"Those who reject our Signs are deaf and dumb, in the midst of darkness profound: whom Allah willeth, He leaveth to wander: whom He willeth, He placeth on the Way that is Straight." (Surah Al-An'am; 39)

      There are Signs all around us, but some do not understand. If they want a particular Sign to suit their gross ignorance, they will not be humored, for they can always pick holes in anything that descends to their level.

      All life is subject to the plan and Will of Allah. In VI: 59 we are told that not a leaf falls but by His Will, and things dry and green are recorded in His Book. In other words all life obeys Allah's archetypal Plan. They are answerable in their several degrees to His Plan. This is not Pantheism: it is ascribing all life, activity, and existence to the Will and Plan of Allah. The limited free will of man makes a little difference. If he sees the Signs but shuts his ears to the true Message, and refuses (like a dumb thing) to speak out the Message which all Nature proclaims, then according to the Plan (of his limited free-will) he must suffer and wander, just as, in the opposite case, he will receive grace and salvation.

      The marvels of Allah's creation can be realized in a general way by everyone who has a disposition to allow such knowledge to penetrate his mind. But if men, out of perversity, kill the very faculties which Allah has given them, how can they then understand? Besides there are men who deaden their spiritual sense, there are men who may be likened to the deaf, who lack one faculty but to whom an appeal can be made through other faculties, such as the sense of right: but if they turn their backs and refuse to be instructed at all, how can the Truth reach them?

      Then there is the case of men about whom the saying holds true, that none are so blind as those who will not see. They prefer to stray in the paths of wrong and of sensory pleasures. How can they be guided in any way? The only persons who gain by spiritual teaching are those who bring a mind to it-who believe and submit their wills to Allah's Will. This is the central doctrine of Islam.

      "The likeness of those who disbelieve is that of someone who yells out to something which cannot hear - it is nothing but a cry and a call. Deaf-dumb-blind, they are void of wisdom." (Al-Baqara:171)

      If you reject all faith, the heighest wisdom and the most salutary regulations are lost on you. You are like 'dumb driven cattle' who can merely hear calls, but cannot distinguish intelligently between shades of meaning or subtle difference of values. Where we are told that the rejecters are "deaf, dumb and blind": they will not return to the path. Here their consequence of their not using their senses is that they have no wisdom. The Message of Allah, is a guide that is sure to those who seek His light. But those who reject faith are blind: their hearts are sealed. When faith is lost, people put off obedience with various excuses: even when at last they obey in the letter, they fail in the spirit, which means self-sufficiency prevents them from seeing that spiritually they are not alive but dead. For life is movement, activity, striving, fighting against baser things.

      Allah (swt) reminds man to ponder upon his own creation:

      "Man We did create from a quintessence (of clay); Then We placed him as (a drop of) sperm in a place of rest, firmly fixed; Then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood; Then of that clot We made (foetus) lump; Then We made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh; Then We developed out of it another creature. So blessed be Allah, the Best to create! (Al-Mu'minun: 14)

O mankind! if ye have doubt about the Resurrection, (consider) that We created you out of dust, then out of sperm, then out of a leech-like clot, (Al-Hajj: 5)

Then out of a morsel of flesh, partly formed and partly unformed, in order that We may manifest (Our Power) to you; (Al-Hajj: 5)

And We cause whom We will to rest in the wombs for an appointed term, (Al-Hajj: 5)

Then do We bring you out as babies, then (foster you) that you may reach your age of full strength; (Al-Hajj: 5)

      The stages of man's physical growth from nothing till he completes the cycle of this life are described in words whose accuracy, beauty, and comprehensiveness can only be fully understood by biologists. In this passage the mystery of our life is used to illustrate Allah's power in giving us a future Life of even greater promise. Kafara, kufr, kafir, and derivative forms of the word, imply a deliberate rejection of Faith as opposed to a mistaken idea of Allah or faith, which is not inconsistent with an earnest desire to see the truth. Where there is such desire, the Grace and Mercy of Allah gives guidance. But that guidance is not efficacious when it is deliberately rejected, and the possibility of rejection follows from the grant of free will. The consequence of the rejection is that the spiritual faculties become dead or impevious to better influences.

      Allah (swt) says in Surah Al-Araf, 179:

      "Many are the Jinns and men We have made for Hell: They have hearts where with they understand not, eyes where with they see not, and ears where with they hear not. They are like cattle - nay more misguided, for they are heedless. (of warning)".

      Man is a sinner, but it is better for him to be a believer than be a kafir, for Allah's Mercy covers the believers on the Day of Judgment while the kuffar will be doomed.

"Allahumma arinal haqqa haqqan warzuq nattiba ahu wa arinal batila batilan warzuqnajti nabahu."
(O Allah! show us the Truth as Truth, and render us help to follow that; and show us falsehood as falsehood, and help us to avoid that.)