Things that might not exist: Look around you. Every atom, every star, every living thing exists — but none of them had to exist. Each one could have been different, or could never have existed at all. In Kalam this is called Mumkin al-Wujud — a being that is possible, not necessary.
A thing that might not exist cannot cause itself: A Mumkin thing cannot give itself existence, because it does not have existence to give. Whatever gives existence to it must itself be either Mumkin (needing its own cause) or Wajib al-Wujud — a Necessary Being, whose non-existence is impossible and who exists by His own nature, needing no cause at all.
The chain cannot go on forever: Suppose every cause is Mumkin, and the chain of causes goes back forever. That explains nothing. Imagine a row of lamps, each shining only because it receives light from another lamp. If every lamp only receives light and no lamp makes light — then there is no light at all, no matter how long the row is. An endless chain of receivers produces nothing.
A chain needs a fixed point: It is like a chain hanging in the air. Each link is held by the link above it. If every link is only held by another link, and there is no fixed point where the chain is attached — the chain cannot hang. It falls. The whole chain of Mumkin beings still needs something holding it: a Wajib.
That Necessary Being is Allah: There must exist a Wajib al-Wujud — a Necessarily Existing Being — who does not receive existence from anyone, who exists by His own nature, and who is the ultimate cause of all Mumkin existence. This is Burhan al-Imkan, the argument from contingency — the strongest proof of Allah in Islamic theology.
Example
Imagine a long line of people passing buckets of water to put out a fire. If every person is only passing a bucket they received from someone else, and nobody is filling a bucket at the tap — no water ever arrives. You need someone at the tap, filling buckets from the source itself. Allah is that source: the One who exists by Himself and gives existence to everything else.
Key Terms
- Mumkin al-Wujud (ممکن الوجود) — a contingent being; something that exists but did not have to exist
- Wajib al-Wujud (واجب الوجود) — the Necessary Being; something whose non-existence is impossible
- Burhan al-Imkan (برہان الامکان) — the argument from contingency
- Tasalsul (تسلسل) — infinite regress; a chain of causes going back forever
Quran or Hadith
None used in this topic.
Fresh diagram to be drawn: A row of lamps passing light to one another, and at the far end a sun that makes its own light, with the caption "Every receiver needs a source".
- Everything we see is Mumkin — it exists, but it did not have to exist.
- A Mumkin thing cannot give itself existence; it needs a cause.
- An endless chain of causes explains nothing — like lamps passing light with no source.
- So a Wajib al-Wujud must exist: a Being who exists by His own nature. That Being is Allah.