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God’s messengers, may peace and blessings be upon them, from Noah to Jesus, revealed this truth to mankind, informed it truthfully about its God, and clarified the position of man within this universe and the very purpose of his existence. However, the constant deviations from this truth, under pressure from political circumstances, human lusts and weaknesses, masked this truth and drove human beings into aberration, and dumped heavy loads of debris upon them, which could be removed only by a new comprehensive and complete message. Such a message would remove all the debris, dissipate the darkness, and light up the wilderness. It would also announce the truth of the Islamic concept and build a stable life for humanity. Those who throughout the world were plagued by their deviant thoughts could not have freed themselves by any means other than this message and this Messenger. God, Most High, proclaimed the truth:

People did not realize the importance of this message and the importance of detaching themselves from these aberrations that led human beings into darkness. They did not realize the importance of making a clear decision on the issue of faith, thus recognizing the extent of the debris and becoming able to avoid the wilderness. Man was unable to understand this message until he discarded the beliefs and concepts, philosophies and myths, thoughts and illusions, customs and traditions, situations and circumstances, which, at the time of the emergence of Islam, had settled in the minds of humans. He was unable to see the truth amidst all the babbling, bewilderment and difficulties that had infected the remnants of previous revelations—distortions, deviations, and additions, drawn from philosophies of the ancient world, paganism and myths.

Judaism, the religion of the Children of Israel, was polluted with pagan concepts as well as racial arrogance. The Children of Israel, i.e., Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, may peace be upon them, had messengers sent to them, beginning with their ancestor Israel, who delivered the message of monotheism which he had learned from Abraham. Then came their greatest messenger Moses, may peace be upon him, again with the message of monotheism as well as the Mosaic law based on that belief. However, as time went by, the Children of Israel went astray, and their beliefs degenerated into paganism. In their ‘holy’ books and the old Testament, they included myths and concepts about the Almighty that are as debased as those of the Greeks and other pagan peoples who never received a heavenly message or were given a divine book.

“And convey unto them the story of Abraham—[how it was] when he asked his father and his people, “What is it that you worship?”

They answered: “We worship idols, and we remain ever devoted to them.”

Said he: “Do [you really think that] they hear you when you invoke them, or benefit you or do you harm?”

They exclaimed: “But we found our forefathers doing the same!”

Said [Abraham]: “Have you, then, ever considered what it is that you have been worshiping—you and those ancient forebears of yours?”

“Now [as for me, I know that], verily, these [false deities] are my enemies, [and that none is my helper] save the Sustainer of all the worlds, who has created me and is the one who guides me, and is the one who gives me to eat and to drink, and when I fall ill, is the one who restores me to health, and who will cause me to die and then will bring me back to life—and who, I hope, will forgive me my faults on judgment day!”

“O my Sustainer! Endow me with the ability to judge [between right and wrong], and make me one with the righteous, and grant me the power to convey the truth unto those who will come after me, and place me among those who shall inherit the garden of bliss!”

“And forgive my father—for, verily, he is among those who have gone astray—and do not put me to shame on the Day when all shall be raised from the dead: the Day on which neither wealth will be of any use, nor children, [and when] only he [will be happy] who comes before God with a heart free of evil!”

(Ash-Shu‘ara: 69–89)

“And who, unless he be weak of mind, would want to abandon Abraham’s creed, seeing that We have indeed raised him high in this world, and that, verily, in the life to come he shall be among the righteous?”

When his Sustainer said to him, “Surrender thyself unto Me!”—he answered, “I have surrendered myself unto [Thee], the Sustainer of all the worlds.”

And this very thing did Abraham bequeath unto his children, and [so did] Jacob: “O my children! Behold, God has granted you the purest faith; so do not allow death to overtake you ere you have surrendered yourselves unto Him.”

Nay, but you [yourselves, o children of Israel], bear witness that when death was approaching Jacob, he said unto his sons: “Whom will you worship after I am gone?”

They answered: “We will worship thy God, the God of thy forefathers Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac, the one God; and unto Him will we surrender ourselves.”

(Al-Baqarah: 130–133)

“And lo! We accepted this solemn pledge from [you] the children of Israel: “You shall worship none but God; and you shall do good unto your parents and kinsfolk, and the orphans, and the poor; and you shall speak unto all people in a kindly way; and you shall be constant in prayer; and you shall spend in charity.”

And yet, save for a few of you, you turned away: for you are obstinate folk!

And lo! We accepted your solemn pledge that you would not shed one another’s blood, and would not drive one another from your homelands—whereupon you acknowledged it; and thereto you bear witness [even now]. And yet, it is you who slay one another and drive some of your own people from their homelands, aiding one another against them in sin and hatred; but if they come to you as captives, you ransom them—although [the very act of] driving them away has been made unlawful to you!

Do you, then, believe in some parts of the divine writ and deny the truth of other parts? What, then, could be the reward of those among you who do such things but ignominy in the life of this world and, on the Day of Resurrection, commitment to most grievous suffering? For God is not unmindful of what you do.”

(Al-Baqarah: 83–85)

“And indeed, there came unto you Moses with all evidence of the truth—and thereupon, in his absence, you took to worshipping the [golden] calf, and acted wickedly.”

And, lo, We accepted your solemn pledge, raising Mount Sinai high above you, [saying], “Hold fast with [all your] strength unto what We have vouchsafed you, and hearken unto it!”

[But] they say, “We have heard, but we disobey” for their hearts are filled to overflowing with love of the [golden] calf because of their refusal to acknowledge the truth.

Say: “Vile is what this [false] belief of yours enjoins upon you— if indeed you are believers!”

(Al-Baqarah: 92–93)

“And the Jews say, “Ezra is God’s son.”

(Al-Tawbah: 30)

“And the Jews say, “God’s hand is shackled!” It is their own hands that are shackled; and rejected [by God] are they because of this their assertion. Nay, but wide are His hands stretched out: He dispenses [bounty] as He wills.”

(Al-Ma’idah: 64)

“God has indeed heard the saying of those who said, “Behold, God is poor while we are rich!” We shall record what they have said, as well as their slaying of prophets against all right, and We shall say [unto them on Judgment Day]: “Taste suffering through fire.”

(Al-‘Imran: 181)

“And remember when you said, ‘o Moses, indeed we shall not believe thee unto we see God face to face’—whereupon the thunderbolt of punishment overtook you before your very eyes.”

(Al-Baqara: 55)

“The man and his wife heard the sound of the lord God walking in the Garden at the time of the evening breeze and they hid from the lord God among the trees of the Garden. But the lord called and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ He replied, ‘I heard the sound as you were walking in the Garden and I was afraid, because I was naked and I hid myself.’ God answered, ‘Who told you that you were naked?’ Have you eaten from the tree which I forbade you?”

(Genesis: 3: 8–11)

“And God said, ‘The man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; what if he now reaches out his hand and takes fruit from the tree of life also, eats it, and lives forever?’ So the lord God drove him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he had taken. He cast him out, and to the east of the Garden of Eden he stationed the cherubim and a sword whirling and flashing to guard the way to the tree of life.”

(Genesis: 3: 22–24)

“When mankind began to increase and to spread all over the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of the gods saw that daughters of men were beautiful, so they took for themselves such women as they chose. But the lord said, ‘My life giving spirit shall not remain in man forever; he for his part is mortal flesh; he shall live for a hundred and twenty years.’ In those days, when the sons of gods had intercourse with the daughters of men and got children by them, the Nephilium were on earth. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. When the lord saw that man had done much evil on earth and that his thoughts and inclinations were always evil, he was sorry that he had made man on earth and he was grieved at heart. He said, ‘This race of men whom I have created I will wipe off the face of the earth—man and beast, reptiles, and birds. I am sorry that I ever made them.’ But Noah had won the lord’s favour.”

