Individual, Not Group

The right method of the interpretation of history is to view the individuals rather than the humanity in totality.

The correct interpretation of human history, in reality, can be only one – one that is in accordance with the Creator’s scheme of things. The Quran enjoys the position of an authentic source on this subject. Its study tells us which interpretation of history is in accordance with God’s creation plan. A great number of historians, past as well as present, have compiled many books on history, but these books are no more than chronicles, for they fail to reveal the meaningfulness of human history. According to these books, history appears to be a jungle of meaningless events. The English historian, Edward Gibbon (d. 1794) has aptly put it as follows: “History, which is indeed, a little more than the register of crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind.”

What is worth noting as regards the interpretation of human history is that historians in general look at history in terms of the whole of humanity (collectively) to determine its beauty or ugliness. But according to the creation plan of God, the right method of the interpretation of history is to view the individuals rather than the humanity in totality. From a collective point of view, there does not exist any golden age of history but when we view it from the perspective of individuals or in terms of the individual, every age would appear as an age of golden individuals.