MAN: AN EXCEPTIONAL CREATURE
Realize Your True Potential
Man must refine his character and elevate his personality to such a degree of moral excellence that he becomes deserving of a place near Almighty God, that is, in Paradise.
A teaching of the Prophet of Islam recorded in the books of Hadith reads: “God created Adam in His own image.” (Sahih al-Bukhari) This does not mean that man resembles God in physical form. Rather, it means that God has granted to man, in a limited and symbolic manner, certain divine attributes that exist in their perfect and absolute form only within God’s own being.
In the entire universe, a human being is an exceptional creature. He possesses a living, conscious existence. He is the only creature who has been endowed with a complete personality. He thinks, sees, hears, evaluates, plans, and carries out deliberate action. He can appreciate and enjoy a multitude of experiences through his five senses. All these are extraordinary qualities granted exclusively to man out of all the countless forms of creation scattered throughout the vast universe.
Man has been given these exceptional gifts so that he may devote himself to an exceptional task. This task is to discover and recognize the Creator at a conscious and thoughtful level. In this way, the Almighty Lord of the universe has given man the opportunity to discover Him through personal realization. Man may perceive the signs of God while God Himself remains unseen. He may voluntarily render himself powerless before God despite possessing strength, and he may surrender before God without any form of compulsion or external pressure.
He is blessed with the ability to transform the entire world of nature into spiritual nourishment for himself, for he must develop intellectually by awakening his inner consciousness. When he discovers truth at the level of personal insight, the realization of God comes to him as he bows in sincere self-prostration. Then he must refine his character and elevate his personality to such a degree of moral excellence that he becomes deserving of a place near Almighty God, that is, in Paradise. Those who fail to develop such a personality remain, in the eyes of God, spiritually unworthy and without lasting value. q
