27. "Sole Maker of the Heavens and the Earth! And when He decreeth a thing, He only saith to it, "Be" and it is." (Qur'an 2:117)

Swami's objection

C. ~ Now who heard God when He said "Be"? whom did He address that word and what came into being? Where from did this world come into existence when it is written in the Qoran that nothing but God existed before Creation? No effect can be produced without cause. How could He have then created this vast universe without (material) cause. You cannot even make one leg of a fly, how can you then believe that God create this world by the flat of His Will.

Mohammedan: - God is Almighty. He can do whatever He wills

C. ~ What does the word Almighty mean?

M.- It means that He can do whatever He likes.

C. ~ Can He create another God? Can He die? Can He become ill, ignorant or destitute of knowledge?

M.- No, He cannot.

C. ~ It is proved then that God cannot do any thing against His Own nature, attributes and characteristics or against those of others (matter and the soul). Three things are essential for the production of an effect:-

1. The (Efficient Cause) Maker, such as the potter in the case of the pot.
   
2. The Material Cause, such as clay.
   
3. The instruments where with to make an object like a pot.
   

Now just as the potter, clay and the necessary instruments must exist before the pot can be manufactured, likewise, God, and prakrati - the material cause of the Universe - with their inherent nature, attributes and characteristics must have existed before this Universe came into being. Hence what the Qoran says on Creation is altogether absurd.

The Response

This question is another fine example of how ignorant Swami ji was of the expressions used in the Arabic text of the Qur'an. Then the Swami sets up a fictitious dialogue between a Muslim and himself, and misrepresents the Muslim stance. Let me quote the complete verse in question with Arabic text and correct translation.

بَدِيعُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَإِذَا قَضَى أَمْراً فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ كُن فَيَكُونُ

"Originator of the heavens and the earth; when He decrees a thing, He only says to it ‘Be’ and it is."

The Swami asked who heard God when He said "Be"? The Swami has misunderstood the expression 'Be and it is'. Allah does not need to utter the word "Be" nor does anyone have to hear it. It is merely signifying a command; a way of expressing that when Allah wants anything to happen, the thing is bound to happen. Nothing can prevent it from happening. The thing to happen is already in the perfect foreknowledge of Allah and the instruction of Allah is directed towards it, making it manifest.

Now, the Swami has attempted here to establish the eternal existence of matter alongwith God, an issue which is one of the fundamentals of Arya Samaj. However, the Swami has used false logic to prove it. The verse in question uses a crucial word بَدِيعُ 'Badi' which means Originator or one who brings into existence for the first time and not after the similitude of anything pre-existing (Refer to Lane's Arabic Lexicon).  So this verse actually refutes the notion that matter is co-eternal with God.

Swami's low estimation of Almighty God

Swami ji holds God in low estimation and that is why he wrote, "How could He have then created this vast universe without (material) cause. You cannot even make one leg of a fly, how can you then believe that God create this world by the flat of His Will." This comparison is illogical. For example, we cannot make anything without hands and instruments. However, we know and even the Swami accepts in his book¹, that God does not need hands and instruments to make things. Now if someone asks the question to Swami and his followers, "When we cannot make anything without hands and instruments, how can God make things without hands and instruments?", how will they respond? Therefore, we can say that the question asked by the Swami is foolish.

Swami's fallacious questions

Swamiji himself set up a fictitous questions and answers with a Muslim in which he misrepresented the Muslim stance. The Swami asks, "Can He create another God? Can He die? Can He become ill, ignorant or destitute of knowledge?" All these questions are inherently fallacious as they violate the nature of God and render God powerless rather than Omnipotent. 'Can God create another God' is a meaningless question because God is uncreated. It is like asking, "Did the man give birth to a girl or a boy?" A man does not give birth Swamiji. Again God cannot die because it is violating the attributes of God Same is the case with being ignorant. All these questions of Swami are fallacious because they violate the attributes of God and render God powerLESS instead of Almighty/Omnipotent. However, creating matter from nothingness does not violate any of God's attributes, nor does it make God powerless. Being ignorant, sick, dying are all defects while creating matter out of nothing is not a defect.

Swami's fallacious analogy

The Swami gives the analogy of a potter and compares God to a potter. See the Swami's low estimation of God. he says,

Three things are essential for the production of an effect:-

1. The (Efficient Cause) Maker, such as the potter in the case of the pot.
   
2. The Material Cause, such as clay.
   
3. The instruments where with to make an object like a pot.
   

Now just as the potter, clay and the necessary instruments must exist before the pot can be manufactured, likewise, God, and prakrati - the material cause of the Universe - with their inherent nature, attributes and characteristics must have existed before this Universe came into being.

Now let me refute the Swami using his own fallacious analogy. The Swami says that three things are essential for an effect but only explains two essential things for God.

Criteria	Universe	Pot
1. Efficient Cause	God	Potter
2. Material Cause	Matter	Clay
3. Instruments	NIL	Potter's Wheel, a rod and Hands

As we can see Swami refutes his own theory by rejecting any instruments and hands for God while he listed them as ESSENTIAL in the criteria for producing an effect. Consequently, if God is not in need of hands and intruments for creating this universe, then God is also not in need of any pre-existing matter. The fact is that the analogy given by the Swami is foolish. If God only combines pre-existing matter like a potter, then the potter also is a smaller god.

Further, this notion of the Swami that God (Ishwara), Matter (Prakriti) and Soul (Aatma/Jiva) are co-eternal is NOWHERE mentioned in the Vedas. On the contrary the Rigveda clearly mentions that creation/existence (sat) sprang from non-existence (asat), देवानां युगे परथमे.असतः सदजायत, [Rigved 10/72/3].

Swamiji had also objected to the phrase 'Be and it is', while Hindu texts themselves attribute similar phrases to their God. For example, Shatapath Brahman of Yajurveda 2/1/4/11 says,

Verily, with 'bhûh!' Prajâpati generated this earth; with 'bhuvah!' the ether; with 'svah!' the sky.

So it is established that the objection of the Swami is foolish and self contradictory.

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1. Satyarth Prakash Chapter 7, No. 17. Quoted from Swetasvetara Upanishad 6:8