سید عبدالله حسینی

سلسله نشست های دوره "فلسفه عقاید؛ نگاهی منطقی و استدلالی به دین" توسط حجت الاسلام و المسلمین دکتر سید عبدالله حسینی با حضور دانشجویان غیر ایرانی و خارجیان مقیم تهران و ایرانیان علاقمند به زبان انگلیسی در روزهای پنجشنبه بعد از اذان مغرب و عشاء (نیمه دوم سال) با اقامه نماز جماعت و قرائت دعای کمیل در تالار اشراق ایوان شمس برگزار می گردد

جلسه ششم:

A'udhu Billahi min ash-shaytaan-i'r rajeem. Bismillah-i'r Rahman-i'r Raheem.

To continue our discussion concerning the philosophy of Islam we have covered few topics and discussed about:

• The process of systematic thinking

• The criteria of the right religion

• The logical question of “why we need a religion, a revelation?”

• The logical reason for the existence of God

Characteristics of necessary being are going to be discussed this week. 

Last week in our discussion we proved that necessary being exists and also I talked extensively that philosophers don’t have names when it comes to God, unlike us. They don’t even come to conclusion about names; it is religions that put names on that being which they prove.

If you talk to a philosopher concerning sugar and ask “what is the name of sugar?” they don’t call it ‘sugar’. For philosophers sugar means “واجبُ الحَلاوَه” the one which is necessarily sweet. They put the same type of titles for God. They don’t call it God; they say ‘the being which its existence is necessary’, so that واجب الوجود is the title of God when it comes to philosophers. Last week we proved the existence of واجب الوجود and the existence of necessary being. 

Tonight we are going to cover a very important aspect of Allah (God), the characteristics of necessary being. The first characteristic of necessary being is that it cannot have a history of nothingness. 

Let me explain, there was no time that necessary being was not there, so you cannot trace back the history and reach a point that necessary being didn’t exist just as there was no time that sugar was not sweet. From the time that you know sugar it was sweet. The sweetness in the sugar necessarily existed from the time that sugar came to existence. The same situation is with a necessary being. Necessary being is a being which its being is necessary; and when its being is necessary, there is no time that it didn’t exist. For example, there was no time in the history of mankind, science, technology that “two plus two” was not four. There was no time that “two was not an even number”. There was no time that “two parallel lines were crossing each other”. So necessary being has no history of nothingness… that you can say there was zero and then zero was plus one, now we have number one, and now it’s equal to one. There is no such time to say “this one was once a zero”. Existence has not been separated from necessary being at any time. In other words, the same way that we discussed last week, that cake is sweet because of sugar, everything is sweet because of sugar, but the sweetness of sugar necessarily exists in it. In the same way, the existence of me, you, the trees, and the galaxies is because of the existence of God, but when it comes to the existence of God it is necessary.

Sugar is necessarily sweet, and God necessarily exists.

A being with a history of nothingness is a possible being. Why do we say God has no history of nothingness? Because if there is such a history, then we can immediately we can prove the time of nothingness of God, and then it is not a necessary being anymore. The world necessary says it “I necessarily exist” and there is no time that it was not there.

It also cannot have a destiny of nothingness in the same way that it cannot have a history of nothingness. So you cannot say it is going toward nothingness. As the previous example, two plus two was four, now is four, and is going to be four forever. There is not any given time that two plus two can become ‘five’. You cannot expect science and technology to be developed, and another Einstein comes, and he will prove that two plus two can become five. It is not going to happen, so don’t wait for such a time. It hasn’t happened in the past, and it is not going to happen in the future.

The same way is with Allah (SWT); God has no history of nothingness and there is no time in its destiny to be nothing. It will not lead to nothingness. Existence cannot be separated from necessary being at all.

The third characteristic, it cannot be a compound. Any compound being needs its part for existence.

Look at the formula that we have here. We have H2O, and that is water. It is a compound. The three molecules have come together and formed something that we drink, and that is water. 

Now if you remove any of them, what’s going to happen? 

We are not going to have water.

Water is going to be dissolved. Just now the scientists are trying to separate the Hydrogen from the Oxygen, and they are trying to create another fuel from the Hydrogen. Therefore, water is going to be separated, and you cannot call it water anymore. It’s going to be either pure hydrogen or pure oxygen; so it is a compound made of three components, and as soon as you separate any of them we are not going to have water. That is the characteristic of any compound being.

Now, God is not a compound being. Why? Because for this to be water, it needs these three parts. All of the three have to be there. One of them is not enough. All of them must come together to establish a compound and then immediately water is born. Any compound has got this characteristic that this one needs O and O needs H, they need each other to establish water, and as soon as any of them is missing we are not going to have water.

Now if God is compound, what happens? Then each parts of God are going to need the others for continuation. And necessary being cannot depend on its parts, on anything else for its existence. Otherwise it will be another possible being. It is possible if H and O are in the neighborhood of each other, they establish water. If they are not together, then we are not going to have water, it’s going to be oxygen and hydrogen only. Why we call it water, not hydrogen or oxygen separately? Because they are no more hydrogen and they are no more oxygen; they are a compound thing called water.

