hidden in nature, the discovery of which led to the birth of
Western civilization. These resources had existed in nature from
the very outset, but human beings had given nature the status
of God and this led to nature worship. Viewing nature as an
object of worship, man did not at that time dare to conduct any
research into it. But, in the first quarter of the 7
th
century, when
Islam spread the revolutionary belief in the One God, and nature
worship was replaced by God worship, nature was no longer held
to be sacred. Now nature became something to conquer rather
than to worship. This was the starting point of our modern
materialistic civilization.
It was by dint of the efforts of the Prophet of Islam that,
for the first time in the history of monotheism (
tawheed),
the
theoretical phase of this belief reached the stage of revolution.
In the 8
th
year of Hijra, Makkah was conquered and the Ka’ba
was rid of all idols. Soon afterwards, monotheism came to
dominate the whole of Arabia. Then, after a very short period,
throughout almost all of the inhabited world, nature worship
fell into abeyance and was ultimately confined to a few far-flung
areas.
The real nature of this revolution, established across the
world by the Muslims, was religious. The secondary aspect of
this revolution which may be called secular, flourished mostly
in Europe. The Europeans, now approaching their research into
scientific matters in the spirit of secularism, climbed to the
zenith of their development. The progress of this second aspect
of the Islamic revolution began in Europe subsequent to the
Crusades of the 14
th
century, and its effects continued on into
the beginning of the 21st century, when, thanks to its
contribution, modern civilization has reached its peak.
What is known as Western civilization is, in actual fact, a
secular version of the revolution based on Islamic monotheism.
The direct outcome of the task which Islam performed was the
removal of nature from its pedestal as an object of worship. This
led directly to the initiation of the process of research and
investigation into natural phenomena. Initially, this process was
10
The alarm of Doomsday