(Genesis: 6: 1–8)

“Once upon a time all the world spoke a single language and used the same words. As men journeyed in the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them hard.’ They used bricks for stone and bitumen for mortar. Come, they said, ‘let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and make a name for ourselves; or we shall be dispersed all over the earth.’ Then the lord came down to see the city and tower, which mortal men had built, and He said, ‘Here they are, one people with a single language, and now they have started to do this. Henceforward nothing they have a mind to do will be beyond their reach. Come, let us go down there and confuse their speech, so that they will not understand what they say to one another.’ So the lord dispersed them from there all over the earth, and they left off building the city.”

(Genesis: 11: 1–8)

“Place, power and profit—these were in view of whoever now joined the conquering sect. Crowds of worldly persons, who cared nothing about its religious ideas became its warmest supporters. Pagans at heart, their influence was soon manifested in the paganization of Christianity that soon ensued. The Emperor, no better than they, did nothing to check their proceedings. But he did not personally conform to the ceremonial requirements of the Church until the close of his evil life in A.D. 337.

Though the Christian party had proved itself sufficiently strong to give a master to the Empire, it was never sufficiently strong to destroy its antagonist, paganism. The issue of struggle between them was an amalgamation of the principles of both. In this, Christianity differed from Mohammedanism which absolutely annihilated its antagonist and spread its own doctrines without adulteration.

To the Emperor, a mere worldling and a man without any religious convictions, doubtless it appeared best for himself, best for the Empire, and best for the contending parties, Christian and pagan, to promote their union or amalgamation as much as possible. Even sincere Christians do not seem to have been averse to this; perhaps they believed that the new doctrines would diffuse most thoroughly by incorporating in themselves ideas borrowed from the old, the Truth would assert herself in the end, and the impurity be cast off.”⁴

One group stated: “Christ is simply man,” while another maintained that: “The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are only different forms that God has displayed to mankind.” According to this group, God is made up of three hypostases, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost: God, the Father, in the form of the Holy Ghost, descended onto the virgin Mary as a human being, and was then born from her in the form of Jesus. Yet another group claimed: “The Son is not eternal like the Father, for he is a created being; he is therefore beneath the Father and should submit to Him.” Another group again denied that the Holy Ghost was part of the Trinity. At the Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E. and the Constantinople Convocation in 381 C.E., it was decided that the Son and the Holy Ghost are equal to the Father in divinity; that the Son was born to the Father before the creation of the world and man; and that the Holy Ghost is derived from the Father. At the Toledo Convention of 589 C.E., it was decided that the Holy Ghost is additionally derived from the Son. At this juncture, the Eastern and Western Churches were in disagreement and separated as a result.

“This is not the place for a discussion upon either the facts or the sources of Egyptian history during the last two centuries of the Empire: but when that record comes to be fully written, it will prove a record of perpetual feud between Romans and Egyptians—a feud of race and a feud of religion—in which, however, the dominating motive was religious rather than racial. The key to the whole of this epoch is the antagonism between the Monophysites and the Melkites. The latter, as the name implies, were the imperial or the Court party in religion, holding the orthodox opinion about the two natures of Christ: but this opinion the Monophysite Copts, or native Egyptians, viewed with an abhorrence and combated with a frenzy difficult to understand in rational beings, not to say followers of the Gospel.”⁵

