16. An-Nahl

The human being is a creature who has countless needs and the perfect arrangement to fulfill all these needs exists in this world. All this is provided by God, but in every age human beings have made the mistake of attributing all these blessings of God to some entities other than God. Polytheists attribute these blessings to gods or goddesses or to some living or dead beings other than God. Those who are atheists attribute them to the result of the blind activity of natural laws. This system of Divine blessing was brought into existence by God in order to ensure that a feeling of gratitude emerged in human beings. But due to man’s self-devised imaginings, this system nourished in him the feeling of disbelief in God. Generally, misguidance in belief has occurred due to false parallels being drawn. Since man has sons and daughters, it has been assumed on the same basis that God also has sons and daughters. In this world, people of high position have some individuals who are close to them and who enjoy the position of intermediaries. On the basis of this example it has been assumed that, even in the court of God, there are beings who are close to Him and that their recommendations are effective in His eyes. Many types of polytheism (shirk) and misguidance have come into existence through reference to such analogies. But this amounts to placing the Creator on a par with that of His creatures, which shows absolute ignorance. The Creator is different from His creatures in every way. Explaining something with the help of an example is not wrong in itself. But the example will be useful only when there is an awareness of the original as well as its analogy. When man does not know the reality of God, how can he formulate an analogy with any true relevance to it?

The human being is a creature who has countless needs and the perfect arrangement to fulfill all these needs exists in this world. All this is provided by God, but in every age human beings have made the mistake of attributing all these blessings of God to some entities other than God. Polytheists attribute these blessings to gods or goddesses or to some living or dead beings other than God. Those who are atheists attribute them to the result of the blind activity of natural laws. This system of Divine blessing was brought into existence by God in order to ensure that a feeling of gratitude emerged in human beings. But due to man’s self-devised imaginings, this system nourished in him the feeling of disbelief in God. Generally, misguidance in belief has occurred due to false parallels being drawn. Since man has sons and daughters, it has been assumed on the same basis that God also has sons and daughters. In this world, people of high position have some individuals who are close to them and who enjoy the position of intermediaries. On the basis of this example it has been assumed that, even in the court of God, there are beings who are close to Him and that their recommendations are effective in His eyes. Many types of polytheism (shirk) and misguidance have come into existence through reference to such analogies. But this amounts to placing the Creator on a par with that of His creatures, which shows absolute ignorance. The Creator is different from His creatures in every way. Explaining something with the help of an example is not wrong in itself. But the example will be useful only when there is an awareness of the original as well as its analogy. When man does not know the reality of God, how can he formulate an analogy with any true relevance to it?

The human being is a creature who has countless needs and the perfect arrangement to fulfill all these needs exists in this world. All this is provided by God, but in every age human beings have made the mistake of attributing all these blessings of God to some entities other than God. Polytheists attribute these blessings to gods or goddesses or to some living or dead beings other than God. Those who are atheists attribute them to the result of the blind activity of natural laws. This system of Divine blessing was brought into existence by God in order to ensure that a feeling of gratitude emerged in human beings. But due to man’s self-devised imaginings, this system nourished in him the feeling of disbelief in God. Generally, misguidance in belief has occurred due to false parallels being drawn. Since man has sons and daughters, it has been assumed on the same basis that God also has sons and daughters. In this world, people of high position have some individuals who are close to them and who enjoy the position of intermediaries. On the basis of this example it has been assumed that, even in the court of God, there are beings who are close to Him and that their recommendations are effective in His eyes. Many types of polytheism (shirk) and misguidance have come into existence through reference to such analogies. But this amounts to placing the Creator on a par with that of His creatures, which shows absolute ignorance. The Creator is different from His creatures in every way. Explaining something with the help of an example is not wrong in itself. But the example will be useful only when there is an awareness of the original as well as its analogy. When man does not know the reality of God, how can he formulate an analogy with any true relevance to it?

Here, a simple and common example has been given to clarify the incorrectness of polytheistic analogies. Take the individual who has considerable property and compare him with another who has no possessions whatsoever. These two individuals are perforce very different in their outlook and style of living. So any analogy drawn about the one would not apply to the other. In the case of God and His subject, this difference is of infinite magnitude. This being so, how can it be possible for an analogy to be drawn for God on the basis of the human condition? In this universe, the relation between God and all other things is that of a Creator and His creatures, and not that of God and His partners. The Being of God is that Entity who is endowed with all kinds of miraculous attributes; He is the sole provider of all kinds of bounties. In this universe there is no joint performer with God. To make such an assumption is unrealistic and runs counter to the facts.

