Is knowledge of Allāh’s existence grounded in the human experience of the world?

The arguments for Allāh’s existence are generally divided into three main types: cosmological, teleological, and ontological. The first two rely on what is known as a posteriori reasoning—that is, reasoning based on experience or empirical observation. The cosmological argument begins with the observed fact that the universe exists and concludes that Allāh must be its cause. Similarly, the teleological argument starts from the apparent purposiveness and order in nature and infers the existence of a designer. Ontological arguments, by contrast, attempt to prove Allāh’s existence through a priori reasoning—that is, through pure conceptual analysis independent of sensory experience. The Qurʾān presents a powerful and sound ontological argument for the existence of Allāh, demonstrating that even without empirical observation, pure reason necessarily leads to the conclusion that Allāh exists. It presents basic, self-evident propositions in a strikingly succinct and simple, yet supremely rhetorical, expression—accessible and comprehensible to people of all standards and levels of understanding. Allāh says: {Or were they created by nothing, or are they ˹their own˺ creators? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? In fact, they have no firm belief ˹in Allāh˺} (Qurʾān 52: 35–36). The language of these verses is so clear and simple that their profound philosophical significance and implications may escape the notice of many who recite them. The Qurʾān typically appeals to common sense, and accordingly, both verses are framed as rhetorical questions—leaving the answers to the listener’s reason. The concluding sentence in the second verse, “In fact, they have no firm belief ˹in Allāh˺,” is not an answer to the questions posed, but rather a rebuke directed at those who rely on conjecture instead of sound judgment grounded in reason—judgment that is necessarily and universally true and certain. The Qurʾānic term khalq, along with its derivatives, is used to denote creation and applies to things that do not exist independently but depend on something else for their existence. The questions Allāh poses in these verses are deeply compelling: how can contingent beings like humans come into existence—did they arise from nothing or create themselves? And did these contingent beings create the heavens and the earth, which are likewise contingent? Allāh presents only three logical possibilities: first, that humans came from nothing—an impossibility, for nothing comes from nothing; second, that they created themselves—which is equally flawed and logically impossible, for non-existent beings lack agency and cannot bring themselves into existence. Self-causation as a process in time is incoherent, as it would require the entity to precede itself or emerge instantaneously from non-being—both of which are absurd. If neither of these is viable, then the third, self-evident alternative—implied by the verse—is necessarily true: Allāh alone is the Creator of humankind and the entire universe. Thus, the Qurʾān employs reductio ad absurdum to disprove all other possibilities, leaving only the affirmation of a necessarily existent being as logically sound—for to deny it would be to affirm a metaphysical impossibility.¹

Hence, the Qurʾān proves the existence of Allāh a priori (i.e., without invoking any empirical premises). In other words, Allāh is knowable independently of prior experience or observations, for knowledge of Him can be acquired through instinct or innate conceptions and pure logic. This is not in any way to denigrate or disparage a posteriori knowledge (i.e., based upon observation and experience), for much knowledge is gained a posteriori, including most fields of science and aspects of personal knowledge. This is simply to say that some arguments for the existence of Allāh are a priori, based entirely on a priori principles such as the principle of causality. The fact that there is no need for any premise in the above Qurʾānic argument makes it the strongest argument for the existence of Allāh, as it is rationally undeniable and yields a conclusion known with certainty.