Islam The Voice of Human Nature
1. THE TRIAL OF MAN
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making this sacrifice can never endear himself to
God no matter how many exercises in self-
prostration he puts himself through.
A man who achieves a certain superiority owes his
position to God. To acknowledge the superiority of
another, then, amounts to acknowledging the
fairness of God’s distribution of His blessings. If
one refuses to recognize the superiority of another,
that is tantamount to challenging God’s sense of fair
play. When one bows before the rights of another,
one is not really bowing before another human
being, but before God, for it is on account of God’s
commandment that one bows before that person,
rather than because of any excellence inherent in
him.
God, the Lord of the Universe, is the Supreme
Reality. To discover God is the greatest triumph
that a human being can achieve. In this world, it is
in the act of self-prostration that a man truly finds
his Lord. But such self-prostration is acceptable to
God only when a man’s entire life is coloured by
humility and submission. It is only then that the
devotee can be said to be psychologically prepared
