Tajdeed

The rise of Deism in Turkey – Is a Deistic conception of the Necessary Being coherent? A reply to Deism

When I landed in the southern city of Adana in Turkey, my cousin picked me up and we started discussing the condition of the people, which then switched to the topics of religion & philosophy.

When we got into societal changes, he explained to me the rise of Deism in Turkey. In Turkey, many of the youth are put off by the idea of religion, he explained that youth turn away from Islam to look for meaning, purpose & solutions for their problems from other philosophies & worldviews.

On one hand, it is evident that the presented version of Islam doesn’t apply to them. The presented version of Islam seems outdated, it feels irrelevant in their lives and it doesn’t satisfy them intellectually. Yet, on the other hand, they cannot let go of the idea of a Creator (i.e. God).

As a result, they’ve chosen Deism as their philosophy. They do not doubt the reality of the Necessary Being, but they believe God has nothing to do with his creation, which means that He (God) did not send any Divine message to humankind and this means that religions (including Islam) are false.

The response:

A deistic conception of God is impossible because it contradicts with that which is established.

It has been established that the Necessary Being (God) cannot have any limitations and it is also established that random decision making is contrast to purposeful decision making.

If the Necessary Being created the universe and created beings with the greatest blessing, which is the Divine faculty of reason, intellect & consciousness but then abandoned this creation and did not communicate with them and was not concerned about their affairs despite the creation comprehending Him, then the question would arise, “O God why did you create in the first place, isn’t this all unnecessary and random?”

“Why would you create, if you do not communicate with what you have created? Why would you grant the gift of consciousness if you do not want them to be conscious of your infinite glory?”

This would be completely futile because the limitation of randomness and making arbitrary decisions will be attributed to the Necessary Being!

However, we know that this is an impossibility, otherwise He would have limits, if he had limits, He would be contingent, if He was contingent, then He wouldn’t be the Necessary Being and if He is not the Necessary Being, then nothing can come into existence in the first place but existence does indeed exist. Deism is a complete paradox.

Instead, only awareness, wisdom & knowledge can be attributed to the complete and perfect Being, Almighty God.

Thus, God creating means that he is involved with his creation and Him creating conscious beings is even greater of a proof that He is creating beings whom He is going to be in contact with.

Evidently, God has sent prophets, messengers, books and messages for the guidance of mankind from the very beginning.

Everything He does is with meaning and purpose:

A) God created, B) Him creating means that He is concerned about the created, C) Since God is concerned, then He will not neglect his creation and leave them in misguidance and error

By Abul Hasan al-Gabikani al-Shadi al-Shaddadi al-Hadhabani -al-Kurdi