THE UNIVERSALITY OF ISLAM

The Universality of Islam ~ 173 ~ worship which they could both revere, their concept of individual greatness merged into a shared consciousness of the greatness of One God. This, more than anything else, is the source of the spirit of universal brotherhood which Islam gives to the world. It is in teaching the oneness of God, that Islam teaches the brotherhood of man. This one God of Islam created the world, and He it is who sustains it and controls its affairs. Everything man owns is a gift from God. If God chooses to withhold His bounty, there is no other being who can give it. God is infinite, while all other things are finite. This is the concept which makes of Islam both a monotheistic and a universal religion. When a man fully accepts tawheed (monotheism) as his creed, he cannot but attribute all greatness to God Almighty. All other creatures then become lesser beings in his sight, and the hierarchies and forms of discrimination which exist in society appear to him in their true colours, as things of man’s own making. The distinctions which have been set up amongst men on the basis of caste,