that thing that always existed.
After establishing that you, having being born, have a cause (which is a trivial conclusion), we have to ask about your causes (i.e. your parents): Did they begin to exist or were they eternal?
Everyone will agree they were not eternal. So, the same logic is applied to them:
- Your cause began to exist.
- Everything that begins to exist must have a cause.
- Hence, it had a cause.
This can again be applied to the cause(s) of your cause(s). Then, again. Then, again.
This creates a chain of causes. This chain either goes on forever or ends at a certain point.
The chain going on forever is called an infinite regress, and it is impossible. That is because every effect depends on the cause before it which in turn depends on the cause before it. But, depending on an infinite series of items can never be fulfilled.
Imagine a sniper waiting to take a shot. He asks his superior for permission. Before giving permission, his superior asks his superior. Then, his superior asks his superior. This goes on infinitely. Will the sniper ever take the shot? No.
In the same way, you would not exist if there was an infinite series of causes that you depended on to exist before you.
Also imagine a line of dominos that stretches into the horizon. You see the dominos in front of you start falling. By the fact that the dominos in front of you fell, you can know for sure the number of dominos before the dominos you saw was finite. If the number was infinite, they would never reach the dominos you can see.
Those are some examples to illustrate the impossibility of the infinite regress, but its impossibility is also completely intuitive. Special proofs and examples exist but are unneeded.
The only other possibility is that the chain of causes ends somewhere. If the chain ends—and it must as an infinite chain is impossible—the end must be something that always existed and never began to exist. That is because, if it began to exist, it would have a cause, but we just concluded it is the first in the chain of causes.
Thus, we have proven that we were caused ultimately by an eternal cause. We can call this eternal cause God.
[God Has Will, Power, and Knowledge]
The first objection atheists give at this point is: Why can’t the eternal cause simply be an inanimate object like a multiverse or something like that?
The answer is: The eternal cause must have a will, a will being the ability to do acts of one’s own volition. This is because:
- Entities that lack will (or inanimate objects) only act if they are caused by other things to act. E.g. A pen cannot move by itself.
- The first cause acted (caused its effect) without another cause to push it. We know there was nothing else to push it because it was the first cause.
- Hence, the first cause cannot lack will.
At this point, some atheists object by giving examples of things happening by themselves, like volcanos or quantum field fluctuations. The problem with these examples is that they confuse unpredictability by humans with actual spontaneous action.
The causes that lead to volcanos within the earth are so complex that it is often effectively impossible for humans to predict them. They seem almost spontaneous as a result. However, there are definitely causes that led to them, like complex movements within the crust and mantle of the earth.
Quantum field fluctuations are likewise complex and difficult to predict, but that does not mean they are truly spontaneous. There are complex patterns and causes, like the waves of the sea which seem unpredictable only because of how complex they are.
Some people then ask, “Even if we concede an inanimate cause cannot cause spontaneously, why can’t it be a single cause that is causing eternally (not spontaneously)?”
That is impossible because of the variety of things that exist:
- An inanimate cause cannot change what it causes. E.g. A fire by itself can only burn, it cannot cool things.
- Different things are being caused in the universe, like night and day, electrons and protons, and land and sea.
- The universe also went through different stages and time periods where different things existed.
- The Big Bang is also not constantly happening all the time repeatedly where it happened for our universe.
- Hence, the first cause had a will that can choose to do different things at different times at different places.
Thus, we have proven God must have a will.
God must also possess power and knowledge for the obvious fact that He created the universe with His power and knowledge.
2.3 Oneness of God
God says in the Quran ⟪Had there been within the heavens and earth gods besides Allah, they both would have been ruined. So exalted is Allah, Lord of the Throne, above what they describe.⟫ (21:22)
Many old religions believed in multiple gods because they thought the difference forces in the universe are separate agents, like the ocean and the sky and the earth. So, they thought one god controlled the ocean and one controlled the sky and one controlled the earth. However, this superficial analysis of the universe is clearly false based on both obvious observation and clear science. Anyone who studied school-level science knows the ocean, the sky, and the earth are the same system of atoms and energy. They only act differently because of their different compositions and properties, not because they are different agents.
