Kingdom of God Encompasses Heaven and Earth

The Gospel directs us to pray: "Our Father that art in heaven hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and put us not in temptation, but save us from evil for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever." Matthew 6:9-13

But the Qur’an says that the earth is not empty of God's Holiness which is proclaimed not only in heaven, but also on earth. As it is said:

Bani Isra’il, 17:45

al-Jumu‘ah, 62:2

These verses mean that:

Every particle of earth and heaven glorifies and proclaims the Holiness of Allah and; everything in them is engaged in His glorification and praise. The mountains remember Him, the rivers remember Him, the trees remember Him and many righteous ones are occupied with His remembrance. Whoever fails to remember Him in his heart and by his tongue and does not humble himself before God is compelled to humble himself by being put through diverse types of torment by Divine decree. Whatever is recorded of the angels in the Book of God that they are completely obedient to Him, the same is said of every leaf and every particle in the earth. Everything is obedient to Him, not a leaf can fall without His command, no medicine can heal without His command, nor can any food prove agreeable without it. Everything prostrates itself at the threshold of God in extreme humility and worshipfulness and is occupied with His obedience. Every particle of the earth and mountains, every drop of the rivers and oceans, every leaf of trees and plants and all particles of men and beasts recognize God, obey Him and are occupied with His glorification and praise.

That is why God Almighty has said:

That is to say: Everything in the earth glorifies Allah and proclaims His Holiness as does everything in heaven. Then how can it be said that God is not glorified in the earth? Such a sentiment cannot be expressed by a person of perfect understanding. Of the things of the earth some obey the commandment of the law and some are obedient to Divine decrees and some are occupied with obedience of both. The clouds, air, fire and earth are all devoted to the obedience and glorification of God.

If any human being disobeys the commandments of Divine law, he follows the commandments of Divine decrees. No one is outside the ambit of these two commandments. Everyone bows down to the heavenly kingdom in some form or the other. It is true that having regard to the purity and corruption of human hearts, heedlessness and remembrance of Allah prevail in the earth by turns, but this ebb and flow does not occur by itself, but only in obedience to the Divine will. That happens which God wills. The alternation of guidance and error proceeds like the alternation of day and night according to the light and command of God and not by itself. Despite this, everything hears His voice and glorifies Him. But the Gospel says that the earth is empty of the glorification of God and the reason is indicated in the sentence that follows, namely, that the kingdom of God mhas not yet arrived on the earth. That is why God's will has not been put into effect on the earth as it operates in heaven. The teaching of the Qur’an is altogether contrary to this. The Qur’an states clearly that no thief, murderer, adulterer, disbeliever, disobedient one, rebellious one or offender can commit any evil upon the earth unless he is authorised from heaven. Then how can it be said that the kingdom of heaven does not operate upon earth? Does some adverse possession stand in the way of the enforcement of God's command on the earth? Indeed not.

God Himself made one law for the angels in heaven and another one for man on the earth. In His kingdom of heaven, God has given no choice to the angels. Obedience is inherent in their nature. They are not able to disobey. They are not subject to error or forgetfulness. But human nature has been given the choice of obedience and disobedience. As this choice has been given from above, therefore, it cannot be said that because of a disobedient person, God's kingdom has been excluded from the earth. God's kingdom is in operation all the time and in every way. Yet it is true that there are two systems of law. One for the angels in heaven, which is the law of Divine decree which the angels cannot disobey, and there is another law which is in operation on earth that man has been given the choice of good and evil. But when a person supplicates God for power to overcome evil, then with the support of the Holy Spirit he can overcome his weakness and can safeguard himself against sin, as is the case with the Prophets and Messengers of God.

In the case of those who have been guilty of sin, asking for forgiveness can deliver them from the consequences of sin and they are spared chastisement in respect of it, for when light comes darkness is dispelled. Those offenders who do not beg for forgiveness suffer punishment for their offences. In these days, the plague has also descended upon the earth as punishment and the rebellious ones are being destroyed. Then how can it be said that the kingdom of God does not operate upon the earth?

Do not be misled by the thought that if there is a kingdom of God upon earth then why is any sin committed? Sins are also subject to the Divine law of decrees. Although the offenders put themselves outside the law of Shari‘ah they cannot put themselves outside the law of decrees. Then how can it be said that sinners do not bend to the yoke of the Divine kingdom? ....

If Divine law were to take on extreme harshness and every adulterer were to be struck down by lightning, and every thief were to be afflicted by some disease whereby his hands would become rotten and fall away, and every rebellious one who denies God and His religion were to die of the plague, then before the expiry of a week the whole world would put on the garments of righteousness and good behaviour. Thus, there is God's kingdom on earth, but heavenly law has bestowed this much freedom that offenders are not immediately seized with punishment. Yet, punishment is also continuously in force. Earthquakes happen, lightning strikes, volcanoes erupt and destroy thousands of lives, vessels sink, many lives are lost in railway accidents, storms are encountered, houses fall, snakes bite, wild beasts rend, epidemics spread and not one, but many doors of destruction are open which Divine law has appointed for the punishment of offenders. Then how can it be said that God's kingdom does not operate upon earth?

