History in Quran’s light

HISTORY is a record of the rise and fall of nations. Through it we realize facts about nations that flourished, the goals they pursued and above all the values around which their culture and society was organized. It can help us assess values and solve our own problems.

We can avoid the steps taken by those nations which led to their calamitous end. For a better future we cannot escape from the study of history. The Quran exhorts us to go round the world and see for ourselves the fate of those who defied God by ignoring His laws. The source of worldly power i.e. wealth and military strength, could not save them. In the future, history will judge us too. The prognosis is within our grasp.

The Quran is not a book of history. It first states laws that govern the fate of nations and then cites examples from history to illustrate those laws. Those who believe in the Divine Revelation get a deep insight into the nature of the life process. The Quran says, ‘Have they not travelled in the land to see the nature of the consequence for those before them? They were more numerous than them and mightier in power. But all they used to earn availed them not. And when the Messengers brought them clear proofs of the consequences of their doings, they exulted in the knowledge they themselves possessed. And that which they were wont to mock befell them (40:82-83).

These nations were extremely powerful, rich and influential, but when they defied the moral code, their efforts to ward off fate were of no avail. They decayed and finally dwindled away. Their fall could not be attributed to ignorance as the Messengers (Anbia) warned them time and again. They refused to mend their ways and ignored the warnings. The Divine laws have limits and whosoever crosses them must face the destructive consequences. Remorse and repentance could not save them when their final fall was in sight. In the Divine system of laws there are possibilities of change and recovery. Beyond those limits the result is imminent.

The Divine laws demand that justice should be done and the dignity of man should be respected at all costs. Any nation disregarding this value usually exploits other nations and human beings. Such nations are definitely doomed. The consequences may be delayed, but they are inevitable. Allah has created the heavens and earth so that His law of Requital may be set in motion (45:22). This law measured accordingly to a definite pattern called Divine laws (33:39) or the ‘Habit of God’ knows no change. It has operated in the past and will operate in the future as well (33:62).

The Quran views the historical process as a manifestation of the evolutionary process in which the participants are free individuals with foresight which can only take developing steps in the light of Divine directives. The resultant social order is the ultimate goal.

Ibn-i-Khaldun viewed history as a cycle. He reached this conclusion by looking back on the rise and fall of nations. He believed that human society is an eternal up-and-down movement. It develops and completes itself not into something higher and better, but into something different which comprises the old and the new at the same time. This development is purposeful and not merely a part of a movement as Hegel and Marx believed.

Some thinkers believe that the rise and fall of nations depends upon devotion and commitment of the people to their ideal purpose and how hard they work for it. The role of education, tolerance, knowledge and social values is also an important factor. Endurance does not mean meekness, haplessness or weakness, as is generally understood. Endurance in the Quranic sense means resistance, firmness, determination and the will to face troubles in living up to one’s ideals. Only those survive who benefit the whole humanity is another message of the Quran.

History proceeds in line with the fixed moral principles: The effects of a particular way of life may not be obvious for years. Nations are usually deluded by a false sense of security. If they do not mend their ways, they are doomed and ‘God shall lead them on to destruction by steps they perceive not’ (68:44). At times history plays the role of Changez and Halako, as the universal Divine order has no use for nations which merely impede the progress of humanity and are incapable of developing the power to ensure their own security.

Such nations drop out of the procession of mankind and the disappearance is not even noticeable. “And the heaven and the earth wept not for them, nor were they reprieved (44:29). If a nation retraces its path and reforms itself before reaching the point of no return, it is saved. This respite is called ‘ajal’ in the Quran. ‘For every nation there is an ‘ajal’ (7:34) and for every ‘ajal’ there is a law (13:38). The limit, beyond which a nation cannot pass, without being irretrievably lost, is determined by the Divine law.

If a nation suffers, it has brought the suffering on itself. “He who has to perish” says the Quran perishes by a clear proof and he who has to survive, survives by a clear proof (8:42) ‘God does not do injustice to anyone. It is the people who do injustice to themselves (11:101) ‘why should God punish you if you are grateful? (4:147). The Quran points out that a nation begins to decline when it pursues wealth and hoards it instead of spending on the needy. Such nations are supplanted by another nation carrying more weight in the balance of humanity and (47:38). ‘It is better than its predecessor’ (70:4).

A nation which relies on brute force ultimately fails. The rivalries of political and religious factions and the mounting discontent of the people also bring about the downfall of an unjust society. (6:65) This is a situation Pakistan is facing today. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) once said that the kingdom of disbelieves may last, but not the kingdom of tyranny.

