Tafsir of Surah Yunus - Verse 14

The Admonition held in the Destruction of the Previous Generations

Allah tells us about what happened to past generations when they belied the Messengers ﷺ and the clear signs and proofs the latter brought to them. Allah then made this nation successors after them. He sent to them a Messenger to test their obedience to Him and following His Messenger. Muslim recorded that Abu Nadrah reported from Abu Sa`id that he said: "Allah's Messenger ﷺ said:

«إِنَّ الدُّنْيَا حُلْوَةٌ خَضِرَةٌ، وَإِنَّ اللهَ مُسْتَخْلِفُكُمْ فِيهَا، فَنَاظِرٌ كَيْفَ تَعْمَلُونَ، فَاتَّقُوا الدُّنْيَا وَاتَّقُوا النِّسَاءَ، فَإِنَّ أَوَّلَ فِتْنَةِ بِنَي إِسْرَائِيلَ كَانَتْ فِي النِّسَاء»

(The world is indeed sweet and green; and verily Allah is going to install you generations after generations in it in order to see how you act. So safeguard yourselves against the world and avoid (the trial caused by) women. For the first trial of the Children of Israel was due to women..) Ibn Jarir reported from `Abdur-Rahman from Ibn Abi Layla that `Awf bin Malik said to Abu Bakr: "In a dream, I saw a rope hanging from the sky and Allah's Messenger ﷺ was being raised. The rope was suspended again and Abu Bakr was raised. Then people were given different measurements around the Minbar, and `Umar was favored with three forearm measurements." `Umar said: "Keep your dream away from us, we have no need for it." When `Umar succeeded, he called for `Awf and said to him, "Tell me about your dream" `Awf said: "Do you need to hear about my dream now Did you not scold me before" He then said, "Woe unto you! I hated for you to announce it to the successor of Allah's Messenger ﷺ himself." So `Awf related his dream until he got to the three forearms, he said: "One that he was Khalifah, second he did not -- for the sake of Allah -- fear the blame of blamers, and third he was a martyr." Allah said:

ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَـكُمْ خَلَـئِفَ فِى الاٌّرْضِ مِن بَعْدِهِم لِنَنظُرَ كَيْفَ تَعْمَلُونَ

(Then We made you successors after them, generations after generations in the land, that We might see how you would work.)(10:14) Then he said: "Son of the mother of `Umar, you have been appointed as Khalifah, so look at what you will do! About not fearing the blame of blamers, that is Allah's will. About becoming a martyr, how can `Umar reach that when the Muslims are in support of him"

In verse 14, it was said: ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَاكُمْ خَلَائِفَ فِي الْأَرْ‌ضِ مِن بَعْدِهِمْ لِنَنظُرَ‌ كَيْفَ تَعْمَلُونَ ﴿14﴾ (Then We made you vice-regents on the earth, in order to see how you would act), that is, ` after the destruction of past peoples, We made you successors to them giving you the vice-regency of the earth. But, let this not give you any false idea that this vice-regency of the earth has been given to you so that you could have a good time. In fact, this honor has been bestowed on you to test you and to see how you would act - would you learn your lesson from the history of past peoples or would you lose your head drunk with power and wealth?'

This tells us that worldly power is not something to be proud of or arrogant about. This is responsibility at its toughest, a charge very heavy and very fragile to handle.

‘Then We made you their successors (khala’if, sing. khalifah) in the land.’ The real meaning of khalifah is ‘one who comes afterwards’. This word ‘successor’ is specially used for coming into power after another. This succession is in relation to human beings and not in relation to God. In the Quran, wherever the word khilafah has been used, it is in connection with succession to some creature and not in connection with succession to God. Making somebody a successor is solely for the purpose of putting him to the test and is not meant to confer any honour. Making somebody a successor means giving one an opportunity to work after another; it is placing one community in the arena of testing in place of another community. For example, in India, the native Rajas were replaced by Mughals. Then they were removed and the Britishers were made their successors. Later, they (the British) were made to leave the country, making way for the majority community. In all these cases, the ‘one coming afterwards’ was the successor (khalifah) of the earlier one.