Are We Missing the Signs While Waiting for a Miracle? True Knowledge and Faith

10 November 2021

Question: Do we need to see something extraordinary to believe in Allah’s existence?

People sometimes grow accustomed to the signs before their eyes.

The things we see every day become ordinary. Our bodies, the sky, snowflakes, leaves, and the order of matter no longer astonish us.

Then we ask for a greater sign.

Verse 118 of Surah Al-Baqarah states that those without knowledge say, “Why does Allah not speak to us, or a sign come to us?” It recalls that those before them said similar things.

The problem may not merely be a scarcity of signs.

Sometimes the problem is a lack of awareness with which to see the sign.

Why Is Being Able to Say “I Do Not Know” Important?

People may gain confidence as they acquire knowledge. But knowledge does not make us limitless.

Being able to acknowledge what we do not know opens the door to learning.

When learning a profession, we become apprentices. We ask the master. When we make a mistake, we correct it.

When trying to understand Allah’s creation and judgment, we also need to know our own limits.

Question: Do we think we can fully encompass what is limitless with our limited minds?

Just as we cannot fit the ocean into a container, limited human knowledge cannot encompass all truth.

This does not mean stopping thought.

On the contrary, it means being humble while thinking.

Saying “I do not know” means knowing where knowledge begins, rather than accepting ignorance.

When people place themselves in the position of knowing everything, they may fail to see even the sign before them.

Does Seeing a Miracle Guarantee Faith?

The Qur’an describes past peoples witnessing extraordinary events. Although Moses’ people witnessed many signs, they were still able to make wrongful demands.

This means that a person’s problem is not always “I did not see.”

How they interpret what they see also matters.

Let us consider the order of a snowflake, the functioning of our body, and the structure of a leaf.

These seem ordinary to us because they recur every day.

But becoming ordinary does not diminish their value as signs.

Question: While waiting for an extraordinary miracle, are we devaluing the signs we constantly encounter?

Faith is not established through astonishment alone.

People need to make an effort to think, connect signs, and approach knowledge.

The same applies to understanding the Qur’an.

Instead of reading a verse and expecting to grasp its entire meaning immediately, we need to dwell on it and see its connections.

True knowledge requires effort.

How Will We Distinguish Truth from Falsehood?

Verse 119 of Surah Al-Baqarah states that the Prophet was sent with the truth, as a bearer of good tidings and a warner.

Here we need to dwell on “truth.”

Truth is what is sound and real. Falsehood is the baseless, wrong side that produces no result.

True knowledge opens the door to other true knowledge.

In the physical sciences too, when a fact is learned, other conclusions are reached through it. If something does not work, we look again; we correct what is wrong.

We should show ourselves the same honesty in matters of belief and standards for life.

We cannot accept something as truth because it pleases us.

Nor can we consider what is right false because we dislike it.

Truth does not change shape according to our desires.

That is why, while learning, we pay attention to evidence, meaning, and outcome.

Warning Is Not Forcing

The Prophet’s task is to bring good tidings and warn. It is not to force people to believe.

This measure matters in our relationships too.

We can explain what is right to our child. We can warn a friend. We can share a truth we know with a relative.

But we cannot take over the other person’s will.

Question: Do we know the boundary between explaining what is right and forcing someone to behave as we want?

The value of a warning may diminish when it turns into coercion.

People bear responsibility for their own choices.

We, meanwhile, examine whether our own words are true, fair, and clean.

A Tangible Goal Should Have an Intangible Purpose Behind It

People want a home, a car, a job, a position.

These are tangible goals.

But if there is no greater purpose behind a tangible goal, an emptiness may remain even when the outcome is achieved.

We bought the house. Then we wanted a larger one. We bought the car. Then we wanted a newer one.

Desire did not end.

For an object cannot be the meaning of life.

When there is an intangible purpose behind a tangible goal, such as Allah’s pleasure, being useful, and doing good to others, the goal takes a different place.

We can practice our profession not only for money, but also to be useful.

We can acquire knowledge not only to appear superior, but to share.

We can use wealth not only to accumulate it, but to attend to needs.

This purpose protects us from idolizing the outcome.

Beginning to See the Sign Before Us

The Qur’an calls us to think.

But thinking is not merely asking questions. We also need to make an effort while seeking the answer.

Approaching everything with “Show me a miracle” may turn into disregarding the signs before us.

Let us choose a sign today.

It may be our own body. It may be a plant. It may be a scientific fact we have learned. It may be a verse in the Qur’an.

Let us dwell on it and ask, “What does this show me?”

Question: Are we truly complaining of a scarcity of signs, or are we not reflecting enough on the sign we see?

Let us accept remaining apprentices in order to reach true knowledge.

Instead of becoming arrogant over what we know, let us learn what we do not know.

Let us hear the warning, but also bear responsibility for our choice.

Let us not miss the sign while seeking a miracle; truth often stands right before our eyes.

The Order We See Every Day Is Also a Sign

People may become unable to see what they have grown accustomed to.

We may consider the formation of countless flakes when it snows, the processes occurring simultaneously within our bodies, or the order found in a tiny piece of matter ordinary.

Yet when we dwell on these, we move away from thinking of the concept of a “sign” merely as an extraordinary display.

A sign is something that calls us to think.

Question: Does something recurring every day truly diminish its astonishing value?

Our becoming accustomed to the sun rising every morning does not remove its order.

Nor does becoming accustomed to our body’s functioning mean that we have understood it completely.

As science advances, new details emerge. When we learn one fact, other questions arise.

The productivity of true knowledge can be seen here. Correct knowledge opens the door to new, sound questions.

As people learn, they may realize how much more they do not know.

That is why it is important not to lose the sense of being an apprentice.

When approaching the Qur’an too, we need to be open to learning anew instead of adopting the attitude “I already know.”

We may have read a verse for years. But as our lives change, we may notice another aspect of it.

Let us also look at our tangible goals with this awareness. A home, work, and money are means.

The real purpose lies in which truth we use these means to serve.

Signs call us to think not only in the sky, but also within the order we experience every day.