The Quran has, time and again, directed man’s
attention to the phenomena of nature and the events of history, and has exhorted him to
reflect and ponder over them. These two fields, so apart from each other, are
fundamentally alike, as both reflect the same Divine purpose. The working of law is
discernible in both. Today, the processes that govern the coming into and passing out of
existence of living organisms seem pretty clear. But when we pass from the individual life
to group existence, the picture becomes a little hazy. Nevertheless, creditable data has
been compiled on the rules that govern the emergence and disintegration of human groups.
The philosophy of history has tried to broaden the spectrum and to identify the laws that
govern the rise and fall of nations. It has been a laudable attempt, but it has, so far,
failed to give in intelligible account of the course of human history. None of the
concepts put forward has held the field for long. The result is that history still appears
to be a disorderly succession of fortuitous events. The Quran invites a look into history
from a fresh angle which deserves attention. According to the Quran, the Divine purpose is
at work in human affairs as it is in—nature the inanimate —world but with a
difference. In nature, the Divine purpose is progressively accomplished through laws from
which there is no escape. We may call them the Divine Will. The material, is passive and
can be moulded into any form concordant with the purpose of God. In history, on the other
hand, the purpose is to be worked out through the willing and active co-operation of free
finite beings. The Divine Will, by a self-imposed restraint, permits them to act and
choose for themselves. The human beings who play their part on the stage of history, have,
sometimes, lived and acted in harmony with God’s purpose and, sometimes, against it.
In the former case they have prospered, progressed and taken their rightful place in the
vanguard of civilisation ; in the latter case, they have fallen behind other people, have
decayed and ultimately have been supplanted by others. In this process, a causal relation
is indicated. Each way of life produces its own consequences. The set of regulations which
governs these results is the Law of Requital. As you sow, so shall you reap. This law is
as relentless and inexorable in its working as any other law of nature. The Quran has
repeatedly affirmed this law and, drawing upon human history, has provided copious
illustrations of its working. A nation which adopts a way of life that accords with the
moral order of the universe, achieves success in every field of activity. It wins both
wisdom and material prosperity. A nation whose way of life is opposed to this order,
inevitably decays and disintegrates.
History is a record of the rise and fall of nations.
It tells us about the nations that flourished in the past—their way of life, the
goals they pursued, the values around which their culture was organised, their actions and
the consequences of those actions. History taken not merely as a chronicle of events but
as assessment of working of values can help us solve our own problems. This assessment
would give us power—power of prediction and power of control—in the sphere of
collective affairs. We can avoid pitfalls. If we find ourselves following a course that
has brought nations to a calamitous end, we can check ourselves in time, retrace our steps
back to the crossroad and choose a better path, if not the right one. We can thus have not
only a guiding light to judge our own way of life, our thinking and our actions, but also
an insight into the future of other nations from the ideals pursued by them. In short, if
we wish to make the best of life, there is no escape from a study of history relating the
conduct of the people with the fate that befell them. That is why the Quran exhorts us to
go round the world and see for ourselves "the fate of those who defied God",
i.e., His Laws. Wealth, power, numbers, nothing could save them when they ran afoul of the
higher values. History has judged them, as it will, in time, judge us. The prognosis is
within our grasp:
Verily, we have sent down for you revelations
that make plain, and the example of those who passed away before you. An admonition unto
those who wish to be secured from the pitfalls in the way of life (24 : 34).
The method of the Quran is, first to state the laws
that govern the fate of nations and then to cite instances from history to illustrate the
working of those laws. The purpose of the Quran is not to record past events in all their
details but to give sufficient reference to make its own point and leave out the rest.
Thus the Quran imparts such a deep insight into the nature of the life process that it
inspires unquestioning faith in its pronouncement when it says:
Have they not travelled in the land to see the
nature of the consequence for those before them? They were more numerous than these and
mightier in power and in the traces (which they have left behind them) in the earth. But
all that they used to earn availed them not. And when their messengers brought them clear
proofs (of the consequences of their doings), they exulted in the knowledge they
themselves possessed. And that which they were wont to mock, befell them (40: 82-83).
These nations enjoyed many advantages. They
possessed power, wealth, technical knowledge and a rich material culture. In prosperity
they had multiplied and spread over the earth. But when they chose to defy the moral order
of the universe, all their efforts to ward off the blow of fate were of no avail. They
fell into decay and dwindled away. They could not plead ignorance as they had been warned
time and again by Anbia from among themselves. These Anbia had admonished
them to recognise their mistakes and mend their ways. They, however, chose to ignore the
warnings and persisted in treading a dangerous path. Vanity and pride ruled their hearts
and, elated by temporary successes, they failed to foresee the long-term results of their
actions. At last, they reached the limit that the Laws of God have set to everything. When
they crossed it, their fate was sealed. They had reached the point of no return. Remorse
and repentance could not save them thereafter:
(When they had crossed the limit) their Iman
could not avail them when they saw their doom. This is Allah's Law which has ever taken
course in regard to His servants (mankind) ; and there were the ungodly lost (40 : 85).
