Islam and Human Rights — Page 33
Man and the Universe 33 form, which would enable each thing to perform its functions pro perly, and has then guided everything to its proper function (21:51). He bestows life and He causes death (53:45), and to Him do all things ultimately return (53:43). “To Allah belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and He has mastery over everything” (3:190). Having created the universe and all that is in it, He did not sit back and, as it were, abdicate His control over it. Nothing can continue in existence except with His constant support. “In His hand is the dominion over all things and He grants protection to everything, but against Him there is no protection” (23:89). Nature and all its phenomena, life and all its exigencies, including its termination here below, have all been created in God’s wisdom, obey His laws, and are under His control (21:34; 36:38-41; 67:2-5). God regulates it all and clearly explains His Signs that men may have firm belief in communion with Him and in their accountability to Him (13:3). The attributes of God have been set out in the Quran in different contexts. He forgives faults and shortcomings, He accepts repentance, He judges and imposes penalties, He is the Lord of Bounty. Towards Him is the final return (40:4).