“A hundred years before, Justinian had succeeded in giving some show of unity to the Roman Empire, but after his death it rapidly fell asunder, and at this time there was an entire want of common national feeling between the provinces and the seat of government. Heraclius had made some partially successful efforts to attach Syria again to the central government, but unfortunately the general methods of reconciliation which he adopted had served only to increase dissension instead of allaying it. Religious passions were the only existing substitute for national feeling, and he tried, by propounding an exposition of faith, that was intended to serve as an eirenicon, to stop all further disputes between the contending factions and unite the heretics to the orthodox Church and to the central government. The Council of Chalcedon (451) had maintained that Christ was ‘to be acknowledged in two natures, without confusion, change, division, or separation; the difference of the natures being in nowise taken away by reason of their union, but rather the properties of each nature being preserved and concurring into one person and one substance, not as it was divided or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and only begotten, God the Word.’ This council was rejected by the Monophysites, who allowed only one nature in the person of Christ, who was said to be a composite person, having all attributes divine and human, but the substance bearing these attributes was no longer a duality, but a composite unity. The controversy between the orthodox party and the Monophysites, who flourished particularly in Egypt and Syria and in countries outside the Byzantine Empire, had been hotly contested for nearly two centuries, when Heraclius sought to effect a reconciliation by means of the doctrine of Monotheletism: while conceding the duality of the natures, it secured unity of the person in the actual life of Christ, by rejection of two series of activities in this one person; the one Christ and Son of God effectuates that which is human and that which is divine by one divine human agency, i.e. there is only one will in the Incarnate Word.

But Heraclius shared the fate of so many would-be peace-makers: for not only did controversy blaze up again all the more fiercely, but he himself was stigmatized as a heretic and drew upon himself the wrath of both parties.”⁶

“Indeed, the truth deny they who say, “Behold, God is the Christ, son of Mary”—seeing that the Christ [himself] said, “O children of Israel! Worship God [alone], who is my Sustainer as well as your Sustainer.” Behold, whoever ascribes divinity to any being beside God, unto him will God deny paradise, and his goal shall be the fire; and such evildoers will have none to succour them!

Indeed, the truth deny they who say, ‘Behold, God is the third of a trinity’—seeing that there is no deity whatever save the one God. And unless they desist from this their assertion, grievous suffering is bound to befall such of them as are bent on denying the truth. Will they not, then, turn towards God in repentance, and ask His forgiveness? For God is much forgiving, a dispenser of grace.

The Christ, son of Mary, was but an apostle: all [other] apostles had passed away before him: and his mother was one who never deviated from the truth; and they both ate food [like other mortals].

Behold how clear We make these messages unto them: and then behold how perverted are their minds! Say: “Would you worship, beside God, aught that has no power either to harm or to benefit you—when God alone is all-hearing, all-knowing?”

Say: “O followers of the Gospel! Do not overstep the bounds [of truth] in your religious beliefs; and do not follow the errant views of people who have gone astray aforetime, and have led many others astray, and are still straying from the right path.”

(Al-Ma’idah: 72–77)

“And the Jews say, “Ezra is God’s son,” while the Christians say, “The Christ is God’s son.” Such are the sayings which they utter with their mouths, following in spirit assertions made in earlier times by people who denied the truth! [They deserve the imprecation:] “May God destroy them!” How perverted are their minds!”

(At-Tawbah: 30)

“And lo! God said: “O Jesus, son of Mary! Didst thou say unto men, ‘Worship me and my mother as deities beside God’?”

[Jesus] answered: “Limitless art Thou in Thy glory!

It would not have been possible for me to say what I had no right to [say]! Had I said this, Thou wouldst indeed have known it! Thou knowest all that is within myself, whereas I know not what is in Thy Self. Verily, it is Thou alone who fully knowest all the things that are beyond the reach of a created being’s perception.

Nothing did I tell them beyond what Thou didst bid me [to say]: ‘Worship God, [who is] my Sustainer as well as your Sustainer.’ And I bore witness to what they did as long as I dwelt in their midst; but since Thou hast caused me to die, Thou alone hast been their keeper: for Thou art witness unto everything.

If thou cause them to suffer—verily. they are Thy servants; and if Thou forgive them—verily. Thou alone art almighty, truly wise!”

(Al-Ma’idah: 116–118)

“And yet, they attribute to Him offspring from among some of the beings created by Him! verily, most obviously bereft of all gratitude is man!

