“This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as your religion.” (5:3)

We praise You, O Allah, seek Your guidance and assistance, and cannot enumerate Your praises. You are as You have praised Yourself.

Preface

When the divine light shone through Muhammad, the illiterate Prophet, from the mountains of Mecca in the seventh century A.D., a new civilization dawned. It elevated human value to a summit unprecedented in human history.
This new human civilization reached its peak, at least theoretically, on the day Allah the Exalted, revealed to His Prophet the verse with which this book begins: “This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as your religion.” (5:3). This revelation occurred toward the end of the first third of the seventh century A.D. Shortly afterward, the Prophet departed and joined his Lord, causing the apex of this new human civilization to falter. One of the most profound expressions of this loss is found in the words of one of his companions: "We had barely dusted off our hands from the grave of the Messenger of Allah when we found our hearts in denial." The practical manifestation of this sentiment became evident during the later years of Uthman’s caliphate, culminating in what is known in Islamic history as the Great Tribulation (Al-fitnah-al-kubra).
This new human civilization, brought by Allah through the words of Muhammad and lived by Muhammad at its peak, receded dramatically with his death, as noted by the statement of one of his companions. Its peak continued to decline, even as its base expanded, until it reverted to a material civilization resembling, in some ways, the Roman and Persian civilizations upon whose ruins it was initially built.
They say that history repeats itself - and this is true, but it is not the entire truth. History does not repeat itself in exactly the same form; rather, it returns in a form that resembles the past in some aspects and differs from it in others. For space is not circular, and time, accordingly, is not circular either. Rather, both are spiral in nature, moving from a base toward a peak - where the end of the cycle resembles its beginning, yet is not identical to it.
Just as time on our planet alternates between night and day - darkness and light - and just as humans walk on two legs, left and right, so does life evolve on two legs: matter and spirit. And when human society, in its progression, extends the leg of matter, establishes it, and relies upon it, it enters a state of readiness to extend the leg of spirit, and it is inevitably bound to do so - "This is a decree that your Lord has made inevitable.” (19:71) For the progression of life neither halts, nor delays, nor repeats itself. Rather, it steadily advances along the steps of its ascension, as life aspires to be perfect in form, just as it is perfect in essence - and that is far-fetched!
Or say that the progression of life, in its ascent, resembles the motion of a wave - it continually oscillates between a trough and a peak. When it rests in the trough, it gathers strength to rise toward the peak. The trough symbolizes the material advancement of human society, while the peak represents its spiritual growth. Those who fail to see the full picture of societal evolution - viewing it only in fragmented parts - often criticize its material progress, perceiving it solely as a form of decline and labeling it corruption from Satan. Yet it is Allah who guides life toward Him on these two legs: matter and spirit. In truth, when unity is achieved, matter and spirit are but one and the same; they differ not in essence, but only in degree.