The truth is that the kingdom is there. Every offender has handcuffs around his wrists and chains around his feet, but Divine Wisdom has softened its law to a degree that the handcuffs and the chains do not manifest themselves immediately. But if an offender persists in his wrongdoing they carry him to hell and push him into a torment in which he neither lives nor dies.

In short, there are two systems of law, one is that which relates to the angels, which is that they have been created for obedience and their obedience is a characteristic of their bright nature. They cannot commit sin, but also they cannot make progress in goodness. The second system of law relates to mankind, which is that by their nature they can be guilty of sin, but they can also make progress in goodness. Both these natural laws are unchangeable and as an angel cannot become man, so man cannot become an angel. These systems of law are eternal and are not liable to change. The law that operates in heaven cannot operate on earth, nor can the law that operates on earth operate in respect of angels. If human defaults end in repentance, man can be much better than angels for angels cannot make progress in goodness. Human sins are forgiven through repentance. Divine wisdom leaves some individuals free to commit sins so that thereby they should become aware of their weakness and may be forgiven through repentance. This is the law that is appointed for man and it is suited to man's nature.

Error and forgetfulness are characteristics of human nature and they are not characteristics of angels. Therefore, the law that regulates angels cannot be put in force in respect of men. It is an error to attribute any weakness to God Almighty. It is the consequences of the operation of law that are manifested upon the earth. Is God so weak that His kingdom and power and glory are limited to heaven or is it that there is some other god who is in adverse possession of the earth? The Christians should not emphasise that God's kingdom operates only in heaven and is not yet in operation on the earth, for they hold that heaven is nothing. If heaven, where God's kingdom should operate, is nothing and God's kingdom has not yet arrived upon earth, this would mean that God's kingdom does not rule anywhere. Whereas we observe with our own eyes that God's kingdom is in operation on the earth. According to His law, our lives come to an end and our conditions change continuously. We experience hundreds of types of comfort and pain. Thousands of people die by God's command and thousands are born, prayers are accepted, signs are displayed and the earth produces thousands of types of vegetables, fruits and flowers by His command. Then is all this happening without the kingdom of God? Heavenly bodies seem to continue in one condition and no outward change is felt with regard to them, which should indicate the existence of a Being Who brings about change. But the earth is continuously undergoing change. Every day millions of people pass out of the earth and millions are born and in every way the control of a powerful Creator is felt. Is there still no kingdom of God on earth?

The Gospel puts forward no reason why the kingdom of God has not arrived on earth. It is true that Jesus prayed for deliverance all through the night in the garden and as it is recorded in Hebrews 5:7 that prayer was accepted, yet God did not have the power to deliver him. This according to the Christians, can be a reason for affirming that at that time there was no kingdom of God upon earth. But I have experienced greater trials and have been delivered from them. How can I deny the kingdom of God. Was that case in which I was, at the instance of Martyn Clarke, charged with conspiracy to murder in the court of Capt. Douglas, less grave than the case which was brought by the Jews against Jesus in the court of Pilate, on account of religious differences and not because of any charge of murder? But as God is the King of the earth as He is the King of heaven, He informed me in advance of that case that such a trial was coming and then He told me that I would be discharged. This was announced to hundreds of people in advance and in the end I was discharged. It was the kingdom of God which delivered me from this case which had been brought against me at the joint instance of Muslims, Hindus and Christians. Thus not once, but scores of times, I witnessed the kingdom of God upon earth and I had to believe in the verse:

Al Hadid, 57:3

To Him belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth;

and I had to believe in the verse:

Ya-Sin 36:83

This means that: Heaven and earth obey Him and when He wills a thing and He says to it: Be; it happens at once. Then He says:

Yusuf, 12:22

That is to say: God’s command over His will is supreme, but most people are unaware of His wrath and Omnipotence. So much for the prayer taught in the Gospel which takes away man's hope of God's mercy and makes Christians forgetful of His Rububiyyat and they do not consider God capable of helping on earth till His kingdom should arrive upon the earth. As a contrast the prayer that God has taught to the Muslims in the Qur’an teaches that God is not helpless in the earth like one dethroned, but that His system of Rububiyyat, Rahmaniyyat and Rahimiyyat are in operation on the earth and that He has the power to help His worshippers and can destroy the offenders with His wrath. That prayer is as follows:

This means that: God alone is worthy of all praise. There is no deficiency in His kingdom. Nothing is awaited out of His excellences which does not exist today, but would be achieved tomorrow. There is nothing vain in His kingdom. He provides for all the worlds. He bestows His mercy absolutely without any prior action on the part of man, and also in return for man's actions. He awards reward and punishment at their due time. We worship Him and seek His help and pray that He should show us the way of all bounties and should keep us away from the ways of His anger and of error.

