God

Now we know that when we read the Qur'an,

God's Message to humankind,

we find words that speak of Allah in a very human way.

We read that God sees and hears us,

but at the same time we are told that

God sees everything we do

and even hears the thoughts inside us,

so the way that Allah sees and hears

is obviously quite different to us.

And we read that God has hands,

but between them the universe has been created,

so they are quite different to our hands.

And we read that God sits upon a throne,

but this is clearly not a throne like that belonging to any earthly king,

as we are told that the Throne of Allah is as wide as the heavens and the earth.

So when we read these things we must realise

that they are there to help humans understand

how God works in ways that in the end

are beyond our understanding.

And in the same way,

we read in the Qur'an of different aspects of Allah

in the Beautiful Names,

qualities that show how humans share in what is like God,

though Allah is like no other.

For just as compared to the universe in which we live

we are so tiny as to seem almost insignificant,

our qualities are remote in comparison to

the Creator of that universe

And in the Qur'an we also read of other ways

to think about the nature of God,

looking both within ourselves

and at the world we see around us.

We may not be able to see Allah,

but we can see the Signs of God in the world,

just as we may not be able to see the winds,

but we can see how they move the leaves on the trees

and fill the sails of boats that skim across the water.

So we can see God's Signs

in the sun, moon and stars,

as they swim through the heavens above us,

dancing with each other in space and time,

and involving our earth and our seas,

our weather,

our plants and animals,

and ourselves

in a dance of life, light and gravity.

And we can see how the winds turn the clouds

and spread the seeds

and carry the rain.

And the rain falls on land that seems dead,

and brings the dry seeds hidden within it back to life.

And the plants that grow in all their different kinds,

growing grain and fruit

that ripen and feed an abundance of life,

from the tiniest crawling things

to the cattle that give us milk.

And the flying creatures,

the bees that give us honey,

and the birds opening and closing their wings above us.

Who feeds them other than Allah,

the same God that feeds us all?

And the variety of all the things that come in pairs,

like humans, male and female,

with a myriad different languages and skin colours,

forming partners with each other,

bound together with love and mercy.

All these are Signs of God mentioned in the Qur'an,

guides for humankind,

pointing us in directions to look

when searching for ways to understand

and draw nearer to Allah.