The Essence of Islam – Volume I — Page 429
The Holy Qur'ān 429 that they are duly appreciated by those who reflect. Be it known, therefore, that as the All-Wise has placed diverse types of benefits for the human body in the rose, such as that it strengthens the heart and faculties and souls, and is helpful in the case of several diseases, in the same way,. God Almighty has placed in the Surah Fatihah, and indeed in the whole of the Holy Qur'an, healing for spiritual ills and a cure for inner diseases, which is not to be found anywhere else, inasmuch as it is filled with those verities which had disappeared from the world without leaving any trace . . . . . It was in truth a rain of mercy which descended from heaven to save the lives of the extremely thirsty. The spiritual life of the world depends upon the descent from heaven of that life-giving water and not a drop of it is such that it is not a remedy for some ill. The condition of the world through centuries had proved that it could not remedy these diseases on its own, without the descent of this light, and could remove its darkness without a heavenly light which should illumine the world with its rays of truth, and should cause those to see who had never seen, and should cause those to understand who had never understood. This heavenly light not only presented such true insights as had disappeared from the world, but filled many minds with these jewels of truth and wisdom, and drew many hearts to its beauteous countenance, and carried many to high stages of knowledge and action through its powerful effect. Both these types of qualities which are found in the Surah Fātiḥah and in the Holy. Qur'an are such bright arguments for proving the matchlessness of the Word of God, as the qualities of the rose are admitted by everybody to be beyond human power. . Indeed the truth is that as these qualities of the Holy