22. Since it is God Himself Who has created all good and pure things for
man, it obviously could not have been His intent to make them unlawful. Now,
if there is any religion, or any ethical or social system which forbids those
things, or considers them an insurmountable barrier to man's spiritual growth,
it has an intellectual orientation which itself is evident proof of its not
having been prescribed by God.
This is an important argument which the Qur'an advances in refutation of false
creeds. An appreciation of this argument would help one understand the Qur'anic
line of argumentation as such.
23. All the clean and beautiful things created by God are meant, in principle, for the believers even in this world, for they are God's faithful subjects, and it is fidelity to God that makes one deserve enjoyment of the things which are God's. However, all men are under a test in this world. Hence even those who are disloyal to God have been granted respite to mend their ways and are, therefore, not denied His worldly bounties. In fact with a view to testing those disloyal to God these bounties are at times lavished upon them even more abundantly than on God's faithful servants. But the character of the Next Life will be totally different. For one's station there will be determined entirely by one's righteousness and justice. God's bounties in the Next Life, therefore, will be for the faithful alone. As for the unfaithful, those who were disloyal to God even though every fibre of their being was nourished by the sustenance provided by Him, they will have no share whatsoever of those bounties in the Next Life.