Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | Speaking Tree Weekly Blog | March 22, 2021
God created wood, but He did not make this wood into boats. He put iron in the earth, but He did not fashion it into machines. Aluminium and plastic were brought into being by Him, but aeroplanes were left unmade. God has put raw materials in the earth, and on the other hand, he has put brain in man’s head. It is for man to take the materials God has provided and develop them: to make something out of unfabricated matter. In this way the forces of nature are channelled into the building of civilization.
The same thing has to be done in building the human personality. God has created man “in the best of mould” (The Quran, 95:4). Human nature has been made to stand out among all forms of creation. Still, this excellent nature is just a raw material; it is for man to give new form to his original being, to build on the foundations God has laid down. God has presented man with an empty page of history on which man has to write his own destiny. Herein lies man’s test in life, and it is upon the outcome of this test that his entire future depends. Man’s consciousness has to be turned to realization of Truth, his senses to remembrance of God. The characteristics God has endowed him with have to be moulded into a devout character, his personality developed into a picture of humility and submission to God.
One is given the power of speech at birth: that power must be used either to uphold the truth or to reject it. One is born with superb faculties and one can use them either for worthwhile or for selfish objectives. One can remain as one was – simply the issue of one’s mother’s womb, or one can take oneself in hand and make oneself into a more worthwhile person.
Everyone has been given a piece of land on which to work. He can either beautify it with flowers or ruin it with thorns – he can make it into a paradise, or he can turn it into a raging inferno.