As we stated at the beginning, Allah created the universe to show the signs of His Creation. However, the unbelievers cannot understand this fact since they do not have the ability to “see” this divine purpose. As the Qur’an expresses it:
With their materialistic vision, they do not have the wisdom and comprehension to grasp this important reality.
Believers are quite different from this “blind” category, because they realise and accept that the whole universe is created by Allah with a certain aim and wisdom. This belief is the first step of faith. As faith and wisdom increase in parallel with each other, they will begin to be able to identify every detail of Allah’s Creation.
In the Islamic tradition, progress in faith is in three steps: ilm-el yakin (being informed), ayn-el yakin(seeing), and Hakk-el yakin (experiencing). An example of rain is given to explain these steps. There are three stages in acknowledging that it rains. In the first stage (ilm-el yakin), while someone sits in his home, with his windows shut, somebody coming from outside tells him that it rains, and he believes him. The second stage, ayn-el yakin is the stage of eye-witnessing. The person goes to the window, opens the curtain and sees that it rains. In the stage of Hakk-el yakin, he opens the door, goes out of the house, and there he is; "in" the rain.
Being careful is a prayer in action to proceed from the stage of ilm-el yakin to the stage of ayn-el yakin and even more.
Seeing the signs of Allah and not being “blind” like the unbelievers, require a high degree of concentration. In the Qur'an, the believers are called to observe and notice the signs of Allah around them and this is only possible by being careful:
“See you the seed that you sow in the ground? Is it you that cause it to grow, or are We the Cause?”
One should train oneself to recognize the signs of Allah and should always keep them in mind. Otherwise, the mind will start to wander, jumping from one topic to another, wasting time in thinking about useless things. This is a kind of unconsciousness; you cannot control your mind when you lose your concentration in Allah. You cannot focus on a subject. Indeed, you cannot conceive the truth behind events, nor can you ever have the competence to affect the course they take. On the contrary, your mind is directed by stray happenings. You are “bewildered” all the time, which is not the attribute of the believer, but of the unbeliever.
“... if anyone assigns partners to Allah, it is as if he had fallen from heaven and been snatched up by birds, or the wind had swooped and thrown him into afar-distant place.”
Believers, on the other hand, are the ones who direct their minds better to perceive Allah, and who try in better ways to serve His religion. They free their minds from any vain thoughts, and whenever they become aware of the appeal of Satan, they rescue themselves, just as is described in the Qur’an;
“Verily, those who are the pious, when an evil thought comes to them from Satan, they remember Allah, and (indeed) they then see (aright)”.
Therefore, the believers should be careful to keep their minds free of useless thoughts, and never lose the thread of what is happening around them, they should always be on their guard.
