Negative Interpretation
of History
The truth of the matter is that the human world is far more beautiful than the rest of the world.
Scholars generally have a negative outlook of human history. For instance, Edward Gibbon, as we have seen, once observed that “the history of humanity is little more than a register of crimes, follies, and misfortunes”.
Similarly, the great novels produced in various languages of the world are mostly tragedies, rather than comedies. Why is there such a negative perception of human history? The reason is that these scholars did not follow the right method of studying history. The right method of studying history entails first discovering the creator’s map of history, followed by looking at and examining history in the light of that divine map.
Scholars want to understand history in the light of their own hypothetical map, so they develop negative thinking about history when their view of history does not appear to be meaningful as per their assumptions.
These words of one researcher, “In this world everything is beautiful except man,” also reflect the same negative view of history. This opinion is also the result of setting up a wrong standard. The truth of the matter is that the human world is far more beautiful than the rest of the world. Man constitutes the purpose of the creation of the universe, then how is it possible that he should not be beautiful?
The reason for this incongruous opinion is that while observing the material world, writers found beauty at the individual level yet failed to find the same beauty in the human world at a collective level.
According to the Creator’s plan, there is a difference between the human world and the material world. The reason being that the non-human world requires a collective discipline because it is not designed for the purpose of test, rather it is meant as a support to the human world. This goal cannot be achieved without maintaining a collective discipline.
On the contrary, man’s case is seen at the individual level. What is desired here is individual beauty, rather than total beauty. In the human world, each individual is being tested separately. He has been given the opportunity to make proper use of his freedom in order to become a successful member of the heavenly society. On the basis of this plan of creation, it becomes clear that both the human and the non-human worlds will have a different standard of judgement. That is to say, man should be judged individually whereas the non-human world should be judged at the collective level. Both man and the rest of the universe are masterpieces of creation in themselves, but the standard of judgement is different in each case.
The common denominator of those who have a negative view of human history is that they form their opinion by looking at the whole human race. Their presumption that there is nothing but evil in the human world is based on their wish to find their desired ideal world at the collective level. Whereas they should rather say that although evil did exist at the collective level, there is an enormous goodness available at the individual level. The negative thinking has produced the concept of evil which has influenced the thinking of contemporary scholars.
The goal to build an ideal society, with all human beings practising the ideal at a collective level, entails cancellation of human freedom. The reason is that the root cause of all evil in human society is traceable to the misuse of freedom granted to man by God. Revoking human freedom is tantamount to revoking the Creator’s plan. That is why God has designed man’s case to be individual-based rather than collective-based or to be at an individual level rather than a collective level. The Creator’s concern is not to establish an ideal system at the level of the whole human society, which can happen only when human freedom is totally withdrawn, and this certainly does not fit in with the Creator’s plan.
According to the plan of creation, it is impossible to achieve the ideal at a collective level. But it is quite possible that there will arise extraordinary individuals out of the multitude—such men as would discover the truth by their own efforts and mould themselves accordingly. These are the exceptional people desired by the Creator. This is what is meant by managing history according to His own plan while maintaining human freedom.
We can learn the scheme of the Creator of the universe from a study of the Quran. In chapter 4 of the Quran there is a verse as follows,
“Whoever obeys God and the Messenger will be among those He has blessed: the messengers, the truthful, the witnesses, and the righteous. What excellent companions these are! That is God’s favour. Sufficient is God’s infinite knowledge.” (4:69-70)
From this statement of the Quran, it becomes clear as to who would be the chosen people held deserving of Paradise. Four titles have been used here to describe these people. The word ‘prophet’ here refers to those who have received God’s revelations for the guidance of humanity. The word ‘siddiq’, that is the truthful, refers to those who associated themselves with the truth to the extent of enjoying a complete temperamental compatibility with prophets. The shaheed (witness) are those whose lives are so moulded with the truth that they become a witness of the truth with their whole being. The pious (saleh) refer to those whose lives are an example of a perfect coordination between their thought and action. Their actions are in full accordance with their beliefs and ideology.
These are the four categories of people who will form the ideal society of Paradise. These people will not belong to any particular era or a particular society, rather, they will be selected from various imperfect societies. Keeping in view the Creator’s scheme of things, it would be apt to say that here any kind of achievement would be possible only at the individual level. So far as the achievement of perfection at the level of society is concerned, it is not at all possible in this world of test.
In this world, possessing a positive mindset is essential to keep to the right path. However, leading a life with such an outlook is not a simple matter, for one has to undergo a mandatory test of managing two opposite and conflicting tendencies.
Man is by nature an idealist. But he has to live practically in an imperfect world. It is important to be consciously aware of this fact, otherwise owing to the idealistic bent of mind he would negatively react to different experiences he encounters within the imperfect world. Being deprived of positive thinking, consequently, is akin to divesting oneself of all goodness. It is akin to losing everything.
Man must be consciously aware of the fact that he was gifted with an idealistic bent of mind so that he might become a seeker of Paradise, rather than fruitlessly pursuing a heavenly life in this world. The present world is designed to produce heavenly individuals rather than heavenly society.
