the commands and laws of the shariah. For instance, in the first stage people were asked to say: “God is one and He alone deserves being worshipped.” In the second stage an attempt was made to inculcate

of Hudaibiyyah treaty, the Prophet dictated these words: “This is from Muhammad, the Messenger of God.” The Quraysh delegate raised objections over these words. The Prophet promptly changed the word and

civilization. This is a process which will go on and on forever. Just as there is no limit to the words of God (31:27), similarly, there is no limit to this process of building a spiritual civilization.

itself, the likes or dislikes of any individual play no part whatsoever. Instead, it has faith that God had sent all the prophets, and, finally, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) for this objective

inviting people to what is good, or dawat-e khair, and, two, for peacefully preaching the message of God to people. The former refers to conveying the message of Islam to non-Muslims. And by enjoining what

the Christians are concerned, the basic belief of Christianity is that of atonement, through which God ordained the salvation of the whole of humanity. The atonement event, so central to this creed, relates

mediator between heaven and earth and has been called by such names as the ‘son of heaven,’ or an ‘arm of god’.”40 The Encyclopaedia Britannica lists the following important anthropologists as holding sacredness

heading of ‘Islamic history.’ An event thus attributed to a people should have been attributed rather to God. SOME EXAMPLES In ancient times certain things were considered holy according to the polytheistic

into high and low castes. Similarly, the concept was formed of the kings being the offspring of the gods, with the common people there only to serve them. In many societies, the concept was developed of