Islamic Studies (Islamabad) 6:1 (1967)

THE QUR'ANIC CONCEPT OF GOD,

THE UNIVERSE AND MAN
FAZLUR RAHMAN

I. GOD

The Qur'iinic teaching is entirely oriented towards practice : it

provides guidance for man. The intere~tof the Qur'gn in pure,
speculative theology is, therefore, negative. Doubtless, the Qur'iin
contains some theology, a certain amount of cosmology and
psychology, etc., but these are all action-oriented and are meant t o
keep the attitude of man on correct lines, tuned up to the proper
moral pitch and geared to a certain purpose. The Qur'snic concept
This is
of God is, therefore, primarily-indeed, purely-functional.
most certainly not t o say that the Qur'gn is indifferent t o the truthvalue of its statements, but to affirm that the truth-value of
statements-even about God-is subservient to and, in some vital
sense, needs t o be tested by their success in producing a state of
affairs in the world. I t should not, therefore, shock or surprise
anyone that, although Allzh (God) is mentioned in the Qur'an
more than six thousand times (apart from other quasi-names of the
Deity, like Rubmiin-'the Merciful1-and Rabb-'the Sustainer'),
all these statements are actually statements about man-the centre
of interest in the Qur'an. This we shall try t o bring out by an
analysis of certain typical examples belonging t o various categories
of the Qur'mic statements which are ostensibly about God.
It is because of the practical purposiveness of the Qur'gn that
it avoids all theoretical discussion of the nature of God. I t even
resolutely refuses t o touch on the problem of Divine power and
how it affects human freedom : it simply asserts both that God is
All-powerful and that a human being is endowed with choice and
charged with responsibility.' This is because the interest of the
Qur'Hn is to keep human conduct within the tension created on the
one hand by the fact that man can become a prey t o hopelessness
due to an excessive consciousness of his self-negation Yis-bvis God
and, on the other, by the fact that man may become bold enough to
rebel and may, in his self-righteousness, substitute his will for the

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FAZLUR RAHMAN

Moral Imperative. The purpose of the Qur'in is to prevent man

from going to either of these nihilistic extremes and thus ensure his
highest level of moral creativity.
One of the main functions of the idea of God is to vindicate
the orderliness of the universe-that there is no lawlessness in
nature, that the whole cosmos is an organic unity. This is the
reason behind the insistent emphasis on the unity of God. "If
there were in them (i.e. the earth and the heavens) other gods than
AIIih, they would have been in disorder-so glorified be Allah. the
Lord of the Throne, beyond what they describe! (For) Allah is
not answerable about what He does while they (i.e. the aileged
other gods) are answerable" (XXI: 22). The glory o f Alliih is that
no matter what point you may imagine, He is there and yet to trcznscend
every point is His very nature ;otherwise, the requirements of an
order cannot be met. "If there were along with Him other gods, as
they assert, these (other gods) would themselves be seeking an
approach to the Master of the Throne" (XVII : 42). It is then
part of the inherent logic of the concept of God that He be beyond
all imaginable perfection, although He is present at every point
within the scale of that perfection. It is this immanence-cum-transcendence which constitutes also the logic of the concept of a
growing and expanding order.
It has been generally held that the God of Islam is uncompromisingly transcendent and that this is shown by the tremendous
emphasis Islam puts on the unity of God, His majesty, awesomeness.
e t ~ .This
~
picture, however, does not emerge from the Qur'an,
but from later theological development in Islam. A careful
perusal of the Qur'an would reveal that it attributes all natural
processes and events to God : from rains to the processes of the rise
and fall of nations, from winning and losing in war and peace t o the
orderly revolution of cosmic bodies, all is referred to God.3 This
clearly shows that God is not just the most transcendent but also
the most immanent. The immanence of God, of course, does not
have the slightest implication that acts performed by nature or man
are really performed by God : God is not a rival of or a substitute
for human or natural agencies in producing effects, nor does He
interfere in any of the workings of these. Indeed. in all the
Qur'snic statements where God appears as the real subject, one can,
so far as the factual content goes, eliminate God and translate these
statements into perfectly "naturalistic" ones without any loss

QUR'ANIC CONCEPT OF GOD. UNIVERSE AND MAN

whatever. This is because God is not a fact among other facts.