Any rational observer of the universe can also see it runs according to one law in a specified pattern without inconsistency. The sky and ocean do not contradict each other. They follow one design and one law. The obvious conclusion is that there is one entity in charge.
In addition to this, we received clear revelation from the creator informing us there is no one except Him. He says in the Quran ⟪Allah witnesses that there is no deity except Him, and [so do] the angels and those of knowledge – [that He is] maintaining [creation] in justice. There is no deity except Him, the Exalted in Might, the Wise.⟫ (3:18) We know this is revelation from Him because of the aforementioned evidence.
There are also other rational proofs for the oneness of God I did not mention for brevity.
3. Why Not Believe Other Religions
3.1 Overview
There are many religions other than Islam, but the major religions are only a few. There are many reasons not to believe in religions other than Islam, but those reasons can be broadly divided into three types:
- Evidence and exclusivity of Islam
- Lack of evidence for that religion
- Evidence against that religion
[Evidence and Exclusivity of Islam]
We discussed previously the evidence we have about Islam being true which spans clear prophecies and astounding miracles. When Islam is proven to be true, that disproves every religion other than Islam because God says in the Quran ⟪The [only worthy] religion in the sight of Allah is Islam⟫ (3:19).
There is only one truth, and when one religion is proven true, those that contradict it are proven false.
Imagine you know there is only one king and one man proves to you that he is king. After that, you do not need evidence to prove other people are not kings. You know no one else is king as soon as that man proves he is king.
[Lack of Evidence For That Religion]
The evidence and proofs for Islam were discussed in this article. Other religions either do not even provide evidence for themselves or the evidence they provide is weak and false.
This reason for not believing other religions can be explained in more detail according to each religion.
[Evidence Against That Religion]
Almost all religions other than Islam have positive evidence against them being true. This ranges from irrational or contradictory religious claims to inaccuracies in their scriptures.
One example is how all pagan religions are proven wrong by the arguments for God’s oneness this article discussed earlier.
This can also be elaborated more specifically for each religion. We will do that in the following sections.
3.2 Christianity
Christianity is the most popular religion in the world in name. However, it is also a religion with many logical and historical problems. Some of them are:
- Problem of Salvation by Crucifixion
- Logical Problem of the Trinity
- Logical Problem of Divine Sonship
- Scriptural Unreliability
[Problem of Salvation by Crucifixion]
If any central belief distinguishes Christianity from every other religion, it is the belief that Jesus (AS) died for people’s sins and that this sacrifice of his helps in salvation.
There are two groups of Christians regarding crucifixion:
- Those who say it was necessary for Jesus to die to pay for our sins
- Those who say it was not necessary for him to die to pay for our sins but him dying was one way to pay for them
As for the first group, their belief is based on an understanding of justice and mercy that is entirely illogical, unintuitive, and arbitrary.
We believe justice has two meanings: 1) a specific meaning, and 2) a broad meaning. The specific meaning of justice is to give people exactly what they deserve. The broad meaning of justice includes mercy in justice: to give people good that is more than or equal to what they deserve or give them bad less than or equal to what they deserve.
So, in the broader meaning of justice: A person can give someone good things that they do not deserve and he can decide to punish them less than they deserve.
That is how we as Muslims understand justice, and it is very obvious and intuitive.
After all, you would never say a person is unjust if he gifts his friend something even though no one “deserves” a gift by definition. In the same way, you would never say someone is unjust if he does not retaliate against people when they hurt him. In fact, you would consider forgiveness despite having the ability to retaliate even better than retaliation.
As for this group of Christians, they add two clauses to the definition of justice that do not make sense:
- There is no broader meaning to justice. Anyone who does not give people exactly what they deserve is unjust and imperfect.
- Punishing an innocent third party somehow pays for a criminal’s sins.
As for the first, it is clear nonsense according to everyone’s intuitive knowledge of justice and morality. It would require saying someone who forgives those who hurt him is more imperfect than the one who decides to forgive them!
