Conversion: An Intellectual Transformation

CONVERSION: AN INTELLECTUAL TRANSFORMATION with vegetation. ‘Good soil yields fruit by God’s leave. But poor and scant are the fruits which spring from barren soil. Thus we show our signs to those who render thanks.’ (7:58) Then there is the parable of the tree: Do you not see how God compares a good word to a good tree whose root is firm with its branches in the sky, yielding its fruit every season by God’s leave? God gives parables to men so that they may become mindful. But an evil word is like an evil tree torn out of the earth, and has no stability. God will strengthen the faithful with His steadfast word, both in this life and in the Hereafter. He leaves the wrongdoers in error. God accomplishes what He pleases. (14:24-27) These verses from the Quran tell us the difference between one who has found the truth and one who has failed to do so. The latter is like the shrub growing on the upper surface of the soil: it is short-lived, either vanishing on its own or being pulled out, and is of no use to mankind. The former resembles a profitable, fruitful tree putting its roots deep down into the earth. It seems that it is for the earth and the earth is for it. Receiving sustenance from the earth as well as the atmosphere, it benefits people in many ways. Rooted as it is in the earth, it has a desirable and meaningful existence. Conversion—A universal principle Another aspect of conversion, pointed out repeatedly in the Quran, is that it is not confined solely to religion. It is rather a universal principle, by which all kinds of progress have been set in motion. The present universe was originally composed of condensed matter, then it underwent a process