The religion of nature

THE RELIGION OF NATURE Islam is the religion of nature. By accepting Islam, man becomes God’s servant both in the physical and ethical sense. He gives God his total obedience. a man who wishes to travel across the sea will not do so if he walks on dry land. he does not go on foot straight into the sea as if he were on terra firma. instead, for the occasion, he will hire a boat, sit in it, and continue on his journey. By such behaviour, he acknowledges that he is living in a world made not by him but by his Creator and that the world is subject to God’s laws. Man is, therefore, obliged to lead his life in complete accordance with this external world made by God, at least regarding matters of a physical nature. had man thought himself to be the Creator of this world; he would have walked straight into the water as he walked across the land. Man has opted for this conformance with the laws of the world of nature in fifty per cent of his life. he never deviates from it. however, he has abandoned this confor-mance in the other fifty per cent of his life. There are two aspects to a man’s life, one is physical and the other ethical. in the physical aspect of his life, man has submitted to God, as have the rest of the animate and inanimate objects in this world. however, in the ethical aspect, he follows the dictates of his conscience— or desires—instead of God’s commands. instead of the