The Big Debates & Islamic Awareness Tour 2010


Please join me on this tour of UK universities and communities. Lectures include the existence of God, responding to new atheism, demystifying and explaining Islam and much more. The seven big debates include topics related to religion, morality, Islam and God.
  1. "God: Delusion or Truth" - Northumbria University 26/01/2010, 6pm - 9pm. For more info please email su.islamicsociety@unn.ac.uk.
  2. Debate "Does God Exist?" - Sussex University 27/01/2010, 6pm. Arts A Leture Theatre. For more info please email smk28@sussex.ac.uk.
  3. Open Panel Discussion - University College London (UCL) 28/01/2010
  4. Debate "God - Delusion or Truth?" - QM University, London, 5pm 29/01/2010. Skeels Lecture Theatre.
  5. "Why I Converted to Islam?" - QM University, London Mile End 01/02/2010
  6. Debate "Does God Exist & Can We Live Good Lives Without Him?" - UCL 03/02/2010, 6:45pm - 8:45pm. Christopher Ingold Auditorium, Christopher Ingold Building. 20 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AJ.
  7. "If God is Good why is there so much Evil in the World?" - Kings College 05/02/2010, 5:30pm. Waterloo Campus, B5.
  8. "Does God Exist?" - University of Essex 06/02/2010, 9am - 5pm. Ivor Crewe Hall, Wivenhoe Park, CO4 3SQ, Colchester.
  9. "Can We Live Better Lives Without Religion?" - QM University (Medics) 08/02/2010, 5:30pm. Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Milton LT, Garrod Building, Turner Street, Whitechapel, London E1 2AD.
  10. "Why Islam?" - Bristol University 09/02/2010, 6:15pm. Reception Room, Wills Memorial Building, Queens Road. BS8 1RJ.
  11. Debate "God: Delusion or Truth?" - Warwick University 10/02/2010 6:30pm, Room H0.52.
  12. "Can We Live Better Lives Without Religion?" - Lancaster University 11/02/2010, 6:30pm. Faraday Building, Cavendish LT.
  13. "The Qur'an, Language & History" - London School of Economics (LSE) 12/02/2010, 6:30pm. New Theatre.
  14. "Does God Exist?" - University of Sheffield 15/02/2010, 6:30pm. Arts Tower Lecture Theatre 6.
  15. Debate "Islamic Law: Barbaric or Misunderstood?" - Bradford University 17/02/2010, 1:45pm. Room H33, Richmond Building.
  16. "Does God Exist? The Muslim Reponse to Neo-Atheism" - Bath University 18/02/2010, 6:30pm - 8:30pm. Room 8W1.1
  17. Debate "The God Delusion?" - Cambridge University 19/02/2010, 6pm at the Cambridge Union Debate Chamber. With the highly aclaimed academic atheist Professor Simon Blackburn.
  18. "Why Islam?" - University of Kent 22/02/2010, 6pm. Grimond Lecture Theatre 2.
  19. "Does God Exist & Can We Live Better Lives Without Religion?" - University of Birmingham 23/02/2010, 4pm. Nuffield G17.
  20. "Who is God" - SOAS University 24/02/2010, 7pm. Khalili Lecture Theatre. London WC1H 0XG.
  21. "Does God Exist?" - St. Georges University 25/02/2010, 6:30pm - 8:30pm. Michael Heron Lecture Theatre.
  22. "Does God Exist?" - Loughborough University 01/03/2010, 6:30PM. James France Building, CC012.
  23. "Is Islam the Truth?" - Keele University 02/03/2010, 5:30pm. Westminster Theatre.
  24. "The Belief of a Muslim Explained" UCL 03/03/2010, 6pm. Chemistry Auditorium, Christopher Inglod Building.
  25. "Grill a Muslim: Q & A" - Cardiff University 04/03/2010, 6pm. Great Hall Students Union.
  26. Debate "Is God a Delusion?" - Kingston University 05/03/2010, 5:30pm - 7:45pm. Clattern Lecture Hall, Penrhyn Road, Surrey KT1 2EE. With Stephen Law, Senior Lecturer and Philosopher.
  27. "God: Reality or Fairytales?" - Wolverhampton University 08/03/2010, 12pm. The Zone - Students Union.
  28. "Can We Live Better Lives Without Religion?" - Aston University 10/03/2010, 1pm. Guildhall.
  29. "Why Islam?" - Southampton University 11/03/2010. Building 46 Room 3001, 7pm.
  30. "Is Islamic Law Barbaric?" - Leicester University 16/03/2010, 7pm. Rattray Lecture Theatre.
  31. "Darwin & Dawkins: The Prophets of Atheism Unveiled" - Plymouth University 17/03/2010, 5:45pm. Roland Levinsky Building Lecture Theatre 2.
  32. "The God Delusion: A Lecture on the Existence of God" - Oxford Brookes University 31/03/2010, 6:30pm. Llyods Lecture Theatre, Gipsy Lane.
  33. Dialogue "God - Delusion or Truth?" - Sheffield Hallam University 14/04/2010, 6pm. Students Union, The Hub.
  34. "Purpose of Life" - London Metropolitan University 16/04/2010. Moorgate 84 Moorgate London EC2M 6SQ. Call Abu Bakr 07792155852.

