Playing God

"All rights of this book are reserved for the publisher and the author. This copy is for reading purpose only. This copy cannot be uploaded on any website except those of the publisher and the author." Playing God: Misreading a Divine Practice 3 enunciated precise details of this divine practice. 3 However, many scholars have misread this practice of God; they have regarded it to be a part of the shar ī ‘ah , and as a result think that after the departure of the Prophet (sws), later Muslims too have the right to punish and subjugate people who deny the truth. As a consequence of t his misreading, many other erroneous inferences h ave also resulted. Matters which were to be left to God have been taken up by human beings. In this manner, they are now guilty of inadvertently playing God. In this short treatise, a study of this divine practice will be conducted in the light of the researches of the above-mentioned scholars. First, the details of how this divine practice pervaded the preaching missions of the messengers of God shall be put forth. Second, the details of the last manifestation of this divine practice in the time of Muhammad (sws) shall be presented. Third, it shall be shown how some directives have been erroneously made part of the Islamic shar ī ‘ah and have in 3. Those who want to study this historical development are advised to look up the following works of these authors: Ham ī d al-D ī n al-Far ā h ī , Majm ū ‘ah taf ā s ī r , 1 st ed. (Lahore: Faran Foundation, 1991), 465-477; Am ī n Ahsan Isl ā h ī , Tadabbur-i-Qur’ ā n , 3 rd ed., vol. 8 (Lahore: Faran Foundation, 1985), 273; Javed Ahmad Gh ā mid ī , M ī z ā n , 4 th ed. (Lahore: Al-Mawrid, 2009), 48-49; Ibid., 165-174; Ibid., 534- 544; Ibid., 594-601. For brief biographical notes on these scholars, see the Appendix at the end of the book. www.javedahmadghamidi.com www.al-mawrid.org