The Debate between the Might and the Truth within a Quranist Vision (9):

The Test of Succession in the Land between Moses' Pharaoh and the Israelites (2 of 2)

Published in December 27, 2017

Translated by: Ahmed Fathy

Thirdly:succession/destruction between the will of human beings and the Will of Almighty God the Creator:

1- God has created human beings as free agents who choose willingly to (dis)believe. "And say, "The Truth is from your Lord. Whoever wills - let him believe. And whoever wills - let him disbelieve"..." (18:29). Thus, human beings are created free to do whatever they like, and God has said the following to those who despise and argue against His Quranic verses, seeking to undermine them: "...Do as you please..." (41:40). Thus, God (mis)guides those who choose on their own accord to be (mis)guided: "What of him whose evil deed was made attractive to him, and so he regards it as good? God leads astray those who choose to be led astray, and He guides those who choose to be guided..." (35:8). God's Will asserts the human will even in politics and sovereignty (i.e., people accepting or submitting to their rulers). If a community/nation willingly chooses to submit to a tyrant, God's Will acknowledges this tyrant as their king/ruler/leader. For instance, during the lifetime of Moses, a king-pirate used to confiscate by force all ships passing by his kingdom (we guess that the geographical location of this tyrant might have been Phoenicia or Cypress). God describes this tyrannical ruler as ''king'' within the context of the Quranic story of Moses and the (Good Servant) of the Lord God, because people accepted him as their king: "As for the boat, it belonged to paupers working at sea. I wanted to damage it because there was a king coming after them seizing every boat by force." (18:79). The same applies to the disbelieving king who argued and debated with Abraham; God has acknowledged his kingship despite his disbelief because people accepted to submit to him as their king: "Have you not considered him who argued with Abraham about his Lord, because God had given him sovereignty? Abraham said, "My Lord is He who gives life and causes death." He said, "I give life and cause death." Abraham said, "God brings the sun from the East, so bring it from the West," so the disbeliever was confounded. God does not guide the unjust people." (2:258). Hence, God's Will asserts and endorses the will of people who have chosen to accept a certain ruler and the will of people who have truly changed/removed their submission and fear from inside their souls and revolted to seek justice and to ameliorate their conditions: "...God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves..." (13:11). We have written repeatedly about God's Will that follows and endorses the human free will, as this is the basis of the responsibility of human beings in this transient world and in the Hereafter.

2- The fact that the Divine Will endorses and comes after the human will means also that the Divine Will is the first and last one in all instances regarding the test of the succession of people after another people, and the succession of pharaoh/ruler after another pharaoh/ruler, in the land; we infer this from the following verse: "Say, "O God, Owner of Sovereignty. You grant sovereignty to whom You will, and You strip sovereignty from whom you will. You honor whom you will, and You humiliate whom you will. In Your hand is all goodness. You are Capable of all things."" (3:26).

3- Hence, we should re-visit or re-read the Quranic verses about Moses' Pharaoh who was given wealth, splendor, and sovereignty by God in this transient world and about Quaroon whom God made to inherit immense treasures. In both cases, God's Will comes after the human will of seeking to amass possessions and to be successors in the land. Both Pharaoh and Quaroon willed and sought what they wanted, and both received what they wanted by God's leave and permission – as a test by God to them during their lifetimes as successors and inheritors, and they were punished as per sins and evil deeds, as they failed the test of prosperity.   

4- Thus, the human will is the first element here, but the second element is the fact that human beings never know the metaphysical realm of future events. Moses' Pharaoh sought and reached might, power, authority, and wealth and maintained them by all the strength he could muster; i.e., he chose willingly, as a self-deified tyrant, to commit evil deeds and massacres, and he never knew the future events that would occur to him during his lifetime. This is why he brought up Moses inside his palace while he never knew that Moses will be the cause of the sorrow and destruction to him and to his people (see 28:8). This Quranic general rule applies all the time to those sinners who scheme and plot evil deeds which overwhelm them eventually: "Priding themselves in the land, and scheming evil. But evil scheming overwhelms none but its authors. Do they expect anything but the Sunna of the ancients? You will not find any change in God's Sunna, and you will not find any substitute to God's Sunna." (35:43). The term "Sunna" here means practices and ways. God's method or Sunna here in 35:43 means His dealing with arrogant, tyrannical sinners/criminals who scheme evil to reach and maintain their might, power, and authority and to monopolize all wealth, within massacring the innocent ones and oppressing the weak ones by inflicting severe persecution on them and committing grave injustices against them. Eventually, the evil scheming/conspiring leads to the destruction of the unjust ones, and this is another Quranic general rule: "And thus We set up in every city its leading wicked sinners, to conspire in it, but they conspire only against themselves, and they do not realize it." (6:123).    

