حقیقی بادشاہت

Narrated Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: “On the Day of Resurrection Allah will seize the earth in His grasp and roll up the heavens in His right hand, then He will say: I am the King. Where are the kings of the earth?”

This world is a world of means, in which every person holds some measure of authority and ownership. It is this authority that makes one of us an owner and another owned. The true Owner and King of this world is Allah alone, yet in His wisdom He grants to whomever He wills an extremely limited kingship for an utterly insignificant span of time. Certainly a day must come when this world will be rolled up and the sovereignty of its true Owner, who is its Creator, will be made manifest. Allah says:

“Say: O Allah, Owner of all sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and take sovereignty away from whom You will; You honour whom You will and abase whom You will. All good is in Your hand; indeed You have power over all things.” (Āl ‘Imrān, 26)

In another place He said:

“Indeed the earth belongs to Allah; He causes to inherit it whomever He wills of His servants.” (al-A‘rāf, 128)

And further He said:

“And He will make you successors in the earth, that He may see how you act.” (al-A‘rāf, 130)

That is, Allah grants man this ownership only in order to test him. But when a pinch of dust is intoxicated by this paltry ownership, he begins to regard himself as superior to every other creature. Then one of them, overcome by his state, raises the cry “I am your lord, most high” — and he is drowned. Another strikes his throne and claims to be “your lord, most high” — and overnight he is sent from the throne to the gallows. Another is stripped of that ownership so completely that he does not find even two yards of earth in the beloved’s street.

Lillāhi’l-amru min qablu wa min ba‘d — the command belongs to Allah, before and after. (al-Rūm, 4)

This man, dependent on air and water, does not see that the thread of his life is not in his own hand. He is like a puppet that moves only when its string is pulled, and otherwise lies motionless in its place. Even this breath coming and going, which appears to be within man’s own control, is likewise subject to the will of Allah. When His command comes, the breath that has gone does not return, and in a moment this walking, moving body is left lifeless and finished.

This story of Pharaoh, Nimrod, Hāmān and Qārūn is nothing new. In every age there are Pharaohs, and then there are their Hāmāns too. Just as the Pharaoh of old filled Allah’s earth with corruption, so do the Pharaohs of every age, walking in the footsteps of that first Pharaoh, oppress and tyrannise the servants of Allah. Sometimes their end too is made a warning like that of the first Pharaoh, and sometimes they are given respite; but on the Day of Resurrection Allah will say: Where are the mighty ones? Where are the arrogant? (Muslim) And then every tyrant and every arrogant one will meet his end.