The Qur’an An Abiding Wonder
Qur’an: The Voice of God
~ 95 ~
that he knows neither what he is nor why he has
been put here. No convenient handbook
accompanies him, neither are there any signboards
fixed to the summits of the mountains to give him
directions or to provide him with answers to his
questions. Man has, in consequence, formed strange
opinions about himself, the earth and the sky, being
ignorant of the essential reality of life. When he
examines his own being, it appears to him as an
amazing accumulation of intellectual and physical
powers. Yet, he did not will himself into being, nor
did he play any part in the making of himself. Then
he looks at the world outside himself and a universe
of such extreme vastness, that he can neither
encompass nor traverse it, nor can he count the
innumerable treasures it contains. What is all this,
and why is it there? Where did this world start from
and where will it all end? What is the purpose of all
this existence? He finds himself completely in the
dark on these subjects. Man has, of course, been
given eyes, but all his eyes can do is see the outside
of things. He has intelligence, but the trouble with
human intelligence is that it does not even know
about itself. Up till now, man has been unable to
find out how thoughts enter the human mind or
