Islam's Response to Contemporary Issues — Page 82
82 islam’s response to contemporary issues The word is used in this context in the connotation of a philosophy, system, and order just as the same word is also used in its much wider connotation in the opening verse of John: In the beginning the Word was and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 19 Evil philosophies and orders are bound to meet the fate of an evil tree which fails to pass the test of survival of the fittest and is ultimately uprooted and tossed from place to place by the raging tempest. On the other hand, the example of a healthy system and order of things is like that of a healthy tree which is firmly rooted in this earth but whose lofty stems and twigs reach out into a pure heavenly atmosphere. It is nourished by heavenly light and it bears good wholesome fruit in every season. The Holy Quran describes the believers as having a firm belief in God; their entire ethical and moral structure is securely and firmly founded in this belief. This gives a quality of absoluteness to the Islamic concept of morality and ethics, which does not permit discrimination on any known plane of social, religious or racial divisions. The guiding principle applicable to all human activity is expressed in the following verse of the Holy Quran: To Allah belong the hidden things of the heavens and the earth, and to Him shall the whole affair be referred. So worship Him and put thy faith in Him alone. And thy Lord is not unmindful of what you do. 20