The Quran

Preface

أَلَم تَرَوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ سَخَّرَ لَكُم ما فِي السَّماواتِ وَما فِي الأَرضِ وَأَسبَغَ عَلَيكُم نِعَمَهُ ظاهِرَةً وَباطِنَةً ۗ وَمِنَ النّاسِ مَن يُجادِلُ فِي اللَّهِ بِغَيرِ عِلمٍ وَلا هُدًى وَلا كِتابٍ مُنيرٍ

Yusuf Ali

Do ye not see that God has subjected¹ to your (use) all things in the heavens and on earth, and has made his bounties flow to you in exceeding measure, (both) seen and unseen?² Yet there are among men those who dispute about God, without knowledge and without guidance, and without a Book³ to enlighten them!

God’s Creation is independent of man. But God, in His infinite mercy, has given man the faculty to subdue the forces of nature and to penetrate through high mysteries with his powers of reason and insight. But this is not merely a question of power. For in His Universal Plan, all are safeguarded. But man’s destiny, as far as we can see, is noble to the highest degree (Cf. 45:13).
God’s grace and bounties work for us at all times. Sometimes we see them, and sometimes we do not In things which we can apprehend with our senses, we can see God’s grace, but even in them, sometimes it works beyond the sphere of our knowledge. In the inner or spiritual world, sometimes, when our vision is clear, we can see it working, and often we are not conscious of it, but it works all the same.
Such men lack knowledge, as they make no use of their intellects but are swayed by their passions; they lack guidance, as they are impatient of control; and the fruits of revelation, or spiritual insight, do not reach them, as they reject Faith and Revelation.