civilization accepts force as the point of support in the life of society. It takes as its aim benefits, and considers the principle of its life to be conflict. It considers the bond between communities to be racialism and negative nationalism. While its aim is to provide amusements for gratifying the appetites of the soul and increasing man’s needs. However, the mark of force is aggression. And since the benefits are insufficient to meet all needs, their mark is that everyone tussles and jostles over them. The mark of conflict is contention, and the mark of racialism, aggression, since it thrives on devouring others. Thus, it is because of these principles of civilization that despite all its virtues, it has provided a sort of superficial happiness for only twenty per cent of humankind and cast eighty per cent into distress and poverty.

The wisdom of the Qur’an, however, takes as its point of support truth instead of force, and in place of benefit has virtue and God’s pleasure as its aims. It considers the principle of mutual assistance to be fundamental in life, rather than conflict. In the ties between communities it accepts the bonds of religion, class, and country, in place of racialism and nationalism. Its aims are to place a barrier before the illicit assaults of the soul’s base appetites and to urge the spirit to sublime matters, to satisfy man’s elevated emotions and encourage him towards the human perfections. As for the truth, its mark is concord, the mark of virtue is mutual support, and the mark of mutual assistance, hastening to help one another. The mark of religion is brotherhood and attraction. And the result of reining in and tethering the evil-commanding soul and leaving the spirit free and urging it towards perfection is happiness in this world and the next. Thus, despite the virtues present-day civilization has acquired from the guidance of the Qur’an in particular and from the earlier revealed religions, in point of fact it has thus suffered defeat before the Qur’an.

Third Degree: Of thousands of matters, we shall point out only three or four by way of example. Since the Qur’an’s principles and laws have come from pre-eternity, they shall go to post-eternity. They are not condemned to grow old and die like civilization’s laws. They are always young and strong. For example, despite all its societies for good works, all its establishments for the teaching of ethics, all its severe discipline and regulations, civilization has been unable to contest the All-Wise Qur’an on two of its matters, and has been defeated by them. These two matters are:

Be steadfast in performing the prayers, and give zakat,(2:43, etc.)

and,

God has permitted trade and forbidden usury.(2:275)