We Muslims, who are students of the Qur' an, follow proof; we approach the truths of belief through reason, thought, and our hearts. We do not abandon proof in favour of blind obedience and imitation of the clergy like some adherents of other religions. Therefore, in the future, when reason, science and technology prevail, that will surely be the time that the Qur'an will gain ascendancy, which relies on rational proofs and invites the reason to confirm its pronouncements.

To complete this First Aspect, Bediuzzaman describes "eight serious obstacles" which "prevented the truths of Islam completely conquering the past", but which are now dispersing, and follows this with quoting the testimony to the truth of Islam of two "enemies" by way of proof of his argument.

Before describing the obstacles, Bediuzzaman says that "the veils which eclipse the sun of Islam... and prevent it illuminating mankind have begun to disperse." The signs of dawn were appearing then, in 1911. He later added that the true dawn began in 1371, that is, 1951, when a number of Islamic countries were gaining their independence. [^221] Or even if that was the false dawn, the true dawn would break in forty to fifty years' time. He was absolutely insistent on it. The obstacles were as follows:

[^221]:The passages quoted and paraphrased from the Damascus Sermon here are translated from the Turkish edition of the work. This was translated by Bediuzzaman himself from the original Arabic in the 1950's, and contains a number of additions and alterations to the original text; hence the references to dates and events subsequent to 1911.

The first three obstacles were "the Europeans' ignorance, their barbarity at that time, and their bigotry in their religion. These three obstacles have been destroyed by the virtues of knowledge and civilization, and they have begun to disperse."

The fourth and the fifth were "the domination and arbitrary power of the clergy and religious leaders, and the fact that the Europeans obeyed and followed them blindly. These two obstacles have also started to disappear with the rise among mankind of the idea of freedom and the desire to search for the truth."

The sixth and seventh obstacles were "the despotism that oppressed us, and our immorality and degeneracy that arose from opposing the Shari'a... The fact that the separate despotic power residing in a single individual is now declining indicates that the fearful despotism of larger sections of society and of revolutionary groups will also decline in thirty to forty years time. And the great upsurge in Islamic zeal together with the fact that the ugly results of immorality are becoming apparent show that these two