that you do not even know about. It rests with Allah alone to show you the Right Way, even when there are many crooked ways. Had He so willed, He would have (perforce) guided you all aright. He it is Who sends down water for you from the sky out of which you drink and out of which grow the plants on which you pasture your cattle, and by virtue of which He causes crops and olives and date-palms and grapes and all kinds of fruit to grow for you. Surely in this there is a great Sign for those who reflect. He has subjected for you the night and the day and the sun and the moon and the stars have also been made subservient by His command. Surely there are Signs in this for those who use their reason. And there are also Signs for those who take heed in the numerous things of various colours that He has created for you on earth. And He it is Who has subjected the sea that you may eat fresh fish from it and bring forth ornaments from it that you can wear. And you see ships ploughing their course through it so that you may go forth seeking His Bounty and be grateful to Him. And He has placed firm mountains on the earth lest it should move away from you, and has made rivers and tracks that you may find your way, and He has set other landmarks in the earth. And by the stars too do people find their way. … For, were you to count the favours of Allah, you will not be able to count them.
[al-Naḥl 16: 5-18]
These verses narrate to us humans the fact that all natural resources on and within the earth, as well as many in the atmosphere, have been subjugated for our benefit and placed at our service – the rivers and seas, the trees and animals, the stars and the moon, the day and night, light and darkness – all have been made of service to man. Human beings enjoy superiority over all of these. They have been bestowed with the greatest honour and dignity and made masters over these.
Why, then, does man bow before such [powerless objects], considering them capable of answering their wants and desires? Why is man afraid of their (supposed) powers, and why does he spread his hands before these material objects, make supplications, and sing songs of praise for their greatness? In this way, by becoming a slave of slaves, man only debases himself and engineers his own fall from grace.
From the foregoing, it is clear that human beings are neither as supreme as they occasionally consider themselves nor so lowly and insignificant as they often make themselves out to be. We, thus, come to the question: ‘What is the true status of human beings in this temporal world?’ Islam’s response to this query is as follows:
Just think when your Lord said to the angels: ‘Lo! I am about to place a Vicegerent on earth,’ they said: ‘Will You place on it one who will spread mischief and shed blood while we celebrate Your glory and extol Your holiness?’ He said: ‘Surely I know what you do not know.’ Then Allah taught Adam the names of all things and presented them to the angels and said: ‘If you are right (that the appointment of a Vicegerent will cause mischief) then tell Me the names of these things.’ They said. ‘Glory to You! We have no knowledge except what You taught us. You, only You, are All-Knowing, All-Wise.’ Then Allah said to Adam: ‘Tell them the names of these things.’ And when he had told them the names of all things, Allah said: ‘Did I not say to you that I know everything about the heavens and the earth which are beyond your range of knowledge and I know all that you disclose and also all that you hide?’ And when We ordered the angels: ‘Prostrate yourselves before Adam,’ all of them fell prostrate, except Iblīs. He refused, and gloried in his arrogance and became one of the defiers. And We said: ‘O Adam, live in the Garden, you and your wife, and eat abundantly of whatever you wish but do not approach this tree or else you will be counted among the wrong-doers.’ But Satan caused both of them to deflect from obeying Our command by tempting them to the tree and brought them out of the state they were in
[al-Baqarah 2: 30-36]
Recall when your Lord said to the angels: ‘I will indeed bring into being a human being out of dry ringing clay wrought from black mud. When I have completed shaping him and have breathed into him of My Spirit, then fall you down before him in prostration.’ So, the angels – all of them – fell down in prostration, except Iblīs; he refused to join those who prostrated. The Lord inquired: ‘Iblīs! What is the matter with you that you did not join those who prostrated?’ He said: ‘It does not behove of me to prostrate myself before a human being whom You have created out of dry ringing clay wrought from black mud.’ The Lord said: ‘Then get out of here; you are rejected, and there shall be a curse upon you till the Day of Recompense.’
[al-Ḥijr 15: 28-35]
The same subject is addressed by the Qur’ān at numerous places in different ways. The gist of this discourse is that God has made human beings his Vicegerents – in modern parlance, a representative plenipotentiary – and granted them greater knowledge than the angels. It is because of that status that God has given human beings preference over the angels in spite of their constant remembrance of and practice of paying homage to Him. Indeed, God ordered the angels to prostrate themselves before this Divine representative. Having so carried out the Divine command, the angelic assembly accepted man’s newly designated status – all except Satan1 who thus raised the flag of rebellion and refused to bow before the human race.
Indeed, man was nothing but a lump of clay into which a Divine spirit had been blown. It was rather man’s higher state of knowledge that had made him fit for Divine representation on earth. Satan, however, who did not follow all the other angels in submitting to Divine command, and who thereby earned eternal damnation, nonetheless sought and received Divine permission to lead human beings astray from the Divine path [by way of a rhetorical challenge]. Carrying out his evil promise, Satan deceived the first couple and this led to the human expulsion from Paradise. From that day onwards, there has been an unceasing and eternal struggle between human beings and Satan. God has clearly communicated to human beings that they will be saved and led to Paradise if they follow Divine guidance. Yet if they listen to God’s sworn enemy, Satan, their destination will surely be Hell.
From the above discussion we further understand that the human race (both jointly and severally) has been granted the status of God’s caliph. A caliph is the term used for an assistant or ‘a second in command’. Naturally, it goes without saying that it is the responsibility of the immediate subordinate – in modern legal parlance ‘an agent’ – to carry out the commands of the superior or ‘principal’. The representative can neither follow the dictates of someone other than his principal or superior, for that would be insubordination – if not outright rebellion – nor is he authorized to act independently as by way of considering the subjects, servants and slaves of the lord as his own servants and slaves. In the latter situation he would also be considered a rebel and in either case would be liable to punishment.
In this position as the Lord’s representatives, human beings are free to use the Principal’s properties and possessions, rule over His subjects, acquire beneficial servitude from them, and generally manage or organize them, but not in a way that the action is deemed as that of the Principal. Moreover, no human being may act in a manner that can be construed as if he is acting as the agent of someone other than his true Master. Man’s only appropriate manner of action is that of a Divine representative, one who is a custodian of the Lord’s temporal possessions. Accordingly, a human being can be a true, well-liked, and praiseworthy representative only if s/he does not betray any of the trusts placed in herself or himself, follows the given guidelines and does not go beyond any explicit orders. Moreover, the representative should adhere to the set of rules that the Master has laid down in terms of the utilization of His properties and the governance of His subjects. If a representative or agent does not act in a manner that is envisaged in the Principal-Agent relationship, s/he shall cease to be a representative and instead become a rebel,
