The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page ccclxiv
GENERAL INTRODUCTION the Prophets is a sun round which the men, for whose guidance that Prophet is sent, revolve. Law of Nature and Law of Shari'ah 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 Shari'ah 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 Shari'ah has not the effect of depriving a man altogether of his chances of achieving his objective. The Quran teaches that the Law of Shari'ah 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 Shari'ah draws upon man the wrath of God or deprives him of all chance of reaching his goal. The very object of the Law of Shari'ah is to help man to attain spiritual perfection. Where an extensive system is designed to bring about a certain result, its failure in one respect may be corrected or compensated for by its success in another and the desired result may yet be achieved. The human body, for instance, is a complex organization and human life depends for its healthy continuance upon various factors like food, water, air, etc. On occasion one or more of these factors become tainted but this does not necessarily result in the organism becoming diseased. The defect produced by deficiency in one factor may be overpowered by the healthy working of the other factors. The same is the case with the Law of Shari'ah. It comprises rules and principles which are collectively designed for the spiritual advancement of man. Short of the repudiation of the Kingdom of God or of the authority of His Prophets, any defect that may be produced in human conduct by an error or weakness is remediable. If the defect is serious, it can be remedied only through true repentance and sincere prayer. The Quran indicated that in addition to these two laws there are two other laws which are constantly in operation, namely, the social law and the moral cccxxxviii