powers sink to the animal level. "Many of the people, both civilised
and nomads, live a life which dooms them to hell" (7:179). The
reason for this is that "they have hearts wherewith they understand
not, have eyes wherewith they see not, and have ears wherewith they
hear not" (7:179). The result is that they cease to be rational beings.
''These are like cattle: nay, but they are worse. These are the
neglectful" (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 to
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" (7:190). When
they reflect on the grandeur of nature, they are deeply moved and
exclaim:"Our Rabb! Thou hast not created this in vain" (3:190).
When they approach nature with the attitude of the believers
(Mu'mins) they feel it in their bones that it has a meaning and a
purpose. With their intellectual honesty, they cannot but admit that
certain things in it are incomprehensible to them at the present level
of their knowledge. With humility they confess that they do not
know, but they have a conviction that if they persist in seeking more
knowledge, one day they will perceive the meaning of these as well.
Men who lack this conviction live "in a sort of hell" (7:191), and the
pity is that no one can help them" (7:191).
The Qur'an speaks of those who study nature and try to discover
the laws that govern it as "men of knowledge and insight"; because,
says the Qur'an: "Lo! in the heavens and the earth are portents for
believers" (45:3). In seeking knowledge, the believers are spurred on
by their Eiman. "And in your creation and of all the beasts that He
scattereth in the earth, are portents for a folk whose Eiman is sure"
(45:4). They know that:
The alternation of night and day and the provision that Allah sendeth
down from the sky and thereby quickeneth the earth after her death,
and the ordering of the winds, are portents for a people who have
sense (45:5).
The Rasool is told:
These are the portents of Allah which We recite unto thee with Haqq ( 45 : 6 ).
Eiman in God may not follow from purely logical arguments: it
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