The Hidden Foundation

My first night speaking at that small mosque felt different. The audience was warm, yet diverse, elderly regulars alongside young university students who listened carefully but cautiously. After the lecture, I stood near the exit, as I often do, hoping for quiet conversations rather than formal questions.

Among the crowd, a middle-aged man caught my attention. Calm, focused, and deeply attentive. I approached him and said, “I might be mistaken, but it seems you work in a technical field.” He smiled and replied, “I’m a structural engineer. I’ve spent years working with bridges and buildings.”

Instead of continuing the religious discussion myself, I paused and said, “Tonight I spoke about resilience and strong foundations in faith. I’d really like to hear from you, what truly makes a structure stable?”

His eyes lit up. He spoke passionately about hidden foundations, about how outward beauty means nothing if the base is weak; about buildings that stand for years and then suddenly collapse because the flaw was buried deep out of sight.

Gradually, people gathered around us. I mostly listened, occasionally asking a short question. When he finished, I said quietly, “Your words remind me of a verse from the Qur’an, one that compares faith to a building.”

I then recited part of the verse:

«أَفَمَنْ أَسَّسَ بُنْيَانَهُ عَلَىٰ تَقْوَىٰ مِنَ اللَّهِ… أَمْ مَنْ أَسَّسَ بُنْيَانَهُ عَلَىٰ شَفَا جُرُفٍ هَارٍ فَانْهَارَ بِهِ»

“Is one who lays his foundation on mindfulness of God and His pleasure better,
or one who lays his foundation on the edge of a crumbling cliff, so it collapses with him?” (Qur’an 9:109).

And I added, “The Qur’an says some structures are built on unstable ground. They may look impressive, even beautiful, but collapse is inevitable. Faith, and life, are the same. If the foundation is wrong, appearances cannot save it.”

The engineer nodded and said, “Exactly. Collapse is usually sudden.”

That night, there was no second sermon. But in the weeks that followed, the engineer returned, with friends. The young people began to ask questions more freely, about faith, doubt, and life.

That experience taught me something lasting: sometimes the most effective form of preaching is not speaking more, but inviting the knowledge and skills of others,  so that truth can speak for itself.