remedial nature, and has in it nothing of vengeance — it is the treatment of a disease which man has brought upon himself. It is still love, for its object is still to set a man on the road to spiritual progress by healing the disease. One of the names of God, included in the ninety-nine names by the later theologians, though not mentioned in the Holy Qur’ān, is al-Dzārr or One Who causes distress, but this bringing about of distress is only in the limited sense that it is a punishment for wrong-doing with the underlying object of reformation: “We seized them with distress and affliction in order that they might humble themselves” (6:42; 7:94).

Divine attributes as the great ideal to be attained

Just a belief in the Unity of God is a source of man’s uplift, making him conscious of the dignity of human nature, and inspiring him with the grand ideas of the conquest of nature and of the equality of man with man, so the numerous attributes of the Divine Being, as revealed in the Holy Qur’ān, are really meant for the perfection of human character. The Divine attributes really serve as an ideal to which man must strive to attain. God is Rabb al-‘ālamīn, the Fosterer and Nourisher of the worlds; keeping that as an ideal before himself, man must endeavour to make the service of humanity, even that of dumb creation, the object of his life. God is Raḥmān, conferring benefits on man and showing him love without his having done anything to deserve it; the man who seeks to attain to perfection must do good even to those of his fellow-men from whom he has not himself received, and does not expect to receive, any benefit. God is Raḥīm, making every good deed bear fruit; man must also do good for any good that he receives from another. God is Mālik, requiting evil, not in a spirit of vengeance or even of unbending justice, but in a spirit of forgiveness, in the spirit of a master dealing with his servant; so must man be forgiving in his dealings with others, if he will attain to perfection.

The above are the four chief attributes of the Divine Being, and it is easily seen how they serve as ideals for man. So it is with all His other attributes. Take, for example, those of love and mercy. God is Affectionate, Loving, Kind, Benignant, Oft-returning to mercy,