A prominent aspect of the eternal,
the unalterable, law is that there are limits within which possibilities of change and
recovery are available. Beyond those limits, nothing avails and all attempts to save
oneself run into sands.
II. The Law at Work
The basic attitude that the law demands in human
relationship is respect for the dignity of man-for human personality which every
individual possesses equally and which has an intrinsic value. A disregard of this value
manifests itself in exploitation of other human beings, either by damage to their person
or to their possessions. The exploiting nations are ruined:
How many a community, that dealt unjustly have We
shattered, and raised up after them another community. And when they saw the consequences
of their doings in the shape of their doom, they tried to run away from it.
But it was said unto them : run not away but
return to that wherein you delighted and to your dwellings, that you may be questioned (as
to whence you had obtained so much wealth and the way in which you had dealt with others).
They confessed there upon and said: Lo! we were
wrongdoers. And this their crying ceased not till We made reaped corn, extinct (21 :
11-14).
The consequences may take their time but are
inevitable. The universe was not meant to be without a moral order:
We created not the heaven and earth and all that
is between them in sport (21 : l6).
They have been created so that Our Law of
Requital may be set in operation (45 : 22).
When a people choose to take a life in defiance of
the moral order, there is actually no time lag between action and its decaying result on
their life process. But it may take some time for the effect to be perceptible and to
manifest itself in social and economic maladies. Anyone stopping at the maladies in his
analysis of the causes of a nation's fall would only be reaching the obvious symptoms but
not the root cause—the ungodly way of life. The symptoms can be suppressed without
curing the real disease. This would be inviting eruption of the disease in other and more
dangerous forms. The Quran, taking a comprehensive view of life, calls for a radical cure,
that is, a change of heart and a new orientation. When this change is brought about, the
symptoms start disappearing. The only cure for social ills is a return to the path of
righteousness and rectitude.
The Quran designates the Law of Requital as the Sunna
of God—the uniform way in which He deals with the world in its physical and moral
aspects. Sunna implies order, uniformity and consistency. It is the expression of
God's rationally directed Will.
This has been the course followed by God with regard
to those who passed away before. The bidding of God is a decree, measured according to a
definite pattern called Divine Laws (33 : 39). This law, or "habit of God" knows
no change. It will operate in the future as it has operated in the past:
This is the course (habit) of Allah with regard
to those who passed away before; and never shalt thou find a change in the course (law) of
Allah (33 : 62).
This "habit of God" is also specifically
related to the consequences of going against His laws:
And they swore by Allah, their most binding oath,
that if a warner came to them, they would be more tractable than any of the nations, yet
when a warner came unto them, he aroused in them naught save repugnance (shown in their)
behaving arrogantly in the land and plotting mischief ; and the plotting of
mischief’s encloseth but the people who make it. Do they then expect a treatment
other than the one meted out to those of old. But thou wilt not find any change in the
course of God nor shalt thou find any variation in the course of God (35 : 42-43).
And nothing in the universe is out of His reach or
out of His knowledge:
Allah is not such that aught in
the heavens or in the earth escapeth Him. Lo ! He is the Wise, the Mighty (35 : 44).
III. The Quranic view of History
Because of his rational nature man always seeks to
discern the meaning of things. He has been least successful in his attempt to discern the
meaning of history. What does history mean? Is it merely "a tale told by an idiot,
signifying nothing?" Or, can we discern, however dimly it may be, some plan, design,
pattern or rhythm in the long succession of events recorded therein ? This question has
exercised the minds of some of the greatest thinkers. They have had tantalising glimpses
of the meaning of history but no more. We shall briefly refer to the views of two most
influential thinkers of the nineteenth century—Hegel and Marx. Evolution is the
key-note of the Hegelian theory of history. If we ask what it is that evolves, the answer
is reason or the Absolute Idea. The Idea is continuously unfolding itself,. actualising
its immense potentialities in the historical process. The process is, therefore,
meaningful and purposive. Development does not, however, proceed directly forward: the
Idea first begins as a thesis, then a force arises opposite to it, called an antithesis,
and finally there is a compromise termed as a synthesis, which incorporates the best in
each of the preceding positions. This onward movement of the Idea is termed Dialectic.