In the Quran we read about the misguided leaders and rulers of the past like Pharaoh (political power), Haman (Religious hierarchy) and Qaroon (Economic control). They paid the price for disregarding the universal moral order. The Quran also cites the example of Aad and Thamud; both were rich and powerful nations, highly intelligent and keen observers (29:38); but their scales of values were wrong.

The Quran points out that it is the duty of intellectuals and thinkers to discover the right path and ask people to follow it. And verily we had empowered them with that wherewith We have not empowered you and had assigned them ears and mind, but their eyes and mind availed them naught since they rejected the laws revealed by Allah and what they use to mock befell them (46:26).

According to Briffault (Making of humanity) what really happens is that the phase of society, the order of things in which disregard of right is habitual and accepted, inevitably deteriorates and perishes. Rene Guenon (Crisis of the modern world) predicts that those who unchain the brute forces of matter will perish, crushed by these very forces, of which they will no longer be masters.

Man was not meant to become a glorified beast. The cure for this malady lies in turning back to God by adopting the absolute values. The masses too are not quite blameless as they allow themselves to be misled. It is their duty to pull up their leaders when they go wrong. On the day of judgment the followers and the leaders will hurl accusations at each other when they see their doom. The followers, while admitting that they had obeyed them of their own accord, will plead that they had been taken in by their specious arguments and plausible reasoning (34:32, 33). This sounds very familiar in our present day scenario? Backward nations also eagerly follow advanced nations as their leader. When disaster befalls them both; they will blame each other.

‘Every time a nation entereth Hell, it curseth its sister nations (that went before them), until they follow one another; the latter of them shall say of the former of them’ Our Rabb these led us astray so give them double torment of the fire (7:38). How ephemeral is glory is shown by the ruins of the great cities of the past. They are but a tourist attraction now.

We are exhorted to study history and avoid the path which led others to ruin. The Quran also tells us to roam the world and carefully observe the life of contemporary nations. We will see that knowledge, power and wealth cannot save a nation when it pursues false values. Destiny lies in our own hands. If we live in harmony with the eternal moral order and pursue the Divine permanent values, an unlimited vista of progress lies before us. On the other hand if we defy these values, we will bring disaster and ruin to ourselves.

We cannot stop the tide of history. The Quranic social order which assures a peaceful, prosperous and glorious life to mankind has not been established in the world, not even in any Muslim state. This order is neither a utopia nor unworkable. The Divine course, once adopted so successfully by Prophet Muhammad, is still there and can be taken up by any nation that wishes to reach human destination safely and surely.

A crisis we could do without

OUR policymakers are a daring lot. In the name of free-market economy, they are busy liberalizing trade of even essential food commodities like wheat and sugar, thus exposing these items to the unfettered greed of hoarders, millers and other stakeholders.

To compound the crisis of the common man, who is paying for this unchecked profiteering, policymakers are liberalizing trade without putting in place even the bare minimum prerequisites for such policy initiatives, including an effective regulatory regime.

The policymakers also seem unable, or unwilling, to understand the limits of state power in dealing with profiteers. The state cannot move against them because of political reasons. This weakness encourages cartelization in the trade of basic commodities and multiplies costs for consumers. In the process, the situation has already pushed a few million more below the poverty line but the flawed policy remains unchanged and is, in fact, gathering strength and becoming cruder in certain cases.

The cost of faulty policies to consumers can be gauged by the fact that the end-users are being made to pay an additional Rs 90 billion on the purchase of flour. During the last five years, after the government decided to open up wheat trade, the price of a 20 kg bag of flour has risen from Rs 160 in 1999 to Rs 255 in 2006. Thus, consumers now pay over Rs 90 billion for the same quantity of flour they bought six years ago.

The latest policy initiative of the policy wizards is the liberalization of sugar trade, again without preparing for the pitfalls and risks that such a policy adventure could entail. The duty-free import of sugar has linked the price with the international market. Consequently, the price of sugar has risen from Rs 21 per kg last year to Rs 42, registering a 100 per cent increase in one financial year and creating an additional burden of Rs 70 billion for the common man. But, this increase has not been caused by international prices alone. Domestic factors, which are linked to governance, have contributed much more to the crisis.

Both these adventures will cost the common man a staggering amount of over Rs 160 billion incurred on basic food items, the purchase of which nobody can avoid.

During the last few years, our policymakers have let the millers rule in the domestic cane market. Consistent complaints from the farmers about abnormal delay in payments, even non-payments, and the under-weighing of cane failed to evoke any response from the government. Farmers attributed this official apathy to the fact that most sugar millers belong to the ruling elite and the government could not move against itself. The crop started to lose financial viability for the farmers and its size progressively reduced. Officials kept denying the reduction in acreage until the crisis proved them wrong.

