When man has a plan to make a car or any other machine, he breaks it down into numerous parts, first making each one of them separately. Thereafter, he puts them together to create the final object. On the contrary, when God raises a tree or creates a human being, his technique is completely different. He brings it out as a complete unit right from the beginning. God’s ‘factory’ -- the entire tree and the full man gradually come out from one seed or drop. It is an utterly unique, inimitable way. Indeed it shows that in this existence there is Someone superior to man -- Someone Whose plans are superior to man’s. The sun is more than one million times bigger than our earth. The earth is four times bigger than the moon. All these heavenly bodies are in a constant state of movement. The moon is circulating around the earth from a distance of two hundred and fifty thousand miles. The earth on the other hand is moving round the sun from a distance of ninety million miles in two different ways: in its own orbit as well as around the sun. Similar is the case of all the heavenly bodies, which are following their schedules of movement with extreme precision at distances that are mind boggling. These arrangements help in creating days and nights; they also help in designing the system of our time; likewise, it contributes in enabling man to arrange his life properly. This huge system has been functioning with great precision for thousands of years without any alterations. It all shows that there is Someone out there Whose power is unimaginably immense. These signs of God are showing that the Maker of this system is very knowledgeable. An ignorant being couldn’t have made this system to function. Moreover, He is very Powerful, without being one, this huge factory couldn’t have operated. His planning is thoroughly perfect. If that was not the case, it wouldn’t have been impossible to find such meaningfulness in this world. God’s world is full of His signs. However, a sign is an argument that is a subjective rationality and not a dagger that strikes and needs no further proofs for its existence. An argument appeals only if there is willingness in the one who is being approached. It appeals only to the one who is seriously inclined to acknowledge its truthfulness, whether it goes with his interests or against them.
(Adapted from Wahiduddin Khan’s ‘Tadhkīru’l-Qur’ān’)