Concept of Free Will: Islamic Response on Ideology of New Atheism
Keywords:
New Atheism, Islam, Qur’an, Hadith, Philosophy, Science, Free WillAbstract
Traditionally, atheists used philosophical arguments to deny the existence of God and to defame religions. New atheists have added scientific, moral, and historical arguments to make atheism more attractive and appealing to the intellectual mind. Moreover, they use aggressive language to deny the existence of God and eradicate the role of religion in all spheres of life. This is a qualitative study in which the atheists’ ideology about free will is analyzed from an Islamic perspective. For this purpose, data is gathered from primary sources; books, articles, and online sources. Sam Harris has discussed the atheist ideology in depth about free will. According to Harris God does not permit free will to humans and free will is an allusion. However, Islamic ideology expresses that every human is free to choose his way of life. God has directed humanity to do good deeds and to avoid evils and sins. Now, it depends on the human which way he/ she adopts. The reward for good deeds is paradise whereas the punishment for bad deeds is hell. This ideology is logical and rational in scientific and philosophical paradigms. In this way, the atheistic position that man has no free will is irrational and illogical.
References
Sam Harris, Free will (New York, USA: Free Press, 2012), p.1
Ibid, p.11
Ibid, pp.10-14
See “Free Will” online, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/freewill/, accessed 5 August, 2016
Abdullah, Yusuf Ali, The Holy Quran: English Translation of the Meaning, (Blurb, Incorporated, 2016), 76: 3
Ibid, 18: 29
Ibid, 41:46
Abdullah, Yusuf Ali, The Holy Quran: English Translation of the Meaning, (Blurb, Incorporated, 2016), 76: 3
Ibid, 53: 39
Abdullah, Yusuf Ali, The Holy Quran: English Translation of the Meaning, (Blurb, Incorporated, 2016), 53: 39-42
Ibid, 37: 96
Ibid, Sahih Bukhari, p.788
Ibid, Sahih Muslim, 66
Abdul Rashid Bhat, “Free Will and Determinism: An Overview of Muslim Scholars’ Perspective,” Journal of Islamic Philosophy, (2006).
Abdullah, Yusuf Ali, The Holy Quran: English Translation of the Meaning, (Blurb, Incorporated, 2016), 3: 182)
Mohammad Gorjian, “Determinism and Free Will in the the Holy Qur’an,” AhlulBayt World Assembly Publishers, (2010).
See “Lesson 19: Free Will” online, http://www.al-islam.org/god-and-his-attributes-sayyid-mujtaba-musawi-lari/lesson-19-free-will, accessed 28 August, 2016
Jabr means extreme patience
Irada means the intention
Alfred R. Mele, Why Science Hasn’t Disapproved Free Will (USA: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp.1-6
Preben Bertelsen, Free Will, Consciousness and self: Anthropological Perspectives on Psychology (USA: Berghahn Books Publishers, 2006), pp.72-122
See “Determinism and Free Will in Science and Philosophy” online, http://www.thegreatdebate.org.uk/determinismandfreewill.html, accessed September 3, 2016
Jerry Bergman and Doug Sharp, Persuaded by the Evidence: True Stories of Faith, Science, & the Power of a Creator (USA: Master Books, 2008), p.43
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.