HUMAN INEQUALITY

Thinking, in ancient times, was heavily blinkered by polytheism. This was because it suited the rulers to have their subjects believe that the beings who occupied the thrones of this world were, in essence, different from ordinary human beings; that, in fact, kings were possessed of divine attributes. In that way, the common people remained their subjects, while they themselves enjoyed the status not just of great lords, but of divinities.

It was such polytheistic, or superstitious beliefs, which had barred the way to freedom of thought. It was taken for granted that the judgement of the king was the only possible judgement and that it must, therefore, be right. No one was privileged to form independent opinions, and if others were allowed to speak, it was only to corroborate the royal views. It was such restrictive practices based on erroneous beliefs, which were responsible for the stifling of freedom of thought in ancient times.

With the advent of Islam in the seventh century, however, it was declared for the benefit of mankind that all greatness was the exclusive prerogative of God, and that in the eyes of God, all human beings were equal. Prophet Muhammad declared not once, but on many occasions and in different ways that all were alike, all were brothers. (Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith No. 1508)

This, in religious terminology, is known as monotheism. The Prophet not only stated the truth, but also made it a reality by bringing about a total revolution based on the idea of human equality. In the first phase of his prophethood, his advocacy of this theory was purely verbal. But on achieving political domination in Arabia, he was able to put this theory into practice in his capacity as ruler of a state. In this way, Islam put an end to discrimination between human beings on the basis of race, colour, status, etc. People were then assigned a high or low status according to their moral worth.