History is the Key
Before discussing the Divine Law which deals with the rise and fall of nations, civilizations, and empires, it is necessary to emphasize that Almighty Allah (SWT) is never a passive onlooker vis-à-vis human history, but that each and every event takes place as a manifestation of His omnipotence and infinite wisdom.
There was an interesting idea called Deism that became popular in the 17th century Europe, the subtle remains of which are still lurking deep down in our minds. According to this view, God did create the universe, but He has long since removed Himself from its affairs, and only the blind and deaf laws of nature are now running the show. God is busy, so to speak, in a sort of self-contemplation, and He doesn’t care at all about the humanity He once created.
The Islamic perspective, in sharp contrast to Deism, is that Almighty Allah (SWT) is not only the Creator, Designer, and Fashioner of the cosmos, but He is also its Sovereign, Ruler, Administrator, and Guardian. The logical conclusion that necessarily follows from this belief is that nothing happens in the universe — not even the movement of a tiny leaf in the morning breeze — without the permission of Almighty Allah (SWT). Although human beings enjoy a limited freedom of action and are, therefore, responsible for the consequnces of their actions on the overall historical process, the fact remains that a human action as such is not effective in causing any event, unless it is allowed by Almighty Allah (SWT).
Since Almighty Allah (SWT) — in addition to being All-Powerful — is also the Most Wise, everything that takes place in the arena of human history has a profound reason which may or may not be immediately apparent to us. Human beings are extremely myopic creatures, lacking the infinitely broad perspective, in terms of both time and space, that is required to appreciate the wisdom and the long-term planning of the Creator. However, with the help of the Holy Qur’an and the guidance provided by Prophet Muhammad (SAW), it is possible to understand the general purpose and direction of history in an overall manner, although the meaning behind every individual event and its significance in the Divine scheme will probably remain elusive.
The Holy Qur’an urges us to contemplate the events of the past, as they are indicators of the sunnah of Almighty Allah (SWT); it teaches us to try and penetrate into the apparently meaningless succession of historical happenings and to discern the design and will of the Creator behind them, and to try and appreciate how the events in the world actually represent the plans of an Omnipotent Supreme Being.
It is important to keep this fact in mind: However random and aimless the events of history may appear, there is a definite purpose behind each one of them. It is the Divine Creative Energy, or the Will of Almighty Allah (SWT), that is active in the entire sweep of history. There is a certain order and pattern hidden beneath the plethora of seemingly inconsequential and disconnected historical facts. Nothing is useless, no event is arbitrary or futile. In fact, as we shall see in the later part of this book, a profoundly meaningful evolutionary process is taking place by which humanity is moving, slowly but steadily, toward its final destination. Although the details and finer points of this ongoing process are beyond the reach of human understanding, its broad outline is quite comprehensible.
Within this general scheme of things, there are certain universal truths which remain constant. As the
Qur’an warns us: You will not find any change in the law of God (Al-Fath 48:23)
The Islamic view of history can be explained in terms of the philosophy of ideals, as presented by late Dr. Muhammad Rafiuddin (1904-1969), former director of Iqbal Academy (Karachi, Pakistan). According to him, the unchanging characteristic of the human nature — ingrained, of course, by Almighty Allah (SAW) — is that the motivating force behind all human endeavors is the urge for ideals. Thus, different stages of the life of a culture-civilization, i.e., birth, growth, decline, and death, can be correctly understood only in terms of this philosophy of ideals, briefly described in the following paragraphs.
A number of individuals inspired by a single ideal organize themselves in the form of an ideal-group, e.g. a primitive tribe or a modern state. Their ideal may be a certain personality, a supernatural belief, or a social theory. By definition, members of the ideal-group believe their ideal to be the highest possible form of Beauty and Perfection. They make an effort to realize the ideal in practice, the result of their effort being the intellectual, cultural, and behavioral framework of that particular culture-civilization, including their language, religion, art, music, poetry, architecture, morality, philosophy, science, and law.
