This is because successive sins destroy the ground within the human being that is conducive to knowing and committing to the truth, depriving him of the success from Allah necessary for it; as Allah Almighty has said: ﴿وَأَمَّا مَنْ بَخِلَ وَاسْتَغْنَى ۝ وَكَذَّبَ بِالْحُسْنَى ۝ فَسَنُيَسِّرُهُ لِلْعُسْرَى﴾[1]; “But as for he who is miserly and considers himself self-sufficient and denies goodness—We will ease him toward difficulty.” Likewise, piety and avoidance of moral vices create the ground within the human being that is conducive to knowing and committing to the truth, making him a recipient of divine success for it; as Allah Almighty has said: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنْ تَتَّقُوا اللَّهَ يَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ فُرْقَانًا﴾[2]; “O you who believed! If you fear Allah, He will grant you a criterion to distinguish (between right and wrong).”

As a result, moral vices such as worldliness, tribalism, obstinacy, envy, resentment, the love of power, indulgence in pleasures, self-centeredness, baseness, laziness, fear, and submission to oppression are serious impediments to the establishment of Islam. Accordingly, the more the level of piety and moral virtues is elevated among Muslims through the purification of their souls, the easier their return to Islam will become.

7. Obstruction by the Enemies of Islam

Another cause for the non-establishment of Islam—especially in the last two centuries—has been the enemies of Islam obstructing its establishment; because the enemies of Islam perceive its establishment as leading to their own destruction and the loss of their possessions in the life of the world. For this reason, they spare no effort to prevent it. It is clear that the ultimate goal of Islam is justice, and justice is harmful to powerful people who, through their military force and propaganda tools, have politically and culturally enslaved the free nations of the world; for it brings an end to the period of their domination over the world and replaces them with the oppressed masses; as Allah has said in this regard: ﴿وَنُرِيدُ أَنْ نَمُنَّ عَلَى الَّذِينَ اسْتُضْعِفُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَنَجْعَلَهُمْ أَئِمَّةً وَنَجْعَلَهُمُ الْوَارِثِينَ ۝ وَنُمَكِّنَ لَهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَنُرِيَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَهَامَانَ وَجُنُودَهُمَا مِنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَحْذَرُونَ﴾[3]; “And We intend to bestow favor upon those who were oppressed on the Earth, and to make them leaders, and to make them inheritors, and to grant them power on the Earth, and to show Pharaoh, Haman, and their hosts what they feared from them.”