Reason, whether in the individual, society or the universe, develops in the dialectical
fashion. The disharmony implicit in everything is the cause of change and development. For
Hegel, the universe is both rational and dynamic. Each civilisation is higher in the scale
of value than the preceding one and will in its turn give place to a still higher one.
Progress, therefore, is a real fact. The Hegelian view certainly makes the historical
process meaningful. This view, however, suffers from a fatal weakness. It fails to do
justice to individuality. Evolution., working slowly through untold ages, has finally
produced the free rational individual. Such an individual may be regarded as the goal
towards which the process had been moving. The future course of evolution would therefore
be in the direction of the gradual perfection of the individual. In the Hegelian scheme,
the emphasis is on the whole and the individual merely subserves the purposes of
the whole. This, we believe., is a fatal error, and is responsible, though not
solely, for the theory of "the nation being an organism, with a being, ends and means
of action superior to those of the individuals, separate or grouped, of whom it is
composed a moral, political and economic unity, integrally realised in (a totalitarian)
state,"1 thereby crushing the individual under the iron wheels of this Jagannathan
chariot.
In the Marxian theory, prime importance is attached
to the economic factor. The economic system at any particular time determines the ideals,
values, moral standard and every aspect of the society. One economic system gives place to
another in the same dialectical manner. Here too, the focus of interest is on the society
and not on the individual. Society develops through the working of economic forces and the
individual has no choice but to fit into whatever social system happens to be in
ascendance. Any individual who refuses to fit into the social pattern, is weeded out. The
Marxian theory ignores the main trend of evolution in the present age. It too has led to
the establishment of a totalitarian regime in which each individual man is no more than a
mere cog in a gigantic machine.
It is obvious that both Hegel and Marx glimpsed only
part of, and not the Whole, truth. Both were right regarding the universe as a dynamic
evolving system: both were wrong in denying that the goal was the emergence of fully
developed, perfect, free and rational individuals. The historical process becomes
meaningful only when it is viewed as developing towards this goal.
This is the central element in the Quranic view of
history. The historical process is a manifestation of the evolutionary process—a
process in which the participants are individuals, endowed with freedom and foresight.
However, the foresight they possess is limited and bedevilled by sordid distractions. In
this situation, there are limitless possibilities of taking a wrong turn. What is intended
is objective direction that can keep on the path towards the distant goal that is not
immediately comprehensible. Human reason supplemented by Revelation enables man to
rediscover the right path. The historical process will ultimately produce conditions in
which each individual can devote himself to the pursuit of the absolute values which are
the primary concern of Revelation. The goal is the setting up of the Divine Social Order.
We must, however, ask why this social order is
nowhere visible, not even in any Muslim country, although the Quran has been with us for
fourteen centuries. The answer is that cosmic processes work slowly, very slowly. It is
only by taking a long-term view that we can perceive the trend of a world process. To
quote the Quran: "But lo! A day with Allah is equal to a thousand years as ye
reckon" (22 : 47). The whole of humanity can move only slowly towards this objective.
Man has to suffer many set-backs, reverses, disappointments, and pass through many a trial
and travail before he can attain it. He must work patiently and hopefully and keep up his
courage even when the prospect is bleak. He who does the right thing, no matter how
little, is helping forward the process, and he who does wrong is retarding it. Every
action has its natural consequences for the doer himself as well as for his nation:
And whosoever doeth good an atom's weight will
see it then and whosoever doeth ill an atom’s weight will see it then (99 : 7-8).
Every action of man is recorded and the consequences
inevitably follow. Good, however, prevails over bad. The consequences of a wrong action
can be nullified by a right act. "Good deeds", says the Quran, annul bad
deed" (11 : 114). The fate of the individual or of the nation, therefore, depends on
which kind of actions predominate:
As for him whose scales are heavy (with good
works) he will live a pleasant life. But as for him whose scales are light, the
"Bereft and Hungry one" will be his mother (abode). Ah ! what will convey unto
thee what she is—a raging fire (101 : 6-11).
A grim fate surely overtakes the nation which has
set itself in opposition to the moral order of the universe. However, as already stated,
the Law of Requital works slowly. The effects of a particular way of life may not be
obvious for years. The nation is deluded by a false sense of security. If it does not mend
its ways and persists in the wrong course, it is doomed "and God shall lead them on
(to destruction) by steps they perceive not" (68 : 44). The Universal Divine Order
has no use for a nation which merely impedes the progress of humanity. Such a nation drops
out of the procession of mankind and can never rejoin it. Its disappearance is not even
noticeable:
And the heaven and the earth wept not for them,
nor were they reprieved (44 : 29).
