Ali Mermer
اللهم أرني الحق حقاً وارزقني اتباعه، وأرني الباطل باطلا وارزقني اجتنابه
“O Allah, show me the truth as the truth and guide me to follow it and show me falsehood as falsehood and guide me to avoid it.”
This beautiful and powerful prayer deeply resonates with me. It reflects the sincere yearning of those who recognize their need for divine guidance. I often turn to this supplication to articulate my own dependence: Having endless desires and limited capacity in a transient and ever changing world, I realize that I myself alone cannot navigate the path of truth without my Creator’s direction.
Reflecting on this prayer, I notice it encapsulates two crucial human needs: first, to perceive truth clearly and embrace it, and second, to discern falsehood unequivocally and shun it. Both are indispensable. Merely knowing what is right is insufficient; we must also distinctly recognize what is wrong to avoid inadvertently stumbling into it.
As humans, we possess an innate desire to seek what is best, to understand what is meaningful, real, and good. Yet, we live in a world where we’re surrounded by falsehood and ambiguity. This is why we implore not only to know the truth but also to recognize falsehood as such—for without this clarity, we are vulnerable to deceptions.
The ability to choose between truth and false ideas requires that they both exist. Consider this: without darkness, the presence of light would be indistinguishable. Similarly, the existence of false interpretations serves to highlight and deepen our appreciation of truth. Falsehood, in essence, lacks inherent existence; it is merely the absence of truth, just as darkness is the absence of light.
There are two main areas where we seek truth: our physical needs and our emotional or spiritual needs. In physical matters, we use the process of trial and error. If something works—like a tool or medication—we know that it’s useful to us and we benefit from it accordingly. The physical world lets us test things directly. We do not need additional guidance from our Creator for this. By experimenting, we are already created with the ability to discern what is materially useful or harmful for us. That’s how technology is developed—by trying, testing, and verifying.
But when it comes to our inner world—our consciousness, intellect, feelings, values, and purpose—it’s different. Our feelings extend towards infinity, yet the universe itself is finite.
The fundamental questions of existence resonate deep within us:
Why am I here?
What is the purpose of my life?
Why this innate longing for eternal happiness?
Why this underlying fear of meaninglessness?
These are not mere curiosities; they lie at the very core of the human experience. However, the universe itself offers no direct answers. Although it shows signs of meaning and purpose, it is transient in nature and cannot answer or meet any of our heartfelt questions. Its existence hints at a Creator without providing explicit clarity. Our emotions yearn for these truths, but the cosmos remains silent. Where, then, can we turn for reliable answers?
We possess the unique gift of free will, an ability accompanied by responsibility. Each moment presents us with a choice: to embrace truth or to turn away from it. Truth aligns with the meaningfulness of creation and this resonates with human feelings. Falsehood, like the illogical equation 2+2=5, lacks grounding in reality—an illusion designed to test our discernment and deepen our appreciation for what is genuine.
The process of choosing makes the necessity of our inherent need for guidance extremely apparent. We are created with a deep yearning for certainty and purpose, yet placed in a world where self-derived answers remain uncertain. Not only does the universe remain silent, but by being subject to change itself, it also fails to provide any means of everlasting happiness or meaningfulness. This indicates that nothing of the nature of the transient world is independent and therefore, can provide a means of security for endless human desires. Human beings require a Source beyond the impermanent and vague nature of the universe. Only an absolute and independent Creator, One who fashioned both the universe and our beings, along with our deeply-seated desire for perfect and lasting fulfillment, must and can reveal the truth. This necessarily points towards the concept of revelation.
The Messengers’s messages declare that they have received answers to human questions:
“Our Creator has sent us guidance. This message answers your deepest spiritual questions and shows you how to live in harmony with your essence and the universe, finding complete fulfillment in your life.”
This message—in the present day, the Qur’an—aligns with what we observe in the universe and what we feel in our hearts. Rather than merely stating truths, it invites us to use the universe and our inner senses as witnesses to its authenticity. It challenges us to reflect and verify its teachings through both our innermost feelings and the natural world around us.
Consider how the Qur’an teaches that life continues after death and our actions carry consequences. While we cannot witness someone returning back to life, we can find the evidence in creation itself, in our innate longing for absolute justice unmet in this world, and in the profound desire for eternal fulfillment.
We might reach some notion of the truth by using our intellect and consciousness, but we need something more to confirm it as absolutely true. This is because the truth we seek is related to the reality of the creation of the universe and ourselves. This includes our human feelings which extend beyond the universe. This is where our need to turn to God, the Creator of the universe, is found.
It is essential to experience and recognize the inherent limitations of human intellect in the pursuit of absolute certainty. Everything in creation from our feelings to the way things exist in orderly fashion suggest that such a fundamental desire has been installed with a corresponding means of realizing it. However, this very innate longing for certainty indicates its origins can only be found in the One who gave it.
I must therefore turn to my Creator and acknowledge:
“I admit that unless You show me the truth, I cannot find it on my own. The only truth I’ve discovered with certainty is that I cannot discover the truth by myself!
O my Creator, my Owner, my Educator, my Lord! Help me in finding and affirming the truth! I am certain that I need Your help at all times—this much I know for sure! I confess.”
With this realization, I turn back to the profound prayer:
اللهم أرني الحق حقاً وارزقني اتباعه، وأرني الباطل باطلاً وارزقني اجتنابه
“O Allah, show me the truth as truth and guide me to follow it, and show me falsehood as falsehood and guide me to avoid it.”