The Universal
Message of Islam
When Islam began, there were two tribes living in the Arab city of Yathrib (Madinah). One was Aws and the other was Khazraj. These two tribes were always fighting with each other. But when they understood the truth of the religion of Tawheed brought by Muhammad, and they entered into Islam, their fights came to an end. Two enemy groups became friendly groups. People who used to fight for their personal interests became united and began to struggle for higher human goals.
Why did this happen? The reason was that earlier, both tribes only cared about their own greatness. The tribe of Aws tried to become greater than the Khazraj, and the tribe of Khazraj wanted to be above the Aws. In this way, two kinds of greatness kept clashing with each other, and they never reached agreement or harmony. But, when they discovered the greatness of one God through Islam, their separate greatness disappeared, and only one supreme greatness remained. Earlier, both tribes lived in separate greatness; now they started living in one shared greatness. That is, the greatness of God, who is greater than all.
This is the greatest universality that Islam gives to a human being. Islam gives a person the belief in Tawheed. That is, God is One. He is the Creator of all. He is the Owner of all. He is the One who is running the system of the entire universe. Whatever a person gets is given by God. If God does not give, no one can get anything. This Tawheed is the foundation of Islamic universality.
When a person accepts this complete Tawheed, in his view, all greatness belongs to only one God. All other things become equal in his eyes. The various differences among human beings start to look artificial. All the different kinds of walls raised among people fall down. The differences made between one person and another based on caste, colour, race, geography, and other such things are erased. Every human becomes a servant, and one God becomes the Lord of all.
The belief in Tawheed creates this kind of global mindset in a person. The God towards whom one person runs, all people start running towards that same God. In front of whom one person leaves his pride, in front of that same God, all people become those who leave their pride. Without Tawheed, every person’s focus is different; with Tawheed, the focus of every person becomes the same. This is surely the greatest universality; there can be no greater universality in this world than this.
The Arab nation had been living in the geography of Arabia for thousands of years. But no achievement of theirs was written in history. Before Islam, the condition of the Arabs was that they used to write poetry. They used to fight over small things. Sometimes a fight would begin among them, which would continue for hundreds of years from one generation to another.
But these same Arabs, when a revolution of thought came to them under the influence of Islam, they laid the foundation of a noble civilisation. They came out of their limited geography and spread all over the world. Those people who were earlier considered unimportant made the greatest progress of their time in all important fields of knowledge. The Arabic language, which earlier was just a local dialect, became an international language.
The reason for this was the universality and global nature of Islam. Islam opened their closed minds. They used to worship nature. Islam told them that nature is a creation and powerless. The only one worthy of worship is God, who is your Master as well as the and the Master of the whole world. ‘s Master. From this, they adopted the mindset that nature is not something to bow to, but rather to research and control. They used to divide people into Arabs and non-Arabs, Blacks and Whites, free and slaves, and high and low castes. Islam showed them that all people are children of Adam, and there is no difference between one human and another. From this, they developed a universal and global mindset that considered the whole world their homeland and all humanity their family. Before Islam, they were cut off from the world. After Islam, they became companions and partners of the whole world.
Before Islam, the people of Arabia lived in a tribal age. When the revolutionary shift in thought based on Islam occurred, it transformed them into a global community. Before that Islam, their thinking was confined to limited goals. After Islam, their vision expanded so greatly that it crossed land and sea, reaching the entire world. Subsequently, no mountain was insurmountable enough to block their view, and no sea was vast enough to hinder their journey.
When Islam fostered universality among the Arabs, their status evolved such that individuals who once took pride in leading tribes became leaders of the world. Among them were scholars like Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Al-Razi (Rhazes), whose medical texts were translated into Latin and incorporated into European medical curricula. There was also a geographer like Al-Idrisi, who created the first world map for King Roger II of Sicily. Additionally, they were skilled in minting coins, to such an extent that the King of England, Offa Rex, invited a coin-maker from Baghdad to produce gold coins in his realm.
They made so much progress in navigation that a person like Ahmad bin Majid was born among them, who guided Vasco da Gama by sea, when he left at the end of the 15th century to discover a sea route between Europe and India. Among them were distinguished experts in geography, such as Abu Ubaydah Muslim al-Blanasi, an Andalusian scholar, whose research inspired Columbus to think that there must be other worlds to discover. So, with this awareness and courage, he left the shores of Europe and finally discovered the New World (America).
It is a fact that Islam is a universal religion and a cosmic ideology, and the history built on the basis of Islam supports this. The universality of Islam is not just a theoretical concept, it is a proven historical fact.
The universal principles of Islam are well illustrated in the story involving Rabi bin Amir, a notable Companion, and Rustam, the Persian commander. When the Arabs entered ancient Persia and defeated the Persians everywhere, Rustam invited Rabi bin Amir to his court. Rustam, who was the commander of the Persian army at that time, sat on a grand throne, wearing a crown of gold and jewels in his luxurious court. In contrast, Rabi bin Amir was dressed very simply and appeared modest. Rustam asked, ‘Why have you people come to our country?’ Rabi bin Amir replied:
“God has sent us, and God brought us here so that we take out whoever He wills from the worship of people to the worship of God, from the narrowness of this world to its vastness, and from the injustice of religions to the justice of Islam.” (Tarikh al-Tabari, Vol. 3, p. 520)
In these few words, Rabi bin Aamir expressed the universal principles of Islam in a very brief yet very eloquent way. When a revolution of thought comes into a person based on Islamic teachings, he passes beyond the creation and reaches the Creator. He stands with the Lord of the universe, who is above all narrowness and limitations. Earlier, he was living on the level of creation; now, he begins to live on the level of God, who is above all the universes. Earlier, if he was inside a shell, he now finds opportunities for life in the vast world outside that shell.
Normally, a person is stuck among people. He keeps turning towards humans like himself. He only knows the ground under his feet. But when he finds God and becomes His worshipper, he rises above people. Human friendships and enmities become small in his eyes. He rises above human complaints and affections. His soul begins to travel in limitless vastness, where there is no question of getting entangled in small matters.
Before finding God, a person remains lost in the limitations of the world. After finding God, he rises beyond the limits of the world. To satisfy his hopes and dreams, he finds a higher level. This is the world where even loss becomes gain. Here, unpleasant things also turn into pleasant ones. It is the world, where pain becomes just as meaningful as joy and happiness.
Islam brings a person out of religions full of human complications. It takes a person out of false traditions and artificial religions. It introduces him to that real religion where on one side there is a human being, and on the other side is God. Where there is nothing between God and His servant. Where to meet God, one does not need to bind oneself in the chains of customs and traditions.
God is always reaching His servants, and in the same way, the servants of God can always reach Him. There is no barrier between God and His servant, so there is no need for any middle person to connect one to one’s Creator, God Almighty. When a person reaches this eternal world, he finds God exactly at the place where he himself is standing.
Islam is the religion of Tawheed. In Islam, God is One, and all of creation belongs to that One God. Those who realise this pure Tawheed enter a boundless realm where there is only universality and eternity.
All India Radio, Bombay, 17 October 1986.
