Divine Planning

intact in its original state, hence it was fully capable of accepting the religion of nature. It was then the most suitable environment for nurturing that characteristic which is called al-Muruwah (manliness) in Arabic. Life was full of hardships in the mountainous and rocky surroundings of ancient Hijaz, and in that setting innate human qualities had acquired the maximum importance, as external props were totally non-existent. There, man possessed only one thing, and that was his own existence. In such an environment, it was but natural that man’s inner qualities should be cultivated to the maximum. In this way a nation, characterized by manliness to an amazing extent, came into being through a process spanning two thousand years. In the words of Philip K. Hitti, the whole of Arabia was converted into a nursery of heroes, the like of which had never been found before or after in history. The hour had come with the dawn of the 6th century to bring to completion the plan of breaking the continuity of shirk (idolatry). It was then that the Prophet Muhammad was born among the Ishmaelites. These are the words of the Qur’an: It is He who has sent His Apostle with guidance and the Faith of Truth, so that he may exalt it above all religions, much as the pagans may dislike it (61:9). This verse shows that the main mission of the Final Prophet was to remove the religion of polytheism from its place of domination and establish the religion of monotheism in its place, giving it a position of dominance in the world. This dominance was to be of an intellectual and ideological kind. That is, a dominance similar to that gained by scientific knowledge over traditional knowledge in modern times. This was the most difficult plan ever conceived in history. In the 7th century, it was the hardest of tasks to stamp out polytheism and replace it with monotheism as the predominant ideology. It was just like uprooting a tree with all its roots and branches. It entailed severe difficulties and could be performed only with meticulous planning and strenuous effort. To secure this goal the Final Prophet was provided by God with two special supporting factors. One was the divine proclamation: