Among all living things human beings are the only creatures who have consciousness. As a matter of fact, human beings don't really need consciousness for survival. For instance, goats , bees and dogs don't have consciousness, though they still survive. This fact brings to mind that human consciousness serves some other purposes than survival.
Everything on earth has been created to serve a purpose for mankind. Every aspect of the universe serves the needs of human beings. For example, trees don't really need fruits for distributing their seeds, but they produce all those delicious fruits for our needs. Trees are not mostly high, so that we can easily pick fruits right of the branches. The lower branches of high trees are low enough to let us climb up the tree.
The coolness provided by the shade of a tree cannot be obtained from the shade of any other object. Trees are also living things, but they do not move like animals, they just stand and wait for us to pick fruits and use their bodies as "wood". Where would we provide wood if trees didn't existed? How would we build up a wooden boat if the density of wood was not less than the density of water? How would we transport goods so easily if the rivers, seas and oceans didn't existed ?
"And if you would count Allah(God)'s favors, you will not be able to number them; most surely Allah(God) is Forgiving, Merciful." ( Quran : 16/18 )
Every blessing of Allah(God) is not also a gift but also a sign for us to understand the greatness of Allah(God). Humans are the only creatures who can discover and understand Allah(God). Allah(God) is the most valuable hidden treasure and Allah(God) wants to be discovered.
The sensible world
contains millions of things which compel man's attention and
admiration for their beauty and usefulness, but if one tries to look
behind the veil of appearances, one would find in each and every thing
the manifestation of the same creative power. For example, if we contemplate in the shape of the fingers at the back of the right hand we will find out amazingly that it draws the name of "ALLAH". (ref:Dr. Tariq Salman AsSaadi)
Admiring anything that
exists in the created world is no more than showing one's admiration
for a work of art or craft, which in fact is a praise of the artist or the
craftsman. This small statement of the Quran opens a new
perspective for man lost in the labyrinth of multiplicity, and shows
him how the many are knit together in the same unity, and how all
praise in reality belongs to One whose power is absolute.(reference: Tafsir by Maulana Mufti Muhammad)
"Most surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day, and the ships that run in the sea with that which profits men, and the water that Allah(God) sends down from the cloud, then gives life with it to the earth after its death and spreads in it all (kinds of) animals, and the changing of the winds and the clouds made subservient between the heaven and the earth, there are signs for a people who understand." ( Quran : 2/164 )