Initially, Almighty Allah (SWT) allows the culture-civilization to freely prosper and develop in all directions. In due course of time, however, the inherent defects and internal conflicts of the wrong ideal start manifesting and the ideal-group begins to deteriorate. Ultimately, over a variable period of time, the culture civilization gradually dies and disappears, making way for the next and possibly better ideal to capture the imagination and passion of a fresh generation, and the process repeats itself on a relatively higher plane of evolution. One Qur’anic verse summarizes this entire process in these words:
Do they not see how many generations We did destroy before them, whom We had firmly established in the land as We have not established you, and showered abundant rain on them, and made rivers lap at their feat, yet whom We destroyed for their sins, and raised new generations after them? (Al-An‘aam 6:6)
A deep study of history will show that the social evolution of humanity is progressing in a particular direction. Adopting and discarding one ideal after another, it is destined to reach the ultimate, permanent, and stable culture-civilization which will be based on the Right Ideal, i.e., an ideal which is in harmony with the human nature, and therefore free from all possible defects. This culture-civilization of the future will be characterized by the domination of the Right Ideal; in other words, by the domination of Islam. We shall return to this topic later in this treatise.
The Wrath of Almighty Allah (SWT)
As far as the individual human being is concerned, the Holy Qur’an makes it very clear that the life of this world is only a trial and a test, and that the consequences of good or bad deeds — in the form of rewards or punishments — are reserved for the life-beyond-death, the Hereafter, or the Al-Aakhira. Thus, the Almighty says:
Glorious is He who holds the Kingship in His hand, who has power over every thing, who created death and life in order to try you, to see who of you are best of deed. He is All-mighty and Forgiving. (Al-Mulk 67:1,2)
Verily We created man from a sperm joined (to the ovum) to try him, then gave him hearing and sight.We surely showed him the way that he may either be grateful or deny” (Al-Dahr 76:2-3)
We have made whatever exists on the earth its adornment to test and try them (and) know who acts better, for We shall certainly turn it to barren dust. (Al-Kahf 18:7-8)
This implies that the pains or troubles a person may face during the course of this-worldly life are not the penalties or punishments for his wrongdoing; similarly, the material comforts or prosperity or power one may enjoy are similarly not the rewards or compensations for his good deeds. What we experience in this life are the different ways in which the Lord tries us. This has been made clear in the Holy Qur’an thus:
Every soul will know the taste of death. We tempt you with evil and with good as a trial; and to Us you will return. (Al-Anbia 21:35)
However, the most significant point to note is that the above discussion applies only to individuals and not to nations or communities. The Holy Qur’an teaches us that the manner in which Almighty Allah (SWT) deals with different nations is quite different from the way in which He deals with individual human beings. The rewards and punishments for the individuals He postpones till the Doomsday, but when it comes to the behavior of entire nations and communities, the rewards for good deeds and the punishments for bad ones are often delivered to them right here in this world. This point is explained in the following paragraphs.
Our Creator and Sustainer has provided the means to satisfy all human needs and urges, including the human desire for guidance. Almighty Allah (SWT) established the institution of prophethood in order to guide humanity towards the Right Ideal. This is because the need to know the highest ideal of Beauty and Perfection, and the urge to love and worship that ideal, is the most irresistible desire of the human soul. A prophet or nabi is a person who is endowed with the knowledge, through Divine revelation or Wahee, that the only true Ideal worthy of our love and worship is none other than Almighty Allah (SWT) Himself. The system of life based on this Ideal is characterized by an unconditional surrender to the will of the Creator, and this is what every prophet has preached to his people.
According to some traditions, there have been 124 thousand prophets in all, 313 of which were also messengers. Although the Qur’an does not clarify in an explicit manner the distinction between a prophet and a messenger, and hence there are a number of opinions on this point, the most logical explanation in our opinion is as follows. We believe that a prophet, or nabi, who was specifically appointed by Almighty Allah (SWT) to guide a particular nation or community, got promoted to the rank of His envoy, in a manner of speaking, and therefore he would become a messenger, or rasool. This means that all messengers were chosen by Almighty Allah (SWT) from among the prophets; that all messengers were prophets, but not all prophets were messengers.
The Holy Qur’an tells us that after the advent of a messenger or rasool to a given nation, the rise and fall of that nation became linked solely to its collective response to the Divine messenger. If the people surrendered to the commands of their Creator and obeyed His messenger, they enjoyed peace and prosperity and material comforts. But if they showed ingratitude, and refused to follow the Divine message, then they became liable for the most severe punishment from Almighty Allah (SWT).
