The Five Pillars of Islam

he encounters adversity, he accepts it as part of God’s design, and if he is fortunate enough to earn profits or, in some other way, finds himself at an advantage, he is reminded of God’s blessings and his heart is filled with gratitude. His achievements do not, however, fill him with conceit, nor do his failures crush him or even make him impatient. In all such matters, whether of loss or gain, his adoration of God is never impaired, nor does anyone or anything other than God ever become its object. No expediency ever makes him forget his Lord. The discovery of the power of gravity on earth and on other bodies, or of radiation in the universe with the help of sophisticated instruments, is an achievement of an academic nature with no overtones of religious compulsion. But the discovery of God is an entirely different phenomenon. It is the direct apprehension of a Being who is all-seeing and all-hearing, and who is the repository of all wisdom and might. Discovering God Discovering God means, moreover, acceptance of the fact that God has not created man, or the universe at large in vain.