Islamic Civilization - Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi

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not accept the Divine dictates just as the trustworthy person who fulfills his trusts is better than a person who does not. Yet this superiority cannot be interpreted to mean that the better human being has become or can become the master of the others. The status of true representation and trusteeship is available to every human being in his own personal capacity. This is not a responsibility that may be held collectively. Every individual is personally answerable in respect of his status as God’s representative. Just as no responsibility accrues upon one person for actions of others, no benefit may be reaped by one person on account of someone else’s actions. No human being can allow another to relinquish his responsibilities. Nor can the burden of actions of one person be placed upon another.

      For as long as human beings live upon earth and until the time that there remains any connection between what would otherwise be inert masses of clay and the Spirit that God has blown into them, they shall remain God’s trustees and representatives. Man loses the honour of enjoying the stature of temporal high office as soon as the connection between body and spirit is severed. It is, therefore, appropriate that his record from the period that he was a Divine trustee be examined with a view to accounting for the trust with which he was entrusted. It must be investigated as to how successfully he carried out duties assigned to him as a subordinate. If he was guilty of any embezzlement, dishonesty, insubordination, or dereliction of duty he must be punished. On the contrary, if he acted with honesty, devotion, and conduct in becoming a trustee, he should be duly rewarded.

      Arising directly from the very conceptual basis of the terms ‘trustee’ and ‘representative’ is an important feature of the relationship between the ‘principal’ and the ‘agent’. The true merit of a representative lies in his making efforts to fully protect and improve the assets of the principal. In fact, as far as possible, the representative should display the same manner of thought and action that the true owner is likely to possess and demonstrate. If a king were to appoint a deputy to look after his subjects, the only befitting manner in which the appointee should discharge his duties would be one that emulates the king’s own conduct. He should keep himself informed of subjects’ welfare and dispense the same thoughtfulness, kindness, protection, justice, and when required disciplining, as done by the king himself. Similarly, he should deal with the king’s properties and affairs with the same wisdom, pragmatism and care as is expected of the king himself.

      Thus, when man has been made God’s Vicegerent, this means that man can only do full justice to the duty of guardianship if he treats God’s subjects in the same way as God is expected to. This means that the human representative should look after God’s creatures with the same grace and benevolence as the Lord does – naturally, keeping in view human limitations and the extent of resources that God may have placed at his disposal.

      God’s human representatives should display the same mercy and benevolence, dispense the same justice, and act with similar restraint even when manifesting annoyance or letting loose their fury over God’s creatures as God Himself does and can be expected to. In short, those whom God has favoured with power over His subjects should conduct themselves in every act, large and small, with a grace similar to God’s own. This is the wisdom reflected in the Prophet’s saying (ḥadīth): takhallaqū bi akhlāq Allāh (‘Adorn yourselves with the code of conduct laid down by Allah’).

      However, this high ethical state can only be achieved if man fully understands the fact that he is not [totally] free to act as he pleases in this world. Rather, he is only a trustee of the true owner, the Lord of the Universes. It is this status of representation that establishes man’s relationship with every single object in this world, even including his own body, and determines the boundaries of that relationship.

      Details of all these features of vicegerency occur in the Qur’ān. It is through these passages that every aspect of man’s existence in this temporal world is amply clarified and illuminated.

      Regarding man’s status the Qur’ān declares:

       For He it is Who has appointed you vicegerent over the earth, and has exalted some of you over others in rank that He may try you in what He has bestowed upon you.

      [al-Anʿām 6: 165]

       Moses said: ‘Your Lord will soon destroy your enemy and make you rulers in the land. Then He will see how you act.’

      [al-Aʿrāf 7: 129]

       (We said to him): ‘O David, We have appointed you vicegerent on earth. Therefore, rule among people and do not follow (your) desire lest it should lead you astray from Allah’s Path.’ Allah’s severe chastisement awaits those who stray away from Allah’s Path, for they have forgotten the Day of Reckoning.

      [Ṣād 38: 26]

       Is not Allah the Greatest of all Sovereigns?

      [al-Tīn 95: 8]

       Judgement lies with Allah alone.

      [al-Anʿām 6: 57]

       Say: ‘O Allah, Lord of all dominion! You bestow dominion on whomever You please, and take away dominion from whomever You please, and You exalt whom You please, and abase whom You please.’

      [Āl ʿImrān 3: 26]

       (O people), follow what has been revealed to you from your Lord and follow no masters other than Him.

      [al-Aʿrāf 7: 3]

       Say: ‘Surely my Prayer, all my acts of worship, and my living and my dying are only for Allah, the Lord of the whole Universe.’

      [al-Anʿām 6: 162]

      All these verses clearly state that whatever has been placed at man’s disposal for temporal use does not belong to him – including his own body. The real Owner and Ruler is God Almighty. It does not befit man to declare ownership rights over these things and use them as he wishes. His status is that of only a trustee and the extent of his power resides solely in the foundational principle that he must follow God’s guidance fully and use all worldly things according to Divine instructions. Any attempt to exceed Divine limits or follow one’s personal desires or follow the dictates of anyone other than the True Ruler amounts to waywardness and rebellion.

      The Qur’ān lays down this prerequisite for man’s success:

       As for those who believe in falsehood and are engaged in infidelity with Allah, it is they who will be the losers.

      [al-ʿAnkabūt 29: 52]

       … whoever from amongst you turns away from his religion and dies in the state of unbelief their work will go to waste in this world and in the Next.

      [al-Baqarah 2: 217]

       The work of he who refuses to follow the Way of faith will go to waste, and he will be among the utter losers in the Hereafter.

      [al-Mā’idah 5: 5]

      From these verses we see that man’s temporal success – in his status as God’s vicegerent – depends on his fully accepting the ascendancy of the One Entity of which he is the subordinate. Whatsoever action he undertakes in the world must reflect the mindset of God’s representative and trustee. Without this basic premise, whatever he partakes of the world can only be a mutinous act. It is a matter of very basic understanding that even if a rebel who is in unlawful occupation of an area acts in an admirable way, the lawful government would not consider such conduct with approbation. In the eyes of the lawful ruler, a rebel is and always will be a rebel, notwithstanding his good character and disposition or the excellent manner

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