The Contribution of Islam to the Solution of World Problems — Page 17
17 Social Values Our problems of today are however, not confined to the religious sphere. We face many complicated problems in the social, economic, international and other spheres. Guidance is needed with respect to all these and is supplied by Islam. We shall touch here briefly upon the values sought to be established by Islam in the three spheres that we have mentioned. We have seen that, in the social sphere, Islam has abolished all distinctions and privileges. All mankind is one vast universal brotherhood. This is a characteristic of Islam society, which has been amply demonstrated through the centuries, and is well app reciated outside Islam. In addition to the general principles already mentioned, attention maybe drawn to one or two aspects, which tend in the same direction, namely, to emphasise human equality and dignity. There is no priesthood or ecclesiastical hierar chy of any description in Islam. Each individual, man or woman may, indeed must establish direct communion with God. Islam recognises no intermediary between man and his Maker. Even the Prophets were only guides and teachers who taught and illustrated in t heir own lives, the pattern and ideal of right living. They were not, in any sense, intermediaries between God and His creatures. The realisation that to each of us is granted the privilege of having direct access the Divine Majesty creates a sense of dign ity which would be lacking in the absence of such realisation. This is experienced very vividly by the participants in the five daily services of Islam, when each worshipper enters the House