Elucidation of Objectives — Page 53
Tau di h-e-Mar a m 53 goal and quite like a mini-universe, his soul or self will look like the repository of a multitude of excellences. But he who does not cleanse himself of sin and lets himself wallow in the mire of low desires will fail to attain the goal. In sum, the human self or soul undoubt- edly contains all the different kinds of excellences found in the entire universe. In order to restore faith in this truth, the one straight path in accordance with the intent of the Divine Law, is that one should turn one's attention to the purification of the soul; for only with a purified soul, will the truth of these latent potentialities unfold itself, not only as empirical knowledge but also as true knowledge. After this God Almighty, citing the example of the people of Tham u d, says that they rejected the Prophet of the time because of their innate arrogance. The spearhead of this rejection was the most arrogant of them all. The Prophet of the time admonished and warned them not to meddle with the she-camel of God or with the place where she was wont to drink water. But they refused to comply and hamstrung the she- camel. As punishment for the crime, God visited them with death and reduced them to dust. Their widows, orphans and other dependents were left friendless in their distress. Actually, this example is a very subtle figure of speech. Its import here is that the human soul is like the she-camel of God. The sole purpose of its