Question: Materialism, upon which Marxism is based, alleges that the idea of God was derived from the ignorance of ancient men and suggested that the existence of God is not scientifically provable. What would you say?

Materialism, first of all, is not an ideology peculiar to Karl Marx alone. It is a philosophical ideology that has occasionally made itself heard since ancient times. Epicurus, for instance, was a materialist philosopher. Even in ancient times, non-materialist and spiritualist philosophers set forth ideas which refuted his ideas. In addition, people like Epikthethos went so far as to ridicule Epicurus who, in fact, had not even set forth a sound or meaningful ideology, but only repeated, in a different manner, some materialistic ideals of other Greek philosophers who were his predecessors. Hence, his ideas were nothing but mere repetitions of these earlier thoughts.

Indeed, the idea of materialism dates back to antiquity and it argues that basically only matter is real and that there is no such thing as an independent soul. Some have interpreted the soul to be a “power that can move” while some others have gone so far as to say that “the soul, essence, idea, and movements are all derivatives of the matter, as energy is a derivative of the matter or its converted form.”

A number of works have been compiled since this time to refute materialism and the ideas of materialist philosophers, such as Epicures and Democritus, have been argued against. However, materialists later formed an anti-Christianity materialistic front in Europe and revived materialism by gaining the support of modern sciences. As a consequence of the unsupervised adaptation of sciences from Europe and their literal translations into world languages, the negative reaction that has occurred against religion and spirituality in the West has occurred and become widespread in the world as well. Today the issue has been completely accepted, as if it has some basis on reality. This scientific, or more appropriately, philosophical materialism, has gained some power, and is thought of as true to a certain extent, and later became what was called historical materialism by Marx and Engels; the power of this thought increased as the ideals of these two thinkers gained supremacy in social and economic life in certain societies.

The Prophet Muhammad foretold many events that were going to take place throughout history; materialistic philosophy has no argument whatsoever to explain how a person can bring news from 14 centuries away.

Marx considers that matter is the basic reality and does not believe in any metaphysical thing beyond what is tangible. In his opinion, everything is derivative from the material. Keeping this point of view in mind, he says, in connection with economic life, for instance, then if a person organizes and betters his economic situation, only peace and prosperity can follow. Therefore, values such as religion and fine arts are secondary and are based on material welfare. However, some contemporary non-believing sociologist philosophers, such as Durkheim, objected to his thought, stressing that religion, fine arts, and even race do have great significance and importance in people’s lives. This shows that Marx’s ideals were not widely accepted, but instead, were instantly refuted by many Western thinkers as well as religious leaders. Such people also argued that in origin and in source Marx’s ideals were largely dependent on the ancient idea of materialism and that he was parroting Hegel’s words, yet turning the latter’s ideas pertaining to evolution and social life upside down.

By evaluating the history of social movements, Marx, in fact, does say things that are fairly accurate, as far as work and capital are concerned. But, his words are no more valuable than those of his predecessors, since he merely expressed them in accordance with the perception of his age. His materialistic and atheistic ideals are totally baseless allegations. There are so many esoteric and exoteric proofs and signs in the cosmos that the denial of God (Haqq, the Plain Truth) is not a possibility. No one can talk about real laboratory experiments or scientific evidence that Marx used to support his grand allegations denying all these proofs and signs. Moreover, it can be argued that materialism today has been totally destroyed. Those who are specifically engaged in material research and studies say that the ideal of materialism no longer exists. They express, with many proofs, the collapse of both materialism and the dissolution of Marx’s ideals. In addition, many European authors today are putting forward things that contradict his thought.

Believers of God constantly witness His spectacular art in every existence. The message revealed in the divine scriptures refers to the perfect harmony that operates in the universe and for believers each scientific discovery is evidence for the existence of God; “matter” points to its Creator, contrary to what materialistic philosophy teaches.

Firstly, there is an order that matter obeys, as does every other thing; to conclude that “if matter converts to a certain state, then it becomes thus” is not a correct interpretation. It is not acceptable to argue that a building can be built by the coming together of various pieces and particles used in its construction of their own free will. There are so many remarkable things that occur around a person, whether seen or unseen, sensed or not sensed by them, that if they look at their manifest appearance, it is clear that there is certainly an all-intelligent and all-knowing mastermind behind all these actions, transformations, and vicissitudes, since these do not have a consciousness.

There are many clear Qur’anic proofs and much evidence which are in fact cosmic realities. In addition, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, foretold many events that were going to take place throughout history; materialistic philosophy has no argument whatsoever to explain how a person can bring news from 14 centuries away. There are numerous such narrations of his sayings with regards to future events compiled in the hadith collections.