The modern world stands at a strange crossroads; technological advancement has reached unprecedented heights, yet spiritual anxiety and existential emptiness have deepened. Atheism, which denies the existence of God or suspends belief in Him, has gained popularity especially among youth struggling with doubt, depression, and identity crises. However, from an Islamic and Sufi perspective inspired by Allama Dr. Shaykh Hami, atheism is not merely an intellectual issue; it is a crisis of meaning and a disturbance of the heart. Islam addresses the mind with reason and the heart with remembrance, presenting a complete response that integrates theology, philosophy, science, spirituality and lived experience. The Quran declares that the awareness of God is rooted in human nature itself. This innate disposition, called fitrah, inclines the soul toward its Creator even before formal reasoning begins. Allah says: “So set your face toward the religion, inclining to truth; the fitrah of Allah upon which He has created mankind.” (Quran 30:30). This means belief in God is not artificially imposed from outside; it arises naturally from within the human being. Atheism therefore requires effort to suppress what already exists in the human heart. Classical scholars such as Shah Waliullah explained that when fitrah becomes covered by arrogance, trauma, or excessive materialism, doubt appears not because the signs of God are weak, but because the inner eye is clouded. The Quran repeatedly calls humanity to examine both the outer universe and the inner self. Allah says: “We will show them our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth.”(Quran 41:53).This two-directional reflection forms the foundation of Sufi epistemology. God is recognized through the world and through the heart. Allama Dr. Shaykh Hami emphasizes this balance in his sermons, teaching that spiritual experience does not abolish reason; rather, it perfects it. Sufism does not merely answer whether God exists but it guides the seeker to experience divine presence in consciousness and action. One of the strongest Quranic arguments against atheism is stated clearly in Surah al-Tur: “Were they created from nothing, or were they themselves the creators?” (Quran 52:35). This argument demonstrates a fundamental logical truth, absolute nothingness cannot produce existence. Every contingent being depends on a cause. The universe began to exist; therefore it requires a transcendent source that is eternal, necessary, uncaused, and self-existent. Muslim philosophers such as Ibn Sina called this the argument from Necessary Existence, while contemporary philosophers refer to it as the cosmological argument. The Quran expressed this principle over fourteen centuries ago, long before modern philosophy or cosmology.
The Quran also appeals to the order, precision, and beauty of creation as evidence of divine wisdom. Allah says: “You do not see in the creation of the Most Merciful any inconsistency.” (Quran 67:3). The fine-tuning of the universe, the precise values of physical constants, and the mathematical harmony of natural laws all suggest intelligent design rather than blind accident. The Quran invites repeated observation and contemplation, not blind faith. It tells humanity to “look again” and reflect. This openness to reflection demonstrates that Islam is intellectually confident rather than threatened by inquiry. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ recognized that human beings experience doubts regarding faith and existence. In an authentic hadith in Sahih Muslim, he said that Satan whispers questions such as “Who created this? Who created that?” until finally he suggests, “Who created Allah?” The Prophet ﷺ taught believers to seek refuge in Allah and say, “I believe in Allah,” cutting the chain of obsessive regress. This hadith reveals deep psychological understanding: not every question is genuine philosophy; some are pathological cycles that damage mental peace. Islam treats such doubts with compassion, spiritual practice, and grounding in certainty. Classical Muslim theologians dealt extensively with atheism and skepticism. Al-Ghazali criticized the belief that the universe has always existed without beginning, arguing that temporality requires a Creator who brings time and space into being. Fakhr al-Din al-Razi elaborated different rational proofs in theology, showing that contingent things cannot explain their own existence. Ibn Rushd and Ibn Sina addressed causality and necessity, while Shah Waliullah discussed spiritual unveiling as a higher level of certainty. All these thinkers, differing in style, agreed on one conclusion: God is real, absolute, necessary, and greater than the universe. Sufi scholars added another essential dimension: that God is not merely an intellectual conclusion, but a living reality experienced by the heart. Rumi wrote that debates about God often resemble a thirsty man arguing about water instead of drinking it. Ibn Arabi spoke of existence itself as a manifestation of divine names, stating that “Being belongs truly only to God,” while others receive existence only through Him. For Sufis, atheism collapses not only through syllogism, but through love, remembrance, humility, and transformation of character. Allama Dr. Shaykh Hami follows this spiritual heritage by guiding youth from arguments to presence (hudur). Philosophy in the Western tradition also offers powerful arguments against atheism. Thomas Aquinas articulated five “ways” to demonstrate God’s existence, focusing on motion, causation, contingency, degrees of perfection, and purposeful design. Modern philosophers such as Alvin Plantinga have argued that belief in God can be “properly basic,” meaning rational even without inferential proof because it arises from fundamental human cognitive faculties. Others show that atheism, if consistent, leads to moral relativism and nihilism, unable to justify objective goodness or human dignity.
