All accepted knowledge is also belief. To give a specific example, let's look at the American moon landing. Now almost everyone, including me, believes wholeheartedly that the Americans were the first to set foot on the moon. The proof of its reality is countless. For one thing, this event was broadcast on television. Samples were brought from the moon and so on. But despite this, there are those who do not believe this obvious information. They too have their own proofs. People who believe that this was a conspiracy to gain a psychological advantage over the Soviets at that time have presented their proofs. And today some people believe them, even if they are one in a million.
Now, our belief in the moon landing is our belief. This is despite all their proofs.... On the other hand, it is their belief that those who do not believe in it do not believe in it.
We can generalize this for every scientific fact. Even the simplest facts like the existence of planets are our beliefs. It is entirely up to us (the individual) whether we believe in this knowledge or not, whether we consider the evidence sufficient or not.
Can the speed of light be exceeded? Is the theory of evolution true or not? All these are nothing but beliefs.
Now you may say, "But this has been proven, there can be no belief." Whether it is based on proof or something else, it is still nothing but our belief whether we believe in it or not.
How do you think many false theories have been disproved? When something was accepted as scientific fact by everyone, including scientists, it was disbelieved by some scientists, and then these skeptical scientists demolished those general assumptions with their own proofs. The beliefs of those who believed in the reality of that demolished misinformation were their beliefs, and the beliefs of the scientists who demolished that theory by believing it to be false were their beliefs.
A general assumption is nothing but a belief, even if it is based on its own proofs. Whether we believe in that knowledge or not, whether we find the proofs sufficient and logical or not, determines our belief.
In short, knowledge = strong belief based on evidence. We call it knowledge when we wholeheartedly believe in the reality of something based on some evidence. Everything from what our name is to accepting the reality of gravity is our belief.
Unfortunately, people today confuse "belief" with "conjecture". Belief in things that are uncertain and not based on evidence is conjecture, guesswork.
The Qur'an forbids following conjecture, that is, things that are not based on proof:
Surah Isra
36. Do not believe in what you do not know and follow after it, for the hearing, the sight and the brain are all responsible for it.
Surat al-Hujurat
6. O you who believe! When a corrupt person brings you news, investigate and search for evidence! Otherwise you may accuse a people out of ignorance and regret what you have done.
Therefore, all superstitious beliefs are forbidden and those who follow such unsubstantiated beliefs will be disappointed in the Hereafter.
In contrast, the fact that the Qur'an is the word of Allah and does not change is based on evidence. You can examine a very important part of this evidence at
www.mucizeler.com.
When we take all this together with the basic revelation that was revealed to us at creation, we can easily see that what the Qur'an says is completely true. Let us give examples of verses that emphasize the basic divine knowledge given to us at creation:
7:172 When your Lord took from the children of Adam from their backs, their progeny; and He made them witness over themselves: "Am I not your Lord?" They said, "Yes, we bear witness." Thus you cannot say on the day of Resurrection that you were unaware of this.
7:173 Nor can you say, "It was our fathers who set up partners before and we were simply a progeny who came after them. Would You destroy us for what the innovators did?"
30:30 So establish yourself to the system of monotheism. It is the nature that God has made the people on. There is no changing in God's creation. Such is the pure system, but most people do not know.
Through this basic revelation, we innately know the existence and uniqueness of God, that it is good to treat people well, and so on. Unless we have turned our backs on this program of creation.
And this basic knowledge within us provides us with an important proof of the authenticity of the Qur'an. We are obliged to believe in the Qur'an because it is in harmony with the revelation (spirit) implanted in us at creation. Because it is based on evidence. It is not an assumption, but real knowledge (faith).
Our Lord wants us to abandon superstition and delusion and turn towards true knowledge and faith.
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Note: My Turkish article was machine translated into English.
https://emre1974tr.blogspot.com/2011/07/bilgiler-bile-birer-inanctr.htmlPeace
