Historical Role of Islam
This universe is built or designed so marvelously. It cannot be created by chance. There must be a creator, and he must be God.
This is what the modern science teaches to mankind.
But without learning the modern science, for example, ancient people felt great power that controlled the nature. However, in most cases, human beings did not feel sole god but a multitude of spirits. Polytheism was more common than monotheistic religion.
For example, Africa, India, and tropical regions are full of living things, animals, and plants. Human beings must have felt something supernatural in those abundant elements of the nature. Human beings must have been overwhelmed by so many spirits behind scenes in environments they were living. Even in temperate areas including Europe, China, Japan, etc., people had to first face various natural phenomena and spirits behind them. Those spirits were given deity, since ancient people could not see physical laws and integrated structure of the nature so that they could not see hierarchical order in the nature and the spiritual world.
But, in desert areas, products of the nature are scarce. People see just the desert, the blue sky, the sun, the moon, and stars. For ancient people living in the desert could easily feel a great spirit governing the earth, since they could see bare structure of the universe and the earth so easily in the desert.
Therefore, the concept of the only one creator of the universe could be easily accepted by people in desert areas. And, Islam really fit their mentality.
Historically, Islam made it decisive for human beings to accept monotheism. The aspect of Christianity being a monotheistic religion was supported and strengthened by Islam. Even Judaism must have been reminded of its aspect of being monotheism.
The greatest role Islam played in the human history is that it contributed to the notion that God is one rather than that God exists.
Today, even those who deny existence of God deny only and one God.
Under God, there is a spiritual world where many spirits live and work. Hindus and Buddhists regard them as gods or kinds of gods. But, they do not necessarily deny the super-existence of sole god above them.
Anyway, mankind needed Islam to establish its concept that God is one. And Islam strengthened an idea of Judaism and Christianity that every man has to essentially alone stand before God.
Modern Christians and Juadists owe this common idea of today to Islam. Without Islam, this idea must have been vaguer among Christians and Judaists as well as other members of mankind.
But as most of human beings have come to share this idea of God being one and alone and each man being destined to alone face God, we may think that the historical role of Islam has been completed.
So, the new era has probably come to Muslims like Christians are facing the second coming of Christ.
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Luk 1:31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.