Islam Creator of the Modern Age
4. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
~ 154 ~
This declaration made by the Prophet was not just a
sermon, unenforced by authority. It had the force of
an official decree issued by the government of that
time. It was not just a verbal injunction about ‘what
should be done’ but was actual information about
an already existing state of affairs. Its promulgation
was meant not only to alert the ignorant but to
reinforce a social condition. All the artificial walls
dividing humanity had crumbled. A new age had
been ushered in in which there was no high or low
status, and no discrimination. It was an age in
which one’s status in society would be determined
by character and achievement, and not by accidents
of birth, or membership of a particular race.
A HAPPENING
In former times, when a man was discriminated
against in society, he could not raise his voice, as he
believed it was the result of his fate. That is, he
believed himself fated from birth to have that type
of treatment meted out to him. But during the rule
of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (the second Caliph of
Islam) an incident took place which showed how
the times had changed. Egypt had been conquered
