Quran Garden

Session 388

Chapter 3

Verse 54

And the disbelievers schemed; God also schemed; God is the Best of Schemers.

(Chapter 3: Verse 54)

The verb "scheme" or "plot," translated from the Arabic origin مكر (Makr), owes its linguistic origin to trees.  When you look up at a young tree, you can often distinguish different branches and leaves and tell which leaf lies on which branch.  However, more mature trees have branches that wrap around each other in such a way that makes it impossible to know with certainty which leaf belongs to which branch.   The word مكر (Makr) is derived from this meaning because it refers to a person who is not honest but talks to you in circles to muddy the subject.  God says:

They grew more arrogant in the land and devised evil schemes. But an evil scheme overwhelms none but its own authors.  Do they expect anything but what happened to earlier people? You will never find any inconsistencies in God's practice; you will never find any deviation there. (35:43)

Take note that, in the verse above, Allah specified "evil schemes."  This means that a scheme could be good or evil.  For example, you can devise a scheme to convince your son to take a summer course or extract the truth from a criminal.  As long as no harm is intended, scheming is good; we often call it "a good plan."  It all comes down to the plotter's intention. 

When the intent is malicious, plotting becomes evil.  The person who is plotting against you may display love while planning harm behind your back.  Movies are full of scenes where a group of people tricks their victim into a ride to a remote location, where they harm or kill them.   

The foundation of every scheme is deception and secrecy because it is critical for the other person not to find out what truly is going on.  If the plan is exposed, the whole scheme falls apart.  However, secrecy and deception are signs of weakness.  How, you may ask?  We answer that a strong person does not plot or deceive; rather, he or she confronts directly. 

When a strongman catches a weak opponent, he may let him go because his superior strength grants him the upper hand whenever he chooses.  But a weak person cannot confront the strong.  They have to use trickery to get their way.  Thus, it is often said that severe harm is done by the weak.  When a vulnerable person gets a chance to overpower a much stronger opponent, they are well aware that this chance may never happen again, so they go for maximum damage.  A poet said:

The weak, when she gets a chance, will kill

That is the true strength of the weak

It is the weak who plots and schemes because they know their opponent is stronger and smarter.  Here we should ask, when the opponents of faith plot, who are they plotting against?  Is it the Messenger and the believers? Yes, but they forget that the faithful are never alone: God is with them.  God says:

They seek to deceive God and the believers, but they only deceive themselves, though they do not realize it. (2:09)

And in another chapter:                         

If you were seeking a decision, now you have witnessed one: if you stop here, it will be better for you. If you return, so shall We, and your forces, though greater in number, will be of no use to you. God is with the believers. (8:19)

Since plotting requires secrecy and deception, and since God knows all we say and think, then no one can ever devise a scheme against the Almighty.  Likewise, since God has control over everything, and no one knows what the Almighty thinks, then He is the best plotter.  He says:

And the disbelievers schemed; God also schemed; God is the Best of Schemers.

(Chapter 3: Verse 54)

Here, I would like to caution you against attributing names to Allah that He has not attributed to Himself.  In other words, when you find an attribute –such as "schemer"–which may be inappropriate to describe God, then know that it is only employed to tackle a problem.  It is not of God's attributes or names.  Allah is the Most Merciful, He is the Almighty, but you cannot say that God is a schemer.  The believers may say to the disbelievers, "If you plan to conspire against us, then know that the Almighty is Competent in turning the plot against you."

 The archangel Gabriel taught our beloved Muhammad the majestic ninety-nine names of our Lord.  Those names are to be taken exactly as described and cannot be added to or subtracted from.  Thus, if you find an action of God outside these names, you should not make the leap and use it to describe Him.  "The deceiver" and "the plotter" are not from the names of the Almighty.  God's plotting only came as a counteraction to the disbelievers' behavior and to prove that they can never successfully plot against Him. 

What is the purpose behind the verse under study?  We answer that our beloved Jesus was facing a brewing battle.  He, peace be upon him, did not come to raise his sword to advance faith; rather, he came as a preacher to show people the beautiful ways of the Lord.  Victory is not exclusive to the sword; it is better attained with a logical argument.

Since Adam's time, God did not ask any messenger to initiate war for the sake of faith, because the use of force was exclusive to the heavens, which took charge of discipline when necessary.  God says:

And We punished each one of them for their sins: some We struck with a violent storm,a sudden blast overcame some, some We made the earth swallow, and some We drowned. It was not God who wronged them; they wronged themselves. (29:40)

Even when the Israelites went into battle –as we discussed in Surah Al Baqarah-, it was based on their request.  God says:

Have you not considered the elders of the Children of Israel who came after Moses, when they said to one of their prophets, "Appoint a king for us, and we shall fight in God's cause." He said, "Is it not possible that, if fighting were prescribed for you, you would not fight?" They said, "How could we not fight in God's cause when we have been driven out of our homeland and our children?" Yet when they were commanded to fight, all but a few of them turned away: God has full knowledge of the unjust. (2:246)

The first and only nation that was entrusted to deliver God's message and defend it with the force of arms is the nation of our beloved Muhammad.  Muslims are authorized to use force to free the oppressed people so they can choose their faith freely.  The force of arms is never to be used to impose religion on others; instead, it is a tool to protect the freedom of choice in faith.  When people are oppressed and forced under a false doctrine, the Muslims are permitted to raise the sword against the tyrant and free the oppressed to make their own free choice. 

The widespread misconception, often propagated by the enemies of Islam, is that Islam was spread by the sword.  We say to them, look at the history of Islam.  Islam started very weak.  For well over a decade, early Muslims suffered all kinds of persecution, torture, loss of property, and life.  They were driven out of their home, wealth and families, and could not defend themselves.  Some of them migrated as far as Abyssinia in search of protection.  Allah had wisdom behind this initial period of persecution of early Muslims.  We ask those who claim that Islam was spread by the sword, who raised the sword to force the early Muslims into faith? For thirteen years in Mecca, a person would lose all protection and become a target of violence when he or she became Muslim.  In other words, everything was used –including the sword– to force people out of Islam.  

Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, came from the prestigious and powerful tribe of Quraysh.  Allah, however, did not want Islam to grow under the protection of the most powerful tribe in Arabia because that may allow it to spread by force or fear.  Instead, it was the weakest residents of Quraysh, including many slaves, who entered Islam first.  They did not enjoy the state's protection but suffered its full repression for years until Allah authorized the migration to Medina.  Only after the Muslims, who freely entered Islam, established their own state did Allah allow the use of force.  Even then, the sword was only used to defend the Muslims or to free people from the oppression of Quraysh, not to force them into Islam. 

Moreover, People often criticize Islam for imposing a tax –called Jizya– on the non-believers under their rule.  We answer that, by setting a Jizya tax on the non-believers, Islam officially recognizes their faith and their right to practice it.  Had the Muslims forced people to embrace Islam, there would have been no need to legislate the Jizya tax.