5- If the arrogant, self-deified Pharaoh were told beforehand about his fate of being drowned in the Red Sea, he would not have believed and he would not have stopped his being stubborn and bent on committing evil deeds of tyranny. The believing prince inside the palace of Pharaoh warned and preached Pharaoh and his people by talking about the destruction of ancient nations; yet, Pharaoh and his people never paid attention nor took heed. Pharaoh followed the steps of evil and tyranny till he met his end, and all pharaohs/tyrants, past and present, have followed his footsteps. Hence, we conclude that those who are adamantly insisting on being among the misguided/misguiding ones in this transient world will never be guided; this is impossible because such sinners/criminals perceive their evil deeds of tyranny as if they were good deeds. This applies to Moses Pharaoh who accused Moses of being a corrupter: "...Pharaoh said, "I do not show you except what I see, and I do not lead you except to the path of guidance."" (40:29); "Pharaoh said, "Leave me to kill Moses, and let him appeal to his Lord. I fear he may change your religion, or spread corruption in the land."" (40:26). Furthermore, on the Last Day, sinners before entering into Hell will wish in vain, when it is too late, that they would return to their former lifetimes on earth to perform good deeds; yet, God asserts that even if they were to be brought back, they would commit the same evil, bad deeds exactly as the ones they have committed before their death: "If only you could see, when they are made to stand before the Fire; they will say, "If only we could be sent back, and not reject the verses of our Lord, and be among the believers." What they used to conceal before will become clear to them. And even if they were sent back, they would revert to what they were forbidden. They are liars." (6:27-28).       

Fourthly: succession within the Hereafter for the pious ones – without destruction:

1- Within last verses of the Quranic Chapter 28 – after narrating the story of Quaroon and Moses – there is an indication of the other type of successors; namely, those pious believers who will inherit the land of Paradise in the Hereafter for eternity. They are those who have feared their Lord God and never sought superiority or corruption in the land within this transient world, in contrast to Pharaoh, his people, and Quaroon who sought both superiority and corruption in the land. These pious ones are mentioned in this verse: "That Home of the Hereafter - We assign it for those who seek no superiority in the land, nor corruption. And the outcome is for the pious ones." (28:83). Those pious believers will be the dwellers of Paradise because of their good deeds and because they never committed evil deeds nor willed or sought superiority of corruption in the land, as they have believed in the Lord God, the Grand, the Supreme, Who is Full of Majesty and Splendor; Glorified and Exalted be our Lord God, high above what sinners ascribe to Him. Those pious ones have lived in piety and in peace, while willingly avoiding evil and performing many good deeds, seeking only to please their Almighty Lord God and never cared to obtain people's good opinion or to draw their attention. Thus, it is normally expected that their names are never mentioned by history, which disregards this type of pious people and mentions and lauds only those who sought superiority and corruption in the land. This is why we never read in the history books that narrate the life of Muhammad's contemporaries any mention of the names of the pious believers or forerunners who have performed good deeds and are mentioned in the Quran: "The forerunners - The first of the immigrants and the supporters, and those who followed them in righteousness. God is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him. He has prepared for them Gardens beneath which rivers flow, where they will abide forever. That is the sublime triumph." (9:100). Their names are known only to God the Omniscient Lord (about His Omniscience, see 40:19, 4:25, and 3:118-119). Thus, human history has been written by historians who have focused only on sultans/kings/rulers and their retinue members, notables, courtiers, chiefs, governors, viziers, etc., because typically, history focuses only on those who were superior in the land. History never sees or hears about the unknown ones among human beings who are servants of the Dominant Lord who walk in the land in humility. In their turn, those pious ones never care about the history of mortals in this transient world, as the hearts of those pious ones are busy thinking about the Eternal Paradise and working hard to earn their place in it. It is very strange that when read the history of the Muhammadans, we see how historians have sung the praises of the worst criminals who were unjust tyrants and conquerors like Abou Bakr, Omar, and Othman. Historians have authored false accounts about such tyrants and made them falsely appear to be among the forerunners within Islam in order to make people deify and worship them. This is the worst type of falsehoods ever.              

2- The succession in the land in this transient world means the destruction/death of ancient peoples to be succeeded by others who will, in their turn, be succeeded by others, and so on and so forth till the end of days. In contrast, the succession within the Hereafter means that the pious ones will inherit the land of the Eternal Paradise to enjoy its bliss and pleasures forever: "And those pious ones who feared their Lord will be led to Paradise in throngs. Until, when they have reached it, and its gates are opened, its keepers will say to them, "Peace be upon you, you have been good, so enter it, to abide therein eternally." And they will say, "Praise be to God, who has fulfilled His Promise to us, and made us inherit the land, enjoying Paradise as we please." How excellent is the reward of those who have worked righteousness." (39:73-74).   

Lastly:

 The Best Discourse: "We have written in Al-Zabur, after the Reminder, that the earth will be inherited by My righteous servants. Indeed, in this is a message for people who worship." (21:105-106). As always, God says nothing but the Absolute Truth.