A community or a group of people who thus rejected the Divine messenger sent towards them became, in the sight of Allah (SWT), an impediment to the overall evolution of humanity towards the ultimate realization of the Right Ideal. Therefore, the Divine plan for the human race demanded that such a useless and spiritually barren people be removed from the face of the earth, once and for all. This can be described as the law of “annihilation of the worst.”
In this context, nearly identical stories of six different nations appear in the Qur’an, each of which was guilty of rejecting their Divinely appointed messengers. All of these nations were destroyed and eliminated as a punishment for their sins and transgressions. These condemned nations included, in chronological sequence, the people of Prophet Nuh (AS), a nation called Aad to which Prophet Hud (AS) was sent, a nation known as Thamud to which Prophet Saleh (AS) was appointed, the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah which were assigned to Prophet Lut (AS), the people of Prophet Sho‘aib (AS), and finally the Egyptian Pharaoh and his followers who rejected Prophet Musa (AS). Of course, there may be numerous other nations who met this fate; although only six of these are mentioned in the Holy Qur’an.
It should be kept in mind that such clear and open manifestations of the wrath of Almighty Allah (SWT) used to appear in the past only after one of His messengers had explicitly and unambiguously communicated the Divine message to a particular group of people, and they remained persistent in refusing to surrender before the will of their Lord. The Qur’an is very emphatic on this point:
We never punish till We have sent a messenger. (Al-Isra 17:15)
But your Lord does not destroy habitations without having sent a messenger to their metropolis to read out Our commandments to them. (Al-Qasas 28:59)
The converse of the above mentioned Divine Law is also true: A nation that unconditionally accepts the Sovereignty of Almighty Allah (SWT), and acts accordingly, is blessed with all that is good and desirable in this world. This has been described by the Qur’an in several ways. Here are two examples:
And if they had followed the teachings of the Torah and the Gospel, and what has been sent down to them by their Lord, they would surely have enjoyed (blessings) from the heavens above and the earth below their feet. Some among them are moderate, but evil is what most of them do. (Al-Ma’ida 5:66)
But if the people of these regions had believed and feared God, We would surely have showered on them blessings of the heavens and the earth; but they only denied, and We punished them for their deeds. (Al-A‘raf 7:96)
The Qur’an maintains that the real and everlasting rewards for believing in and obeying the commands of Allah (SWT) will manifest themselves in the next world, the Hereafter, or Al-Aakhira. However, there is a great deal to gain in this life as well, in the form of social harmony, peace, and general prosperity.
For those who do good there is good in the world, but certainly the abode of the next is better. (Al-Nahl 16:30)
Privileges and Obligations
A community that obeys the commands of Almighty Allah (SWT) becomes dear to Him. This privilege is, however, coupled with many obligations. The more glories and bounties a nation is blessed with, the more are its responsibilities in the sight of Almighty Allah (SWT). Privileges and obligations go together.
