The Parable of Grass

It rained today. And rained. And rained. And as I walked through the rain, I noticed three distinct types of ground: pavement, grass, and flooded grass.

As rain falls on the pavement, it streams off, making the surface slick and slippery, or else pools. Drainage systems handle large amounts of water, but those have their own cost. As for pools, what do they do? They erode away slowly at the pavement. Or, if it’s not winter, they form a mosquito breeding ground. Pavement is obviously a human-made artifact.

Next comes the paradox–flooded grass. A thinly-veiled disguise, a human attempt to mimic real grass–but with none of the benefits (except that it still looks like grass, if you don’t look too closely.)

What about real grass? Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) engineered grass in the best of ways. Check this out: first, real grass looks and smells (and presumably tastes) like grass. It’s soft to walk on. When it rains, not only does the grass absorb the rain (because of the soil), but it also grows from the rain! And if that wasn’t enough, it even feeds animals! All that, from a little green plant we take for granted!

Subhanallah, this is like the knowledge of the Creator versus the knowledge of the creation. If all His knowledge is like the universe, we possess barely a single atom of it!  And what’s more, we cannot create anything even remotely as full of benefits as He can. Defeated by grass!

And Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

Translation: Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are indeed Signs for men of understanding–those who remember Allah, standing, sitting, and reclining, and consider the creation of the heavens and the earth, (and say): Our Lord! You created not this in vain. Glory be to Thee! Preserve us from the doom of Fire. [Suratul Imraan, 3:190-191]