I was thinking about the very first verses that were revealed to the Prophet, peace be upon him and I got to thinking, "Why start with these?"
"Read in the name of thy Lord Who created. Created Mankind from a leach-like creature...."
'Thy Lord' establishes the relationship between man and deity. Man is under the control of no one else. Powerful individual empowerment right there!
'Created Mankind' brings down all the bullies, dictators and slave owners to the same level as you and me.
'From a leach-like creature' takes us all down to the lowest level of the invertebrate that lives in the slushy muck of the fields and clings to human skin and sucks blood, that an oasis dweller or the lowliest field worker is familiar with. No specialized knowledge required here. Even my tormentor started out like this, so what gives him superiority over me? Awareness of self should follow. I am no better or worse than any one else.
Fast forward 14 plus centuries and what do we find?
One of the ealiest stages of the human embryo is a leach like creature that hangs form the wall of the uterus and sucks blood to help it grow.
'Nuf said!