THE QURANIC CONCEPT OF HISTORY
Creation Plan of God
No just estimate have they made of God, such as is due to Him. But on the Day of Resurrection the whole earth will lie within His grasp, while heaven will be folded up in His right hand; Glory be to Him! Exalted is He above all that they associate with Him. ( THE QURAN 39: 67)
THIS is one of the most important pronouncements of the Quran. A tradition recorded in the Sahih Bukhari further elaborates it as: God will hold the earth in His hand and will roll up the heavens in His right hand and then will say: “I am the King, where are the kings of the earth?”
These two quotations make it clear that God is the Supreme Omnipotent Being, the One and only God. Human beings have failed to grasp this truth.
Not making a true estimation of God implies moreover, an underestimation of Gods’ creation plan. This has led to the adoption of a self-styled plan for daily living by many people, instead of adhering to God’s scheme of things.
We learn from the Quran and Hadith that in human history it is God, the Lord of the universe, who is at the helm of affairs. It is true that when God created this world, He gave it an environment of freedom, but this was only so that the world might be used as a testing ground for mankind. With everyone having the liberty to do as he pleased, it would become clear as to who had made proper use of his freedom and who had misused it. This situation is to continue until Doomsday, so that the actions of every individual, both good and bad, may be accurately recorded and then each human being will find the place in God’s court which befits his actions on earth.
When God created this world, He gave it an environment of freedom, but this was only so that the world might be used as a testing ground for mankind.
God will appear on the day of Judgement and declare that what was required in reality was to live one’s life in accordance with His creation plan, rather than that self-styled rulers should establish their own will on earth. It should be borne in mind in this instance that neither the Quranic verse nor the quotation from the Hadith is to be taken in any political sense.
Since time immemorial, man had deprived man of religious freedom. But as time went on, circumstances changed until, in the seventh century, the Prophet and his Companions found the opportunity to put an end to the monarchical system, in the process throwing open the doors of religious freedom to all men and women. At present, history is passing through this phase of freedom.
According to the creation plan of the universe, man is not destined to be the master of history. Man is only the manager of his own person. He should not try to become the controller of events. Man is responsible only for controlling his own self: his principal objectives should be to remain on monotheism and see to it that he is just in all his dealings with other fellow beings throughout his life. This is religion (ad-Din) and following it in one’s life is to uphold religion (Iqamat-e-Din).
In ancient times, the kings tried to control the course of history. But this went against God’s creation plan. Therefore, God brought the institution of monarchy to an end. The present age is thus one of freedom and democracy, a situation which could not have come to exist without the intervention of God.
The Muslims of the present age have failed to understand this divine creation plan. According to their self-styled interpretation of God’s religion, they have come to regard their duty as being to establish their own rule throughout the world. It is as if once again they are attempting to become the controllers of human history.
According to the creation plan of the universe, man is not destined to be the master of history. Man is only the manager of his own person.
This is indisputably at variance with the scheme of the Almighty. It has never been the will of God that human beings should be allowed to carry such intentions into effect. On the contrary, the responsibility of Muslims is, first and foremost, to become subservient to God, rather than become the managers of human history. This is why the self-styled jihad of present times has become a total failure. All that the self-styled jihad of Muslims has done, far from putting them in control of history, is to reduce them as a community to a state of ruination.