Or [do you think], perchance, that out of all His creation He Has chosen for Himself daughters, and favoured you with sons?

For [thus it is:] if any of them is given the glad tiding of [the birth of] what he so readily attributes to the Most Gracious, his face darkens, and he is filled with suppressed anger: “What! [Am I to have a daughter-] one who is to be reared [only] for the sake of ornament?”—and thereupon he finds himself torn by a vague inner conflict.

And [yet] they claim that the angels—who in themselves are but beings created by the Most Gracious—are females: [but] did they witness their creation?

This false claim of theirs will be recorded, and they will be called to account [for it on Judgment Day]!

Yet they say, “Had [not] the Most Gracious so willed, we would never have worshipped them!”

[But] they cannot have any knowledge of [His having willed] such a thing: they do nothing but guess.”

(Zukhruf: 15–20)

“Is it not to God alone that all sincere faith is due? And yet, they who take for their protectors aught beside Him [are wont to say]. “We worship them for no other reason than that they bring us nearer to God.”

Behold, God will judge between them [on Resurrection Day] with regard to all wherein they differ [from the truth]: for, verily, God does not grace with His guidance anyone who is bent on lying [to himself and is] stubbornly ingrate!

Had God willed to take unto Himself a son. He could have chosen anyone that He wanted out of whatever He has created—[but] limitless is He in His glory! He is the one God, the one who holds absolute sway over all that exists!”

(Az-Zumar: 3–4)

“And [neither will] they [who] worship, side by side with God, things or beings that can neither harm nor benefit them, saying [to themselves], “These are our intercessors with God!”

Say: “Do you [think that you could] inform God of anything in the heavens or on earth that He does not know? Limitless is He in His glory, and sublimely exalted above anything to which men may ascribe a share in His divinity!”

(Yunus: 18)

“And now ask them to enlighten thee: Has thy Sustainer daughters, whereas they would have [only] sons?—or is it that We have created the angels female, and they [who believe them to be divine] have witnessed [that act of creation]?

Oh, verily, it is out of their own [inclination to] falsehood that some people assert, “God has begotten [a son]”; and, verily, they are lying [too, when they say], “He has chosen daughters in preference to sons!”

What is amiss with you and your judgment? Will you not, then, bethink yourselves? or have you, perchance, a clear evidence [for your assertions]? Produce, then, that divine writ of yours, if you are speaking the truth!

And some people have invented a kinship between Him and all manner of invisible forces—although [even] these invisible forces know well that, verily, they [who thus blaspheme against God] shall indeed be arraigned [before Him on Judgment Day: for] limitless is God in His glory, above anything that men may devise by way of definition!”

(As-Saffat: 149–159)

“And [as for those who now deny the truth,] one Day He will gather them all together, and will ask the angels, “Was it you that they were wont to worship?”

They will answer: “Limitless art Thou in Thy glory! Thou [alone] art close unto us, not they! Nay, [when they thought that they were worshipping us,] they were but [blindly] worshipping forces concealed from their senses: most of them believed in them.”

(Saba’: 40–41)

“Have you, then, ever considered [what you are worshipping in] Al-lat and Al-‘Uzza, as well as [in] Manat, the third and last [of this triad]?

Why—for yourselves [you would choose only] male offspring, whereas to Him [you assign] female: that, lo and behold, is an unfair division!

These [allegedly divine beings] are nothing but empty names which you have invented—you and your forefathers—[and] for which God has bestowed no warrant from on high. They [who worship them] follow nothing but surmise and their own wishful thinking—although right guidance has now indeed come unto them from their Sustainer.

Does man imagine that it is his due to have all that he might wish for, despite the fact that [both] the life to come and this present [one] belong to God [alone]?

For, however many angels there be in the heavens, their intercession can be of no least avail [to anyone]—except after God has given leave [to intercede] for whomever He wills and with whom He is well–pleased.

