Islam - Its Meaning for Modern Man — Page 144
144 consequences of the choice follow in accordance with Divine law. No one is forced. Everyone must choose and seek the purpose of his life on the basis of faith or turn his back upon the Truth and destroy his soul, according to his choice. It has sometimes been suggested that belief in Divine revelation and acceptance of revealed truth tend toward intellectual rigidity and narrowness. The exact reverse is the truth. Revelation stimulates the intellect and opens all manner of avenues for research and expansion of knowledge. The constant and repeated exhortation to reflect upon and ponder every type of natural phenomenon with which the Quran abounds is an express urge in that direction. History furnishes incontrovertible proof of this. Within an astonishingly brief period following the revelation of the Quran, darkness and confusion were dispelled over vast areas of the earth, order was established, all manner of beneficent institutions sprang into life, a high moral order was set up, and the blessings of knowledge, learning, and science began to be widely diffused. Human intellect, which for some centuries had been almost frozen into inactivity, experienced a sudden release and upsurge, and the world became witness to an astounding revolution. This was no freak occurrence, no sudden flare-up followed by an even more sudden collapse. This was a phenomenon characterized by strength, beneficence, and