Opportunities Coming with Forgetting

Throughout the history, there have been many unfortunate events in and among the societies. These include wars and murders, as well. Despite those black pages of our history, life goes on, and to our surprise, the history repeats itself. Why does this happen? Is it only the bad things in history that repeat themselves, or is it that the good things also reoccur? Is there a subtle wisdom beyond our immediate perception embedded somewhere in all this?

First of all, when things are going all well, we don't say "history is repeating itself". It is only when misfortunes start happening that we make such comments. It is only when we are struck by discomforting events that we endeavor a comprehensive search for meaning and guidance, whereby we conclude history repeats itself. But if it is repeating itself, why is it so difficult to figure out?

In a quote attributed to Sydney J. Harris, an influential journalist, he says: "History repeats itself, but in such cunning disguise that we never detect the resemblance until the damage is done." So, there are recurring patterns but there is no exact repetition, we can say. Or, in the rephrased words of Heraclitus: "You cannot swim in the same river twice." Both you and the river are changing. Then, what is it that we are missing, which in turn makes us forget the well-known or blinds us towards the obvious?

"And be not like those who forgot Allah, so He made them forget themselves." (59/19)

In the classical stance, forgetting Allah is understood as not obeying His orders, ignoring the prescribed acts of worship, etc. Although this could be true, when we look at the history, we witness that even the observant believers are not spared from the wrath of history when it repeats itself. So, there must be more than that described by the classical view.

In the Quran, we find another occasion of "forgetting", which is deliberate and which has dreadful consequences for the forgotten:

"And whoever turns away from My remembrance - indeed, he will have a depressed life, and We will gather him on the Day of Resurrection blind. He will say, "My Lord, why have you raised me blind while I was [once] seeing?" [ Allah ] will say, "Thus did Our signs come to you, and you forgot them; and thus will you this Day be forgotten." " (20/124-126)

So, ignoring the signs of God can count as part of forgetting God, because as the verse explains this is leading to "not remembering Him". Therefore, coming back to our quest, be it a practicing believer or a complete non-believer, a person can face the consequences of the repetition of history, because they are not reading the verses (signs) of God encoded in the creation and not taking lessons thereof. Such people also become negligent and oblivious of themselves, too, hence the difficulty in realizing the repeating patterns of the history.

Such forgetfulness of the self and the subsequent tribulations are mentioned in the Quran (e.g. 26/202, 29/53). However, unexpected arrival of blessings is also recounted (65/2-3). The common point between the two is the ignorance towards what is really going on around, and so, Quran is instructing that history repeats itself not only in its bad aspects but also in the good ones! Furthermore, forgetfulness or ignorance is part of both! Let's dig more into this.

When Moses (pbuh) had left his home town, he stayed with Jethro (pbuh) for about a decade (28/27-28), and when he was finally ready to return to Egypt for his mission given by God, people had forgotten about what had happened "long ago", not just the case of Moses but also the slaughter of the male babies of the Children of Israel by the Pharaoh. This forgetfulness was to such an extent that when Moses came back to rescue them and Pharaoh restarted his former acts of oppression, hence the history repeating itself, most of the Children of Israel wanted to step down and take refuge in the rule of the Pharaoh, their oppressor and the murderer of their babies (7/129). But, this time, the forgetfulness of these people preceded the coming of Moses and the oncoming good days.

When Joseph (pbuh) was thrown in the well by his brothers, years passed and eventually, he and his apparent murder was practically forgotten by the people and his brothers (12/15). However, this forgetfulness was used by the divine will as a precursor to the rise of Joseph over his brothers (12/89-90).

Last but not the least, the re-emergence of the people of the cave took place only after they became a legend among people.

In all these cases, the term required for the forgetting was also needed for these heroes to get ready! Therefore, the forgetfulness of people in the face of historical patterns and the consequent recurrences can be precursor of blessings, but good is only established with the planned and consistent actions of the good-willed people (9/14, 53/39). So, the people who want to establish good but who are suffering from the rule of evil must make use of the periods of people's oblivion so that when God brings them to a powerful position, they have a plan of actions that can be implemented immediately to engrave the good to the souls and prevent the recurrence of evil. As the commonsense puts it, "fortune favors the prepared."