It is in this sense that I can claim we know GOD better than we know ourselves. I do not mean to say that we apprehend GOD as He truly is, but that our awareness of Him is nonetheless greater than our self-awareness. Our recognition of ‘beautiful’, ‘true’, ‘just’, and so on is innate, simple, and direct; we perceive these absolutes in our hearts, and we identify them instantly and consistently throughout our lives. But ourselves? There is nothing simple or direct about who we are, or even if we are. Some of the same people who deny the existence of God refute, with more reason, the reality of a single or persistent self in this complex, ever-changing jumble of physical, mental, and emotional phenomena that we call a human being. GOD, in comparison, is clear and obvious.*
* In other words, if we can agree on what absolutes such as love, reason, and justice denote, then the summation of all of them, the Absolute All, should likewise be at least conceptually clear, even if we cannot comprehend GOD in His infinite possession of all absolutes. This, by the way, helps to overcome the old conundrum of the relationship between ‘good’ and ‘God’: are there goods that are inherently so, regardless of what God decrees, or is something good only because God made it so? When God and good are considered two different things, this type of question makes sense. But I would contend that all good is necessarily a manifestation of GOD, and inseparable from Him. Good = GODlike or GOD-approved. Thus the above question would be like asking, “Is the wetness of the ocean due to the intrinsic characteristics of water, regardless of the ocean’s nature, or did the ocean make it so?” Posed like this, the question becomes mere nonsense.
We shall manifest to them Our signs on the horizons and within themselves until it is apparent to them that it is the Truth. Is it not sufficient that your Lord is Witness over everything? (Q41:53)
سَنُرِيهِمْ آيَاتِنَا فِي الآفَاقِ وَفِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ حَتَّى يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِ بِرَبِّكَ أَنَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ
Notice how the dual realms of the sensory, such as the horizons, and the supersensory, “within themselves”, are continuously ‘updated’ with Our signs. Just as there is progress in the field of objective physical knowledge, so should there be development in our subjective ability to see GOD’s signs where no one else can see them. The realization that all of this witnessing of ours has a Witness suffices . . . for what? For replacing our ego as the all-knowing ‘centre’ of our experience.
And in the earth are signs for those who are convinced, / And in yourselves. Do you not see? / And in the sky is your provision and what you are promised. / By the Lord of heaven and of earth, indeed it [the Resurrection] is as real as [the fact] that you are speaking. (Q51:20-23)
وَفِي الأَرْضِ آيَاتٌ لِلْمُوقِنِينَ
وَفِي أَنفُسِكُمْ أَفَلاَ تُبْصِرُونَ
وَفِي السَّمَاءِ رِزْقُكُمْ وَمَا تُوعَدُونَ
فَوَرَبِّ السَّمَاءِ وَالأَرْضِ إِنَّهُ لَحَقٌّ مِثْلَ مَا أَنَّكُمْ تَنطِقُونَ
Notice how the personal experience of being in yourselves and speaking is interwoven with the references to natural signs of GOD such as the earth and the heavens. GOD’s Power, Judgement, and Mercy are not just ‘out there’, which is what we feel when we think of His transcendence, but also ‘in here’, or immanent.
Truly We created man; We know what his own self is whispering. And We are closer to him than his jugular vein. (Q50:16)
وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الإِنسَانَ وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُ بِهِ نَفْسُهُ وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ
This nearness is not a physical presence, but the nearness of knowledge. If we want to know ‘where’ GOD is, this is the answer – an almost tongue-in-cheek response. But where is man’s own self? How do we locate that? It is not GOD we have lost, after all, but ourselves.
The GOD You Already Know 