Learning

Core Curriculum

Section 1 - God, Religion and Islam: An Introduction

Topic 1.1 - God, Allah and Religion
Topic 1.2 - What is “Religion” and What’s the Point of it Anyways?
Topic 1.3 - Introduction to Islam
Topic 1.4 - A Brief Introduction to the Prophet Muhammad (s), the Prophet of Islam

Section 2 - Foundations of Islam - Theology

Topic 2.1 - Satan, Jinns and Angels: Their Influence in the World
Topic 2.2 - The Islamic Concept of the Nafs: Battling the Human Ego
Topic 2.3 - The Sharīʿa: Purpose and Practice
Topic 2.4 - Nubuwwa: The Purpose of Prophethood in Islam
Topic 2.5 - Tawhīd: The Unity and Oneness of God in Islam
Topic 2.6 - The Usūl al-Dīn: The Fundamental Beliefs of Islam
Topic 2.7 - Adala: Divine Justice in Islam
Topic 2.8 - Entering Islam: The Shahada
Topic 2.9 - Maʿād: The Day of Judgment in Islam
Topic 2.10 - Imāmah or divinely guided leadership in Islam after the Prophet Muhammad.

Section 3 - Foundations of Islam - Obligatory Acts

Topic 3.1 - Accepting Islam: Putting Faith into Action
Topic 3.2 - The Furūʿ al-Dīn: The Fundamental Practices of Islam
Topic 3.3 - Salāt: Obligatory Ritual Prayers in Islam
Topic 3.4 - Fasting in Islam, its Purpose, Dos and Don’ts
Topic 3.5 - The Hajj Pilgrimage
Topic 3.6 - The Purpose of Zakat and Khums in Islamic Law
Topic 3.7 - Jihād in Islamic Law and Spirituality
Topic 3.8 - Commanding the Good and Forbidding Evil in Islam
Topic 3.9 - Tawalla and Tabarra, its Basics and Purpose
Topic 3.10 - The Five Categories of Islamic Law
Topic 3.11 - Niyya: Religious Intention as the Foundation of Islamic Practice
Topic 3.12 - Ritual Purity in Islamic Law: Understanding Tahāra and Najāsa
Topic 3.13 - Other Obligatory and Forbidden Acts in Islam

Section 4 - Prophethood in Islam

Topic 4.1 - A Brief Biography of the Prophet Muhammad (s): The Prophet’s Childhood (PART I of III)
Topic 4.2 - Bio: The Prophet Muhammad as a Prophet of God (PART II of III)
Topic 4.3 - A Brief Biography of the Prophet Muhammad (s): The Prophet’s Character (PART III of III)
Topic 4.4 - The Prophet Muhammad (s) as Messenger and Teacher
Topic 4.5 - The Prophet and his Relationships
Topic 4.6 - The Prophet’s Sunnah and Hadith
Topic 4.7 - Ghadīr and Arafah: The Two Last Sermons of the Prophet
Topic 4.8 - Jesus and Mary in Islam

Section 5 - The Qur'an and Hadith

Topic 5.1 - Islam and Other Religions
Topic 5.2 - What is the Qur’an? A Short Introduction to Islam’s Holy Book
Topic 5.3 - The Structure of the Holy Qur’an
Topic 5.4 - The Quran and Islamic law
Topic 5.5 - The Qur’an, Allah and Humankind
Topic 5.6 - Hadith and Sunnah, difference and variations
Topic 5.7 - The Reliability of Hadiths
Topic 5.8 - A Reflection on Verses of the Holy Qur’an
Topic 5.9 - Hadith al-Thaqalayn
Topic 5.10 - Imam Ali (as) and Nahj al-Balagha.
Topic 5.11 - Taqlid and Tawḍih Al Masail Genre of Literature

