In his role as Allah’s vicegerent or representative on earth, man's purpose is to establish, live by, and defend the truth by any means necessary. Here, "truth" refers to the revealed guidance in the form of inspirations, answers, principles, and ordinances that are intended to guide and shape human thought and behavior.

This is necessary because, although man is a very inquisitive, determined, and creative creature, he is still held back by his intrinsic weaknesses and animalistic tendencies. Hence, the trajectory of human (un)civilization has always been fraught with battles between the two paradigms representing heaven and earth, matter and spirit, and the angelic and satanic dimensions of man.

History, it follows, is either a necropolis of failures and their protagonists or a receptacle of triumphs and their central characters. Put differently, history is either the hall of fame or shame. It seems that in the perennial confrontations between the truth and falsehood, and between good and evil, the latter often prevailed for longer periods.

However, nobody can deny that this was merely a part of Almighty Allah’s wise plan for His creation. Falsehood and its patrons are often delayed for a greater cause that is bound to be fulfilled in due course.

Accordingly, some of the greatest empires that influenced the geographical and historical landscapes of the globe appear to have had grand and illustrious legacies. This nevertheless is an illusion. What they actually had was primarily in terms of material development, which was often linked to powerful and typically cruel military strength.

In the grand scheme of things, theirs was the most sophisticated form of self-deceit. They lived lives that were antitheses of the truth, ultimately resulting in their permanent entombment beneath the debris of history’s forces at work.

The role of the Children of Israel and the Romans

One needs not look further than the consequential legacies of the Children of Israel and the "mighty" Romans during the truth-revivification mission of the second to last prophet of Allah: Isa (Jesus) son of Maryam (Mary).

So engrossed in evil and manipulation of the truth were the Jews that Jesus, who had been sent exclusively to them, had no choice but to pass definitive judgment on them, branding them hypocrites, liars, betrayers of their father Abraham, murderers of prophets, and brothers of Satan. Having closely observed the collisions between Jesus and the Jews from the very beginning, the Romans, within whose geopolitical sphere those conflicts unfolded, decided not to remain bystanders.

Inasmuch as their fascination revolved around the prospects of hegemony and empire- building, the Romans actively participated in the ongoing proceedings, trying to manage not only the religious but also the socio-political ramifications. The crucifixion and killing of Jesus (as per the Judeo-Christian narratives), encouraged and aided by the treachery of the Jews, marked the beginning of Roman involvement.

A crescendo was reached when the Romans changed their allegiances and embarked on concocting a new religion alien to both the Jews and Jesus himself: Christianity. They adopted it as their official faith and imposed it on whoever they could thereafter, as much by the sword as by devious, heaven-related assurances.

The arrival of Prophet Muhammad

No surprise then that when Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was appointed as the final messenger of Allah, or the Seal of Prophets, the world was suffocating in falsehood, corruption, and ignorance. There was no truth, light, or hope to be found anywhere, whether individually or collectively, as a thought, philosophy, or system. 

The global sorry state of affairs was epitomized by the condition of the Ka’bah, which was the first mosque on Earth established to promote the interests of the truth. As an existential pivot, the Ka’bah became the most recognizable symbol of humanity's raison d-etre and its conclusive religious destiny.

Nonetheless, following the arrival of Prophet Muhammad and almost until the end of his prophetic mission, the Ka’bah was unrecognizable as the world’s monotheistic epicenter. It was tainted by various consequences linked to centuries-old human spiritual and civilizational failures.

As a result, the sanctity of the Ka’bah, both inside and outside, was contaminated by the presence of about 360 idols representing numerous false ideas, standards, and ways of life. Moreover, on the interior walls, there were systematic depictions of angels as daughters of God, Prophets Ibrahim (Abraham) and Isma’il (Ishmael) as sorcerers practicing divination, and Jesus as the newborn son of God seated on the lap of his mother Mary.

