Experimental Science and Faith: Harmony, Not Contradiction – A Scientific Response to the Objections “Experimental Science Makes Faith in God…

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon the noblest of messengers.

One of the doubts raised in our modern era—the era of scientific discoveries and technological progress—comes in two seemingly opposite forms, yet they meet in their aim. The first says: “Experimental science now explains all natural phenomena through material causes; there is no need for the hypothesis of God.” The second says: “God is too great to concern Himself with the actions of a small human being in this vast universe.”

Although these two objections appear contradictory, they share the same goal: escaping divine responsibility and avoiding accountability. The first denies the existence of the One who commands, and the second denies His care. Both rest on clear logical and scientific errors that must be exposed, so that the truth becomes manifest.

The First Objection: “Experimental Science Makes Faith in God Unnecessary”

Those who hold this view say: “Modern science explains all natural phenomena by their material causes. Rain falls because of evaporation and condensation, disease comes from viruses and bacteria, earthquakes result from tectonic plate movement, and inheritance occurs through genes and DNA. Therefore, there is no need to say that God sends rain, causes disease, or moves the earth—experimental science is sufficient to explain everything without the need for faith in God.”

At first glance, this may appear logical, especially to one dazzled by the tremendous scientific progress humankind has made in understanding the laws of nature and their workings. But upon closer reflection, we find that this objection is built upon serious errors of reasoning that collapse under sound scrutiny.

First Error: Confusing Levels of Explanation

The gravest flaw in this objection is its confusion between different levels of explanation, imagining that an answer to one question is sufficient to replace answers to others. These levels are:

The level of how: How does the phenomenon occur? What is the mechanism?

The level of where from: Where did this mechanism come from? Who placed this law?

The level of purpose: Why did this phenomenon occur? What is its wisdom?

For example, when we ask: “How does a lamp work?” the answer is: “Through electricity passing in certain wires, heating the filament until it glows.” This answers the question of how. But when we ask: “Who made this electrical system?” the answer is: “The engineer.” And when we ask: “Why did he make it?” the answer may be: “So that people could have light to see.” And if we go further: “Why did the engineer want to help people?” the answer may be: “For financial gain, human benefit, or lasting recognition.”

In the same way, saying that rain falls through evaporation and condensation answers the question of how, but does not answer: Who made the law of evaporation? Who designed the water cycle with such precision? Who set the temperatures and pressures to make it work? Why does this mechanism exist in the first place?

Second Error: The False Dilemma

This objection rests on a logical fallacy known as the false dilemma. It presents only two options: “Either experimental science or faith in God.” This narrowing is false, because experimental science and faith in God answer different questions and do not contradict one another.

Experimental science answers: How? When? Where? By what mechanism?

Faith answers: Who is the Creator? Why did He create? What is the purpose? What is the meaning?

The scientist who discovers the law of gravity answers the question “How do objects fall?” The believer who says “God created gravity” answers the question “Who put this law in place?” There is no contradiction—rather, the answers complement one another.

Third Error: Confusing Cause with Causer

The proponents of this objection commit another error: thinking that discovering the immediate cause cancels out the First Cause. This is like someone who learns how a car engine works and then claims there is no need for a car maker!

Yes, rain falls through evaporation and condensation—that is true. But who created the law of evaporation? Who designed this miraculous water cycle? Who calibrated temperature and atmospheric pressure so that this process works with perfect regularity for billions of years?

Yes, diseases occur through viruses and bacteria. But who created these microscopic organisms? Who established the laws governing their interaction with the human body? Who designed the intricate immune system that combats them?

Discovering the mechanism does not negate the One who set it in place. Rather, it deepens our awe for the wisdom and power of the One who designed it.

The Islamic Perspective: The Harmony of Experimental Science and Faith

In Islam, there is no conflict between experimental science and faith. One of the greatest features of the Islamic worldview is that it never sees a contradiction between belief in Allah and the study or discovery of natural causes.

The Qurʾān and Sunnah do not call upon the believer to deny natural laws or neglect material causes. On the contrary, they affirm that these causes and laws are themselves the work and arrangement of Allah.

This wise Islamic approach resolves the false conflict posed by the objection: in reality, there is no contradiction between experimental science and faith from the Islamic perspective. When a scientist discovers a natural law or understands a cosmic mechanism, for the believer this does not negate the role of Allah—it only confirms His greatness and wisdom in creating such a perfectly ordered system.

The Second Objection: “God Is Too Great to Care About Man”

Those who raise this objection say: “How can the Almighty God, who created the vast universe with its countless galaxies and stars, care about the words and actions of a tiny human being on this small planet? Is it not logical that God is greater than to be concerned with what humans say or do in their simple daily lives? What value could the words and deeds of man have before the boundless greatness of the Creator?”

At first glance, this doubt appears to glorify Allah, but in reality it is built upon a false understanding of divine greatness and leads to conclusions that contradict justice and wisdom.

First Error: Beginning from an Unproven Claim

This objection is built on an unproven assumption: that the value of things is measured only by their physical size. It argues: since man is physically small compared to the universe, he must be insignificant, and so his words and deeds must also be insignificant.

This is a grave mistake for two clear reasons:

There is no evidence linking size with value. Who said that being small means being unimportant? This is a baseless claim without proof, and reality shows the opposite.

Observed reality disproves it. A small diamond is more valuable than a large rock. A brilliant idea may come from a small child and yet change the course of history. A virus invisible to the naked eye can affect the lives of millions. Clearly, the value of things lies not in their physical size, but in qualities such as benefit, harm, wisdom, and meaning.

Second Error: Focusing Only on the Attribute of Greatness While Ignoring the Rest

Another flaw in this objection is its narrow view: it reduces divine perfection to greatness alone while ignoring the many other attributes of absolute perfection that belong to Allah.

