Ramadan Day 17: Verses from the Quran
Fri Oct 21, 2005 at 08:26:24 PM PDT
Each day during
Ramadan, I am presenting a verse from the Quran with a few thoughts or comments. An introduction to this series is
here. Inshallah (God willing), I hope that this may be of benefit to any who are interested in learning a bit more about Islam and Muslim belief.
Quran 22:18:
Do you not see that to Allah prostrate whoever is in the heavens and the earth, and the sun and the moon and the stars and the mountains and the trees and the animals and many of humankind. And many (also) are deserving of punishment. Whom Allah has disgraced, there is no honor for him. And Allah does what He wills
This follows up on a
previous verse in which it was said that everything in creation glorifies God.
Here we see that everything prostrates to (i.e., worships) God as well.
Muslim thinkers consider the meaning of this verse to be the same as the other: that is, that created things worship God by being true to the nature that He created them.
It can also be said that by virtue of having been created by God, all things are in a natural state of submission to Him.
The verse comments that "many of humankind" also worship God, but that many others are wrong-doers.
Human beings of course have free will and can choose evil and disobedience. Inasmuch as we are created things, we are submitted to and worship God on that level, but we can also choose to reject this.
Our challenge in life is to choose the good path and to bring our conscious choice into harmony with our natural submission to God.
