Real Revolution — Page 64
64 this being the very first and earliest axiom of government. . Thus, when Allah expressed His desire to create a khaleefa in the earth, the angels pondered over all aspects of the principle of government, and they discovered a new concept that there was also a permissable kind of discord and bloodshed, and that such actions would often proceed from Adam, when they would be taken as commendable in the sight of the Lord-not evil and reprehensible. Since, theretofore, there had been no instance of a system of government on the earth, the development naturally struck the angefs as very strange. Very much in the same way, some people criticise the wars which the Holy Prophet had to fight, or they criticise the permissibility of capital punishment for homicide. God answered the angels by saying. 'I know what you know not". . You cannot visualise the advantages of such a system. Although the establishment of a settled government legalises certain forms of force and pressures, and although it interferes to a certain extent with individual liberty, on the whole this system of force and pressure is beneficial for the corporate life of the nation. as well as the life of the individual. . It is to be noticed that in view of the interpretation I have given to this passage the expression used by Allah, "I. know what you know not", fits into the text remarkably well, while in the light ot