The Quran: A Book of Contemplation

advice offered by the Quran. This kind of knowledge is quite enough for the common people who are not of a scholastic bent of mind. Then there is the deeper side of Quranic meaning. This can be comprehended only after an in-depth study of the scriptures. The Quran is evidently a book of guidance for both the common man as well as for highly educated people. And both are equally important, there is no doubt about it. Human societies consist of both the educated and the uneducated, so it is but natural that God Almighty should send a book that would be both accessible and meaningful to both categories of people. Take the first verse of the Quran: “All praise is due to God, the Lord of the Universe.” (1:2) This verse provides intellectual food for the common man as well as for those who have acquired great learning. Both can find spiritual nourishment in this Quranic verse. The Quran is, indeed, a book of wisdom, which gives us knowledge about the divine scheme along with all those principles that are required for successful living in this world. The common man will take it in its simplest sense. He will take it in the sense that he himself and the world all around him were created by God Almighty alone. So, He alone is praiseworthy, He alone deserves his gratitude. But those who have studied the scientific disciplines, and gained knowledge of biology, physiology, physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy, etc., will take what the Quran has to say in a more profound sense. They will say that the whole world, including themselves, is a phenomenon of a highly complex creation. And, by taking into consideration all modern scientific discoveries,