THE WEAKNESS OF MAN

Ungratefulness Amongst Blessings

The Quran relates that, in the beginning of creation itself, Satan turned against man. He issued a challenge, saying:

‘Do you see this being whom You have exalted above me? If You reprieve me until the Day of Resurrection, I will bring all but a few of his descendants under my sway.’ (17 : 62)

According to another verse in the Quran, Satan said to God:

‘….then I will surely come upon them from before them and from behind them and from their right and their left, and you will find most of them ungrateful.’ (7 : 17)

WHERE did Satan get the nerve to make a declaration like this in such absolute manner? If you ponder on this, you will realise that it was the incident of Adam eating the fruit of the forbidden tree in Paradise that gave Satan the indication of the weakness of man. Adam was placed in Paradise after creation and was told that the entire Paradise was for him but that he should stay away from the forbidden tree and not eat its fruit. But Adam could not restrain himself and went and ate the fruit of the forbidden tree.

This incident tells us that man, because of his disposition, will want the whole, and will not be content with only a part of it. On the basis of this experience, Satan devised a plan—to exploit this mentality of man. He would not let man be content with a part and instead instigate him not to accept anything less than the whole. In this way, he schemed to drive the whole of mankind into deviance. History tells us that Muslims and others both fell victim to this deception, and were deprived of true gratitude.

This world is based on the principle of test. And so, here no individual or community gets everything. Rather, what always happens is that people get some things, but at the same time are deprived of other things. Yet, both individuals and communities do not remain content. Instead, they seek to get more of this world. As a result, mankind forever lives in ingratitude.

This is the summary of the whole of human history.