Sometimes one contentious issue or unanswered question can shake the foundations of belief. Religious doubt can feel like pain, shame, guilt, anger, confusion, despair and disconnection.

Exploring the roots of doubt

There’s a convenient story that non-believers like to tell themselves about religion being a primitive mechanism that developed for societies to function. They say that in the scientific age, we have evolved beyond a ‘need’ for God. Ultimately, they say, religion is all about power and control. They often see believers as either naïve, brainwashed, deluded or intellectually weak.

I’m not here to not here to tell anyone what to believe, or convince anyone that my faith is valid.

My purpose here is simply to observe, remember, and reflect.

Confronting our expectations

From my viewpoint, I often see people doubting God, or Islam in general, not because modern society is so wonderfully advanced and scientific, but because our modern lifestyles prioritise convenience, luxury and instant gratification.

In a world where everything happens at the click of a button, we’re hardwired to seek quick, personalised outcomes.

Doubt is often treated like hunger: a question must be fed with an answer, immediately! The answer must be appetising, nicely packaged and clearly labelled. Bite-sized, easy to swallow. It should not cost too much either. And it must not be difficult to access.  

History shows us that great wisdom requires sacrifice, commitment, consistent effort, and experience that comes with time.

Feeling betrayed by God

We are raised with expectations of how the world should treat us and what we deserve. The door to doubt creaks open when we feel betrayed.

Allah promised us answers, so where are they?

It’s easy so to feel betrayed when we witness the ‘Islam’ of oppressors, abusers, hypocrites and corrupt institutions. How do we make sense of an Islam portrayed as something ugly everywhere we look?

The heart aches for truth, beauty and softness. Where is it?

When people ridicule us, or throw Islamophobic content at us, how are we supposed to react? What happens when we just can’t seem to ‘out-logic’ the ‘logic’ of our haters?

Some of us prefer to reject before we are rejected.

Isn’t it a lot less painful to think that God isn’t real, than to think that God has abandoned us, or worse, hates us?

Where does doubt end and truth begin?

Let’s take a sidestep and think about the Qur’an for a moment – a believer’s singular and unfailing source of truth.

There are people who love it. There are people who hate it. And an overwhelming majority who have never actually read it but have an opinion about it.

The Qur’an is filled with clarity, and at the same time mystery.

It was revealed over 23 years. But somehow, it is still in the process of revealing itself to us, even today.

This is a book that was never meant to be understood by a single group. The message is so simple. Yet no one can claim mastery over it.

With every generation, new layers of meaning emerge from the same words. What seemed metaphorical became literal. And at other times, what seemed literal became metaphorical. What seemed obscure became clear. And what seemed impossible, became obvious.

The words never change, but interpretations are endless.

You will see in it something I did not see, and I will see something that you did not see.

Why faith cannot be rushed

Allah does not speak in the technical language of modern science, but in ‘signs’, accessible to every generation, yet layered with meanings.

The Qur’an constantly invites challenge.

It tells us repeatedly to think, reflect, explore, study and learn. It demands that we ask questions!

Truth does not fear time, questioning, or critical analysis. It requires it.  

Here comes the science!

Let’s see what happens when we zoom out and take a broad look across the centuries. You’ll see why this is meaningful later.

“And the heaven We built with power, and indeed We are expanding it.” — Qur’an 51:47

This wording suggests the creation of the universe is an ongoing process rather than a completed event. In the 10^th-11 centuries astronomers like Al-Biruni read this verse and wrestled with dynamic cosmology concepts. But it took another 1,000 years for Edwin Hubble to revolutionise astronomy in 1929 by proving that galaxies are moving apart meaning the universe is indeed “expanding”.

“The heavens and the earth were joined together, then We split them apart.” — Qur’an 21:30

Likewise, modern cosmology, theorised in the 1920s, describes the universe emerging from a single dense origin – the ‘Big Bang’.

“The sun runs toward its appointed resting place.” — Qur’an 36:38

The sun travels through the Milky Way galaxy, rather than remaining fixed in space. Western scientists had to wait until 1783 for William Herschel to identify solar motion towards a solar apex.

“…Each floats in an orbit…” — Qur’an 21:33

Sun, moon, and celestial bodies move according to precise laws unknown to seventh-century observers. In the 11^th century scholars like Ibn al-Haytham decoded the orbits. And concepts of planetary motion were only documented in the ‘west’ in the 17^th century.

“We made the sky a protected ceiling.”— Qur’an 21:32

Earth’s atmosphere shields life from radiation, meteors, and extreme temperature variation. Atmospheric observations were made by Al-Biruni in the 11th century. In the 1820s Joseph Fourier studied atmospheric heat retention. Only in the 20^th century did we begin to understand radiation shielding.

“By the sky which returns.” — Qur’an 86:11

In a verse which is so poetic, ‘return’ is often understood through atmospheric cycles — rain circulation and reflective layers such as the ionosphere. In the early 1900s radio waves were shown to “return” to Earth via atmospheric reflection.