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Reflections on the Self


The Qur’an is a dynamic and intrusive text that constantly seeks to engage with the inner dispositions of man. The Qur’an achieves this by asking profound questions concerning natural phenomena, life and the universe. However the Qur’an does not stop at addressing these themes, it also asks about man himself. Who is he? Where is he going? What is he? It eloquently asks the question “Do they not reflect within themselves?”[1]

The above verse doesn’t only refer to the human body but refers to ourselves in general which includes physiological and psychological dimensions. We often contemplate and reflect on the universe outside of ourselves, but we seldom meditate on the micro-universe within ourselves. Although there is so much to write about concerning human physiology, the purpose of this note is to discuss one of the most important oversights of our thinking: the self.

Human beings experience things all the time, this note you are reading is an experience and even talking about your experience is an experience. However the ultimate reality that we know from any experience is the experiencer itself, in other words ourselves. When we realise that there is a first-person, an “I”, “me” or “mine” we come to face a profound mystery, the Philosopher Roy Abraham Varghese puts it nicely, he writes, “To reverse Descartes, ‘I am, therefore I think...’ Who is this ‘I’? ‘Where’ is it? How did it come to be? Your self is not just something physical.”[2]

The self is not a physical thing; it is not contained in any cell or biological structure. The most unchallenged and intuitive reality is that we are all aware, but we cannot describe or explain what this awareness is. One thing that we can be sure of is that the self cannot be explained biologically or chemically, the main reason for this is that science doesn’t discover the self; it’s actually the other way round. For science to try and explain the truth of the self would be tantamount to arguing in a circle! Even scientists recognise this, the physicist Gerald Schroeder points out that there is no real difference between a heap of sand and the brain of an Einstein. The advocates of a physical explanation for the self end up in a muddle as they require answers to even bigger questions such as ‘how can certain bits of matter suddenly create a new reality that has no resemblance to matter?’

So if the self cannot be explained physically then the next question must be asked, ‘how did it come to be?’ The history of the universe indicates that consciousness just spontaneously arose and language emerged without any evolutionary forerunner. So where did it come from? Even the neo-atheists have failed to come to terms with the nature of the self and its source, because no physical explanation is coherent enough to convince. The best-seller and popular atheist Richard Dawkins almost admits defeat concerning the self and consciousness, he states “We don’t know. We don’t understand it.”[3]

The best explanation for the nature and source of the self is that it came from a source that is thinking, aware and conscious. How else can the self, which is an entity with a capacity to reflect and experience, manifest itself? It cannot have come from unconscious matter incapable to experience and ponder. Simply put matter cannot produce concepts and perceptions, therefore we can conclude that the self cannot have a material basis but must have come from a living source that transcends the material world; and this is best explained by God. No other answer provides an adequate explanation for this phenomenon.

[1] Qur’an 30:8
[2] There is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist changed his Mind. Anthony Flew with Roy Abraham Varghese. Appendix A, p 180.
[3] Richard Dawkins and Steeve Pinker, “Is Science Killing the Soul?” The Guardian-Dillons Debate, Edge 53. April 8, 1999.
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Debate Video: Can We Live Better Lives Without Religion?

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My Next Event: "The Book That Shook The World" FOSIS Tour


"The Book That Shook The World"
The FOSIS Tour - December 2009

Hamza Andreas Tzortzis will give a lecture on:
1. What is the Qur'an?
2. The intellectual challenge of the Qur'an
3. The Philosophy of its Miralce
4. Linguistic appreciation of surah al-Kawthar
5. What Muslim & Non-Muslim Scholars say
6. The historical and political impact of the Qur'an
7. The Qur'an in the 21st Century
8. Lessons we can learn for today
9. Responding to some common objections

Wed 9th – Manchester
5 - 7pm, Roscoe Building, Manchester University

Thurs 10th – Dundee
6 - 7.30pm, Dalhousie Building, Dundee University

Fri 11th – Aberdeen
7 - 9pm, NK6 New Kings, Old Aberdeen Campus, Aberdeen University

For further information please contact Sister Nada services.gensec@fosis.org.uk
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