God Arises
The Life We Seek
~ 439 ~
by his Mausoleum. There is no one in this world
who does not need to make someone his lord and
master, even if he be only a figurehead. There has to
be someone to whom he can dedicate himself and
the very best that he has to offer.
But if one makes this offering to anyone other than
God, one is indulging in polytheism and in the
words of the Quran, one is doing a “great wrong.”
This paying of homage to false gods is what the
Quran calls
zulm
. The word
zulm
actually means
putting something in the wrong place, somewhere
that it is not meant to be. It would be like taking the
lid of a vessel and attempting to use it as a cap.
Turning, therefore, to anyone other than God to fill
the psychological vacuum that every normal human
being feels is also an instance of
zulm
.
This is
putting a right feeling in a wrong place; giving to
others what should be given to God. To seek to lay
everything one has at someone’s feet is a natural
instinct in man, and, initially, it finds expression in
a natural way. To begin with, people turn to their
true Lord and Master to satisfy their spiritual
hunger, but then, under the influence of irreligious
