MAN – WHAT IS MAN?
By: Kassim Ahmad
5th February, 2016
What
a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties! In form
and moving, how exspress and admirable! In action, how like an angel! In apprehension,
how like a god! The beauty of the world! The paragon of animals! And yet, to
me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me – no, nor woman
neither.
HAMLET, Shakespeare.
Recently I promised my readers to
write on Man. In the Bible, God said that He created man in His own image. In
the Quran, man is His vicegerent on Earth (Arabic: khalifah). The meaning is essentially the same: ruler. Man is the
ruler and the re-maker of the Universe. That has, of course been done. Man has
created cities and civilizations, from ancient Babylon and Egypt, through
ancient Greece, and Rome, through modern Arabian monotheism, and lastly through
modern Europe and its extension in the United States of America.
In a beautiful allegory in the
second chapter of the Quran, the angels protested against the creation of Man,
saying that Man is a shedder of blood and spreader of corruption in the world.
God simply said that He knew better. (See Quran, 2: 30)
The angels were partially right. Man
did shed blood in the two World Wars. (God forbid that there will be a third!).
After the Second World War, there was a period called “Cold War” when a
strategic balance was struck between the American-led so-called Democratic
block and the Soviet Communist-led Eastern block prevailed. In the meanwhile,
Man’s knowledge advance, slowly at first, then by leaps and bounce, and we
are now at the threshold of colonizing outer space. In two generations we shall
indeed be living in outer space!
So it does seem that God’s optimism
about Man has been amply demonstrated. If I am not mistaken, more miracles are
coming. Anti-aging, for one. We shall soon be forever young!
There is no doubt that man cannot
escape reaping the harvest of what he had sowed. He will be punished to the
extent of his criminality, i.e. disobedience to his own Maker. Unless my reading of the Quran is at fault,
this means man will punish his own wrong-doing. What incredible beauty!
In the end,
man will have punished himself enough, and he will be freed from his own Hell,
and enter Paradise. Such is God’s incredible power and wisdom. No wonder we are
asked always to remember God’s graciousnes and mercy.
KASSIM
AHMAD is a Malaysian author. His website
is www.kassimahmad.blogspot.com
2 comments:
Salam Pak Kassim,
Can you elaborate further on the last two paragraphs? i find it very interesting but i don't fully understand.
Thank you in advance!
In the end, man will punish himself, that is when his mouth is sealed, but his skin will answer.
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