THE WORD OF GOD

pay attention to it. Those who do not pay attention can never be benefited by the call of truth. Do those who devise evil plans feel secure that God will not make them sink into the land, or that a punishment will not come upon them from where they least expect? Or that He will not seize them suddenly in their daily activities and they will not be able to frustrate Him? Or that He will not punish them by giving them a fright? Indeed, your Lord is kind and merciful. (16: 45-47) This verse pertains to the last stage of the Makkan period when the opponents of the Prophet Muhammad were conspiring to kill him. The Prophet is God’s representative on God’s earth. Therefore, hatching such a conspiracy against a prophet must necessarily be the handiwork of such persons as are absolutely fearless of God’s retribution. The fact is that God is the possessor of such control over man that He can cause him to be buried deep in the earth if He so desires, or He may wreak vengeance on him at the very place which he considers safe; or God may seize him in the course of his activities and he will not be able to save himself. God may even seize upon him when he is conscious of the risk and fully aware of the situation. In short, God may seize upon man at any time and in any situation. If He sees people doing mischief, yet lets them go unpunished, they should not become fearless, because His restraint is due to His consideration of ‘test’ conditions and not to His being powerless. Have they not observed the things God has created, casting their shadows right and left, prostrating themselves before God in all humility? Everything in the heavens and all the creatures on the earth prostrate themselves before God, as do the angels, and they do not behave proudly: they fear their Lord above them, and do what they are commanded. (16: 48-50) Man indulges in arrogance in a world where all the things surrounding him are teaching him lessons in obedience. For example, the shadows of material things. The shadow of a thing standing erect falls on the ground. In this way, it symbolizes kneeling down (sajdah). It shows symbolically how a man should bow down before his Creator. Though angels are not visible to man, the running of this immense universe in the most regulated manner proves that the agents appointed by God to run it are extremely powerful. These angels, in spite of being extraordinarily powerful, are totally obedient to God.