Zuhruf/32
Is it they who would portion out the Mercy of thy Lord? It is We Who portion out
between them their livelihood in the life of this world: and We raise some of
them above others in ranks, so that some may command work from others. But the
Mercy of thy Lord is better than the (wealth) which they amass.
I do not know whether you realised this verse before. If you did, have you ever
thought about what is actually referred to in this verse?
The verse begins by referring to those who try/attempt to allocate the mercy of
the God and clearly states that some people are rendered superior to the others
by means of ranks and then gives the reason of this. When evaluated a little
deeper, it is easily understood that the verse has a nature of being a response
to the idea of “equal sharing” or “company in property”. I cannot know whether
this idea came familiar to you but I know such an idea: Communism!
Surely, it should not be inferred based upon this verse that the Koran suggests
“wild capitalism” to human being. Because, the orders of “alms” and “feeding and
protecting the poor/voyager/orphan” also exist in the book in which this verse
takes place... The meaning of this verse is much deeper than this...
I would like to attract your attention to this part of the verse... “We raise
some of them above others in ranks, so that some may command work from others”.
I will not attempt to pontify about the fallacy of communism. Some people may
think it is a true idea and the failure of Soviets stemmed from the mistakes in
the practice, not in the system itself. This is not so much important. The
important thing is to elaborate a little about how it became possible for human
being to establish civilization... Only then it can be realised that this simple
and robust idea expressed in the verse is the fact that underlies all the
achievements of the civilization of human being. Isn’t this fact also the reason
that lies behind the failure of Communism? Surely, someone can make them a
matter of dispute. Therefore, it is not necessary to attempt to make deep
analyses in this matter. Let everyone believes in what they want.
However, the true point which should be focused here is as follows: such an idea
is referred in the Koran! Did followers of such an idea exist during the time of
the Prophet? So, what people this verse addresses to? If you think exactly what
I think, what is it if not a miracle?
As stated by the Koran, sometimes a “favor” may exist in the things which seem
“evil”.
Our argument that the lofty God has an aim, such as humans establish
civilisation, develop technology, is supported by some verses in the Koran. I
quote these verses below:
Muminun/14 (Shakir)
Then We made the seed a clot, then We made the clot a lump of flesh, then We
made (in) the lump of flesh bones, then We clothed the bones with flesh, then We
caused it to grow into another creation, so blessed be Allah, the best of the
creators.
Bakara/30 (Shakir)
And when your Lord said to the angels, I am going to place in the earth a khalif,
they said: What! wilt Thou place in it such as shall make mischief in it and
shed blood, and we celebrate Thy praise and extol Thy holiness? He said: Surely
I know what you do not know.
In the first verse, after mentioning about the phases regarding the creation of
human, the God describes itself as “the most beautiful of the creators”.
Regarding this verse, some people asks if there are other creators than the God.
The creature the God includes in the category of “creator” like itself is human.
Human cannot create from nothing, but, we would better understand what is
intended in the verse if we consider the products developed by the use of
existing. The God “is the most beautiful of the creators”. Because, The God
created a creature that can create. We can infer from this that the purpose of
the lofty God is to reveal the creative aspect of human. This verse is the
indicator of the fact that the lofty God aims that human establishes
civilization and develop technology/arts/science.
In the second verse stated that human is the "caliph of the God". The most
important reason of this should be the creative aspect of the human being...
As can be understood from these statements, verses of the Koran have a structure
which complements the meaning of each other and something expressed in one verse
is explained in another. In a verse, the Koran obviously refers to and
unfavorably criticize Communism (for those who know how to review the verses),
and clearly demonstrates in both this verse and others all the reasons that lie
behind this criticism.
Allah (c.c.) knows the best.