Is Everything Devoutly Obedient to Allah?

Is Everything Devoutly Obedient to
Allah?

A Response to a Criticism
on the Qur’an

The
Learner

In one
of his articles, Mr. Jochen Katz has pointed out that at one instance, the
Qur’an says that everything that exists between the heavens and the earth is
devoutly obedient to Allah, while in a number of other verses, the Qur’an itself
has contradicted its claim by declaring that Iblis, that is Satan proudly
disobeyed Allah and also that a number of human beings reject Allah’s commands
and His revelations.

Mr. Katz has summarized his
argument, thus:

“Is
everything devoutly obedient to Allah? That is the claim in 30:26, but dozens
of verses speak of the proud disobedience of Satan [7:11, 15:28-31, 17:61,
20:116, 38:71-74, 18:50] as well of many different human beings who reject His
commands and His revelations.”

As is quite obvious, Mr.
Katz has primarily based his argument on Al-Ru’m 30: 26. The referred
verse reads as:

“And
among His signs is that the heavens and the earth stand firm at His bidding;
and when He shall summon you — with just one summoning — you shall all go
forth to Him. To Him belongs whoever is in the heavens and the earth; each one
of them [, whether willingly or perforce,] absolutely obedient to Him.”

The correct understanding of the exact meaning
and implication of this verse shall resolve the
apparent contradiction pointed out by Mr. Katz. In the paragraphs that follow, I
shall try to present my understanding of the verse under consideration, which
will itself show why, in my opinion, the objection raised by Mr. Katz is only
due to an incorrect understanding of the referred verse.

To fully understand the implication of the verse,
it should first be briefly understood that one of the basic messages of the
Qur’an is that man has been placed on this planet for a limited time; this life
is a temporary phase through which each individual shall pass; this temporary
phase is actually a testing time for every individual; God has given man (and Jinn)
the freedom of will, in a very small sphere of his affairs; should man use the
freedom of will that he has been bestowed upon by his Creator for the right
purposes and makes the right choices, he shall stand successful in this test;
while, if he uses this freedom for the wrong purposes and makes the wrong
choices, he shall then fail in this test. The reward of success is the
everlasting bliss of the life of Paradise; while the punishment of failure in
this test is burning forever in hellfire. To guide man to the path of success in
the test of this life, God not only gave him the internal sense to distinguish
between good and evil and right and wrong, but also sent His prophets and
messengers to show him the way of His liking. However, even after gaining
adequate knowledge of the likes and dislikes of his Creator, man has generally
tended to misuse the freedom that God gave him. Thus, the quality which should
actually have been used to earn entrance into God’s paradise, has generally been
used by man to deserve the wrath of God. All this has happened due to the misuse
of the freedom that man was given in a limited sphere of his affairs. Barring
this limited sphere of man’s affairs, in which he has the freedom to choose,
even man (as well as Jinn) is completely obedient to his Creator’s will,
in exactly the same way as are other creations of God like the sun, the stars,
the moon, the earth, the winds and the oceans. A man too, like all these other
creatures of God, is purely a subject to the Divine will, except in a very small
sphere of his life for a very brief period of time.

The verse under consideration is amongst the few
of those verses of the Qur’an (like Al-Ra`d 13: 15; or Al-Inshiqaaq
84: 6) in which God has pointed out that even the most rebellious among men is
absolutely obedient to His will, in all those spheres in which God has not
allowed him the freedom to choose. One such sphere, according to the verse
preceding the particular verse under consideration, is the resurrection on the
Day of Judgment. On the Day of Judgment, when God calls all men to life, no man
however rebellious he might have been shall be able to hold himself back. On
that day, each man shall be as obedient to God’s directives as his physical
existence has always been, even in the life of this world.

Thus, the two kinds of verses, which Mr. Katz has
found to be mutually contradictory actually refer to two separate spheres in the
life of God’s creation. Al-A`raaf
7:11, Al-Hijr 15:28-31, Al-Israa 17:61, Ta Ha 20:116, Sa’d
38:71-74 and Al-Kahaf 18:50 and all such other verses refer to the
particular limited sphere in Iblis’s life (or the life of any other of God’s
creation) in which he has been bestowed freedom for a very limited time. While,
on the other hand, verse Al-Ru’m 30: 26 and other verses of this kind
refer to all those spheres in which God has not granted this freedom.

© Copyright August, 1999. All
Rights Reserved with the Author