48 THE DOCTRINE OF MAN

'Whatsoever is in heaven and on earth worshippeth God, voluntarily or by force; and their shadows (also), morning and evening.' And, in Suratu'n-Nahl (xvi) 50-1, we find, 'Do they not consider the things which God hath created, whose shadows are cast on the right hand and on the left, worshipping God, and become contracted? Whatever moveth both in heaven and on earth, worshippeth God, and the angels also.'

But the worship of nature and of the lower animals is unintelligent, nay, it is compulsory. Man stands on a different level. He has a capacity for religion, but he has the power of either rendering that homage which is his Creator's due, or of withholding it. This capacity for religion is his, because he has in him something of the Divine. It is this which makes him akin to God. The Qur'an nowhere teaches, in specific terms, that man is made 'in the image' of God; but the truth lies on the surface of the book from beginning to end; and it is this which makes man immortal. His punishment he finds in unending torment; his bliss in everlasting happiness in the presence of his Lord.

 


PRINTED AT THE S. P. C. K. PRESS, VEPERY, MADRAS — 1913