God in His infinite wisdom created everything in pairs. Allah affirms in Qur’an 51:49 “And of everything we have created pairs: that ye may receive instruction.” The mystery of gender runs through all creations; in man, animals, plants and in the physical world including other things we have little or no knowledge of. The Qur’anic verse under reference confirms that all things are in twosomes. Beside the two genders of male and female in plants and animals, there also exist pairs of opposite forces in nature. We have Day and Night; Sun and Moon; Light and Darkness; and several other opposites; each fulfilling its purpose, and contributing to the working of the universe according to Allah’s wish.
Further again, Allah states in Qur’an 36: 36 “Glory to Allah who created in pairs all things that the earth produces, as well as their own (human) kind and (other) things of which they have no knowledge”. This is to additionally convince man of the divine ‘law of duality’ in Allah’s creation. In the moral and spiritual world, Allah created the heavens and the earth; paradise and hell; right and wrong; obedience and disobedience; etc. Other opposites in the phenomenal world include knowledge and ignorance; wealth and poverty; health and sickness; friend and enemy; north and south; east and west; in and out; up and down; open and closed; everywhere and nowhere; common and rare; latitude and longitude; danger and safety; long and short; far and near; beautiful and ugly; black and white; etc.
All things created by Allah in pairs are not for nothing. They were meant to complement one another. They perform their respective functions according to the wonderful purpose of Allah (SWT). Everything, indeed, has its pair to perfect Allah’s creation. Have you ever pondered over how the world would have been if it were created with just Day and without Night or vice versa? Think also of a world exclusively filled with men only without women or vice versa. Did you ever imagine how people would have lived or survived if they were created with less or more than two legs; two hands; two eyes; two lips; two ears; or two nostrils?
In furtherance of His perfect wisdom, Allah created two freeways from which man is given the freewill to choose the one to follow. Allah (SWT) confirms in Qur’an 90:10 “And (we have) shown him the two highways.” The two highways of life are interpreted by scholars to mean: (1) the steep and difficult path of virtue (Islam); and (2) the easy path of vice and rejection of truth (Disbelief). Allah has given us not only the faculties implied in the eyes, the tongue and the lips; but also given us reasoning capacity by which we can choose our way; after having sent Teachers and Guides to us, with revelation, to show us the right and tough way.
In spite of the sense of judgement which Allah endowed man with and the guidance (revealed in the Qur’an) which He (SWT) has given him, man still remains careless. We see men and women with weak moral disposition become victims of Shaytan’s mischief. Such are deceitfully led unto the easy path of unrighteousness. The life of those who tread the easy but regrettable path is characteristic of disobedience to Allah’s injunctions as contained in the Qur’an and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (SAW). This unrighteous freeway is decorated with ‘billboards’ of corruption, adultery, hypocrisy, sycophancy, betrayal, lying, gossiping, blackmail, fraud, cheating, usury, forgery, stealing, intoxication, arrogance. Man, in each of these sinful acts, finds foolish pleasure.
The though difficult road to bliss is the path of those who believe in the unseen and are constant in prayers; spending their wealth in the way of Allah. As described in Qur’an 23:2-11, they are humble in their prayers; shun vain talk; active in deeds of charity; remain chaste; and faithfully keep to their promises. They sleep little at night and are awake at early dawn praying for forgiveness of their sins. Qur’an 2:177 also gives a description of the companions of the steep freeway. Blessed with intellect to distinguish right from wrong, every soul decides its own fate. We can take advantage of the respite we enjoy from being alive by learning from the consequences that befell past but sinful generations.
Unlike generations of the past that suffered destructions for being unrighteous, those currently on sinful path should be grateful that they are alive to realize and abandon the wrong expressway, which the devil is chasing them to follow. Mankind generally detests any activity that is full of don’ts as embedded in Islam. He naturally prefers anything that perpetually offers freedom in place of restrictions, and options in place of obligations. The Prophet (SAW) described this world as it relates to the life of a believer; saying, “The world is a prison for believers and paradise for disbelievers.” Matthew Vii: 14 of the Holy Bible states, “Straight is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life; and few there are that find it”. May Allah guide us to tread and remain on the righteous of the two expressways, amin.
