Al-Israa (The Night Journey)

70. “And, indeed, We have honored the children of Adam, and We carried them on the land and the sea; and We provided them with sustenance of the good things; and We preferred them greatly over many of those We created.”

As attaching importance to the personality of individuals is one way of educating and guiding them, following its discussion concerning pagans and deviants in the previous verses, here the glorious Qur’an deals with the highly valued personality of humankind and Allah’s blessings regarding them.

So that, noting this extraordinary high value, he should, not spoil such a precious material easily, selling it at a cheap rate.

The noble verse says:

“And, indeed, We have honored the children of Adam…”

Afterwards, the Holy Qur’an refers to the three aspects of Allah’s blessings to man, implying that He transported them at sea and on land by the different means of transportation which He made available to them.

The verse says:

“…and We carries them on the land and sea…”

And, the other one is that:

“…and We provided them with sustenance of the good things…”

It continues saying:

“…and We preferred them greatly over many of those We created.”

Why Man Is the Most Superior of Allah’s Creatures

The answer is not very complicated for we know that man is the only being that is formed of different potentialities, whether material and spiritual, bodily and mentally, and he can grow up within contradictions. Man is unlimited from the point of capacity and development.

There is a famous tradition quoted from Hadrat Ali (as) which is a clear evidence for this claim, where he says:

“Allah has created all creatures into 3 different categories: Angels, Animals and Human Beings. The angels have got reasoning without any passion or fury but without intellect. The animals are collections of passions and fury. But, man is a collection unity of both; one of which must prevail. If his reason overcomes his passion, he will be superior to the angels, and if his passions dominate his reason, he will be just inferior to animals.”1

As for the human dignity, which is at times spiritual and acquired and is with Allah, such as that kind of dignity (or honour) which is exclusive to the men of virtue.

The Qur’an says:

“Verily the most honourable of you with Allah is the most virtuous one.”2

At other times, human dignity (or honour) is found in the process of creation, like:

“…in the best make.”3

which has been mentioned about the creation of man.

The objective of /karramn a/ in this verse, perhaps, is the second aspect of it. Man’s dignity is both in his creation, intelligence, intellect, and talents, and in having the Divine laws, the leadership of the ‘immaculate’ and of being prostrated to by the angels.

Incidentally, though man has been excelled to all creatures by Allah, even to the angels, his failure in selecting the right path, and his indecent acts bring him down to the lowest possible positions:

“…the lowest of the low”4 ,

which equates those of the animals and even lower than them.

“…is as the likeness of the donkey…”5

The examples are:

“…so his parable is like the parable of a dog…”6

and

“…they are as cattle, rather they are more astray…”7 ,

or

“…as stone or even worse…”8

This verse refers to both dignity (or honour) and virtues. The differences of the two may consist of:

Honour: can be considered as advantages which are lacking in others, while, virtues, consist of positive points which are also found in others.

Honour refers to the Allah-given blessings which exist within man with no struggles, while, virtues concern the blessings which have been gained by the effort of man accompanied with the Divine succor.

Honour concerns the material blessings, while virtue relates to spiritual blessings.

In conclusion, traveling is one of the necessities of human life for meeting his needs and acquiring of experiences, which the Lord has provided for man in land and at sea, calling it as one of His graces.

Then, there are the ‘good things’ which are of several kinds: The ‘clean life’, the ‘clean offspring’, the ‘clean sustenance’.

Imam Baqir (as) says:

“The clean sustenance is the same useful knowledge.”9