Two Heights

I swear by this city, (and you are a resident of it), by the begetter, and all whom he begot: We created man to try him with afflictions.

Does he think that none has power over him? He will (boastfully) say: ‘I have squandered vast wealth.’ Does he think that none observes him?

Have We not given him two eyes, a tongue, and two lips, and shown him the two highways (of good and evil)? Yet he would not scale the Height.

Would that you knew what the Height is! It is the freeing of a bondsman; and feeding, in the day of famine, of an orphaned relation or a needy man in distress; to be one of those who believe, and enjoin patience and mercy.

Those who do this shall stand on the right hand; but those who deny Our revelations shall stand on the left, with Hell-fire close above them.

(The Quran 90:1-20)

In no circumstance is man able to free himself from hardships. This shows that man is under some superior power. Similarly, human eyes tell us that there is a superior eye which is watching us. Man’s power of speech is indicative of the fact that there is a Being with superior power of speech, Who has given him the faculty of speech and has shown him the right path. If man were to recognise himself in the real sense he would certainly recognise God.

God has commanded man to scale two kinds of heights. One is just behaviour towards human beings and bowing to their needs. Another is firm belief in God. When this conviction is embedded deeply within man, it does not remain confined to his own self but is transmitted to others. The true believer makes the utmost effort to bring others to the same divine path which he himself has come to tread.

Man finds it most difficult to lead a life which is guided by divine principle. But this apparent difficulty is in actual fact a facility, as it is going to lead man towards eternal salvation.