By Prof Mohammad Rafi

THE Holy Quran stresses that only those activities have intrinsic worth which are beneficial to mankind (13:17). This is the only reliable criterion for judging man’s activities. Throughout the ages, the evolutionary process has resulted in environmental friendly conditions for survival of the different species and heavenly bodies.

The physical world, too, through the same process has become a place fit for man to live in. Had the earth grown hotter, man would have long ago made his exit. Man’s efforts to understand and control nature have been richly rewarded. It is incumbent upon every human to strive (Jihad) and contribute positively towards human development.

Man’s first crude attempt to control physical nature took the form of magic and witchcraft. Later, man relied on his intellect to understand and control nature. However, the ancient belief that nature was unfriendly and alien to man lingered on and influenced great thinkers like Plato who considered the physical world with utter contempt as a mere shadow of Reality.

Even the mystics regard the physical world as essentially evil and seek salvation by avoiding contact with it. They prefer meditation and contemplation in seclusion. Absorbed in himself, he is indifferent to social problems as he is to nature. It never occurs to him that by understanding nature and learning to control its forces, he could make for better progress in self-realisation and self-development.

The Quran puts man in a meaningful relationship with nature. Unlike Hardy and Schopenhauer, who gave a gloomy and pessimistic view of nature, the Quran presents nature as friendly to man, responsive to his intellect and sympathetic to his endeavours. Both man and nature have been created by God and there is no conflict between them. Man can develop only with the help of nature provided he acquires knowledge of nature and utilises it for the achievement of his moral ends in the light of the Divine Guidance.

The knowledge he acquires can help him bend nature to his service. This truth the Quran has expressed in a metaphorical language that the Malaika (forces of nature) prostrated themselves before Adam (Man) (2:34). It further says that “God has pressed into the service of man the Sun and the Moon to perform their courses and He has pressed the night and day into His service.” (14:33). “And He had of service unto you (humans) whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth; it is all from Him. Herein are signs for people who reflect” (45:13).

The physical world or nature is governed by unalterable laws. The destiny of man lies not in turning away from nature, but in making it obey his will. The world, according to the Quran, is not a Maya or shadow. “And we created not the heaven and the earth and all that is between them in vain “(38:27). “Allah created the heavens and the earth with Haqq (Truth) (29:44).

To subjugate nature, knowledge is essential. The Quran exhorts man to use his senses and observe nature wisely. Those who do not make proper use of their senses and intelligence sink to the animal level. “Many of the people live a life dooms them to hell” (7:179). The reason for this is that “they have hearts wherewith they understand not and have ears wherewith they hear not and have eyes wherewith they see not “(7:179). In sharp contrast to such people are those who ponder over God’s creation, for they know that “in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day are surely signs for men of understanding” (3:189).

They are the men “Who keep in their mind (the Laws of) Allah standing and sitting and reclining and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth” (3:190). When they observe, study and reflect on the grandeur of nature, they are deeply moved and exclaim, “Our Rabb (nourisher) thou hast not created this in vain” (7:190). The understanding of nature is a continuous process. Nature is full of countless facts and realities. Man, through his efforts and knowledge, unfolds these mysteries and discovers realities which benefit him. He does not invent but discovers. At times he feels that many things are out of his reach and incomprehensible at the present level of his knowledge. With the passage of time, he will surely discover more about nature.

In seeking knowledge, the believers are spurred on by their faith and belief. ‘Iman’ in God may not follow from purely logical arguments; it springs from the direct experience of order, harmony, beauty and balance in nature. The Quran says that these are the visible signs of the invisible Being. “Then in what besides Allah and His signs will they believe? “(45:6).

By insisting that nature provides a pathway to God, the Quran concedes the validity of the so-called ‘natural religion’. It adds, however, that faith induced by contemplation of nature should be reinforced by Revelation. The Quran applies the term “knowledge” neither to something which mere intellect produces, nor to the sense-data collectively but to the product of the interaction of the scenes and the intellect.

Regarding the men of knowledge (ulema), it is clear that they are the ones who have acquired knowledge of nature and the natural phenomena, that is why they are the men whom we call scientists. “Have you not seen that Allah causeth water to fall from the sky and produces therewith fruits of diverse hues ... and of men and beasts and cattle in similar diverse hues. It is the men of knowledge (ulema) among his servants who feel awe and are wonder stuck.” (35:27,28)

The Muslim ulema have for long given up the proper object of study. Absorbed in matters relating to ritual and ceremonial, they could not spare time to observe and study nature. We should reflect on “His signs manifested in the Anfus (human selves) and Afaq (the physical world or nature).( (41:53) The more intimate our contact with nature, the deeper will be our insight into the working of the Divine Law that guides the universe and all creations.

People have now started using the term ‘Deen’ for Islam. Deen is a balanced amalgam of worldly and godly affairs. It is a system through which the permanent values are implemented in a society. Religion, on the other hand, is man’s version of the Divine message and consequently gives birth to sects and sub-sects and each sect believes it is right. That is why Islam as a ‘Deen’ is not theocratic in nature and should not be in the hands of the religious obscurantists. The permanent values of Islam are universal and can be adopted for the benefit of humanity at large.

As regards nations who have gained mastery over the forces of nature but do not utilise it in the light of the Divine laws; they too cannot evade the eventual doom that awaits them. “And verily We had empowered them (nations of the past) with that wherewithal We have not empowered you, and had assigned them ears and hearts; but their ears and eyes and hearts availed them not since they rejected the revelations of God and what they used to mock befell them.’ (46:26)

Those who turn away from nature and make no attempt to understand and conquer it, live a life of hardship and misery in this world and will find the way to progress blocked in the next world for ‘who is blind here will be blind in the hereafter and yet farther away from the truth”. (17:72)

Subjugating the forces of nature for the benefit of mankind in accordance with the Divine laws and thereby developing one’s self is the essence of Islam. Fourteen centuries ago a group of believers proved that neither the Quranic social order was a utopia, nor the programme laid down to establish it was unworkable. They laid great stress on knowledge, justice and social harmony. Their later generation, however, abandoned that course with the result that they met the same fate as did the past nations who had acted similarly.

__________________
The sign of an infidel is that he is lost in the world,
The sign of the believer is that the world is lost in him