“The First Cause Argument Is proof that God exists”

Muslims would agree with the statement. The premises of the argument are that because the
universe exists, the universe has a cause. Since there is a cause, there must be something that
resulted in the cause. For Muslims, they naturally see this is Allah. Muslims believe therefore that
the first cause argument proves the existence of Allah.

However, I think this viewpoint is flawed. While the first premises are sound (The Universe has a
cause, so something must have caused it), jumping to the premise that caused it and concluding that
Allah exists because of it is not sound, as theoretically, the universe could have been caused by any
transcendant and omnipotent being – we cannot jump to the conclusion that it is Allah without
proof.

Another weakness of the First Cause argument is the fact that it does not account for any sort of
‘chance’. As is widely believed, the universe was caused by an explosion – this could very well have
been by chance, the right place at the right time.

Christians would partially agree – some do see the first cause argument similar to the way Muslims
do, as proving the existence of an omnipotent, omnibenevolent and transcendant God, however a
lot of Christians also believe in the Design Argument. The Design Argument suggests that, if we find a
pebble, that is natural and does not require explaining. However, if we find a watch, that is a
complex device which must have been intentionally designed. The watch is an analogy for the
universe. Essentially, the argument states that the universe could not have been created out of
chance, it is too complex and ‘perfect’ for that. There must be a designer, who Christians believe to
be God.

In conclusion, I disagree with this statement. I believe that it could have been any omnipotent being
who brought the universe into existence, or even that it was pure chance. However, I do not think
that it proves the existence of God.