If God is also a compound being, say, made of Father, Holy Spirit (روحُ القُدُس), and Son, what’s going to happen? Or compound being Gabriel, Israel, and Himself, for example. It is not possible, it’s not going to be necessary being, then God for its continuation of being God needs Israel, and as soon as Israel one day dies then God is going to miss something; it’s going to be and incomplete God. Exactly like water if one part is gone then it’s going to be incomplete water. God cannot be compound. It has to be extended and has to be a total and be absolute, without any complexity. No compound being can have an independent existence. For example if you want to call it water, it cannot have independent existence here. Hydrogen is hydrogen, and oxygen is oxygen. They have to be together to be called water. It cannot have independent existence. One element cannot standout on its own and be called water. As soon as you separate it, it is called Hydrogen, it cannot be called water.

So God cannot be compound because a compound being cannot be independent in existence.

The forth characteristic is, it cannot be physical. Necessary being cannot be physical. Any physical being is a compound one.

We have understood that God cannot be compound; a necessary being cannot be a compound being. Now based on that logical terminology that we all accepted and it’s completely logical we are giving another logical reason, and that is any physical being is a compound one.

As soon as you are physical you are a compound one because it’s not possible to be in-compound. Scientists have not found the smallest thing and also have not discovered the biggest thing up to this moment. If you have found the smallest thing it would be compound and definitely made of two, three atoms that in that smallest particle they are floating again. Definitely for sure one hundred percent each of them will be another divided part which can be separated. 

Just now that we are sitting here, the biggest examination machine, test and science laboratory of the world is in the border of France and Belgium which is called CERN. In CERN, All Scientists of the world have come together to discover what divine particle is? They are after divine particle. They are extending the speed of the light with the hope that the light with a particular speed should be hit and beaten into some waves and then they hope that a particle out of light which is energy can be produced and they can call it now we have manage to find the start and the beginning of the universe. That how light has come to existence and become particle/physical. Any physical thing that you find is a compound one and as soon as you are a compound one you cannot be necessary being. As necessary being can’t be compound, it cannot be physical also. When something is not physical, you cannot see it. Because anything that you are able to see either with naked eye or by microscope, any machine or any facilities that you may have, it is a compound.

The 5th characteristic is that necessary being is unseen. It’s continuation of the same argument. Only physical things can be seen. God is not compound; God is not physical so you cannot see it. Anything which is physical needs time and place. You cannot talk about time and place for anything metaphysical.

For example you had a dream last night. The whole life was summarized in probably few seconds. You saw everything. All history of your life came into your dream. Because there was no time and it was not physical. If it was physical it would take your whole life to happen what had happened in your dream, in your reality. 

The 7th: The necessity cannot be changeable again based on the same philosophy. Because you cannot imagine time and place for Him, because everything happens in time and place, and because God is not in the time and place, changing is not happening in God. God cannot be promoted, completed, perfected or reduced. If the whole people of world come together and worship God, he is not going to be a better God. And if the whole world goes against God he is not going to become less God. He wouldn’t say today I’m more powerful or today I’m angry and would create earthquake and will kill everyone around the world. It’s not such a thing. Or say I’m not in good mood tonight. O Israel come here I want to all the people of China to go. It’s not so when it comes to God. He is not changeable. He’s always stable. He doesn’t need time. He doesn’t need place. He is complete, he is perfect. When you come to the position of perfection, for you change doesn’t have meaning.

This is a very good picture. They usually use it in the psychology but I want to use it here. Look, there is a circle here and behind there is a square. Now, if the light is here if you put a torture here then the picture there, the shadow would be square but if you stand this side, this going to be triangular. It depends on the side you look at it. But it’s for physical things.  When you look at absolute being it’s like that circle. From any side you look at the circle, you would still see the circle. But when it comes to physical things with complexities, it depends that from which perspective you look at the matter.

However there is big question here that comes to every one’s mind. Of course we’re going to speak about two characteristics of God next session. One is the unity of God which needs separate session. The other one is the Justice of God that we would put another separate session for its importance of attributes.

But now I answer one question:

Why we cannot see the God while he is everywhere? You are full of Him. I’m surrounded by Him. He is everywhere, my back before up down. Imam Sadiq (pub): if you want to commit a sin, go ahead do it but where that you cannot find God there. He is everywhere. But how I cannot touch, how I cannot see if he is everywhere? Why I cannot see Him?

The answer is here. Can you see another line here? Two lines are here and the same letters are written on them.  Can you see? I swear they are here. Why you cannot see them? Exactly because they’re in the same color.  Nothing was going to be recognizable if everything was white. Because there not different in colors. 

Mr. Fish has been born in the ocean from the time that fish opened the eyes face something called water, swimming, dying eating from water. Now go to Mr. Fish and ask do you know where you are. He would say what do you mean? Don’t make joke today. Hold   Mr. Fish out of water for some seconds and before the last breath asks Him do you know what water is. He would say yes, now I understand.

Why fish cannot digest the existence of water?

Fish is born in water, dies in water, and eats in water…so simple, because for fish there is no opposition. Only one thing was front the first moment of life was water. Just by comparing water and non-water atmosphere fish can realize the existence of water. Because we are floating in God, surrounded by God, fed and created by Him, we experienced nothing But God. And unfortunately there is no one that can take us out of the boundary of God to compare God number 1 and 2 in whose boundary you’re is at that moment. Because there is nothing to be compared by God. Because God doesn’t have an opposition. 

There is a famous saying by Imam Ali (pbuh) which says تُعرَفُ الاَشیاءُ بِاَضدادِها

Everything is recognizable by its opposition and because God doesn’t have any opposition to be compared with, God reminds unrecognizable for the rest of our life and rest of its existence. That’s why we cannot see the God otherwise God exists everywhere. World is full of God. There is nothing in the world beside God. There is nothing to be compared with Him.