Chapter 1: A Flourishing Earth And An Ideal State
God adorned the well-proportioned constitution of the human being with the attire of divine viceroyalty
قَالُوا أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَنْ يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ
Indeed I (God) am going to set a viceroy on the earth (2:30).
an attire whose warp and woof are knowledge of the Perfect Names of God and building the province of viceroyalty. Thus, divine viceroyalty entails two aspects: theoretical and practical. In expressing the theoretical aspect, the Qur’an says,
وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا
And [God] taught Adam the Names, all of them. (2:31).
And in reference to the practical aspect, which involves developing the earth as the province of viceroyalty and cleansing i t from the pernicious influences of demons, the Qur’an states,
هُوَ أَنْشَأَكُمْ مِنَ الْأَرْضِ وَاسْتَعْمَرَكُمْ فِيهَا فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ ثُمَّ تُوبُوا إِلَيْهِ
[God] brought you forth from the earth and delegated to you its development
, so beseech His forgiveness, then turn to Him penitently. (11:61).
It was God (immaculate is He) who originated and generated the human being from the earth. The human being’s creation is purposeful, and he did not come about haphazardly. God made the human being His viceroy; a viceroy is obliged to conduct the affairs of the authority whom he represents.
In order to prepare the appropriate environment for human habitation, God (immaculate is He), on the one hand, furnished the raw material in nature and, on the other hand, endowed the human being with intelligence, talent, technology, and innovation, so as to enable him to benefit from the raw material in the best manner possible.
Furthermore, He made the intellect the inner guide and Revelation the external guide that he may be aware of the raw material and instructed in how to use it to promote the development of the earth and the wholesomeness of the environment. Thus, He ordered the human being to develop the earth and to make it a suitable environment for his habitation.
The important question is, who can be successful in this task?
Regarding the building of religious sanctuaries, the Qur’an says,
إِنَّمَا يَعْمُرُ مَسَاجِدَ اللَّهِ مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ
Indeed, only those who believe in God and the Last Day…shall construct God’s mosques. (9:18).
Even as the building of religious sanctuaries including the Ka’bah (which is the heart of all religious sanctuaries and the center around which Muslims circumambulate) and all other mosques is an honor that can be achieved only by the believers, so too the development of the earth can be accomplished only by them. Nonbelieving rulers, despotic heads of state lead societies to corruption.
War and aggression afflict East and West equally. The seed of the human being and of the earth are being destroyed, and the environment is plagued with pollution and insecurity. The creatures of the seas and the deserts are also victim to this global corruption perpetrated by nonbelieving rulers.
قَالَتْ إِنَّ الْمُلُوكَ إِذَا دَخَلُوا قَرْيَةً أَفْسَدُوهَا وَجَعَلُوا أَعِزَّةَ أَهْلِهَا أَذِلَّةً وَكَذَٰلِكَ يَفْعَلُونَ
Indeed, when kings enter a town, they devastate it and reduce the mightiest of its people to servility. (27:34).
وَإِذَا تَوَلَّىٰ سَعَىٰ فِي الْأَرْضِ لِيُفْسِدَ فِيهَا وَيُهْلِكَ الْحَرْثَ وَالنَّسْلَ وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْفَسَادَ
And when [the disbeliever] wields authority, he strives to corrupt the earth and to ruin the crop [of the soil] and the stock [of man], and God dislikes corruption. (2:205).
In the same way that believers are opposed in their efforts to establish mosques
وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنْ مَنَعَ مَسَاجِدَ اللَّهِ أَنْ يُذْكَرَ فِيهَا اسْمُهُ وَسَعَىٰ فِي خَرَابِهَا
Who is more evil than he who prevents the remembrance of God’s name in God’s mosques and tries to ruin them. (2:114).
Those working to develop the earth also have enemies whose purpose it is to desolate the environment and to proliferate corruption.
Islam’s Instruction To Believers To Profit From The Natural Resources
With such statements as,
وَابْتَغُوا مِنْ فَضْلِ اللَّهِ
And seek God’s grace (62:10).
and,
هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الْأَرْضَ ذَلُولًا فَامْشُوا فِي مَنَاكِبِهَا وَكُلُوا مِنْ رِزْقِهِ
It is [God] who made the earth tractable for you, so walk on its flanks and eat of His provision (67:15).
The Noble Qur’an exhorts humankind to make good use of natural resources. The fulfillment of this divine order involves mining, agriculture, and, generally, any productive form of benefit from the raw material available in nature. But this is no easy task; it requires diligence and resolution. God has spread provisions throughout the earth: in the deserts, in the seas, under the mountains; and the human being must strive to benefit from them.
God provided the necessary requirements of life before He created the human being. First, He created the earth and established the appropriate environment, and only then did He create humankind. This resembles the natural mechanism inherent in the human child. The infant, unable to digest other food, is nurtured by the mother’s breast, but when old enough to eat and to work, his food and work are determined. Likewise, God bestowed upon the hu man being intelligence and provided him with the necessary instruments and ordered him to strive to develop the earth, guaranteeing that He will facilitate his progress:
ثُمَّ السَّبِيلَ يَسَّرَهُ
Then He made the way easy for him. (80:20).
God (immaculate is He) made the human being master of all creatures the human being did not master other creatures; rather it was God who made him master):
اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَأَنْزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَأَخْرَجَ بِهِ مِنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ رِزْقًا لَكُمْۖ
وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ الْفُلْكَ لِتَجْرِيَ فِي الْبَحْرِ بِأَمْرِهِۖ
وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ الْأَنْهَا
It is God who created the heavens and the earth, and sent down water from the sky and with it brought forth crops for your sustenance, and He subdued the ships for you so that they may sail at sea by His command, and He subdued the rivers for you. (14:32).
وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ الشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ دَائِبَيْنِ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ
And He subdued the sun and the moon for you, constant in their course, and He subdued the night and the day. (14:33).
In this verse, the verbsakhkhara
occurs four times, and for you also appears a number of times. Although subdue is a univocal concept in the mind, yet in reality its instances are varied: the sun and the moon are subdued differently from nigh t and day, just as the sea is subdued differently from the river.
