Toynbee argues that Islam achieved something of wider moral significance by subordinating racial distinctions to membership of a shared religious community. In his view, Muslims of different ethnic and racial backgrounds could regard one another primarily as fellow believers rather than organising their relations around racial hierarchy. He presents this as an important contrast with societies in which racial consciousness remained a powerful source of division.

The second part of the quotation turns this historical observation into a contemporary moral argument. Toynbee believes that the principle he associates with Islam should be extended more widely because racial prejudice and discrimination remained pressing problems in the modern world. His emphasis is therefore not simply on Islam as a religion, but on a form of human solidarity capable of crossing inherited racial boundaries. The quotation reflects his broader interest in what different civilisations and religious traditions might contribute to addressing problems shared by humanity.