Awareness

Awareness can be defined as having knowledge or discernment of something, being attentive and well informed. It implies acquiring knowledge through your own perceptions and experiences or by means of outside information.

Ten times in the Quran, God uses the double negative, saying He is never unaware of anything (e.g. 2:74,85; 6:132; 11:123; 23:17; 27:93), and many more times than that we are reminded that He is fully aware (2:197; 3:29,120; 6:101; 10:36; 24:64; 33:54; 41:54; 58:7; and many many more).

God wants us to be aware too. He reminds us of our pledge before we came to earth: [7:172] Recall that your Lord summoned all the descendants of Adam, and had them bear witness for themselves: "Am I not your Lord?" They all said, "Yes. We bear witness." Thus, you cannot say on the Day of Resurrection, "We were not aware of this." (footnote: 7:172 Thus, every human being is born with an instinctive knowledge about God.)

We are born with awareness that God is our Lord and we must worship Him alone. That knowledge should be enough. But we know it’s not. We wavered before coming here

as humans, [33:72] We have offered the responsibility (freedom of choice) to the heavens and the earth, and the mountains, but they refused to bear it, and were afraid of it. But the human being accepted it; he was transgressing, ignorant. And we continue to waver and allow our ego to guide us instead of God’s words.

Yet, God blesses us with a continuous barrage of signs and proofs and blessings to help increase our awareness. He softens up our hearts to receive His message, and He has given us the practices that allow us to become more God-conscious. The Contact Prayers every day bring us closer to God; zakat and charity make us more appreciative of God’s bounties; zikr and commemoration put God foremost in our minds.

[15:98-9] You shall sing the praises of your Lord, and be with the prostrators. And worship your Lord, in order to attain certainty.

[73:8] You shall commemorate the name of your Lord, to come ever closer and closer to Him.

God doesn’t want us to be unaware. He doesn’t want us to flounder. His guidance is always offered, but only the righteous, only the believers, will take heed.

But He doesn’t give up on us. He has sent to us a scripture, fully detailed, easy to learn, that contains so many lessons and examples from the past. [12:3] We narrate to you the most accurate history through the revelation of this Quran. Before this, you were totally unaware.

[36:5-6] This revelation is from the Almighty, Most Merciful.  To warn people whose parents were never warned, and therefore, they are unaware.

The Quran is described as “enlightenment,” a word that can be defined as the state of having knowledge or understanding, hence, awareness.

[45:20] This provides enlightenments for the people, and guidance, and mercy for those who are certain.

[10:57] O people, enlightenment has come to you herein from your Lord, and healing for anything that troubles your hearts, and guidance, and mercy for the believers.

So the Quran tells us that it is here to provide enlightenment and awareness. But only for those who are willing to

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