By Mugees Ul Kaisar

Many atheists tend to align with a particular strain of popular religious thought, which, by and large, lacks a proper recognition of the theological, philosophical, and mystical dimensions within the religious traditions.

This is observable in the works of prominent atheists of our time, particularly in the literature of the“New Atheist” movement, which often falls short of seriously engaging with the theo-philosophical themes within religious traditions.

Such a reception of religious thought, for example, reads God in extremely narrow terms. In the same light, religious rituals are (reductively) perceived as mindless, senseless, repetitive mechanical exercises.

In truth, atheism as an intellectual position is not possible to hold. Once we (re)define God in terms of Zahir wal Batin (that is, the apparent and the hidden), atheism becomes redundant.

A simple but critical point to register is that there are two aspects to reality, and both are undeniable.

One is the“apparent” part, the present reality in which we all participate, that which is available and accessible, that is, the zahir, which no theist or atheist can deny.

Everyone lives in this“given” reality, which is not disputed. Irrespective of the nature of this“given” reality, the fact is that there is something which is (given), and we find ourselves in it. This element of zahir is, therefore, registered by everyone. This is the first aspect.

So, is this God? Is this apparent reality in which we all participate God? Is this what religion exhaustively refers to as God?

The answer is no.

That would be an incomplete picture. Atheists (like theists) accept that there is this present, apparent reality. This present existence is accessible to us.

What, then, is the additional aspect that religion proposes? What is it that the atheist supposedly misses? What is it that differentiates a so-called believer from an atheist?

If we reflect on it a little, we will realize that the atheist overlooks the element of batin: the hidden aspect of present reality, which is nothing but the inaccessible or indefinable essence of reality itself. It is important to bear in mind that this hidden aspect is not some unfounded belief or the“god of the gaps” argument that is being (abstractly) proposed and then foisted upon the people. Instead, it refers to the essence, origin, or source of the (already registered) present existence itself.

And this essence or origin of the present reality is a mystery (or gaib).

Let us simplify this. The point is that there is this reality in which we all live (the apparent/zahir). The question is, what is its essence, that is to say, what is the essence of this present reality itself, the essence of anything per se?

When we consider this question, we realize that the answer to this question simply escapes our thought structures. When we try to reduce reality from matter to particles to energy to laws of physics, we finally arrive at the dead end of mystery at the face of the givenness of the“given.” No matter what we pick for analysis, whether it is matter or consciousness, we are not able to exhaustively and definitively pinpoint its essence or (ultimate) source or origin.

It is this mystery at the heart of reality that the mystico-philosophical traditions within religions refer to as the batin, mystery, or gaib.

The great Sufi metaphysician, Ibn Arabi, notes that the highest station of knowledge is the station of bewilderment or hairat. Some great mystics have interpreted taqwa as an awe or astonishment expressed towards the wondrous and mysterious reality.

The essence of reality (pursued under a regime of reductionist analysis) escapes our language, thought, science, religion, and philosophy.

This“escaping” of the essence of the zahir/present reality is what religion refers to as“transcendence” (Az-zat). The reality of Theos, therefore, is not an abstract proposition. It does not need any proof or demonstration. Seen as zahir & batin, it becomes impossible to reject.

The hidden aspect, that is, the source, the origin, the essence (we may call it by different names), is mystery par excellence. And it is towards this that religion develops spiritual awe and bewilderment.

Atheists need to consider one fundamental question. What is this“given” reality? Not“designed life” or biology but existence (wajud) itself. We no longer need to invoke the“arguments from design.” Instead, attention needs to be directed towards the very existence of any existent thing per se. In other words, existence per se. The givenness of any“given” per se should become the focus of attention.

What is this“given” thing (anything at all)? Why fixate on the“design” of an eye, for example, when in fact even a stone in ultimate analysis is a mystery par excellence? What is a stone in its essence? What is an electron in its essence? What is energy in its essence? Why does anything exist at all?

For an evolutionary mechanism to operate, for example, there must be a background stage of the Earth's existence in the first place, without which biology cannot take off.

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