Getting acquainted with Allah is one of the foundations of Islam, and Allah is known through His Creations (His Signs in this universe), through pondering over His Words (the Ayat of the Quran) and through observing His Actions. In fact, refection is the widest gate to Allah and the fastest way to Him. In other words, it is the means of getting acquainted to Allah, and the outcome of knowing Allah is manifested in the devoted obedience to and fear of Him, in pinning hopes on Him due to His Mercy and in offering more deeds to deserve His Paradise and avoid His Hellfire. Hence, the more you know Allah the more obedient to Him you will become, given reflection elevates man's level of knowledge.

 When man sees an advanced machine, a laptop or a plane, he admires their designer, as he knows that this person owns a sophisticated taste, accuracy and knowledge. Hence, people of the worldly life acknowledge one another, whereas the believer glorifies the Lord of this universe due to His Creations. Man eats, drinks and makes use of everything in this universe, but he should not overlook signs like rain, clouds, mountains, lakes, vegetables and fruits which are available to him.

 This universe is subjugated to man for two purposes; to honor him and to be his means to know Allah. Accordingly, this universe has two functions: the first one is to be beneficial to man. However, this purpose is nothing compared with the second function, for making use of the universe ends with death whereas the second function which is to be man's means to get to know Allah never ends, but rather it is beneficial to man forever and ever (i.e. in the Hereafter).

((Qatadah narrated: When the Prophet of Allah (PBUH) saw the new moon, he said: "a new moon of good and right guidance; a new moon of good and right guidance; a new moon of good and right guidance. I believe in Him Who created you" three times. He would then say: "Praise be to Allah Who has made such and such a month to pass and has brought such and such a month."))

[Abu Dawod from Qatadah]

 This means that the new moon guides us to Allah, and it is beneficial to us in the worldly life. We keep making use of the moon every day, but we should not ignore the second purpose it is created for, which is to get us acquainted with Allah the Almighty. If a rich man eats honey every day, he makes use of all the mundane benefits of honey.. On the other hand, if a poor person who cannot eat honey at all because of his limited income reads an essay about honey's benefits and about the miraculous creation of this nutrition, and he weeps out of fearing Allah while reading, this man fulfills the Hereafter-oriented purpose for which Allah creates honey.

 Try not to overlook any sign in this universe before fulfilling the purpose for which it is created. Every creature on earth is subjugated to man and has two purposes, one of them is to be beneficial to him in his lifetime on earth, and the second one is to be beneficial to him in the Hereafter. Thus, do not drink a glass of water before you reflect on the greatness of creating it, and always remember to praise Allah after you drink it. Drinking water without doing anything is an act of settling for the less, namely, you are just quenching your thirst and are satisfied with the worldly function of water. It is worth mentioning that our Master Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, once held an apple in his hand, and he said, "If I eat it, its benefit will be over, but if I give it as Sadaqah to someone else, its benefit will go on." Hence, whenever you eat an apple without remembering its Creator, its benefits will be over, but if you remember how Allah creates it for you (and be thankful to Him for it), its benefits will go on since it will be beneficial to you in the Hereafter, and its benefits in the Hereafter (which are manifested in pondering over Allah's creation of this apple and in being grateful to Him for it) are more precious than the temporary mundane nutrients the apple contains.

A question and an answer:

 If someone says, "My domain is basically in science, for I am a physician, and my knowledge about the creation of man is very deep, so this is a sort of reflection, isn't it?" What should we answer him? Well, scientists see many incredible Signs of Allah in their laboratories, which denote His Greatness, yet they do not believe. They use, for example, armored pigboats provided with floodlights which are able to navigate under the deep sea water in the Mariana Trench (the deepest part of the world's oceans), where you can see the different kinds of fish, sea creatures and plants. Also, those who reached the moon were able to see the earth as a round sphere, and they took photos of it.

 Some scientists are able to see the very small bacteria, sh3er are able to see the giant galaxies through huge observatories and other scientists can grow human tissues which is unbelievable, but why don't these scientists believe? Why don't their hearts submit to Allah? Why don't they get acquainted with Allah given they are face to face with amazing miraculous signs? The answer to this question is that when man has a purpose other than getting acquainted with Allah, he will not be guided to Him even if he sees thousands of signs in front of him. There are so many signs in medicine, physics and chemistry that leave the prudent dazzled, yet some specialists in these fields are not touched by any of these signs, simply because they are aiming at fulfilling something else, as man is only after his need.

﴾Have you seen him who takes his own lust (vain desires) as his ilah (god), and Allah knowing (him as such), left him astray, and sealed his hearing and his heart, and put a cover on his sight. Who then will guide him after Allah? Will you not then remember?﴿

[Al-Jathiyah, 23]

 Whoever aims at fulfilling his lusts, making fortune and having fame does not see facts, and he is like the very advanced camera which has no film in it, so even if the snapshots are very beautiful, it cannot take shots, because it lacks the film. Some scientists swim in amazing facts, yet these facts never bring them close to Allah, because they have never intended to know Allah. If you want to take photos, it is enough to use an old camera with a film instead of having a very advanced one without a film.

 Reflection is an intellectual process which needs raw materials to be done. To elaborate, if someone reads an article about birds, his reading is not reflection, but the pieces of information in this article are the raw materials the brain use to go through the intellectual process (of reflection). Reflecting on the creatures of Allah is a leap upward, given reflecting without means goes nowhere, and having the means without reflection also goes nowhere. Westerners own the means, only they do not reflect at all although they have the accurate facts about the universe, and they have references which dazzle minds. The most perfect thing is to own the accurate facts about the universe and to use these facts in taking the leap in getting acquainted with Allah the Almighty.