By Muhammad Qawwiyul 

Most people, when they think of the concept of God as something magical, mystical or superstitious. So only when they are in trouble or during obstacles in life, would they turn to God trying to ask for a miracle. This careless attitude is mentioned in the Qur’an verse 49 of Surah Az-Zumar:

{ فَإِذَا مَسَّ ٱلۡإِنسَٰنَ ضُرّٞ دَعَانَا ثُمَّ إِذَا خَوَّلۡنَٰهُ نِعۡمَةٗ مِّنَّا قَالَ إِنَّمَآ أُوتِيتُهُۥ عَلَىٰ عِلۡمِۭۚ بَلۡ هِيَ فِتۡنَةٞ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكۡثَرَهُمۡ لَا يَعۡلَمُونَ }

When one is touched with hardship, they cry out to Us ˹alone˺. Then when We shower Our blessings upon them, they say, “I have been granted all this only because of ˹my˺ knowledge.” Not at all! It is ˹no more than˺ a test. But most of them do not know.

However, there is a problem with this worldview. As mentioned in the above verse, there are those who call to their lord only in times of trouble. But when they are returned to a comfortable position, they attribute all the efforts to themselves and forget God’s help and assistance. But the truth of the matter is, as stated in the title, “The power of God lies not only in miracles”. Not only is Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala (s.w.t) able to create these events that are out of the norm to save people from trouble, He is also actively assisting us for all the things that we considered normal and habitual.

In one of our classes, Ustaz told us to trace our hand on a piece of paper and imagine that the tracing on the paper is our hand. We were then told to tear off the fingers of the paper one by one,. While doing so, we were instructed to imagine and act as though we were not able to use the fingers we tore off. Thus, as the activity went on, it became harder and harder to tear off the paper. This activity reminded me of the critical favour of our hands that Allah has given us. We are able to do so many things with our hands everyday and it is only through His will that we are able to do so. Other than our hands, what other “normal” things do we take advantage of everyday?

In surah Al Mulk verse 23, Allah s.w.t mentions our sight, hearing and hearts (intellect):

{ قُلۡ هُوَ ٱلَّذِيٓ أَنشَأَكُمۡ وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلسَّمۡعَ وَٱلۡأَبۡصَٰرَ وَٱلۡأَفۡـِٔدَةَۚ قَلِيلٗا مَّا تَشۡكُرُونَ }

Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “He is the One Who brought you into being and gave you hearing, sight, and intellect. ˹Yet˺ you hardly give any thanks.”

Quran 67:23

From the light waves that enter our eyes, then passed around in our brains as electrical signals to compute and translate these light waves into something that we can understand. All of these are directly caused by the will of Allah s.w.t. As someone who studies robotics, I am amazed when learning about the different algorithms and computational shortcuts scientists and engineers have to come up with so that our limited sensors and motors etc. can mimic only a fraction of whatever Allah s.w.t. has created in nature (e.g. sight, hearing, motion). Even then, only through His will is the knowledge able to reach these people.

Allah s.w.t gave us so much more than we can give back, the least we can do is fulfil our purpose in this world.

In surah Adh Dhariyat, verse 56, Allah s.w.t says,

{ وَمَا خَلَقۡتُ ٱلۡجِنَّ وَٱلۡإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعۡبُدُونِ }

“I did not create jinn and humans except to worship Me.”

Quran 51:56

Worship in this context not only means prayers and such, it also refers to the act of knowing

about Allah s.w.t. We should strive to get to know our lord and give Him recognition so that we

may be grateful for His favours upon us. May Allah grant us Tawfiq & Hidayah.

Ameen.

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