All these, in addition to evidencing that humanity was in dire religious and (un)civilizational straits, also proved that misfortunes were so complex and intricately structured that there was virtually no silver lining to be pursued. Instead of light, there was only darkness on the horizons. 

The mission of Prophet Muhammad

Given the situation in which the world found itself, the role of the Prophet’s mission was twofold: to purify the most critical annals of history, setting the records straight, and to prepare for the imminent emergence of the brightest truth-oriented history the world has ever known. Alternatively stated, the mission was to restore both religious and historical truths and to sustain them ad infinitum as a reference point for future generations.

For that reason, the Qur’an repeatedly discusses history, subtly intertwining it with the needs of the present and the preparations for the future. This style has led many to mistakenly conclude that the Qur’an is merely a book of history. However, the truth is that the Qur’an serves as the benchmark and the supreme source of history, from which all critical matters originate and to which all ensuing findings return for validation.

To Islam and its universal worldview, history and the truth are twins. Everything in life is either history or history yet to come. In this sense, life is the arena for discovering and living the truth, while history functions as the stage that reflects whether people lived up to the standards of the truth and whether their legacies are ones of success or failure.

Thus, Muslims were regularly great historians and the only community committed to establishing, fostering, and defending the truth regardless of the consequences. It is not hard to understand why some Muslim historians quickly emerged as the fathers of the sciences of history, historiography, and the philosophy of history.

The likes of al-Ya’qubi, al-Mas’udi, al-Tabari, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn al-Kathir, and Ibn al-Athir should be seen as products of this Islamic perspective. Their work was a deliberate and methodical response to the Qur’anic injunctions regarding the importance of blending history with the truth.

What they did was an act of discharging the trust placed on their shoulders as Muslims. In short, those individuals demonstrated what it means to be a Muslim entrusted with the task of salvaging what can be saved in this degenerate world. Until this very day, besides Islam and its civilizational blueprint, the world has had no other viable alternative to turn to – and time is running out.

The Gaza tragedy as a reminder

The ongoing genocide of apocalyptic proportions in Gaza, committed by the illegitimate state of Israel and its Western supporters led by the US and UK, serves as a stark reminder. Clearly, the only normal people left in today’s world are Muslims, and the last thing the majority of people, especially in the institutionalized West, care about is the truth.

That they have lost their bearings regarding the nature and whereabouts of the truth is one thing, but that they persistently turn a deaf ear to self-evident realities—such as the one unfolding in Gaza—is another.

Without a doubt, the religious, moral, and epistemological relativism of the West, entangled and dictated by the evils of postmodernism, has drained Western man of meaning, beauty, purpose, consequence, and hope.

Trapped in the vicious circles of the superficial appeals of postmodernist dogmas, the fate of Western man oscillates between ontological worthlessness and cultural emptiness. That Muslims and their Islam are seen as the biggest enemy and threat under these circumstances should not surprise anyone.

The Gaza catastrophe is not only unwanted to be seen, but also the myopic West cannot see it as such. In fact, Gaza is not just about itself. Its tragic events exemplify a challenge to objective truth. Since Muslims are perceived as the sole bearers of this truth, they and everything theirs become targets. It is therefore not unexpected that Gaza symbolizes a war not just against Islam and Muslims but also against truth, sanity, humanity, and any genuine civilizational awareness.

How stylishly structured and embedded at all levels of the institutionalized West this war on the truth is, is unbelievable and raises concerns about the sheer survival of the world, let alone its prosperous future.

One wonders how many churches and universities in the West, as part of their official narratives, have acknowledged and continue to publicize that what is happening in Gaza is a human tragedy, a systematic act of ethnic cleansing, and a blatant violation of human rights. How many of them agree with what every conscious human being asserts: that a genocide and barbaric slaughter of innocent citizens are being committed in Gaza?

The emphatic answer is: NONE.