Science, contrary to popular misconception, does not support atheism. Science is a method of investigating natural processes, not a worldview that answers why existence itself is here. Big Bang cosmology indicates a cosmic beginning, aligning with the Quranic insistence that the universe is created, contingent, and dependent. The mathematical nature of reality remains mysterious from a purely materialist perspective: why should unguided matter obey elegant laws capable of being grasped by human intellect? Albert Einstein himself spoke of a “sense of awe at the rational order of the universe,” rejecting crude atheism even though he did not identify with revealed religion. Another scientific difficulty for atheism is consciousness. Neuroscience can measure brain activity but cannot explain inner subjective experience the sense of “I”. This is called the “hard problem of consciousness.” A purely material universe should not produce self-aware beings that ask about meaning, morality, or beauty. Consciousness points beyond materialism to a spiritual dimension in human identity. The Quran already declared: “They ask you concerning the soul. Say: The soul is of the affair of my Lord.” (Quran 17:85). Human self-awareness is a sign of divine creation, not an accident. Morality also resists atheistic explanation. If humans are only biological machines produced by blind evolution, then there is no ultimate right or wrong but only instincts and social conditioning. Yet even atheists appeal to justice, human dignity, and human rights as universally binding concepts. This universality indicates an objective moral law that transcends biology. Immanuel Kant argued that belief in God and the afterlife is necessary to make sense of moral obligation. The Quran grounds morality directly in divine wisdom and commands, presenting a coherent foundation for ethical life. Atheism often claims to liberate humanity from fear, but it frequently produces inner emptiness, anxiety, and meaninglessness. If life is only a temporary chemical event ending in permanent non-existence, then ultimate purpose vanishes. The Quran describes this existential despair: “They know only the outward of the worldly life, but they are heedless of the Hereafter.” (Quran 30:7). By contrast, remembrance of God heals the human heart: “Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest.” (Quran 13:28). Spiritual experience therefore confirms what reason already suggests that we are created for transcendence.
Allama Dr. Shaykh Hami’s contribution lies in demonstrating that arguments alone are insufficient. Many modern youths who identify as atheists are not convinced by careful debate because their problem is not logic but pain: broken families, injustice, war, hypocrisy of religious figures, or trauma. He emphasizes compassion, counselling, dhikr, and prayer, service to society, and connection to the Prophet ﷺ as pathways that reopen the heart to faith. His approach integrates the intellectual heritage of Kalam, the philosophical depth of Sufi metaphysics, and the lived reality of pastoral guidance. Sufi practice plays a central role in answering atheism. Remembrance of God through dhikr, recitation of Quran, reflection on death, service to the poor, companionship of righteous scholars, and moral purification develop experiential certainty (yaqin). Al-Ghazali described three levels of certainty: knowledge of certainty, eye of certainty, and truth of certainty. The atheist often remains at the level of abstract argument; the Sufi ascends to direct inner realization. This is not irrationalism but fulfilment of reason through love and spiritual discipline. Islam also refutes the misconception that science and religion are enemies. Historically, Muslim civilization nurtured science precisely because of belief in an intelligent Creator who made a rationally ordered universe. Great scientists like Ibn al-Haytham, Al-Biruni, and Ibn Sina were believers who saw their research as reading the “book of nature” authored by God. The Quran repeatedly commands observation of the heavens, the earth, the alternation of night and day, and biological creation not as distractions from faith, but as confirmations of it. Atheism frequently collapses under its own weight because it cannot answer the deepest human questions: Why do we exist? Why is there something rather than nothing? What grounds human dignity? Why do we love, hope, create, and sacrifice? Why does beauty move us? Science can describe mechanisms but not ultimate meaning. Sufism answers that existence is an expression of divine mercy, and the human being is created to know, love, and worship God. Without God, the human story becomes a tale without author or destination. The Quran additionally argues from death and resurrection. Human consciousness rebels against total annihilation. The Quran says: “Does man think we will not assemble his bones? Yes, we are able even to proportion his fingertips.” (Quran 75:3–4). The precise mention of fingertips has been interpreted by many scholars as a reference to individuality and identity, as fingerprints are unique. Resurrection gives meaning to justice: the oppressed and oppressors do not end in the same condition. Atheism offers no final justice; Islam guarantees it. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ described the sweetness of faith, stating that one who loves God and His Messenger more than anything else, who hates returning to disbelief as he would hate being thrown into fire, experiences inner spiritual taste (halawah). Such experiential transformation has been documented in Sufi biographies across centuries. Converts from atheism frequently report that intellectual arguments opened the door but spiritual practice filled the home of the heart. Shaykh Hami’s guidance exemplifies this by linking intellectual clarity with inner purification. In light of all these dimensions Quranic reasoning, prophetic guidance, classical theology, Sufi spirituality, philosophy, and scientific reflection atheism appears not as a final intellectual victory but as a stage of confusion in human history. It fails to account for existence, consciousness, morality, beauty, love, and meaning. God, by contrast, is not merely a hypothesis but the ground of all being and value. The Quran summarizes the argument with simplicity and power: “Is there any doubt about Allah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth?” (Quran 14:10). The Sufi answer to atheism is therefore not only to prove God but to lead the human being back to God to prayer, compassion, knowledge, gratitude, and moral responsibility. The ultimate refutation of atheism is not merely a syllogism but a transformed life. When the heart is purified, the existence of God becomes clearer than the existence of anything else, because everything else depends on Him. As Allama Dr. Shaykh Hami consistently reminds his audiences, the path to certainty passes through humility, remembrance, and love for the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
Research Scholar
Karwani Islami International
Sheikh Sameer Manzoor
sheikhsameermanzoor@gmail.com
