II. Wahi and the World of CreationWahi literally means prompting, inspiring or infusing a thought or
feeling into a person. At different levels of creation wahi operates in
different forms, ranging from inciting a blind urge to inspiring a
thought. All things from material bodies to rational beings are
amenable to wahi. The earth and the heavenly spheres are
represented as submitting to Divine direction. Says the Qur'an:
He inspired in each heaven its mandate (41:12).
Again, it is said that a day will dawn when "the Earth shall tell out
her tidings. For that your Rabb will inspire her" (99:4-5).
In the animal world, Divine guidance is mediated by wahi in the
form of instinctual drive as the following verse indicates:
Your Rabb inspired the bee, saying: Choose your habitation in the hills
and in the trees and in that which they thatch (16:68).
In the chapter entitled "Light" more is said about the directive
force which is at work in everything:
Have you not seen that those who are in the heavens and the earth
serve God, and the birds (also) their wings spread out. Each one knows
its appointed task (salaat) and the way in which it is to be performed
(Tasbeeh) (24:41).
Another verse serves to elucidate this point:
There is no living being on the earth nor a bird that flies with its wings but
they are peoples like unto you (possessed of the Divine guidance) ( 6 : 38 ).
Everything in fact receives from the Creator all the guidance
which it needs. The directive force, which has its source in God, is
operative everywhere in the universe. The regularity of the
movements of physical objects and the purposive character of the
behaviour of living beings, both reveal the guiding hand of God. He
guides the stars in their courses. He keeps the planets from straying
from their prescribed orbits. Order in the physical world is the direct
consequence of Divine control and guidance. The movements of
material bodies are governed by unalterable laws. Heavenly bodies
submit to these laws no less than minute particles of matter. Thus
everywhere we find complete subservience to the law of God.
Nothing transgresses the limits set to its activity. This is what
"prostration before God" means. Says the Qur'an:
And unto Allah makes prostration whatsoever is in the earth of living
creatures and the malaaik'ah (16:49).
Divine Guidance^92