Challenging Intellect
\r\n Al-Rum (The Romans) - Chapter 30: Verses 23-24
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"And among His signs is your sleep at night and in the daytime, and your seeking of His bounty; surely in that are signs for people who listen. And among His signs is that He shows you the lightning that bears fear and hope, and that He sends down water from the sky, giving life thereby to the earth after it had been lifeless; surely in that are signs for people who use their minds."
The succession of sleep and wakefulness followed by activity in earning one's living shows a biological and intellectual ability for the human being to live in harmony with the cosmic design of day and night in general, with the exception of those whose work is at night and thus they must sleep during the day, but such people are substantially fewer in their numbers.
\r\nThe same natural features, such as the lightning that accompanies thunder, can have benefit and/or harmful effects on different people, and thus can raise hope, with its ensuing rain as well as fear of possible damage to homes or lives, in the human being, who is challenged to find protection from the harm through the human intellect. As a result of the challenge to the human intellect to find protection from lightning, the lightning rod was invented in the eighteenth century. Through such contrasting messages, the human being ought to think deeply about the creation and the Creator, about this life with all its pleasures and insecurities as well as the eternal pleasures of the life to come. Nature in its various phenomena represents an open and comprehensive exposition of knowledge throughout the world for all those who may perceive and contemplate.
\r\nCompiled From:
\r\n \"Concepts of The Quran\" - Fathi Osman, pp. 40, 41