Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 206
! ! 206 We created the mixture, an extraction from all things and we blessed it, and it became a walking, talking human bei ng. So now you see how you were created. F rom the standpoint of creation , there is no difference between you and the cow, sheep, and goat. If there is a ny differentiation , it is due to His Grace because He bestowed d ivine revelation. He sent down His word [the Holy Qur’ān ] upon him [ man] and gave [man] the choice to either be grateful or ungrateful. Allah created m an from lowly particles and then empowered him to either strive in His way to receive His blessings , or to reject His prophet. Allah does not interfere with the power of choice He has bestowed upon mankind. However, Allah did reveal His word to mankind , and outlined that mankind would progress if they followed it. Why h as Man Been Given the Power t o Choose ? One may ask , why has Allah bestowed m an with this capacity and why did He g i ve him this freedom ? What was His purpose behind this ? Let it be clear that if God had not given mankind the ability to choose, man would never have made any progress. Let me explain. Fire has a special characteristic which is that it bur ns. Fire will burn anything which falls into it , even if t he thing itself creates fire. You see, if a lantern which is lit falls in a house and the whole house burns down, no one will blame the lantern. Likewise, no one will blame the fire, since we understand that fire is meant to burn. However, we will condemn that person who lays even a finger on another person without cause , for t he y ha ve the choice not to hurt the other person. Similarly , a house protects us from the cold , but no one has e ver expressed gratitude to a house. In contrast, if o ne gives another person a shirt , that person appreciates the favor , for t he y know that the person had the power to choose to give t h e m the shirt or abstain from doing so. Why is it , that if a child is burnt by a fire , no one blames the fire, but if anyone lays even a finger on the child, t he y are condemned for it? The reason for this is that fire has no choice, but a person can choose whether to hurt someone. In the same way, it is water’s characteristic that it will cause someone to drown. M any people drown in the ocean, but no one blames the ocean because they know that this is the law of nature, and the ocean has no choice.