AN INTELLECTUAL TRANSFORMATION

sky, yielding its fruit all the time 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 humankind. The former resembles a profitable, fruitful tree planting 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 of internal change, by which it began expanding until this vast universe, with which we are now familiar, was formed (21: 30). Similarly, the earth lies dry and barren, then it is transformed by the rain so that, “it begins to stir and swell, putting forth every kind of radiant bloom” (22: 5). Again, some apparently unformed matter passes through well-defined stages in the womb, until it assumes the form of a complete living creature—this goes for both humans as well as animals. Then, grass and grains enter the cow’s belly and, by a certain natural system undergo a transformation, until the grass and grains are converted into milk, a precious food for man. (16: 66) By citing such natural phenomena, the Quran demonstrates how this world has been established on the universal principle of conversion. Here all kinds of progress are instigated through the process of transformation. For instance, the combination of two gases resulting in water, iron being transformed into steel, chemical combinations of Conversion is a universal law established by nature itself, on the basis of which all the material progress of the modern world has been taking place.