Our God — Page 111
Logical Arguments for the Existence of God 111 It would not be out of place to mention the other two stages of certainty described by the Holy Quran. The first, as mentioned above, is that of ‘ilmul-yaq i n, in which certainty about something is acquired by logical inference from its signs. The second stage is that of ‘aynul-yaq i n [the certainty of sight], which marks the beginning of observation and no longer requires reasoning. For instance, when we walk in the direction of the smoke and begin to see the fire with our eyes, then we do not have ‘ilmul-yaq i n only, but acquire ‘aynul-yaq i n; i. e. we believe on the authority of direct observation and inference plays no part in it. There is another stage above this, called h aqqul-yaq i n [the certainty of experience] in Quranic terminology. This stage is reached when man gets so close to the fire that he experiences its heat and not only sees the fire but also benefits from its heat and can distinguish the right path from the wrong one in its light. This is the ultimate stage of certainty beyond which there is no other stage. Although there are several sub-stages within this ultimate stage and everyone attains their place according to their capacity and effort. We need not go into the details here. In short, there are several stages of certainty, and the stage of ‘ought to be’, called ‘ilmul-yaq i n, the one we are discussing here, is an elemen- tary stage. The Inevitable Victory of Prophets Throughout the recorded history of the world, we observe that whenever those who believe in God have been defied by those who deny God (in doctrine or practically), the former have always