ভূমিকা

“Have you not seen that Allah has made subservient to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth and He has lavished on you His blessings outward and inward? And among the people is he who disputes concerning Allah without knowledge and without any guidance and without any book giving light.” The Arabic word /’isbaq/ means: ‘To (cause to) spread’ and ‘to develop’.

In this holy verse two sorts of bounties are referred to: the outward bounties, such as: health, sustenance, beauty and the like; and the inward bounties, such as: faith, gnosis, certainty, good character, unseen succour, knowledge, nature, mastership, and so on.

At last, after mentioning ten admonishments about Origin and Resurrection, the rules of living, and ethical and social programs, for completing them, The Holy Qur’an goes to the statement of Divine bounties in order to move the sense of gratitude in people, a thanksgiving that becomes the source of ‘recognition of Allah’ and motive of obedience to Allah’s command.

Luqman addresses all humankind and say: “Have you not seen that Allah has made subservient to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth…” ‘ Making subservient whatever is in the heavens and in the earth to man ’ has a vast concept which encompasses both what he has in his authority and uses them, with his own will, along-side his interests, such as many earthly animals, and the things which are not in man’s authority but Allah has appointed them to serve mankind, like the sun and the moon.

Therefore, all beings subservient to the command of Allah are alongside the path of the benefits of men whether they subservient to his command or not. Thus, the Arabic sign ‘L’ in the Qur’anic word /lakum/ (for you) is the ‘L’ with the meaning of benefit. Then, it adds: “…and He has lavished on you His blessings outward and inward?…” The commentators have stated a lot of explanations on the meaning of ‘ His blessing outward and inward ’.