BASIC QUESTIONS AND THEIR ANSWERS.

What is the real position of the human being in this life? Is he

free and irresponsible, unaccountable to any higher power?
And if he is a responsible being, then to whom is he
accountable? Does the human being have a free will or is
forced and constrained to follow a fixed course in the moral
and spiritual field, as he is in his physical life? Has he been
placed here by someone or on his own choice?

Is human reason strong enough

to guide him or does he stand in
need of some higher guidance
as well?
 Khalifah or vicegerency
Human being has been placed on
earth as the khalifah or vicegerent
of Allah, as stated explicitly in the
Qur’aan.

Considering his nature and role, a khalifah or

vicegerent must fulfill certain essential
conditions and certain implications.
Firstly, he should be granted some powers from Allah
in a specific area of life. The reason for this quite
obvious. Allah is omniscient and omnipotent and
needs no help or support from anyone else, nor is
He absent or wearied even for a moment in looking
after and running the affairs of His immense
dominion. Therefore, when He decides to appoint
someone as His vicegerent on earth, it
can mean only one thing: to test His
vicegerent by giving him certain powers
and to see how he uses them. Does he use
them in accordance with the will of His
Sovereign or does he ignore His will,
behave arrogantly and insolently, and
follows his own whims and desires?
Secondly, if the human being is a vicegerent or a
deputy, then the limits of his powers should be
well-defined and known. He should be told
explicitly when and where he has to abide by the
will of His Sovereign and when and where he is
free to use his own discretion and freedom of
action.
In other words, we can say that it is
implicit in the very concept of
vicegerent that Divine guidance
and a law or Shari’ah should be
revealed by Allah to guide human
being.
Thirdly, being a vicegerent and a deputy of Allah, it
would be absurd to assume that the human being
is an irresponsible being unaccountable to no one.
An all-Powerful, all-Knowing God would never
allow his deputy to behave recklessly and
irresponsibly.
Instead, He would hold the human
being accountable for every act of
dishonesty and corruption on his
part, and reward him generously for
his services if he is honest and faithful
to Him.
Fourthly, the concept of vicegerent also implies that
it must be conditional upon meeting certain
qualifications. The gift of vicegerency cannot be
unconditional and unrestricted. Considering their
purpose of creation, all human are potentially
Allah’s vicegerents on earth. The nature of the trust
associated with vicegerency demands that its
legitimate receivers should be only those
who are faithful to its trust and are ready
and willing to respond to their Sustainer’s
command. Those who are unwilling or not
ready to respond to His call and obey His
will, cannot be His vicegerents; they are,
in a state of rebellion and insurrection
against Him.
Fifthly, by its very nature khilafah is not an individual
trust but a social and political institution. All
humans or at least those who believe and are
conscious of their responsibilities towards it, must
try to discharge their obligations vis-à-vis this trust,
individually as well as collectively, by trying to
establish a specific system of life.
In the absence of such a system,
the objectives of this trust cannot
be fully achieved.
Sixtly, the system of khilafah or vicegerency of
Allah on earth can secure the well-being and
welfare of people only so long as it is run in
accordance with the laws of its appointing
authority – Allah.
Whenever the human being ignores
His will and tries to run affairs
arbitrarily and according to his own
desires, there will inevitably be
corruption and even bloodshed on
earth.