Islam Creator of the Modern Age
4. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
~ 165 ~
This, in religious terminology, is known as
monotheism. The Prophet not only stated the truth,
but also made it a reality by bringing about a total
revolution based on the idea of human equality. In
the first phase of his prophethood, his advocacy of
this theory was purely verbal. But on achieving
political domination in Arabia, he was able to put
this theory into practice in his capacity as ruler of a
state. In this way, Islam put an end to
discrimination between human beings on the basis
of race, colour, status, etc. People were then
assigned a high or low status according to their
moral worth.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
The revolution set in motion by Islam on the basis
of monotheism brought into existence for the first
time in human history a truly egalitarian social
structure. It paved the way for a society in which
everyone enjoyed freedom of expression with no
constraints whatsoever. Nothing of this nature had
ever hitherto been experienced. Let us compare this
with the human condition under Chosroes I, the
Persian emperor who ruled the Sassanid Empire
