Spirit of Islam, Nov 2015

The truth is that God’s being comprehensible is an undeniable proof of His existence. A MOST EVIDENT MYSTERY Irrefutable Existence W HAT everyone is most convinced of, is one's own existence. Despite this, in purely scientific terms everyone is a mystery. For man is not what he physically appears to be, but consists of what he calls “I”, and the “I” is not observable. Philosopher Rene Descartes (1596-1650), to give proof of his own existence did not say: “I consist of a body that is observable, therefore I exist.” Instead he said: “I think, therefore I exist.” Man undoubtedly has an observable existence. We all know that man exists. But, in fact, this existence is at the level of “I”, and the cognizance of “I” is at the level of perception or comprehension, and not at the level of observation. Exactly the same is true of God. It is as if God is a Greater “I”. God at the level of His creation is directly observable. But God at the level of His Being is not directly observable by man. We shall have to believe in God on the basis of the same logical principle which Descartes employed to know himself, and on the basis of which all of us believe in our own existence. I can comprehend God, therefore God exists. The truth is that God’s being comprehensible is an undeniable proof of His existence. If we deny God, we shall have to deny our own selves. Since we cannot countenance our own denial, we cannot countenance God’s denial either. Everyone who believes in his own existence is logically compelled to say, “I exist, therefore, God exists.” o No Shortcuts No seed turns into a tree by leaps and bounds. Similarly, it is not possible for a person to reach his destination without travelling for the requisite period of time.