In the world we live, we get an introduction to God everyday. You should be so mature that you are able to discover God through the observations you have. This is called tawassum in the Quran. (15:75) Unless you develop the quality of tawassum, you won't be able to realize God. Such a person remains deaf and blind. I will give an example. I went to Morocco, a country still ruled by a king.

The king's palace had organized a programme. They had invited scholars from around the world. I too was given an invitation. I had noticed that we don’t have to remove our shoes while entering the Buckingham Palace, or the White House, or 10 Downing Street. So I entered the king's palace with shoes. A close aide of the king said to me with humour: O Sheikh, take off your sandals, for you are in the sacred valley of Tuwa! These are the word of the Quran. When God called Moses to the mountain, he was wearing shoes. Moses is the only person with whom God spoke directly.  As for other prophets, angels were sent to them with God's word. I don’t know of any other person or prophet to whom God spoke directly.

This happened only with Moses. When Moses reached the mountain, he was wearing shoes. A voice called out: فَاخْلَعْ نَعْلَيْكَ إِنَّكَ بِالْوَادِ الْمُقَدَّسِ طُوًى (20:12) O Moses, take off your sandals, for you are in the sacred valley of Tuwa! The king's aide said to me in humour: O Sheikh, take off your sandals, for you are in the sacred valley of Tuwa! Although I was in a king's palace, I had the experience of being present in God's court. Moses was present before God when the above words were said to him.

The experience of entry into the king's palace tranformed for me into a moment when Moses had been in God's presence. Moses was asked to remove his sandals in God's presence. I experienced this when the person told me: O Sheikh, take off your sandals, for you are in the sacred valley of Tuwa! In this way, you have to convert the experiences of your life. You have to give them a spiritual meaning. In this world, there is God's light in everything. In every experience you can discover God's glory and His signs. I'm not saying God is present in everything. I don’t believe that God is present in everything around us. Rather, God's signs are present in everything. God's glory can be seen in everything. To discover this glory, you have to learn the art of conversion. For example, when you are in the king's palace, convert that experience into being in God's presence. As long as you don’t learn the art of conversion, you won't be able to discover God.