Lawrence M Krauss Ph. D. "A Universe From Nothing"

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I am reading with interest Lawrence Krauss' book "A Universe From Nothing".  I must admit that I was surprised how much I enjoyed the opening few chapters and I am looking forward to completing this fascinating book.  That said, I flicked to the back of the book and read the section "Q & A with the author" before reading beyond chapter 3.

What struck me about the Q & A with the author was his answer to the question "Are you an atheist?"

His answer was as follows:

"Not in the sense that I can claim definitively that there is no God or purpose to the universe. I cannot claim definitively that there isn't a teapot orbiting Jupiter, as Bertrand Russell once said. It is highly unlikely, of course. But what I can claim definitively is that I wouldn't want to live in a universe with a God - that makes me an anti-theist, as my friend Christopher Hitchens was."

I was so surprised at this answer.

The author acknowledges that he cannot definitively claim there isn't a God or purpose to life.  I found this statement honest and refreshing as it is true. Indeed, I always wonder why atheists (or anti theists as the author claims he is) claim so strongly not to believe and even ridicule believers when they know as a fact there is no definitive answer to the claim as to whether there is a God or a purpose to life. There is a possibility that the claim might be true. We can disagree on the level of that possibility but I am sure it is easy for believers and disbelievers to accept the position of the other point of view.

The author goes on to say that the claim as to whether there is a God or a purpose to life is "highly unlikely" and compares such claim to Bertrand Russell's obvious fallacious claim that there might be a teapot orbiting Jupiter. I have two things to say about this. As the author is so fond of the scientific method and basing our beliefs on empirical evidence, what such evidence does the author have to conclude that the existence of God or a purpose of life is "highly unlikely"? What is his empirical evidence that such claim is the same as the claim about a teapot? What makes the claim a little bit likely so as not to dismiss it entirely? I think the simple answer is, no one knows the answer to this question. As for the comparison of a teapot orbiting Jupiter, I don't think that the likelihood of the two claims are the same. The claim that there is (or maybe there is) a God or a purpose to life seems to have been a persistent and universal one to Mankind and is one that whilst we seem to have pondered on this since the beginning (whenever that is!), we do not have an answer to it. The claim of a teapot orbiting around Jupiter is merely the statement of ridiculous and unlikely possibility which whilst we cannot definitively prove it false it isn't a question that has been persistent and universal and indeed in the not too distant future I would not be surprised if the question about a teapot orbiting around Jupiter is forgotten.

Having said all of that, I understand the author's point, we cannot prove there is a God or a purpose to life and we also cannot disprove this.

The most surprising thing I thought of the author's answer was when he said "I wouldn't want to live in a universe with a God". Maybe I am wrong but I interpreted this as the author saying even if we prove there is a God and we therefore know that he exists then still the author wouldn't want to live in a World with a God.  I thought such a statement strange and almost child like and immature.  I really didn't expect such a statement given that the author's first few chapters of his book are so steeped in sense and reasoning.  To say you wouldn't want to live in a World with a God obviously implies a choice. Of course, if there is a God then the choice wouldn't be there. You would be living in a World with God and it would follow he had made you and everything else. I can imagine a child saying I wouldn't want to go to a school with teachers in it. If we assume that there is a God wouldn't it be sensible not to say you don't want to live in the World with such a God. Wouldn't you be worried that the God would make your wish come true?

I think the author's answer shows more emotion than logic. What I cannot understand why so much emotion against God?  Also, if you don't believe in him, how could you know him enough to say you wouldn't want to live in the same World as him? Are you blaming him for the "bad" in the World? If so why not try to get to know him and appreciate him for the "good" in the World. Also, what do you think God would think of a creature he had created which says he doesn't want to live with God?

Can Muslims wish you a Happy New Year?

A day or so ago I read a very interesting article by Dr Bilal Philips explaining why Muslims should NOT say Happy New Year....

http://www.bilalphilips.com/celebrating-the-new-year/

In summary, Muslims shouldn't wish anyone happy new year as it is essentially a throwback to paganism and the worship of a false god.  Perhaps you think this is "extreme"....I looked up where we get the word "January" from, it is derived from the Roman God "Janus", the supposed god of doors and gateways.  See the following tweet from the British museum.

Apparently, the Romans celebrated the New Year with wild parties and orgies. At the same time as I noted this I noticed serval headlines on 1st January 2016 referring to the embarrassing culture of people being "wasted" as the celebrated the New Year.

Don't you find it a bit odd that so many people are actually following ancient pagan rituals (without them knowing this)? Putting aside the pagan origins of the New Year's Eve's celebrations, is this really a behaviour we can be proud of? Do revellers actually enjoy getting blind drunk? Embarrassing themselves?

It may at first seem mean spirited not to wish someone a Happy New Year, but certainly I would hope people could see why Muslims do not celebrate debauchery under the label of a false god.  As a Muslim I do wish everyone well but I cannot condone irresponsible celebration of at the New Year.

