To proceed: “The statement ‘the human being is God’s vicegerent on His earth’ was put forward without insight into its meaning or reflection on its implications. It then spread widely, becoming an accepted premise for many thinkers and, on the lips of many speakers, something akin to a first principle of religious thought. We find it in the writings of Shaykh al-Sayyid Rashid Rida[1], Professor al-Mawdudi[2], Sayyid Qutb[3] and many others. Even some methodologically disciplined scholars began repeating it through imitation, without investigating the idea’s roots, its source or its textual or rational and logical evidence. Some economists adopted it as a fundamental proposition on which to build much of their economic research. It is outwardly an attractive statement, pleasing to human vanity, but false in reality and incompatible with the foundations of Islamic creed.”[4] Discerning scholars therefore had to stop and confront this objectionable expression.[5] Hence this valuable chapter, which we publish separately with an introduction, from the words of Shaykh al-Islam Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Abd al-Salam Ibn Taymiyyah al-Numayri al-Harrani (d. 728 AH), may God have mercy on him. It responds to those claiming that “the human being is God’s vicegerent”, an expression used by extremist Sufis on the basis of their false belief in indwelling and union.[6]
[1] See Tafsir al-Manar, 1/216-217, by Muhammad Rashid (d. 1354 AH), published by the Egyptian General Book Authority, 1990 CE.
[2] See al-Mawdudi, The System of Life in Islam, p. 27, Damascus, Dar al-Fikr al-Islami, second edition, 1958 CE.
[3] The original says “the martyr Sayyid Qutb”. I removed “martyr”, because this designation cannot be used categorically in this way without a text from the Qur’an or the Sunnah. In his Sahih, in the Book of Jihad and Military Expeditions, chapter 77, al-Bukhari entitled a chapter: “One Should Not Say: So-and-So Is a Martyr.” Abu Hurayrah reported from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: “God knows best who strives in His cause”; “God knows best who is wounded in His cause.” See Sayyid Qutb’s words in In the Shade of the Qur’an, 1/57-58.
[4] These are the words of Shaykh Abd al-Rahman Hasan Habannakah al-Maydani (d. 1425 AH), may God have mercy on him, in the introduction to his treatise It Is Incorrect to Say That the Human Being Is God’s Vicegerent on His Earth: It Is a False Statement, published in 1411 AH/1991 CE.
[5] Shaykh al-Albani, may God have mercy on him, described it thus, as will be seen below.
[6] Shaykh Mahmud Mahdi al-Istanbuli (d. 1420 AH), may God have mercy on him, said: “There is no doubt that the idea of humanity’s vicegerency of God on earth is taken from the theory of indwelling and union and the theory of the supreme spiritual pole and rescuer held by extremist Sufis. Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili said: ‘The spiritual pole has fifteen signs’, including that he is supported by infallibility, vicegerency, meaning being God’s vicegerent on earth, and deputation, meaning being a deputy of the Truth in administering judgements, along with other attributes of divinity. Exalted is God, far above what they say!” See the Shaykh’s article in the Kuwaiti magazine Al-Wa‘i al-Islami, issue 23, Dhu al-Qa‘dah 1386 AH/February 1967 CE. For what he quoted from al-Shadhili, see Mi‘raj al-Tashawwuf ila Haqa’iq al-Tasawwuf, pp. 49-51, abridged as cited in Sufism between the Creator and Creation by Professor Muhammad Fihr al-Shaqfah, p. 100.