A community that claims to be the follower of a messenger of Allah (SAW), and custodian of His message in the form of a revealed Book, automatically becomes the representative of the Almighty among other nations. This is a tremendous responsibility. If the behavior of such a community is in contravention to its claim, then, according to Divine Justice, they deserve all the humiliation and disgrace, sufferings and miseries in the life of this world. If their character and morals, their way of life, their society and culture, and their politico-economic norms are contrary to the teachings of the Divine Revelation, then this constitutes an unpardonable crime. The reason is that such behavior, instead of presenting an attractive and true picture of the way of life based on the Right Ideal — and thereby bringing people nearer to Allah (SWT) — serves only to repel them away from the Divine Guidance by displaying a distorted and ugly image of that guidance. The Qur’an is very explicit on this point:
O you who believe, why do you profess what you do not practice? Saying what you do not practice is most hateful in the sight of God. (Al-Saff 61:2,3)
Do you believe a part of the Book and reject a part? There is no other award for them who so act but ignominy in this world, and on the Day of Judgment the severest of punishment. (Al-Baqarah 2:85)
A strange characteristic of such disgraced communities is that, in spite of receiving frequent installments of Divine punishment, they continue to believe that Allah (SWT) truly loves them. Due to this self-deception, which is based upon their claimed association with a holy messenger of Allah (SWT), they continue to live in a fool’s paradise of their own making. They feel satisfied in the unfounded conviction that they deserve, as a birthright, some kind of preferential treatment from their Lord, just because they belong to a particular community and for no other reason. The Qur’an tries to shake such complacent people from their deluded slumber thus:
The Jews and the Christians say: “We are sons of God and beloved of Him.” Say: “Why does He punish you then for your sins? No! You are only mortals, of His creation.” (Al-Ma’ida 5:18)
And they (the Jews) say: “Hell fire will not touch us for more than a few days.” Say: “Have you so received a promise from God? Then surely God will not withdraw His pledge. Or do you impute things to God of which you have no knowledge at all?” (Al-Baqarah 2:80)
Unfortunately, the image we get from these verses is a disturbingly true representation of today’s Muslims. Even the repeated episodes of severe punishments, in the background of continuous sufferings, has failed to produce in us any sense of guilt or remorse. Instead, our deeply ingrained myth of being a privileged people has remained intact. Unbelievable as it may sound, the more disgrace we receive, the more we fall in love with ourselves, blinded by our supposed righteousness and delusion of our own grandeur. Such irony, however, may well be a part of our punishment.
The Present and Former Muslim Ummah
The word “Islam” stands for submission before the Sovereignty of Almighty Allah (SWT), as proclaimed by His prophets throughout human history. The number of these holy men, as mentioned earlier, is reported to be 124 thousand. However, irrespective of the exact figure, it is generally accepted by scholars of the Qur’an that five of them are the most prominent and most notable. These include Prophet Nuh (AS), Prophet Ibrahim (AS), Prophet Musa (AS), Prophet Isa (AS), and Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
Out of these, Prophet Nuh (AS) was probably not endowed with any Divine Scripture. Prophet Ibrahim (AS) did receive some sort of scriptures, but there was no formal law or Shari‘ah in them. Similarly, the Zabur or Psalms of Prophet Dawood (AS) and the Injeel or Gospel of Prophet Isa (AS) contained nothing that can be described as law; instead, they were composed of hymns and exhortations, respectively. It follows that, among the known Divine Revelations, only two can be described as “Books,” in the sense that they contained Shari‘ah, — the Torah (or Tauraat) and the Holy Qur’an. The former is the name given to the “Five Books of Moses,” also called the Pentateuch, which are included in the beginning of the Old Testament. The latter, i.e., the Holy Qur’an, is the final and ultimate Book as revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
It is significant to note that the Torah was revealed to Prophet Musa (AS) as a guidance only for the Israelites, whereas the Qur’an — being the last of Revelations — describes itself as “The Guidance” for the whole humanity, for all times to come.
The main conclusion of the above discussion, however, is that there had been only two Muslim “Ummahs” during the entire period of known human history. This is because the genesis of such a community is always preceded by — and is the direct result of — a Shari‘ah being given to a messenger and through him to his followers. Since there had been only two versions of the Divine Law that we can be sure about, i.e., the Mosaic Law and the Shari‘ah of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), it follows that there had been only two Muslim Ummahs — the Israelites or the Jews who were the previous Ummah, and the community of the followers of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), which constitutes the current and final Ummah.
Next, we shall discuss the common features and distinguishing characteristics of these two communities, along with a brief review of their history and the present state of their affairs. The relevance of this topic is based upon the fact that, according to the predictions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the Muslims and the Jews of the world — as custodians of Divine Revelations — are going to act as two key players with regard to the ultimate destiny of mankind.
Certain pointers of the Qur’an and detailed prophecies in the Hadith literature predict the events that would happen before the end of the world, that is, they foretell the final acts of the global drama. It is vital to comprehend these predictions with reference to their proper background, not only to clear our minds of any distrust or doubt, but also to prevent any feeling of bewilderment when that which has been promised does take place.
Another reason for discussing the history of the previous Ummah, as will be elucidated shortly, is the stunning resemblance between the history of Jews and that of Muslims, a fact that was also foretold by Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
Part 3 of 10 will be posted shortly:
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