Graduality

The sun sets and rises gradually. As a result, the night and day come one after another gradually. The night lengthens in winters gradually and the day shortens gradually. The day lengthens in summers gradually and the night shortens gradually. The moon completes its stages gradually. A child develops inside a mother’s womb gradually and takes its time. The human cycle from birth to death takes its time. The plants and trees grow gradually and give fruits gradually.

Then what is the need to hurry! Nature around us points us towards acting gradually. It teaches us the lesson of being patient and persistent in order to achieve. Of course we can imagine the end goal in our minds, but reaching there is a physical process that does not hold the capacity to be achieved in milliseconds, just as the mind can. The end goal motivates and guides us towards itself, but the signs in the natural processes tell us to proceed towards it gradually!

As an additional piece of information I would like to share that there is also a sign of the oneness of Allah in graduality. So for example, the sunrise and the sunset and the creation of our eyes show that they are both the work of a Single Creator. The sunrises and lights up the earth gradually and the sunsets and darkens the earth gradually. They don’t suddenly lighten up or darken the earth. Our eyes too adjust to dark and light gradually. You may have noticed that when you go into a dark place, the things in dark gradually become more and more apparent to you. Similarly when you come out in light after being in dark for some time, your eyes slowly adjust to the light and you feel easy only after some time. I don’t know the exact science, but I think our pupils gradually dilate and stretch according to the external light, which allows different amounts of light to enter our eyes. In darkness, they open up to let more light in and in bright light, they constrict to let less light in to protect the eye. This phenomena and the alteration of the day and night in such similar manners show us that the One who created the altering of the day and the night also created our eyes. In fact, He created the altering of the night and the day in such a way that our eyes don’t feel the shock of the sudden change of darkness and light. This clearly points to a Single Creator for both these phenomena. This reminds me of verse 53 of Surah Fussilat, where Allah says that He shall show them His signs in the horizons (here in this example, it is the sunrise and sunset) and within themselves (here in this example, it is our body) until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth.

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