The Muslim 100. Muhammad Mojlum Khan

      EDMUND BURKE, the renowned Irish philosopher and statesman, once said, ‘People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.’ Likewise, Aldous Huxley, the acclaimed English novelist, wrote, ‘That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.’ But what actually is history? Abd al-Rahman ibn Khaldun, the father of the philosophy of history, wrote in his famous Muqaddimah fi’l Tarikh (Introduction to History), ‘History is a discipline that has a great number of approaches. Its useful aspects are very many. Its goal is distinguished. History makes us acquainted with the conditions of past nations as they are reflected in their national character. It makes us acquainted with the biographies of the prophets and with the dynasties and policies of rulers. Whoever so desires may thus achieve the useful result of being able to imitate historical examples in religious and worldly matters. The (writing of history) requires numerous sources and much varied knowledge.’

      Few historians would disagree with Ibn Khaldun that writing history requires ‘numerous sources and much varied knowledge.’ I became fascinated by history, especially Islamic history, when I was in my early teens. To me the past is as important as the present, because without a proper understanding of the past we are unlikely to understand our present condition, and without a proper understanding of the present we will not be able to shape our future. Our past, present and future are therefore interconnected and interdependent. Indeed, I would go so far as to say our past is more important than our future, because we cannot control and shape our future if we are not aware of our past. Therefore knowing and understanding our history is not optional: it is a necessity. It is also true that the ancient Greek historians such as Herodotus of Halicarnassus and Thucydides of Athens wrote history as if history was no more than the unfolding of a sequence of events. Like them, the early Islamic historians such as Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Baladhuri, Ibn Jarir al-Tabari and Abul Faraj al-Isfahani also considered history to be a sequence of events. However, other Muslim historians like Abul Hasan al-Mas’udi, Abul Hasan Ali ibn al-Athir and Ibn Khaldun took a more logical and critical approach to history. The latter in particular sought to explore and identify the underlying causes or factors which triggered the sequence of events in the first place. That is why Ibn Khaldun considered history and philosophy to be two sides of the same coin. Therefore, in order to understand and fully appreciate history, he felt an understanding of philosophy was required and vice versa.

      However, there is another group of historians who consider history to be no more than a playground for prominent peoples and personalities: as one famous historian said, ‘There is properly no history: only biography.’ This view was reinforced by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who stated that history was no more than ‘His-story’. The proponents of this view are more concerned with the ‘actors’ (historymakers), rather than the actions (the sequence of events or historical process as such). However, from an Islamic perspective history is not merely a sequence of events, nor is it entirely a playground for influential people and personalities; it is both of these things and more. Indeed, the Qur’anic approach to history is integrative, holistic and comprehensive in the sense that it acknowledges the role played by ‘creative personalities’ (as Sir Arnold J. Toynbee put it), natural causes or phenomena and also direct Divine intervention in the process of history. Thus, according to the Qur’an, history is neither entirely pre-ordained nor wholly deterministic, like the Marxist and Hegelian notions of history and historical change. On the contrary it says, ‘Surely, God will not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition.’ (13:11). And, ‘God is on the side of those who fear Him, and do good.’ (16:128). Likewise, the Qur’an argues (see, for instance, Surat Hud verse 114) that the historical process is much more than a rigid chain of ‘cause and effect’ – unlike the views advanced by historians like Oswald Spengler. Instead, the notion of selectivity on the basis of moral imperative is central to the Qur’anic concept of historical change. ‘God’, says the Qur’an ‘will not leave the believers in the condition in which they are until He separates the wrongdoers from those who are righteous.’ (3:179). Thus, in addition to time-space factors and the moral imperative, direct Divine intervention (whether in the form of reward or punishment) is also an integral part of the Qur’anic understanding of history and historical change. ‘Say: He has power to send calamities on you, from above and below, or to cover you with confusion in party strife, giving you a taste of mutual vengeance – each from the other.’ (6:65). And, ‘The reward of God is best for those who believe and work righteousness: but this none shall attain, save those who steadfastly

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