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The Making and breaking of history
By Maulana
Wahiduddin Khan
According to B.Tuchman,
"history is the unfolding of miscalculation." In other words,
history usually develops in a manner quite contrary to people’s
expectations. While events are unfolding, observers may pass judgement on
the course they are taking; but the course of history defies all
prediction, and in the end things turn out quite differently from what
people had initially expected.
To take an example from Islamic history, in the year 6AH the Treaty of
Hudaybiyah was signed between the Prophet Muhammad and the Quraysh of
Mecca. At that time the Quraysh were one in thinking that the Muslims had
signed their own writ of destruction, for they accepted peace on terms
which were clearly favourable to the Quraysh. Yet afterwards it transpired
that this apparent defeat contained the seeds of a great victory for the
Muslims. The same thing has happened time and time again throughout
history. In 1945, when atomb ombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki in Japan, it seemed to the Americans as if Japan would lie in
ruins for several decades to come. Yet this was not to be: now, just forty
years after the event, Japan stands at the pinnacle of her economic
strength, the leading industrial power in the world.
This goes to show that it is not man who fashions his own history; in
truth, it is God who fashions human history in accordance with His own
will. It is not people or events who control history, it is God. History
may take place before our eyes, in the material world, but the course it
takes is determined from the super-natural world which lies beyond our
vision and perception.
Those who have been written off as spent forces can take solace from this
fact of history. Experience shows that sparks erupt from volcanoes that
have lain inactive for years. In this world the very annihilation and
destruction of something means that it is ready to arise and take its
place as a new power on earth; a force which is spent turns into a living
force.
One should never lose hope because of the dismal course events appear to
be taking. When the pages of history turn, events may turn out to have
been leading in a direction quite contrary to all our expectations.
Some Make Themselves, Others Make History
There are two types of people in this world—the self-making type and
the history-making type. The aim of those who are self-making is to serve
themselves, whereas history-making people seek to serve humanity as a
whole.
The attention of a self-making person revolves around himself. He hovers
around those areas where his own self-interest is likely to be served;
where there is no profit to be gained for himself, he does not care to
venture. His heart flutters with excitement when he is set to make some
gain, but if there is nothing to be gained, no excitement is aroused
within him. Personal gain is uppermost in his mind; he will sacrifice
everything in order to achieve it. He abides neither by promise nor by
principle. Free of the influence of both moral exigencies and the needs of
humanity, he can put everything aside in pursuit of his own ends. All
other considerations fade into insignificance as he relentlessly seeks to
fulfill his selfish desires.
A history-making person is quite different. Emerging from his own shell,
he lives not for himself but for a higher purpose. What matters to him is
principle, not profit. He cares not whether he himself wins or loses ;
what is of importance to him is that his ideal should be served. It is as
if he has detached himself from his own person and pinned his flag to the
needs of humanity as a whole.
In order to become a history-making person there is one thing that has to
be done: one has to stop being self-making. As soon as a person effaces
himself, he becomes capable of building for the future of humanity. Such a
person lays personal grievances to one side. As his own self-interest and
ambitions evaporate before his eyes, he shows no reaction, as if all this
were not happening to him at all.
It is people such as these who are destined to forge human history. They
are the ones who, of their own free will, are concerned about the rest of
humanity; they have no rights to be safeguarded; they have only
responsibilities, which they discharge whatever the cost to themselves.
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