QUESTIONS: A Learning Tool

Questions are an important part of our whole learning process. The New American Dictionary defines a question as “an expression of inquiry that invites or calls for a reply.” From earliest childhood we are asking questions, the most common being: “why?” The answers we receive from parents and friends help us understand the world around us. Much of what we learn in school is taught through questions and answers. Students ask for explanations, then teachers ask a series of questions to test how much knowledge the students have taken in. It seems important, then, to pay attention to questions and use them as a means of learning.

There are well over 800 questions contained in the Quran. Some are as simple as: “What did you lose?” (12:71) and some may sound simple

but are really complex, such as: “Which of your Lord’s marvels can you deny?”—a question that is asked 31 times in Sura 55. All are thought-provoking, as questions are meant to be; they make us think about God. Therefore, it’s important to spend a little time pondering some of the questions God poses.

God asks: Why do they not reflect on the camels and how they are created? (88:17) A seemingly simple question, but when we actually do reflect on the amazing creature, the camel, we see how complex is God’s creation and that’s what God really wants us to contemplate.
The reflection continues: And the sky and how it is raised. And the mountains and how they are constructed. And the earth and how it is built. (88:18-20) This leads me to

look at several other questions for our reflection.

Have they not seen all the things created by God? (16:48) Do the unbelievers not realize that the heaven and the earth used to be one solid mass that we exploded into existence? And from water we made all living things. Would they believe? (21:30) Have they not looked at the sky above them, and how we constructed it and adorned it, without a flaw? (50:6)

And perhaps the most important question about our creation:

Do you not realize that God has created the heavens and the earth for a specific purpose? If He wills, He can remove you, and substitute a new creation in your place. This is not too difficult for God. (14:19-20)

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