Thus, every creature possesses a distinct way of being subdued as well as a distinct existence, and for this reason, every creature is necessarily exploited differently. But what is important is that all creatures are subservient to the human being, and this obliges him to employ them in the best possible manner, for to do otherwise would be ingratitude.
One of God’s bounties is the sea. To make primitive use of this bounty would put the human being on the same plane with marine creatures and sea birds and thus would not be an instance of the sea’s subservience.
But should the human being seek more than merely using its water and navigation; should he dive into its depth, conduct scientific experiments, and offer its mineral resources and wealth to humanity it is only then that he has truly profited from the subservient sea.
Likewise, if he limits his benefits from the sun to the minimum of its light and heat, he is no different in this respect from other creatures. We can claim to have observed the above verse only if we succeed in determining a wide range of benefits from it including those that promote the health of the environment-and making them available to all humanity.
The earth too God subdued so that humankind could dwell on it with tranquility; so that they could till it to produce crops; so that they could drill deep into its abyss to exploit its mines, to conduct scientific investigations for such purposes as determining faults in the earth’s crust and locating active earthquake zones so as to promote the welfare and security of human society. But if we confine our benefits from the earth to merely a shelter and a simple life, we would be on a par with the other animals that also partake of such benefits. That, however, would be incorrect.
Not only should the human being exploit the earth, tapping into oil and gas and other underground reservoirs, he must extend his control into outer space and take appropriate advantage of its creatures. For, to be content with the primitive benefits of God’s bounties is to neglect the subservience of all creatures to the human being. The Qur’an says,
وَالْخَيْلَ وَالْبِغَالَ وَالْحَمِيرَ لِتَرْكَبُوهَا وَزِينَةًۚ
And horses and mules and asses for you to ride them (16:8).
أَلَمْ يَرَوْا إِلَى الطَّيْرِ مُسَخَّرَاتٍ فِي جَوِّ السَّمَاءِ
Have they not regarded the birds subdued. (16:79).
To fail to profit duly from God’s creatures would be an instance of ingratitude, rendering the human being subject to the Qur’an’s censure as expressed in the following two verses:
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ بَدَّلُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ كُفْرًا وَأَحَلُّوا قَوْمَهُمْ دَارَ الْبَوَارِ
Do you not regard those who distorted God’s blessing by way of ingratitude and brought on their people confinement to the abode of ruin (14:28).
إِنَّ الْإِنْسَانَ لَظَلُومٌ كَفَّارٌ
Indeed the human being is most unfair and ungrateful. (14:34).
Thus the human being is duty-bound to exert himself to fulfill God’s command to develop the earth. As such, those who are in a position to contribute to this end by way of agriculture, industry, craftsmanship, and other such useful activities but refrain therefrom, either out of affluent carelessness or due to sloth, are, in addition to being in violation of the command expressed by the Qur’an, flouting the word of all divine prophets.
As all prophets are appointed by God; they derive their knowledge from the same Mysterious Source, and so their word is one. All prophets exhort people to acknowledge the Origin (God), the End (the return of all things to God or, in other words, the Day of Judgment), Revelation, the angelic order of beings, the righteous way of life, and the like.
Of course, they are of different degrees, and, for this reason, the particulars of their message in practical matters differ. Nevertheless, the general guidelines offered by all prophets and religions are the same.
A prophet possesses two identities: a personal identity and a prophetic identity. The personal identity of each prophet is unique, but his prophetic identity, which is his ministry as entrusted by God, is shared by all prophets. God (immaculate is He) thus addresses the Noble Prophet (may God’s peace and blessings be upon him and his household):
مَا يُقَالُ لَكَ إِلَّا مَا قَدْ قِيلَ لِلرُّسُلِ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ
Nothing is said to you except what has already been said to the prophets before you. (41:43).
Although Prophet Muhammad is distinguished in being the “guardian
”over all other prophets, nevertheless they, like him, were possessed of the essence of Revelation and prophethood. It was in this light that the Prophet was told to say,
مَا كُنْتُ بِدْعًا مِنَ الرُّسُلِ
I am not a novelty among the prophets. (46:9).
Neither the Prophet’s ministry nor the slander he received from the disbelievers was unprecedented. All the prophets were entrusted with the mission to summon humankind to acknowledge God’s unity and to worship Him exclusively:
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ مِنْ رَسُولٍ إِلَّا نُوحِي إِلَيْهِ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاعْبُدُونِ
We did not send any prophet before you but We revealed to him, ‘There is no god except Me, so worship Me.’ (21:25).
The expression “There is no god but God,” which conveys absolute unity (tawhid), is the invaluable gift that God’s prophets have presented to us. For this reason, Prophet Muhammad said,
Neither I nor those before me have said anything on a par with ‘There is no god but God.’
Based on this understanding, to deny the ministry of one prophet is tantamount to denying all prophets. Believers must proclaim,
فَسَيَكْفِيكَهُمُ اللَّهُۚ
We do not distinguish between one and another of them. (2:136).
As far as the position of prophethood is concerned, all the prophets are alike. God (immaculate is He) says,
وَلَقَدْ كَذَّبَ أَصْحَابُ الْحِجْرِ الْمُرْسَلِينَ
Certainly the inhabitants of Hijr denied the prophets. (15:80).
The verse says that the people of Hijr denied all the prophets, while they disobeyed only the one prophet that was among them. As such it indicates that the message of the prophet of Hijr was the message of all prophets, past and future. (Of course there is another dimension to the meaning of the latter verse, which is that often a prophet would recount the stories of the prophets who preceded him.
So when a people rejected their prophet, they were in fact rejecting all the prophets whose stories and words they had been told of.) This point is expressed again in the stories of the Tribes of Thamud and Lut
.
In this light, every believer in God and His prophets should heed Prophet Salih’s words regarding the development of the earth:
هُوَ أَنْشَأَكُمْ مِنَ الْأَرْضِ وَاسْتَعْمَرَكُمْ فِيهَا
[God] brought you forth from the earth and delegated to you its development. (11:61).