Section 6 - Measuring Good and Bad in Islam

Topic 6.1 - Guidance According to Islam
Topic 6.2 - Life and Death in Islam
Topic 6.3 - Heaven and Hell in Islam
Topic 6.4 - The Effects of Our Actions in this World
Topic 6.5 - The Gray Areas of Islamic Law and Morality
Topic 6.6 - Benefits of Islamic Law in this World
Topic 6.7 - Good and Bad Deeds: The Spiritual Consequences of our Choices
Topic 6.8 - The Effect of Culture and Environment in Shaping our Religious Choices
Topic 6.9 - Fate and the Consequences of our Choices in Islam
Topic 6.10 - Trivializing the Harām
Topic 6.11 - Sinning Against Others and their Delayed Punishment
Topic 6.12 - The Three Kinds of Rights in Islam
Topic 6.13 - Major Sins in Islam
Topic 6.14 - Repentance and Forgiveness of Sins in Islam
Topic 6.15 - Kufr in Islam
Topic 6.16 - Why Allah Allows People to Sin

Section 7 - The Legacy of the Prophet Muhammad (s) and his Ahl al-Bayt (as)

Topic 7.1 - Islam and Knowledge: the Importance of Islamic Education
Topic 7.2 - The Ahl al-Kisa
Topic 7.3 - Imamah in the Qur’an
Topic 7.4 - Fatima al-Zahrah (as)
Topic 7.5 - A Brief Look at the Lives of the Imams (Imam al-Hasan until Imam Muhammad al-Baqir)
Topic 7.6 - A Brief Look at the Lives of the Imams (Imam Jafar al-Sadiq until Imam Hasan al-Askari)
Topic 7.7 - A Brief Look at the Life and Importance of Imam al-Mahdi (aj)
Topic 7.8 - Salawat and Atonement in Islam
Topic 7.9 - The Companions (Sahaba) of the Prophet According to the Qur’an
Topic 7.10 - Clerical Hierarchies in Muslim Communities
Topic 7.11 - Mosques in Islam
Topic 7.12 - The Philosophy of Karbala and Majalis
Topic 7.13 - A Brief Biography of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (as)
Topic 7.14 - The Battle of Karbala: A Brief History

Section 8 - Islamic Relationships, Sects and Conflicts

Topic 8.1 - Islam and Rights
Topic 8.2 - Islam and Religious Conflicts
Topic 8.3 - Major Sects of Islam
Topic 8.4 - Sunnism and Shi’ism, beginnings and historical developments.
Topic 8.5 - Misconceptions about Shi’ism

Special Topics

Section 9 - Independent Topics

Topic 9.1 - Muslim Converts – Welcome to Islam!
Topic 9.2 - Basic Dos and Don’ts of Being a Muslim
Topic 9.3 - Halal Food and Zabiha
Topic 9.4 - Modesty in Islam
Topic 9.5 - Family, Parents and Marriage in Islam
Topic 9.6 - Marriage in Islam
Topic 9.7 - Islam and Sex
Topic 9.8 - Women’s Menstruation in Islam
Topic 9.9 - Music, Alcohol, Drugs and Pork in Islam
Topic 9.10 - Islam and Science
Topic 9.11 - A Reading List of Islamic Knowledge
Topic 9.12 - Islam and Sufism
Topic 9.13 - Ritual Prayers and Supplications in Islam
Topic 9.14 - Death & Burial Rituals in Islam
Topic 9.15 - The Battle of Armageddon: An Islamic View
Topic 9.16 - The Muslim Calendar
Topic 9.17 - Muslims and non-Muslims in the Shariah
Topic 9.18 - A Timeline of Major Events in Islamic History
Topic 9.19 - Introducing the Qur’an: Why it is the way it is
Topic 9.20 - The School of Imam Jafar al-Sadiq
Topic 9.21 - Major Fields in Islamic Studies
Topic 9.22 - The Caliphate in Sunni and Shia Islam
Topic 9.23 - The Spread of Islam: After the Prophet until the Ottoman Empire
Topic 9.24 - Islam, Racism and Anti-Semitism

Section 10 - Islam, Religion, and Modern Controversies

Topic 10.1 - Modern Fallacies about God: where Theists and Atheists Agree
Topic 10.2 - Tawhīd: The Muslim God according to the Prophet Muhammad and the Ahl al-Bayt (as)
Topic 10.3 - God’s Existence: The Argument From Being (Wujūd)
Topic 10.4 - God’s Existence: The Kalam Cosmological Argument
Topic 10.5 - God’s Existence: The Argument From Design
Topic 10.6 - The Problem of Evil, Suffering and Pain
Topic 10.7 - Why did God Create Us? The Purpose of our Creation
Topic 10.8 - Why Humans Need Religion according to Islam
Topic 10.9 - Jahl and Spiritual Ignorance in Islam
Topic 10.10 - Faith in Islam: Belief without Evidence?
Topic 10.11 - Do Non-Muslims Go to Hell?