Such a nation, sooner or later, disappears from
history. A nation which takes to destructive ways is invariably granted a respite, long or
short. It is saved if it retraces its step and turns back to the right path before
reaching the point of no return. This is termed ajal in the Quran. "For every
nation there is an ajal" (7 : 34), and "for every ajal there is a
law" (13 : 38). The limit beyond which a nation cannot pass without being
irretrievably lost is determined by Divine Law:
Allah effaceth and establisheth everything
according to a law the source of which is with Him (13 : 39).
IV. Doom of the Nations
History bears testimony to the fact that the conduct
of nations, as that of individuals, is governed by the Law of Requital. A nation which
lives and acts in accordance with the moral order and further the development of man,
prospers and grows strong. An unjust and reactionary nation, on the other hand, heads for
ruin. Each succeeds or fails as a consequence of its own acts. The events of history are
not unrelated and arbitrary but are truly determined by an unalterable standard. History
is not the sport of a capricious fate but is a lawful, orderly process. If a nation
suffers, it has brought the suffering on itself. It cannot blame it on any outside agency.
"He who has to perish", says the Quran, "perishes by a clear proof, and he
who has to survive, survives by a clear proof" (8 : 42). Success or failure are the
eventual consequences of our good or bad conduct. The Quran makes this clear :
God does not do injustice to anyone. It is the
people who do injustice to themselves (11 : 101).
It is man who often acts against his best interests:
Why should God punish you if you are grateful? (4
: 147).
In another place, the Quran puts it still more
clearly. "When misfortune befalls man, he exclaims : ‘my Rabb has abased
me for no reason’. The Quran replies that God is never unjust in His dealings with
men. "If you suffer., it is because you, on your part, never succour the orphan and
the lonely, and urge not the feeding of the poor, and you devour the heritage with greed,
and love wealth with abounding love" (89 : 16-20). These are the causes of their
misfortunes. In this connection, the Quran lays down a significant principle :
In truth my Rabb was not one Who would destroy
the townships tyrannically while their people were doing right (11 : 117).
Only those are punished who deviate from the
right path (46 : 35).
The "doom of nations" is a recurrent theme
in the Quran. It is worth while to determine the exact meaning of this term. Some nations
have, in fact, been completely forgotten. It is not, however, to this fact that the Quran
directs our attention. The Quran wants us to ponder over the plight of a nation, which,
through its misdeeds, has lost its independence and is living in a condition of poverty,
political subjection and economic dependence. It has ceased to play a creative role in the
world. The leadership of humanity has passed out of its hands. It no longer lives, it
merely vegetates. It has dropped out of the procession of humanity which is slowly but
steadily moving towards a grand destination. The moment it lost touch with the moral
order, it began to decay. Death is preferable to decay. The Quran says at a nation begins
to decline when it pursues wealth and takes to hoard money. It should have spent the money
for the general good. The rich, instead of helping the poor and the needy, amassed wealth
for themselves. The inevitable consequence was that the nation began to deteriorate. It
believed that wealth would make it strong but wealth worked like a poison in its system
and undermined it. It ruined itself by pursuing an ignoble end :
Ye are those who are called to spend in the way
of Allah. Yet among you there are those who hoard. And as for him who hoardeth he hoardeth
only from his own self. And Allah is the rich and ye are the poor. And if ye turn away, He
will exchange you for some other and they shall not be like you (47 : 38).
The meaning is clear. If a nation refuses to work
for development of mankind and for the establishment of Divine Order and pursues the
ignoble end of self aggrandisement, it will be supplanted by another nation carrying more
weight in the balance of humanity. The acquisitive nation will remain stuck in its wealth
and another nation will be called upon to give a lead to mankind. This latter nation is
said to be "better than predecessor" (70 : 41).
The struggle between nations is carried on, on the
physical as well as the moral plane. A nation which relies on brute force and cunning may
succeed for a time but ultimately fails. It has to face not only the external enemy but
also the discontent among the common people. However strong and well-organised the
governments may be, it succumbs to its opponents because it was based on injustice and
tyranny. The rivalries of political factions and the mounting discontent of the people
under the oppressive rule, brings about the downfall of the organisation—even if it
is not defeated on the field of battle. This is the fate of the unjust society:
Say: He is able to send punishment upon you from
above you or from beneath your feet, or to confuse you into parties and make you taste the
tyranny one of another (6 : 65).
