Islam and the future of humanity: Islam as seen by Arnold J. Toynbee

Abstract

For Toynbee, the role of Islam in contemporary civilization depends essentially on the state
of the situation in which the whole of humanity is today, produced mainly by the westernization of the
world. This situation can end up with a synthesis, like an explosion and a disaster. In the first case,
Islam could be a reinforcement and a force for tolerance and peace; in the second case, it could have a
destructive role, as an active ingredient of a violent and destructive revolt of the cosmopolitan lower
world against Western humanity.