The first error I see in understanding Islam is in the idea of knowledge. Knowledge implies fact and there is the rub. Fact can be factual of actual. A fact is such that the positive does not logically exclude the negative or vice versa. Thus, if one says that it is a fact that the God exists, it is just as logical to say that God does not exist, or that no God exists. If, however, one knows that the being of God is Truth (Al Haq), it cannot be possible that God does not exist.

There is non-factual, but no non-truth. A fact is is a matter that could be true or not true, though is always true. All that is true is true from all time. There was never a time when it was true that I would not exist and there will never come a time when it will be true that I did not exist at the time that I do. But, were I never born, I could never exist as a person. It is not illogical to use the subjunctive conditional, ‘…if I were not.’

Truth is a matter that is true and could not be not true. On the ordinary level, it is not possible to brand a mathematical truth as a fact. It is not possible to conceive that 2 plus 2 equals five. On the higher level, it is not possible to conceive that God does not exist. Thus knowledge is of at least two kinds. Matters of fact accepted as fact that may not be true, and matters of fact believed to be fact, that may not be true. Another distinction is that fact is time anchored with a beginning and an end in time, or a point of existence in time. Allah is not time dependent. That means that there could never be a time when Allah was not, and will never be a time when Allah is not. Allah is over and above time and all other being. The being of Allah is everywhere in time and place and nothing is hidden or inaccessible to Allah. So any concept of God as a fact violates the being of God, though may not violate the logic of the fact. As a matter of fact, it it true that God is, or it it true that God is not. But, as Truth, God is. When we try to describe or limit God, we misunderstand the message of the Prophet (PBUH) and our own language. Christians and others seek God in Heaven, or Paradise after their own death, but not here and now, which violates the essence of Islam. They fear punishment or reward in the hereafter, but not here and now, or here before. Those of us whose potential is not realized, were punished here before. We who are realized as human beings, are blessed. And we who fail in the here and now, are punished in the hereafter, but only in the minds of men.

Are you truly blind, or do you pretend by your name to be without sight? Let not the Light that is Truth of Allah blind you, or the darkness of ignorance deprive you of your sight. True knowledge is not Truth itself. Seek knowledge for its own sake, but seek Allah for the sake of Truth. Salaam! Peace be upon you.