As such we are all duty-bound to develop the world, outwardly (developing the earth) as well as inwardly (developing the environment and reforming human society).
All of God’s decrees are vivifying, and so to neglect them would entail hardship and anguish. The Master of the Faithful is reported to have said,
Whosoever obtains water and soil but remains impoverished, God banishes him [from His mercy)
People who possess abundant water and arable land but fail to control their water sources and to cultivate their land due to an unwillingness to make the necessary effort or due to mismanagement, and as a consequence become dependent on others, are deprived of God’s mercy. It would be wrong to assume that this truth is exclusive of the ancient nations whose stories are told in the Qur’an.
Violating the commands of God and His prophets results in being deprived of God’s mercy, and this holds true of any age. Thus, should we neglect the instructions of the Noble Qur’an and the infallible Imams (who are perfect human beings and the counterpart to the Qur’an) that shed light on how to reform human community and ensure a wholesome environment, we would inevitably fall into disfavor with God.
Islamic Development Versus. Imperialist Exploitation
Isti’mar
, which is now commonly indicative of a wicked and deplorable concept, is a sacred term in the Qur’anic vocabulary. Western imperialist powers misused this word, and as a result it is now associated with such negative terms as despotism, exploitation, and colonialism. But in the Qur’an, God is described as a musta’mir (lit., one who seeks development) Who placed in nature the primary material of all celestial and terrestrial creatures.
God created the human being from clay, then breathed into him of His Spirit:
فَإِذَا سَوَّيْتُهُ وَنَفَخْتُ فِيهِ مِنْ رُوحِي
And [I] breathed into him of My spirit. (15:29).
Thus the human being was born as an amalgam of the earth (mulk) and the angelic spirit (malakut), that he may serve as God’s viceroy on the earth. Human society will be prosperous and the human environment wholesome only when humankind realize their position as God’s viceroy, for whose sake He created the raw material in nature.
By granting the human being intelligence, He enabled him to exploit nature. But He also appointed prophets to instruct humankind in how to exploit it so as to produce the food necessary to achieve spiritual as well as material perfection.
To promote their own self-serving purposes, Imperialist powers use development as a pretext to exploit aggressively the impoverished nations while in reality despoiling their natural resources. Imperialist powers do occasionally help in making developments, but only when such achievements are instrumental in securing their own interests.
As the corrupt heads of global domination seek ever increasingly to exploit natural resources and the environment, they prefer discarding the surplus of their agricultural production rather than donating it to impoverished nations. Affluent nations live wastefully and extravagantly while the poor of the impoverished nations scavenge the garbage of the rich for food. This is while some of these impoverished nations possess invaluable mines, abundant water, and arable land.
If the politics of global domination make it necessary, the imperialist powers impose economic embargo on countries, using wheat as if it were a nuclear weapon. Economic embargo is among the imperialists’ most effective weapons.
They employ it as a means to break the economic backbone of any country that dares oppose them. As such if they occasionally attempt to bring about some developments in a region, it is certainly to promote their interests and to harm those of other nations. It is as though they had a monopoly over development.
They aid only in the development of those regions that con tribute to their interests; they neglect as far as possible the development of all other regions; they enthrall the people of those regions where they’ve ostensibly helped to develop, robbing them of their natural resources.
The Role Of The Imperialists In Polluting The Environment
The wholesomeness of the environment is closely connected with social well-being. As prevention of a disease is more effective than curing it, so securing a wholesome environment is more convenient than dealing with the damages affected by environmental pollution. Securing a wholesome environment requires that we respect the natural rights of the earth, the air, the water, the desert, the mountain, the plant, the animal, and other creatures and environmental phenomena.
Securing the well-being and sanitation of the environment is among the primary necessities. People and officials must do their utmost to fulfill this end. Unfortunately, however, the reality is that there are a few who, in order to satisfy their own interests, are willing to flout all environmental principles without respect for any legitimate bounds.
As explained above, it is only the believing people who can protect the well-being of the environment, for in the absence of belief there can be no true sense of obligation in respect to nature. We are today witness to the numerous nuclear and non-nuclear experiments that “developed” countries conduct at sea and on land, which pollute our environment in a variety of ways.
Imperialist powers devour the oil reservoirs of others with such insatiable greed that they usually fill their crude carriers beyond capacity. When occasionally these ships capsize, a great amount of oil leaks into the sea or ocean in which they navigate, creating many a grave problem for the human environment, not to mention the lives of the innumerable marine creatures they jeopardize by polluting the water.
The Role Of The Imperialists In Perpetrating Environmental Insecurity
The imperialist powers of the world, in securing ever more thoroughly their interests, exploit other nations and prevent their progress. Now by deploying military troops, now by implementing deceptive imperialistic schemes, they cause other nations to engage in conflict. And when it is in their best interest, they wage war themselves. Bu t in every case, the result is making the environment insecure for other nations.
Currently, to the east and the west of our Islamic Republic, imperialists wield dominion. The fruits, however, of this dominion are but devastation, insecurity, and intrusion on the fundamental rights of the people. Not only have they obstructed the progress of these nations by despoiling them of their natural resources and national wealth, they have made the human environment insecure and harmed “the crop of the soil and the stock of man”:
وَإِذَا تَوَلَّىٰ سَعَىٰ فِي الْأَرْضِ لِيُفْسِدَ فِيهَا وَيُهْلِكَ الْحَرْثَ وَالنَّسْلَ وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْفَسَادَ
And when [the disbeliever] wields authority, he strives to corrupt the earth and to ruin the crop [of the soil] and the stock [of man], and God dislikes corruption (2:205).
إِنَّ الْمُلُوكَ إِذَا دَخَلُوا قَرْيَةً أَفْسَدُوهَا وَجَعَلُوا أَعِزَّةَ أَهْلِهَا أَذِلَّةً َ
Indeed when kinds enter a town, they devastate it and reduce the mightiest of its people to servility. (27:34).