Allah is not only great, but also possesses perfect justice, complete wisdom, vast mercy, all-encompassing knowledge, and absolute power. These attributes imply things quite different from what the objector imagines.

Divine justice requires punishing the wrongdoer and rewarding the doer of good.

Divine wisdom requires that matters not be left without order or accountability.

Divine mercy requires guiding creation and directing them toward what benefits them.

How could these attributes be realized if Allah did not care about the actions of His servants?

Third Error: Considering the Absence of Accountability as Perfection

This objection strangely assumes that true perfection lies in the Creator leaving the righteous and the wicked to struggle in this life, and then making them all equal in the end! This is false for several reasons:

It reverses the truth, treating God’s punishment of wrongdoers as a flaw, when in fact all rational people agree that the true flaw would be leaving the oppressor unpunished and the doer of good unrewarded.

If God were not to hold aggressors accountable, who would stand up for the oppressed? If He were not to reward the good, who would compensate the righteous? This would mean endorsing injustice and perpetuating corruption.

Those who raise this doubt are themselves inconsistent. When they see suffering and evil befalling their loved ones, they cry out: “Where is justice? Where is God?” Yet when it comes to their own words and deeds, they raise this very objection as a shield against being warned! Such a contradiction shows that the real motive behind this objection is desire and an attempt to escape responsibility—not a sincere search for truth.

Escaping Responsibility

This objection exposes a strange contradiction in the reasoning of its proponents: they do not truly want any responsibility from Allah at all, and they search for any excuse to escape accountability.

They belittle the fact that Allah has tasked humans with duties suited to their size and abilities—such as prayer, fasting, honesty, justice, and kindness. They say: “How could the Almighty God concern Himself with such small matters?”

Yet if Allah were to command man to create a planet, move the sun from its place, or bring a star into existence out of nothing, they would say: “This is an unbearable burden, and Allah is just—He does not burden a soul beyond its capacity!”

Thus, they fall into a contrived dilemma:

If the duty is within reach, they belittle and scorn it.

If the duty is impossible, they denounce it and reject it.

This shows that the real problem is not with the nature of the duty, but with their own souls that want to avoid any duty whatsoever, clinging to any excuse or pretext to flee from responsibility and commitment.

The Wisdom of Suitable Obligation

In reality, Allah’s wisdom has decreed that every creature be tasked with what suits its nature and capacity—and this is the very essence of justice and wisdom.

The angels were tasked with duties that suit their angelic nature: glorification, sanctification, and carrying out Allah’s commands.

Humans were tasked with duties that suit their human nature: worship, righteous deeds, and cultivating the earth with goodness.

Animals were subjected to serve mankind in ways suited to their animal nature.

Every creature thus has a role fitting its design, and responsibilities fitting its abilities. This is the wise system established by the All-Knowing Creator.

True Greatness Entails Complete Encompassment

The Meaning of True Divine Greatness

True divine greatness does not mean neglecting details or disregarding human actions. Quite the opposite—it means encompassing everything, knowing every detail, and having full power over every matter, great or small.

In this world, a great king is one who governs his kingdom with precision, knows the conditions of his subjects, judges between them with fairness, holds the negligent accountable, and rewards the righteous. As for the king who neglects his kingdom and ignores his people, he is considered weak and deficient.

How then about the King of kings, exalted be He? His true greatness necessitates His complete awareness of all things. Allah says: “Not absent from your Lord is anything, even the weight of an atom, in the earth or in the heaven; nor anything smaller than that nor greater, but it is in a clear record.” [Sūrat Yūnus: 61].

Justice and Wisdom Necessitate Accountability

Allah’s justice and wisdom require that human deeds not be left without reckoning or recompense—lest the righteous and the wicked, the oppressor and the oppressed, the truthful and the liar, all end up equal. That would contradict the absolute justice that is part of Allah’s perfection.

Allah says: “Or do those who commit evil deeds think We will make them like those who have believed and done righteous deeds—[make them] equal in their life and their death? Evil is what they judge.” [Sūrat al-Jāthiyah: 21].

And He says: “Or should We treat those who believe and do righteous deeds like corrupters in the land? Or should We treat the righteous like the wicked?” [Sūrat Ṣād: 28].

These verses affirm that divine justice requires distinguishing the righteous from the wicked, the believer from the disbeliever, and the obedient from the sinner. This necessarily entails judgment and recompense.

Conclusion: Submitting to Divine Wisdom

From this analysis, it becomes clear that both objections—despite their outward differences—spring from false reasoning and aim at the same goal: escaping divine responsibility.

The first tries to deny the very existence of the One who commands, under the claim that science has made God unnecessary. This is a logical error based on conflating different levels of explanation.

The second tries to deny the concern of the One who commands, under the claim that God’s greatness prevents Him from caring about human actions. This is a mistaken understanding of the meaning of true divine greatness.

The correct stance is to submit to the wisdom of Allah, believing that everything He created and legislated is with profound wisdom—some of which we may grasp, while some remains hidden from us. His true greatness entails His encompassing knowledge of everything, His watchfulness over every deed, and His judgment of every soul for what it has earned. He does not wrong even the weight of a particle, and nothing in the heavens or earth escapes Him.

“And He is Allah—there is no deity except Him. To Him belongs [all] praise in the first [life] and the Hereafter. And His is the judgment, and to Him you will be returned.” [Sūrat al-Qaṣaṣ: 70].

We ask Allah to guide us to a correct understanding of His religion, to make us among the believers who submit to His wisdom and trust in His justice, and to grant us success in saying and doing what pleases Him.

Allah knows best. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muḥammad, his family, and his Companions.