Islam Creator of the Modern Age
1. Islam: Creator of the Modern Age
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The loss to mankind affects not only the eternal life,
but also our temporary stay here on earth. In
ancient times man held many non-sacred things to
be sacred, with the result that he continued to suffer
the deprivation of God’s succour for many
centuries.
The concept of polytheism gave birth to many odd
beliefs and spawned a whole series of superstitions.
For instance, lightning was taken to be a god’s fiery
wand. When the sun or moon went into eclipse, it
was supposed that some malign force was at work,
or that some deity had been beset by the powers of
darkness, and so on.
This polytheistic concept of sanctity proved highly
advantageous to religious leaders, who developed
the accompanying superstitions into a whole set of
‘religious’ beliefs. Through these, they began to
exploit people by making them believe that they
(the religious leaders) were intermediaries between
God and man. They inculcated the idea that to
please them was, indirectly, to please God.
The greatest benefit of all was reaped by the kings.
Exploiting this mentality, which had been
