New Planning

A new age of monotheism was ushered in by settling Hajira and Ishmael in the barren desert four thousand years ago. This resulted in a new generation, brought up in an environment of pure nature, free of conditioning, later known as the Ishmaelites.

The existence of the Creator is unobservable, whereas His creation is observable. Because of this, from the beginning of history, man has given himself up to creature worship or nature worship.

A natural urge to worship One God has been inculcated in human nature. A Quranic verse points to this reality, “My Lord, they have led so many men astray.” (14:36)

All those distinctively visible entities that aroused wonder in the human mind were given the godhead status and worshipped. For instance, the sun, the moon, the planets, the mountains, the seas, etc.

That was the principal reason for man’s failure to accept the religion of monotheism throughout human history. Only the religion of phenomenon worship retained its hold in all human settlements. In the Quran, such worship is called shirk or polytheism. This continued from generation to generation. Finally, polytheism became an integral part of human history. This has been expressed in the Quran in the words of Noah when he exhorted his Creator not to leave any deniers of the truth on earth at the time of the great flood: “They will beget none but sinners and deniers of truth.” (71:27)

This influence of polytheism can be called ‘conditioning’. In ancient times everyone was born into the same traditions and became irremediable cases of conditioning.

There is a hadith to this effect: “Every child is born on nature, but their parents make them Jews or Christians or Zoroastrians.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 1385)

Abraham, son of Azar (d. 1985 BC), was appointed the Prophet for ancient Iraq. However, despite his extraordinary efforts in dawah work, his people continued to deny the truth. Thus, it became clear that warning the people of their accountability after death, was insufficient to remedy their conditioning. People had become so thoroughly conditioned to shirk from one generation to the next that a revolutionary plan was required to break down this mindset. Under this divine plan, Prophet Abraham settled Hajira (Hagar) and Ishmael in the Arabian desert.

By God’s commandment, Prophet Abraham left Syria, accompanied by his wife Hajira and his elder son Ishmael under the guidance of the angel Gabriel. Whenever he passed by some settlement, Prophet Abraham would ask Gabriel: “Has God commanded me to settle here?” Gabriel would say, “No.” In this way, passing by many fertile lands, he reached the appointed place—present-day Makkah. At that time, it was not inhabited. It was all desert and dry, barren mountains. Finally, at the behest of Gabriel, Prophet Abraham settled his wife and child Ishmael there. (Akhbaru Makkah by Al-Azraqi, Vol. 1, p. 54)

When Prophet Abraham was to leave what is now Makkah, leaving his family behind, Hajira asked him, “Where are you going, leaving us in this desert?” Hajira repeated this question several times, but Prophet Abraham did not answer. Finally, when Hajira said, “Has God commanded you to do so?” Prophet Abraham replied, “Yes.” Hearing this, Hajira said, “Then God will never let us perish.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 3364)

This event, which took place four thousand years ago in the Arabian desert, ushered in a new age of monotheism. This new age was one in which a community was to be prepared and should be free of the conditioning of shirk. This place, where Hajira was settled, was far from civilized cities. The only things in evidence there were the desert and the mountains by day and the moon and the stars by night—the environment of nature. With the passage of time, a new generation was born in a natural environment, later known as the Ishmaelites. This generation was raised in a morally pure atmosphere, in a very natural setting. This is because they were the children of nature and remained safe from the influence of conditioning.

Historians generally treat this generation as unique because the individuals it was composed of possessed noble human qualities. In ancient Arabia, these human qualities were referred to as al-Murua (manliness). We may more appropriately call these individuals being on al-fitra, that is, people possessing the qualities of nature. The Western scholar, Philip K Hitti, refers to their extraordinary qualities as “a nation of heroes”. (History of the Arabs, 1937)

This desert life for Hajira and Ishmael occasioned extraordinary sacrifice. This sacrifice was a thousand times greater than being martyred on the battlefield. This is why the Quran calls it a ‘great sacrifice.’ (37:107)

In this verse of the Quran, ‘great sacrifice’ does not mean a ram’s sacrifice but rather the sacrifice of Ishmael himself. Four thousand years ago, settling Ishmael in that barren desert was, without doubt, the greatest of sacrifices, not in the physical but in the spiritual sense. Among the progeny of Ishmael—called the Ishmaelites—God sent the final Prophet, Muhammad bin Abdullah.