The Prophet Muhammad A simple Guide to his Life
Prophetic Guidance for the Modern Age
~ 270 ~
gratefulness, then it is essential that at times they
should find themselves in difficult situations in
order to see whether or not they remained patient
on those occasions. Similarly, it is also necessary
that man should receive the good things of life in
order to see whether or not he responds with
proper gratefulness or with insolence and
haughtiness. Moreover, this purpose of man’s stay
on earth requires some to be given more and some
less resources. This is to test whether those who are
given less remain free from the evil feelings of
jealousy, and whether those who are given more
spend the money solely on their own luxury or on
the service of humanity, etc.
In the modern age, freedom has been given the
status of summum bonum. Its prevalence stemmed,
in fact, from the general reaction to the coercive
system established by the despotic monarchs of
ancient times. Freedom is without doubt extremely
precious so far as human progress is concerned. But
unbounded freedom, on the contrary, results in
disaster. In a hundred year experiment with
unlimited freedom, thinkers are coming to the fore
in the West who hold that freedom cannot be given
