ভূমিকা

“And He it is Who multiplied you in the earth, and unto Him you shall be mustered.” Remembrance of Divine Blessings often paves the way for gnosis and thanksgiving. Therefore, The Holy Qur’an tries to arouse this sense of thanksgiving by mentioning the Divine blessings.

The verse says: “He it is Who produced for you hearing, and eyes, and hearts (minds); (very) little it is what you give thanks.” The emphasis is put on these three things, ‘hearing, sight and understanding’, because they are the main means of gnosis. Physical phenomena are mostly perceived through the ear and eye. Mental issues are understood through the mind.

To comprehend how important the senses of vision and audition are, it will be enough to imagine the state that man would be in if these senses were lost, how limited his world would be, how empty of light and awareness! By losing these senses, he might even lose other faculties under his control, such as the ability to speak, which is assisted in its function through audition and acts as a means of communicating with others.

(Those who are congenitally deaf are usually always impaired of speech as a consequence.) Thus, these two senses are the keys to the world of perceptible things. The mind, however, is the key to the metaphysical world, and it criticizes, concludes, generalizes, and analyzes the data provided by those two senses. Should not those who do not thank Allah for these great means of knowledge be blamed and justly punished?

Does not contemplating the intricacies of these three faculties suffice to make man familiar with his Creator? It is obvious why the blessings of the ear and eye precede that of the understanding. But why does the blessing of the ear come before that of the eye? Scientific research has shown that the ear of a newborn starts to function before its eyes begin to do so. This is because the environment of the womb is without light and the eyes can see nothing. The ear is not the same.