No Interference

~ 91 ~ made the path smoother for us, by making such advances in the course of human history as have opened up new and better opportunities for us to spread His word. The result has been that in our times, this historical process having reached what might well be its zenith; it has become possible to do with the pen what had earlier been done with the sword. This act of facilitation has three main aspects to it, all of which are foreshadowed in passages of the Qur’an. For example believers are enjoined to pray: Lord, do not lay on us the burden you laid on those before us. (2:286) This prayer has been answered in the sense that daw’ah work may now be performed in an atmosphere conducive to the free expression of different opinions, whereas in the past, and certainly in the time of the Prophet, there were stringent curbs on freedom of speech. Those who proclaimed the Oneness of God were regularly subjected to such forms of persecution as stoning, burning, and the tearing of their bodies apart. The reason for this was that earlier governments were