Muslim Student vs Atheist Professor

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty. He asks one of his new Muslim students to stand and…..

Professor: You are a Muslim, aren’t you, son?
Student : Yes, sir.
Prof: So you believe in God?
Student : Absolutely, sir.
Prof: Is God good?
Student : Sure.

Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Student : Yes.

Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn’t. How is this God good then? Hmm?

(Student is silent.)

Prof: You can’t answer, can you? Let’s start again, young fella. Is God good?
Student :Yes.

Prof: Is Satan good?
Student : No.

Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student : From…God…

Prof: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student : Yes.

Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student : Yes.

Prof: So who created evil?

Student does not answer.)

Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?
Student :Yes, sir.

Prof: So, who created them?

(Student has no answer.)

Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son…Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.

Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student : No , sir.

Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student : No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student : Yes.

Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.

Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.

Student : No sir. There isn’t. (The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)


Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light….But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it’s called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir? (The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)

Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavour, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class is in uproar.)

Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain? (The class breaks out into laughter.)

Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it?….No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)

Prof: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.
Student : That is it sir. The link between man & God is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive.

NB:I believe you have enjoyed the conversation…and if so…you’ll probably want your friends/colleagues to enjoy the same…won’t you?…forward them to increase their knowledge…


Below is a comment from a reader. The original comment can be obtained here.

Explaining the flaws of the argument above. Remember, nothing is perfect. :-)

First comment

There is a flaw in the argument. See if you can spot it.
Beware: there are dark forces out there who appear to be clever.

Here’s how it works… If you want to destroy/attack something, you build it up (anonymously of course) and make it seem so good, but you include a deliberate flaw in it. Then you think the time is right, you draw attention to the flaw and you cause the whole thing to come crashing down, which brings the whole issue into disrepute and causes disillusionment.

A number of people try and do that against Islam.

Thankfully many Muslims faith is so strong they can survive acts of deliberate sabotage, but some do not, and it serves to strengthen non-Muslims against Islam even more, reinforcing their manipulated fears about Islam, as they too were unaware that it was a set-up.

It’s a variation of a straw man argument.

Al- Anfal:30
Ali Imran 54

Second Comment

The creator of the story never made the Muslim student reply to the Professors questions. So those who look disfavourably on the Islam or God in general, say it isn’t fair, but the professor was ‘good’ because he bravely answered the students question.

The second thing is that a science Professor would not have given those answers. A professor of science would not belie in physical quantities (which is context of how they are used in the story) of ‘cold’ or ‘darkness’.

The Professor has been set-up to look stupid relative to the believer, and that the student/believer is ‘better’ because he is correct, however when someone points out that the Prof wouldn’t say that, then the ‘high position’ the believer was elevated to (’cos he’s smarter than the Prof) gets destroyed and people may think belief in God cannot replace “science” as a principle on which one can construct ones life.

Science can be argued against, and perhaps this story was a sincere attempt to do that, but works of fiction that contain flaws may have a negative impact. Whether this and other similar stories are deliberately flawed is hard to say.

One thing that can be said with near certainty: there are many people who spend a lot of effort trying to destroy peoples Faith in God, which is THE inseparable commonality in Abrahamic faith. Sure we may argue about small details that separate our beliefs, but we ALL agree on one God.

As a person of faith in The Creator, you are a target for those who would love nothing better than to see you flee from that faith. This latest round of hideous unimaginable mass murder of over a thousand Palestinians (over 400 women and children) [sadly nothing new in Palestinian history under the Zionist occupation] has thankfully seen people of faith rally together to denounce these savage killers. You can see the threat and obstacle posed by people of faith against their greedy and savage goals.

Destroying their faith and replacing it with a perverse doctrine masquerading as faith is their forté.

Divide and conquer.

Assalamualaikum wbt.