Nazism also was endeavouring to create a new religion (diyāna), presenting Hitler as a sacred figure, a prophet, to whom blind obedience was owed, and the soul of the believer in this false religion thereby dwarfed. It preached a satanic message (risāla shaytāniyya) and, under the Führer's leadership, Nazism was laying siege to 'the fortress of science and civilization'.[46]