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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Trends of History in Qur'an Man's Role in the March of History We have said that the discovery of the real dimensions of the role of religion in the march of history and the progress of man depends on the evaluation of the two stable elements of the social relationship which are man and nature. Now let us see from the viewpoint of the Qur'an about man and his role in the movement of history.

In the light of the Qur'anic concepts we studied earlier, it is evident that man or his inner content forms the basis of the movement of history. We have already pointed out that to have an objective is the distinguishing feature of the movement of history. In other words, the movement of history is a purposive movement. It is not merely related to its past through its cause, but is related to its future as well through its objective.

Being a purposive movement, it has a final cause and is forward looking. It is the future which stimulates the active movement of history. Though the future does not exist at the present time, it is visualized through its mental existence. It is this mental existence which on the one hand points to an intellectual aspect embracing the objective and on the other points to the power and will which push man towards this objective.

Thus the mental existence of an objective which is to materialize in future and which motivates history, shows on the one hand the existence of an idea and on the other shows the existence of a will. It is the blending of an idea and a will that has the power to make future and is a force capable of starting historical activity on the social scene. Idea and will in fact form man's conscience, and in these two basic elements man's inner content is seen.

It is man's inner content that moves history and with the blending of man's idea and his will it can realize his objectives. With this explanation it may be said that it is man's inner content or his thinking and will which make history move.

The whole structure of society including all its relations, organizations and their characteristics stand on the foundation of man's inner content, and every change and development of society depends on the change and development of this infrastructure of it. In other words, the structure of society changes with a change in man's ideas and his will. It is obvious that if this base is solid, the structure of society will be strong.