Today one of the most widely recognized celebrities in the world is Johnny Depp. So if I show you a drawing of Johnny Depp you would probably be able to recognize him. Now if I put the drawing of Johnny Depp next to an actual photo of Johnny Depp, and asked you to say which one is the real Johnny Depp you would probably pick the photo. If instead of a photo I show you a video interview with Johnny Depp and ask you which one is the most real version of Johnny Depp you would probably go with the video.
But what if I offer you a chance to meet Johnny Depp and spend an hour talking with him about whatever you want. Out of these options which one is the most real? I think you would agree sitting and meeting with Johnny Depp would be the most real.
Resolution
What exactly makes one more real than the other? The simple answer is that the version that is more real will have more resolution and more depth than the less real version. So we say that the drawing has less resolution than the photo which has less resolution than the video, which has less resolution than the real thing.
But there is another dimension to this analogy. Johnny Depp is one of the world’s greatest actors. While during an interview you can assess yes this is the real Johnny Depp as in the physical person, what if the responses he gives you are not factual, but instead only a persona of how he wants the world to view him. So even though you were able to spend an hour with him and ask him any question you wanted to ask him, he might have given you answers that were not based on reality. So even though you went from low resolution to high resolution when you were able to meet Johnny Depp, you might have regressed back to a low-resolution caricature of who he wanted you to think he was, rather than the real substance of who he actually is.
The Tangible and The Intangible
So reality has two dimensions the tangible and the intangible. So how do we apply the same principles of resolution utilized to determine the physical reality (the tangible) towards the spiritual reality (the intangible)? Truth, be it physical or spiritual, should have infinite resolution, meaning the further down the rabbit hole one looks the more resolution they are able to make out. But falsehood is low resolution. After just a little bit of digging beneath the surface, the resolution fades and there is nothing of substance remaining.
14:24 Do you not see that GOD has cited the example of the good word as a good tree whose root is firmly fixed, and its branches are high in the sky? 14:25 It produces its crop every season, as designed by its Lord. GOD thus cites the examples for the people, that they may take heed. 14:26 And the example of the bad word is that of a bad tree chopped at the soil level; it has no roots to keep it standing. 14:27 GOD strengthens those who believe with the proven word, in this life and in the Hereafter. And GOD sends the transgressors astray. Everything is in accordance with GOD’s will.
Here is an example, let’s say you are trying to solve a crime and you have a prime suspect. The suspect claims they were not at the location of the crime when it occurred. If they are truthful you can confirm this with witnesses, video footage, social media posts, cell phone data, etc. If on the other hand, they were lying, none of this additional information would corroborate their claim, and their narrative would quickly fall apart.
Consequences of Believing Falsehood
If I hold a belief and then am faced with contradictory information that challenges my belief I should reassess my belief if I want to be consistent with the truth.
Imagine a person has a worldview that cavities aren’t real and a lie pushed by Big Toothpaste. Based on this understanding, they stop brushing their teeth thinking that their natural mouth bacteria will keep their mouth healthy and clean. At first, people complain about their bad breath, but they write it off as a people being bought into the mainstream narrative that our breath shouldn’t smell. Then the person might starts noticing sores in their mouth and justify that this is part of their mouth bacteria adjusting. Then the person might start noticing some tooth pain and still continue to ignore the situation. But eventually, the pain gets to be too much and they concede to going to the dentist and find out that their teeth have started to rot and if they don’t take some serious action they could all fall out. Now how many teeth need to fall out, or how bad does the pain have to be, before the person considers that maybe their beliefs towards mouth hygiene were wrong?
If they wanted to fix the situation the surface level solution is to start practicing good tooth hygiene, but the deeper solution is to assess what caused them to believe that they should stop brushing their teeth? This person had an ideology, but eventually, reality proved their ideology wrong. And a person who applies the wrong model to reality will inevitably suffer the consequences of their actions, because as stated “while we are all entitled to our own opinions, we are not all entitled to our own facts.
A trait of a successful person is that they had the right model of reality and they acted upon it. Problems occur when people think the world operates one way only to find out that they were wrong in their assessment. While this applies in all facets of life, the one that we are most concerned about is how this applies to our relationship with God.
In this regard, it is a blessing from God that He lets us see our contradictions in this life so that we can get back to guidance.
32:21 We let them taste the smaller retribution (of this world), before they incur the greater retribution (of the Hereafter), that they may (take a hint and) reform.
21:62 They said, “Did you do this to our gods, O Abraham?”
21:63 He said, “It is that big one who did it. Go ask them, if they can speak.”
