Page 28 - The Signs Leading to Faith
P. 28
The Signs Leading To Faith
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no clouds and thus no sources of fresh water on Earth. All we
would have is the oceans’ salt water, in which case humanity ei-
ther would not have survived or would have done so only in a
state of great difficulty and constant crisis. Without fresh water,
there would have been no agriculture, and the world would
have become a vast desert whose only product is famine. Yet
God gave us fresh water just about everywhere in the world.
For this, we must thank Him.
But to genuinely feel and express that gratitude, first of all
we must realize that water is a blessing. This, in turn, depends
on “thinking.” The example of water applies to all natural enti-
ties, living things, and phenomena around us, each of which is a
blessing from God. Yet in order to comprehend this, we need to
ask: “What would have happened had things been different?”
and make the necessary comparisons. And along with this, we
must understand that God has created the most delicate bal-
ances in all things. The importance of thinking about natural
phenomena and “using one’s reason” with regard to them is de-
scribed in another verse:
And in the alternation of night and day, and in the provision
God sends down from the sky, bringing Earth to life by it after
it has died, and in the varying direction of the winds, there are
Signs for people who use their intellect. (Qur’an, 45:5)
Those “people who use their intellect” are believers, be-
cause both intelligence and reason are acquired only through
faith. Since unbelievers are bereft of reason, they cannot com-
prehend His signs and so pass by these countless proofs with-
out seeing any of them. Indeed, unbelievers are characterized
by a lack of interest in the countless signs in Earth and sky and
