Page 101 - The Truth of the Life of This World

you feel secure that He will not send you back a second time to sea and send
against you a heavy gale to drown you because of your ingratitude, so that
you find no helper therein against Us? (Surat al-Isra: 66- 69)
One might never have experienced such a disaster, yet one should
always remember that, at any time, one may find life stripped to its fun-
damentals. Accordingly, man should always occupy himself with the
remembrance of Allah since "the power is wholly Allah's." (Surat al-
Baqarah: 165) On the other hand, once a catastrophe strikes, one might
not have the opportunity to change his ungrateful attitude towards Allah
and seek to repent to Him. Death may be very sudden:
Do they see nothing in the government of the heavens and the earth and all
that Allah has created? (Do they not see) that it may well be that their terms
are nigh drawing to an end? In what message after this will they then believe?
(Surat al-A'raf: 185)

By the Mercy of Allah

Each one of them We seized for his crime: against some of them We sent a
violent tornado (with showers of stones); some were caught by a (mighty)
blast; some We caused the earth to swallow up; and some We drowned (in
the waters): It was not Allah who injured (or oppressed) them; They injured
(and oppressed) their own souls. (Surat al-'Ankabut: 40)
What has been discussed so far is intended to remind those who forget
their purpose in creation of an important fact: everything on earth owes its
existence to Allah, the Creator who has created the entire material uni-
verse. In other words, everything's existence is consequent upon the exer-
cise of the will of Allah. Therefore, nothing has a being separate and apart
from Allah. The Qur'an tells us that nothing is beyond Allah's control:
"Allah has full power and control over His affair; but most of
mankind know it not." (Surah Yusuf: 21)
Nevertheless, as Allah makes clear in the second part of the verse, the
majority of people are not aware of this. They assume, during the course
of their lives, that no misfortune whatsoever will befall them, never think-
ing that they too are vulnerable to any of those devastating disasters. We
feel that "others" experience such terrifying incidents and that "we" will

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