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Woe to the makers of the pit [of fire] * Fire supplied [abundantly] with fuel * Behold! They sat over against [the fire] * And they witnessed [all] that they were doing against the believers * And they ill-treated them for no other reason than that they believed in God, the Hfiirhty, the One to Whom all Praise is due.n
Likewise,
In the loaded ark * And We have created for them similar [vessels] on which they ride.12-13
Just as verses like these point to the railway, so the following verse alludes to electricity, as well as pointing to numerous other lights and mysteries:
God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is as if there were a niche, and within it a lamp; the lamp enclosed in glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star. Lit from a blessed tree, an olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though the fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light!14 God guides whom He wills to His Light.15
Since numerous people have occupied themselves with this second sort, and they are in need of much care and elucidation, and since they are many, for now we shall content ourselves with these verses that allude to the railway and electricity, and shall not open that door.
As for The First Sort, it indicates them in the form of the Miracles of the Prophets. And we shall mention some of these by way of example.
introduction: The All-Wise Qur'an sends the Prophets to man's communities as leaders and vanguards of spiritual and moral progress. Similarly it gives all of them a number of wonders and makes them the masters and foremen in regard to mankind's material progress, and commands men to follow them absolutely. Thus, just as by speaking of the spiritual and moral perfections of the Prophets, it is enqouraging people to benefit from them, so too in discussing their miracles it is inferring encouragement to achieve similar things and to imitate them. It may even be said that like spiritual and moral attainments, material attainments and wonders were first given to mankind as a gift by the hand of miracles. Thus, what first gave man the gift of the ship, which was a miracle of Noah (Peace be upon him), and the clock, a miracle of Joseph (Peace be upon him), was the hand of miracles. It is a subtle indication to this truth that most craftsmen have a Prophet as the patron of their craft. For example, seamen have Noah (PUH), watchmakers have Joseph (PUH), tailors have Idris (PUH), and so on.
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11. Qur'an, 85:4-8.
12. Qur'an, 36:41-2.
13. This sentence indicates that the railway has taken the World of Islam prisoner. The unbelievers defeated Islam with it.
14. The sentence, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though the fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! illuminates that allusion.
15. Qur'an, 24:35.
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