The Imperialists False Claim To Authority
The second most important function of divine viceroyalty, following the acquisition of sacred knowledge, is developing the earth and cleansing it of any form of dissolution and darkness. Of course, in this context earth signifies the expanse of human environment, which encompasses the depths of the oceans and the zenith of the firmament.
Thus, in Islam environmental issues are related to the lofty position of divine viceroyalty. Those who assume to be sovereigns of the world yet feel free to wipe out trees and to pollute sea and land actually defile the title of sovereign, for sovereignty belongs rightfully to God’s viceroy, who develops the earth while observing the rights of nature.
Developing the earth means establishing the environmental principles that promote humanity. That is, God’s viceroy endeavors to enhance not people’s vegetative and animal aspects (which are the only concerns in secular societies), but their humanity, which, of course, subsumes the vegetative and animal aspects.
In so doing, he guards nature against pollution and the environment against moral dissolution. Under his sovereignty the body enjoys healthiness and the soul exults in the divine breath, and thus the human being attains to “ease, abundance, and a garden of bliss.
”
The Weighty Obligation Of A Ruler In Securing A Wholesome Environment
True beauty as opposed to illusory beauty is of the nature of being. Being is a gradational reality, subsuming a multiplicity of hierarchical degrees. Human beauty derives from divine viceroyalty, and as the degree of divine viceroyalty is greater in rulers, they have a greater responsibility to bring about a wholesome environment.
For, it is only they who can take measures on a large scale; it is only they who are capable of, for instance, making plans for outer space, for the seas, or, on the negative side, creating such destructive weapons as chemical and nuclear bombs.
What currently threatens to destroy human environment with death and disease is the unmitigated hegemony of those powers who own nuclear technology. They wish to appropriate all God-given bounties to their own advantage and to the detriment of other peoples, acting as mad chieftains of the modern clan.
The Noble Qur’an (which is the quintessence of all sacred scriptures) thus describes despotic rulers:
قَالَتْ إِنَّ الْمُلُوكَ إِذَا دَخَلُوا قَرْيَةً أَفْسَدُوهَا وَجَعَلُوا أَعِزَّةَ أَهْلِهَا أَذِلَّةً
Indeed when kings enter a town, they devastate it, and render dishonored the noblest of its people (27:34).
Unjust sultans, bullying rulers, and despots tend to corrupt the domain of others on which they encroach. But unlike the past, when physical presence was necessary to perpetrate such corruption, in modern times, technology has made remote-controlled corruption possible.
If imperialist powers were sincere in their claims to humanitarian causes, they would not so readily take to bloodshed:
He whom is pained by religion
His body is not a [human] body but rather a monster
.
Those who are possessed of greater power carry a proportionately heavier burden: the broader one’s sphere of influence, the greater one’s responsibility is to better the environment.
The Islamic Government’s Responsibility In Securing A Wholesome Environment
Defining the duty of the ruler, the Prophet said,
Whosoever takes on some authority over other Muslims but fails to secure for them that which he secures for himself will not inhale the perfume of Heaven
.
To be entrusted with an office in the Islamic government entails the responsibility to secure for the community those factors which one wishes for oneself to enjoy. An official in the Islamic government must strive to improve life, health, and social stability for all constituents; as he wishes to have a wholesome and hygienic environment, so he must wish to provide such an environment for the community.
The above administrative instruction by the Prophet finds expression also in the words of his successor, the Master of the Faithful. In a letter to one of his officers, ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib writes,
Your concern for the development of the country should take precedence over your concern for the collection of taxes, for the latter would be of no avail without development
As clearly pointed out in this instruction, in a degenerate environment, natural and human resources would all go to waste.
The study of government and politics constitutes a primary branch of the humanistic disciplines. An understanding of the humanistic disciplines presupposes knowledge of the human being. The microcosm and the macrocosm, as two interconnected realities, derive their existence from a source beyond themselves.
As such, to come to a true understanding of the human being is impossible without first understanding the Origin, whose essence is identical with its existence and who bestows existence on the microcosm and the macrocosm and puts them in a harmonious arrangement. And, in turn, without a true understanding of the human being, knowledge of government and politics would be unattainable.
Islam portrays the human being as simultaneously the head of three orders (orders which secular ideologies naturally deny): the efficient order, the internal order, and the teleological order.
The efficient order consists of the originating and nurturing causes, which are of course all created by the one God. He is the origin from which the microcosm and the macrocosm issue. And thus no other agent is independent in originating or nurturing the human being.
The internal order is the reality that is the combination of an immaterial soul and a material body. That is, the human being is neither, like the angel, incorporeal nor, like inanimate objects and plants, merely corporeal. But that which defines the human being’s humanity is his imperishable soul, which accompanies the perishable, earthly body.
The teleological order is that which abides even after the death of the material body which lives on perpetually, passing from the mundane world into the everlasting world of the Hereafter. In that world, the human being subsists with a body suitable to that everlasting abode with his beliefs, thoughts, dispositions, characteristics, and deeds as accumulated in this world ceaselessly accompanying him along the way.
Secular ideologies deny the efficient and the teleological orders altogether and conceive of the internal order as merely consisting of matter. According to such ideologies, soul must be understood in a way that would conform to the material conception of the world.
The Noble Qur’an, as the most perfect interpreter of the microcosm and the macrocosm, affirms the three orders in a number of verses. One of the most comprehensive of such verses, in which all three orders are expressed, is Surah Ta Ha, verse 50
قَالَ رَبُّنَا الَّذِي أَعْطَىٰ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلْقَهُ ثُمَّ هَدَىٰ
Our Lord is He who gave everything its creation and then guided it.(20:50).
“Our Lord” in this verse signifies the efficient order, “guided it” the teleological order, and “gave it its creation” the internal order, which is distinctive in every creature and suitable to its peculiar nature. The distinct internal order in the human being, however, is expressed in the following verses:
إِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنِّي خَالِقٌ بَشَرًا مِنْ طِينٍ
When your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed I will create a human being out of clay. (38:71).
