Islam - Its Meaning for Modern Man — Page 156
156 it, He did not sit back and, as it were, abdicate His control over it. Nothing can continue in existence except with His constant support. “In His hand is the dominion over all things and He grants protection to everything, but against Him there is no protection” (23:89). Nature and all its phenomena, life and all its exigencies, including its termination here below, have all been created in God’s wisdom, obey His laws, and are under His control (21:34; 36:38 ⎯ 41; 67:2—5). God regulates it all and clearly explains His Signs that men may have firm belief in communion with Him and in their accountability to Him (13:3). The various attributes of God have been set out in the Quran in different contexts. He forgives faults and shortcomings. He accepts repentance, He judges and imposes penalties, He is the Lord of Bounty. Toward Him is the final return (40:4). His principal attributes, to which all other Divine attributes are related, are mentioned at the very outset in the opening chapter of the Quran. He is the Creator and Sustainer of all the worlds and leads them stage by stage toward perfection. He is the Gracious One, Who has made provision for the fulfilment of the purpose of the creation of man and of the universe. He is the Merciful One, Who causes beneficent results to follow upon righteous action. He is the Master of the Day of Judgement (1:2 ⎯ 4).