In the foregoing verse, No. 75 , it was shown that the concept of partners in relation to God was baseless. Now in this verse No. 76 , it is clarified that also in relation to the Prophet, those beings on the strength of whom a man ignores the guidance of the Prophet, are also without any basis in reality. God, by giving His special attention to a prophet, guides him towards a path which is the highway of Truth and which directly leads towards Himself. The Prophet and his companions not only tread this highway themselves but also guide others towards it. Unlike them, there are others who beckon people towards ways other than the ways of the Prophet. They are like blind and deaf people. They do not have ears to hear the voice of God. They do not have eyes to catch glimpses of God’s glories. They do not have the heart and mind to discover the signs of God spread throughout the universe. Man was granted the ability to hear, observe and realize by means of the heart and mind, so that he should see the Glory of God, the Creator, through the medium of created things. But man has utilized these capacities in such a way that he has become obsessed with the creatures themselves.

Immanent in the outward visible world, there is an unseen system. This unseen system was established by God. Due to our limitations, we do not see this unseen system; but everything about us is open and obvious to this unseen system. Remaining unseen, God is keeping a watchful eye on every big and small thing of His world. He has the most accurate assessment of everything. When God decides that the period of man’s trial is over, at that very moment He will just make a sign, and then, in the twinkling of an eye, the whole existing system will break down, and a new, differently based system will come into existence, so that everyone may be placed in the position in which he belongs in actual fact and not in the position he had occupied by underhand means.

When a human being is born, he is already the possessor of eyes, ears, and a brain, yet he is quite helpless and totally dependent on others. He might possibly—under a different scheme of things—have been born with the ability to use his wonderful faculties of seeing, hearing and thinking in the way that an adult would. But if things did not happen in this way, it was by design. Man was meant to experience his own helplessness as a baby and then to appreciate his mental and physical growth through adolescence to maturity as a gift from God. This process was meant to engender in him feelings of gratitude and a deep sense of obligation to his Maker. But such feelings emerge only when a man utilizes his God-given capacities in the right manner. His eyes, ears and heart should not be so attracted to worldly, ephemeral glamour that these may stop one from penetrating the realms of the unseen.

The flight of birds in the atmosphere is possible thanks to the magnificent planning of nature. (The shape of birds, most suitable for the purpose of flight, is imitated in the shape of aeroplanes). Just as ships could not have sailed without the existence of water on the surface of the earth, birds would not have been able to fly if there had not been the superior arrangment of continuously maintaining air on the earth’s surface by means of the earth’s gravity. If man reflects deeply upon these phenomena, he will feel as if he is seeing God in action in His universe; he will discover the Creator in the creative system; he will see the glory of the Manufacturer in the artefacts. At the human level, take the house. The house is a shelter and a resting place for man. But how is a house built? There are many arrangements of God—thanks to which the construction of a house on earth is possible. All the elements by means of which a house is built have been placed in advance in our world. The earth has exactly the right gravitational force, thanks to which houses stay stable on the surface of the earth—otherwise they would have flown away from the earth, which is moving at a speed of one thousand miles per hour. Then there are things like the hides of animals from which man makes tents and basic crops such as cotton and flax from which fabrics can be made to decorate and protect the human body in the changing seasons. All such things are provided so that man should develop a deep feeling gratitude for his Lord and Sustainer; and for the bounties granted by Him, he should fall down on his knees before God in the full realization of His Majesty and Powers.

The flight of birds in the atmosphere is possible thanks to the magnificent planning of nature. (The shape of birds, most suitable for the purpose of flight, is imitated in the shape of aeroplanes). Just as ships could not have sailed without the existence of water on the surface of the earth, birds would not have been able to fly if there had not been the superior arrangment of continuously maintaining air on the earth’s surface by means of the earth’s gravity. If man reflects deeply upon these phenomena, he will feel as if he is seeing God in action in His universe; he will discover the Creator in the creative system; he will see the glory of the Manufacturer in the artefacts. At the human level, take the house. The house is a shelter and a resting place for man. But how is a house built? There are many arrangements of God—thanks to which the construction of a house on earth is possible. All the elements by means of which a house is built have been placed in advance in our world. The earth has exactly the right gravitational force, thanks to which houses stay stable on the surface of the earth—otherwise they would have flown away from the earth, which is moving at a speed of one thousand miles per hour. Then there are things like the hides of animals from which man makes tents and basic crops such as cotton and flax from which fabrics can be made to decorate and protect the human body in the changing seasons. All such things are provided so that man should develop a deep feeling gratitude for his Lord and Sustainer; and for the bounties granted by Him, he should fall down on his knees before God in the full realization of His Majesty and Powers.