فَإِذَا سَوَّيْتُهُ وَنَفَخْتُ فِيهِ مِنْ رُوحِي فَقَعُوا لَهُ سَاجِدِينَ
So when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My spirit, then fall down in prostration before him. “ (38:72).
فَسَجَدَ الْمَلَائِكَةُ كُلُّهُمْ أَجْمَعُونَ
Thus the angels prostrated, all of them together. (38:73).
Nurturing Divine Viceroyalty And Establishing The Ideal State As The Primary Objectives Of Islamic Government
The two most important objectives that Islamic government pursues correspond to the three orders mentioned above (efficient, teleological, internal); they are, first, to guide humankind to actualize divine viceroyalty through furnishing the necessary means for achieving this end and, second, to establish the ideal state by explicating the requirements of the rightful civilization and the principles that should determine the domestic and international relations among societies.
Doctrinal sources, whether the Qur’an or the corpus of hadith or the example of the Infallibles, though encompassing a great abundance of edifying instructions, can be said to be distilled into the above two principles. Actualizing these two principles requires the engagement of both the body and the soul (though the soul is the dominant element, guiding and employing the body).
Therefore, we are in need of attending to the body-a task which the science of medicine addresses-as well as the soul-which requires a spiritual medicine so as to ensure spiritual wellbeing and prevent any harm that may be incurred on account of erroneous beliefs, moral vice, or evil conduct.
The Establishment Of The Ideal State By The Perfect Human Being
The purpose of establishing the ideal state is to cultivate individuals who wish to embark on the path of divine viceroyalty. In this light, of the two aforementioned principles, preeminence belongs to divine viceroyalty.
For, even the healthiest of bodies perish, while the soul survives eternally. In the same vein, the ideal state, though possessed of the loftiest civilization, will in time fall to ruin, while God’s viceroy, who is the perfect human being, remains imperishable.
As such, the ideal state is as the body and God’s viceroy is as its soul. Just as it is the soul that maintains the body, so it is God’s viceroy who establishes and secures the ideal state.
Defining Some Of The Qualities And Conditions Of The Ideal State
An ideal state has certain qualities and conditions some of which pertain to the environment and some to the individuals that inhabit it. (It should, however, be pointed out that all the qualities and conditions of the ideal state, even those that are in this division attributed to the environment, depend on the extent to which the individuals grow in knowledge and advance in practice.) The qualities and conditions of an ideal state are numerous. Here a brief explanation of some of these qualities is in order.
1. Cultural Growth
The ruler in an Islamic state is responsible for the education of his people. This responsibility is expressed in the following Qur’anic verse:
هُوَ الَّذِي بَعَثَ فِي الْأُمِّيِّينَ رَسُولًا مِنْهُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَإِنْ كَانُوا مِنْ قَبْلُ لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ
It is He who sent to the unlettered [people] a prophet from among themselves, to recite to them His signs, to purify them, and to teach them the Book and wisdom, and earlier they had indeed been in manifest error. (62:2).
The cause of ignorance in modern as well as ancient society has always been a lack of understanding of the principles of true civilization or, when understood, the failure to conform thereto. Ignorance and deviation are the two decisive factors leading to social degeneracy.
As such, the most important function of Islamic government in the realm of culture (here intended in a broad sense) is fighting ignorance and deviation. With the elimination of ignorance, knowledge, Revelation, and wisdom take root, and the extirpation of moral deviation and perversion opens the way for moral purification.
In the abovementioned verse and other similar verses that specify the functions and programs to which Islamic rulers must adhere, elimination of ignorance and spiritual purification are enumerated among the main objectives.
The verse cited above exhorts illiterate societies to pursue knowledge so as to rid themselves of illiteracy and to attain knowledge; the verse also invites corrupt and sinful societies to purify their souls so that they may purge themselves of their sins, to attain to virtue and salvation. Obviously, individuals possessed of knowledge and virtue can succeed in establishing and maintaining the ideal state.
2. Economic Development
Islamic leaders are entrusted with the duty to define the general lines according to which property must be handled in an Islamic state. Divine law encourages Muslims to “sow,” “grow,” and “harvest” in every field of the economy, proclaiming as lawful all the benefits they may reap in so doing.
In the context of divine law, the acknowledgement of the above economic rights is crucial to having a healthy economy. But in addition, divine law stipulates certain conditions that must be observed in conducting any economic activity.
Islam endorses private ownership but with some qualification. That is, every individual owns the fruit of his toil to the exclusion of other individuals. No one else has the right to exploit what one has gained without one’s consent.
But, in relation to God, things are different. In respect to Him, no human being can claim to own anything. We are all as custodians entrusted with the care of what He has bestowed on us. Such Qur’anic phrases as,
وَآتُوهُمْ مِنْ مَالِ اللَّهِ الَّذِي آتَاكُمْۚ
And give them out of the wealth of God (24:33).
and,
وَأَنْفِقُوا مِمَّا جَعَلَكُمْ مُسْتَخْلَفِينَ فِيهِۖ
And spend out of that wherein He has made you successors (57:7).
attest to this truth. As such we are not to spend our wealth where it is against His wish.
Islam considers the collective wealth of all Muslims as a means for managing the affairs of society in its entirety. That is, while acknowledging private ownership, it does not allow that such ownership should lead to the impoverishment of any particular segment of society. Islamic law does not tolerate the division of society into a wealthy money-hording elite and an impoverished underclass.
Wealth in Islamic law is seen as the backbone of the society that keeps it erect. Impoverished individuals are deprived of their financial backbone. (Faqir, which is the Arabic for impoverished, derives from the root faqr, denoting the vertebra in the spinal column and as such presents the notion of a broken backbone.)
As wealth is the economic backbone of the society, it must not be put in the hands of those who are inept in handling financial matters. The following verse alludes to all the above three points
:
وَلَا تُؤْتُوا السُّفَهَاءَ أَمْوَالَكُمُ الَّتِي جَعَلَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ قِيَامًا وَارْزُقُوهُمْ
Do not give the feeble-minded your property which God has assigned to you as a means for maintenance. (4:5).