God is rather that which bestows meaningfulness on facts, gives
them a new dimension and integrates them into an order. What
we shall lose, then, by eliminating God is meaningfulness, order and
purposiveness. So much so is this characteristic of God that,
according to the Qur'zn, those who forget God, ultimately forget
themselves (LIX : 19). i.e., their personality (individual and
corporate) disintegrates, because they cannot meaningfully integrate
themselves into the totality of being.
But for this demand of orderly purposiveness, of which we
shall attempt to enumerate the salient consequents, the Q u r h i c
concept of God makes no demands either on nature .p$ man.
Sometimes it is said that although God can or may upset nature,
yet He does not do so for H e has granted it autonomy. This description portrays a somewhat nai've picture of both God and the
universe: the Qur'gn tells us that the universe is the index (ayah) to
God, that its laws are part of His behaviour (Sunnah).* The universe is, therefore, related to God as character is related to man or,
in a sense, as a whole is related to its parts. The two are neither
identical with each other nor yet separate from each other. Just as
man can hardly upset or disown or dispense with his character, so
is the case with God and this universe. But just as man's self goes
beyond his character (which certainly never exhausts that self at
and up to any given moment) and is, in some sense, creative of it. so
does God transcend the universe and is creative of it.
Considerable difficulty is encountered by many students of the
Qur'iin in understanding a whole set of verses where God is
apparently portrayed as the cause of people's going astray from the
right path as well as going on the right path. Indeed, the Qur'zn
tells us that God "seals the hearts" of people, "deafens their ears"
and "blinds their eyes" to truth.5 "Where then lies the human
responsibility ?" it is asked, construing these statements in the light
of the philosophic problem of free-will and predestination. W e
shall see presently that the Qur'sn does not show the slightest
interest in this philosophic problem and, in fact, asserts both sides
of the tension in order to keep human behaviour on the right path,
which is its central concern and not the nature of God. As far as
the verses under consideration are concerned, it must be pointed out
that the Qur'zn never states that God absolutely leads people astray.
A study of all the relevant passages shows that God leads evil-doers,

FAZLUR RAHMAN

those who reject the truth, astray.6 What the Qur'an is, in fact.
saying is that whenever a man does an evil act, his chances of
repeating that kind of act increase and the chances of doing good
decrease proportionately until a time comes when. by constantly
practising evil, he apparently reaches a point of no return. That is
where his "heart is sealed", his "ears deafened" t o truth. etc. This
is also the case mutatis mutandis with the performance of good acts.
This is a psychological law whose operations, like the operations of
all laws, are attributed t o God by the Qur'gn. Yet. even a t that
stage. one may not say that a real or absolute point of no return
has been reached. People confirmed in evil ways can always try to
redeem themselves and utter hopelessness is never actually reached.
Indeed, cases of apparently sudden and surprising change-'return'
or 'conversion', where the moral personality is turned upside down,
are well established. To be sure, these phenomena also occur
according t o laws-and are perfectly "natural"-but, again, they
are attributed t o the mercy of God.' A t no point can the
phenomena be closed t o scientific investigation; and yet at no point
does their attribution t o God and God's relevance to them cease.
The following two cases would illustrate the contentual
(factual) equivalence of "naturaIisticl' statements and those wherein
God appears as the subject. In the Qur'iin we frequently come
across statements about the fortunes of men t o the effect that it is
God Who grants abundance of worldly fortunes and it is H e Who
Puts men in straitened circ~mstances.~This is, no doubt, also the
naive belief generally prevalent about the God of the Qur'sn, viz.
whomsoever H e wills H e makes opulent and vice versa. Read.
however, this passage : "When his Lord tests man. honours him and
bestows bountifully upon him, he exclaims. 'My Lord has honoured
me.' But when H e tests him and straitens his livelihood, he
exclaims, 'My Lord has dishonoured me'. Nay, (the fact is that)
You do not honour (your) orphans, nor do you induce one another
on feeding the poor ones (in the society); you devour inheritances
wholesale and you are excessively attached t o worldly goods"
(LXXXIX : 1520). The second is connected with the Prophet's
claims t o Prophethood. According t o the Qur'an. his opponents
asked him why God came t o select him as Prophet out of all people
in the two cities of Mecca and Ta'if.9 The Qur'iin sometimes
replies by saying, "God chooses whomsoever He wills as His
Messenger" (e.g. I11 ; 175). But the following verse gives the

QUR'ANIC CONCEPT OF GOD. UNIVERSE AND M A N

reason, "God knows best where to place His Prophethood"

(VI :124). In the first case, the act. attributed to God, has been
explained as a natural social process; in the second case the
apparent act of God's choice has been given a naturalistic
grounding.
But despite this factual equivalence, the Qur'sn uses the
religious idiom rather than the "naturalistic" idiom. This is because
upon the factual structure of the universe there surpervenes a
value structure which is the peculiarity of religio-moral life. The
essence of religious life consists in value-affections and valuecorrespondence between the subject (man) and the objective
reality. Where there is being rather than nothingness, God already
exists for already the primordial value of being is realised. God
is that Which has, as His primary attribute, the propulsion to being
out of an abysmal emptiness of non-being. Already, the victory of
being over non-being suggests that it cannot be a mere play of a
blind force, for being is goodness and it already implies purpose.
Now, being with order (indeed. it is difficult to conceive being without any order) completes the objective and existential conditions
for a religio-moral response.
W e have now established the existence of a creative, purposive
Will. Is this Will personal or not ? Is it immanent or transcendent ? Is it awe-instilling or love-inspiring ? Should one have an
attitude of fear or comradeship towards it ? Is it omnipotent or is
the human will also efficacious beside the ultimate Will ? On all
these time-honoured metaphysical issues, the Qur'Hnic attitude is
not to accept these distinctions as absolute but to accept both sides
of each disjunction because both are equally demanded by the
human situation. For the God of the Qur'an is a functional,
pragmatic concept. It will be shown in Section I11 of this article
that the Qur'gnic God is a person but not an individual, for
personality and individuality are two different-perhaps even quite
opposite-things.
What the human situation is, will be explained
more fully in the above-mentioned section where we shall outline
the basic moral tensions of the human nature. The overall gain for
a man or society generally imbued with such a faith is that they
march ahead hopefully to conquer nature and to build a just.
equitable, free and creative social order in harmony and unison
with laws of God and avoid the numbing frustration of a materialist
or an agnostic whose hopelessness is the handiwork of the negative

FAZLUR RAHMAN

forces called the Devil.

