Azaab Theory And Other Absurd Arguments By Muslims

One of the oft-cited arguments by Muslims in addressing certain issues is the ‘Azaab theory.’ Of course no such formal theory exists and I have termed it thus for namesake only. What it necessarily entails is to first render a standpoint unfalsifiable, and then suddenly bring up a citation from the holy book as the proof of their truth. For instance, if a vile person is struck down by some natural calamity, they term it a sign from God or Azaab. When many vile persons lead their entire lives in debauchery and corruption and have a very happy ending at a cozy death-bed, Muslims would argue that God simply ‘let his rope loose’ so that he would indulge as much as he could and that for this, he will face the wrath of God in hell. The only problem with this is, obviously it is an unfalsifiable theory. You have an answer ready for both outcomes and you pitch one of them, as per the events.

But this is taken even further by certain ‘philosophic’ Muslims who tend to argue Islam against science or philosophy. For instance, Hamza Toru is hailed by many as a Muslim who can miraculously respond to all philosophical arguments and scientific proofs which negate religion. While I haven’t seen the recent debate between him and Professor Hoodbhoy that has been cited as ‘the triumph of religion’, I did have the opportunity to watch his brief talk with Mr. Dawkins. Here’s what I could grasp from it.

While Dawkins cited clear proofs of the process of evolution, Toru wanted to bring him to one single point, which he eventually did: how did the universe come into being? Of course this question is still unanswered by the science per se, although physically at a point where time’s value becomes zero, the instance becomes entirely irrelevant to us. But then, for argument sake, let’s consider it. Yes, science doesn’t have a definite answer to that. So? ‘Then that clearly means that there is a God since how can the universe come into being!! My holy book has an answer to what your science doesn’t!’ Toru resorts excitedly and rather triumphantly. Did that make sense? Of course not.

Look at it another way. A person walks over to me and says ‘what is smaller than zero.’ I tell him that mathematically, nothing can be smaller than zero. He says come on, how is that possible. When I insist that I have no answer to that, he tells me he read in such and such book about something that is smaller than zero and so, his book furnishes answer to questions that I, or science (mathematics), can’t answer. Logically, that’s an utterly stupid argument. The inability of science to answer certain question does not render illogical interpretations from other sources the more credible source of knowledge.

Also on the point of interpretations, the Muslim enthusiasts who pitch all the weirdest interpretations to prove a scientific fact, the pseudo-scientists like Haroon Yahya, they fail to tell this to their ardent fans that religious scriptures have been reinterpreted again and again over times to make them compliant with the ‘scientific facts’ of their age. It is precisely the abstract form of holy scriptures that allows for virtually infinite interpretations and that, by no means, qualifies as ‘the proof’ of foretold scientific wisdom!

Finally, to my Muslim friends who stubbornly insist that religion provided knowledge for scientific discoveries and then try to cite proofs from Moorish era: that is SUCH rubbish! Religion, at best, instigated Muslim to attain scientific knowledge and it was the enthusiasm that an intelligent theological environment provided which enabled them to make those scientific advancement in Spain. None of them ‘discovered’ ANYTHING from the holy book, at best they merely got their inspiration from Quran. The scientific knowledge came from the Greeks on which they built wisely. Naturally, with this mindset which seeks scientific answers, riddles, formulae, and revelations in the holy book, Muslims are bound to dwell in scientific ignobility.