Islam Creator of the Modern Age
4. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
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4. LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY
One of the most cherished dreams of philosophers
and thinkers has always been the brotherhood of
equality. The Prophet of Islam, however, was the
first person to bring about a revolution, which, for
the first time in history, actually established
equality in practice. This has been generally
acknowledged by serious scholars. For instance, in
his letter No. 175, Swami Vivekanand wrote that in
his experience, “if ever any religion approached to
this equality in an appreciable manner, it is Islam
and Islam alone.”
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If, throughout history, equality in practice had been
the exception to the rule, it was because of the
general acceptance of polytheism, which had
proved a stumbling block to many other kinds of
progress throughout the ages. Whereas the
domination of polytheism had perpetuated
inequality among human beings, the domination of
monotheism now established human equality.
