The Divine Duty Part I
Redefining the purpose of life for a Muslim
There’s an Ancient Chinese concept called “the Mandate of Heaven.”
The Mandate of Heaven was where the Chinese Ruler was considered to have been selected by God Himself as a ‘son of Heaven’, to rule over the people.
In the people’s eyes, this would legitimise their rule. If they lost power, or were overthrown or suffered from afflictions, it showed that they were unworthy and Heaven (God) had now selected someone else.
This is not exclusive to the Ancient Chinese.
European Christians had this type of concept too known as the “Divine Right of Kings” - which said the King’s authority to rule came directly from God and this gave him the ultimate power on Earth. This was a key theme Shakespeare wrote about in Macbeth, as his murder of the ‘divinely appointed’ King Duncan was tantamount to the worst form of sacrilege.
This idea in the Christian world came from King James I who wrote:
“The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth; for kings are not only God's lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God's throne, but even by God himself are called gods.”
Now of course, we do not believe this, as Muslims.
We do not believe monarchs or leaders are ‘divinely appointed’ or are infallible in any way. The only exception is the Prophets, and only a few of them were actually ‘kings’ in the traditional sense of the word.
Having said that, it’s a good starting point to be able to understand our roles here on Earth a little bit better.
King James I did get one part right though.
God, the King of all Kings does indeed have lieutenants on Earth he has appointed - but they are not the kings you may be thinking of.
"No one can understand a king but a king; therefore, God has made each of us a king in a miniature, so to speak, over a kingdom which is an infinitely reduced copy of His own. In the kingdom of man, God's "throne" is represented by the soul, the Archangel by the heart, the "chair" by the brain, the "tablet" by the treasure-chamber of thought. The soul, itself unlocated and indivisible, governs the body as God governs the universe. In short, each of us is entrusted with a little kingdom and charged not to be careless in its administration." — Al-Ghazali, Alchemy of Happiness
Believe it or not, the king mentioned by Ghazali is the humble human being.
Yes, you are God’s lieutenant. I am God’s lieutenant.
And we’ve each been given a Divine Duty to carry out.
Let me explain.
The Royal Vicegerent
In the Qur'an , God calls Adam (as) his Khalifah in the famous story of creation.
“Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: "I will create a vicegerent on earth." They said: "Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood?- whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?" He said: "I know what ye know not. [Qur’an 2:30]
We know the story well. But let’s break it down.
He made us specifically to be a vicegerent. This is obviously a very outdated word - what does it mean?
It’s a regal word. A vicegerent is a person exercising delegated power on behalf of a sovereign or ruler.
Essentially, the vicegerent is person appointed by the sovereign, to exercise the latter's power and authority to administrate his affairs. A modern-day word for it could be officer, minister or deputy. The officer has full authority bestowed upon him for the purpose of carrying out the role.
Another more contemporary definition of vicegerent is a steward.
A steward you can see is responsible for supervising arrangements, keeping order and looking after property.
So he has given us delegated authority on this planet to keep order and take care of what is within our remit. That’s why we have been given access to so many resources. Because it’s a big job.
Imagine in ancient times, the Sultan or the King gave you a specific role as the chief of the navy, or the governor of a certain region. If someone resisted compliance or were considered corruptors, you could ask the King to send troops or treasure to instil this order.
Even today, although the British monarchy is less relevant than it used to be, the title of Prince of Wales or Duke of Edinburgh still has specific duties associated with those positions.
Reclaiming the Role of Khalfah
That’s how significant this role of Khalifah is supposed to be for us.
The King of all Kings, the Lord of all the Worlds has specifically appointed you and I as Khalifahs and given us this divine duty to uphold as a result.
Did you know this?
What an honour, right? If we knew this, how seriously and how competently would we perform such a role?
Many or even most of us do not know we have such a responsibility, let alone do it justice.
Part of the problem of today is we do not see this lofty role in this light.
The word ‘Khalifah’ has lost its original meaning.
We often associate this word to the “Caliph” - and as such, given the Caliphate doesn’t exist today, we’ve delegated and diluted our own responsibilities to a non-existent entity.
We do not take this responsibility seriously because it’s generic, it doesn’t feel relatable or relevant. Instead we focus on individual success.
But every single one of us has a critical role to play. We are intra-dependent.
“As you know, there are in the world a fixed order, and firm arrangement, and elevated principles, and constant fundamental laws, making it like a clock or machine. And just as each cog-wheel, indeed each tooth of each cog, and even every part of each tooth, plays a part however minor in the working order of the machine, so too through the workings of the machine it has an effect on the machine's utility and its production. In the same way, through its existence [every being] is in some way useful for living beings, the chief and leader of which is the human race.” - Said Nursi
But as learning about how we are to be useful is vital to our existence, identity and who we are to become, we need to get more clarity.
What EXACTLY does this mean for us, personally?
More on that in part 2.
This article is part 1 of a 3-part series. Parts 2 and 3 will be linked here.
If you want to discover if you’re doing your divine duty justice, you can check out our free purpose life assessment below and check your score.