Civilisation at the Cross Roads — Page 4
J am a Muahm. My thinking ia 1timulated, nourished !ind i;ustained by the eternal verities taught by Islam. 1 would beg you, therefore, to. bear with me while. 1 proceed to illustrate what I have just said, from the source that I have indicated,. namely-the Qurlln, the scripture of Islam. I venture to think that you will find little in what I may subnait with whicll you may be disposed to find fault. Indeed, you will recognise that this guidance proceeds from th~ Source t'1at we are all happy to share and bear witness to. The Quran opens with the brief verse : "'The perfect worthiness of all true praise belongt to God, Who nourishes, sustains and, 1tage by stage, leads towards perfection all the universes". Thus, at the very outset, our thinking is lifted to the level of the unh·erse and its stage by stage evolution towards perfection, or, in other words, toward• grea. ter and greater beneficence. It is worthy of note that the plural and not the singular has been employed in respect of the universe. There are universes beyond universes: they are all evolving l:Owards ever increasing beneficence. · We are further reminded that all this beneficence is for the service and benefit of man. ''God has subjected to your service whatsoever is in· the heavens and )Vhatsoever is in the earth; all this is 'from Him. In this surely are Signs for a people who refteci". (XLV : 14) To discover these signs and to derive full benefit from them, it is necessary, to reflect upon the phenomena to which attention has been drawn. Here is thus a direct. exhortation to lift our thinking to the le\•el of the universe for the benefit of the whol. c of mankind. There are many other verses in the Quran which reinforce the same idea of the subordination of all that is in the universe lo the service of man and the exhortation to ponder, to reflect and to reason. For instance: "He grants wisdom to whom He pleases, and whocvE'r is granted wisdom is indeed granted abundant good; and none wotild be reminded save those endowed with understanding. " (11: 270);