Behold, it is [only] such as do not [really] believe in the life to come that regard the angels as female beings; and [since] they have no knowledge whatever thereof, they follow nothing but surmise: yet, behold, never can surmise take the place of truth.”

(An-Najm: 19–28)

In general, polytheistic beliefs permeated the lives of the pre-Islamic Arabs. Corrupt customs were based upon these beliefs, and these, too, are referred to in many parts of the Qur’an. Examples are the dedication to their gods of part of the harvest or of newly born animals, without keeping a share for God or even depriving themselves of them at certain times, or denying them to women. Some of the Arabs also made it forbidden to ride on certain animals or slaughter them. On other occasions, they would sacrifice their children to please their gods. It was said that ‘Abd Al-Muttalib made a vow to slaughter his tenth son if he was granted ten sons to protect him. The tenth son happened to be ‘Abdullah, but his father ransomed him from the gods by slaughtering a hundred camels in his place. Likewise, fortune-telling and the recourse to oracles were extremely common. All of this is referred to in the Qur’an:

“And out of whatever He has created of the fruits of the field and the cattle, they assign unto God a portion, saying. “This belongs to God”—or so they [falsely] claim—“and this is for those beings who we are convinced, have a share in God’s divinity.” But that which is assigned to the beings associated in their minds with God does not bring [them] closer to God—whereas that which is assigned to God brings [them but] closer to those beings to whom they ascribe a share in His divinity. Bad, indeed, is their judgment!

And, likewise their belief in beings or powers that are supposed to have a share in God’s divinity makes [even] the slaying of their children seem goodly to many of those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God, thus bringing them to ruin and confusing them in their faith.

Yet, unless God had so willed, they would not be doing all this: stand, therefore, aloof from them and all their false imagery!

And they say, “Such–and–such cattle and fruits of the field are sacred; none may eat thereof save those whom we will [to do so]”—so they [falsely] claim; and [they declare that] it is forbidden to burden the backs of certain kinds of cattle; and there are cattle over which they do not pronounce God’s name—falsely attributing [the origin of these customs] to Him. [But] He will requite them for all their false imagery.

And they say, “All that is in the wombs of such–and–such cattle is reserved for our males and forbidden to our women; but if it be stillborn, then both may have their share thereof.” [God] will requite them for all they [falsely] attribute [to him]: behold, He is wise, all–knowing.

Lost, indeed, are they who, in their weak-minded ignorance, slay their children and declare as forbidden that which God has provided for them as sustenance, falsely ascribing [such prohibitions] to God: they have gone astray and have not found the right path.”

(Al-An‘am: 136–140)

“Now these [people] deem it strange that a warner should have come unto them from their own midst—and [so] the deniers of the truth are saying: “A [mere] spellbinder is he, a liar! Does he claim that all the deities are [but] one God? verily, a most strange thing is this!”

And their leaders launch forth [thus]: “Go ahead, and hold steadfastly onto your deities: this, behold, is the only thing to do! Never did we hear of [a claim like] this in any faith of latter days! It is nothing but [a mortal man’s] invention!”

(Sad: 4–7)

“As against this, they who are bent on denying the truth say [unto all who are of like mind]: “Shall we point out to you a man who will tell you that [after your death,] when you will have been scattered in countless fragments, you shall—lo and behold!—be [restored to life] in a new act of creation? Does he [knowingly] attribute his own lying inventions to God—or is he a madman?”

(Saba’: 7–8)

As a result, the major efforts of Islam were directed to liberating faith, to defining the correct manner in which the human mind might lay hold of the truth about the Divinity, its relationship with the creation and creation’s relationship with it. This bestows stability on the various aspects of men’s lives, their social, economical and political relationships, and their ethics and morals. All these things cannot be settled unless the truth about the Divinity is settled, and its concepts and functions are made plain. Islam paid special attention to clarifying the nature of the divine characteristics and attributes relating to the divine will, power, and sovereignty, planning, as well as the nature of the connection between God and man. These are precisely the grave matters over which false beliefs and philosophies stumble, matters that have profound effects on the human mind and the entire life of mankind.

