Faith

Going through this post in a friend's blog, I was reminded of a story I once heard someone tell me concerning faith in a way. I can't retell it verbatim, so if anyone has a more exact version, or if I got the story wrong, do let me know. Here is the story as I can recall:

An opponent of Islam approached an Imam who was a teacher of Islam and said to him "Who is this God that you worship? You cannot see him, nor hear him, or feel him nor smell him".

"Tell me how is it that you can believe in a thing that you cannot prove to exist? Answer me that!" he asked the Imam cockily, thinking he had asked a question that would be unanswered by the religious man.

The Imam looked calmly at the non-believer, lifted his hand and promptly smacked the other man across the face.

The non-believer's eyes widened in surprise. While he was still reeling from shock, the Imam asked him "Does it hurt?" to which the heathen replied indignantly "Of course it hurts!". Without skipping a beat, the Imam continued "But how can I believe that you have pain? I cannot see your pain, nor hear your pain, not taste it, nor feel it."

And with this, the non-believer was enlightened.