For man the beasts of burden were made to toil, that they might transport him and his merchandise from place to place. '(It is) God who hath given you the cattle, that ye may ride on (some of) them . . . and that on them ye may arrive at the business (proposed) in your minds, and on them are ye carried (by land), and on ships (by sea)' [Suratu'l-Mu'min (xl) 79]. 'Do they not consider that we have created for them, among the things which our hands have wrought, cattle (of several kinds) of which they are possessors, and that we have put the same in subjection under them?' Some of them (are) for riding. . . [Suratu Ya Sin (xxxvi) 71. See also Sura xliii 6-12].

Man is, in fact, God's viceroy; His substitute, on earth, set over the works of His hands. 'When thy Lord said unto the angels, I am going to place a substitute (Khalifa) on earth, they said, wilt thou place there one who will do evil therein and shed blood? ' [Suratu'l-Baqara (ii) 28]. His nature is superior to that of the angelic hosts themselves, who at his creation were commanded to bow down before him in acknowledgement of his superiority. See Suras xv 26; vii 10; xvii 72.

But this very greatness and nobility as compared with the other works of God's hands is, at the same time, and of necessity, what makes it possible that he may fall from his high estate to the lowest depths of degradation and infamy. He who has great possibilities of attainment and a high position has likewise great possibilities of loss and shame. And, as a matter of fact, man who is God's greatest work may become, and has become, the vilest of the vile; and falling to the lowest

depths of ingratitude and baseness may endure the greatest sufferings. 'Verily we created man of a most excellent fabric: afterwards we rendered him the vilest of the vile, except those who believe and work righteousness, for they shall receive an endless reward' [Suratu't-Tin (xcv) 4-6].

In the Qur'an, the creation of Adam is described as consisting of two separate phases or processes. First, there comes the formation of the body. This God formed from the dust of the ground, or from clay, very much as a potter fashions a vessel. 'He created man of dried clay like an earthen vessel' [Suratu'r-Rahman (lv) 13]. The method by which this was done is not described; for the words 'like an earthen vessel' do not here refer to the process of creation, but to the finished product, and enforce simply the fact that man has no cause to boast of his origin. What is noble in him is not due to the intrinsic value of the elements from which his body is formed but comes from another source.

The method, then, of man's forming or fashioning is not described, and we need not suppose that in using the expression, 'He created man of dried clay', Muhammad had any clear idea in his own mind as to what the process of creation involved. The words are doubtless figurative, as all words must be whereby man tries to describe or speak of the creative acts of God.

A lifeless human body turns to dust. The natural deduction is that it is formed from that dust to which it reverts. It has not made itself; it is the handiwork of God: hence we can but say, 'He formed it of the dust of the ground,' or 'He created man of dried clay like an earthen vessel.