11. THE UNIVERSE

The fundamental teaching of the Qur'an about the universe is

(a) that it is a cosmos, an order; (b) that it is a developing, dynamic
order ; (c) that it is not a vain play but has t o be taken seriously ;
man ought t o study its laws, which constitute part of the behaviour of God, and make i t the theatre of his purposeful activity.
According t o the Qur'an when God creates something, i.e. brings it
into being and gives it external form, a t the same time H e invests
it with laws of its being and inlays it with potentialities and
dynamics of its development. The first (i.e. bringing something
into being and giving i t a form) is called &a/q. while the second
(i.e. investing something with a "nature" or dynamics of behaviour)
is termed by the Qur'zn either 'amr (which means "Command") or
taqdir. The terms 'amr and taqdir call for some elaboration of
their meaning. The expression 'taqdir' literally means "measuring
out" something and qadar is a quantity or volume measured out.
Thus, when a certain car, for example, is manufactured t o run for a
maximum estimated a t 1,50,000 miles, then the power t o run so
much, which is inlaid in it, is called its taqdit. This taqdit brings
it about that this car, which is an automobile vehicle of a certain
type, will not, e-g., be able to fly like an aeroplane, that i t will be
able t o run faster than a man, etc. The analysis also reveals that
taqdir is t o be understood in terms of powers, potentialities, disdispositions-cum-processes rather than in terms of events and
happenings as the popular understanding of this term would invite
us t o believe. The popular notion of taqdit implying. as it does, a
predetermination of events has, in fact. nothing to do with the
teaching of the Qur'sn but, like so many other influential ideas in
the history of Islam, has been an importation from without. Let us
now consider our analysis in the light of the Qur'sn.
In a Siirah of the early Meccan period, the Qur'an says, "Glorify
the name of thy Lord, the Exalted W h o created (&alaqa i.e. gave form
t o things) and consummated (the forms) and W h o (having created)
inlaid the potentialities (of things : qaddara) and thus gave direction
thadii)" (LXXXVII : 1-31. This passage is the most eloquent
evidence that, in the language of the Qur'sn, God, when H e creates
or externally forms a thing, a t the same time invests it with its
inner, natural constitution, the dynamic law of its behaviow, i.e. its

QUR'ANIC

CONCEPT OF GOD. UNIVERSE AND MAN

taqdir which also constitutes its hidayah, the direction or the goal
towards which it tends. Similarly, "When He said t o the heavens
and the earth, 'Come hither willingly or unwillingly', they replied,
'We come in voluntary obedience (i.e. not despite ourselves)'. . .
God then inspired every heavenlv sphere with its peculiar 'amr (i.e.
taqdir) . and this taqdir (investment with dynamic laws of
behaviour) was by the Mighty. the Knowing God". (XLI : 11-12).
The same phrase, "taqdir by the Mighty, Knowing God" is used in
XXXVI ; 39, where the orderly revolutions of space bodies are
described, which are said t o "swim" each in its own orbit. Again,
in LXXVII : 20-23. the same expression is used after describing the
evoIutionary process of the sperm in the female nursery. Finally,
we may note the following passage, "He created everything and
invested it with taqdir (i.e. determined its character by giving it a
constitution)" (XXV : 12).
Two closely connected points emerge from this. First, events
in the world are never predetermined or preordained by God (or,
indeed, by physical forces). That event A shall occur a t time a
remains an open possibility, among other possible alternatives, until
it is actually caused. This is because. secondly, what is determined
are not events. as we said above. but potencies, powers and forces.
Thus, it is determined that oxygen has a potency whereby, if it is
mixed with hydrogen in a certain proportion and under certain
conditions, the result will be water. W h a t is determined here are
the potencies (taqdirs) of hydrogen and oxygen t o turn into water
if they are mixed under certain conditions. The actual event of
their being so mixed a t a definite space-time is never predetermined
and depends on a host of factors. The fact, however, that things
have definite, measurable natures, is also sometimes extended by
the Qur'gn into the further meaning of qadr as power. This 6
because everything which is measurable, is within grip, as it were,
and does not have the quality of being absolutely free, or, rather,
lawless. Thus, the term qadr o r qudrah comes to mean 'power'.
So is the case with the Qur'gnic term 'amr which we have
rendered by the word "command". W e have already noticed that
in XLI : 12 God "inspires every heavenly sphere with its peculiar
'amr (i.e. law of behaviour)". In VII: 53, after stating how the
sun and the moon revolve. the Qur'sn says, "To God belong both
creation (&alq) and commanding ('amr, i.e. investing objects with
dispositions, patterns of behaviour, potencies)". In X : 3 and 31

..

