Introduction to the Study of The Holy Quran — Page 307
307 heavens and the earth out of water was to bring into existence a being endowed with the will to choose between good and evil. These beings would pass through various trials and would seek to outstrip one another in doing good and thus show which of them had attained to perfection. 382 This verse shows that before matter assumed its present form it existed in liquid shape, or, in other words, the creation of the material universe began with a pure atom of hydrogen and that the universe was gradually developed out of it. With regard to the pre-material stage the Quran says: Do not the disbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were a closed up mass, then We opened them out? And We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe? 383 The verse purports to say that the heavens and the earth were at first an amorphous mass and God then split them and formed them into a solar system and from the beginning He has always created life out of water. The verse indicates that the spiritual universe would also develop as the material universe had developed. God, in accordance with the laws which He had set in motion, split the mass of matter, and its scattered bits became the units of the solar system. In the same way God brings about revolutions in the spiritual universe. When the spiritual condition of mankind degenerates and the spiritual atmosphere becomes dense and oppressive, God causes a light to appear which causes a disturbance in the darkness and shakes it up and out of this apparently lifeless mass a perpetually moving spiritual solar system is created which begins to reach out from its centre and eventually embraces whole countries or the whole earth, according to the impetus behind it. The creation of the material universe starts from water; so also the spiritual universe comes into life with heavenly water which is revelation. According to the Quran the universe passed from stage to stage till the earth assumed a shape and developed properties which could sustain human life. The Quran teaches that the creation of man was the ultimate object of the creation of at least our solar system. When that stage arrived, God created man in the material universe so that he should become the manifestation of divine attributes and should serve as a mirror to reflect the beautiful image of God and should become the foundation of a spiritual universe. God’s creation comprises millions of species. The Quran says: "None knows the hosts of thy Lord but He. " 384 Man, however, occupies a position of dignity and honour among created beings for the reason that he serves as a mirror for the attributes of God. That is why Muslim mystics have called man a microcosm, meaning that man possesses the attributes of the whole of creation and may be regarded as an epitome of the universe. As a survey map, though on a small scale, indicates all features of the country which it depicts, in the same way there are represented in the human body all the characteristics of the universe. Man is, therefore, the axis or centre of the created universe. The Quran says that the whole universe is created by God for the service of man and our observation confirms that