What is HISTORY?

How can you define the word "history"? or What exactly does it mean to say that something is "historical"? Chronicles of the past are sometimes referred to as history. Books that are written on the subject of history often serve as a record of events that took place in the past. On the other hand, there is a subfield of history known as the "philosophy of history" or the "interpretation of history. The objective of this learning is to provide an explanation for the numerous occurrences that have occurred throughout human history and to identify a connection that can be comprehended between these occurrences. There are a large resources accessible on historiography, which is the study of the process of writing history; but, when it comes to interpretation, there is not a single book on the subject that can be regarded as a clear and concise explanation of historical events.

Every attempt to provide a complete explanation of man's behaviour would be futile since he cannot be predicted. Everyone on this planet has the capacity to act in whichever way, for better or worse, they see fit. As a result, providing a coherent explanation for the entirety of human history is a challenging endeavour. Freedom and determinism are two conflicting values that have been a driving force throughout the course of human history. To the best of my knowledge, historians have not found a concept that allows them to make a relationship between these two contradicting needs, and as a result, they have only been unable to provide a good interpretation of human history.

I have given this topic a great deal of thought, and I have attempted to determine the fundamental principle underlying historical interpretation. Ultimately, I came across this principle in a verse of the holy book Quran, "And upon Allah is the direction of the [right] way, and among them [i.e., the various paths] are those deviating. And if He willed, He could have guided you all". (16:9)

This implies that God, in accordance with His plan for the creation of the universe, has been regulating history while preserving the freedom of humans. He has granted complete liberty to mankind yet at the same time he is keeping a watchful eye on the human procession to ensure that it does not deviate too far from the road of right path. This divine principle towards human history might be summarised as "managing history while keeping human freedom'

A straightforward definition of history would be an account of what took place in the past. In contrast, the interpretation of history is connected to the philosophy of history, which seeks to identify the rules or principles that govern how history unfolds. There have been a number of theories proposed about this topic, however they are all centered on the imagination of humans. The exact interpretation of history that is valid is the one that makes sense when viewed in perspective of the Creator's overall plan for the creation of mankind.

In the past, only the king was the most important person in the story. History was almost only about the lives of kings. After the European Renaissance, democracy spread to the rest of the world. So, society, not the individual king, came to be the most important thing in history. Then, history started to be written with social ideas in mind. Karl Marx, a German philosopher who died in 1883, is one of the most important people in this area. Marx came up with a new way to think about history in the 20th century. He called it "historical materialism." His idea was that it's not what people think that makes history, but what's happening in the world. He writes, "The mode of production in material life determines the general nature of the social, political, and spiritual processes of human life." Nationalism is another way to look at history. History is a record of what a country has done in the past, like the history of the Indian nation, the history of the German nation and so on.

Another notion about history is what is called "religious history." Scholars haven't accepted this idea of history as a true interpretation, and most people don't even think it's worth mentioning in modern times. Patrick Lancaster Gardiner, an essayist for the Encyclopaedia Britannica, says in his dissertation, Philosophy of History, "The age of religious and metaphysical speculations about the future of human affairs had, in their view, come to an end."

In other words, it means that religion and metaphysics can no longer be used by modern historians to explain how people's lives turn out. This is certainly not true. It is just as unscientific as saying "the age of God is over" or "the revelation of the Prophet was just a poetic experience" or "there is no basis for religion" or "it was just a social phenomenon" and so on.

Human history began with a man and a woman, and since then, many people have been born and died over and over again. This chain has been passed down from one generation to the next for thousands of years. In the first quarter of the 21st century, there were more than seven billion people on the planet. Those who died before then did not actually die; they are still alive. They will come back to life in the in the hereafter.

Human history has both a beginning and an end. After the end of human history, there will be a different world that is perfect in every way. The chosen people from all of human history will live in this world. In a similar way, the Quran says,

"And We have already written in the book [of Psalms] after the [previous] mention that the land [of Paradise] is inherited by My righteous servants." (21:105)

We can find the same message in other religious scriptures that were given to prophets. In the Bible, it says, " Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever. For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed; the offspring of the wicked will perish. The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.” (Psalm, 37: 27-29)

The Quran has ensured the preservation of this message. God made an ideal world that was perfect in every way, according to the plan for creation. He decided that this ultimate world would be full of perfect, ideal people. God first put man on Earth and gave him complete freedom. This was so that he could find people who deserved to live in Paradise forever and get rid of those who didn't deserve it. So, the world we live in now is a place to pick people for this big project. Here, humans are watched to see who makes good use of their freedom and who doesn't. At the end of human history, those who have abused their freedom will be rejected, while those who have used it wisely will be chosen to live in Paradise which is eternal.

Historians look at history as a whole, but the divine concept says that we should look at history in terms of the people who lived it. Historians make those decisions about history based on groups of people, but the right way, according to the divine concept, is to make decisions based on the people themselves. God chooses the best people from every generation in this temporary world to live in Paradise in the eternal world of the Hereafter. This is something that should be taken into account when trying to understand human history.