Islam Creator of the Modern Age
1. Islam: Creator of the Modern Age
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This
shirk
gradually came to dominate all aspects of
belief and practice, finding its way into every
household as a bearer of good omens and a nullifier
of bad omens, thus becoming a part of all customs.
Moreover, once belief in a divine king was added to
all the other polytheistic beliefs, it became a
necessary part of the political system.
This was the religion of the ancient world. Worship
in those days was based wholly on
shirk,
to put it in
religious terminology, or, in common parlance,
superstition.
All the prophets in the past had come with the
mission of rectifying this perversion. In all ages,
throughout the history of man, they called for the
renunciation of
shirk
and the adoption of
monotheism. Over one hundred thousand prophets
were said (according to one of the Traditions) to
have come to the world from the time of Adam to
the time of the Messiah (Christ). But man was not
willing to give ear to what they had to say. The
message of the prophet was thus confined only to
the proclamation of truth; it could not go so far as to
bring about a revolution based on this truth.
