End of Ideological Justification for Deviation
God has arranged the historical process so that it has become favourable for dawah work. This revolution in history is the direct result of divine planning.
Two things were responsible for the favourable things produced during the modern revolution. One was that, ideologically, the man had no option but to opt for monotheism and peace. Then, as a result of scientific discoveries, monotheism achieved the status of a proven scientific reality. Now, by misusing their freedom in this testing ground, any individual could deviate from monotheism, but purely in principle, there would be no ideological justification for such a deviation.
The other matter was accepting the principle of peace, essential for building a healthy society. In ancient times, for thousands of years, it had been taken for granted that armed power was real and that any important goal could be achieved only by using arms. But this ancient supposition has changed due to the modern revolution. There are two main aspects of this change—one is that in modern times, due to current circumstances, there has been a new eventuality, and that is, to put it briefly, the opportunity explosion. By availing of new opportunities, one can achieve all kinds of goals. Now, neither war nor political power is at all necessary for the achievement of any important goal. In ancient times, there were political empires. Today, building non-political empires on a vast scale has become possible.
Another feature of modernity is what is known as weapons of mass destruction. With the invention of these weapons, man is now left with no option but to desist from engaging in war. For now, war can lead only to total annihilation. Nothing positive can be gained by waging war. As a consequence, peace is now the only option for man. Man’s choice now is not between peace and war but between peace and destruction. Today’s man has either to adopt the way of peace or be ready for the destruction of civilisation as we know it.
The journey of human history has now reached a point that is thus alluded to by the Quran: “Fight them until there is no more [religious] persecution, and religion belongs wholly to God” (8:39). This revolution in history did not take place by chance: it is the direct result of divine planning. God has so arranged the conclusion of the historical process that it has become favourable to the ultimate extent for calling people to God.