In this verse wealth is attributed to the society as a whole
while being described as a source for the maintenance of society. The verse also prohibits Muslims from putting the incompetent in charge of the economic sector of the Islamic society.
Excessive accumulation of money in the hands of a few is also forbidden by Islam, which sees it as a blood clot that paralyzes the other economic classes. It is necessary that wealth should reach every economic class as expressed by verses such as the following:
وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ وَلَا يُنْفِقُونَهَا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَبَشِّرْهُمْ بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ
Those who treasure up gold and silver, and do not spend it in the way of God, inform them of a painful punishment. (9:34).
Islam condemns the incomplete circulation of wealth and deems it necessary that it should make a full circle. That is, Islamic law disallows the circulation of money in the hands of an elite, leaving the majority utterly deprived. It rather requires that the circulation of wealth be complete so that all classes could benefit therefrom. The following verse is one instance where this requirement is expressed:
مَا أَفَاءَ اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ رَسُولِهِ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْقُرَىٰ فَلِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ وَلِذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَالْيَتَامَىٰ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِ كَيْ لَا يَكُونَ دُولَةً بَيْنَ الْأَغْنِيَاءِ مِنْكُمْ
The spoils that God gave to His Prophet…are for God and the Apostle, the relatives and the orphans, the needy and the traveler, so that they do not circulate [exclusively] among your rich. (59:7).
The circulation of wealth among the rich to the exclusion of the majority is conceivable in two ways, both of which are wrong. One way is Western capitalism, and the other is government-centered economy based on the now defunct communism of the East.
Thus, wealth should not be the exclusive privilege of a few individuals or of a legal entity; rather, it must flow in the veins of every class. Such is the teaching of Islam, which forms the dignified foundations for a healthy economy, bridging the two extremes of capitalism and communism and giving birth to Islamic economics, which has as its core Islamic justice.
It is thus that Islam requires the complete circulation of wealth, encompassing the greater majority of the society. The method Islam sanctions for this circulation (besides such means as inheritance and giving money to whom one wishes) is transaction by consent.
To undertake a transaction without a party’s consent or to acquire money with consent but without a transaction (as is the case in gambling)-in either case the acquisition of money is considered improper. The following verse articulates this point:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَأْكُلُوا أَمْوَالَكُمْ بَيْنَكُمْ بِالْبَاطِلِ إِلَّا أَنْ تَكُونَ تِجَارَةً عَنْ تَرَاضٍ مِنْكُمْ
O you who have faith! Do not consume your wealth among yourselves unrightfully, but it should be trade by mutual consent. (4:29).
3. Advancement In Art And Industry
1. Solomon
who spread the domain of Islamic authority over a vast region and propagated the faith by writing letters to a number of the rulers of his time, inviting them to embrace the faith, was possessed of abundant resources. The Qur’an thus describes his employment of the industry of his day:
وَأَسَلْنَا لَهُ عَيْنَ الْقِطْرِ
We made a fount of [molten] copper flow for him (34:12).
يَعْمَلُونَ لَهُ مَا يَشَاءُ مِنْ مَحَارِيبَ وَتَمَاثِيلَ وَجِفَانٍ كَالْجَوَابِ وَقُدُورٍ رَاسِيَاتٍۚ
اعْمَلُوا آلَ دَاوُودَ شُكْرًاۚ
وَقَلِيلٌ مِنْ عِبَادِيَ الشَّكُورُ
They built for him as many temples as he wished, and figures, basins as cisterns, and caldrons fixed [in the ground]. “O House of David, observe thanksgiving while few of My servants are grateful” (34:13).
According to these verses, the officers in Solomon’s government engaged in architecture and art, funding such projects as building great castles and sponsoring paintings that depicted angels, prophets, and saints so as to encourage art and satisfy in a healthy way the society’s inherent need for art. In so doing, they demonstrated the correct way for engaging in art and industry and set before people, in the form of painting, exemplars so as to promulgate simultaneously art and felicity.
By engaging in metalwork, they fashioned dishes needed for individual and communal purposes by way of improving life, again cultivating art as well as satisfying the natural needs. Thus the Qur’an tells us that they made large containers and basins and caldrons.
The story of the Queen of Sheba’s entrance into Solomon’s court, witnessing his crystal castle, which she mistook for water and so raised her dress to avoid getting wet
, attests to the advanced state of art and industry in Solomon’s empire.
But in addition to the obligation to employ the blessing of industry appropriately, Solomon and his officers were ordered to praise God for providing them with the raw material, the technique to benefit therefrom, and the capacity for art and industry that enabled them to make the necessary instruments.
2. Another manifestation of advancement in art and industry within the framework of Islamic government pertains to David, Solomon’s father. It was David who initiated Islamic government with a revolutionary leadership that had as its purpose the eradication of injustice. He possessed ample resources and was gifted with the power to turn hard metal in his palms into whatever shape he wished. God ordered him to use his miraculous power to develop the craft of mail-making, taking care to install the chains and rings in an orderly fashion:
وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا دَاوُودَ مِنَّا فَضْلًا يَا جِبَالُ أَوِّبِي مَعَهُ وَالطَّيْرَ وَأَلَنَّا لَهُ الْحَدِيدَ
Certainly We gave David a grace from Us: “O mountains and birds, chime in with him.” And We made iron soft for him, (34:10).
أَنِ اعْمَلْ سَابِغَاتٍ وَقَدِّرْ فِي السَّرْدِ وَاعْمَلُوا صَالِحًا إِنِّي بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ
[saying] ‘Make easy coats of mail, and keep the measure in arranging [the links], and act righteously” (34:11).
وَعَلَّمْنَاهُ صَنْعَةَ لَبُوسٍ لَكُمْ لِتُحْصِنَكُمْ مِنْ بَأْسِكُمْ فَهَلْ أَنْتُمْ شَاكِرُونَ
We taught him the making of coats of mail for you, to protect you from your own violence, Will you then be grateful? (21:80).
