The ideas of Socrates as explained profoundly by his student Plato still dominate the religious world. Regardless of the distinctions that exist among world religions, the idea that knowledge is not empirical as it is based on divine insight are found in religious literature and sermons given in synagogues, churches, temples and even in Masajid. Knowledge does not come from learning, observation or study, argued Socrates, Plato's teacher, because knowledge is a matter of recollection. He views with contempt the idea that human beings can grasp the reality based on their senses because reality is beyond the reach of senses. Invisible world is the most intelligible and the visible world is the last knowable, he concludes. Physical world is a "shadow" of its ideal or perfect forms and would disappear like a shadow. 

This theory of metaphysics has influenced the history of Western philosophy and religions in general including Islam. 

The Quran challenged this idea. The divine message as preserved in the last testament, the Quran, demolished the Socratic-Platonian concepts when it said: "We have not created heavens and the earth and all that is between them, without any purpose. This is the surmise of only those who deny the truthfulness of Our guidance; and the result of such ideas is nothing but destruction." (38:27) or "Allah has created the heavens and the earth with truth, in order that each person may be recompensed what has earned, and they will not be wronged." (45:22) or "to Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth, that He may requite those who do evil with that which they have done and reward those who do good what is best." (53:31) 

Thus in the words of the Quran those who held the world as unintelligible and unworthy of exploration were described as unbelievers. In contrast believers were identified as those who make efforts to understand the world and contemplate on the creation: "Allah created the heaven and the earth with truth. Verily, therein is surely a sign for those who believe." (29:44) "And We did not create the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, for mere play." (44:38)

The Quran commanded the believers to follow a methodology to comprehend and use the creation. "And follow not that of which you have no knowledge, verily the hearing and the sight and the heart shall have to answer in regard to the question whether knowledge was acquired about the concerned matter. (17:36)

Those who do not use these rational faculties to acquire knowledge were described irrational beings: "And Surely, We have created many of the jinn and human beings for Hell. They have hearts wherewith they understand not, and they have eyes wherewith they see not, and they have ears wherewith they hear not. They are like brutes, nay even more astray than those. They are the heedless ones." (7:179) 

This methodology of applying rational faculties to discover the truth spread around would leads people of knowledge to find the purpose of things created by Allah. "And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and Allah has power over all things. In the creation of the earth and the heavens and the alternation of night and day, there are signs for those who understand (people of knowledge). These people keep Allah's guidance in mind whilst standing, sitting or reclining. After reflecting upon the creation of the heavens and the earth, they cry out, "O our Sustainer! You have not created this Universe in vain. Glory to You. Grant us the respite from suffering." "O our Sustainer! Grant that our efforts in this world are not wasted, for those whose efforts are rendered waste lead an ignoble life and these wrongdoers have no helpers. We had heard the voice of a caller calling us to believe in You and we have believed. So, our Sustainer! If we falter, grant us protection and remove the ill-effects of our deeds. Grant us the companionship of those who have secured real freedom as a result of adhering to Your guidance. O our Sustainer! Grant us all that You have promised us through Your messenger and do not put us to disgrace on the Day of Reckoning. We have a firm belief that You do not go back on Your promises." (3:189-194)

This is how the true believers are advised to conduct their lives: "Verily, in the heavens and the earth are signs for the believers. And in your own nature, and in [that of] all the animals which He scatters [over the earth] there are messages for people who are endowed with inner certainty." (45:3-4)Or,

"And in the succession of night and day, and in the means of subsistence which God sends down from the skies, giving life thereby to the earth after it had been lifeless, and in the change of the winds: [in all this] there are messages for people who use their reason. These messages of God do We convey unto thee, setting forth the truth. In what other tiding, if not in God's messages, will they, then, believe?" (45:5-6)

This process of exploration and contemplation would lead to the understanding of the majesty, authority, grandeur and power of Allah as is explained in the following verse: 

"It is God who has raised the heavens without any supports that you could see, and is established on the throne of His Almightiness; and He [it is who] has made the sun and the moon subservient [to His laws], each running its course for a term set [by Him]. He governs all that exists. Clearly does He spell out these messages, so that you might be certain in your innermost that you are destined to meet your Sustainer." "It is God who has raised the heavens without any supports that you could see, and is established on the throne of His Almightiness; and He [it is who] has made the sun and the moon subservient [to His laws], each running its course for a term set [by Him]. He governs all that exists. Clearly does He spell out these messages, so that you might be certain in your innermost that you are destined to meet your Sustainer." (13:2)

The Arabic expression liqa Rabb does not only mean that one would meet Allah personally in the life hereafter. It may also mean that people develop a sound understanding of their Creator in this world because the Quran also reminds us "No human vision can encompass Him, whereas He encompasses all human vision: for He alone is unfathomable, all-aware." (6:103)