21:64 They were taken aback, and said to themselves, “Indeed, you are the ones who have been transgressing.”
21:65 Yet, they reverted to their old ideas: “You know full well that these cannot speak.”
It is when we see contradictions between our worldview and reality and the dissonance becomes apparent that we have an opportunity to correct course.
13:11 Shifts (of angels) take turns, staying with each one of you—they are in front of you and behind you. They stay with you, and guard you in accordance with GOD’s commands. Thus, GOD does not change the condition of any people unless they themselves make the decision to change. If GOD wills any hardship for any people, no force can stop it. For they have none beside Him as Lord and Master.
Consider Noah warning his people for years to refrain from their idol worship, but rather than assessing his claims, they disregarded him and persisted in their worship of their gods, which led to their annihilation. The people of Noah’s worldview was flawed yet because they did not take heed they suffered the consequences.
71:5 He said, “My Lord, I have invited my people night and day. 71:6 “But my invitation only increased their aversion. 71:7 “Whenever I invited them to be forgiven by You, they placed their fingers in their ears, covered themselves with their clothes, insisted, and turned arrogant. 71:8 “Then I invited them publicly. 71:9 “Then I proclaimed to them loudly, and I spoke to them privately. 71:10 “I said, ‘Implore your Lord for forgiveness; He is Forgiving. 71:11 “‘He will then shower you generously with rain. 71:12 “‘And provide you with money and children, and orchards, and streams.'”
71:21 Noah said, “My Lord, they disobeyed me, and followed those who were even more corrupted when blessed with money and children. 71:22 “They schemed terrible schemes. 71:23 “They said, ‘Do not abandon your gods. Do not abandon Wadd, Suwaa’, Yaghouth, Ya’ooq, and Nasr.’ 71:24 “They misled many. Therefore, let the wicked plunge deeper into loss.”
How to Discern Truth
So the way we find the ultimate truth, the ultimate reality is twofold. Firstly, we establish the facts that we can say we know for sure. These are our first principles and sets the foundation for our understanding. Then secondly, we build on top of this understanding constantly checking to see if any understanding we adopt creates a contradiction. If a contradiction is formed it is essential that we reassess our understanding to resolve the contradiction and not make assumptions past that point until the contradiction is resolved.
Axiom of Truth
In math, the foundations of truth are called axioms. These are foundational statements that are regarded as absolutely true under all circumstances. It is from these axioms that proofs can be constructed. And from these proofs, additional proofs can be formulated. If there is a flaw in any of this logic then all the ideas that were built on top of this flawed understanding will also become void. This is essential to make sure that the foundation we build our understanding from is rock solid, for if it contains even the slightest bit of unevenness then any understanding that we developed based on this assumption will only amplify the crookedness of our initial foundation.
22:62 It is a fact that GOD is the Truth, while the setting up of any idols beside Him constitutes a falsehood, and that GOD is the Most High, the Supreme.
6:73 He is the One who created the heavens and the earth, truthfully. Whenever He says, “Be,” it is. His word is the absolute truth. All sovereignty belongs to Him the day the horn is blown. Knower of all secrets and declarations, He is the Most Wise, the Cognizant.
Since the Qruan is God’s word then the Quran is the absolute truth as well.
2:146 Those who received the scripture recognize the truth herein, as they recognize their own children. Yet, some of them conceal the truth, knowingly.
2:147 This is the truth from your Lord; do not harbor any doubt.
10:94 If you have any doubt regarding what is revealed to you from your Lord, then ask those who read the previous scripture. Indeed, the truth has come to you from your Lord. Do not be with the doubters.
Therefore, if we accept any other source as a religious law next to the Quran, then we are setting an idol next to God.
6:121 Do not eat from that upon which the name of GOD has not been mentioned, for it is an abomination. The devils inspire their allies to argue with you; if you obey them, you will be idol worshipers.
Despite flawless deduction for a foundation of truth, there are many who want to uphold additional sources besides the Quran as another source of truth. This is predominately in the form of Hadith attributed to the prophet.
The Quran condemns the upholding of any Hadith besides the Quran in the following verses:
77:50 Which Hadith, other than this, do they uphold?
(٥٠) فَبِأَيِّ حَدِيثٍ بَعْدَهُ يُؤْمِنُونَ
45:6 These are GOD’s revelations that we recite to you truthfully. In which Hadith other than GOD and His revelations do they believe?
The second a person upholds some other source as a source of religious law besides the words of God it shows that they disbelieve in God’s words, and more specifically a sign that they do not believe in the Hereafter.