(A noteworthy observation regarding the above verses is that since the manufacture of mail is an art that people can learn, the Qur’an says God “taught” David. But regarding the power to turn hard metal into soft material, this word is not employed, for such a miracle is not an ordinary art but rather derives from the majesty and purity of spirit possessed by God’s friends.
Thus God simply says, “We made iron soft for him,” to demonstrate that such power is possible only by God’s miraculous grace. Of course the softening of metal by heating is an art that can be traced back to ancient times, but this is an ordinary accomplishment that differs from David’s miraculous power.)
3. Noah’s feat in constructing the Ark is yet another demonstration of industrial advancement. Noah is distinguished not only for his longevity and precedence in prophet hood but also for his appropriate employment of technology. God taught him how to build a ship and, further, guaranteed his success. The Qur’an thus affirms this truth:
وَاصْنَعِ الْفُلْكَ بِأَعْيُنِنَا وَوَحْيِنَا
Build the ark before Our eyes and by Our revelation. (11:37, 23:27).
4. The story of Dhu al-Qarnayn (the Two-Horned One) is also interesting in this relation. Though the Qur’an makes no mention of his prophethood, it nevertheless recounts his commendable employment of the resources available at his time to construct a number of impressive projects.
One such project was the construction of an impenetrable defensive wall, which was, due to its height and smoothness of surface, insurmountable and, due to its firmness, indestructible. It was built not of clay, stone, mortar, and the like but rather of molten iron and copper. The Qur’an describes the construction in the following verse:
آتُونِي زُبَرَ الْحَدِيدِ حَتَّىٰ إِذَا سَاوَىٰ بَيْنَ الصَّدَفَيْنِ قَالَ انْفُخُوا حَتَّىٰ إِذَا جَعَلَهُ نَارًا قَالَ آتُونِي أُفْرِغْ عَلَيْهِ قِطْرًا
[Dhu al-Qarnayn commanded,] “Bring me pieces of iron.” When he had leveled up [them] between the flanks [of the mountains], he said, “Blow.” When he had turned [the iron as if] into fire, he said, “Bring me molten copper to pour over it.” (18:96).
5. From the above Qur’anic stories, one may draw the following conclusions. First: Employment of technology is commendable and must be endorsed by the Islamic government. Second: Technology must be employed for proper purposes. Third: The paramount purpose for technology is fulfilling the scientific and practical needs of every age.
It is necessary to point out that the examples provided by the Qur’an are not exclusive. That is, proper employment of technology is not restricted to these instances. Noah’s ship-building is indicative of the need to construct various types of submarine, marine, ground, and air transportation for both passengers and cargo.
David’s mail-making craft is the prototype for the production of all means of defense, whether it be against arrows, bullets, chemical weapons, etc. Solomon’s architecture, handicraft, artistic work, and metalwork present a model for producing all the necessary instruments of life, for individual and social purposes, and, in addition, fulfilling the society’s artistic needs.
From these observations one may derive the guidelines according to which technology should be employed. Generally speaking, it is appropriate to use technology for all constructive purposes. But to use technology for any destructive or aggressive purpose that harms the earth, the sea, the air, the plants, the animals, or humankind is unquestionably inappropriate.
It is this distinction in purpose that sets technology in the ideal state as pursued by Islamic government apart from that as espoused by the aggressive and destructive powers who feign civilization; it is this distinction that clarifies the difference between a wholesome and a sick and degenerate environment.
4. Legal Progress
Islamic law and the officials in the Islamic government are responsible for delimiting, formulating, executing, and developing international law in as well as national law. No matter how advanced a society is in economic and technological matters, as long as it lacks a perfect legal system that honors mutual rights, it will never achieve genuine felicity.
For, without legal and ethical systems, economic and technological advancement can lead to destruction. The First and Second World Wars and the subsequent military intrusions conducted by imperialist powers against the weaker nations, which have resulted in death and plunder, attest to this truth. Islamic law offers certain principles in this relation, a list of which follows.
1. Islam condemns both oppressing others and allowing others to oppress us:
لَا تَظْلِمُونَ وَلَا تُظْلَمُونَ
Neither oppressing nor being oppressed. (2:279).
2. Islam requires that international agreements and contracts should be honored:
وَأَوْفُوا بِالْعَهْدِۖ
إِنَّ الْعَهْدَ كَانَ مَسْئُولًا
And fulfill the agreements; indeed [you are] accountable [for] all agreements. (17:34).
This verse encompasses, in addition to our agreements with God, all agreements with His creatures. In describing the elevated believers who achieve the status of virtue, the Qur’an says,
وَالْمُوفُونَ بِعَهْدِهِمْ إِذَا عَاهَدُوا
Those who fulfill their agreements when they make an agreement. (2:177).
Disbelievers are antithetically characterized by the Qur’an as
الَّذِينَ عَاهَدْتَ مِنْهُمْ ثُمَّ يَنْقُضُونَ عَهْدَهُمْ فِي كُلِّ مَرَّةٍ وَهُمْ لَا يَتَّقُونَ
Those who when you obtained an agreement from them, they violated their agreement in every instance. (8:56).
Islam’s insistence on honoring agreements is for the purpose of ensuring social security and freedom. Security and freedom, as requirements for the materialization of civil society and thus as two principles of the ideal state, can be realized only by a society that honors its agreements. Should a society fail to honor its agreements, it will be deprived of security, freedom, and the other functions of civil society.
The Noble Qur’an eloquently affirms that human beings are equal in nature and in the general principles of creation and renounces any false superiority based on history, language, race, color, or customs:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ مِنْ ذَكَرٍ وَأُنْثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
O humankind, indeed We created you from a male and a female, and made you nations and tribes that you may identify one another. Indeed the noblest of you in the sight of God is the most God-wary among you. (49:13).
