Al-Risala (English), January-February 1994
Al-Risala (English), January-February 1994, p. 2
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is named as the default author of the periodical; a piece that carries another writer’s byline is credited to that writer.
The lessons of nature
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1994 1-2 January-February 2 The lessons of nature (238)
In ancient times one of Adam’s two sons killed the other. Now the murderer was faced with the problem of what to do with his brother’s dead body. It was not until he saw a crow dig a hole in the ground to bury the carcass of another crow that he realized what he must do. Nature had taught him the way.
Thus, at the very beginning of human history, God communicated to man the necessity to interpret His signs in the world around him. Everywhere there were lessons to be learned from nature.
One of the most important lessons that we can learn is from the habits of migratory birds:
Most birds are gregarious during migration, even those that display a fierce individualism at all other times, such as many birds of prey and insectivorous passerines. Birds with similar habits sometimes travel together, a phenomenon observed among various species of shorebirds. Flocks sometimes show a remarkable cohesion, the most characteristic migratory formation of geese, ducks, pelicans, and cranes in a ‘V’ with the point turned in the direction of flights (Encyclopaedia, Britannica, 12/181).
‘Unity in diversity’ an aphorism which should be known and appreciated by all mankind, is a matter of sheer instinct with other living creatures. Man, to his great discredit, appears to be the only creature in this world who has not been able to learn this great universal reality from the lessons of nature.