As for the second, everyone can see punishing an innocent third party cannot pay for the sins of someone else. After all, it would not be called justice at all for a judge to let a murderer go and instead execute his own innocent son in the murderer’s place. That would be the height of injustice! But, Christianity wants us to believe God’s son being executed for humanity’s sins is somehow justice in any way.
As for the second group, they say that God did not need to crucify Jesus to forgive humanity’s sins, but God chose to do that for different reasons.
However, this position still requires holding the absurd position that punishing an innocent third party does in fact pay for the sins of a criminal, and that is wrong as we demonstrated above.
As for Muslims, we believe God is extremely forgiving and compassionate and He forgives those who repent from their sins and do good actions. At the same time, God makes sure victims of any interpersonal crime get their payment. As for those who do not repent, God punishes them. We do not believe third parties are needed anywhere in the process. That is a lucid and intuitive view of justice and forgiveness.
[Logical Problem of the Trinity]
This section is about rational contradictions in Christian theology. Many people try to respond by saying “God is not bound by human logic,” however this is a very problematic response as we will discuss in the next section.
The problem of the trinity is one of the most famous logical problems in Christianity. It proposes that there is a contradiction in the basic doctrine of the trinity. The following is a simplified presentation of the Christian doctrine of the trinity according to almost all Christian sects:
- The Father is God
- The Son is God
- The Holy Spirit is God
- The Father is not the Son
- The Father is not the Holy Spirit
- The Son is not the Holy Spirit
- There is only one God
The logical problem of the trinity is that 1-6 entail there are three gods but 7 says there is only one God.
Some Christians try to respond by saying there are three persons with one nature or one essence, so they are one God.
However, that does not truly resolve the contradiction because it does not deal with the problem that 1-6 entail there are three gods. For this response to work, Christians would need to deny 1-3 and say instead that “The Father is a person in God.”
As long as Christians continue to say “The Father is God” and “Jesus is God” instead of only saying “The Father is a person in God,” the problem remains.
Christian scholars try to resolve this contradiction in many ways, all of them causing problems to some of the propositions of Christianity. Some scholars basically concede that 1-3 does not literally mean “is God” but means “is divine” or “is a god.” But, that leads to problems in 7 since if there are three divine entities, that means there are three gods, even if they share the same nature.
This logical problem is discussed in detail, along with different responses by Christian scholars, in this video by the Muslim Metaphysician.
[Can God do illogical things?]
Some people try responding to the logical problem of the trinity and other logical arguments by saying, “God can do anything. He is not bound by logic! So, your arguments do not mean anything.”
This type of response is only given by non-experts and non-theologians. Anyone who has studied theology and philosophy in any religion would know this is a bad response.
That is because logic is not manmade. Rather, logic is the concept of avoiding contradictions. The only manmade part of logic is the language we use to express it. It is similar to math. Humans did not invent 1+1=2 even though they invented the symbols and language to express that fact.
So, when we say something is logically contradictory or rationally impossible, that means there is something inherent in the concept that makes it impossible. It being logically contradictory is not a manmade quality.
So, if something is logically contradictory about God, that is not a problem that can be avoided by saying logic is manmade. Rather, the concept has an inherent issue in it which makes it impossible.
Someone might say: But, can’t God do anything He wants?
Answer: Yes, but you need to understand the meaning of “thing” properly. Logically contradictory sentences are not “things” any more than Uohijakayat is a thing. Rather, they are strings of letters or words that hold no real meaning and refer to nothing.
[Problem of Divine Sonship]
Christians believe that Jesus was the “begotten son of God.” To believe Jesus was only a created human adopted by God is considered heresy by most Christians. Similarly, to believe Jesus is like all of creation is heresy according to most Christians. Rather, they believe he is the son of God distinct from the way other people are considered children of God.
This leads to the following logical problem that revolves around the question “What is a son?”:
- A son either refers to a biological son or an adopted son
- A “biological son” entails giving birth to someone in the natural animal process, like being with a wife or pregnancy
- An “adopted son” is when someone is declared a son, without having any inherent sonship in him before that.