“By the sky and the night-visiter… the piercing star.” — Qur’an 86:1–3

The Arabic ṭāriq is a star whose name means “the one who knocks,” or “night visitor”. In the 1960s astronomers discovered stars emitting rhythmic pulses detectable like cosmic knocking on a door.

“I swear by the retreating stars… that run and disappear.” — Qur’an 81:15–16

Sounds remarkably black holes, no?

“And We sent down iron with its great might…” — Qur’an 57:25

Why did Allah say, ‘sent down’? Modern astrophysics shows us that iron is not native to Earth but originates from star explosions, reaching Earth via meteorite impacts.

“And the mountains as pegs.” — Qur’an 78:6–7 “We placed mountains lest the earth shake with them.” — Qur’an 16:15

In the 1960s, geologists showed us that mountains possess deep roots stabilizing the earth’s crust.

“You see the mountains thinking them still, while they pass like clouds.” — Qur’an 27:88

The companions of the Prophet (pbuh) would have had no idea how to interpret this. Now, we know about plate tectonics. The mountains do in fact slowly move.

“…darknesses in a vast deep sea… layers of darkness one above another.”— Qur’an 24:40

Yep, you guessed it. Layered darkness zones have been discovered by oceanography.

“We made from water every living thing.” — Qur’an 21:30

Sounds obvious? Some theories vaguely pointed towards this idea in 17^th century. But we had to wait until 20^th century to confirm water is essential to all cellular life.

There’s another nuance too, with evolutionists suggesting that all life emerged from water.

Qur’an — 23:12–14

Allah accurately described sequential embryonic development processes long before embryology existed as a science. Keep in mind that, as far as we know, the actual human ovum was only discovered in 1827 by Karl Ernst von Baer.

“And that He creates the two mates – the male and female – from a sperm-drop when it is emitted.” — Qur’an 53:45–46

Creation of male and female from an emitted drop aligns with modern knowledge that sperm determines sex.

“The King then said…” — Qur’an 12:50

In the story of Yusuf pbuh (Joseph), the Allah refers to the ruler of Egypt as the “king”, not “Pharaoh” as he refers to the ruler of Egypt in the story of Musa pbuh (Moses). Egyptology revealed that “Pharaoh” became a royal title later than Joseph’s era, so king is the correct title but there was no way to know this at the time of the revelation.

“Today We will preserve your corpse so that you may become an example for those who come after you.” — Qur’an 10:92

Referring to the preserved body of the Pharaoh Rameses II that was discovered in 1881 and is on display in Cairo.

I also read once (but can’t find the source) that some scans of Pharaoh’s body suggest he did not die immediately from drowning, but that he was pulled out of the Red Sea in a vegetative state. If so, his body was ‘preserved’ for his people to see the man who claimed to be a ‘god’, reduced to total incapacity. A sign for his contemporaries and his eventually mummified corpse a sign for us.

Ok, ok… I’ll stop here for now!

But in terms of the wonders of the Qur’an, we’re barely even touching the surface. I could go on for hours with examples – a linguistic, historical, scientific, numerological, philosophical…

Understanding takes time

None of the scientific discoveries above happened without serious intellectual effort, and a willingness to get uncomfortable and push boundaries.

Knowledge grows slowly, through:

• doubt and questioning
• reflection
• scholarship
• collaborative effort

The Unseen and limits of knowledge

“They ask you about the soul. Say: the soul is from the command of my Lord, and you have been given of knowledge only a little.” — Qur’an 17:85

Sometimes faith means trusting before understanding arrives. Reality is far larger than we can perceive.

The universe contains dimensions of existence beyond human perception: angels, jinn, and the unseen (al-ghayb).

For most of human history, the idea that unseen realities could influence the world was dismissed as superstition. Yet modern physics increasingly describes a universe full of invisible forces and hidden structures:

• dark matter
• dark energy
• quantum fields
• possible extra dimensions
• aliens

Modern ‘spirituality’ uses ideas about ‘energy’, ‘vibrations’ and ‘visualisation’ that seem to correlate with both emerging physics and ancient wisdom, (which I might guess may be somehow connected to the ‘magic’ taught by Harut and Marut?).

Perhaps centuries from now, Muslims will read verses about the Unseen in ways we could never imagine.

When you doubt Allah, be patient, there’s no rush…

In the end, this is not actually a reflection about science and faith. The examples shared above point to something far more profound:

Truth has time on its side. That’s how it’s meant to be. It’s meant to unfold.

Allah tells us:

“We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth.” — Qur’an 41:53

Nothing meant for us to understand will remain hidden forever.

So don’t rush. And hold your doubts gently.

Just as the night sky brightens into dawn, at the right time the light will find you.

Keep going, keep searching, stay open-minded.  

Allah already promised:

“It is only a reminder to the worlds. And you will certainly know its truth after a time.” — Qur’an 38:87–88

Some interesting resources:

You may also be interested in:

• BLOG: Why don’t good deeds always feel good?
• BLOG: Lessons from the Bee on overthinking
• How to deal with cultural and religious pressure
• How to solve cultural/religious identity crisis
• An Islamic perspective on suffering
• Muslim mental health resources