Abu Hanifa and The Atheist

Abu Hanifa and The Atheist

History is rife with many great thinkers, especially in the Islamic tradition. Abu Hanifa is an example of a wise man who engaged his intellectual adversaries logically. This is a rendition of Abu Hanifa's classic encounter with an atheist. 

In the era when the ancient city of Baghdad was a citadel of knowledge and scientific advancement, was a story about an atheist and Abu Hanifa. On one side of River Tigris were royal palaces and on the other side was the city. One fateful day an atheist approached the Muslims gathered at the royal palace and said to them, “I don't believe in God, there cannot be a God, because you cannot see or hear Him; you are all wasting your time! Bring me your best debater and I will debate the issue with him.” After the atheist literally threw down the gauntlet, the decision was made to contact the best debater at the time, which happened to be Imam Abu Hanifa. 

A messenger from amongst the Muslims was sent over the River Tigris to the city where Abu Hanifa resided, to inform him about the challenge from the atheist. After crossing the River Tigris, the messenger conveyed the atheist's challenge to Abu Hanifa, and he confirmed his intention to attend the debate. The messenger returned, travelling over the River Tigris once again to the Royal Palaces, where everyone, including the atheist, awaited the arrival of Abu Hanifa. It was sunset at the time and one hour had passed, but Abu Hanifa still had not arrived. Another hour had passed, and there was still no sign of Abu Hanifa. The Muslims started becoming tense and worried about Abu Hanifa's absence and lateness. The Muslims were confronted with a dilemma, they did not want the atheist to think that Muslims were too scared to debate him, yet they did not want to take up the challenge themselves, because Abu Hanifa was the best of debaters amongst the Muslims. Again, another hour passed, and suddenly the atheist started laughing and remarked, “Your best debater is too scared! He knows he is wrong; he is too frightened to come and debate with me. I guarantee he will not turn up today!” 

After many hours of waiting, the Muslims increased in apprehension, and the atheist had a haughty smile on his face. The clock ticked on and on, until Abu Hanifa finally arrived. The Muslims inquired about his lateness and remarked, “O Abu Hanifa, a messenger sent for you hours ago, and you arrive now, do explain your tardiness to us.” Abu Hanifa apologises for his lateness and begins to explain, as the atheist listens to his story. Abu Hanifa stated: “Once the messenger delivered the message to me, I began to make my way to the River Tigris, and on reaching the riverbank, I realised there was no boat available for me to cross the river. As it was getting dark, I looked around, and there was no boat anywhere nor was there a navigator or a sailor in sight, for me to cross the river to the Royal Palaces. I continued to look around for a boat, as I did not want the atheist to think I was running away from debating him. As I was contemplating my next move, I stood by the riverbank looking for a navigator or a boat, when something strange caught my attention in the middle of the river. I looked forward, and to my surprise I saw planks of wood rising to the surface from the riverbed. I was shocked and confounded, and I could not believe what I was seeing. Readymade planks of the same width and length were rising to the surface and adjoining seamlessly. I was truly astounded by what was happening and wondered if my eyes were deceiving me. I continued to look at the middle of the river, and then I saw nails emanating from the river. The nails were properly positioned by the planks, and without anything effort or tools, the nails held all the planks together firmly. I stood in amazement and thought to myself, 'O Allah, how can all this be happening; planks of wood rising to the surface by itself, and then nails affixing without any hammering' I could not understand what was happening before my eyes.” Meanwhile, the atheist was listening to Abu Hanifa's story with a wry smile on his face. Abu Hanifa continued, “I was still standing by the riverbank watching these planks of wood join with nails when I noticed water seeping through the gaps in the wood. Suddenly, I saw a sealant appear from the river and it began sealing all the gaps by itself. Again, I thought, 'Ya Allah how is this possible, how can a sealant appear and seal the gaps without any visible effort, and nails appear without anyone hammering them?' Then, I looked closer, and I could see a boat forming before my very eyes! As I stood in astonishment, a sail suddenly appeared, and I pondered, 'How is this happening, a self-created boat has appeared before my eyes, and now a sail?' So, I thought 'how can I use this boat to cross the river to the Royal Palaces?' I stood staring in wonderment when the boat suddenly began to move. The boat came towards me, by sailing against the current, and parked floating beside me at the riverbank. I felt as if the boat was informing me to embark onto it. So, I boarded the boat, and yet again, it began to move. There was no navigator or sailor on the boat, but it was able to sail towards the direction of the royal palaces, without any instruction as to my intended destination.  

I really could not comprehend what was happening! This boat had formed and was taking me to my destination. The boat eventually reached the other side of the River Tigris and I disembarked. As I turned around, the boat had vanished, and that is why I arrived late.” 

At that moment, the atheist bursts out laughing hysterically and remarked, “O Abu Hanifa, I heard you were the best debater from amongst the Muslims, I heard that you were the wisest, the most knowledgeable from amongst your people.” The atheist continued, “From seeing you today, I can confirm that you possess none of those qualities. You speak of planks appearing from nowhere, nails positioning without being hammered, self-applying sealant, and the boat sailing to your destination without a navigator, and it was against the tide! You are talking gibberish! Your story is ridiculous, I am having none of it and I do not believe a word of it!” Abu Hanifa turned to the atheist and replied, “You do not believe a word of it? You do not believe that planks and nails can appear from nowhere and self-affix? You do not believe sealants can be self-applying? You do not believe a boat can move without a navigator; hence, you do not believe that a boat can appear from nowhere without a boat maker?” The atheist remarked defiantly, and reiterated, “Yes, I do not believe a word of it!” Abu Hanifa calmly replied, “If you cannot believe that a boat came into being without a boat maker, how can you believe that the whole world, the universe, the stars, the oceans, the planets and everything that exists came into being without a creator?” Utterly befuddled by Abu Hanifa's sapient response, the atheist fled the debate venue. 

The encounter between the atheist and Abu Hanifa is very intriguing and filled with much wisdom. Contemporarily, there are many people in the category of the atheist, with their major problem being inherent hubristic tendencies obstructing their imaginative pathways, which manifests as a limitation to their ratiocinative capabilities.  

How can you, as a creation, acknowledge the intelligent design of yourself and environment, which is also a creation, then deny the existence of an Intelligent Designer – The Creator? The denial of this reality is self-defeatist and is tantamount to denying your very own existence!

Excerpt from pgs 58-62 of P.R.I.S.M: Primal Religious Instruction Serving Mankind by M.B.O Owolowo ©️