THE ART OF NON-PROVOCATION Character Above Every Insult

operates within the same system. Behind a simple loaf of bread lies an extraordinary chain of events. There must first be fertile soil. A seed must possess the mysterious capacity to germinate. There must be sunlight at the right distance and intensity. Water must become available. The atmosphere must remain suitable. Microorganisms must maintain the fertility of the soil. The crop must survive long enough to mature. Human beings must possess healthy bodies with which to cultivate and harvest it. Transportation must then carry the grain, mills must process it, and innumerable other arrangements must function before bread finally reaches a shop. Only at the end of this immense chain does the customer arrive and pay for it. We pay for the bread; we do not create the system that makes bread possible. This distinction is fundamental. The Quran repeatedly draws attention to the vast infrastructure that supports human life. Consider water. Every civilization depends upon it, yet humanity does not manufacture the world’s basic supply of fresh water. Solar heat lifts enormous quantities of water from seas and oceans through evaporation. Winds transport water vapour across great distances. Clouds form, move and eventually release rain over the land. The Quran refers to clouds as being “heavy with rain” (13: 12) and elsewhere speaks of winds that carry and distribute the processes associated with rainfall. Long before a farmer irrigates his field or a municipality turns on a water pump, a planetary water system has already been operating on his behalf. The same is true of human resources. Every economy requires workers, farmers, engineers, doctors, scientists and entrepreneurs. Yet no economic institution creates human beings from nothing. Human life begins through an extraordinarily complex biological process that operates independently of human command. The Quran reminds us that God “knows what every female bears.” (13: 8) Thus, even the The Quran repeatedly draws attention to the vast infrastructure that supports human life. Consider water. Every civilization depends upon it, yet humanity does not manufacture the world’s basic supply of fresh water.