By Hazrat Maulana Abdul Hamid Is`haq Saheb (Daamat Barakaatuhum)
The age-old adage: ‘Seeing
is believing and hearing is deceiving,’ is known to most of us, and it
is also used in our speech, but without much thought and reflection.
However, on deliberating
the message in these words, we come to understand that these words conflict and
contradict the essential teachings
of Imaan and Islam.
As Muslims, we understand
that our Imaan (faith) is in the unseen. Our belief is without seeing.
“Who believe in the Unseen…"
[Surah Baqarah 2 : 2]
In spite of this belief,
the observation is that what we see
of things happening about us are due to the causes of the material world.
People generally go by the principle of ‘cause and effect’. For example, a
person takes medication (cause) and his health improves (effect). We see that he got better by taking
medication, but we hear that it is
Allah Ta’ala who gives cure. Our belief is thus on what we hear from Qur`aan and Ahaadeeth.
“And when I become sick, He heals me.”
[Surah Ash-Shu’ara 26 : 80]
We find that the
indoctrination of ‘cause and effect’ also substantiates the belief that seeing
is believing – based on what is
material, physical, visible, measurable or in solid form. This is what is
firm in the minds of people. And as a result, we find that what is found in the
Qur`aan and Sunnah is disregarded and flouted, because Deen is based on the
Unseen. Doubt is created in respect to what we hear from our elders, about Deen, because it is not what we see with our physical eye.
Since we only ‘hear’, and
we do not ‘see’, many look upon different Islamic teachings as deceiving (Na
uzu Billahi min zaalik). Why? …Because the concept of ‘cause and effect’, and
‘seeing is believing’, does not serve as a basis.
Even though not a water tight principle, the truth is that
hearing is believing and seeing is sometimes deceiving.
When Hazrat Moosa (AS) led
the Bani Isra’eel away from Fir`aun, they reached the Red Sea. Before them was
the deep blue sea and behind them was Fir’aun and his army.
As is commonly said in
English, and which holds so true in this instance: They were ‘sandwiched’ between
the devil and the deep blue sea. At this point in time, the Bani
Isra’eel saw their total destruction.
And when the two companies saw one another,
the companions of Moosa said, "Indeed, we are to be overtaken!"
[Surah Ash-Shu`ara 26 : 61]
They saw the water to be their destruction, but they heard from Hazrat Moosa (AS) that that
was to be their salvation.
[Moosa] said, "No! Indeed, with me is
my Lord; He will guide me."
[Surah Ash-Shu`ara 26 : 62]
Allah (Jalla Jalaaluhu)
commanded Hazrat Moosa (AS) to strike the water of the sea, with his ‘asaa
(staff).
Then We inspired Moosa, "Strike with
your staff the sea," and it parted, and each portion was like a great
towering mountain.
[Surah Ash-Shu`ara 26 : 63]
What they saw to be their destruction immediately
changed to their salvation. When Hazrat Moosa (AS) struck the waters of the sea
with his staff, the waters parted, providing dry pathways for the Bani Isra’eel
to cross in safety.
"And We saved Moosa and those with him, all
together."
[Surah Ash-Shu`ara 26 : 65]
Fir’aun, on the other
hand, saw the water as his salvation : He claimed that the water flowed by his
command and in turn, irrigated their lands and provided drinking water for
them. However, that very water was his destruction.
We read that Fir`aun pursued
the Bani Isra`eel into the sea. When he and his army were in the middle of the
sea, the waters suddenly closed around him and his men, drowning them all.
This was what was heard :
that Allah (Jalla Jalaluhu) would destroy him if he did not bring Imaan.
But it was not believed and that disbelief sealed his fate.
"Then We drowned the others."
[Surah Ash-Shu`ara 26 : 66]
A Muslim should have the
firm and grounded belief that ‘Hearing is Believing’ – that is, hearing and believing in the words of Allah
Ta’ala and His Rasul (Sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam). This is our salvation
and our success – in both worlds.
"The only statement of the [true] believers
when they are called to Allah and His Messenger to judge between them is that
they say, "We hear and we obey."
And those are the successful."
[Surah
An-Noor 24 : 51]
