MAN: A GIFTED CREATION
Value Your Life
THE Prophet of Islam is reported to have said: God created Adam in His own image (Sahih Bukhari). However, this does not mean that man is like God in physical appearance. It means that God has in a limited way granted man those divine attributes which exist in perfect form in His being.
In the entire universe man is an exceptional creature. His is a living existence. He is the only creature who has been granted a complete personality. He thinks, sees, hears, carries out planned action and can enjoy a multitude of things by using his senses. All these are exceptional qualities which are granted only to man out of all the creatures in the universe.
Man has been given these exceptional gifts so that he may engage himself in an exceptional task. This exceptional task is to recognize and accept the Creator at a conscious level. In this way, the Almighty Lord of the universe has given man the opportunity to discover Him at the level of realization. This realization should enable a person to see God who is physically unseen, to understand that he is actually powerless even though he seems to have some powers, and so that he may surrender himself before God of his own free will and not out of compulsion.
The Almighty Lord of the universe has given man the opportunity to discover Him at the level of realization. This realization should enable a person to see God who is physically unseen so that he may surrender himself before God of his own free will and not out of compulsion.
He is blessed in having been given the ability to convert the entire world of nature into spiritual provision for himself, for he has to develop himself intellectually by awakening his consciousness. When he does so, he finds truth at the level of personal discovery; the realization of God comes to him as he prostrates. Then he has to develop his personality to such a degree of moral refinement that he may be held deserving of finding a place in the vicinity of Almighty God. Those who fail to develop such a personality are mere animals in human form. They are worthless in the eyes of God.