"The truth is that Islam looks upon the universe as a
reality and consequently recognises as reality all that is in it. Sin, pain,
sorrow, struggle are certainly real, but Islam teaches that evil is not
essential to the universe; the universe can be reformed; the elements of sin
and evil can be gradually eliminated. All that is in the universe is God’s, and
the seemingly destructive forces of nature become sources of life, if properly
controlled by man, who is endowed with the power to understand and to control
them.
These and other similar teachings of the Quran, combined
with the Quranic recognition of the reality of sin and sorrow, indicate that
the Islamic view of the universe is neither optimistic nor pessimistic. Modern
psychometry has given the final answer to the psychological implications of
Buddhism. Pain is not an essential factor in the constitution of the universe,
and pessimism is only a product of a hostile social environment. Islam believes
in the efficacy of well-directed action; hence the standpoint of Islam must be
described as melioristic – the ultimate pre-supposition and justification of
all human effort at scientific discovery and social progress. Although Islam
recognises the fact of pain, sin and struggle in nature, yet the principal fact
which stands in the way of man’s ethical progress is, according to Islam,
neither pain, nor sin, nor struggle. It is fear, to which man is a victim owing
to his ignorance of the nature of his environment and want of absolute faith in
God. The highest stage of man’s ethical progress is reached when he becomes
absolutely free from fear and grief.
The central proposition which regulates the structure of
Islam, then, is that there is fear in nature, and the object of Islam is to
free man from fear."
~ from "Islam as a Moral and Political Ideal" (Allama Iqbal)
