The History of Religion in Light of the Qur’an: Revelations, Primordial Disposition, and Stewardship

Introduction

The Noble Qur’an presents an integrated conception of the human being, the human role on earth, and the course of divine messages throughout history. Yet prevalent readings often focus on particular rulings, overlooking the overarching purposes that govern the course of religion.

This study rests on a fundamental hypothesis: the Qur’an presents a model that can be summarized in three interrelated spheres: the creation of the human being and the purity of the human primordial disposition; stewardship and the cultivation of the earth; and divine messages and revealed laws as means of protecting that disposition from deviation. We will use a practical example—the Night of Decree—to clarify the difference between the direct Qur’anic text and popular understanding.

First: Human Nature in the Qur’anic Conception

﴿لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ فِي أَحْسَنِ تَقْوِيمٍ﴾ (We have indeed created the human being in the finest form.) [التين: ٤]

This predisposition is not merely a biological capacity, but an ethical and spiritual framework that enables human beings to distinguish between good and evil. The Qur’an also makes clear that primordial disposition is connected to God: ﴿فِطْرَتَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي فَطَرَ النَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا﴾ (The primordial disposition of God upon which He fashioned humankind.) (الروم: ٣٠); primordial disposition is thus the baseline upon which faith and righteous action are built, and it cannot be changed except through external influence.

Second: Stewardship and the Cultivation of the Earth

﴿إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً﴾ (I am placing a steward on earth.) [البقرة: ٣٠]

﴿هُوَ أَنشَأَكُم مِّنَ الْأَرْضِ وَاسْتَعْمَرَكُمْ فِيهَا﴾ (He brought you into being from the earth and charged you with cultivating it.) [هود: ٦١]

Stewardship therefore means responsibility, ethical challenge, and practical work to establish justice and beneficence on earth, rather than merely performing formal rituals. This responsibility is the axis of the history of human civilization, where ethics intersects with the capacity for organization and collective action.

Third: Ethical Conflict within the Self

﴿فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا﴾ (And inspired it with its wickedness and its God-consciousness.) [الشمس: ٨]

In addition, external forces seek to exploit this conflict: ﴿إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ فَاتَّخِذُوهُ عَدُوًّا﴾ (Satan is indeed an enemy to you, so take him as an enemy.) (فاطر: ٦). Religion thus aims to direct primordial disposition toward goodness and protect human beings from deviation, not to establish rigid rules.

Fourth: Divine Messages as Protection for Primordial Disposition

﴿كَانَ النَّاسُ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً فَبَعَثَ اللَّهُ النَّبِيِّينَ مُبَشِّرِينَ وَمُنذِرِينَ﴾ (Humankind was one community; then God sent the prophets as bearers of good tidings and warners.) [البقرة: ٢١٣]

Divine messages do not establish rituals for their own sake; rather, they are pedagogical and historical means of restoring human beings to their natural condition: uprightness and righteous action.

Fifth: The Unity of Religion and the Plurality of Revealed Laws

﴿إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِندَ اللَّهِ الْإِسْلَامُ﴾ (Indeed, religion in the sight of God is Islam.) [آل عمران: ١٩]

﴿لِكُلٍّ جَعَلْنَا مِنكُمْ شِرْعَةً وَمِنْهَاجًا﴾ (For each of you We have appointed a law and a way.) [المائدة: ٤٨]

Revealed laws are historical means of guiding humanity, whereas Islam in its comprehensive sense is the constant: obedience to God, ethical values, and righteous action.

Sixth: The Completion of the Message

﴿الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا﴾ (Today I have perfected your religion for you, completed My blessing upon you, and approved Islam as your religion.) [المائدة: ٣]

The Qur’anic message thus supplied what humanity had lacked in guidance; it is not merely a set of rituals or occasions fixed in time.