6:112 We have permitted the enemies of every prophet—human and jinn devils—to inspire in each other fancy words, in order to deceive. Had your Lord willed, they would not have done it. You shall disregard them and their fabrications. 6:113 This is to let the minds of those who do not believe in the Hereafter listen to such fabrications, and accept them, and thus expose their real convictions. 6:114 Shall I seek other than GOD as a source of law, when He has revealed to you this book fully detailed? Those who received the scripture recognize that it has been revealed from your Lord, truthfully. You shall not harbor any doubt. 6:115 The word of your Lord is complete, in truth and justice. Nothing shall abrogate His words. He is the Hearer, the Omniscient. 6:116 If you obey the majority of people on earth, they will divert you from the path of GOD. They follow only conjecture; they only guess.
Yet some people still choose to uphold Hadith besides the Quran
39:23 GOD has revealed herein the best Hadith; a book that is consistent, and points out both ways (to Heaven and Hell). The skins of those who reverence their Lord cringe therefrom, then their skins and their hearts soften up for GOD’s message. Such is GOD’s guidance; He bestows it upon whomever He wills. As for those sent astray by GOD, nothing can guide them.
39:30 You (Muhammad) will surely die, just like they will die. 39:31 On the Day of Resurrection, before your Lord, you people will feud with one another. 39:32 Who is more evil than one who attributes lies to GOD, while disbelieving in the truth that has come to him? Is Hell not a just requital for the disbelievers? 39:33 As for those who promote the truth, and believe therein, they are the righteous.
39:36 Is GOD not sufficient for His servant? They frighten you with the idols they set up beside Him. Whomever GOD sends astray, nothing can guide him. 39:37 And whomever GOD guides, nothing can send him astray. Is GOD not Almighty, Avenger?
Studying the Quran Alone
So now that we have established that our axiom of truth for which our religion is based upon is the Quran alone, how do we determine the correct understanding?
There was a game we used to play when I was a kid called Mastermind. The game consisted of two players one being a code-maker while the other side was the code-breaker. In each round, the code-maker will select a sequence of four colors that they would arrange in a row and keep secret from the other player. Each round code-breaker will have a set number of guesses to try to determine the right sequence of colors. After each guess, the code-maker will tell the other side how many items in the sequence they had of the right color and how many had the right color in the right position.
The obvious strategy to win in this game is to avoid guesses that I already confirmed are not the right sequence. Or put another way to avoid contradictions in order to be able to find the correct sequence. So for instance, if I select a combination of colors in a row and the code-maker informs me that I selected none of the same colors as their arrangement, it would be foolish of me to continue using any of those same colors in my future guesses.
In this scenario, the established facts become the axioms by which we can build any future guesses on top of in our pursuit for finding the truth. The Quran operates in a similar manner. Since the Quran is complete, fully detailed, and contains examples of everything all our answers to our religious questions can be found in this book. The simple approach then is to avoid coming up with any logic that is inconsistent.
4:82 Why do they not study the Quran carefully? If it were from other than GOD, they would have found in it numerous contradictions.
The Quran contains 6,436 verses. If we have an understanding derived from the Quran it should not form any contradictions with any other verse. This creates a unified understanding.
Therefore the sound way of studying the Quran is to first establish the axioms, and then secondly to eliminate any contradictions that may be formed when we attempt to understand the Quran when they are identified. This method is at fundamental odds for those who want to uphold Hadith besides the Quran.
Individuals who want to uphold Hadith ground their understanding on their belief that the Quran and the religion are riddled with contradictions and this is all part of the course. In addition, they attempt to circumvent these contradictions through the satanic pracitce of abrogation, where they claim that some verses of the Quran should no longer be followed. When they do this it shows that they don’t believe that God’s words in the Quran are the absolute truth and that they only accept the Quran partially.
39:27 We have cited for the people every kind of example in this Quran, that they may take heed. 39:28 An Arabic Quran, without any ambiguity, that they may be righteous. 39:29 GOD cites the example of a man who deals with disputing partners (Hadith), compared to a man who deals with only one consistent source (Quran). Are they the same? Praise be to GOD; most of them do not know.
A famous verse that individuals often point to in an attempt to say we are incapable of understanding the verses of the Quran is the following.
3:7 He sent down to you this scripture, containing straightforward verses—which constitute the essence of the scripture—as well as multiple-meaning or allegorical verses. Those who harbor doubts in their hearts will pursue the multiple-meaning verses to create confusion, and to extricate a certain meaning. None knows the true meaning thereof except GOD and those well founded in knowledge. They say, “We believe in this—all of it comes from our Lord.” Only those who possess intelligence will take heed.