“And Who regulates the affairs (the systems)? Then they will say: Allah. Say then: Will you not then guard (against evil)?” (Qur’an 10:31)

This verse is a statement of man’s limitations and God’s absolute encompassing of all affairs. He encompasses man’s faculties – they exist only through what God has created – they operate only through what He has created – everything that man has in this world is from God – not only is it from God but it is sustained moment by moment only through God – and every aspect of it is encompassed by Him and every aspect of it subsists instant by instant through Him.

Through revelation He lifts our perspective to a higher level, to a viewpoint above the physical world - to one where we can begin to develop some minute awareness of the infinitude of intersecting and interacting complex systems that operate within our world and begin to approach recognition of the Rabb al-alameen, the Lord of all universes, of all worlds, of all systems, of all processes.

Man’s limitations expand when the darkness of ignorance occludes his soul. Ignorance can inhabit the minds of even the most cultured and analytical people, or the most fervently religious, to the extent that in pursuit of their goals, they grow blind to deeper and wider understanding of their pursuits and the myriad interconnected consequences that ripple out from them. So while the people spoken of in this verse acknowledge that God regulates all affairs, they disconnect this recognition from its implications, from its all-encompassing totality, from their inner states, and from their actions - they do not use this knowledge as a guard and a guide.

- Irshaad Hussain

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