From Blind Faith to Witnessing the Divine Presence Dr. M. Omar April 2012, Orlando Awaken to Presence Transform your life workshop series

What is the difference between blind faith and witnessing the divine presence (Shahadah)? How does divine revelation guide us to witness the divine presence?

Critical Questions Do we believe in God because we are people of faith? Are we people of faith because we believe in God?

The divine revelation guides us to unify the Source and witness His Presence through contemplation and reasoning.

The Quran does not expect us to blindly accept faith.. قَالَتِ الْأَعْرَابُ آمَنَّا ۖ قُل لَّمْ تُؤْمِنُوا وَلَٰكِن قُولُوا أَسْلَمْنَا وَلَمَّا يَدْخُلِ الْإِيمَانُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ The dwellers of the desert say, “We have attained to faith.” Say [unto them]: “You have not [yet] attained to faith; you should [rather] say, ‘We have [outwardly] surrendered’ for [true] faith has not yet entered your hearts. (Quran 49:14)

“It is He who sends down water for you from the sky, from which comes a drink for you, and the shrubs that you feed to your animals. With it He grows for you grain, olives, palms, vines, and all kinds of other crops. There truly is a sign in this for those who contemplate” (Quran, 16:10-11) Like the above passage, there are hundreds of verses in the Quran that explicitly talk about creation as signs, urging us to contemplate on them.

If I already believe there is a transcendent divine being, why should I give serious thought and contemplate on the creation? I already know that God creates everything. It is enough to read this Quranic verse once.

The Quran does not want me to memorize its definitions about who God is… Rather, it guides my contemplation, so that the concept of God in my mind and heart is shaped through my direct experience…

There is a life changing contemplation method taught in the divine revelation. The passage is telling us that there is a sign in these things for us, if we contemplate on it.

The Quran: The manual The universe and myself: The lab to contemplate and experientially acquire the meanings… Through this process, I am transformed through Divine Revelation. Aisha, Prophet Muhammad’s (p) wife said: “His virtues were the Quran.”

“It is He who sends down water for you from the sky, from which comes a drink for you, and the shrubs that you feed to your animals. With it He grows for you grain, olives, palms, vines, and all kinds of other crops. There truly is a sign in this for those who contemplate” (Quran, 16:10-11) The passage talks about a “He.” But who is “He”? My understanding of “He” is expected to be shaped through contemplating according to this verse. I should not jump into conclusions utilizing my previous knowledge. Instead, I should see where the verse is taking me regarding knowing the “He.”

“It is He who sends down water for you from the sky, from which comes a drink for you, and the shrubs that you feed to your animals. With it He grows for you grain, olives, palms, vines, and all kinds of other crops. There truly is a sign in this for those who contemplate” (Quran, 16:10-11) Certain actions are attributed to “He” in this passage. He actively sends down water for us, grows for us grains, etc.

But, doesn’t the rain come from the clouds and we know “how” they are formed (the water cycle)? Don’t olives, grains, and palms grow “naturally” when we plant the seed in the right environment? How come the Qur’an is attributing these actions to “He”? Does it mean that “He” has designed the “system”? For sure, the passage does not say only that. It clearly states direct verbs for his actions…

“It is He who sends down water for you from the sky, from which comes a drink for you, and the shrubs that you feed to your animals. With it He grows for you grain, olives, palms, vines, and all kinds of other crops. There truly is a sign in this for those who contemplate” (Quran, 16:10-11) Meaningful results of these actions are pointed out.. Water is brought down to fulfill very important needs, like drinking water, watering vegetation, etc.

Now, the contemplating person would ask: Can these meaningful/purposeful tasks be performed by inanimate, unintelligent causes, such as the cloud, the earth, etc.? Let’s look at the important results, then look back at the causes we see. Now, let’s ask… Can they be the source of the results?

Have we ever witnessed any meaningful action, like manufacturing a car for instance, come out of an unintelligent source? Can steel transform itself to a meticulously manufactured car? Steel, electricity, and machinery do not have the qualities intelligence, power, and a sense of beauty that is required to produce a car. The qualities I witness in the result must be possessed by the cause of that result.

The Qur’anic passage guides me to contemplate on how the olive, such a beautiful, delicious, and nutritious food, comes into being (from non-existence to existence)? Can the seed, soil, water, and sun transform itself to become an olive tree? I need to reflect on this…

The main premise here is this: Before hastily deciding on the source of any action: ①I need to analyze the results of the actions ②I need to decide whether I can explain these results with the apparent causes

I see a great book, and someone tells me that the pen wrote it. I look at the result first: A meaningful book which requires intelligence to be written The pen does not have the intelligence to be the source of a meaningful book! The pen does not possess the qualities that are necessary for a meaningful book to come into being. Qualities like strong imagination, intelligence, sense of beauty, etc. are needed to produce the book.

“It is He who sends down water for you from the sky, from which comes a drink for you, and the shrubs that you feed to your animals. With it He grows for you grain, olives, palms, vines, and all kinds of other crops. There truly is a sign in this for those who contemplate” (Quran, 16:10-11) Can the apparent causes (cloud, soil, etc.) be the source of the result? Crops and rain necessitate an intelligent, powerful, esthetically elegant, compassionate Source, because the results are full of these marks. Each of these inputs also require a Source to come into being. Neither the inputs nor the outputs are the source of their actions! The inputs and the output are brought into being simultaneously by the Source…

The Source of wisdom, power, intelligence, compassion, beauty, etc. is growing the crops right now! in front of my eyes!

“It is He who sends down water for you from the sky, from which comes a drink for you, and the shrubs that you feed to your animals. With it He grows for you grain, olives, palms, vines, and all kinds of other crops. There truly is a sign in this for those who contemplate” (Quran, 16:10-11) Through contemplation my mind and heart is now filled with a new knowledge regarding who “He” is.

The results necessitate attributes of wisdom, power, intelligence, compassion, beauty, etc. The apparent causes act only as mirrors to these Divine attributes. They are not source of their actions! The Divine attributes shine in the distance between the cause and effect These divine qualities are the attributes of a Living, Conscious Source…

Let us now read the Quranic passage again… Let us Contemplate on it again and again and again…

Contemplation Brings to faith those without faith Strengthens the faith of those whose faith is weak Makes certain the faith of those whose faith is strong but imitative Gives greater breadth to the faith of those whose faith is certain Leads to progress in knowledge and love of God

Contemplating on a verse once is never enough. Our intellect may be satisfied, but our heart wants its share as well, and so will our spirit want its share…

“It is He who sends down water for you from the sky, from which comes a drink for you, and the shrubs that you feed to your animals. With it He grows for you grain, olives, palms, vines, and all kinds of other crops. There truly is a sign in this for those who contemplate” (Quran, 16:10-11) Wow, You are doing all this out of your grace… I feel I want to hug your trees, your sky… I love your creation because of You.. I feel love towards You my Source…

If we want to meet our Creator, all we have to do is contemplate on His creation through the guidance of His revelation… He is disclosing Himself to me! Each reading opens different doors to receive His Inspiration within our hearts…

We see the Sustainer in the mirror of sustenance We see the Beautiful in the mirror of beauties Outcome of Witnessing the Divine Presence… We start to see everything in the universe as a mirror to its Source

Blind Faith I accept that God is One. I haven’t contemplated enough to see His signature in his creation/myself My faith is not directing the way I experience creation. Witnessing Divine Presence I witness that his signature is in every thing I look at, that is why I have faith! My faith is embedded in my experience, it is directing my interaction with everything