The Qur'an tells how the young Abraham (peace be upon him) searched for his Lord among a people who worshipped the stars.
When night came over him, he saw a bright star and said: this is my Lord. But when it set, he said: I do not love things that set.
Then he saw the Moon rising and said: this is my Lord. When it too set, he said: unless my Lord guides me, I will be one of those who go astray.
Then he saw the Sun rising, the biggest and brightest of all, and said: this is my Lord; this is greater. When it set, he turned to his people: I am free of what you set up beside God.
And he said: I have turned my face, sincerely, to the One who created the heavens and the earth. (Qur'an 6:75-79)
Commentators debate whether Abraham was searching or teaching his people by stages. Either way, the story turns on the thing that sets. Every light he saw appeared and then disappeared. The One he turned to does not rise and set; He is manifest in all of them, and behind them all. The site's page The lights that set explores the story in full.
Judaism
“How manifold are Thy works, O LORD! In wisdom hast Thou made them all; The earth is full of Thy creatures.”
Psalms 104:24 · JPS 1917
The Psalms find God made visible in creation. Psalm 104, a great nature poem, moves through springs, birds, wild goats, lions, the moon and the sea, and marvels that every one of these works was made in wisdom.
Jewish tradition also tells of Abraham discovering God by looking at the world. In the midrash Genesis Rabbah 39:1, he is compared to a traveller who sees a palace lit up and asks, can it be that it has no owner?
Jewish practice turns noticing into a habit. On seeing lightning, Jews bless God “whose strength and power fill the world”; on seeing great mountains, seas or deserts, God the Author of creation (Mishnah Berakhot 9:2). Psalm 104 is sung each new month, on Rosh Chodesh.
Christianity
“For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.”
Romans 1:20 · WEB
Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome that God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, “are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made”.
Many Christian writers, such as Thomas Aquinas, spoke of 'natural theology': knowing something of God through the world, alongside what Christians believe God has revealed in Scripture and in Christ.
The Jesuit priest and poet Gerard Manley Hopkins put it in one line in 1877: “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.”
Islam
“And in the earth are portents for those whose faith is sure.”
Qur'an 51:20 · Pickthall (1930)
Aẓ-Ẓāhir appears once, in 57:3, together with al-Bāṭin, the Hidden. The Prophet's bedtime prayer explains the pair: You are the Manifest, and there is nothing above You; You are the Hidden, and there is nothing beyond You (Muslim 2713).
The Qur'an repeatedly calls the things of creation āyāt, signs, the same word used for its own verses. “And in the earth are portents for those whose faith is sure. And (also) in yourselves. Can ye then not see?” (51:20-21, Pickthall).
Same and different
All three faiths see creation as a place where God can be glimpsed: Psalm 104, Romans 1 and the Qur'an's signs. All three also say God is greater than anything seen. Christians add that God has been made visible in Christ, which Jews and Muslims do not accept. Judaism, for its part, has a blessing ready for almost every wonder, and Islam calls the signs of creation and the verses of the Qur'an by the same word, āyāt.
schools / familiesInvisible lightPoint a TV remote at a phone camera and press a button: the phone sees the infrared flash that your eyes cannot. Talk about what else might be there that we cannot see.
faith groups / neighboursThe lights that setWatch a sunset together and then the stars come out. Read Qur'an 6:75-79 and the Genesis Rabbah palace story, and share what helps each person notice God.
families / schools / neighboursA blessing huntWrite a card of the Jewish blessings for seeing wonders (lightning, a rainbow, mountains, the sea, a fruit tree in blossom) and carry it for a month. Tick each one you meet, and read Hopkins's “God's Grandeur” aloud on the day you tick the last.
Episode 1