If one does not take into consideration the debris that had accumulated before the emergence of Islam, he might fail to appreciate the efforts expended by Islam or the need for the emphatic and repetitive nature of the Qur’anic mode of exposition, its insistence on pursuing all the habits of the minds and the customs of life. Awareness of the debris reveals the importance of these efforts and the great role played by this faith in liberating and emancipating the mind and life of mankind, for in all cases life is based upon belief. We are enabled to realize the value of this liberation for establishing a life on a strong and correct basis, from which corruption and contradiction, darkness and humiliation, have been eliminated. We will realize the value of the words uttered by ‘Umar—may God be pleased with him: “Whoever is born in Islam without having known Jahiliyyah will loosen its ties, one after the other.” For whoever has known Jahiliyyah will realize the value of Islam and will know how to maintain the mercy of God within him and the blessing of God bestowed upon him.

4 Draper, William, History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science, pp. 34–35. [Sayyid Qutb cites this extract not from the original text, but from its translation by Abu ‘l-Hasan Nadwi in his work Ma Dha Khasar al-‘Alam bi Inhitat al-Muslimin].

5 Butler, Alfred, The Arab Conquest of Egypt, oxford University Press, 1978, P. 29.

6 T. W. Arnold, The Preaching of Islam,.pp. 52–54.

7 Al-Bukhari, “Kitab al-Maghazi.”

8 Al-Kalbi, Kitab al-Asnam.

9 Sa’id, Tabaqat al-Umam, p. 430, as cited in Nadwi’s Ma Dha Khasar al-‘Alam bi Inhitat al-Muslimin.

10 The concepts, philosophies and beliefs that arrived after Islam, especially those upon which the Western thought and Western way of life was established, lived by people today in Western and Eastern Europe, are no better than the piles of debris that existed in the past. Some of these will be dealt with in later chapters.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ISLAMIC CONCEPT

Say: “Our life takes its] hue from God! And who could give a better hue [to life] than God, if we but truly worship Him?”

(Al-Baqarah: 138)

The Islamic concept enjoys unique characteristics that distinguish it from all other concepts, giving it an independent character and a special nature of its own. This nature cannot take on diverse forms or be derived from other concepts.

Although these characteristics are numerous and various, they are all integrated into a single property from which they all emerge and to which they all return, the property of Divinity.

The concept of Divinity, with all its characteristics and fundamentals, comes to men from God with the purpose of their assimilating it and adhering to its implications in their lives without adding anything to it or subtracting anything from it. It is therefore not a concept subject to development in and of itself; what develops is rather human life once placed within its framework by perceiving its meaning and responding to it. For the source that established the concept is the same source that created man, the omnipotent Creator Who knows well the nature of man and the needs of his life as they evolve across time and Who placed within the concept the qualities that respond to those needs.

If the concepts, creeds and systems that people have established for themselves have required a constant change of their bases and modification of their principles, or even a complete reversal when they are seen to fall short of the evolving needs of humanity, it is precisely because those concepts are unconnected to divine guidance; they are the creations of human beings whose perspectives are necessarily limited. They can envision only the circumstances and situations that are disclosed to them in a given period and in a given region of the earth. Their vision is affected by man’s limitations, his ignorance, passion and emotions. On the other hand, the Islamic concept of Divinity, is utterly distinct from man’s, with respect to both its origin and its characteristics, and therefore it does not need to develop or change. The one Who established this concept can envision without limits of time or space; His knowledge is immune to the obstacles of ignorance and deficiency; and He chooses without being influenced by passion or emotion. Therefore, He has established for the entirety of humanity, in all places and at all times, a firm principle within the framework of which human life freely advances and develops.