Improve your life - control your anger

Do you or perhaps someone you know suffer from their anger? Do you suffer from road rage? Maybe the behaviour of others infuriates you and leaves you seething? We know that such feelings are not good for us and leads to stress.  So how to control that temper?

In Islam, it is considered a virtue for a Muslim to control his/her anger and temper. But how to do this? Well here are three remedies Islam prescribes for anger...

1. Say "I seek protection from the accursed devil (shaytaan)".
2. Drink a glass of water / perform ablution (perform ritual wash before prayers).
3. Sit down or lie down.

I was in a terrible temper one day and when I considered the above remedies for anger I thought there is no way that these actions will calm me down. After thinking such a thought I decided to try these remedies - what I found shocked me - my anger and temper dissipated.

Accordingly, the next time you or someone close to you has uncontrollable anger I would suggest that you try the3 above mentioned remedies. I am sure you will be surprised with the outcome.  For me, I simply couldn't sustain my anger while sat down, sipping water from a glass.

When I researched this subject more I found many articles showing that simply drinking water can cool our tempers. Here is one such article...

Perspective - Who are the warmongers?

As part of my research for writing a book about Islam I look at the criticisms made about Islam and see whether the criticisms are valid and whether there is as way to answer such criticisms. In this regard I have read several books and internet blogs which appears to show Islam as a violent, bloodthirsty and warmongering ideology/religion. It was as I was reading such materials that I noticed an article on the BBC's website which looked back on the US iconic war machine the B52 bomber (see the above screenshot). It then struck me, which other countries, ideologies, religions etc. have industrialised their fighting capabilities to build such war machines?

  

Islam teaches you to appreciate what you have

Usually my writings on this blog are inspired by refuting some negative remark about Islam so for this post I thought I would offer an insight into the religion which I hope will depict Islam in a positive light and which I hope will be of benefit to all readers irrespective of their belief.

How often do we consider our lives and think that we are hard done by? How often do we suffer setbacks and feel sad, depressed and despondent? I would imagine that all of us have feelings of sadness from time to time and that on occasions we feel that we are generally worse off than perhaps we should be.  We all have issues, problems, worries and I am sure that we probably worry about the same things, health, wealth, relationships etc.

So what is the Islamic perspective on this?  In general, the Qur'an prescribes Mankind to be grateful for what he has, to be thankful to Allah for what Allah has provided and in this context Mankind should not worry - indeed worry has no benefit.  I am sure you will agree with this - has worrying ever made any of your problems better?

Surah Al An'am (6) Ayat 17

"If Allah touches you with harm no one can remove it except He, and if He touches you with good, then he is able to do all things"

Indeed, the Qur'an notes that Mankind, by their very nature are ungrateful.  Surah Ar Rahman (55) repeats "Then which of the blessings of your Lord will you deny".

Is this true? Are we in denial of the blessings of our Lord?  Or is it that our lives are truly miserable and there is nothing to be thankful for? I mean look at the suffering in the World? Should we be thankful for this? What of when we lose a close family member? Lose our job? Lose our health should we be thankful for this?

To assess whether we should be thankful I would like you to try out the following exercise:

Imagine in front of you a large piece of paper. You have a pen in your hand and I would like you to draw a vertical line in the middle of the paper creating two sections. Label the section on the left hand side reasons not to be grateful and on the right hand side reasons to be grateful.

Write away. List whatever you feel should go on either side of the piece of paper.

I am sure when you complete the exercise you will come to a conclusion as to how your life is.  I am sure some people who are going through a difficult time at the moment will think that their life is particularly difficult and perhaps on balance nothing to be grateful for.

But wait a minute? Did we do the exercise properly? Did we properly record all the items we should be grateful for? Did we list gratefulness for our eyesight? Sense of smell? Taste, touch, kidney, heart, ability to think, ability to walk, ability to move. Did we list all of our relationships, our family members, our close friends? Did we list all of our capabilities?

To put this into perspective, what if we move a benefit such as a physical ability or a relationship from the right hand side to the left hand side of the page and assume we no longer have it? I am sure for most of us the movement of that item will become the biggest problem on the list on the left hand side of the page.

The point I am trying to make is that by our nature we are ungrateful for what we have - we take it for granted.  But as soon as we lose it, we miss it terribly. Just like our families and our relationships. How we take each other for granted. The beauty of the Qur'an is that it encourages us to ponder and contemplate what we have not least so that we can enjoy it while it is here. The Qur'an also teaches us that what we have in this World will leave us so we need to prepare for this however such preparation doesn't mean worry ourselves silly - no - we should reflect on the life we have led and have enjoyed - we should be thankful to Allah and pray for a better life in the Hereafter.

What I find so attractive and appealing about this aspect of Islam - being thankful - is that when you reflect on what you have and that you only have it for a finite period of time - you will feel grateful - you will (or should) feel that there is no benefit to worrying and fretting.

To give another example, a close relative that you love dearly. We can rage against losing such a person but why not reflect on the happy times you spent together? Don't waste your time worrying about what you don't have or what you might lose - use your time now to enjoy what you have.