Lessons About Islam

Part 2 : 5: God Is Unlike Anything Else Part 3 : 12: Man and Universe (recognise Yourself!)

Islamic teachings say: "Oh man! O you, who from time to time forgets his noble station bowing down in fear to sun, moon, stars, mountain and wind, and in whose sight they appear so great and powerful! O You, whose mind and soul have been conquered by the majesty and grandeur of the rich and mighty gaping at them in awe, taking them to be divine Gods, worshipping them in humility and enslaving yourself to them! Wake up from your deep sleep! No earthly or heavenly thing has ascendancy over you! You have not recognised your worth and have cast yourself for no price at their feet! Arise! Learn of your strength with which God has endowed you and employ your faculties rightly! If you attend to God's bidding, you will see that you are neither as little nor those as great as you fancy."

13: Dominating Nature

Islam has openly proclaimed that man's true worth lies in the measure he has conquered nature and tamed it. The 20th verse of the 31st Sura reads as follows:

"Have you not seen that Allah has subjected to your (use) everything, all things in the heavens and on the earth and has made His bounties flow to you in exceeding measure, (both) seen and unseen ?….."

Moreover verses 32-34 of the 14th Sura have the following wording:

"It is Allah who has created the heavens and the earth, sent down water from the sky, brought out fruits therewith to feed you; rendered ships to your service that they may sail through the sea according to His will and He subjected streams and rivers to you."

"And He has subjected sun and moon to you, both diligently pursuing their courses. And the day and the night has He subjected to you and He has given you all that you ask for. And if you count the favours of Allah, you won't be able to number them. Verily, man is unjust and ungrateful."

These verses and many others point to the possibility of man to dominate nature. Fourteen centuries ago man had progressed only so far as to control sheep and cattle, camel and elephant. He had learnt to use their milk and meat and hide, ride them or bear his cargo on their backs. He had learnt to conquer somehow the restless sea, ride its billows in small or large vessels and cross the seas with his merchandise. He had also learnt to harness turbulent rivers and by building dams or channelling off their angry waters drive them to serene orchards and fields.

But did man always have control of such things? There was a time when even such paltry things were beyond his reach. On the contrary, fearing all or some of them, he could not muster courage to face them. In the course of time he came to learn that he had no reason to fear them and casting off his irrational fear, his inner faculties opened up and in the light of labour and thought, he conquered and came to master them. Now the Qur'an inspires man to consider his area of influence wider. Let man know that day and night, the sun, moon and stars and in a word Nature in all its majesty is awaiting his conquest, on condition that he does justice to himself and does not give in to ignorance and lust, on condition that he does not strike the wrong path but chooses the straight road which God has set before him and that he be not thankless to his Creator.

14: Man and God (RECOGNIZE YOURSELF ONCE AGAIN!)

Although Islam inspires man with the fire of conquest, it Warns him at the same time:

"Oh man, let not your feeling of increasing strength lead to vanity, the other extremity of the middle way! Once again consider yourself how, despite your might , you are like a bubble riding the seas. It will not be long before you lose your youth and freshness, your will to work and power to think. Despite your search for strength through art and science, from time to time you still suffer illness and weakness or old age and uselessness, so that you cannot drive away a mite from yourself. Do you know to what this change points? It points to the fact that though We spoke of your high station, you are part of the universe in which nothing owes its life to itself nor is anything in it everlasting, and everything in it a ray of God the only lasting thing, independent of all else. Hence, never banish from your soul the thought of Him, on Whom you depend for your life and your very existence. Make your bond with Him secure and attempt to get closer to Him."

15: Approaching God

How can we draw near to God? God's perfection and existence know no bounds, while the existence of all other beings, however, is relative. The relative beings of our universe are on the path of evolution and through their inner light seek perfection. Seeking perfection is to search for God. The more one acquires relative perfection, the nearer he gets to God, the Absolutely Perfect.

Man is also one of those beings who of their inner light seek perfection, but however hard he may try he cannot cast off his relativity. He can but keep on the path and increase his measure of perfection and thus approach God, the Absolutely Perfect. This is the true meaning of approaching God in Islam. According to the teachings of Islam any act of worship in general may be considered as a means of approaching God only if it helps man on his path to perfection or maintains the development he has already attained.

16: Prayer

God is available to all men, at all times, in all places. Anyone may turn towards Him and seek His help. Verse 186, Sura 2 reads as follows:

"And when My servants ask thee concerning Me: I am indeed close (to them). I respond to the prayer of every petitioner, when he calls on Me."

The basic condition of prayer is that man turn to God in all sincerity. It is only then that God will answer his prayer, regardless of time and place and needless of intercession.

17: Sin, Repentance, And Remission

Sinners may also turn away from sin at any time and place and take the path of goodness and expect God's mercy and they need nothing and nobody else to have recourse to.

In this respect Qur'an says:

"Say: 'Oh, My servants who have transgressed against themselves! Despair not of the mercy of Allah. Allah forgives all sins- He is oft forgiving, most merciful." "Turn ye to your Lord (in repentance) and bow to His will, before the punishment comes on you, and ye shall not be helped any more."

Sura 39: verses 53-54.

18: God And Universe

The universe and all it contains is a creation of God. The laws governing the universe, including the laws of nature, are God's laws and the ways and habits, ordained by Him. Among the verses of the Qur'an we find that events generally attributed to nature (and from one point of view this is true) are considered as God's work.

Verse 32, Sura 14 says in this respect:

"It is Allah Who has created the heavens and the earth, sent down water from the sky, brought out fruits therewith to feed you, rendered ships to your service that they may sail through the sea according to His will and He subjected streams and rivers to you."

Such verses teach us that according to the Islamic notion the natural order is not in opposition to God and His laws. Rather, it is regarded as part of creation and God's divine order. Hence, belief in God and His infinite power does not imply an attitude of disregard towards nature. Neither should man's belief in God's infinite power result in holding him back from its scientific understanding or practical acceptance of nature nor should concern with nature result in a disbelief in God. The scientific knowledge of a believer in God is similar to the scientific knowledge of a disbeliever, both in theory and in practice. In understanding nature and harnessing its forces they both proceed hand in hand. They differ only in so far that the man of science believing in God does not imprison himself within the bounds of nature although he is engaged in scientific research and technical application. For him nature is a mirror in which he sees God, its Creator. The disbelieving man of science on the other hand is so engrossed with nature that he cannot penetrate its veil and reach beyond it to its Creator.

19: Miracles

Even believing in miracles does not affect the work of a Muslim scientist, because they are extremely rare accruing in keeping with their particular order only when necessary. The ratio of these events to natural ones is less than even one in a billion and it is an accepted principle in the methodology that such exceptions do not affect the value of a scientific law or its technical application. Therefore, belief in miracles does not imply a rejection of nature and vice versa.

20: Servants Of God

Nature and its numerous active elements serve God. The staggering order of nature is an emanation of God's will. All nature phenomena, results of causes, actions and reactions of a material and natural kind are at the same time a ray of God's omnipotence, omniscience and His divine will because natural causes are at God's command eternally.

21: Endless Universe

Verses from the Qur'an openly proclaim that the world in which we live is endless.

"If you count God's blessings, you shall never number them."

Sura 16: verse 18.

Further, God is incessantly in the act of creation, increasing creation as He wills.

"He increases in the creation as He will. Allah has power over allthings." Sura 35: verse 1.

Therefore, man's progress in science and technology with an eye to using the limitless resources of the universe can never come to a halt and the door of work and endeavour will always be left open.