Being Assured of Islam’s Truth via the Process of Elimination

[Deleted L]

Being Assured of Islam’s Truth via the Process of Elimination​

By Bassam Zawadi

I frequently deal with Muslims grappling with intellectual doubts. Periodically, I come across a particular category of ‘doubting Muslims’ who are not satisfied with how certain they are of Islam’s truth. They want arguments for Islam that would “end all debates.” They want that “smoking-gun argument” for Islam’s truth which would literally silence everybody so much so that whoever rejects Islam is equivalent to the flat-earther of our day.

There are many problems with this approach that require addressing, such as, but not limited to:

- The flawed understanding of what epistemological “certitude” entails.

- The naive assumption that clarity of evidence necessarily correlates to reception and acceptance of the truth being offered.

- The failure to differentiate between “the evidence for Islam” and the failure of Muslims to make that evidence clear to others.

I will not elaborate on each of these points to make this post short.

One approach I take with these ‘doubters’ is that I encourage them to use a process of elimination to conclude that Islam is the option they should adopt. How so? I first ask them: “If not Islam, then what?”. I usually layout the following as alternative options:

- Atheism

- Agnosticism

- Deism

- Religious pluralism

- Judaism

- Christianity

I choose the aforementioned because these worldviews typically have people perceived as intellectuals advocating for their truthfulness. Most of the time, the Muslims I speak to are already convinced of God’s existence, so we quickly scratch out atheism and agnosticism. Deism is an option that many struggle with, as there are not many substantive and comprehensive responses to it. It is usually deism that requires more effort to refute, given the lack of resources available on the subject. Al-hamdulillah, I am happy to say that I have written an exhaustive critique of deism here.

Regarding religious pluralism, keeping aside the fact that there are no compelling arguments for this stance (see my lecture on youtube entitled “deconstructing religious pluralism” and see part 3 where I address the “rational arguments”), we have nothing to lose if religious pluralism even turns out to be accurate, since we will all go to heaven anyway!

Regarding Judaism, keeping aside the arguments demonstrating the problems with the preservation of the Old Testament, in addition to the errors contained therein, many Jews believe that if gentiles (i.e., non-Jews) abide by the Noahide Laws,

they could make it to heaven. And guess what? Muslims abide by them already! So again, even if Judaism turns out to be true, we have nothing to lose!

Now, this leaves us with Christianity. This is where extra work in terms of research would be required for some, since Christians are passionate, educated, trained, and funded, so they are more challenging to deal with than other non-Muslims. You actually have to do your homework to refute them effectively. This is why Muslims have paid more attention to refuting Christians than other religions and ideologies. Once you feel confident that Christianity is not true, you are left with the remaining option, Islam.

Now, these ‘doubting Muslims’ complain that they do not believe that the evidence for Islam is as strong as they would like it to be. Okay, but let me ask a question: Do you have any argument against Islam that would refute it and shatter its credibility in the same manner as arguments against the alternatives have done? If not, then just embrace Islam with the certainty that it is the only valid option standing. Cherish it, love it, pray to Allah to increase your certitude in Him, and inshallah, your Iman will become stronger. Feel confident and certain that you have intellectually made the sound decision. You made a reasonable decision, not a blind one.

Of course, I only use the “process of elimination” approach with those who have strong doubts; otherwise, Muslims are expected to be confident about their faith through believing in the positive evidences for Islam. The “process of elimination” approach, I pray, is a temporary measure to help a doubting Muslim remain Muslim in the hopes that Allah would further cement his Iman over time.

Allah knows best.

Further Reading: Is It ‘Reasonable’ for Individual Muslims to Ignore Arguments against Islam?

Being Assured of Islam’s Truth via the Process of Elimination

I frequently deal with Muslims grappling with intellectual doubts. Periodically, I come across a particular category of ‘doubting Muslims’ who are not satisfied with how certain they are of Islam’s truth. They want arguments for Islam that would “end all debates.” They want that “smoking-gun...

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[Poets]

That is a long way to eliminates doubt (albeit it may be effective to some). The most effective arguments are often short, to the point, and hard to refute. This is how I deal with such doubts (and this can be equally applied to any person that is not certain of the truth of Islam). I very briefly explain how the Prophet SCW was analphabetic, but still came with the Qur'aan. Additionally, he was the most honest man known, as appreciated by his friends and enemies alike. Then I ask the following questions.

Can you produce something like the Qur'an? With its beauty? With such wealth of information on different topics (from prayer, to transactions, to the hereafter, to inheritance, etc)? You know what? Scratch all that.

Can you produce a book of 600 pages, with whatever content, spread out over 23 years and memorise it by heart (without having the possibility to revise any book)? Can anyone? The answer is a no. Every other answer is amounts to insanity, and we all know it. Then to think that the Prophet did exactly that (in addition to the Qur'an with which he came is miraculous from many other perspectives) by himself is evidently false.

The Prophet could not do that by himself, therefore it must have been from Allah.

If someone disagrees, let them accept the challenge and produce a book of 600 pages, spread out in 23 years, and memorised by themselves by heart. No need to have it linguistically beautiful like the Qur'an, or a guidance on each and every matter like the Qur'an, or any other characteristic of the Holy Qur'an.

 

[DR OSMAN]

@Poets u muslims want islam to be true because you hold an allegiance to it, that's the most ignorant form of truth, your truth is essentially already decided because u lean towards it already or you 'desperately' want it to be true and go to extreme lengths for it. That's one the reasons why I REJECTED Islam and I suspect many ex muslims reasoning were along these lines also.

Many books exist that answers that challenge of create a sura like it or quran like it such as The True Furqan. But u will nevertheless overlook it becuz your already intentionally biased. So the only way to scientifically prove that a quran like it has been produced. We will get some Somalis to listen to both qurans without telling them which is the real or fake quran, I can guarantee u most of them will not know the difference between the both qurans. So it has met the test of being a sura or quran like it.

We can also do that with arabs also and any population group.

We will select random verses from both books and have it recited by one person only so there is no difference and have them listen, we will tally up the score and see which quran wins. But I doubt u will want to do that, cuz as I said you already leaning towards Islam thru emotional and societal pressure, so your not exactly impartial whatsoever. The longer you muslims remain like that it will just increase more apostacy as most ppl will say 'cadifaad' ayaa idin haayo and 'cadifaad' is known as a false truth.

 

[Poets]

@Poets u muslims want islam to be true because you hold an allegiance to it, that's the most ignorant form of truth, your truth is essentially already decided because u lean towards it already or you 'desperately' want it to be true and go to extreme lengths for it. That's one the reasons why I REJECTED Islam and I suspect many ex muslims reasoning were along these lines also.

Many books exist that answers that challenge of create a sura like it or quran like it such as The True Furqan. But u will nevertheless overlook it becuz your already intentionally biased. So the only way to scientifically prove that a quran like it has been produced. We will get some Somalis to listen to both qurans without telling them which is the real or fake quran, I can guarantee u most of them will not know the difference between the both qurans. So it has met the test of being a sura or quran like it.

We can also do that with arabs also and any population group.

We will select random verses from both books and have it recited by one person only so there is no difference and have them listen, we will tally up the score and see which quran wins. But I doubt u will want to do that, cuz as I said you already leaning towards Islam thru emotional and societal pressure, so your not exactly impartial whatsoever. The longer you muslims remain like that it will just increase more apostacy as most ppl will say 'cadifaad' ayaa idin haayo and 'cadifaad' is known as a false truth.

Do not try to divert from the challenge by changing it to something else. One challenge at a time. When you are done with mine, we will do yours.

Besides, your "experiment" (although it is extremely deficient) has already been done.