Quran Garden

Session 363

Chapter 3

Verse 26

a continuation

Say: "O God, Master of all dominion! You give dominion to whom You will and extract dominion from whom You will, and You honor whom You will, and abase whom You will; in Your hand is all good; surely You have full power over everything."

(Chapter 3: Verse 26)

A man came to Omar ibn al-Khattab, the second caliph of the Muslims, and said, "O Omar, if we lose you, we should appoint your son Abdullah as caliph.  He is a humble God-fearing man." Omar got upset and replied, "Do not do that! Isn't it sufficient for the family of Al-Khattab to have one man questioned before God about the nation of Muhammad?" Omar felt the heavy burden of responsibility and did not want his son to be under that mountain of stress.  Omar once said, "I fear that if a goat stumbled on a road in Iraq, my Lord would ask me, 'Omar, why wasn't the road paved properly?'" Compare that to most rulers today who cling to power and appoint their family to high positions to loot the people.

Yet, you should always keep in mind that "God, Master of all dominion! You give dominion to whom You will, and extract dominion from whom You will." There are many examples in history of ruthless rulers and powerful civilizations that worked tirelessly to secure power, only to lose it for the most trivial reasons.  How? It was the will of the Supreme Creator.  Allah either takes governance away from rulers or removes rulers from life altogether.

The verse continues, "You honor whom You will, and abase whom You will." It is a known fact that power is not limited to those who govern.  Every president and king is surrounded by people who enjoy their reign and amass vast wealth.  Such enablers are not always visible to the public.  Quite often, they are the most corrupt people in the society.  They hide in the shadow of authority and do as they wish.  Thus, to restore justice, it is not enough for God to remove the unjust ruler: it is also necessary to expose and demean all those who enabled him or her.  Hence, God says, "You give dominion to whom You will and extract dominion from whom You will," and then immediately follows with "You honor whom You will, and abase whom You will." 

Here, we should pause and think about a critical issue.  Most people assume that being installed as a ruler is wonderful, while losing power is terrible.  We answer that every matter has two sides.  The removal of an oppressive ruler is bad for the ruler and those around him, but good for the people.  The removal of a just ruler is terrible for the people, except the corrupt.  And, in some instances, the removal of an oppressive ruler is good for the ruler.  Why? Because God saves him or her from further sin and punishment.  God sometimes relieves the oppressor from his or her own injustice and opens the door of repentance. 

You and I may have limited knowledge about the people's affairs, but Allah is the All-seeing, All-Knowledgeable.  Thus, when you consider all things, you will find that whatever is happening in the universe is good; all those who are granted power and honor, and all those who lost power and were publically humiliated fall under the wisdom of our Lord.  Allah teaches us to say: "O God, Master of all dominion! You give dominion to whom You will and extract dominion from whom You will, and You honor whom You will, and abase whom You will; in Your hand is all good; surely You have full power over everything."  

Since God Almighty is the Master of all dominion, who gives it and then extracts it from whom He wills, then there must come a day when God takes back all that is His.  He says:

He is exalted in rank, the Lord of the Throne. He sends revelations with His teachings to whichever of His servants He chooses to warn of the Day of Meeting, the Day when they will come out and nothing about them will be concealed from God. "Who has control today?" God, the One, the All Powerful. (40:15-16)

When Allah gives a person or a group rule over others, He also gives them enormous responsibility.  Thus, there must come a day when God takes all rule away and questions those who temporality had it about that responsibility.  For example, some of the people of the book who were given religious authority ignored God's commands and chased after worldly gains.  All the while, they were claiming that the fire would not touch them but for a few days, because they were God's children and His beloved. 

Every ruler has a free choice to follow God's command or his or her own desires.  God gives us a stern warning of the day, which is sure to come, where no one will have any power or choice.  The ability to choose is here and now, so make the best choices every moment in your life and use the light of God's scripture as your guide.

Reaching a position of power often involves decades of planning and preparation; sometimes, a person grabs power by a military coup.  Likewise, removing someone from power requires a similar effort —this how we measure things in human terms.  But do not despair when you see a powerful unjust ruler because Allah has infinite power and ability.  When He decrees a matter, He commands it, "Be," and it becomes.