Within three hundred years of its inception, Islamic government and civilization had been established in most of the populated regions of the world. Makkah was the religious capital of this vast empire, and Baghdad the political and cultural centre. The whole of Spain—except Astoria—was under Muslim rule, as were the Mediterranean islands of Sicily, Crete and Cyprus.

Various towns of southern Italy, such as Bari and Amalfi, were under the influence of Islamic culture. The northern Arabian territories of Syria and Armenia were permanently incorporated into the Islamic empire. Islam reigned supreme as far as the Caucasus Mountains on the border of Russia, in Iraq, Iran and the whole of Afghanistan. Muslim territory extended north to the Danube, and east to Khwarizm and the mountains of Farghana. In the eighth century AD, Muslims crossed the River Indus and annexed the fertile plains surrounding it.

These conquests were achieved by virtue of God’s special succour. There was a great divine scheme behind them, and that was to eliminate polytheism from the world and ensure the preservation of the Quran. Both these aims were fully achieved.

Yet these very conquests, which were the making of Islam in the early days, proved to be the undoing of latter-day Muslims. They started to look at Islam in the light of its political history, whereas Islam should be viewed in the light of its teachings.

When a Muslim today thinks of Islamic revival, it is revival of Islamic history that immediately springs to his mind. To him, Islamic revival means a revival of the tradition of conquest. But true Islamic revival is an individual event, not one to be sought on the international arena. Born-again Islam can only come into being from born-again individuals who are truly aware of the greatness and glory of God, and live in fear of Him; who, in their dealings with others, show that they are conscious of the fact that they are accountable to God for their actions; who live for the next world, having made admission into paradise and salvation from hell-fire their greatest aim in life. An Islamic life is one oriented towards the life after death, but if one has a wrong attitude to religion then it will become a means of seeking the world. □