FAZLUR RAHMAN

Ccf. also XI11 : 2 and XXXII : 5 ) , after portraying various creations

of God-the heavens, the earth, the process whereby life comes out
of death and vice versa-the Qur'iin concludes in identical terms.
"God systematically runs (yudabbiru) the Command". I t is thus
obvious that the concepts of taqdir and 'amr are, in this usage,
identical with each other. However, we shall see below, in Section 111,
while discussing the position of man, that. at the human level, the
two become utterly disparate. that while taqdir there has hardly
any function (except a t the physical or, perhaps. psycho-physical
level), the 'amr assumes a paramount importance because it becomes
charged with a moral import.
The universe, then, manifests a primordial dynamic power
which is purposeful and good. The fact that the universe exists
at all, exhibits both power and goodness for, as we have shown
before, existence is better than non-existence. T o say that this
does not prove God but may prove nothing "beyond matter" is
mere disputatiousness. For we are not quarrelling about names ;
all we are concerned with is to prove the existence of a Power or
Will with the attributes we have ascribed to it. Again, t o contend
that this Will or Power is not necessarily "good" because "evil" (or
pain) obviously exists in the world, is equally beside the point, for
the evil that does exist, exists within the framework of this goodness.
Without this goodness, there would be no "evil" (in this sense) or
pain". Since this Will is purposeful, it follows that it is dynamic
and ceaselessly creative. That is why the Qur'an says, for example,
"We created heavens with Our Power-and W e are. indeed,
expanding (them : innn la-miisi'iin") (LI : 47).
And "He adds t o
His creation whatever He wills" (XXXV : I). He is not a
"slumbering" or "sleeping" God (I1 : 255).
Indeed, the religious attitude of man, as exhibited in history.
has, generally speaking, been a story of two extremes of action and
reaction against both of which the Qur'an has decisively set itself.
On the one side has been the aggressive "optimism" of many
religionsaccording to which. God. with a special "fatherlyw instinct,
created the nursery of this earth, the centre of the universe, t o
"rear His children". Periodically, investigations of the physical
universe revealed facts and urged considerations which shocked
this self-made cosy picture and produced a reaction of crass
materialism. The Qur'an tells us that the goodness manifested
in the universe is not of a subjective nature but is the goodness of
I.

QUR'ANIC CONCEPT OF GOD. UNIVERSE AND MAN

being as against non-being, of positiveness as against negation, of

abundance as against that of privation. In order really to know
and appreciate it, one must study nature and her laws objectively
(both the physical nature "outside" man and the laws of the inner
constitution of the mind) and also learn lessons from laws operating
in human history. For these laws are "signs (iiyat)" of God, and
only by studying them objectively can one avoid both the extremes
of a subjective and falsely projected sense of security and the chilly
scepticism and cynical hopelessness generated by materialism. "In
the (creation of the) heavens and the earth there are signs for
men of faith. And in your own creation and in the multiplication
of living creatures there are signs for those who would believe.
And in the succession of day and night and the fact that God sends
rains which quicken the earth after it is dead and in the interplay
of winds are signs for people who would understand" (XLV : 3-5).
Such verses abound in the Qur'2n.l0 W e shall see presently that
the Qur'an describes the absolute obedience and submission to
natural laws on the part of all natural objects as their "service" to
God.
But the universe has been created according to laws and runs on
regular patterns and man is asked to discover these laws and locate
these patterns so that he may conquer nature and harness it--not as
a vain pursuit but to create goodness therein and to make it
subservient to his purposeful activity. The entire creation is laid
at the service of man who may successfuily exploit it for a good
end. Thus, although the naPve religious picture that God has
created cosy home for man on earth-so that man may take the
universe for granted-is not true. it is true that with his efforts,
properly and constructively directed, man can harness nature for
His ever-unfolding good purposes. And this is, indeed, his duty
whose discharge constitutes "service ('ibaduh)" on his part, as we
shall discover. This is that "Trust" which, according to the Qur'an,
God offered to the heavens and the earth and which they "refused
to accept, but which was voluntarily accepted by man. This
Trust" is to discover the laws of, and thus get mastery over,
nature-or, in the Qur'anic terminology, "to know the names of all
thingsw-and then use this mastery, under the human moral
initiative, to create a good world order.
It is only in this way-to use the knowledge of the physical and
psychic nature with care under the moral imperative-that the
1.

10

FAZLUR RAHM AN

"Kingdom of God" can be established. i.e. when a carefully formulated,

balanced moral order supervenes on the physical order or "natural"
order. This is why the Qur'zninsists that whatever has been created in
this universe is for the use of man. "God has subjugated (sa&&ara)
t o you whatever there is in the heavens and in the e a r t h - i n their
entirety" (XLV : 13). just as "He has put under your control the
oceans, that ships may ply therein with His command" (XLV : 12).
Again. "He has harnessed for you the sun and the moon with their
confirmed (patterns of) behaviour (da'ibayn) and He has harnessed
for you (succession of the) night and the day (i.e. the process of
time)" (XVI : 13). Similar assertions are repeated in several other
places.13 These statements make it abundantly clear that whereas
it wouId be perilously wrong t o assume that the universe is, as it
were a ready-made, prefabricated home for man which he has
simply inherited t o enjoy without further ado, the universe, nevertheless, can. and indeed, must be exploited through a progressive
knowledge of its workings and through a careful wielding of this
knowledge and that. in this vital sense, the entire universe exists
for man and in order t o assist his ends. It is for this reason that
the Qur'an declares, "We have, indeed, honoured man and enabled
him t o be mobile on land and sea... .." (XVII : 70). This discussion
brings us t o a closer examination of what man is required to do, an
appreciation of his powers and weaknesses and how to overcome
his weaknesses in the light of the Qur'iinic teaching.
I11

