Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | The Sunday Guardian | Feb 11, 2018

The Prophet provided us with the most perfect example of the divine characteristics which he exhorted us to adopt. He is reported as saying, "My Lord has commanded me to offer friendship in face of enmity, to give those who deprive me, and forgive those who oppress me". It takes an effort on the part of man to assume the "divine characteristics" which are displayed in the rest of the world and which the Prophet practised so perfectly. The Islamic life is to follow the cosmic and prophetic patterns. In it lies the solution to all the problems of man. The meaning and wisdom which are made manifest in the wider universe under the direct control of God, have to be adopted by man in his personal life of his own accord. What God has established in the rest of the world on a material plane, man has to establish on a human plane.

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What is found in the form of iron on a cosmic level is required of man in the form of strong character. Innumerable activities are going on in the cosmos on a grand scale without recompense. The same thing is required for man; he should keep fulfilling his duties without expecting any recompense in this world for his deeds. Man should emulate their act and be humble. As the Prophet has enjoined, no one should be proud; no one should consider him superior to others.

The cosmos is entirely predictable because the events in this cosmos are governed by immutable laws. Everything in the universe functions with such precision that every event can be predicted. God has thus provided in the cosmos a model of predictable character.

Man should follow the cosmic pattern of predictability. This must be an essential element in his character.