Be Like Adam's Son: History as the Reference for Acquiring Knowledge According to the Qur'an

To know right from wrong, the Qur'an directs us to refer to history. It is there that we review the continual conflict between the arrogant and the callers to justice and mercy. Think this over time and time again; for by laying it nearest your heart you give stability and steadiness to your heart; without history, we are unlikely to adhere to our constructive work.

If we fail to learn from past events, then God will never despair, and He ordained that history will not despair. History is there to penalize people until they have sense.

Do you envision the enormity of the trust left in a human's hands? Do not listen to those who insist on nihilism, for this principle makes any activity vain and pointless. Do not think that man's intellect is the reference, for it can stumble at every step – it is history rather which can be trusted, for it does not act in compliance with men's whims and caprices. Men have the option to refer to the recorded history, for if they fail to do so, history will make of them an example of what it costs to ignore it. This latter option is always mentioned in the Qur'an, as in the verse, "And you shall certainly know the truth of it after a while." (38:88)