Presented by HAJI MOHAMAD HANIM BIN HAJI MOHAMAD ISA

BELIEVING IN THE IMPERCEPTIBLE

The limits of human perception do not prevent believers’ souls from reaching their Creator, the omnipotent power
behind the universe and all existence. Their limited natural senses do not stand in the way of their desire to reach
beyond the physical world or their pursuit of the ultimate truths of life.
Belief in the imperceptible is a major threshold in human understanding, and crossing it elevates man above animals
and takes him far beyond the physical world of the senses or all the devices that may extend their function. It raises
human consciousness to a level where a wider and fuller world can be perceived. Such a step has far-reaching
effects on man’s understanding of his own existence and the existence of everything else around him. It provides him
with a totally new awareness of the realities of the interacting energies and forces that are at play in this complex
world, and of the way he conceives of them. It also affects his behavior and life on earth in general.
There is a vast difference between the thinking that is trapped within the parochial materialist world of the senses,
and that which is based on the awareness of an infinite world of existence and which can, through the soul and the
instinctive mind, deeply and intensely feel its energies and the forces governing it. Time and space extend far beyond
what can be determined or comprehended within the short span of life. Man will come to recognize the great and
ultimate truth that underpins the whole cosmos and sustains all existence, seen as well as unseen. It is the Divine
Being that the human eye cannot see, nor the mind perceive.
This belief has the vital role of preserving man’s finite mental and intellectual powers and saving them from being
wasted, abused or misdirected. These faculties have been bestowed on man to enable him to properly discharge his
obligations as God’s vicegerent on earth. In the present life, the domain for man’s activities of procreation,
construction, innovation and excellence is limited. His intellectual power needs to be strengthened and
complemented by spiritual power which stems directly from God and is thereby linked to the whole of existence.
Any attempt to comprehend the world from another perspective is futile and foolish, because it resorts to the wrong
tools and defies the fundamental truth that the finite cannot fathom the infinite. Man’s limited sensory and intellectual
capabilities do not enable him to understand the absolute meaning of things.
This inherent human deficiency, however, in no way prevents man from believing in the imperceptible and accepting
that it is the prerogative of the Divine. Man should leave these matters to God, the Omniscient, and should turn to
Him for meaning, information, understanding and explanation. Recognition of this fact is the greatest prize the human
mind can win, and is the first and foremost mark of the God-fearing believer.
The concept of the imperceptible is a decisive factor in distinguishing man from animals. Materialist thinking, ancient
as well as modern, has tended to drag man back to an irrational existence, with no room for the spiritual, where
everything is determined by sensory means alone. What is peddled as ‘progressive thought’ is no more than dismal
regression. God has protected believers against such an error by describing them as those who believe in the
imperceptible. For that alone WE should be deeply grateful.