Islam and Human Rights — Page 23
Man and the Universe 23 to reach every type of understanding, through parables, similitudes, argu ments, reasoning, the observation and study of the pheno mena of nature, and the natural, moral and spiritual laws (18:55; 39:28; 59:22). It reasons from the physical and tangible to the spiritual and intangible. For instance: “Among His Signs is this; that thou seest the earth lying withered, but when We send down water on it, it stirs and quickens with ver dure. Surely He Who quickens the earth can quicken the dead. Verily, He has power over all things” (41:40). Here by quickening of the dead is meant the revival and rebirth of a people. As the dead earth is quickened by life-giving rain from heaven, a people that appears to be dead in all respects is revived and regenerated through spiritual water from the heavens, that is to say, through Divine revelation. This idea is expressed in the Quran in several places. Both resurrection and renaissance are explained with reference to the phenomenon of the dead earth being revived through life-giving rain (22:6- 8). The Quran repeatedly urges observation and reflection, the exercise of reason, and understanding (22:270). For instance: “In the creation of the heavens and the earth and in the alternation of the night and the day there are indeed Signs for men of understanding,