The struggle between nations when it is on the
physical plane, with brute force opposed to brute force, debases and bestialises man. Men
are not demoralised if the struggle is confined to the moral plane. Such a struggle does
not breed hatred among nations. In this case, that system, be it political, social or
economic, prevails which has greater value and clears the path for progress. Here a word
of caution is needed. The moment a system succeeds, one should not jump to the conclusion
that it is of greater value than its rivals. We should take a long term view. Only when
its success is enduring and it is shown to be productive of good results for mankind over
a period of time, can it be judged to be of value. The historical process tests each
system and preserves only that which really expands and enriches human life. The Quran
rightly exhorts us to study history :
Have they not travelled in the land and seen the
nature of the consequence for those who were before them? They were stronger than these in
power and they dug the earth and built upon it more than these have built. Messengers of
their own came to them with clear proofs. Surely Allah wronged them not but they did wrong
themselves (30 : 9).
A mere glance at the awe-inspiring ruins of their
cities shows that they possessed everything desired by man; power, wealth, vast resources
and intelligence of a high order and yet, despite these, they could not withstand the
forces of decay and disintegration. It was because their system of values was
fundamentally wrong. They were bewitched by the glamour of false and transient values,
such as power, wealth and material prosperity. They had intelligence but not wisdom. They
lacked insight into the deeper things of life. They paid the price for disregarding the
demands of the moral order of the universe. The Quran cites the examples of Ad and Thamud.
Both were rich and powerful nations. They were highly intelligent; as the Quran says,
they were "keen observers" (2.1) : 28). But they chose a way of life, which was
opposed to the moral order. Their scale of values was wrong. The Quran says that it is the
duty of the Mustabsirin, the intellectuals and the leaders of thought, to discover
the right path and persuade the people to follow it. When these men do not discharge their
duty properly, the nation slides into injustice and tyranny and heads for ruin. The
leaders of thought are bound to keep a watchful eye on the nation and to warn when it goes
wrong. The intellectuals are to blame if the nation pursues false values. If a nation
begins to decay, the process usually starts at the top. The upper stratum of the society
first becomes corrupt and the corruption spreads downwards. It is strange that men of high
intelligence should be the first to be corrupted. It is because they cannot resist the
temptation to use their intelligence to further their own interests:
And verily, We had empowered them with that
wherewith We have not empowered you, and had assigned them ears and eyes and mind; but
their ears and eyes and mind availed them naught, since they rejected the laws revealed by
Allah : and what they used to mock befell them (46 : 26).
It is to this truth that the Quran directs our
attention. Knowledge and understanding, wealth and power, skill and intelligence will not
avail us if we adopt a course opposed to the eternal moral order. A social system based on
false values, on the glorification of wealth and power may flourish for a time
but will ultimately crumble down. Iqbal has rightly
said:
A society based on capitalism cannot maintain
itself. However much wily politicians may try to buttress it up. (Bang-e-Dara).
In the course of a discussion of the decline and
fall of the Roman Empire, Briffault has made some thought provoking observations., which
we will do well to ponder over:
No system of human organisation that is false in
its very principle in its very foundation, can save itself by any amount of cleverness and
efficiency in the means by which that falsehood is carried out and maintained by any
amount of superficial adjustment and tinkering. It is doomed root and branch as long as
the root remains what it is.2
He goes on to say:
Humanity does not necessarily stand upon a higher
plane of being when riding above the clouds, nor does a hundred miles an hour constitute
progress; man is not intellectually transformed by being able to weigh the stars and
disport his mind over wider spheres of knowledge. There is a deeper aspect of human
affairs. There is something which stands nearer to the essence of human worth than any
form of material or intellectual power, than the control of nature or the development of
the minds insight. Power, civilisation, culture count for naught, if they are associated
with moral evil. The real standard by which the worth of the human world is to be computed
is a moral standard. It is in an ethical sense that the word ‘good’ bears its
essential meaning, when applied to things human ; and no process of human evolution can be
counted real which is not above all an evolution in "goodness".3
A society based on false principles inevitably
disintegrates. We quote again from Briffault:
What really happens is that the phase of society,
the order of things in which disregard of right is habitual and accepted, inevitably
deteriorates and parishes. However much the individual may temporarily benefit by
inequity, the social organisation of which he is a part and the very class which enjoys
the fruits of that inequity, suffer inevitable deterioration through its operation. They
are unadapted to the facts of their environment. The wages of sin is death by the
inevitable operation of natural selections.4
This did not happen only in the remote past when men
were still ignorant and intellectually immature. We notice the same process of
deterioration in the modern scientific civilisation. Let us see what Western thinkers have