This leads us to conclude that those places and their institutional presence are complicit in the crimes perpetrated. Contrary to what they preach, they are rather centers of falsehood, misguidance, fraud, ignorance, and darkness.

What they consider knowledge, truth, and enlightenment is merely their own private constructs, reflecting their hollow inclinations created in the dishonest images of their masters. Castles in the air is what they always sought to build and hand out to the world.

But if truth be told, those designs are expected continuations of what past rebellious generations used to do and how they behaved vis-à-vis the truth. There is nothing new. The Zionism-West axis of evil, which is determined to fight against the truth found exclusively in Islam and Muslims, is similar to the Jews-Romans alliance that opposed the truth brought by the teachings of Jesus, resulting in the rounding up of the bogus religion of Judaism and the invention of the yet more bogus faith of Christianity.

Looked at critically, the two historical episodes echo the same spirit. The only differences are found in the actors, backgrounds, and script details, while the objectives, enthusiasm, teamwork, and methods are identical.

If today's Zionists are the historical and civilizational freaks and the outliers of their Jewish predecessors, the same can be said for the West concerning its relationship with the colonial and imperial tendencies of the Roman Empire. The well-established traditions of truth-defying live on.

The goal of Islam: Establishing the Truth and Vanquishing Falsehood

As soon as Prophet Muhammad was tasked with conveying the message of Islam to the world, the underlying goal of Islam came to the forefront. Neither he nor his caliphs or successors ever lost sight, even in the slightest, of the entrenched purpose.

The first extremely challenging thirteen years of his prophethood mission in Makkah, the Prophet tried to do exactly that, but his efforts, due to the staunch and well-organized opposition, proved unsuccessful. Changing the environment for a more promising future was the only option left. That was the main reason for the hijrah, or migration, from Makkah to Madinah.

Madinah quickly established itself as the necessary alternative. However, the old enemies of the truth in Makkah were not willing to easily abandon their wicked schemes and intrigues. Their persistence forced the Muslims into their first military confrontations, leading to the first two and undoubtedly most decisive battles in the history of Islam: the battles of Badr and Uhud, which occurred in the second and third years following the hijrah respectively.

Though the confrontations were genuine armed conflicts, which people previously engaged in for various tribal, bigoted, imperialist, and exploitative interests, the Prophet and his companions disrupted these unholy trends, laying the foundation for a new culture of warfare. Their aim went beyond personal, clannish, nationalistic, and temporal concerns, focusing solely on the duty of establishing the truth and defeating falsehood. Conquering lands was replaced by winning minds and hearts, allowing the truth to penetrate and “conquer” them.

Thus, in the context of the battle of Badr, Allah states unequivocally: “But Allah intended to establish the truth by His words and to eliminate the disbelievers; …that He should establish the truth and abolish falsehood, even if the criminals disliked it” (al-Anfal 7-8).

While in the context of the battle of Uhud, it was declared as its objective: “Until He (Allah) separates the evil from the good” (Alu ‘Imran 179).

And finally, when Makkah was opened to Islam (fath) and captured, the occasion signified that the Prophet’s mission was a success and was nearing its end. The truth was firmly instituted and was destined never to be subdued again.

This development was marked by the Prophet’s own testimony that echoed the prevalent sentiment. While cleansing the Ka’bah and its vicinity of the false idols and images, representing the universe of falsehood, the Prophet was reciting the following words of Allah: “And say: The truth has now arrived, and falsehood perished: for falsehood is (by its nature) bound to perish” (al-Isra’ 81).

And so the world was ushered into a new age of virtue and civilizational consciousness. That age could well be called an Islamic age, giving rise to a civilization that is bound to endure and successfully regenerate itself repeatedly.

In today’s world, where no religion, ideology, or way of life can sustain itself as a solution to the growing existential challenges, rising and falling quickly, Islam, undeniably, with its inexhaustible moral, spiritual, rational, and humanistic treasures, is the answer.