CHAPTER II

THE NATURE OF MAN

HAVING seen what the Qur'an teaches concerning the origin of man, let us now pass on to consider what it has to say about the moral characteristics and qualities of that nature with which he has been endowed.

There is no need to discuss those passages which speak of man's condition, such as that found in Suratu'l-Balad (xc) 4, where we read, 'Verily we have created man in misery.' This misery is a physical, not a moral condition, and though the words state that he has been created in this state, they undoubtedly mean nothing more than that the common lot of man in this world, is one of hardship and toil, and may be compared with the expression in Job v. 7, 'Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.'

There are other passages which similarly need not be considered in detail, such as those which speak of man's hasty and impatient temperament. 'Man is created of precipitation (hastiness)', we find in Suratu'l-Anbiya' (xxi) 38; and again in Suratu'l-Mu'arij (lxx) 19, we read, 'Verily man is created extremely impatient.' Such passages, however, do not really touch the point before us. It is true that they refer to the natural disposition of man — a disposition which is so general as to be

practically universal, so that it can be said, 'man is created extremely impatient' — yet it is the disposition of the individual rather than the nature which he has in common with his fellowmen which is thus described. We may therefore pass by such passages.

Of more moment is the following passage: 'By the soul and Him who completely formed it, and inspired into the same its (faculty of distinguishing and its power of choosing) wickedness and piety; now is he who hath purified the same happy; but he who hath corrupted the same is miserable' [Suratu'sh-Shams (xci) 7-10]. Both Baidawi and Zamakhshari interpret these verses in accordance with the explanation given by Sale in the clause in parentheses; and there can be no doubt but that this is the true meaning of the passage. The verses do not teach that man's evil and good actions are alike from God; but that God has given men understanding, to distinguish the good from the bad, and power or liberty to choose one or other of them. On this point Zamakhshari especially is very explicit indeed that the last clause of the verse demands absolutely that the words be thus interpreted.

Man, then, has not merely the power of moral discrimination, he can not only distinguish the good from the bad; but he has also such freedom of will that he can choose the one or the other, and on the choice which he makes depends his happiness or his misery, 'Now he that hath purified the same is happy; but he who hath corrupted the same is miserable.' The teaching of the Qur'an on the freedom of man's will must come up again when we consider what Muhammad has to say about man's responsibility to God, and we may therefore pass