MAN

W e have pointed out above that the goal of man is t o study the
universe, the laws of his own inner psychic constitution and the
process of history and then to press this knowledge in the service
of the good and that this purposeful activity-the 'ib~idahor 'service
of God'-is the purpose of his creation and, indeed, the purpose of
all creation. That is why man was honoured as the best of creation and
angels were asked t o lie prostrate before him. In I1 :30-33, when angels
remonstrate t o God urging Him not t o create man. "who will work mischief and shed blood on earth", God. implicitly accepting this criticism,
rejects their demand, saying, "I know what you know not". Angels
were then asked t o "name" things and, when they pleaded their inability t o do so, Adam succeeded in giving "names" to things ; whereupon God said to the angels, "Did I not tell you that I knew better
(why I created man)?" This shows that one characteristic feature

of man, which distinguishes him from the rest of the creation is his
capacity to "give names" to things. Now, "naming" things implies
the capacity to discover the properties of things, their interrelations
and laws of behaviour. When I call something a stone, a tree or
an electron, I know something about its behaviour. am able to find
out more about it and to predict it. That is to say, man is distinguished from the rest of the creation through his creative,
scientific knowledge of things (physical science), of man's inner
constitution (psychological science) and man's outer behaviour as a
continued process in time (historical science).
But this is not all. The human mind is not just like a mirror
or a passive instrument in which truths about the universe are
simply reflected or recorded : he is not just a duplicate miniature
universe even if the time-honoured title "microcosm" conferred on
him by the Graeco-Roman civilization asserts this. W e have said
before that partly man's essential task is to reconstruct a scientific
picture of the objective reality and partly to proceed to interfere
in it and create a moral order on the basis of this scientific knowledge. This second activity cannot exist without. but must
supervene on, the first, i.e. the scientific structure. But to engage
in the scientific pursuit without harnessing it for the creation of a
good order-to know the "names" without utilizing them, would be,
in the words of the Qur'an. 'abath or a vain and even dangerous,
indeed. Satanic pursuit. This is precisely what Iqbal meant when
he said that 'aql (scientific reason) without 'i&q (positive moral
creativity) is a misguided devilish exercise (and he accused the
West of patently indulging in it), while 'i&q without 'aql was not
just sterile but even pure self-deception (and he particularly accused
the Muslims of having been guilty of it over the past few
centuries).I2 Man is charged with this double responsibility and
to this the Qur'iin refers when it says, "We offered this Trust to
the heavens, the earth and the mountains but they declined to bear
it and shrank back in fright. but Man bore it-he is. indeed,
aggressively foolhardy" (XXX : 72).
The progressive realization of this dynamic human goal requires an attitude on the part of man. which. characterized by a
delicate balance, can only be called a "middle term" between
extremes. If one studies the Qur'a~ncarefully, the central brunt of its
ethical teaching, expressed in different forms, is at bottom concerned
with this basic issue, and, as we shall see more pointedly even than the

FAZLUR RAHMAN

12

hints given t o this effect before, thisis where the functional aspect of
God is revealed at its best. The basic fact about human nature is
that this vital task cannot be prosecuted successfully unless a
balance is maintained between certain antithetical poles which
constitute the "tensions" of man's mental-moral life. T o achieve
and keep this balance is, indeed, a feat, for the Devil (who is the
coeval of man) is ever ready and fully equipped t o beguile him to
the one extreme or the other. The most basic and recurrent
criticism the Qur'an makes of human character is that man is either
reckless. haughty, boastful. 'independent', and 'self-sufficient' (in
the sense that he considers himself t o be the measure oi all things)
or his mood soon passes into that of abject desperation and hopelessness and a state of utter helplessness where he completely falls
flat. There was hardly a creature who is both inflated and
deflated so quickly. "Indeed, if W e cause man t o taste of Our
mercy and then W e withdraw it from him. he loses all hope and
assumes an attitude of rejection (of truth : kufr) ; but if W e give
him good things after hard days which he has endured, he asserts
that all evil has deserted him and he becomes swollen with prideexcept such ones as exercise self-control (sabarii) and do good
works ." (XI :9-11). "When W e treat man with Our bounty.
he becomes indifferent and intractable but when evil comes to him,
he is desperate" (XVII :83). "Man will not tire of asking for good
things, but when evil touches him, he becomes a desperate cynic
(~a'rlsun qaniit); but when W e cause him t o taste of Our mercy
after hardship that has afflicted him. he asserts : 'This is my right'
. (XLI : 49-51). Finally, how realistic is this estimate of average
human character : "Man has been created timid : when evil
befalls him he panics ; but when good comes his way, he prevents
it (from reaching others), except those who constantly pray and in
whose wealth there is a definite share (of zaklih-tax) for the needy
and the poor" (LXX : 19-25).
The basic purpose of the Qur'sn is to create and maintain
in man an attitude between these two extremes. W e shall see later
in a subsequent paper that the idea of the "balance" or "the means"
in human behaviour is central in the Qur'znic teaching. But in the
area of the attitude of mind which is our concern at the present
moment, this concept is most crucial, indeed. The reason is that
humanity undoes itself and betrays its very existence and, indeed.
ceases to function when a point on either of the two extremes is

..

