“Or were they created by nothing, or were they the creators [of themselves]?” (Quran Surah 52. Ath Thuur verse 35)

During my first year at UCLA, I decided to go to a Dawah workshop held by one of the brothers involved in the MSA. The goal of the workshop was to teach Muslims how to share our faith with non-Muslims. I thought it would be a lecture where I would sit and listen to a speaker for about an hour. When I got there, the first question the speaker asked us was: “How do you know God exists?” He began going around and asking each one of us, and I started to get nervous because I never really thought of this question. There were a few people answering before me, which gave me a bit of time to think. I was anxious because I felt that I did not have enough religious knowledge to even answer. Brothers and sisters were giving all sorts of responses such as scientific proof and other evidence shown in the Qur’an. Then, it was my turn to answer.

“How do you know there is a God?” he asked. I could not really think of any clever responses, so I just gave the simplest answer that popped into my head. “I just know He does. I know because every time I hear recitation of the Qur’an or listen to a lecture about Islam; I get this feeling in my heart that is unexplainable.” It is a feeling that gives me goose bumps, but at the same time accompanies calmness.

It has been three years since I attended the lecture, and I know that I will never forget this question. I continue to think about it, and realized that there are so many answers to this question and each time I think about it, my answer changes. One particular scenario that I once heard in an Islamic lecture really helped me think about the existence of God. The speaker told us to imagine being alone in a desert, and then spotting a cell phone on the sand. You then ask yourself: could that cellphone somehow randomly appear on its own? Did all the parts somehow magically come together? No, someone had to design the phone, make the chip, etc. The wind did not just bring all the parts together creating this phone; there had to be a creator. Similarly, the human body, system and organs could not have randomly come together to form a human being. Just looking at the details of the human eye and heart alone, I know Allah (SWT) is the only plausible explanation.

I want to share this experience because the question may sound simple, but we sometimes forget to just pause and think about it. The answer is difficult because the response is different for each of us. Having this thought in the back of my mind has helped me become more God conscious and feel closer to my creator. Take a few minutes and try to answer it: How do you know God exists? Feel free to comment so we may all benefit insha’Allah. May Allah (SWT) strengthen our relationship with him.

Michelle Schafieh

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