Islam Rediscovered
3. The Concept of God
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3. THE CONCEPT OF GOD
In 1965 in Lucknow I met a university Professor, a
Doctor of Philosophy, who had turned atheist. The
subject of our conversation was the existence of
God, during which he asked: “What criterion do
you have to prove the existence of God.” I replied
that I had a valid criterion and that it was exactly
the same as is employed in science to prove any
natural fact. Bertrand Russell has aptly said there
are two kinds of knowledge: knowledge of things
and knowledge of truths. So far as the “things” are
concerned it is possible to apply direct argument to
them. But inferential arguments alone can be
applied to prove “truths,” as relating to the laws of
nature. Inferential arguments are held to be valid in
science, that is, to admit the existence of some
“reality” on the basis of the existence of things. On
the basis of this reality, Bertrand Russell has
acknowledged that the “argument from design”
brought forward by religious people is a valid
argument, according to science. The argument from
design sets out to prove the existence of a designer
from the existence of design.
