Islam - The Summit of Religious Evolution — Page 68
68 kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron; forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain, without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. In Daniel’s interpretation, the gold head is the king of Babylon; the silver breast and arms are the kingdoms of Persia and Midia which arose after the kingdom of Babylon. The brass thighs stand for the Greek Empire under Alexander, which became dominant after Persia and Midia. The iron legs stand for the Roman Empire, which attained to power on the decline of the Alexandrian Empire. Further, the dream describes the image’s feet as: 91 His feet (i. e. , the image's) part of iron and part of clay. This description points to the fact that the Roman Empire would cover parts of Europe as well as Asia. Iron legs denote the European part of the Roman Empire and point to the strength of a single nationality and a single faith. The feet however, were partly of iron and partly of clay. This meant that the European power was to subjugate parts of Asia and thus become an imperial power. Imperial powers command large territories and vast resources, but they also suffer from the inherent weakness, which comes from the lack of cohesion among their peoples. The dream evidently means that in the latter years, the Roman Empire would begin to decline because of this lack of cohesion. The dream, however, proceeds to foretell more important things: 92 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. History documents the complete fulfillment of this part of the Biblical dream i. e. the rise of Islam. In its early days, Islam had to clash with Rome and then with Iran. When they confronted Rome, Rome had conquered the Alexandrian Empire of Greece and had become a great power. Likewise, when had to face Iran, Iran had also become a formidable adversary and had already captured Babylon. The Muslims emerged victorious over both empires and, consequently, the might of two great empires was shattered. Rome and Iran were completely destroyed thus fulfilling the Biblical prophecy of the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, breaking to pieces together, and