Divine Planning

~ 17 ~ began worshipping them. These brilliant bodies captured human thought to such a degree and so dominated people’s minds that even governments, nay, empires began to be founded on their basis. The emperors of that age ruled over people by declaring themselves to be the descendants of sun and moon. This age was brought to an end by monotheism gaining supremacy through the Final Prophet. This was carried out in two stages. The first stage is referred to in the Qur’an in these words: And fight with them until there is no more persecution (fitnah) and religion should be only for God; but if they desist, then surely God sees what they do (8:39) Fitnah in this verse means religious intolerance, which in ancient times had become a form of oppression. Polytheism had become aggressive because it was the bedrock of all governments and as such enjoyed full state patronage. In such a situation, whenever the call to monotheism was raised, it was but natural for the rulers to feel strongly that such a call, in holding their right to rule suspect, posed a challenge to their sovereignty.