Absolute Justice, Kindness and Kinship — Page 17
— Part I 16 The Application of this Verse to the Domain of the Plant and Animal Kingdoms The plant and animal kingdoms are both equally governed by this fundamental principle of ‘Adl, I h s a n and I t a ’i Dhil-Qurb a. When the same evolutionary process of all beings, from a lower order to a higher order of perfection, reaches the stage of man, it acquires an even wider dimension. In respect to the application of this principle, creation can be classified into three categories. The first category is that of an inanimate form of creation. The second category begins from the emergence of life and extends to the time when man emerged as the ultimate product of evolution, thus creating a category of its own. The third and final stage is occupied by man alone. All of these groups are governed by the same principle, but among the first two categories, i. e. the inanimates and the lower animates, this principle works in them as a law with consciousness apparently playing no role. It flows in all of their creative processes effortlessly, like the flow of rivers. They follow the laws of nature without any option. But when it comes to the category of the comparatively higher stage of animals, below human beings, they do not take their decisions unconsciously like the inanimate but do it as governed by their intuition. Intuition seems to be placed halfway between unconsciousness and the full consciousness reached at the stage of man. We observe for the first time that