1. ISLAM: CREATOR OF THE MODERN AGE

~ 30 ~ conditioned in the people, they developed the concept of the god-king. In any society, the king is the richest and most powerful. He is distinguished, too, in many other respects from the common people. Taking advantage of this distinctive status, the kings instilled into the minds of the people that they were superior to common men, that they were, in fact, God’s representatives on earth. Some said that they were a link between God and man. Others went further and pretended to be incarnations of God on earth. As such, they were supposed to possess supernatural powers. They managed, in consequence, to wield absolute power over their subjects. The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1984) says in its article on sacred kingship: At one time, when religion was totally connected with the whole existence of the individual as well as that of the community and when kingdoms were in varying degrees connected with religious powers or religious institutions; there could be no kingdom that was not in some sense sacred.6