The Guiding Light — Page 45
S u rah al-Kahf, Chapter 18, Verses 1-11 45 service of humanity. But Christian nations of the West, after having acquired wealth, power and dominion and after having made great discoveries and inventions, have not turned their scientific achievements to the service of mankind, but instead have employed them generally to add to human misery. As these scientific discoveries and inventions have not fulfilled the purpose of making human life more peaceful and beautiful, all the works of these peoples would be brought to naught and entirely obliterated. The expression, And We shall make all that is thereon a barren soil , does not mean that the whole world will be destroyed. It only refers to the destruction of the works of Christian nations to whom these verses particularly apply. • Since a similar expression ﺻﻌﻴﺪازﻟﻘﺎ ( s a‘ i dan zalaqan ) barren ground used in verse 41 of this S u rah in connection with the parable of “two gardens” clearly applies to the works of Western nations, as shown by the context, the expression ﺻﻌ ﻴ ﺪاﺟﺮز ( s a ‘i dan jorozan ) barren soil must also be taken as applying to them. The words ﺻﻌ ﻴ ﺪاﺟﺮزا ( s a ‘i dan jorozan ) mean, a land without herbage or a land of which the