Peoples and nations basing their social...

Peoples and nations basing their social, political, and economic systems on human philosophies are forever confronted with contradictions and "dialectics." The history of European peoples is an example of such a process. Allah Most High has ordained that this be so, and He took upon Himself the responsibility of providing mankind with the basis of true belief.

Therefore, the belief system of Islam and the way of life that proceeds from it are free from the defects, contradictions, and con­fusions inherent in man-made philosophies and systems. For the same reason, comprehensiveness is a characteristic of the Islamic concept. In what follows, we provide a few examples of the teachings of Islam to illustrate the characteristic of comprehensiveness inherent in its concept.

First and most basic is the explanation of the totality of existence, including its beginning, its functioning after the beginning, the various changes that take place in it, its growth and development, and its administration, governance, and regulation. The Islamic concept ascribes all this to the Will of the Eternal, the Absolute, Divine Being, Who is All-Powerful and Absolutely Free.

He is the Originator of this universe and everything in it, both animate and inanimate, and the Originator of every movement, change, and development that take place within the universe. These changes occur according to a measure determined by Him alone. This Divine Being then, the Originator and the Creator, Allah Most High, is the One Who originated the universe and it is He alone who brings into existence any change or any new thing as He deems proper.

The great truth of the Oneness of God (tawhid) is the primary and foremost constituent of the Islamic concept. A large portion of the Qur'an is devoted to the exposition of this sublime truth. We do not intend to discuss this subject here in any detail, because we will take it up again in the chapters entitled “Dynamism" and “Oneness." Here we will limit ourselves to a brief description of the significance and value of this belief.

Indeed, this concept not only provides us with an intellectually satisfying explanation of the origin of the universe and of its function­ing and the new developments that take place in it, but also gives a reasonable explanation of the appearance of “life" in inert matter. No doubt, life is entirely different from dead matter, something great, something strange, and something planned and intended to be.