Reason and the Unseen: A Natural Understanding, Not a Contradiction – A Scientific Response to the Objection, “The Difficulty of the Mind in…

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon the noblest of messengers.

One of the questions that preoccupies some people—especially in this age of materialism and sensory reliance—is: “Why does the human mind find it difficult to conceive of a God with such magnificent attributes? Why do we struggle to imagine unseen realms like Paradise and Hellfire? Why do miracles, such as the splitting of the moon or the raising of the dead, sometimes feel unreal to us?”

This question reflects a desire to think and to understand. In reality, the difficulty that the human mind experiences in grasping the unseen is neither a flaw in reason nor a defect in faith; it has clear and natural causes. It is fitting, then, to pause and consider this matter calmly and scientifically, clarifying the nature of this phenomenon and the wisdom behind it.

The Nature of the Human Mind

Reason Works by Observation and Experience

Understanding how the human mind functions reveals the root of its difficulty in conceiving the unseen. The human intellect operates by a clear law: it processes what it has observed and experienced in reality, then forms images, concepts, and imaginations from that. If it has never encountered anything similar, it cannot fully imagine its reality or grasp its essence.

We see this clearly in daily life. For example, if you tried to explain the meaning of “red” to someone blind from birth, they would be entirely unable to imagine it, no matter how eloquent your description. This is because they have never seen any color in their life. Their mind simply lacks the raw material needed to construct the concept of colors. This does not mean colors do not exist; it only means their mind is limited to what it has experienced.

Another example makes this even clearer: imagine explaining to someone who lived two thousand years ago the idea of a small handheld device capable of instantly connecting to anyone in the world, containing a library of millions of books and articles, recording moving images and sound with precision, and guiding you to any location on earth with perfect accuracy.

That person’s mind would utterly fail to conceive of such a device—what we now call the “smartphone.” They would likely consider it pure fantasy or impossible magic, because nothing like it existed in their time. Yet this does not mean smartphones are impossible—it only means their mind was limited to the world of their own experience.

In the same way, our minds today, when faced with the greatness of Allah and the realities of the unseen, are bound by the limits of the material world we live in.

The Unseen by Its Nature Differs from the Familiar

The Reality of Belief in Allah

The human mind’s difficulty in imagining Allah’s essence and attributes is perfectly natural. Allah, exalted is He, says: “There is nothing like unto Him.” [Sūrat al-Shūrā: 11]. He resembles nothing we have ever seen in this material world, nor does He resemble any of His creation.

How could a mind accustomed only to dealing with the limited comprehend the Infinite? How could a mind that has seen only the created fully imagine the Creator?

If Allah resembled the things we see and know, then He would be needy like them, finite like them, and perishable like them—this would directly contradict His being the eternal Creator, capable of all things. The Creator cannot be like the created, the Eternal cannot be like the temporary, and the Perfect cannot be like the deficient.

Nature of the Hereafter

The same applies to Paradise, Hellfire, and all matters of the Hereafter. They do not resemble anything in this world of ours. If the Hereafter were identical to this world, then what would be the difference? What would be the purpose of moving humanity to it? The Hereafter is the abode of recompense, eternity, and perfection, and so it must be far greater, more complete, and more beautiful than the temporary world of trials, decay, and imperfection.

The Prophet ﷺ narrated from his Lord: “I have prepared for My righteous servants what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and what has never crossed the heart of any human being.” [Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 4779; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 2824]. This hadith confirms that the delights of the Hereafter surpass everything the human mind can imagine.

It is precisely this difference from the familiar world that makes the Hereafter worthy of being the ultimate goal. It is also what makes Allah worthy of worship and love, for man by his nature seeks what is greater, more complete, and more beautiful. The very fact that the Hereafter transcends our limited world is evidence of divine greatness and absolute perfection.

The Inability to Imagine Does Not Contradict Certainty

The Case of the Noble Prophets

The difficulty the mind finds in imagining Allah’s essence and attributes, or in picturing how He acts or the realities of the unseen, never contradicts certainty and firm faith. Rather, it is a natural state—even the noble prophets experienced it, though they were the most complete in faith and conviction.