..

QUR'ANIC CONCEPT O F GOD, UNIVERSE AND MAN

13

reached. It is this point which constitutes kufr or rejection of the

Source of Life whether he becomes devoid of hope or devoid of
necessary humility. i.e. the necessity t o submit t o an order and a
standard which is outside him. The Qur'sn is concerned to bring about
and maintain a state between these two; it can be only described as
a state of self-control and confidence. It is only by intensifying this
state of mind that the creative energy and quality of man can be
maxirnized-which is the purpose of human life. This is the state
of Faith (imiin), the opposite is kufr. Actually, it is not difficult
t o see why the points of excess on both sides of this "middle" state
come to the same thing. The Qur'iin illustrates this by the example
of Satan who. through excessive pride, refused t o humble himself before the superior knowledge of Adam-thus disobeying God:
but the result of this over-asserting ego was his total isolation from
the positive forces of nature-thus condemning him t o utter and
inevitable hopelessness.
W e have now reached a point where the idea of God comes t o
assume a full-blown meaning for man. Given this "middle" state
of confidence, self-control and Faith, where man reasonably secures
,I
protection" (taqwa) for himself against at least fatal errors, God
grants him a correct perception of thingsintellectually and
morally-a perception which the Qur'sn often calls "guidance
(hudii)" and "light (niir)".l3 I t is t o be noted that man's proper
state, described above, is a condition for this guidance and light.
yet this guidance, light o r correct perception. is a "gift" of God
because the proper state of mind, although necessary for this divine
response, is, nevertheless, never a total cause of that response. God's
response cannot be commandeered a t will. If a man wants t o find
out some result, make a discovery. etc., he must first collect the
relevant data, study them, cogitate about them. etc. But this
process. which constitutes the proper state of mind we have
described above. although necessary for the final result o r discovery
-and, in fact. represents the proper attitude of prayer-cannot
cent per cent guarantee the result. There is, therefore. no strict
causal connection between the state of mind and the response,
which may be statable in universe1 terms. But although there is no
causal connection, there is some kind of vital connection, so that
generally this state of mind and the effect which is its characteristic
feature, are rewarded by success.
It is for this reason that God is described as the "Light of the

14

FAZLUR RAHMAN

heavens and the earth", a Light which is definite and not vague in
its functions and modes of operation, in the celebrated Qur'zinic
passage (XXIV :35) and the opposite condition is described as
layers upon layers of darkness wherein one cannot see one's own
hand if one were t o stretch it out" (XXIV : 40). Man actively
gropes, God gives perception ; man searches. God grants discovery;
man prays, i.e. makes the effort. God brings the result. Active
groping, searching, praying and making the effort are necessary
initiatives on the part of man in order to evoke the corresponding
response from God. Just as with cognitive situations so is the case
with moral situations. It belongs t o man to struggle, endeavour and
fight; to achieve goodness, to attain results is conditional upon man's
proper endeavour but is likewise a gift of God. That is why the
Qur'gn incessantly says that if man makes the proper effort and
displays the proper state and attitude, God will be his comrade. his
co-operative. his helper and friend.14
It may be argued at this point that the introduction of God is
quite unnecessary and that this whole phenomenon (of effort and
result) can be formulated in statistical terms. For, if the appeal to
God is simply on the score that our cognitive and moral efforts do
not always bring results but only in a majority of cases, why should
we need a God to make this phenomenon intelligible? W e may
statistically formulate propositions showing the distributions of the
nature of effort and the amount of success attendant upon it. The
only trouble with such a position is that it ignores the personal
dimension of the effort and pretends to be able to treat it as a nonpersonal entity. A basic point about an effort or a struggle is the
personal concern, the tension, the anxiety and the forward-lookingness which the agent experiences and without which no effort can
be called an effort and no struggle a struggle and, in fact, it would
be robbed of its forward-looking quality or hope. The agent cannot
look upon the issue of his effort with the detachment of a statistical
generalization : he has to succeed. God, therefore, becomes
eminently relevant to him and gives him strength.
This is the meaning of prayer. Prayer is an active, receptive
attitude of mind, wherein the agent, while engaged in a cognitive or
moral endeavour, seeks help from the Sourcz of Life. Through this,
new energies flow into the self of the one who prays. But it will
be noticed that there must be a struggle or endeavour afoot on the
part of the one who prays and it will be in the context of this
.I

