Article appeared Friday, March 25th, 2016 in The News Today, Bangladesh

The Revelation (420)

yousuf mahbubul Islam, PhD

Some Holy Scriptures talk about a Straight Path. Before looking at such Verses in the Holy
Scriptures, what are the questions one may ask regarding the phrase, the Straight Path?
Examples of questions could be what do the individual words in the phrase mean; what is the
straight path; why is it called straight; who is supposed to walk on this path and where is it
supposed to lead to? Could the words, taken on their own, be compared to a straight line and
suggest a path or road that has no diversions?
The article {1} titled Straight Paths presents 19 Verses from the Bible that talk about the straight
path. The first of these is:
In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. [Proverbs,
3.6] {1}
The short Verse Proverbs 3.6 answers the major question how to get on the straight path. To
do this, we need to acknowledge Him. Why should one acknowledge Him and how? To draw an
analogy when do we acknowledge another person? We may acknowledge a gift by simply
saying thank you. The Verse says that we should acknowledge in all ways, i.e., acknowledge
Him in all activities in every possible way. Why? First we would need to work out and recognize
that the Creator has conceptualized, designed and created every moment of the life that we are
personally living in. We may then have a cause to acknowledge Him. He has also given skills
and opportunities, but He has left it to our individual morality and sense of justice/ethics to
acknowledge Him, i.e., only if a person wants to. Can we think of a reason for which He should
be personally acknowledged?
For example, to personally clean ourselves we may take a shower. To do this, all we need is
running water and soap. However, as we wipe ourselves with a towel, we get a feeling of
freshness. Does the feeling of freshness have anything to do with cleanliness? How and where
does the feeling of freshness take place? As we wipe the towel over the millions of nerve
endings on our skin we sense a feeling of freshness in our brains. Our Creator chose to give us
the feeling of freshness as an additional blessing so that we enjoy taking a shower as well as
being clean. The question is, when we have completed our shower and have this feeling of
freshness, should we feel the Creators love and acknowledge His indulgence? In contrast, we
may imagine that it is the expensive brand of soap that we have thoughtfully purchased and the
lukewarm water that has made us feel fresh.
Ignoring guidance given in Proverbs 3.6 feeling worldly wise and being ungrateful is evil, as
pointed by the subsequent Verse.
Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil. [Proverbs,
3.7] {1}
Why should one fear the Lord? Having given us so much, should the Creator be pleased with
ungrateful people? If not pleased, what may He do? As most people overlook thinking about the
Creators blessings, and feel they have complete power over all that they own, they do not care
to acknowledge the Creator. Therefore, the following Verse from the Holy Quran reminds us of
our origin and questions this attitude.
He has created man from a sperm drop; and behold this same (man) becomes an open
disputer! [16.4]
So who is more unjust than he/she who invents a lie about Allah or denies His Signs?
Indeed, never will prosper those who sin. [10.17]

Arrogance and denial of His blessings is a major sin. To create awareness about His Signs, the
following Verses in the Quran highlight some of the blessings given the Creator.

16.5 And the grazing livestock He has created for you: from them you derive
warmth and numerous benefits, and from them you eat.
Can we think of any benefit that we derive from cattle? Would leather clothing and shoes be
examples? Gail Jenner in the website Answers {2} informs,
Besides being nutritious and delicious and a nutrient dense food, cattle provide over
900 byproducts that are used by EVERYONE. They contribute to the roads we drive on,
medicinals and pharmaceuticals, leather and other products, shampoos and soaps and
lotions, even the tires on our cars. There is so much we get from cows, it's amazing that
people think they can truly be vegetarian!... {2}
In addition,

16.6 And you derive a sense of pride and beauty in them as you drive them home
in the evening and as you lead them forth to pasture in the morning.
It is indeed our sense of pride and beauty that we hold livestock shows {3}.
And?

16.7 And they carry your heavy loads to lands that you could not (otherwise
have) reached except with souls distressed: for your Lord is indeed Most Kind
Most Merciful.
He has given all these blessings as He is Most Kind and Most Merciful.
And indeed, for you in grazing livestock is an instructive Sign. We give you drink from
what is in their bellies between excretion and blood pure milk, palatable and
agreeable to those who drink it. [16.66]

16.8 And (He has created) horses, mules and donkeys for you to ride and use for
show; and He has created (other) things of which you have no knowledge.
So we should increase our personal knowledge of the Signs and Blessings of the Creator this
can be done through study and research, having given human beings the ability to do so. We
should then acknowledge, both privately and publicly, the blessings He has given us. Part of the
opening chapter of the Quran, Al-Fatihah, furnishes the following prayer that believers ought to
repeat at least 17 times a day,
Sovereign of the Day of Judgment, it is YOU we worship and YOU we ask for help,
Guide us to the Straight Path. [1.4 1.6]
The job of each human being on earth is to study the Signs/Blessings of the Creator in their
personal life, while seeking His Guidance, and witness His Reality by acknowledging Him by
giving credit where it is due.

16.9 And to Allah is the direction of the Straight Way, but there are ways that turn
aside: if Allah had so willed He could have guided all of you.
Allahs purpose is to test us in what He has given us. On the Day of Judgment, our personal
morals, sense of justice and ethics will be appropriately reviewed and rewarded.
-------{Notes}:
{1} http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Straight-Paths
{2} http://www.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_benefits_of_cattle_farming
{3} https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livestock_show