The Divine Organisation
of History
God has managed human history while fully maintaining human freedom.
According to the Quran, human history begins with Adam and Eve. God created them and settled them in paradise. The guidance given to them by God was as follows:
“O Adam! Live with your wife in Paradise and eat freely from it anywhere you may wish. Yet do not approach this tree lest you become wrongdoers.” (2:35)
The creation of Adam’s wife was an indication that God desired not just a human being but a human race. The only condition set for man to be entitled to heaven was his willingness to abide by a self-disciplined character without abusing his freedom. When Adam and Eve failed to fulfil this condition, God expelled them from heaven and settled them on Earth.
This means that initially, man was given the opportunity to live in heaven. But when man transgressed the covenant, God decided that from then onwards, only the deserving people will be admitted to heaven. So, selection for paradise will be selective rather than general. In this way, God has managed human history while fully maintaining human freedom.
The present earth is a selection ground for this purpose of creation. The Quran states that on the Day of Resurrection, according to the record which the angels present based on our deeds, only selected men and women will find a place in the ideal world of Heaven (67:2).
The life support system on earth was created by God, but man was given complete freedom of speech and action. Man, once again, misused this freedom. The perversion of human beings went on increasing, and ultimately man became involved in polytheism and nature worship. If the first man had eaten only the fruit of the ‘tree’, now his progeny had started worshipping the ‘tree’ itself, holding it to be a deity.
According to the plan of creation, it was not possible to revoke human freedom. Therefore, God opted for the method of managing human history while maintaining human freedom. Towards this end, God selected individuals from amongst human beings and revealed to them His messages for humanity’s guidance. These messengers communicated to mankind that there is only one God worthy of being worshipped, and they should shun the worship of any other being.
However, since God was unseen, the majority did not pay any heed to these messengers. Veneration or worshipping God meant to worship a being which was unobservable. Man, who wanted to revere some visible object, made nature his god by virtue of its visibility. Polytheism is another name for worshipping nature.
Despite the coming of the prophets in succession, man failed to pay heed to their teachings. He chose to misuse his freedom. This practice persisted from one generation to the next until polytheism became the dominant culture: it came to be a continuum in human history.
Given the general dominance of polytheistic culture, polytheism came to enjoy the patronage of political power almost all over the world. It was accorded the position of a state religion. In its initial stages, polytheism was merely a doctrinal evil, but later, with the kings’ patronage, it became so powerful that its eradication was next to impossible. The polytheism culture continued to grow breeding the evil described as “absolute imperialism” by Henri Pirenne, the well-known French historian. The phenomenon of political patronage gave rise to the aggressive religiosity that has historically been called religious persecution. The rulers created an environment in which polytheism was the only option for the people to follow. Therefore, the believers of one God were forced to either adopt the religion of the State or be killed in punishment. It is this state of affairs prevailing in ancient times, which has been referred to in the Quran (85:4-8).
This situation made it clear that mere declaration and pronouncement of the creed of monotheism was not sufficient to effect any change in society. The first requirement was the separation of religion from political power in order that man may have the freedom to choose his faith.