to say about their own civilisation. We quote from Rene Guenon:
Modern civilisation has gone downwards step by
step until it has ended by sinking to the lowest elements in man and aiming at little more
than the satisfaction of the needs inherent in the material side of his nature, an aim
which is, in any case, illusory as it constantly creates more artificial needs than it can
satisfy.5
He goes on to say:
Not only have they limited their intellectual
ambition to inventing and constructing machines, but they have ended by becoming in actual
fact, machines themselves. The inventions whose number is at present growing at an ever
increasing rate, are all the more dangerous in that they bring into play forces whose real
nature is quite unknown to the men who utilise them.6
Guenon ventures to predict the ultimate result of
these activities:
Those who unchain the brute forces of matter will
perish, crushed by these same forces, of which they will no longer be masters.7
Einstein's remarks on this point deserve careful
attention:
By painful experience we have learnt that
rational thinking does not suffice to solve the problems of our social life. Penetrating
research and keen scientific work have often had tragic implications for mankind,
producing on the one hand, inventions which liberated man from exhausting physical labour,
making his life easier and richer, but on the other hand, introducing a grave restlessness
into his life, making him slave to his technological environment, and most catastrophic of
all-creating the means for his own mass destruction. This indeed is a tragedy of
overwhelming poignancy.8
He warns us against entrusting our destiny to
intellect :
We should take care not to make the intellect our
God : it has of course powerful muscles, but no personality. It cannot lead, it can only
serve, and it is not fastidious in its choice of a leader. This characteristic is
reflected in the qualities of its priests-the intellectuals. The intellect has a sharp eye
for methods and tools but is blind to end and values.9
The result is that in the words of Jung,
"along the great high-roads of the world,
everything seems desolate and out worn".10
So far we have been considering modern society. It
is time to turn to the individual and his problems. It is generally admitted that modern
man is far from being happy. He possesses knowledge, power and material comforts which
were undreamt of by his ancestors. These, however, have not given him the things he
desires most-peace and happiness. Jug set himself the task of diagnosing the disease from
which the modern man suffers. He reached the conclusion that while the modern man's body
is satisfied, his soul is not. He is out of tune with the universe. He yearns after
unification with the universe but finds that a widening gulf separates him from the heart
of Reality. Somewhere he took a wrong turning and in the midst of luxury, is a prey to
acute discontent. The poet Iqbal sounded a similar note of warning. Of the modern man he
says:
Love has no place in his life, and intellect,
biting like a serpent, keeps him restless.
He has not enabled Divine guidance to subdue and
control his intellect.
He explores the inter-stellar spaces, but has
left the world of the mind unexplored.
He has captured the power locked up in the
sun’s rays, but his own life remains enveloped in darkness (Darb-e-Kalim)
Modern man possesses wealth, power and vast
resources. His control over the forces of nature and his technological progress are truly
astounding. What then is the cause of his discontent and of his decline of his
civilisation? The Quran provides us with an answer. The cause is in himself :
Allah never changes the condition of a nation
until they, first change what is in themselves (8 : 53).
This verse makes it clear that man’s destiny
lies in his own hands. What he needs is a change of heart. He has been following false
ideals and pursuing ignoble ends. He has cut himself off from Reality and is drifting
aimlessly. He has lost sight of the noble end he had once glimpsed with the help of Divine
Revelation. For a time he pursued it, but soon allowed himself to be allured by the
glittering tawdry objects that lay around. He has seized them but they have brought him
only disillusionment. He was not meant to become a glorified beast but rise to a higher
plane of existence. He can save himself only by recovering his Iman in God and in
his own noble self endowed with great potentialities which he has neglected. The cure for
his malady lies in his turning back to God, i.e., resuming the pursuit of the absolute
values. Let us see what Bertrand Russell says about it:
In the world in which we find ourselves, the
possibilities of good are almost limitless and the possibilities of evil no less so. Our
present predicament is due, more than anything else, to the fact that we have learnt to
understand and control to a terrifying extent, the forces of nature outside us, but not
those that are embodied in ourselves.11
Several verses of the Quran throw light on the
gradual decline of a nation. We are told that, as already stated, it is the upper stratum
of society that is the first to be infected with wickedness. Statesmen and leaders of
thought succumb to the ,allurement of false ideals and values. They think that scientific
knowledge and technology will make them the masters of the world. They consider absolute
values as figments of imagination, the creation of the minds of visionaries. They shut
their eyes to the hidden riches of the human mind and glorify that which man has in common
with the animals. Their distorted vision of life is adapted by their followers. The
infection spreads downwards until the whole society is contaminated.
Have you not seen those who gave the bounty of
Allah in exchange for thanklessness and led their people to the abode of perdition-Hell ?
They arc exposed thereto. A hopeless end (14 28-29).
