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The
Creator of the universe said: "I am about to appoint my vicegerent in the
earth."
The
angels humbly offered their opinion before Allah the Exalted saying, "This
earthly servant will become a symbol of violence and bloodshed upon
earth."
Listening to the angels, God did not negate their
objection proclaiming, 'Man will not cause disorder in the Earth.' Instead He
replied, "I know what you know not!" He then taught Adam the
knowledge of His attributes and, presenting this masterpiece of His to the
Angels, He said, "Now show how much knowledge you posses compared to
him."
Trembling in the awe of God's grandeur and majesty, the
angels exclaimed, "We only know what Thou hast taught us. Indeed Thou art
All Knowing, the Wise!"
[The Holy Quran, ch2: v30-32]
According to the angels, human beings cause chaos and
disorder. But possessing the knowledge of God's attributes, they become God's
vicegerent [or viceroy]. In other words, if man is not the viceroy of Cod, he is evil incarnate — creator of
disorder. The natural consequent ice of causing evil and disorder is the
distance that one creates between oneself and Allah, and this distance from
Allah throws one in the clutches of fear and despair. A fearful person always
tries to prove himself as more aware, more intelligent, and more powerful than
the others. Over the lengthy span of 2000 years, this perception of fear has
grown into such a mountain that its expanse has taken over the vastness of the
entire Earth. To rid themselves of fear, nations have invented weapons capable
of destroying their own kind and make the Earth shudder, and giving this
horridness the name of "progress," they have placed the entire human
population on edge. To prove his superiority, man has invented weapons that can
destroy the world in the blink of an eye. These intellectuals of mankind, who
indeed are not Allah's viceroys, have brought disgrace upon themselves by
inventing and reinventing deadly weapons. According to reports of the
conscientious individuals of developed nation, we learn that 40,000 atom bombs
exist in the world today, It is impossible to even estimate the number of
traditional weapons. Why is such progress taking place? Against whom are these
weapons being made? Who will be destroyed by the use of these weapons? Is this
not tantamount to burning down one's own house?
The earth belongs to Allah; the earth is the center of
the welfare and prosperity of the people; the earth is our place of birth; the
earth's womb bears natural resources for us; and it is the earth whose fields
and gardens have been made a bountiful spread for us by Allah's blessing. How
unfortunate that, in the name of progress, we are bent upon destroying the very
womb in which we have grown to maturity. What kind of progress, is this that
will turn the colourful beauty that surrounds us into ashes—the flowers and the
trees, the mountains and the valleys, the gardens and the deserts? This is not
progress. This is decline, misfortune, and fear—the fear that, 'we will be
destroyed by our own brethren,' and thus resorting to amassing such power so that no other group from our kind can destroy us.
But there exists an unavoidable law that, 'as a thing comes into being, its use
becomes inevitable.' These 40,000 atom bombs and who knows how many other kinds
of bombs that have been created will inevitably explode one day and, when the
world is released from this glittering illusion of progress, no tree or pebble
would remain; nor would any evidence of progress of a fearful humanity remain.
Come out of this life of fear! Then there will be no need
to amass these means of destruction and the earth will not be brought to
ruin—the earth whose every particle gives us life.
KHWAJA SHAMS-UD-DEEN AZEEMI
Science has made immense progress, yet many believe that, even with all of the modern tools at our disposal, human beings function at no more than 10% of their mental capacity. This leads to the question of what exactly it is that comprises the remaining 90%. Yet another question that arises is this: If it has taken man four and a half billion years to be able to apply only 10% of his ability, how long will it take for him to make use of the remaining 90%?