In the Qurʾān, we find Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him)—the beloved servant of Allah and one of the greatest messengers—asking Allah to show him how He brings the dead to life: “My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead.” Allah asked: “Do you not believe?” He replied: “Indeed I do! But [I ask] so that my heart may be reassured.” [Sūrat al-Baqarah: 260].

Similarly, Mūsā (peace be upon him)—the one whom Allah spoke to directly—asked Allah to let him see Him: “My Lord, show me [Yourself] that I may look at You.” Allah replied: “You will never see Me. But look at the mountain: if it remains in place, then you will see Me.” [Sūrat al-Aʿrāf: 143].

These examples show that even the most steadfast believers and prophets recognized the limits of human perception. Their questions were not out of doubt in God’s existence, but out of a natural desire for deeper assurance and understanding.

The Difference Between Certainty and Direct Vision

Both of the noble prophets were already certain in their belief in Allah and His absolute power, but they sought to witness in order to ascend from one degree of certainty to a higher and more complete one.

This reveals to us a very important truth: certainty (yaqīn) has three levels, as mentioned in the Qurʾān:

ʿIlm al-Yaqīn (knowledge of certainty): as in Allah’s saying: “No! If you only knew with knowledge of certainty.” [Sūrat al-Takāthur: 5]. This refers to believing in the unseen through truthful report, or reaching knowledge of unseen realities through rational inference.

ʿAyn al-Yaqīn (vision of certainty): as in Allah’s saying: “Then you will surely see it with the eye of certainty.” [Sūrat al-Takāthur: 7]. This is direct vision and witnessing of the truth.

Ḥaqq al-Yaqīn (truth of certainty): as in Allah’s saying: “Indeed, this is the truth of certainty.” [Sūrat al-Wāqiʿah: 95]. This is directly experiencing the reality itself.

The scholars explain these levels with a clear example: if you hear on the news that a fire has broken out in a certain place, you will be certain of its existence based on the report—if you trust the reporters. If you then see thick smoke rising into the sky from that direction, you will be certain there is a fire even if you have not seen it yourself, because your mind infers its existence from its effect (the smoke). This is ʿIlm al-Yaqīn.

If you then see the fire with your own eyes, you move from ʿIlm al-Yaqīn to ʿAyn al-Yaqīn.

If you approach the fire until you feel its heat and its flames burn you—as firefighters often do—you have then moved from ʿAyn al-Yaqīn to Ḥaqq al-Yaqīn.

The prophets, peace be upon them, were at the highest levels of ʿIlm al-Yaqīn, and they sought to ascend to ʿAyn al-Yaqīn. This did not diminish their faith in the slightest, but only increased it in strength, tranquility, and clarity.

The Wisdom of the Unseen Being Revealed in Revelation

A Necessity Dictated by the Nature of Things

The presence of the unseen in divine revelation is a necessity dictated by the very nature of the matters being spoken of, and it has immense wisdom. As for the necessity, the mere act of informing us about Allah and the Hereafter makes it inevitable that revelation contains matters the human mind cannot fully conceive—for the reality of Allah and the Hereafter, as we have explained, is fundamentally different from created things and from our material worldly realm.

Therefore, revelation must include unseen matters that the mind struggles to imagine in full, because it describes realities that exist but have no parallel in our physical world. If everything in revelation were completely imaginable and fully comprehensible, it would prove that it was not speaking of realities greater than our limited world.

The Wisdom: A Test of Trust

The great wisdom behind including the unseen is to distinguish the true believer, who fully trusts in what Allah and His Messenger ﷺ tell him, from the hesitant person who only believes what his eyes can see. Belief in the unseen is a divine test that reveals a person’s reality and the sincerity of their faith: does he truly place complete trust in Allah and His Messenger, or does he only believe what his senses can perceive?

Whoever believes in the unseen without seeing it proves the depth of his faith and his complete trust in the truthfulness of Allah. Whoever only believes what he can see and touch shows the weakness of his faith and his reliance solely on the senses.

