He had also learnt to harness turbulent rivers and by...

He had also learnt to harness turbulent rivers and by building dams or channelling off their angry waters drive them to serene orchards and fields. But did man always have control of such things? There was a time when even such paltry things were beyond his reach. On the contrary, fearing all or some of them, he could not muster courage to face them.

In the course of time he came to learn that he had no reason to fear them and casting off his irrational fear, his inner faculties opened up and in the light of labour and thought, he conquered and came to master them. Now the Qur'an inspires man to consider his area of influence wider.

Let man know that day and night, the sun, moon and stars and in a word Nature in all its majesty is awaiting his conquest, on condition that he does justice to himself and does not give in to ignorance and lust, on condition that he does not strike the wrong path but chooses the straight road which God has set before him and that he be not thankless to his Creator.

14: Man and God (RECOGNIZE YOURSELF ONCE AGAIN!) Although Islam inspires man with the fire of conquest, it Warns him at the same time: "Oh man, let not your feeling of increasing strength lead to vanity, the other extremity of the middle way! Once again consider yourself how, despite your might , you are like a bubble riding the seas. It will not be long before you lose your youth and freshness, your will to work and power to think.

Despite your search for strength through art and science, from time to time you still suffer illness and weakness or old age and uselessness, so that you cannot drive away a mite from yourself. Do you know to what this change points? It points to the fact that though We spoke of your high station, you are part of the universe in which nothing owes its life to itself nor is anything in it everlasting, and everything in it a ray of God the only lasting thing, independent of all else.

Hence, never banish from your soul the thought of Him, on Whom you depend for your life and your very existence. Make your bond with Him secure and attempt to get closer to Him." 15: Approaching God How can we draw near to God? God's perfection and existence know no bounds, while the existence of all other beings, however, is relative. The relative beings of our universe are on the path of evolution and through their inner light seek perfection. Seeking perfection is to search for God.