New Plan

In the course of time, God devised a new plan through Prophet Abraham by maintaining human freedom, to leave man, ideologically, with no option but monotheism.

In the course of time, God devised a new plan. To put it briefly, this plan was designed to leave man, ideologically, with no option but monotheism. Peace, hopefully, would ensue. In this world, which was meant to be a testing ground for man, there was no question of human freedom being so rigorously curtailed as to abrogate it entirely, but such circumstances could be produced as would leave man with no ideological option but monotheism.

This plan could not come into being as if it were some miracle. No, indeed, but what was feasible in this world of the trial was that this plan was carried out under the law of cause and effect. So God planned accordingly. The final stage of this plan is referred to, thus, in the Quran: “Fight them until there is no more (religious) persecution, and religion belongs wholly to God.” (8:39)

In this verse of the Quran, God’s adjuration is no political matter; it is wholly ideological. It alludes to the divine plan that began with Hajira and Ishmael, one stage eventually coming to fruition with the Companions of the Prophet. As a result of this plan, an event in history took place that was so revolutionary that, ideologically, man was left with no reason not to embrace monotheism.

Four thousand years ago, Prophet Abraham was born in the ancient city of Iraq, known as ‘Ur’. There he set up his mission along with some of his contemporaries. But his people had become so conditioned that they were not ready to accept his message. So later, at God’s behest, Prophet Abraham launched himself on a new course of action, which started with his taking his wife Hajira and his infant son Ishmael to a far-off region of Arabia. He settled them in an uninhabited area with nothing around them but the desert.

Due to this unique plan, a whole new generation was produced in Arabia. This generation brought into being the race into which the Prophet of Islam was born many centuries later, in 570 A.D. This race produced those individuals who came to be known as the Companions of the Prophet. Thanks to the concerted struggle of the Prophet and his Companions, a new revolution was brought about in Arabia in the 7th century A.D. With this revolution, a new process in history culminated in the 20th century A.D.

In modern times we can see the results of this historical process, for instance, human equality, the end of religious persecution, democracy, and the scientific revolution, which, in its wake, brought the printing press and modern communications. But, besides this, new realities of nature have been discovered, which testify to the truth of the religion of monotheism.