The masses too, as they allowed themselves to be
misled by their leaders, are not quite blameless. It is, no doubt., true that the common
people do not have the intelligence and knowledge that their leaders possess. As free
responsible
beings, however, it is their duty to think for
themselves and pull up their leaders when they go wrong. This they did not do and,
therefore, they too cannot escape punishment. However, in Hell the common people will hold
their leaders responsible for the fate that has befallen them :
Oh ! if thou couldst see when the wrongdoers are
brought before their Rabb, how they cast the blame one to another ; how those who were
weaker (the followers) say unto those who were proud (the leaders) : "but for you, we
would have been believers" (34 : 31).
The leaders will retort that they (the followers had
willingly obeyed them and as such bad a share in their guilt :
And those who were proud say unto those who were
weaker : "did we drive you away from the guidance after it had come unto you. Nay,
but you were yourself guilty" (34 : 32).
In short, the followers and leaders will hurl
accusation at each other when they see the doom. The followers, while admitting that they
had obeyed them of their own accord, will plead that they had been taken in by their
specious arguments and plausible reasoning:
Those who were weaker say unto those who were
proud : "Nay, but it was your scheming night and day when ye commanded us to
disbelieve in Allah and set up rivals (like yourself) unto Him"(34 : 33).
The followers will implore God to inflict a twofold
punishment on the leaders as they were doubly guilty, going astray themselves and taking
others with them :
And they say : Our Rabb! Oh ! we obeyed our
chiefs and our great men and they misled us from the way. Our Rabb! Oh ! give them double
torment and curse them with a mighty curse (33: 67-68).
Thus the Quran, in the form of an allegory, shows
the respective roles of the leaders and followers in the decline and fall of a nation.
Corruption starts at the upper layer of society and spreads downwards. Common men, by
shirking their duty to think independently, become accomplices in the crimes of their
leaders. Had they rebelled, the leaders might have been brought to their senses and
checked themselves. Their willing obedience to errant leaders was in itself a crime and
they have to expiate it.
It is not only individuals who imitate their
betters. Nations too are tempted to imitate stronger, wealthier and more advanced nations.
Backward nations eagerly follow the lead of an advanced nation. They play the sedulous ape
to the great nation, faithfully copying its manners and way of life and adopting its
institutions, moral standards and ideals. Most members of the weaker nation take pride in
holding beliefs and opinions fashionable in an advanced nation. The relation of leader and
follower is established between the great nation and other nations. The leader nation
commands and the follower nations submissively obey. If the great nation is pursuing false
ideals and values, the nations which have accepted its leadership likewise do so. Such
passive submission to another nation paralyses the mental powers of the members of the
weaker nations. They lose the capacity for independent thinking. They succumb to the
glamour of the leader nation and are blind to its defects and faults. They mould their
life on its model and think and feel as it does. What it considers to be right is right
for them. They follow blindly in the steps of the great nation and finally fall with it
into the same abyss of degradation. This has happened time and again in history. At the
present time, people of the East are bewitched by the glamour of the Western civilisation.
They do not view it with a critical eye. They are ardent admirers of both its good and bad
qualities. They too worship the false gods of material prosperity and technological power.
They are heading for disaster When disaster befalls them both, they will blame each other
:
Every time a nation entereth (the Hell) it
curseth its sister (nation) till when they leave all been made to follow one another
thither, the latter of them shall say of the former of them : "Our Rabb ! these led
us astray so give them double torment of the fire" (7 : 38).
And God will say:
For each one there is double (torment) but ye do
not know (7 : 38).
The reason is obvious. God has granted "eyes
and ears" (knowledge and understanding) to all men. It is their duty to make full use
of them They should give careful thought to the consequences of any course of action which
others advise them to follow. As rational and free beings, they are responsible for their
acts. They cannot shift the responsibility to the shoulders of another. They must think,
decide and choose for themselves. If they allow others, however superior to them in
intellectual knowledge these may be, to think, decide and choose for them, they are
abdicating their right of free choice. They have to suffer the consequences of their acts
whether they performed them after due deliberation or in unthinking imitation of those
whom they admired. If they had pondered on the Divine Revelation and had reflected on the
fate of erring nations in the past, they would not have been dazzled by the temporary
success of a nation acting in open defiance of the moral order. They are courting disaster
and cannot plead in their defence that they were merely following the lead of people more
intelligent and knowledgeable than themselves:
And how many a community we have destroyed that
exulted in but misused the means of livelihood! And ponder over their dwellings, which
have not been inhabited after them save a little. And We, even We, were the inheritors (28
: 58).
Again:
How many a city We have destroyed while it did
wrong, so that it lieth to this day in ruins, and how many deserted wells and lofty towers
(22 : 45).