Once it was proven that a substantial reduction had taken place, the policymakers woke up to the situation. Traditionally, cane is sown on 2.7 million acres in the country. Now, the government officials admit that this figure has come down to two million acres — registering a decrease of 26 per cent in the last two years. The millers and farmers put the figure even higher at around 50 per cent.

The situation triggered panic in official circles but the policymakers, instead of addressing long-term domestic policy issues like ensuring payments to farmers and conducting research for better yielding varieties, decided to exercise the easy but myopic option: the duty-free import of sugar.

The policy was designed to provide quick relief to consumers but it seems to have backfired if one goes by market prices. The millers and traders were quick to form cartels and hoard the commodity, thus causing prices to shoot up even further. Other factors have contributed to the situation. Sugar prices in the international market have gone up from $300 per ton last year to over $400 at present.

Thus imported sugar has started dictating local markets, in spite of the fact that a million tons of import would comprise only 27 per cent of the total consumption of 3.6 million tons. Local production has largely disappeared from the market because of hoarding. Traders and millers have formed cartels and adopted a go-slow and sporadic supply policy.

The government has been unable to check this cartelization and has allowed imported sugar to control market conditions. The millers, traders and hoarders, having a big storage capacity, are under no administrative pressure to release their commodity.

Since the cane acreage has dropped hugely, the crop has become scarce. Farmers have also illegally increased the price to an average of Rs 65 per 40 kg against the officially announced price of Rs 45. But according to official calculations, which are part of government record, the cost of sugar manufacturing cannot go beyond Rs 23.80 per kg if millers purchase cane at Rs 65 per 40 kg. If the 15 per cent sales tax is included, which is Rs 4.20, the price comes to Rs 28 per kg. However, the millers and traders are selling it at Rs 39 in wholesale markets — a profit of Rs 11 per kg. The retailers then include their transportation cost and profit and the price goes well above Rs 40 per kg.

The government has chosen to remain a silent spectator. It is neither ready to take the hoarders to task nor to act at the retail level nor ensure that its own indicated price of Rs 45 remains so at the farmers’ level. After failing to rectify the situation, its ministers have been on record for defending the price hike and defining the factors behind it: all in the name of free market economy.

Interestingly, the government was quick to come to the millers’ rescue when they produced surplus sugar in 2003. It purchased sugar from them, paid them and kept sugar in the millers’ stores because it did not have space for storage. But, in the present crisis, it has failed to retrieve sugar from millers and hoarders in spite of reports that over 700,000 tons of stocks — over two months’ supply — are available in the country. All this is happening in the middle of the crushing season when millers are producing around 500,000 tons a month against the national consumption of 300,000 tons.

The government has decided to release its stocks of 218,000 tons through the Utility Stores Corporation at a rate of Rs 27 per kg. The rate of sugar at these stores was Rs 23 last week. The government itself has increased the price by roughly 17 per cent. Interestingly, the government had purchased this sugar in 2004, during a surplus regime, at an average rate of Rs 18.

It may have incurred Rs 3 per kg on bank interest and other incidentals. But it has decided to raise the price from last month’s Rs 23 to Rs 27 per kg, thus making its share of profit at the cost of the common man. No wonder, with this mindset of profit-making, the state is unable to check private hoarders, millers and farmers. And the consumer pays.

The politics of science

IT is a rare thing for the biography of a 24-year-old NASA spokesman to attract the attention of the national media. But that is what happened last week when George C. Deutsch tendered his resignation.

Mr Deutsch had, it emerged, lied about his (nonexistent) undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University. Far more important, several New York Times articles over the past week or so have exposed Mr Deutsch as one of several White House-appointed public affairs officers at the agency who tried to prevent senior NASA career scientists from speaking and writing freely, especially when their views on the realities of climate change differed from those of the White House.

Mr Deutsch prevented reporters from interviewing James E. Hansen, the leading climate scientist at NASA, telling colleagues he was doing so because his job was to “make the president look good.” Mr Deutsch also instructed another NASA scientist to add the word “theory” after every written mention of the Big Bang, on the grounds that the accepted scientific explanation of the origins of the universe “is an opinion” and that NASA should not discount the possibility of “intelligent design by a creator.”

The spectacle of a young political appointee with no college degree exerting crude political control over senior government scientists and civil servants with many decades of experience is deeply disturbing. More disturbing is the fact that Mr Deutsch’s attempts to manipulate science and scientists, although unusually blatant, were not unique.

Just before Christmas, the federal Environmental Protection Agency issued “talking points” to local environmental agencies. These suggestions were intended to help their spokesmen play down an Associated Press story that showed that impoverished neighbourhoods had higher levels of air pollution.

—The Washington Post