We can state some groups of the Qur’anic verses which direct the mind towards several vast horizons, some of them are as follows:
Firstly: pondering on the evidences of Allah (be exalted) in horizons and souls:
“Most surely in the creation of heavens and earth and the alternation of the night and the day there are signs for men who understand. Those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on their sides and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: Our Lord Thou hast not created this in vain! Glory is to Thee: save us then from the chastisement of the fire” 41
“And in the earth there are signs for those who are sure and in your own souls too will you not then see?” 42
“Say look what is there in heavens and earth ...” 43
“Let Man then think over of what he has been created” 44
“Let Man then look at his food” 45
“Will they not then consider the camels, how they are created and the heaven how it is reared aloft and the mountains how they are firmly fixed. And the earth how it is made vast expanse, therefore do remind for you are only a reminder” 46
What is noticeable here is Qur’an’s great attention to mention the scenes of the universe through repeating their show in more than one “Surah” i-e (chapter) in different ways and its call for the human being to ponder on and contemplate them, to mediate on the run of its happenings, the most important of that Qur’an made this universe as starting point to reach to Allah (i- e to deduce His existence and to know Him) the creator and originator.
It is narrated from the prophet (S.W.A.) that he was reciting “most surely in the creation of heavens and the earth and he alternation of the night and the day there are signs for men who understand, those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on their sides and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: Our Lord! Thou hast not created this in vain Glory be to Thee, save us then from the chastisement of the fire” 47, he says “woe to him who reads it without contemplating it” and in another narration “woe to him who chewed it between his jaws without contemplating it”.
And it is related to Ameeral muamineen Ali (A.S.) that he said: “when the prophet (S.W.A.) wakes up at night he cleans his teeth then he looks at the sky then he says “most surely in the creation of heaven and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day there are signs for men who understand, those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on their sides and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth our Lord: Thou hast not created this in vain Glory be to Thee save us then from the chastisement of the fire” 48
The purified Imams (A.S.) used the way of setting the proofs of the existence of Allah through intellectual contemplation of the universe and what precise order and wonderful harmony it contains which is the proof called by scholars “the proof of order”.
Ameeral mu’amineen Ali (A.S.) said: Had they thought of the greatness of His power and the plentiness of benevolence they would have returned to the path and feared the chastisement of burning but minds are ill, hearts are disordered. Do they not see the small-created things He has created, how He had consolidated its creation, mastered its composition, opened to it hearing and sight and made to it bones and skins!
Look at the aunt in its small body, delicate form which is difficult to be seen by the eye and to be recognized by realizing mind, how it has crept on its land and stored its sustenance…if you think of the runs of her food, its upper and lower part, what its balley includes of epigastriums” its head of eye and ear you will be full of amazement at its creation and feel tired of its description…
So look at the sun and the moon… the burst out of these seas and the plentiness of these mountains, the length of these deserts and the diversity of these languages and tongues.
So woe to whom he denies the predeterminer and rejects the designer, they alleged that they are like plants without a planter and there is no maker for their different images while they didn’t give any proof of what they claimed and no inspection in what they adopt…
“And can there be a building without a builder or a crime without a criminal!” 49
From another side the Holy Qur’an draws forth in the minds the motives of sincere and fruitful thinking through what it displays of knowledge, one time it uses the interrogatory question, such as His saying (Be Glorified) “What! Did you then think that we had created you in vain” 50, and by disavowal of shallow conceptions another time such as His saying (be Glorified) “And we didn’t create the heavens and the earth and what is between them in vain* we didn’t create them both but with the truth but most of them do not know” 51
Notes:
41. Aaliamraan 3: 190-191.
42. Alzaareyaat 51: 21-22.
43. Younus 10: 101.
44. Altaarek 86: 5-6.
45. Abasah 80: 24.
46. Alghasheia 88: 17-21.
47. A’al Imraan 3: 190-191.
48. Consult Alkeshshaaf Alzamakhshari 1: 453.
49. Nehjilbalaagha, Subhi alsaalih 270-271.
50. Almu’aminoon: 23: 115.
51. Aldukhaan 44: 38- 39. Aldukhaan 44: 38- 39.
