Faith

I had a conversation about God & religion with a Jewish friend and expressed my many doubts and questions about both. She replied by saying :

"The best and brightest are those who do not blindly follow but who question. Those who have the greatest faith also have the most questions."

It made me stop and think about the meaning of faith. That it cannot be by definition something that is certain or based on scientific evidence, but is rather something that desires to know, to question and probe. It reminded me of the example of Moses in the Qur'an who even though he received revelations from God, still wanted to see him with his own eyes. "My Lord, show me [Yourself] that I may look at You." [ Allah ] said, "You will not see Me, but look at the mountain; if it should remain in place, then you will see Me." But when his Lord appeared to the mountain, He rendered it level, and Moses fell unconscious. And when he awoke, he said, "Exalted are You! I have repented to You, and I am the first of the believers."

And the example of Abraham who questioned his people's religion and even questioned God himself and asked him to show him how he could bring the dead to life so that his heart would be reassured. {And when Abraham said [unto his Lord]: “My Lord! Show me how Thou givest life to the dead.” He said: “Dost thou not believe?” Abraham said: “Yea, but [I ask] in order that my heart may be satisfied.”  (Al-Baqarah 2:260)

What made Abraham special and different was precisely the fact that he was prepared to question that which he was ordered to have faith in. He questioned the faith of his father. He was prepared risking his whole identity and community by opening his mind to the possibility that his inherited beliefs could be false.

If we just blindly follow our forefathers then how are we different to the people of Abraham who blindly followed their forefathers?

If one is not truly prepared to examine deeply held beliefs on the basis that they could be false, how can one ever know they are true?

The words ponder, reflect, think and reason are used over 100 times throughout the Qur'an. We are encouraged to use reason and intellect. To ponder and reflect. In one Hadith the Prophet said that "A few minutes of contemplation about the self and universe is better than 100 optional prayers."

The greatest gift God gave man is his ability to reflect and reason - not to blindly follow. We are required to use the intellect God gave us to constantly review situations in light of new evidence, new knowledge and new environments. In the light of changing circumstances rather than remaining static and backward looking.

Just like Abraham who questioned all the assumptions and inherited knowledge of his father and his people and questioned God himself - we too must never be afraid to question inherited knowledge and past assumptions. If faith is to mean anything at all, it must be a constant battle of reassessment and review and not something blind and unquestioning - that is called ignorance, not faith.

Sadly faith for many Muslims has taken on a reactionary and backward meaning - treating anything new with suspicion. Yet when we look at Muslim history we see that the faith of the early Muslims encouraged them to question the old ways. Muslim scientists brought about a new enlightenment that had not been seen since the time of ancient Greece. Muslims absorbed their knowledge but then questioned many of their assumptions and took it further, making advances in every field of science, engineering, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, philosophy, geography, literature, architecture and art.

It is perhaps no coincidence that at a time when Muslims were strong economically and politically their faith was bold, courageous and outward looking. They were unafraid to ask difficult and uncomfortable questions. To doubt and criticise the assumptions of the past. However today when our faith is blind, inward looking, and fearful of anything new we are weak politically, economically - and most of all morally.

If we are to ever solve the crisis we face, we must once rekindle that bold faith that dares to question, unafraid to look and push the frontiers of knowledge beyond the safe boundaries of our forefathers.