A Scientist’s God

Faith versus observable reality

I must start this essay by being very unscientific. That is, that I take Quran as the ultimate truth and the one truth that is able to explain everything.

And we have sent down on you a book (O Muhammad) that explains everything (Al-Quran).

It is being unscientific to accept Quran as the word of one true God because science only believes in what is the observable reality through the sense-perception while the faith is in the unseen or one that is unobserved through the organs of sense-perception. A scientist always wants himself to experience and “observe” the process of divine revelation through angels before he may accept the truth.

And each among them wants a clear book in his hands. (Al-Quran)

While for Abu-Bakr science or sense-perception was not his guiding principle. He believed in Quran even before it was fully revealed: very unscientific! He never ventured to critically evaluate Quran as being the ultimate truth: Once he proclaimed his faith, he was never in doubt. So Abu-Bakr may critically evaluate what the truth is and may ponder over (Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may think things out. -Al-Quran) it but shall never want a scientific proof for his belief.

If I, for instance, start by critically evaluating “if Quran is the ultimate truth or not”, and I die while evaluating that, then I shall die not in the state of faith but rather in a state of doubt. I would rather not take that chance, and even if it is to the discomfort of the “science-only atheist” I may proceed.

A very interesting scientific personality in Quran is Pharaoh. Regardless of the many Pharaohs in history books, there is only one Pharaoh who has been focused in Quran. This Pharaoh was encountered by Moses and was told about the Ultimate Reality of the existence of One God. Pharaoh at one point went very scientific and asked his minister, Haman, to build for him a tall building so he may look into the sky to observe for himself the existence or non-existence of a God.

A scientist always wants himself to experience and “observe” the process of divine revelation through angels before he may accept the truth

Pharaoh would have done the same thing if he had the opportunity to look through the Hubble telescope. I believe Quran is warning here of a scientific mind that is blind to the eternal reality while only depending on the observable reality. This scientist got a major setback at the end of his career. Quran informs us that at the time of his death, while Pharaoh could see that he was trapped inside water waves, he got connected to the reality of life and death and proclaimed his faith. But Quran goes on to reveal that his faith was no good when he was about to breathe his last because now the veils had been removed from his eyes, and faith according to the Quran is in the unseen only (Yuminoona bilghaib- They have faith in the unseen-Al Quran).

At this point Quran asks Pharaoh with great contempt “Now Pharaoh! While you denied earlier”. According to Quran, that is the fate of science-only approach to the quest for God. Likewise, we know from Quran that those on the Day of Judgment who would want to go back to Earth, after observing their ultimate fate, shall also be denied this as after observing the truth of hereafter, faith in the unseen would not be possible.

While there were some who wanted the revelation to come directly to them to acknowledge the truth, and some like Pharaoh who wanted to go on a scientific quest to find God, there were some others who wanted to see the general laws of accepted science overturned to believe in the world of unseen. To accept the existence of an unobservable and hence unscientific reality of God, such a people asked for equally unscientific feats to be performed in front of their eyes so that they could have some sign through sense-perception validating a messenger’s claims.

That takes us to the people of Hazrat Saleh who asked Saleh to show the “miracle of the camel”. According to Quran, Saleh’s scientific people who depended on observation were shown the miracle they asked for. Yet, “observing” this miracle through sense-perception didn’t bring faith to those scientists and resultantly they ended up qualifying for Allah’s wrath. Hence, according to Quran, scientific observation alone cannot serve as a tool to attain faith.

Quran has one word for all knowledge: Ilm, and does not divide the Ilm into secular and religious knowledge. Hence, Quran accepts all knowledge as pertaining to One Reality and originating from One God.

Quran’s acceptance of observable and scientific knowledge is also very plain and clear. Quran informs us that Hazrat Ibrahim asked God if He could “show” to him how He brought the dead back to life. There is a very revealing question that followed in Quran when Allah asked Ibrahim that if Ibrahim wanted “to see” or “to observe”, did his quest for knowledge was in a state where he had lost faith in Allah’s message that Allah could bring the dead back to life.

While there were some who wanted the revelation to come directly to them to acknowledge the truth, and some like Pharaoh who wanted to go on a scientific quest to find God

Ibrahim answered by saying that He definitely had the faith but yet wanted to observe for his heart to further grasp the truth. That is how faith works: it is independent of observation and precedes the quest for knowledge. Allah’s question and Ibrahim’s answer is a lesson for all those who have been left in doubt because of dazzling science and discovery of modern times and want to base their faith on observable scientific reality only. Hence, unlike philosophy, Quran confirms that there is truth in the observable universe but if you initiate your quest for knowledge in a state of doubt regarding the acceptance of Allah as the source of all creation then you end up compromising your faith. Ibrahim was shown from the observable reality that dead could be brought back to life. Ibrahim’s starting point was the same as Abu-Bakr’s starting point, and similar to how this essay started: with the acceptance of the truth before asking for proof using the scientific method of observation. Also, from that starting point of having faith in one true God, and the infallibility of Quran, a faithful must try, like Ibrahim, to explore the signs in the Heavens and the Earth. But a “science-only” atheist must excuse us as we are a people of faith.