Why can't we see God?

“No vision can grasp Him, but His Grasp is over all vision. He is the Most Subtle and Courteous, Well-Acquainted with all things.”

(Translation of Holy Quran Verse 103 Chapter 10)

I have talked to so many Atheists in my life in so many different occasions. One of the most argument used by less-learned atheists is: “God Has Not Revealed Himself to Me, So He Must Not Exist” some other may say: “One can see God anywhere he wants but that doesn't mean that he exists”  A simple response to this argument is to use the popular discussion between a student and his Teacher:

Teacher: Student do you see the tree outside?

Student: Yes.

Teacher: Student, do you see the grass outside?

Student: Yes.

Teacher: Go outside and look up and see if you can see the sky.

Student: Okay. (He returned a few minutes later) Yes, I saw the sky.

Teacher: Did you see God?

Student: No.

Teacher: That's my point. We can't see God because he isn't there. He doesn't exist.

A Little Girl spoke up and wanted to ask the boy some questions. The Teacher agreed and the Little Girl questioned the boy.

Little Girl: Student, do you see the tree outside?

Student: Yes.

Little Girl: Student do you see the grass outside?

Student: Yessssss (getting tired of the questions this time).

Little Girl: Did you see the sky?

Student: Yessssss.

Little Girl: Student, do you see the Teacher?

Student: Yes

Little Girl: Do you see the Teacher's mind?

Student: No.

Little Girl: Then according to what we were taught today in school, she must not have one!

The above is a beautiful way to prove that the arguments used by the teacher are very weak, in fact, the above example is enough for so many people to believe in the existence of God or at least that God’s existence is not impossible, but to some it’s not so in his post I will try to explain why we can’t see God.

Dear Reader, as you know there are things in this universe we cannot see but we feel them, examples are pain, happiness, sadness, soul, mind (for those who believe in the existence of souls & minds), etc… we can’t see them because they are of a different nature some of them are not objects, some have different physical laws, while others can be seen but not with the human eyes. Just because there are barriers or limitations in our vision to see such things, doesn’t mean they don’t exists.

The issue is in the definition of God…  Some definitions limit God, including popular religions (e.g Christianity, Jewish) even some False Hadiths claimed to be the sayings of Prophet Mohammed (Peace, prayer and blessings be upon him). So before answering the question why can’t we see God, we need to little bit understand the definitions of God in existence. The Quran define God differently from other scriptures, the God worshiped by Muslims is defined in Quran. The Perfect, supreme, The Mighty, unlimited, etc… so when you understand God is infinite and unlimited the mere description should answer the question why we can’t see God.

When I say God is unlimited, unrestricted, infinite, I mean he exist beyond the limits of the universe, beyond the knowledge that can be found or attained in this life, universe, multiverse, etc… The laws of physics tell us that we cannot make measurements beyond the limits of this universe and as far as I know scientists said that once upon a time there wasn’t life! In fact scientists today don’t know how Life was originated (At least they admit and not being arrogant that they know everything). Which means both the universe and life are limited, now tell me my friend, how can the limited see the unlimited, understand the secrets of the unlimited, match the power or the knowledge of the unlimited!? It’s not possible! The fact that we are constantly learning, improving, gaining knowledge is great evidence that we are not Perfect, we are not equal to the Supreme God defined by the Quran otherwise we wouldn’t pursuit what we are pursuing. Have you ever heard of a Supreme God trying to get new powers? (you can only find those in Greek, Norse, Hindu, etc mythologies). We simply cannot ever detect God using any of our instruments, now just because God is not restricted to our limitations and the fact we cannot detect him , that doesn’t mean he doesn’t exists. The moment you claim he doesn’t exists you are claiming the instruments you are using are Perfect, Unlimited, etc… which is not true and no sane human being can say they perfect, unlimited, all-knowing, all-powerful, etc…

I am not going to say you need faith in order you see him, in fact even if you have faith you cannot see God, unlike so many spiritual teachers who teach human beings that they can talk to God anytime they want, listen to his voice, see his image, etc… God is beyond that, he may allow a certain events to occur like understanding this dream was from God, this voice was from God, etc… but no one today can prove that because to prove that you actually need to know God before that. For example,  if I saw Prophet Mohammed in my dreams how would I know the one I saw in my dream exactly resembles Prophet Mohammed who lived 1000+ years before, I can’t be sure if I never lived and saw Prophet in front of my eyes. Same thing goes for God, you cannot say I saw God, heard his voice, etc… when you never saw him, when you can’t possibly see him with your current limitations.

