Javed Akhtar said… Our Prime Minister is better than God… at least he thinks about something!
New Delhi. Does God exist? A debate on this question between famous poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar and Islamic scholar Mufti Shamail Nadvi at the Constitution Club in New Delhi not only filled the auditorium to a packed house, but after this a heated debate was also seen on social media. This discussion, which lasted for about two hours, brought issues like faith, logic, morality and human suffering into focus.
The topic of this program of The Lallantop was – “Does God exist?” This was a rare occasion when a self-proclaimed atheist intellectual and a religious scholar were seen arguing face to face in a public forum.
Javed Akhtar gave the example of Gaza war in his arguments and said that if God is omnipresent and merciful, then how can he ignore the devastation happening there. He said, “If you are omnipotent and present everywhere, then you must be in Gaza too. You must have seen children being torn to pieces there. Still you want me to believe in you?” He said sarcastically, “Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi is better than him, at least he does care.”
Referring to religious violence, Javed Akhtar raised the question as to why asking questions in the name of God is stopped. He said, “What kind of God is there who allows children to die from bombs? If He exists and allows all this to happen, then it is better if He does not exist.”
Mufti Nadvi’s answer
Mufti Shamail Nadvi declared God innocent and said that the cause of evil is human free will, not God. He said, “God created evil, but he himself is not evil. Violence, rape or other crimes are the result of human choices.” He also said that science and scriptures cannot be a common criterion in the debate on the existence of God. He said, “Science is limited to the material world, while God is beyond it.”
Mufti Nadvi also argued that science can explain how the universe works, but not why it exists. He told Javed Akhtar, “If you don’t know, don’t say God doesn’t exist.”
conflict over faith vs faith
An important turning point of the debate came on the difference between belief and faith. Javed Akhtar said that belief is based on evidence, logic and testimony, whereas faith demands acceptance without proof. He said, “Where there is no evidence, no logic and no witnesses, yet if you are asked to believe, that is faith.”
He warned that such thinking prevents one from asking questions. On the issue of morality, Javed Akhtar said that morality is not a system made by nature, but by humans. He said, “There is no justice in nature. Morality is like traffic rules. Necessary for society, but not present in nature.”
As soon as the program ended, this debate started trending on social media. Some people called Javed Akhtar’s questions courageous and necessary, while many called it an attack on religious beliefs. At the same time, Mufti Shamail Nadvi received support for her restrained and philosophical answers.
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