- Jesus was not a biological son because God neither gave birth nor did He take a wife
- Jesus was not an adopted son because Christians consider this view heresy
- Jesus cannot be a son of God
There are a few objections Christians give to premise 1.
Some of them say: A son can also be anyone who shares your DNA. Jesus shares the same “essence” as the Father, so he is a son of God because he was created by God with the same essence.
Answer: First of all, believing Jesus was “created” is heresy according to most Christians.
Secondly, if sharing some qualities with another entity is enough to consider him a son of God, then the universe and God also share the quality of “existing.” Is the universe a son of God like Jesus?
Thirdly, a central quality of God we already discovered before is that He is the first cause who has never been created Himself. If Jesus lacks this central quality (since he was created by God), how can someone who lacks the almost definitional quality of someone be considered to share his DNA? Can a cat ever be considered the child of a dog?
Others of a more philosophical bent say: Jesus being God’s son only means Jesus was eternally caused by the Father. He always existed because he was always being caused.
Answer: This does not explain why we should consider Jesus “god” and not simply an eternal creation of God. Being eternally caused by God does not make someone God himself. Rather, the true God is still the uncaused cause. Why worship anyone else?
[Scriptural Unreliability]
Muslims believe Jesus (AS) was a true prophet of God and the Messiah who called Jews to abandon a lot of their corruption and the evil teachings of their rabbis and scholars. Many Jews, especially the leadership, did not like this, and they tried to have him executed, however, God saved Jesus (AS) from death. He will return near the end of times to defeat the anti-Christ. We believe Jesus (AS) only taught pure monotheism. He never claimed to be divine or a son of God, but people after him attributed these claims to him.
The Christian view of history largely depends on trusting their scriptures.
Christianity is based on two groups of books: 1) The Old Testament, and 2) the New Testament.
Christianity shares the Old Testament with Judaism, but the New Testament is unique to it. The New Testament in turn is made up of four biographies about Jesus (the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John), many letters written by Paul, and a few letters attributed to other apostles.
As for the Gospels, although they have names attached to them in common terminology, there is no evidence about their authorship. They are anonymous. Additionally, most Biblical scholars agree that all of them were written many decades after Jesus (AS), not by eyewitnesses.
As for Paul, he was a man who used to persecute Christians but claimed to have seen a vision of Jesus after he was supposedly crucified. After claiming to see this vision, he preached his understanding of Christianity, which became popular and is the strand of Christianity followed today.
On one hand, there are anonymous biographies written decades after him, and on the other hand, there is a man who claimed to see a vision of him. It is obvious why these scriptures cannot be taken as completely reliable accounts of what Jesus (AS) himself taught, believed, and did.
Someone might say: Why should we trust a religion 600 years after Jesus (AS) more than the Gospels written a few decades later?
Answer: A prophet that is proven to be a prophet is obviously much more trustworthy than anonymous writers who do not tell us their sources. A prophet, by definition, has a divine source of information, so time is not a limitation for him. On the other hand, unknown people writing things even a few decades later cannot be trusted unless you prove they are trustworthy and prove their sources are trustworthy or prove they are prophets. Myths and legends spread very easily, so being within decades does not prove reliability.
3.3 Atheism
Atheism has narrow and broad definitions. In a narrow sense, atheism is to believe God does not exist. In a broader sense, atheism is to not believe God exists. The difference between the two is slight, but let us consider the first type of atheism.
To believe God does not exist requires evidence, and in fact, as we have shown there is evidence for the existence of God, let alone actual evidence God does not exist.
However, there are some arguments atheists provide, like the Problem of Evil. We will discuss the problem of evil in more detail elsewhere, but even the problem of evil only argues against a specific kind of omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God, not the concept of God entirely.
So, to believe God does not exist is unjustified.
3.4 Agnosticism
Agnosticism has narrow and broad definitions. In a narrow sense, it can refer to those who believe it is impossible to prove any religion or prove the existence of God. In a broad sense, it can refer to anyone who says he does not know whether God exists or which religion is true.
