Those on whom you call besides God cannot create [even] a fly, if they all met together for the purpose³⁹

bids you to fall silent!"

If the marvels of civilization were to go to the 'sphere of worship' and demand their rights, they would receive a reply like this: "Your relations with us are very few, and you may not easily enter our sphere. For our programme is this: the world is a guest-house, and as for man, he remains there only a short time. He is a guest with many duties and in a brief lifetime is charged with preparing all the necessities for eternal life. The most important and essential matters will be offered to you. But most of you see this fleeting world through a veil of heedlessness, as an eternal abode, coloured and shaped by worldly feelings. So your share of worship, the basis of which is love of the truth and thinking of the hereafter, is very small. However, if there are among you respected craftsmen and artists and inspired inventors, who, purely for the benefit of God's servants, serve the general interest and public well-being and betterment of social life, which is a valuable worship, these signs and indications of the Qur'an are surely sufficient for those sensitive people, who of course form a minority, in order to encourage their efforts and appreciate their art."

■ THE ANSWER TO THE SECOND QUESTION

If you say: "None of my doubts remains now after these investigations, and I affirm that together with other wonders, in the Qur'an are allusions to and indications of the wonders of modern civilization, indeed, to further advancements. Everything necessary for man's happiness in this world and the next is found within it in relation to its worth. But why does the Qur'an not mention them explicitly so that obstinate unbelievers would be compelled to confirm it, and our hearts also would be easy?"

The Answer: Religion is an examination, a test, proposed by God so that in the arena of competition elevated spirits and base spirits may be distinguished from one another. Just as materials are plunged in the fire so that diamonds and coal, gold and earth, separate out from one another, so too religion is a trial concerning the obligations placed on man by God and a driving to competition, which is what this abode of examination consists of. In this way the elevated jewels in the mine of man's abilities become separated out from the dross. Since the Qur'an was revealed in this abode of examination for man to be perfected through trial in the arena of competition, it will surely only allude to the hidden events of the future pertaining to this world which everyone will see, and will only open the door to the reason to a degree that proves its argument. If it mentioned them explicitly, the mystery of man's accountability would be negated. Simply, it would be as self-evident as writing There is no god but God clearly in stars on the face of the skies. Then everyone would have to affirm it whether they wanted to or not. There would be no competition, and the examination too would go for nothing. A spirit like coal would remain on the same level of a spirit like diamonds.<sup>40


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39.Qur'an 22:73</sup>
40.Abu Jahl the Accursed and Abu Bakr the Truthful would appear to be equal, and the mystery of the examination set by God, lost.