The problem is so many Christians claims they saw God or talked to God or heard God, that’s why Atheists are insulting their beliefs now and then, same goes for some others like Hindu Yogis who claim such events. However in Islam, God made it clear in his book, I will quote translation of what God said in the Quran: “It is not given to any human being that Allah should speak to him unless (it be) by Inspiration, or from behind a veil, or (that) He sends a Messenger to reveal what He wills by His Leave. Verily, He is Most High, Most Wise.” That’s why when you are denying God or worshiping a God, first tell me more about God for we have different concepts about God, Atheists may be able to disprove existence of God according to one concept but for sure they can’t disprove the same with the God described in the Quran. Yes, If you are wondering, I am grateful I am Muslim.

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Often people comment that my hair is turning white or ask why? My short answer to this question is because I am getting older or not sleeping well to satisfy them (Admit it, most people don’t want to hear they just want to talk, they never care in the first place but caring people consider them as loving and caring) but sometimes I am too bored and lazy I try to attract the curiosity of the one asking so later on he/she can think. If you want to know why my hair is getting white I assure you, you will be freaked out but if you are willing not to misjudge stop reading!

I said stop reading but I see you are continuing to read, which means I have already succeeded in driving your curiosity. Anyway, what happens when we think is that our brain cells communicate with each other through an electrochemical process. Every time I think, learn or communicate a brain cell in my brain sends an impulse down its axon (The Long nerve fiber that conducts away from the cell body of the neuron). What I know in science is that the axon of one brain cell makes multiple thousands of connections with many thousand other brain cells and names are giving to each process, connection, space, etc you need to read subject-matter books, I don’t want to confuse you and don’t want to waste my time because probably you wont even remember or care.

Think of my brain as threads connecting the universe and the events occurred, occurring or would occur. When I see someone and I wanted to understand or get some secrets available in the universe bank of information about this person, what I usually do is I try to link the threads, when two threads connect a light ball is created (read carefully the previous paragraph), this light helps me to discover facts, events, traits, etc… that was covered by darkness of my own consciousness that never cared to learn from the universe bank of information but it was always available. Back to connection point, when each cell connect to the other, I see images, hear sounds and voices, see events crossing the barrier of space and time and countless calculations are made based on the information I retrieved from the bank of information, this happens faster than the speed of light, defying so many concepts in physics. You may think this processes takes several minutes, The processes to me doesn’t last two seconds so you my friend won’t even notice I was thinking there for a second (Remember overcoming the barrier of space and time).

When I see Self-Mastery Masters, spiritual leaders, Emotional Intelligence’s coaches and listen to them explaining their concepts, claiming this or that, they understand people, read the mind of people, when I see them I can’t help but to accept what they are doing or saying to satisfy their needs of being acknowledged and respected, to avoid going into talks beyond their awareness and to save some of my hair that still didn’t turn to white after all it’s so boring to talk with someone who thinks reached somewhere no one else reached (But for those who overcome such self-desires I am ready to talk all night). What I am writing here sounds to so many of you like I am being arrogant or seeing myself in a position higher than others, well I can’t help you and too lazy to find excuses so it’s really ok if you want to see me that way.

What I am describing is similar to a popular disease but that would be for those too involved in this matter focusing in one connection > linkage, one light, one event which causes lots of hallucinations, doubts, etc… but thanks God I am still controlling my habits, especially when I am diving into my own mind-world. After all the several thousand connections and images you see instantly is more than enough to let a man holding his head and shout: “Stop”. What I am saying is known to so many people besides me but sadly most of them are seen by others as insane people, complicated, over-confident persons while it’s not true, not fair but understandable in fact most of the wise people in our world were seen by people as insane, sad but true. You can see glimpses of what I am describing in movies or books, series like Sherlock Holmes (The Mind Palace concept) or the Mentalist, show briefly what I am trying to say but a greater exploration required for such concepts and such series or movies aren’t enough and that’s hard to grasp without reading full text-books which are available.. I am sure even some Emiratis around knows what I am talking about.

A Typical question I get specially by Non-Arabs, do you know the unknown? My answer is No I don’t! only God knows the unknown, what I know is what God allowed my mind to know, you see God gave every one of us bodies, mind, etc… some of us are bigger than others, while others are small and weak, black and white, etc… similarly the mind awareness and the information available for us specially differs from one person to another. A person may be given a key to access the year 2014 Bank of Information however he still don’t know how to unlock that door, while beings like the Prophets are given so many keys we are not given. How does what I am saying helping me? if I started to explain how it’s helping me I am afraid YOUR hair will start turning white, so I prefer to stop here! Freaked out?