Introduction to the Study of The Holy Quran — Page 310
310 The Object of Man’s Creation The Quran teaches that man has been created to serve as a manifestation of God’s attributes and to illustrate them in his life. It says, "And I have created the Jinn and men only that they may serve Me and receive the impress of My attributes. " 389 (As has already been explained the word Jinn does not mean some species of invisible creation but is intended to signify certain classes of people). At another place the Quran says, "He it is Who made you vicegerents in the earth. So he who disbelieves, will himself suffer the consequences of his disbelief. " 390 This means that if a man voluntarily abdicates the position that God has assigned to him, he does not thereby in any manner injure God but merely dislodges himself from a position of honour and will suffer the consequences himself. These verses show that man has been created to illustrate in his own life the attributes of God and that he is the vicegerent of God upon earth. He is, thus, the central point of the material universe. Since Prophets are raised for the reform of mankind and to remind them of the object of their life and to guide them rightly towards its achievement, they become in their spheres the centres for mankind. In other words, man is the sun round which the material universe revolves and each of the Prophets is a sun round which the men, for whose guidance that Prophet is sent, revolve. Law of Nature and Law of Shariah The Quran shows that God has put into motion two kinds of laws for the purpose of reminding man of his duties and of helping him along the path of progress. One of these is the law of nature which is related to man’s material progress. Since this law is not directly related to man’s spiritual advancement, a contravention of this law results in material prejudice to man but does not involve God’s displeasure or anger. The whole of the material universe is invested with the appropriate impetus of this law and is impelled by it. No direct revelation is made by God concerning the details of this law. The second is the Law of Shariah which regulates man’s spiritual progress. A contravention of this law involves divine displeasure, for it is only by conformity to this law that man can succeed in fulfilling the purpose for which he has been created and contravention of this law arrests his progress towards that objective. But every contravention of the Law of Shariah has not the effect of depriving a man altogether of his chances of achieving his objective. The Quran teaches that the Law of Shariah collectively helps a man to attain spiritual purity and exaltation. Just as every contravention of the law of nature does not involve a man in complete ruin and destruction nor does every carelessness in the matter of diet induce disease, in the same way not every contravention of the Law of Shariah draws upon man the wrath of God or deprives him of all chance of reaching his goal. The very object of the Law of Shariah is to help man to attain spiritual perfection. Where an extensive system is