The Creative Plan of God

the rule of certain kings. To consolidate their power, these kings adopted the system of total absolutism. In this way, free thinking and freedom of expression was totally uprooted. What is called freedom of speech never existed in the ancient world. It is this coercive system which was a permanent obstacle to the propagation of the message of the prophets. Then this same system of coercion remained a continuous obstacle to the path of scientific discoveries and advancement. For any idea requires free thinking, free discussion for its development. In the old system of coercion, people were denied freedom of speech, hence open intellectual exercise was not possible in those times. Besides general prophethood, the Prophet of Islam was also entrusted the task of breaking this system of coercion established in the world. For this he was specially provided with all the necessary help needed to perform this great task. That is why within a space of less than one hundred years he along with his companions either broke the institutions of imperial absolutism all over the world or weakened them so considerably that they could not stand long. In this connection the jihad (military oppression conducted by the Prophet and his companions were, in reality, a kind of divine ‘oppression’ with a definite goal of demolishing the man-made system of coercion and replacing it with the system of nature based on freedom of speech, in order to throw open the floodgate of worldly as well as religious progress for humanity). It is this system which is called fitna (mischief) in the Qur’an and the believers have been commanded to wage war with the upholders of this coercive system so that the matter of religion rests only with God (Al-Anfal 39). In this verse, religion is referred not to Shari‘ah but to the religions of nature. That is, this verse asks believers to wage war with those oppressors who disturb the creative scheme of God. Only through their subjugation the unnatural system of suppression of speech established through dictatorial absolutism maybe brought to an end, bringing in its wake God’s desired system on the basis of intellectual freedom. Only then the artificial situation may yield place to the natural state on earth. This work has now already been performed fully all over the world throwing open the gates of all kinds of blessings on man.