The summit of Sessions 7–11: This is the summit of Sessions 7–11. Every tool we have learned — the syllogism, modality, causality — now assembles into the most powerful rational proof for Allah's existence in the history of Islamic thought.
Burhan, not Jadal or Khitaba: This is Burhan, not Jadal, not Khitaba — certain demonstration. The six-step Burhan: Step 1 — Observation (Hissiyya, sense certainty).
Step 1 — Observation: The universe and all things within it exist. This is directly sense-perceived — a Yaqiniyya of the Hissiyya type.
No argument needed — observe: We do not need to argue that things exist; we simply observe it. Step 2 — Modality analysis (Awwaliyya, first principle).
Step 2 — Modality analysis: Everything that exists is either Wajib, Mumkin, or Mumtani'. Nothing falls outside these three.
The universe is Mumkin al-Wujud: From Slide 67, we examine the universe: it changes, it could have not existed, it has a beginning in time according to cosmology, it is composite. Conclusion of Step 2: the universe is Mumkin al-Wujud — contingent.
Step 3 — Principle of causality: Step 3 — Principle of causality (Awwaliyya, first principle). Every Mumkin being necessarily requires an external cause for its existence.
The universe has a cause: A Mumkin cannot tip itself from non-existence to existence. From Slide 70, since the universe is Mumkin, it necessarily has a cause.
Step 4 — Wajib or Mumkin? Conclusion of Step 3: the universe has an external cause. Step 4 — The cause is either Wajib or Mumkin.
The cause's two options: The cause of the universe is either itself Wajib (self-subsistent) or itself Mumkin (requiring a further cause). If Mumkin, it too needs a cause — and so on.
Can the chain go back infinitely? Can this chain of Mumkin causes go back infinitely (Tasalsul)? Step 5 — Tasalsul is Mumtani'.
Step 5 — Tasalsul is Mumtani': An infinite regress of actual simultaneous Mumkin causes is impossible. If every cause is itself dependent, nothing in the chain has actual existence to give, and nothing would exist.
But things do exist: But things do exist. Therefore the regress cannot be infinite.
Ibn Sina on the Mumkin set: Ibn Sina (Al-Shifa'): "The Mumkin set — even if infinite in number — remains Mumkin. A Mumkin set does not become Wajib by being large or infinite.
Step 6 — Wajib al-Wujud exists: It requires a Wajib ground." Step 6 — Therefore Wajib al-Wujud exists.
Wajib al-Wujud — who is Allah: Since the causal chain of Mumkin beings cannot be infinite, it must terminate in a being that is not Mumkin — a being that requires no cause, a being whose existence is necessary by its own essence. Wajib al-Wujud — who is Allah.
Sermon 1 — Khutbat al-Ashbah: Imam Ali (AS), Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 1 (Khutbat al-Ashbah): "He who points to Him has limited Him. He who counts Him has denied His eternity.
'How' and 'where' confine Him: He who says 'how' — has described Him. He who says 'where' — has confined Him.
Knowing Him is Tawhid: He who says 'in what' — has enclosed Him... Knowing Him is tawhid — and tawhid is negating all limitations from Him."
The Burhan, 1,400 years early: The Imam's sermon is this Burhan, expressed in the most sublime Arabic, 1,400 years before modern philosophy named it "the Cosmological Argument".
Example
Follow the six steps with a friend: Follow the six steps with a friend who asks "Why believe in God?" — observation, modality, causality, the chain, the impossibility of infinity, the First Cause. Each step uses only what the previous step proved.
Why it is a Burhan: That is what makes it a Burhan.
Key Terms
- Cosmological Burhan (البرہان الکوسمولوجي) — the argument from the contingency of the universe
- Tasalsul (التسلسل) — infinite regress
- Hissiyya, Awwaliyya — see Topic 9.2
Quran or Hadith
Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 1, as quoted on the slide. — to be checked (translation and wording).
Fresh diagram to be drawn: A six-step vertical flowchart: Observation → Modality → Causality → Chain → No infinite regress → Wajib al-Wujud (Allah). This is the most important diagram in the subject. To be drawn in Project Desk colours.
- This is the summit of Sessions 7–11.
- Follow the six steps with a friend who asks "Why believe in God?" — observation, modality, causality, the chain, the impossibility of infinity, the First Cause.