Tarikh Islam

How will the history end? Is man moving towards perfection, or toward his downfall? In response to these questions, we notice two general views in western sociopolitical philosophy: the first is of the perfectionists including Hegel, one of the philosophers of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, who proposed the state of moral perfection. Perfectionists believe that history is moving towards progress and advancement. The second is of the anti-perfectionists including Edmond Burke, one of the eighteenth century’s conservative philosophers, who proposed the theory of the return to tradition. Anti-perfectionists believe that man's history is in retreat. This theory investigates and criticizes the perfectionism of western sociopolitical philosophy, that is, Fukuyama's theory about the end of history. In his theory, Fukuyama claims that the doctrine of liberal democracy will dominate the world after the decline of communism. The present paper which criticizes Fukuyama's theory in the light of the prominent view of Islamic perfectionists, represented in the doctrine of Shiite Mahdism, uses a qualitative conceptual analysis. Finally, it provides a unique framework, stressing on Islam's governance of the world as a substitute for this theory.