The Standard of History
God, the Creator of man has instilled the concept of Paradise in human nature. That is why every man and woman is born with great desires and aspirations.
This approach appears to be the most convincing way of judging history. By viewing history from this angle, we can see that there have existed noble and righteous people in every generation in the jungle of the corrupted and the perverted. In this human jungle, we find such noble characters as that of Abel, Adam’s son, who said to Cain, his brother, who wanted to kill him, “If you raise your hand to kill me, I will not raise mine to kill you. I fear God, the Lord of the Universe.” (5:28)
This was a statement of peace. Thus, he set the highest example of peace-making beyond which there is no level of pacifism.
In a similar way, Hajira, mother of Prophet Ishmael, was born in that same corrupt society. Two thousand five hundred years ago, according to God’s plan, she made a supreme sacrifice by agreeing to settle in the Arabian Desert with her young child in order to produce a new generation. When Abraham told her that he had arranged her stay in the desert by God’s command, she uttered these historic words, “When it is in accordance with God’s plan, he will not let us go to waste.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari, hadith 3364) This supreme sacrifice of Hajira produced the generation known as Children of Ishmael. They were invested with noble human qualities. Professor D.S Margoliouth (d. 1940) has acknowledged this by calling this Ishmaelite race ‘a nation of heroes,’ and echoing the words of the Bible, “I will make of thee-Ishmael-a great nation.”
Similarly, it was in this jungle of history that individuals like Abu Bakr and Umar Faruq were born. In spite of being invested with political power, they saved themselves from corruption. Mahatma Gandhi, describing their superior character wrote, “Though they were masters of a vast empire, yet they lived the life of paupers.” (Harijan, July 27, 1973)
God, the Creator of man has instilled the concept of Paradise in human nature. That is why every man and woman is born with great desires and aspirations. Every human being is endowed by birth with an ideal imaginary world which has made him a paradise seeking animal. Owing to this nature, everyone is engaged in building an ideal world for himself.
Everyone devotes all his energy and resources in the pursuit of a world of happiness where he can find total fulfilment. But it is also a fact that everyone who comes to this world fails to build his desired world and finally dies in a state of utter despair. No one is an exception to this rule. I once searched the internet about the final days of about 400 eminent people. I found that each one of them had died in a state of extreme despair.
It is actually paradise, the perfect or ideal world, which is cherished by everyone. What must be remembered is that the place to find this world is the Hereafter rather than the present world. According to God’s creation plan, man must strive to earn a place in Paradise. Throughout human history, however, man has tried to build a paradise for himself in this present world. Since this goes against the divine scheme, every such effort on the part of human beings has been rendered fruitless.
The goal of some thinkers and reformers was to create an ideal world on this planet based on justice and human values. However, this never materialised as it went against God’s Creation Plan. God’s goal is to produce ideal people rather than an ideal system. These exemplary people, scattered throughout history, would be selected and settled in the ultimate world of Heaven in the Hereafter.
