In the animal world, Divine guidance takes the form of instinct.
Instinct enables the animal to make a satisfactory adjustment to its
environment. It enables it to satisfy its basic needs and so preserve
both itself and its young. Volumes have been written on the marvels
of instinct. A few examples will suffice to show how efficiently it
guides the animal in a strange world. The duckling and the chick may
have been hatched by the same hen but while the former fearlessly
plunges into water, the latter shrinks from it and keeps to the dry
land. Each seems to know instinctively what it can do and what it
cannot Migratory birds traverse thousands of miles, flying over
deserts and forests, plains and mountains, and fishes through seas
and oceans, and never lose their way. Instinct guides them
unerringly to the clime they are seeking. The wasp lays its eggs and
provides food for its young which it is never going to see. The
directive factor operative in the nature of each animal incites it to
engage in activities which lead to the satisfaction of its basic needs.
The same factor is responsible for the harmony and order which
nature exhibits. Wahi is really this factor in operation. Galloway's
comment on this point should be noted:
In the widest sense of the word, the order of nature is a revelation, for
it unfolds a meaning which has its ultimate source in God.(2)
We are led to draw two conclusions from this. Firstly, it is Divine
Guidance or Wahi which carries each and every thing from stage to
stage until it has reached its full development. Secondly, every thing
has to follow the course which has been prescribed for it. This may
be said to be its nature.
III. Man and WahiNo doubt, man too needs Divine Guidance. Without it, he is
likely to go astray. However, the guidance which is vouchsafed to
him is of a different kind which is suited to his peculiar
characteristic. His activities are not governed by invariable laws, as is
the case with inanimate beings, nor are they completely determined
by the blind urges inherent in him. He has been granted a measure
of freedom and this means that he is free to choose the right or
wrong path, and that he is free even to commit mistakes. He may
choose what is good for him; but he may also choose that which is
Islam: A Challenge to Religion 93