struggle-that his prayers will have any meaning at all. This is why
the Qur'an says, "Seek help (in your struggle, 0 Muslims!) from
patience and prayers" (11 : 45 and 153). For, patience and prayer
fortify the self so that it does not s~iccumbto the weakening and
corrosive influences of fears and temptations. I t is through this
renewal of strength and fresh infusion of energies that God becomes
the friend and helper of the man of Faith : "This is because God
is the comrade (mawla) of those who have Faith but the kiifirs (who
negate the Source of Life and its implications) have no comrade"
(XLVII: 1 1 For,"Satan always (ultimately) leaves his men in the
lurch" (XXV : 29). This is, indeed, the crucial distinction between
God and Satan, between men of Faith fighting for good and their
opponents, viz. that whereas men of Faith persevere, and as their
struggle proceeds, become more and more energetic and full of
conviction of the rightness of their cause, the opposite is the case
with people who reject truth (Kiifirs).
It is in this setting-the human, moral situation-that
God
assumes the full-blooded meaning for life and experience. As
we saw in Section I1 above, God's 'amr is inlaid in the universe.
an 'amr which constitutes the taqdir-i.e.
a sum total of
potencies and dispositions and trends and the patterns of their
actualization-of everything. I t is this 'amr-taqdir dynamism which
is described in the Qur'zn by the term "mala'zkah" or angels.
Angels are dynamic agents (i.e. 'amr of God) whereby things function. This is the working of the physical world by a natural
necessity. This is why the Qur'an states in various contexts and
places that everything in nature is a "muslam", i.e. submits to the
Will or Command of God and that everything "prays" but that the
"prayermof natural objects is essentially different from that of man,
because the former is characterized by a necessity of obedient
behaviour (111 : 83 ; XXIV: 41 ; etc.) while man has been given
the right of choice.15 This process, viz. of the inlaying of Command
('amr or angels) and its functioning. shows, on closer scrutiny, a
double movement. There is a process of the ongoing functioning
of nature which we have described, but a t the same time there is a
process of recording this process or "storing it up in the memory
of the Universe". I t is this latter process which, at the critical stages
of the evolution of the universe, enables a total "Reckoning" or
"Accounting" t o take place, which extends iteelf to all forms of life
in a sense, but is morally applicable only t o man. The Qur'sn

16

FAZLUR RAHMAN

describes this double process in several passages. "God ordains the

'amr from the heavens down t o the earth and then it ascends back
t o Him" (XXXII :5). Again, "The angels and the Spirit ascend
t o Him in a day.. ." (LXX : 4).16
Now, 'amr at the human level takes on an entirely different
form. Whereas in nature it represents that which necessarily "is",
thanks t o the physical laws, in the realm of the human activity
proper it assumes the form of an obligatory "ought". The Command
enunciated for man is termed by the Qur'an the "Spirit of the
Command" (riih min aL1arnr) or a spiritualized angelic agency.
This "Spirit of the Command" manifests itself in the messages of
especially sensitive men who rise for the guidance of mankind at
the critical junctures of human history, the last being Muhammad.
After Muhammad. humanity is able t o move forward by collective
guidance and individual guidance of the nature of a Prophetic
message is no longer necessary.
The function of man is to interfere in the "is" of nature under
the imperiousness of the "ought" of the moral law-the 'amr of
God for man-and t o use both his tremendous possibilities of control
over nature and the results of his moral and intellectual perception
for this grand purpose. This colossal responsibility, under whose
weight the entire universe chafed and whence it fled, has fallen on
man's shoulders. But if he uses his faculties aright and with
due seriousness and earnestness, he is not alone in this chilly
wilderness of "soundless, scentless, and colourless merely the
hurrying of matter, meaninglessly, endlessly",17 t o use Whitehead's
phrase. God is his comrade and helper ; H e shall grant
his prayers and bestow energies on him so that every man of
real Faith will never be alone but will be able t o supplement his
own energy and vision by the influx of invisible powers from God
against the contending forces. He will stand like an unshakable
rock : "God is with you" ; "God is your friend" ; "Indeed, the
be the winner" (XLVII : 35, e t c ; 111 : 150 ;
party of ~ o shall
d
VIII :40, etc. ; LVIII : 19-22).
"God is the comrade of men of
Faith while those who reject the Source of Life (al-kahrin) have
no (real) comrade (XLVII : 11).
W e may sum up the discussion in this paper as follows :
The universe is an order, a cosmos, and works by the laws and
potencies that are inlaid in it as the "command ('amr, taqdir,
angelic agencies) of God". I t is the unchangeable behaviour or

QUR'ANIC

CONCEPT OF GOD, UNIVERSE AND MAN

17

character of God. Although one may use an entirely "naturalistic"

language to denote the processes of nature, nevertheless, the
positing of God, even at a purely natural level seems necessary on
two scores ; the fact that there is beicg rather than utter emptiness
of non-being (which indicates an ultimate, dynamic ego) and the
fact that the universe is an order. This latter consideration is not
negated by an apparent nonconformity of microscopic phenomena
to laws, particularly to causal laws. God, therefore, is a creative,
purposive Will, dynamic and "generous" by nature.
Man is the noblest of all creation. The entire universe is
made for him and subservient t o his purposes. Among all creation,
he alone is endowed with moral and rational powers and a freewill and is charged with the grave and all-important responsibility
of subduing nature and pressing it in the service of the good ends.
This involves a moral struggle against powerful negative forces
symbolized by the Devil. In this struggle, man must proceed with
an attitude which is characterized by calculated risk and confidence
and must stick to the moral "middle terms" avoiding all extremes
of hopelessness and over-confidence, pure immanance and absolute
transcendence. I t is within the framework of these tensions that the
real scope of man's dynamic and creative activity lies ; otherwise.
on either side of these extremes he reaches the perilous point of
kufr or rejection of, and alienation from, the Source of Life.
At the level of the human endeavour, God becomes most
meaningful and relevant. Even if all propositions about the factual
content of nature may and, indeed, do eliminate God, (although
this cannot be done about the nature as a totality or a whole), at
the human level God's concept plays a most decisive and crucial
role of comrade of the Faithful. of one who grants prayers, etc. This
shows that God is not a fact among other facts and coordinate with
them but is rather the mode in which these facts behave as a totality.
He is the meaning of the universe ; He is the way the totality of facts
is looked upon which invests that totality with meaning or with a
"beginning and end", in the words of the Qur'an, "God is the
Light of the heavens and the earth" (XXIV : 35). Without Him,
even the individual facts of the universe will not remain facts. In
other words, God's concept is functional. i.e. God is needed not for
what He is or may be but for what He does. It is exactly in this
spirit that Aristotle compares God to a general of the army. For
the general (in Aristotle's concept) is not a soldier among other

