Religion and Science: Questions, Reasoning, and the Test of Belief✍ Written by: Dr. Zubair
❖ The Scope of Questions and the Angle of Thought
Religion and science are grounded in distinct paradigms, yet at a certain point, their attitude toward specific questions becomes similar.
✔ Religion teaches one to avoid satanic whisperings.
✔ Science classifies certain questions as irrelevant or unnecessary.
Example from Religion:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
If Satan places a whisper in your heart asking, “Who created God?” then seek refuge in Allah and do not indulge in that thought.
(Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Īmān, Bāb: Bayān al-Waswasah fī al-Īmān)
Example from Science:
Stephen Hawking wrote:
"What was there before the Big Bang?" is an irrelevant question because time and space began with the Big Bang.
(The Grand Design, p. 109)
✘ Yet, if religion adopts a similar position on questions regarding the existence of God, it is criticized as unscientific.
❖ Arguments for the Existence of God in Religion
Atheists fail to understand a fundamental point:
Religion does not claim to provide empirical evidence for God’s existence. Instead, it relies on:
✔ Rational arguments
✔ Natural indicators (فطری شہادتیں)
Example of Inference (Istinbāṭ)
Inference is the process of arriving at the hidden through the apparent —
➤ Just as Newton deduced the existence of gravity from the falling of an apple, though gravity itself is invisible,
➤ Similarly, the signs in the universe and within the self point toward the existence of God.
This inference-based reasoning is the foundation of religious argumentation.
Unseen Belief and Scientific Theories
Modern science accepts the existence of non-observable entities such as:
✔ Energy
✔ Relativity
✔ Wave mechanics
These invisible phenomena are accepted by faith in their logical necessity — this is, in essence, a form of "belief in the unseen" (ایمان بالغیب), which religion also calls for.
❖ Doubt and Divine Test
The Creator has preserved an element of doubt in human understanding to uphold:
✔ Free will
✔ The purpose of life's test
➤ If all truths were completely obvious, the concept of a test would become meaningless.
Example from Hadith on Doubt
The Prophet ﷺ said:
"People will continue to ask, ‘Who created this and that?’ until they ask, ‘Who created Allah?’ But these whispers do not harm faith; rather, they are signs of true belief."
(Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Īmān, 1/121)
✔ Doubt plays a crucial role — it drives the search for truth.
✔ Success in this test leads to faith, while failure leads to denial.
Miracles and the Nature of Faith
According to the Qur’an, the polytheists of Makkah demanded miracles from the Prophet ﷺ.
➤ Allah replied that if miracles were shown in a decisive way, the test of faith would end,
as humans would no longer have the freedom to believe or reject.
(Refer to Sūrat al-Anʿām)
🏗 The Creator Proven Through the Creation
The existence of the Creator is proven through His creation — just as:
✔ A work of art points to its artist
✔ A grand structure implies the presence of an architect
The Example of the Bedouins
The Arab Bedouins used to say:
"Just as footprints in the sand prove the presence of a traveler, the heavens and the earth prove the existence of a Creator."
The Responsibility of the Eastern World
While the Western world has developed sciences, sociology, and history based on the theory of evolution,
it is incumbent upon the Eastern world to formulate these disciplines upon the concept of divine creation.
Conclusion
✔ Religion and science each have boundaries of inquiry, and both demand critical reasoning.
✔ Inference, doubt, and observation play central roles in both.
✔ But where science halts at the "how", religion advances toward the "why".
✿ Faith in God is not irrational — it is reasoned belief rooted in signs, intuition, and moral awareness.
✿ The test of life lies in navigating doubt with wisdom and using intellect to recognize the Creator.