You have to login to use this feature

God’s Existence: The Argument From Design

Abstract

The argument from design states that if the world is designed, it must have a designer. That designer must be God as the originator of the universe.The argument from design states that if the world is designed, it must have a designer.

- Facebook
- Google+
- Twitter
- Pinterest
- Linkedin
- Email

INTRODUCTION

Bismillāhir Rahmānir Rahīm, As-salāmu ʿAlaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh. Peace be upon you brothers and sisters.

Welcome back to the Muslim Converts Channel!

The argument from Design brings us to our last argument for God’s existence. Note that there are about 11 to 13 arguments for God’s existence, but we’ve chosen the three most prominent ones.

The argument from Design has a wide range of different arguments. At its most basic level, this argument states that if we observe design in nature, we can often conclude that there is a designer behind the design since random chance is impossible or nearly impossible.

There are plenty of arguments from design. The two prominent ones stem from biology and cosmology.

In this lesson, we’re going to cover the cosmological version of the argument from design and we will support it with arguments from recent discoveries in cosmology.

BODY OF TEXT

The cosmological version of the argument from design is known by different names such as the teleological argument or the argument from fine-tuning.

The argument goes like this:

The fine-tuning of the universe is due to either physical necessity, chance, or design.
It is not due to physical necessity or chance.
Therefore, it is due to design.

So let’s open the argument up

Physical Necessity

A life-inhibiting universe is far, far more likely than a life permitting universe. The universal constants that currently exist that make life possible in the universe are infinitesimally unlikely. The alternative is much more likely and as such, physical necessity is out of the question here. There is no evidence that fine-tuning is physically necessary.

Let’s look at some numbers:

Scientists have discovered the numbers of physical constants that permit life in the universe. They fall within a very narrow life permitting range. If these numbers were to alter even by a little bit, life in the universe could not exist.

The force of gravity for example is set by a gravitational constant, if this number varied by just one in 10 to the power of 60, no human would exist.

Another example is the cosmological constant. If its value changed by one part in 10 to the power of 120, the universe would either expand too rapidly or too slowly, in either case the universe would be life-prohibiting.

If the current distribution of mass and energy changed by 1 part in 10 to the power of 10 to the power of 123, the universe could not host life.

Chance

The probabilities involved are so remote that all of these measures and numbers would come into one place in our universe is practically impossible. Most scientists don’t even consider this. In order to explain our current fine tuning, they tend to argue for the existence of a multiverse where the existence of enough universes, or an infinite number of universes, would make the existence of our fine tuning possible.

In other words, if there are enough universes in existence, chances are that one universe like ours may come about and we’re just the lucky ones. The problem with this argument is that there is no evidence for a multiverse as the top physicist Roger Penrose argues.

Design

So what’s left here that the current constants and numbers are the product of design and therefore a designer. In monotheistic religions like Islam, we believe that God is just another name for the Designer of the universe.

Until Next Time, Thank you for watching. As-salāmu ʿAlaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh

Fine-tuning of the universe

The idea that the conditions that allow life in the universe can only occur when certain universal fundamental physical constants lie within a very narrow range, so that if any of several fundamental constants were only slightly different, life would not be possible in the universe.

Multiverse

The multiverse is the hypothetical set of finite and infinite possible universes, including the universe in which we live.

Cosmology

The science of the origin and development of the universe.

Teleological Argument

Another term for the argument from design

What is the argument from design?

It is the argument that the world as we know it is designed which means that the world has an intelligent designer.

Does the fine-tuning of the universe prove God’s existence?

The fine-tuning argument is an argument, not a mathematical proof. Real proof of God comes from the experience of the heart, that is, the heart’s vision of God.

If God designed the universe, who designed God?

God is timeless and eternal. Only things that exist in time are created at some point in time. If you are timeless and eternal, you cannot be created.

What is a multiverse?