Everyday Examples

We see this principle clearly in everyday life. If a trustworthy friend calls you and says: “Change your route immediately, there has been a serious accident on the road you were about to take,” you would change your route at once without seeing the accident yourself—because you trust his truthfulness and honesty. If you did not have full trust, you might continue on your way until you saw it yourself, or you might call the authorities to verify.

Similarly, if a doctor you trust tells you that you have an internal illness not yet showing symptoms, you believe him and take the prescribed treatment—even though you do not see or feel the illness in your body. If you did not fully trust him, you might seek another doctor’s examination to be sure.

In the same way, faith in the unseen means that one who has absolute trust in the truthfulness of Allah and His Messenger ﷺ believes them in all that they report about Paradise, Hell, the angels, and other unseen matters—because his trust in them is stronger than his need to see and witness.

But whoever’s trust is weak will need to see everything with his own eyes in order to believe, and this exposes the weakness of his faith and confidence.

For this reason, the very first quality that Allah mentions about the successful God-fearing believers is their belief in the unseen: “Alif Lām Mīm. This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for the God-fearing—those who believe in the unseen.” [Sūrat al-Baqarah: 1–3].

Miracles and the Breaking of the Norm

Nature of Miracles

As for miracles—such as the splitting of the moon, bringing the dead back to life, and others—they, by their very nature, break through the natural laws to which we have grown accustomed in daily life. This is why the human mind finds them difficult to accept or imagine: they contradict what is familiar.

But this does not mean they are impossible. Rather, it means they are extraordinary occurrences—precisely what defines a miracle: something beyond the ordinary that Allah brings about through His messenger to support him and prove his truthfulness.

The One who created natural laws has full power to suspend or alter them whenever He wills. The One who set the cosmic order has complete ability to breach it for a wisdom He intends. This contains no contradiction or rational impossibility—it is, in fact, a display of the Creator’s absolute power, unrestricted by any law or limitation.

The Wisdom Behind Miracles

The wisdom of miracles is clear: to prove the truth of the messengers and to support them with decisive evidence that they are indeed sent by Allah.

If miracles were ordinary events that any person could perform, they would not serve as proof of prophethood. But since they are extraordinary occurrences that only Allah can bring about, they stand as undeniable evidence that the messenger is supported by Allah.

Conclusion: Greatness That Warrants Submission

It becomes clear, then, that the mind’s difficulty in imagining Allah’s essence or unseen realities is not a flaw in intellect or in faith. It is a perfectly natural matter, with clear causes and profound wisdom.

These unseen realities are greater and more immense than our limited world, while our minds are confined to what they have experienced. Even the prophets themselves—with their perfect faith and certainty—sought direct witnessing, to move from the level of ʿIlm al-Yaqīn (knowledge of certainty) to ʿAyn al-Yaqīn (vision of certainty). This did not lessen their faith; it only strengthened and beautified it.

We also saw that Allah’s complete difference from His creation, and the Hereafter’s complete difference from this world, is a rational necessity. If the Creator were like the created, He would not be God. If the Hereafter were like this life, it would not be the Hereafter.

And we saw that the inclusion of the unseen in revelation is a profound divine wisdom—meant to distinguish the believer who places full trust in Allah and His Messenger ﷺ from the hesitant one who only believes what his eyes can see.

So do not grieve, O believer, if your mind cannot fully imagine the greatness of Allah. Rather, know that this is itself proof that your Lord is greater than anything you can picture, that His Paradise is more beautiful than anything you can imagine, and that His power surpasses all that you expect.

Make your trust in the word of Allah and His Messenger ﷺ stronger than your need for direct vision or complete imagination. This is true faith, and this is genuine trust. Allah says: “And those who believe in what has been revealed to you, [O Muḥammad], and what was revealed before you, and of the Hereafter they are certain. It is they who are upon guidance from their Lord, and it is they who will prosper.” [Sūrat al-Baqarah: 4–5].

We ask Allah to grant us firm faith and complete trust in His word and the word of His Messenger, and to make us among those who believe in the unseen and are certain of the Hereafter.

Allah knows best. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muḥammad, his family, and his Companions.