Elucidation of Objectives — Page 41
Tau di h-e-Mar a m 41 total devotion and submission in the face of extreme trials—to all the Angels and indeed to all creation including mountains that looked so huge; yet all de- clined to assume responsibility and were overawed by the magnitude of the task. But man dared because he was gifted with two special qualities, namely, the ability to be so exacting and even cruel to his own self in the path of God, the capacity to come down hard on his own person for the sake of God as well as to attain total intensity of love Divine to the exclusion of all else. " Elsewhere God says in the Holy Qur’ a n: 52 i. e. , recall the time when your Lord (whose perfect manifestation you are) said to the Angels: I am about to create man from clay. When I have fashioned him to perfection and breathed into him my spirit, fall you down in submission to him (the Perfect Man) and get busy serving him in all humility and make your obei- sance as if you were lying prostrate before him. All Angels made their obeisance to the Perfect Man except Ibl i s who was too unfortunate to avail of this opportu- nity. " 52 38:72-75. [Translator]