In the Name of Allah, the
Gracious, the Merciful
An excerpt from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir, depicting the divine scene when Allah informs Angels of
His intention to create Man:
30. Wa-ith
qala rabbuka lilmala-ikati innee jaAAilun fee al-ardi
khaleefatan qaloo atajAAalu feeha man yufsidu feeha
wayasfiku alddimaa wanahnu nusabbihu bihamdika
wanuqaddisu laka qala innee aAAlamu ma la taAAlamoona
30. And when
your Lord said to the angels, "I am indeed going to establish a vicegerent22
to 25 on the earth", they said, "Will You establish therein
those who would spread discord therein and shed blood? And we glorify You with
praises, and sanctify You!" He (Allah) said, "I know that which you
do not know."
22. Khalifa is the word used in the
original Arabic text and it is important to understand the divine meaning
thereof. One of the dictionary meanings of this word is 'successor', but this
meaning cannot be applied in the context here. Allah obviously wanted to make the
first human, Adam, a Khalifa on the earth and so there is no question of
his being a 'successor' there. Earlier to Adam being sent to the earth, Allah's
was the only, and complete, sway over there, and it would be preposterous to
think that Almighty Allah would appoint any 'successor' to Him, Himself!
23. It would therefore be most appropriate
to take the other meaning viz. 'vicegerent' or, so to say, a viceroy acting as
the Absolute Sovereign's deputy ruler in a specific region of the Sovereign's
vast dominion and exercising some of His delegated powers to a limited extent.
24. And in Verse 35:39, the Qur'aan speaks
of the entire mankind being made the Khalaif, or the vicegerents (in
plural, that is), on the earth. This Verse and other Verses like 6:165, 7:74, 7:69
etc. go to show that it is not Adam only who had been made the Khalifa,
but that human beings that came through his progeny to inhabit this earth so
far and that would come in future, are all the Khalaif or Khulafa
on this earth. In some translations, this plural word has been wrongly
interpreted as 'successors'. All human beings are Allah's vicegerents on this
earth. They are, in other words, His deputies, everyone having control over
his/her respective little world (aalam).
25. But these little deputies tend to
forget their real position and status. They forget that they are only deputies
of their common Sovereign, the real Nourisher and Sustainer of all their little
worlds (Rabb-il-aalameen). They forget that Allah is, as do Verses 6:165
and 10:14 explain, only testing them by the limited delegation of some of His
powers to them. Allah is testing whether His deputies are exercising their
delegated powers justly and fairly for constructive creation within the spheres
of their little worlds, remembering all the while that they are answerable to
their Sovereign for all their acts of omission and commission.
Grant
us the wisdom to deserve being Your Vicegerents on earth, Allah!
Mohammad
Shafi
Friday,
the 13th of January, 2017
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