The Revolutionary Role of Islam

French historian, Henri Pirenne, has expressed it thus: “Islam changed the face of the globe. The traditional order of history was overthrown.” The Quran, in defining the objective of the divine intervention, has this to say: It is He that has sent forth His Prophet with guidance and the true faith, so that he may exalt it above all religions. God is the All-sufficient witness. (48:28) This has found expression in a hadith recorded in Sahih alBukhari: He will not depart from this world as God has decreed, unless and until these people are brought to the straight path. (Fathul Bari 449-8) This shows that, for the prophets of the past, communication alone was required, whereas for the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him, not just communication but also implementation was required. The task of the earlier prophets was completed with the full communication of the message to the people. But the divine plan in sending the Prophet Muhammad to the world was to bring about a practical revolution. His message could not, therefore, remain at the theoretical stage. It being beyond human capacity to make the end result a certainty, how was the Prophet’s message to be translated into reality? It all became possible due to the special divine succour extended to the Prophet by God. This took the form of a divine plan which had two basic aspects to it: one, to provide the Prophet with a powerful and trustworthy team, and the other to significantly weaken the enemies of monotheism by means