Surah al-A`raf (The Elevated Places) 7 : 185

Overview (Verse 185)

Reflect and Consider

And then comes this inviting question: “Have they not considered [God’s] dominion over the heavens and the earth, and all that God has created?” (Verse 185) This serves as another deeply touching call. They are invited to open their eyes and hearts to this vast kingdom with all that it contains. Reflection with open heart and mind is sufficient to revive human nature and make it receptive to the truth underlined by God’s inimitable creation and all its miraculous aspects testifying to its being the work of God, the only Creator. Reflection over anything God has created — and His creation is so greatly varied in the kingdoms of heaven and earth — is bound to leave both heart and mind in a genuine state of speechless amazement. The mind will then start to look for the origin of this creation, and the power that has made it all in such a perfect system. Why has each creature taken its present shape and not taken an alternative form from among the countless shapes which exist in nature? Why has the system of creation followed this particular route to the exclusion of all other possible ones? Why have all creatures persisted in following this particular way, without changing it over the centuries? What is the secret behind the unity that we can detect in the nature of all creation, unless it is the result of a single will that gives practical manifestation to a consistent act of creation?

A living body, indeed a single living cell is so miraculous in its existence, make-up and behaviour. Its process of transformation continues all the time, yet it preserves its existence and has the means to give birth to new generations of its kind. Moreover, it knows its function and manages to keep it up in its successive generations. Who can reflect on the existence of a single cell and make a statement that this universe is run without God, or that God has partners to do the job with Him? Who can be rationally at ease when he makes such a statement? How can he make his nature and conscience agree with it?

The very fact that life continues through marriage and procreation is a testimony to the elaborate scheme of creation made by God, the only Creator. This should be reflected upon by every thinking human being. If it was not for God, who would guarantee that life would always enjoy the proper ratio of males and females, generation after generation, to ensure the continuity of marriage and procreation? How is it that there never comes a time when life produces only the male or the female variety? Should this ever happen, then procreation would come to an end. It is important to ask: who maintains the right balance in every generation?

Yet balance is clearly visible throughout God’s dominion of the heavens and the earth, not merely in this single life phenomenon. We recognize it in the make-up of the atom, just as we see it in the constitution of the galaxy. Proper balance is also noticeable between living things and inanimate objects as well. Should this balance be tilted by a fraction one way or the other, this whole universe would instantly collapse. Who maintains this fine balance in the heavens and the earth?

The Arabs who were the first to be addressed by the Qur’ān did not have the knowledge to realize the extent of this balance and coherence in the heavens and the earth and in all God’s creation. But human nature itself responds to the universe in an unspoken language that it certainly feels in its depth. It is sufficient that a human being should reflect over what he sees in the universe, with an open eye and a receptive mind in order to receive its guidance and inspiration.

When they received these signals, human beings recognized by their nature that God had created them. They were never unaware of this fact, but they were drawn to error in identifying their true Lord, until they were provided with guidance through God’s messages. However, the neo-atheists, who advocate so-called `scientific socialism’, are nonentities who have corrupted their nature. Indeed, they deny their own nature and reject its consistent pointers. When one of them, an astronaut, went into space and beheld that dazzling scene of the earth looking as a ball suspended in mid-air, he cried out naturally, “Who holds it in position like that?” But when he returned to earth and remembered the tyranny of the Communist state, he said that he did not find God over there.26 He simply suppressed the discourse of his nature as he reflected on an aspect of the kingdom of the heavens and the earth.

God who addresses man with the Qur’ān is the One who has created man and knows his nature. He concludes this invitation to reflect and consider with a reminder of death that may come suddenly taking them unawares: “Have they not considered [God’s] dominion over the heavens and the earth, and all that God has created, and [reflected] that it may well be that their own term is drawing near?” (Verse 185) Can they tell that their term is not fast drawing to a close? Why do they prefer to remain heedless of God’s reminders when they cannot fathom what God has kept hidden and when they cannot break loose from His will?

This last touch on the unknown end that may come suddenly shakes the human heart violently, so that it may wake up, think and reflect. God, who has revealed the

This is a reference to the astronaut sent on the second Soviet manned space mission, when the Soviet authorities made a fuss about this statement. It is noted that the author refers to scientific socialism as the epitome of atheism. This was the trend when he was writing, particularly in Egypt which adopted such policies in the early 1960s. — Editor’s note.

Qur’ān and created man, knows that this emphasis is bound to re-awaken every heart and open every mind. Yet some people may still choose to deliberately deny the truth: “In what other message after this will they, then, believe?” (Verse 185) This message is the final one, and there will not be any following message to soften the hearts of those who choose to disbelieve.

We note how a single verse uses several ways and means to show us that when the Qur’ān addresses human nature, it does not leave any aspect of it untouched. It does not present a cold, logical argument, nor does it ignore the human intellect either. Indeed, it ensures that the mind is awakened just as the Qur’ān puts its message to the whole human being. When the human mind has been reawakened, it is invited to think, consider and reflect as life begins to send messages to it. This must remain the method of those who advocate faith. Human beings remain in their human status. They have not evolved into a different species. The Qur’ān remains the eternal work of God. God’s address to man remains the same, even though human knowledge may have developed and greatly increased.