THE CALL TO LIFE (VERSE NO. 24)

      This verse is a short and clear cut assertion for showing the ultimate aim of Islam, which is to revive man and to give him a new life - a real and truthful; moral, cultural, material, economical, spiritual and political life, and eventually an eternal life of prosperity and Paradise. This is indeed what Islam calls to.

      The next phrase in the verse says: ``Allah stands between man and his heart.''

      The heart is the inner most seat of man's affections and desires, but between this seat and man himself is the presence of the Omnipresent Lord. In other word; Allah is nearer to us than ourselves, and our hearts turn about by His fingers. He changes our mind and turns our attention, and had it not been for God's Grace, no one could have known the truthfulness of a truth, or the falsehood of a false. Our life and death, our knowledge and power, our security and health, and our prosperity and progress; are all dependant on God's Will. Therefore it is to our own benefit to obey God's call, and hold all else as nothing. Then He will give us light, to walk in the path of progress and evolution, and will turn away all evil from us. He will then forgive us our sins, and compensate for our shortcomings. Here is where we should not forget the famous Persian proverb that, ``Man proposes and God disposes.''