It seemed then that the great civilization that it had taken four thousand years to construct was on the verge of disintegration, and that mankind was likely to return to that condition of barbarism where every tribe and sect was against the next, and law and order were unknown. The old tribal sanctions had lost their power. Hence the old imperial methods would no longer operate. The new sanctions created by Christianity were working division and destruction instead of unity and order. It was a time fraught with tragedy. Civilization, like a gigantic tree whose foliage had overarched the world and whose branches had borne the golden fruits of art and science and literature, stood tottering, its trunk no longer alive with the flowing sap of devotion and reverence, but rotted to the core, riven by the storms of war and held together only by the cords of ancient customs and laws, that might snap at any moment. Was there any emotional culture that could be brought in, to gather mankind once more into unity and to save civilization? This culture must be something of a new type, for the old sanctions and ceremonials were dead, and to build up others of the same kind would be the work of centuries.

It is only natural that Islam should have flashed across the consciousness of a simple people untouched by any of the ancient cultures and occupying a geographical position where three continents meet together. The new culture finds the foundation of world-unity in the principle of TAWHEED – DIVINE UNITY (The connotation TAWHEED is further explained in Section-II of this book). Islam demands loyalty to God, not to thrones.

Allah selected Makkah, the holy city founded by Prophet Abraham, as the place of birth of His last Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); Makkah was the right place from where Allah’s message could be spread far and wide and with sufficient speed, as it was venerated by the entire Arabian Peninsula since centuries. People came here for worship from everywhere. Moreover it was located at the centre of trade routes between Africa, Middle East, and Far East and a large number of caravans frequently passed through the city. Additionally, the Holy Prophet belonged to the most respected tribe, Al-Quraish, that held a position of reverence among all Arabs, being guardians of the house of worship to Allah i.e., Haram. This status of the Holy Prophet’s tribe conferred upon its members such privilege that their word carried a weight and they were listened to.

The birth of Muhammad (PBUH), who was to be the last prophet, took place in the year 570 A.D. He was ordained with prophethood at the age of 40, when Allah’s first revelations were sent to him through the Archangel Gabrial. All the divine messages thus communicated from time to time, over two decades thereafter, were collected in the form of a Book called the Qur’an. It contains Allah’s words as conveyed to the Prophet originally. The message it contains reached every corner of the world with maximum possible speed. As Allah willed it so, no wilful or accidental corruption or tampering was possible in His last message to humanity, as conveyed through the Holy Prophet (PBUH) by means of the Qur’an. For this purpose, a foolproof system was also introduced by the Prophet, as explained in subsequent Section-IV.

Final message having spread far and wide and also having been firmly protected, it precluded the need for appointing further messengers by Allah after Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), who is accepted by all Muslims as the last prophet of Allah.

The belief in all the previous Prophets of Allah e.g. Abraham, Jacob (Yaqub), Moses and the Christ, and the original Books of God they brought, is a cardinal principle of Islamic faith. The basic theme all these Prophets preached is the Unity of God and Him being the sole Creator of Universe and Omnipotent. Thus the religion ”Islam” is a continuity of Allah’s divine message, right from Adam to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).