The Quran says of them that "they have been
made into legends" (23 : 44). How ephemeral is earthly glory is shown by the
ruins of the great cities of the past :
Say : Travel in the earth and see what was the
end of the guilty (27 : 69).
We are exhorted to study history, that we may avoid
the path which led others to ruin. We are also advised to travel around in the world and
carefully observe the life of contemporary nations. We will then see that knowledge,
power, wealth, none of these can save a nation when it begins to pursue false values:
Have they not travelled in the land and have they
hearts wherewith to feel and ears wherewith to hear ! For indeed it is not the eyes that
grow blind, but it is hearts, which are within the bosoms, that grow blind (22 : 46).
The great lesson that the Quran teaches us is that
individuals as well as nations are the architects of their own fate. Their destiny lies in
their own hands. If they choose to defy the moral order, they bring irretrievable ruin on
themselves. If, on the other hand, they live in harmony with the eternal moral order and
pursue the absolute values, an unlimited vista of progress lies before them. The Quran,
however, does not merely state this general truth. It lays down rules of conduct for the
individual as well as for the nation. The basic principle is set down in the
following verse:
He sends down water from heaven, and the brooks
flow according to their respective measures and the flood bears along a swelling foam. And
from the metals which they melt in the fire, seeking to cast ornaments and necessaries,
arises a scum like to it. Thus Allah coins (the similitude of) the true and the false.
Then as for the foam, it passes away as scum upon the banks, while as for that which is
beneficial to mankind, it remains in the earth. Thus Allah coins the similitude’s (13
: 17).
The inviolable and unchangeable criterion is that :
Only that remains which is beneficial the
whole of mankind; everything else passes away like scum.
This is the eternal immutable principle which throws
light on the rise and fall of nations. As long as a nation is contributing something
useful to mankind and adding to the store of goodness in the world, it prospers and
flourishes. The moment it fails to do so, it starts on the downward course and finally
ceases to play an effective role in world affairs. Whether it disappears or lingers on for
decades or even centuries is immaterial. The cosmic purpose has no use for it and works
itself out through other nations. It is, therefore, clear that the nation which has
identified its good with the good of mankind as a whole is following the right
path. That nation is progressive which is creating something of value to mankind,
something that enriches the life of all men. That nation will survive which strives to
assure for all men a life of happiness, peace and prosperity. Armed might, control
over the forces of nature and wealth will, not avail a nation if its policies are
detrimental to the interest of mankind. It is bound to pass away, for,
Only that remains which is
beneficial for mankind as a whole (13 17).
V. Cosmic Process.
This discussion emerged out of the question: why the
Quranic Social Order which assures a peaceful, prosperous and glorious life to mankind has
not been established anywhere in the world, not even in any Muslim state, although the
Divine Guidance has been with us for fourteen centuries. The answer so far provided is
that cosmic process is slow, very slow when measured by serial or historic time. The point
requires further elucidation. Evolutionary changes take place in the outer universe
automatically, according to Divine plan, and by stages, each involving thousand and
thousand of years to accomplish. This cosmic process. In the case of man, however, this
process works in a somewhat different way. Man (and here we mean not travelling in the
light of Divine guidance) when pressed by circumstances to modify any existing state of
affairs, adopts a course which he thinks the best, works on it strenuously day in and day
out, but finds at the end that the course adopted was wrong. He abandons it and embarks
upon another course. This he has to repeat time and again. Often he feels exhausted during
the course of his journey and leaves the experiment incomplete in dire frustration. Even
when he reaches his destination, the labour involved and the time spent do, not
commensurate with the result achieved—the span of human life is so short and the
distance to be traversed so lengthy. This process of "trial and error" is
another form of cosmic process. Man has, however, not been left in wilderness to find his
way out, un-aided by guide or without any signposts on his way. He has been blessed with
Divine guidance. If he adopts the course suggested by it straightway, not only is he
protected against pitfalls but the time taken to reach the goal also shrinks from cosmic
reckoning to human calendar. Fourteen hundred years ago, a group of believers made this
experiment most successfully, which, apart from the miraculous results it produced, proved
that neither the Quranic Social Order was a utopia nor the programme laid down to
establish it was un-workable. Their later generations, however abandoned that course, with
the result that they met the same fate as did the past -nations who acted similarly.
(This, by the way, is the negative proof of the efficacy of the Divine Law governing the
rise and fall of nations). The Divine course is still there and can be taken up by any
nation who wishes to reach human destination safely and within the shortest possible time:
Say : The truth from your Rabb is
there ; so let whosoever will accept, and let whosoever will reject (18 29).