﷽
A common recurring phenomenon in the Qur’an is that God asks and invites us to reflect on His signs in the heavens and the earth, as the following verses can testify:
“and there are many signs in the heavens and the earth that they pass by and give no heed to” (12:106)
“We have made Our signs clear enough to those who have solid faith” (2:118)
Furthermore, we often hear the same invitation to contemplation in lectures and sermons by Islamic scholars. The problem is many of us just can’t, and don’t, see these manifestations of majesty around us. Without saying they don’t exist, so much of our cognitive capacity is hoarded by the things directly affecting our daily lives (midterms, assignments, what we’re having for dinner, and the rest), that we tend to miss these signs.
The purpose of this article is to, God willing, introduce a way of thinking that might make us more aware of these signs of divine glory around us. To begin, I’d like to present a scenario.
Suppose you work in a laboratory dealing with potentially harmful chemicals. As you prepare substances with meticulous precision, you begin to feel lighter all of a sudden. The next thing you notice makes your heart drop: the chemical that so obediently was making it’s way down into a vial is now slowly moving up. Your feet leave the ground and you are gently lifted like a feather. In this moment of suspension, you come to the realization that gravity, that old pal who always kept you down to earth, has given up. After a few minutes of the most surreal moment of your life, you slowly begin to descend. As gravity returns, you once again curse your luck as you now have a dangerous chemical spill to deal with.
Regardless of how unreal this scenario may be, it serves a purpose. It shows us that something like gravity is such an essential part of our lives that we never even think to imagine how things would be if gravity didn’t work in the obedient way that it does. What would happen if gravity chose to torment us and stopped working from time to time? One can only imagine how Newton would have felt if the apple only fell half the time. Clearly such a situation would be anything but desirable.
So how does this relate to our contemplation of God’s magnificence? Well, if you have never had to experience a shortage of gravity, you have experienced God’s mercy.
God, out of His infinite mercy, has created this world with various laws and constants, which we can come to understand, one such being the law of gravity. He has provided us with a world that is balanced and predictable which is why we do not live in fear that something as essential as gravity will fail us.
As God says in the Qur’an:
“Among His signs, too, is the fact that the heavens and the earth stand firm by His command.” (30:25)
This idea also illustrates that this world is a gift and so is our ability to subject it to our whims. We can survive here without fear as God has allowed the world to be a sandbox of predictable rules.
As the Qur’an tells us:
“He has made what is in the heavens and the earth beneficial to you, all as a gift from Him. There truly are signs in this for those who reflect” (45:13)
This means that we must constantly be thankful for this ease and never be so arrogant as to expect the world to work in the way it does without acknowledging God’s divine decree. He could have just as easily given an unpredictable hostile world where each human would have to fend for him or herself. Instead He gifted us a beautiful playground to see which of us would be thankful.
So the next time you hear a mention of the signs of God, reflect on how the world has subjected itself to you so that you may live and prosper, for in this is a sign of God’s mercy. Then, be thankful.
…and God knows best.
Saad Mahmood holds the secretary position at Keeping it Halal.
A common recurring phenomenon in the Qur’an is that God asks and invites us to reflect on His signs in the heavens and the earth, as the following verses can testify:
“and there are many signs in the heavens and the earth that they pass by and give no heed to” (12:106)
“We have made Our signs clear enough to those who have solid faith” (2:118)
Furthermore, we often hear the same invitation to contemplation in lectures and sermons by Islamic scholars. The problem is many of us just can’t, and don’t, see these manifestations of majesty around us. Without saying they don’t exist, so much of our cognitive capacity is hoarded by the things directly affecting our daily lives (midterms, assignments, what we’re having for dinner, and the rest), that we tend to miss these signs.
The purpose of this article is to, God willing, introduce a way of thinking that might make us more aware of these signs of divine glory around us. To begin, I’d like to present a scenario.
Suppose you work in a laboratory dealing with potentially harmful chemicals. As you prepare substances with meticulous precision, you begin to feel lighter all of a sudden. The next thing you notice makes your heart drop: the chemical that so obediently was making it’s way down into a vial is now slowly moving up. Your feet leave the ground and you are gently lifted like a feather. In this moment of suspension, you come to the realization that gravity, that old pal who always kept you down to earth, has given up. After a few minutes of the most surreal moment of your life, you slowly begin to descend. As gravity returns, you once again curse your luck as you now have a dangerous chemical spill to deal with.
Regardless of how unreal this scenario may be, it serves a purpose. It shows us that something like gravity is such an essential part of our lives that we never even think to imagine how things would be if gravity didn’t work in the obedient way that it does. What would happen if gravity chose to torment us and stopped working from time to time? One can only imagine how Newton would have felt if the apple only fell half the time. Clearly such a situation would be anything but desirable.
So how does this relate to our contemplation of God’s magnificence? Well, if you have never had to experience a shortage of gravity, you have experienced God’s mercy.
God, out of His infinite mercy, has created this world with various laws and constants, which we can come to understand, one such being the law of gravity. He has provided us with a world that is balanced and predictable which is why we do not live in fear that something as essential as gravity will fail us.
As God says in the Qur’an:
“Among His signs, too, is the fact that the heavens and the earth stand firm by His command.” (30:25)
This idea also illustrates that this world is a gift and so is our ability to subject it to our whims. We can survive here without fear as God has allowed the world to be a sandbox of predictable rules.
As the Qur’an tells us:
“He has made what is in the heavens and the earth beneficial to you, all as a gift from Him. There truly are signs in this for those who reflect” (45:13)
This means that we must constantly be thankful for this ease and never be so arrogant as to expect the world to work in the way it does without acknowledging God’s divine decree. He could have just as easily given an unpredictable hostile world where each human would have to fend for him or herself. Instead He gifted us a beautiful playground to see which of us would be thankful.
So the next time you hear a mention of the signs of God, reflect on how the world has subjected itself to you so that you may live and prosper, for in this is a sign of God’s mercy. Then, be thankful.
…and God knows best.
Saad Mahmood holds the secretary position at Keeping it Halal.
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