The Exception of
the Human World

Even the most harmful animal does not humiliate another creature. Only man does this. God made man in the ‘best of mould’, but in his foolishness, man demeans himself in the lowliness of ‘the lowest of the low’. (The Quran, 95:4-5)

The famous Persian poet Shaikh Saadi (1195-1226) once remarked, “I fear God, and next to God I fear them that fear Him not.” Shakespeare said somewhat the same thing but in a different way. He has commented that man is the only animal he fears.

You know beforehand how many things in this world behave or react. You already know about fire, that if you thrust your hand into it, it will burn you. You already know that it will not behave the same way if you keep your hand away from it. The same holds true for all other things. Even about dangerous wild animals, we have prior knowledge that they do not attack human beings unless provoked and that if they attack, it is only out of self-defence.

It means that everything in this world works according to specific fixed regulations. By considering these regulations, you can save yourself from being harmed by them. However, human beings are the only creatures whose actions do not have any such fixed or predictable rules. They are entirely free and can do whatever they want, whenever they want.

In this world, human beings are the only creatures who attack or engage in unilateral action against others without any proper reason. Human greed and revenge know no bounds. You may confine yourself to your own business based on your efforts, silently trying to progress. However, you will still not be safe because others will grow jealous of you and will try to pull you down. Humans have unlimited desires that they want to fulfil. They also have an unlimited urge to see others get destroyed, which gives them malicious pleasure.

Even the most harmful animal does not know how to humiliate another creature. It does not know how to demean others to exalt itself and satisfy the urge to feel proud. It has no desire to get others into trouble and derive pleasure from this unnecessarily. It is the only man who does this. God made man, as the Quran (95:4-5) says, in ‘the best of mould’, but in his foolishness, man demeans himself to the state called ‘the lowest of the low’ in the Quran.