Reason #28: Why asking “Who came before God?” is irrational

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“If there is a God, who came before Him?” “How do you know nothing came before Him?” These are some of the most infamous questions one will hear from atheists and agnostics. Theists too may ask this question too out of curiosity.

This can be tackled in several ways:

  1. Logically, there has to be an end. Imagine in a police department, you are a lieutenant and have an issue. You go to the captain. If the captain doesn’t have the answer, he goes to the major. What if he doesn’t? That can go on and on! When will the issue get resolved? Will you keep saying, “Let me go to the higher authority” or expect there to be an end eventually?
  2. When you ask such a question, you are never going to address the matter itself – whether God exists or not. You have to face that first and foremost. The rest is all secondary. If God exists, you better find His True Religion and then follow it. Otherwise, there will be consequences. Why get lost in what-ifs? Very often, people will ask “Who came before God?” and not tackle the more fundamental questions of life. If you don’t even do that, what are you prioritizing?
  3. In Islam, the texts suggest that God created time and/or has control of it. See the examples below. If that is the case, and if time is different in the “realm” of God and the hereafter, then we can’t ask questions like “What came before God?” That is because time isn’t a factor to warrant such a question. The word “before” doesn’t apply anymore because God is and has been there for eternity!
    • “And He it is Who has created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon, each in an orbit floating” [Qur’an 21:33]
    • Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Allah the Almighty said: The son of Adam abuses me. He curses time and I am time, for in my hand are the night and day.” [Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4549, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2246] “I am time” is, of course, a figure of speech.
    • “And indeed, a day with your Lord is like a thousand years of those which you count.” [Qur’an 22:47] So time is different to God!

Reason #27: Why Tawhid (Oneness of God) makes sense

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If we are to look at this concept logically and think of the universe, one can argue that the right religion has to be monotheistic – meaning that it states there’s only one God. Islam is one example. 

As Allah says in the Qur’an,

“Had there been within them [i.e., the heavens and earth] gods besides Allah, they both would have been ruined. So exalted is Allah, Lord of the Throne, above what they describe.”

[Qur’an 21:22]

Here, Allah explains that if there were more than one God, there would be chaos and disorder in the world around us with gods disagreeing with or fighting one another. As good as each god may be, there is bound to be some conflict and it would show in the universe. 

At the end of the day, for the universe to run all its laws, you need one order dictating everything: a single end-cause. A lot of philosophy and science suggests that. Whether it’s a classroom, state, or country, you need one final voice. Now look at the picture above and think about the universe. How more important is one voice for that? 

Some may ask, “What if there is one God at the top and smaller gods under him?” However, you have to prove that. Whether it’s logically or by proving your religion right, you need to do that. Also, if there’s one supreme God that can do everything, that’s good enough and frankly solves many questions. That’s one philosophical argument behind monotheism. Lastly, even if there’s hierarchy within multiple gods, you would expect to see some issues in the cosmos as the Qur’an explains above and that would not be pretty!