This prayer which is set out in Surah Fatihah is the antithesis of the prayer taught in the Gospel, inasmuch as God's present kingdom of the earth is denied in the Gospel. Thus according to the Gospel neither God's Rububiyyat, nor His Rahmaniyyat, nor His Rahimiyyat nor His Malikiyyat is in operation on the earth because God's kingdom has not yet arrived upon the earth, but Surah Fatihah indicates that God's kingdom is in operation on the earth and thus all the essentials of the kingdom are set out in the Surah.

It is obvious that a king should possess the following qualities: He should have power to provide for people and Surah Fatihah proclaims that God is the Sustainer of the worlds. The second quality of a king should be that whatever his subjects should need for settling down in the earth should be provided out of his kingly mercy and not in return for any service. Surah Fatihah affirms this quality in God by calling Him Rahman. The third quality which a king should possess is that he should help his subjects towards achievement of that which they cannot achieve by their own efforts. The Surah affirms this quality by the use of the word Rahim. The fourth quality that a king should possess is that he should have power to reward and punish so that social conditions should not be disturbed. The Surah affirms this quality in God by describing Him as Malik-i-Yaum-id-Din. In short, the Surah presents all those essentials of kingship that prove that God's kingdom and kingly control are in operation on the earth....

Listen, the greatest understanding is that every particle of the earth is as much under the control of God as every particle of heaven is part of His kingdom, and that as there is a grand manifestation in heaven there is also a grand manifestation on earth. The manifestation in heaven is a matter of faith. An average person has not ascended to heaven nor witnessed that manifestation, but the manifestation of God's kingdom upon earth is clearly visible to everyone's eyes.

Every human being, however wealthy he might be, tastes of death contrary to his desire. Observe, therefore, how the manifestation of the command of the true King is visible upon the earth that when His command comes no one can delay his death for a second. When a person is afflicted with mortal illness, no physician is able to cure it. Reflect, therefore, what a manifestation of God's kingdom upon earth it is that His command cannot be rejected. How can it then be said that the kingdom of God upon earth is not yet, but will arrive at some future time?

In this age, God's commandment from heaven has shaken the earth with the plague so that it should be a sign for His Messiah. Who is it who can remove it without His command? Then how can we say that God's kingdom has not yet arrived upon earth? The wicked one carries on like a prisoner on earth and does not wish to die, but God's true kingdom destroys him and the angel of death finally seizes hold of him. Then how can it be said that the kingdom of God has not arrived upon the earth? Every day by God's command millions of people die in an hour and millions are born by His Command and millions of the poor by His command become rich and millions of the wealthy become poor. Then how can it be said that God's kingdom upon earth is not yet?

In heaven there are only angels, but on the earth there are men and also angels, who are agents of God and are the servants of His kingdom. They guard the various enterprises of man, obey God all the time and send up their reports to Him. Then how can it be said that there is not the kingdom of God upon earth?

God has been known mostly through His earthly kingdom for everyone imagines that the mystery of heaven is a secret and cannot be witnessed. In recent times all Christians and their philosophers have denied the existence of heaven on which the Gospels base the whole kingdom of God, but the earth is in fact a globe under our feet and thousands of Divine decrees are manifested there upon, which make us understand that all this change and birth and death is by the command of some Master. Then how can it be said that there is not yet the kingdom of God upon earth?

God, the Lord of Honour and Glory, has named neither heaven nor earth in Surah Fatihah and yet He has disclosed the reality to us by saying that God is Rabb-ul- ‘Alamin. That is to say, all through creation, wherever there are bodies or souls, God is the Creator and Sustainer of all, Who provides for them all the time and administers them. His Rububiyyat, Rahmaniyyat and Rahimiyyat are in operation all the time in all the worlds. It should be borne in mind that by the phrase Malik-i-Yaumid- Din in Surah Fatihah, it is not meant that reward and punishment would be awarded only on the Judgement Day. The Holy Qur’an has repeatedly made it clear that the Judgement Day will be the time of the grand recompense, but that one type of recompense begins in this very world, which is indicated in the verse 

‘He creates discrimination between you.’—al-Anfal, 8:30

[Kashti Nuh, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 19, pp. 32-42]

According to the Holy Qur’an, God is on earth as well as in the heaven, as He has said:

He it is Who is God in heaven and God on earth.

al-Zukhruf, 43:85

He has also said that no three are gathered together for secret consultation, but that God is the fourth among them. He is Limitless as is said in the verse:

Eyes cannot reach His limit, but He reaches their limit

al-An‘am, 6:104

It is also said in the Holy Qur’an:

We are closer to him than his jugular vein.

Qaf, 50:17

At one place, it is said that God comprehends everything and it is also said:

Allah surely supervenes between man and his mind.

al-Anfal, 8:25

It is also said:

The heavens and the earth are lit up by the light of Divine countenance 

without which it is all darkness.

al-Nur, 24:36

It is also said:

Everything is subject to change and destruction, and the only One Who will endure is God.

al-Rahman, 55:27-28

Human nature is forced to confess that in this universe there is a Being Who is not subject to change and destruction and Who continues to survive all conditions, and He is God. But as sin and disobedience and all manner of unholy things are manifested in the earth, those who confine God to the earth in the end become worshippers of idols and created beings as has happened to the Hindus.