As for the narrow sense, it is usually people who say anything unverifiable by science is unknowable. We discussed this idea and its flaws in the section of scientism.
As for the broad sense, that is the position of a large amount of people. The solution to that is to sincerely look into the claims and evidence for each religion including Islam (like reading this article for Islam), and an honest observer who seeks the guidance of God will realize Islam has evidence for it.
However, some people make agnosticism their identity to a point that they refuse to even consider evaluating evidence. They wish to stay in a state of doubt or believe leaving the state of doubt is impossible for them. Those people are not sincere with themselves, and they will only learn the truth when they search for it sincerely.
3.5 Judaism
Judaism is the religion of Israelites who follow what Christians call the Old Testament. Along with that, they also follow extra-Biblical texts like the Talmud.
There are two major problems in Judaism:
- Scriptural unreliability
- Denial of true prophets
[Scriptural Unreliability]
It is not possible to trace the Torah reliably back to its claimed writer Moses (AS). The same problem exists in all other Old Testament texts. The earliest we can date those texts is centuries after when those prophets actually lived. As a result, it is difficult to guarantee those texts accurately represent those prophets and do not have mistakes in them.
As for the Quran, it is very easy to trace it back to the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) with both oral and written evidence. For a religion to be true, the text it follow must be proven to come from the prophet who brought it.
[Denial of True Prophets]
We have seen clear evidence that the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is a genuine prophet of God. However, following Judaism entails rejecting the truth of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
How can you justify following a religion whose scriptures are less strongly proven to their prophets and their prophets are less strongly proven as being genuine over a religion whose texts are strongly proven and its prophet is strongly proven?
Some people might say: What if we say the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was a genuine prophet but only for non-Jews or only for Arabs?
Answer: The Prophet (SAW) and the Quran he brought are very clear that he is a prophet sent to all mankind, Jew or non-Jew and Arab or non-Arab. Allah says ⟪And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds.⟫ (21:107) and ⟪And whoever desires other than Islam as religion – never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers.⟫ (3:85)
It is not possible for someone to pretend he believes the Prophet Muhammad was genuine while denying clear parts of what he taught.
3.6 Hinduism
Hinduism refers to a collection of several religions in India, not a single coherent belief. Some religious texts like the Vedas, Upanishads, and Puranas are associated with Hinduism. However, there is no standard belief about these texts that would apply to all “Hindus.”
Because of the lack of standard belief, there is not one Hinduism but many Hinduisms. Each of these can be argued against specifically. However, here we can focus on more general arguments that apply to most.
- Problem of Polytheism
- Lack of Evidence
- Scriptural Problems
[Problem of Polytheism]
Hinduism embraces a form of paganism and polytheism despite giving it a different flavor. Many religions of Hinduism claim every god is just an aspect or incarnation of one ultimate God, but this does not ultimately differentiate them from polytheism.
The same arguments that apply to polytheism in general apply to most forms of Hinduism.
[Lack of Evidence]
For someone to believe anything, he needs evidence that the belief is true. It is not appropriate to believe something blindly due to culture.
God says: ⟪And when it is said to them, “Follow what God has revealed,” they say, “Rather, we will follow that which we found our fathers doing.” Even though their fathers understood nothing, nor were they guided?⟫ (2:170)
There are a lot of evidence gaps in Hinduism about their religious texts including their authorship and the evidence of their divinity.
Some Hindus in the modern day try to prove their books with the means of scientific miracles (copying this trend from Muslims), but any sincere analysis into the claimed scientific miracles causes them to collapse. They are often extremely biased translations and misinterpretations. Sometimes, they are also false references.
[Scriptural Problems]
In addition to the lack of evidence for Hinduism, there is clear evidence of the Hindu religious texts being written by humans rather than by God. This includes false claims about the universe and also contradictions in the text.
Conclusion
In this article, I have mentioned a short explanation of the proofs for why we believe in the two foundational beliefs of Islam, belief in one God and belief in the Messenger of God (SAW). May God allow me and you to be fully sincere in looking for the truth and guide us to the correct way.