If you look at this issue with insight and with awareness of...

If you look at this issue with insight and with awareness of the sciences that relate to the life of human beings – such as social sciences and education – you will realize that the scope of servitude is very broad. Each of the limitations that are imposed on human beings forces them into a kind of servitude.

Servitude to wrong social systems, servitude to wrong rituals and customs, servitude to superstitions, servitude to autocratic people and powers, servitude to human passions which is the most common kind of servitude, servitude to money, servitude to wealth, servitude to power – these are different kinds of servitude. Saying “there is no god but Allah, alone with no partner” [^3] is pure monotheism.

It means that all the different kinds of servitude should be pushed aside, in which case it will be possible to achieve genuine salvation. “Say no god but Allah and achieve salvation.” [^4] This salvation is genuine. It is not just political salvation. It is not just social salvation. It is not just spiritual salvation. It is just salvation on the Day of Judgment. Rather, it is salvation both in this world and in the hereafter. This is one point about Islamic teachings and the Islamic call.

It is possible to rephrase this as Islam of surrendering to God, as Islam for the sake of God. And this is another aspect of monotheism. This is another characteristic of the Islamic call. Wherever this exists, Islam exists as well. Wherever the opposite of this exists, Jahiliyya exists as well. Wherever these two opposites exist at the same time, there is both Islam and Jahiliyya, and pure Islam does not exist. However, there might be a flawed kind of Islam.

Establishment of justice Another point about the Islamic call is the establishment of justice among human beings. The characteristic of the era of Jahiliyya was the existence of an oppressive system. Oppression was commonplace. Oppression was not limited to certain people and certain times. The social system had been built on oppression, discrimination, powerful people bullying weak people, men bullying women, wealthy people bullying the poor and slave owners bullying their slaves.

And slave owners would in turn surrender to the bullying of rulers and powerful people. It was a complex system of bullying. The lives of the people were full of oppression, discrimination and bullying. This was the characteristic of the era of Jahiliyya. Wherever such things exist, Jahiliyya exists as well.