FAZLUR RAHMAN

18

soldiers-just as God is not an extra-fact among facts-but represents "order", i.e. the fundamental function of holding the army
together. Indeed, without him the order, saps Aristotle, would
disintegrate.18 So does God bestow meaningfclness on life and the
world-process.

NOTES
(a) Man's responsibility. his being warned and endowed with choice :V1: 131-33;X V I I : 15 : X X V I I : 92-93; XXXIX : 41 : L X X V I : 3 ; XC :
10 ; etc. ( b ) Almighty Allah guides him whom H e chooses and leads astray
whom He wills :-I1 : 26. 213. 272 : X I V : 4 : X V I : 93 : X X I V : 46 ;
X X V I I I : 56 : X X X V : 8 ; L X X I V : 31 : etc.
E.g.. D. B. Macdonald, art. ALLAH.
E.I.1, and L. Gardet. idem. E.Z.2.
especially his Conclusion on p. 409.
(a) Rainr, earth and its bountie3, etc. :-I1 : 32 : V I : 100 : V I I : 57 : XI11 :
17 : X I V : 32 ; X V : 16-22; X V 1 : 10 ; X X I I :5: X X V I I : 60-64; xxx :
48-50; X L I : 39 : L V I : 68-72; LXXIX : 27-33 : LXXX: 24-32 ; etc.
( b ) Rise and fall of nations :-I1 : 247 ; I11 : 25 ; V1 : 6 : X V I I : 17 :
X I X : 74 98; XX : I28 ; X X V I I I : 5-6 ; X X X I I : 26 : X X X V I I I : 3 ; 1 :

36: etc. (c) Winning and losing in war :-I11 : 122-26: I X : 25-26;
XXX : 1-5 ; etc. ( d , Orderly revolution of cosmic bodies :-XVI : 12 ;
X X I : 33 ; X X X V I : 39-40 : XXXIX : 5.
X V I I : 77;X X X : 30 ; X X X I I I : 62 ; X X X V : 43-44: X L V I l I :23 ; etc.
I1 :7 : V I : 46 ; V I I : 25; X L V : 23 :etc.
I1 : 26-27. 258. 264 ; I11 : 85 : I V : 142-43 ; V I : 126 : IX : 37. 80, 127 :
X V I : 107 : X X X V I I I : 50 : X L V : 23-26 : L X I : 5.7 ; L X I I : 5 : LXIII :
1-6;etc.
I V : 16: V : 39.74; I X : 118 : X V I : 119: etc.
XI11 : 26: X V I I : 30 : XXIX : 62 ; X X V I I I : 82 : XXX : 37; XXXIV :
36.39: XXXIX :52 : X L I I : 12 ; L X X X I X : 15-20 : X C I I I : 8 : etc.
X L I I I : 31. Mecca and T i ' i f were the main h p o r i u m s of the eastern trade
on the eve of Islam.
11: 164 : I11 : 189 ; X : 5-6 ; X X X : 20-25 ; X X X I : 31 : X X X V I : 33-46 :
X L f I : 32-35 ; etc.
Kg.. X I V : 32-33 : X V 1 : 12, 16 : X X I I : 65 ; X X I : 20 : XLV : 12-13 : etc.
Perhaps the following verses from Jiivid Niimoh (Lahore, 1959,71) are some
of t h e most representative of Iqbal's thought on the subject :

To the Westerners Intellect is the equipment of life ;

To the Easterners Love-Intuition is the hidden truth of the universe.
Intellect grows acquainted with the truth through Love-Intuition.

QUR-ANIC

13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.

C O N C E P T O F GOD. UNIVERSE A N D M A N

19

While Love-Intuition gets stabilized through Intellect.

Arise and draw the pattern of a world with a difference :
A world where Intellect is wedded with LOVQ-Intuition.
XXXII: 13 ; X L V I I : 17 ; LVII : 28. 57 ; LXVI: 8 ; etc.
I1 : 257 ; I11 : 149 ; 19: 28; V I I I : 40 ; XXII : 78 ; X L I : 31 ; X L V :
19 : X L V I I : 11 ; etc.
See note 1 (a) above.
About the "descending" of the angels and the Spirit, see X C V I I : 4.
A. N. Whitehead. Science and the Modern W o r l d . Cambridge University
Press. 1926. 77.
Aristotle, Metaphysics, X11. x. 1, (Vol. 11, p. 167). The Loeb Classical
Library.