Tarikh Islam

The scientists who believe that history as a course of events has a certain model have asserted that the course of history is rule-governed. In contrast, some others who have viewed the course of history as casual and unpredictable have actually rejected the idea that society and history are rule-governed. A third group holds this as something impossible to prove or discover. In the Holy Qur'an and the Imams' sayings too, it is stated - explicitly or implictly - that history is rule-governed; and thus, men are invited to learn something from the history of the people in ancient times. So this view has been asserted and approved by many religious scholars as an undoubtable fact. There can be found, however, some disagreements among historians, sociologists, and history philosophers both on whether or not history is rule-governed and on how it is rule-governed. In the first part of the article, the writer has reviewed the existing views on whether history is rule-governed or casual; then he has discussed the relationships between the rules governing history and human freedom. Then, in the second part, he has presented the Qur'anic reasons on this subject and investigated its relationship with human freedom. It is worth noting that, due to the length of this article, the second part of this article will be presented in the next issue of this journal.