of atheists: “What is the proof that the Maker exists?”

He replied, “Leave me for now; my mind is preoccupied with something strange.”

They said, they said, “What is it?”

He said, “I have heard that there is an enormous ship on the Tigris, laden with all kinds of remarkable goods, travelling back and forth without anyone moving it or looking after it.”

They said to him, “Are you mad?”

He asked, “Why is that?”

They said, “Would any rational person believe this?”

He replied, “Then how could your minds accept that this world, with all its varied kinds of things and remarkable events, and this revolving, moving celestial sphere, run their course; that these events occur without anyone bringing them about; and that these moving things move without anyone moving them?”

They turned to reproach themselves. Likewise, if one were told, “This ship has secured itself at the shore, with no one fastening it or tying it up,” reason would reject that claim. The same applies if one says, “Things that have come into being endure and remain without anyone sustaining or upholding them.”

For this reason, He, glorified be He, has drawn attention to both matters. References to the first are numerous. As for the second, it appears in such statements as His words:

“Indeed, Allah holds the heavens and the earth lest they fall away. And if they were to fall away, no one after Him could hold them. Indeed, He is Forbearing, Forgiving.”
Fātir 41

And His words:

“And among His signs is that the heaven and the earth stand by His command.”
Al-Rūm 25

And His words:

“He raised the heavens without pillars that you can see.”
Al-Raʿd 2

This preservation is effected through the provision with which Allah sustains created beings, as stated by Allah