In this way, it disallows that an individual or group should claim precedence over others and condemns the overbearing powers for upsetting the social balance. And the overbearing attitude is no more than the tendency to violate the agreements one has pledged. The following verse alludes to this truth:
وَإِنْ نَكَثُوا أَيْمَانَهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ عَهْدِهِمْ وَطَعَنُوا فِي دِينِكُمْ فَقَاتِلُوا أَئِمَّةَ الْكُفْرِۙ
إِنَّهُمْ لَا أَيْمَانَ لَهُمْ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَنْتَهُونَ
But if they violate their pledges after having made an argument and revile your religion, then fight the leaders of unfaith (for, indeed with them no pledge [is honorable]) that they may relinquish. (9:12).
The principal reason for fighting overbearing powers is their disregard for the pledges they make. In the above verse, the reason God offers for fighting the disbelievers is not their lack of faith but their violation of the pledges they make.
Peaceful life with nonbelievers is possible but not with overbearing nonbelievers who violate their pledges, for social life requires reciprocal commitment. When one of the parties involved feels free to violate his pledge when possessed of superior power, the possibility of social life fades.
The problem modern ignorance poses for contemporary society is the same as that posed by pre-modern ignorance: the lack of commitment on the part of the overbearing powers. This is sufficiently demonstrated by the current state of the United Nations and the other international organizations, which are indifferent to the atrocities perpetrated by aggressive powers, powers who feign concern for human rights. To expound on such grievances is, of course, beyond the scope of the present work.
3. To honor what has been committed to our trust-be it a financial or a legal commitment-is another principle that Islam sets forth:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُكُمْ أَنْ تُؤَدُّوا الْأَمَانَاتِ إِلَىٰ أَهْلِهَا
Indeed God commands you to deliver the trusts to their [rightful] owners. (4:58).
When describing the qualities of true believers, the Qur’an says,
وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ لِأَمَانَاتِهِمْ وَعَهْدِهِمْ رَاعُونَ
Those who honor their trusts and agreements. (23:8).
Moreover, many of God’s prophets mentioned in the Qur’an are described as “trustworthy” as a look at Surah Shu’ara makes evident
.
The effect of mutual trust in bringing about security and liberty and, consequently, establishing the ideal state is obvious. The Noble Qur’an in the following verse presents an analysis of the human constitution, thereby demonstrating that no individual or group may violate a trust (in this the Qur’an seems to be speaking to the racism inherent in such ideologies as Zionism that assume to be the superior race):
وَمِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ مَنْ إِنْ تَأْمَنْهُ بِقِنْطَارٍ يُؤَدِّهِ إِلَيْكَ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ إِنْ تَأْمَنْهُ بِدِينَارٍ لَا يُؤَدِّهِ إِلَيْكَ إِلَّا مَا دُمْتَ عَلَيْهِ قَائِمًا ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَالُوا لَيْسَ عَلَيْنَا فِي الْأُمِّيِّينَ سَبِيلٌ
And among the People of the Book is he who if you entrust him with a great wealth will repay it to you, and among them is he who, if you entrust him with a dinar will not repay it to you unless you stand persistently over him. That is because they say, “We have no obligation to the Gentiles.” (3:75).
That is, some among the Jews exhibit such treachery that if they are entrusted with something scarcely valuable, they will resist returning it unless coerced to do so. The reason for their treachery is that they deem themselves superior to Gentiles and as a result assume themselves free of any obligation to honor Gentile trusts.
It should go without saying that a people so unscrupulous in dealing with trusts can easily plunder; a people who bear no reservations in violating a meager trust of one dinar doubtless view the violation of a trust as great as the vast resources of an entire country as feasible.
Abraham’s Prayer For The Human Being’s Divine Viceroyalty And The Establishment Of The Ideal State
Numerous prophets arose from Abraham’s progeny who ruled as custodians of Islamic governance. In this regard the Qur’an says,
وَإِذْ قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ يَا قَوْمِ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ جَعَلَ فِيكُمْ أَنْبِيَاءَ وَجَعَلَكُمْ مُلُوكًا وَآتَاكُمْ مَا لَمْ يُؤْتِ أَحَدًا مِنَ الْعَالَمِينَ
When Moses said to his people, “O my people, remember God’s blessing upon you as He appointed prophets among you and made you kings.” (5:20).
These prophets inherited the main principles of divine authority and leadership and of politics and governance from the architect of the Ka’ba, Abraham, their progenitor.
In addition to putting these principles into practice, Abraham eloquently articulated them in his supplications with God. The main lines introduced in these supplications as narrated by the Qur’an constitute the two principal objectives of Islamic governance: the ultimate fruition of the virtuous human being pursuing perfection in divine viceroyalty and the establishment of the ideal state. And the latter can be achieved solely by the former.
In Abraham’s supplications narrated by the Qur’an, there are two sets of descriptions. One set lays down the qualities of the ideal state, such as development, liberty, security, and a sound economic basis. These qualities may be inferred from the following supplication:
وَإِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ رَبِّ اجْعَلْ هَٰذَا بَلَدًا آمِنًا وَارْزُقْ أَهْلَهُ مِنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ
And when Abraham said, “My Lord, make this a secure town, and provide its people with fruits.” (2:126).
The other set concerns human perfections as conditions for procuring divine viceroyalty. These conditions are stated, among others, in the following verses:
رَبَّنَا وَابْعَثْ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِنْهُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِكَ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْۚ
إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ
[Abraham and Ishmael prayed,] Our Lord, raise amongst them an apostle from among them, who should recite to them Your signs, and teach them the Book and wisdom, and purify them. Indeed You are the All-mighty, the All-wise. (2:129).
وَإِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ رَبِّ اجْعَلْ هَٰذَا الْبَلَدَ آمِنًا وَاجْنُبْنِي وَبَنِيَّ أَنْ نَعْبُدَ الْأَصْنَا
When Abraham said, “My Lord, make this city a sanctuary, and save me my children from worshipping idols.” (14:35).
(It is these supplications by the ancient prophets as recorded in the Qur’an and the other heavenly scriptures that are the source from which the supplications of the Imams in the Shia corpus of hadith derive.)
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Author: Ayatullah Jawadi Amuli