A Practical Example: The Night of Decree

﴿إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ… سَلَامٌ هِيَ حَتَّى مَطْلَعِ الْفَجْرِ﴾ (Indeed, We sent it down on the Night of Decree… Peace it is until the break of dawn.) [القدر: ١-٥]

It is a night distinguished by an exceptional event: the revelation of the Qur’an, through which God completed the preceding revealed laws—an event that had not occurred before and will not recur in the same form. Its description as peace until the break of dawn indicates an extraordinary spiritual state and a celebration of the momentous event; it symbolizes the spiritual and ethical force that the Qur’an brought into human history.

The primary purpose is a call to hold fast to the Qur’an and understand its purposes, not merely to supplicate on a particular night. The aim is not to fulfill every wish, but to direct the self and its actions and adhere to primordial disposition. Any change is bound to God’s established patterns: work, God-consciousness, and planning for life.

Conclusion of the First Stage

Religion, in its essence, is Islam in its comprehensive sense: ethical values, uprightness, and righteous action. Revealed laws are a means of protecting primordial disposition throughout history, not an end in themselves. Deviation occurs when revealed laws are transformed into a rigid identity or time-bound rituals. Real change among nations is bound to work, reform, and the laws of the cosmos, not to supplication alone.

The Second Stage: The Historical Deviation of Religion

The Transformation of Revealed Laws into Conflicting Identities

﴿وَقَالَتِ الْيَهُودُ لَيْسَتِ النَّصَارَى عَلَىٰ شَيْءٍ وَقَالَتِ النَّصَارَى لَيْسَتِ الْيَهُودُ عَلَىٰ شَيْءٍ﴾ (The Jews said, “The Christians have no foundation,” and the Christians said, “The Jews have no foundation.”) [البقرة: ١١٣]

The division arose not from a lack of knowledge but from partisan attachment to religious identity. Each group regarded itself as the bearer of absolute truth and used revealed laws as an instrument of social and political monopolization. This pattern recurs if Muslims fall into monopolizing rituals and religious observances.

Monopolizing Salvation

The Qur’an warns against claiming exclusive possession of salvation: ﴿قُلْ هَاتُوا بُرْهَانَكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ﴾ (Say, “Bring your proof, if you are truthful.”), and ﴿كُلُّ نَفْسٍ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ رَهِينَةٌ﴾ (Every soul is held in pledge for what it has earned.) (المدثر: ٣٨). Salvation is bound to righteous action and sincere devotion to God, not to exclusive affiliation; the warning extends to all human beings if they fall into the same deviation.

Rituals and Time as a Source of Deviation

The Qur’an focuses on the revelation of the Qur’an itself on the Night of Decree, but popular practice has focused on supplication on a particular night. The divine event has thus been transformed into a recurring ritual detached from its context. The lesson is that focusing on ritual or time rather than substance compromises the understanding of religion.

Divine Patterns and Change

﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّىٰ يُغَيِّرُوا مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ﴾ (Indeed, God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves.) [الرعد: ١١]

Human action is therefore a condition of change, and reliance on supplication or rituals alone is insufficient. Change is bound to collective action, awareness, power, knowledge, and planning.

Religion as a Civilizational Method, Not a Rigid Identity

﴿وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ﴾ (I created jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me.) [الذاريات: ٥٦]

The word “worship” encompasses adherence to values, ethical conduct, and the cultivation of the earth. Religion is thus an integrated civilizational project, not merely rituals or affiliation.

Summary of Historical Deviation

Deviation occurs when revealed laws cease to be means of protecting primordial disposition and become a closed collective identity; when people believe they possess a warrant for exclusive salvation; when rituals and time become a substitute for work and reform; and when God’s established patterns of change are forgotten: work, unity, knowledge, power, and planning.

The Qur’anic Purpose of Correction

Restoring the focus on religion as values, ethics, and submission to God; understanding revealed laws as means of protecting primordial disposition; focusing on action and collective work rather than formal rituals; and recognizing that salvation is bound to effort and individual and communal responsibility.

A correct Qur’anic reading thus makes the human being a partner in building civilization on earth, rather than merely a spectator of rituals.