The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 200
THE PROMISED MESSIAH AND MAHDI nothing of creation would have come into existence. It has been termed Rabubiyyat in the Holy Quran and its account that God has been called Rabbil-aalameen, the Lord of Universal Providence. As has been said in other places in the Holy Quran: He is the Rabb of all things (6:165); meaning God is the Sustainer of everything and nothing in the universe is outside the sphere of His Providence (Rabubiyyat). The next in order is the second category of grace which is general, the difference between the two being that the first is an allembracing Providence by means of which the entire the universe came into being and continues to be sustained and the latter is a special eternal grace which extends only to the animates. In other words, the special concern of the Divine for the entire animal kingdom has been called the general grace. The characteristic of this grace is that it extends to all members of the animal kingdom without reference to any merit or right of any of them, in proportion to the respective requirements, not being the recompense of any action on their part. It is because of this grace that every sentient being is alive, works, eats, drinks, feels secure against afflictions, and has his needs. fulfilled. It is because of this grace that all the requirements of life for every animate being and for the survival of its species have been made available. It is by the blessing of this grace that all that is needed for physical development has been provided and all that is needed for spiritual development by those who are gifted with spiritual faculties, has also been provided from the earliest times, according to the needs, through Divine revelation. In short, through this grace of Rahmaniyyat man enjoys the fulfillment of his wants. . For his habitation there is the surface of the earth, for light there are the sun and the moon, for breathing there is air, for drinking there is water, for eating there is a large variety of foodstuffs, for treatment of ills and ailments there are innumerable drugs and remedies, for wearing there are different kinds of apparel, and for guidance there are Divine scriptures. No one can claim that these are consequences of his actions or that he had been engaged in some virtuous pursuit in a previous incarnation in appreciation of which God has bestowed all 200