I recently read a passage from a book titled The Sinbad Voyage. This book details a 6000-mile voyage from Oman to China in a replica of an ancient Arab ship.
The passage that sparked this thought was:
“The Arabs took to the sea with that same philosophy of devotion which helped them cross the great deserts. They set out trusting in the destiny which Allah would provide them, and both camel caravaneer and Arab shipmaster used the same stars to guide them on their courses, believing that God had placed the stars there for that very purpose. [In a previous voyage across the sea], I had only to glance upwards to appreciate the heritage of Arabe seafaring: of the major navigation stars used by sailors, most bore Arabic names because it was Arab savants who had developed the art of astronavigation (p. 16).
“The sea road was the great achievement of early Arab navigation. It was nothing less than the 6000-mile voyage by way of Ceylon and South-east Asia to the fabled ports of China (p18).” (emphasis added)
So these Arab shipmasters navigated the oceans of their world. Exploring, adventuring, expanding the horizons of what they and the people around them thought were possible. Both in the deserts and the oceans. This image can help visualize this ocean exploration:
From other passages I read that even at its most consistent and well-established, roughly 1 in 10 trips to China never returned.
Can you imagine setting out into the ocean knowing there was a good chance you would never return?
Why did they do this?
Some people just have an adventurous death wish, hop on a raft, and push off into the ocean. This is true.
Others have a view of what is possible and go for it. But there is still an immense amount of belief, trust, and faith in boarding a large ship and setting off on what is known to be an amazingly treacherous and dangerous journey. Why do it?
The thought that occurred to me as I read that passage about the ancient Arab explorers was this: it was faith that allowed these Arab shipmasters to do amazing things. Many truly believed that Allah was watching over them and would safely guide them, by destiny, or by whatever else you want to call it, to their destination.
Why did they believe it?
Faith.
Did some die? Yes. Was their faith misguided? Who knows. But that doesn’t take away the fantastic thing they did because they had faith.
People with faith accomplish amazing things.
What role has faith played in the discovery of the world? Without faith in something greater, people wouldn’t do fantastic things. Or they would do them less often.
What does the role of faith play in our everyday lives?
Why did your body move when you told it to get out of bed this morning? Do you even realize you told your body to get out of bed this morning? Why did you believe your body would move when you told it to this morning?
The answer is faith.
You can give all sorts of other answers if you’d like. But ultimately you had faith that if you told your legs to swing over the side of your bed and to walk, they would do it. You had to have faith that it was possible. Every living act is done with faith.
The next time you venture out to do something difficult or scary ask yourself: do I have faith that I can accomplish this thing? If you have faith, you can do anything. And if you have faith and fail, you learn something.
When you think about it this way, you can’t lose.
No Coincidences 