The Creation Plan of God
Discovery of Islam
~ 33 ~
This change of the source of inspiration wrought
immense harm. When the Qur’an and Sunnah are
one’s intellectual sources it is modesty that is bred
in the mind, whereas if one takes history as one’s
intellectual source, pride is bound to be generated.
If the Qur’an and Sunnah are taken to be the true
sources of knowledge of God’s will, all mankind, in
the words of a
hadith
, will be regarded by the
believers as God’s family; the whole of humanity
will become their concern: whereas, when the mind
is shaped by history, Muslims see themselves as
rulers, and others as subjects. If they derive Islam
from the Qur’an and Sunnah, then all God’s
creation—even a blade of grass—will appear to
them as God’s signs. Whereas when history is the
source of their Islam, the forts and palaces of their
kings become signs of grandeur and glory to them.
This is exactly what has happened with the latter
day Muslims. Almost all the activities of Muslims in
present times bear testimony to this fact. The
speeches of their leaders, the books of their writers,
the poetry of their poets, seem to centre on their
glorious history. Their writers and speakers provide
them food for thought about historical glory rather
