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Chapter
1:
The Dark Age:
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The Arabian Peninsula
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Iraq and Syria ||
Hijaz ||
Yaman ||
Najd ||
`Uman ||
Hijr ||
Makkah and Ka'bah
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Madinah ||
Arabian Races ||
Ishmael and his Progeny
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Time of Ignorance
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Christianity in Decrepit State
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Arab Poetry ||
The Arab Character
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The Arab Idolatry
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Religion a Mockery
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Social Life ||
No Law and Order
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Position of Woman
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Standing Evils ||
Earlier Prophets
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Jewish Settlement
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Christians ||
Unitarians ||
Failures ||
Arabia Impervious to Reform
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"Certainly the first house
appointed for men is the one at Makkah, blessed and a
guidance for the nations" (3:96).
The Arabian
Peninsula:
The land known as Jazirat
al-‘Arab, or the Arabian Peninsula, occupies a
central position in the hemisphere comprising the continents
of Asia, Africa and Europe. It forms the heart, so to speak,
of the Old World. This is the country that gave birth to
Muhammad (may peace and blessings of God be upon him), the
last of the great religious reformers to found a religion.
The Indian Ocean washes its coast on the south, the
Mediterranean and the Red Sea on the west. To the east lie
the Persian Gulf, the Tigris and the Euphrates, the latter
two rivers traversing its northern part as well. According
to ancient historians and geographers, it comprises within
its boundaries the strip of land known as Iraq (Mesopotamia)
as well as Arabian Syria. The map of the modern world,
however, does not show these forming an integral part of
Arabia. Leaving them aside, the country yet covers an area
of twelve hundred thousand square miles. About a third of
this is covered by sandy deserts, the largest being the one
known as al-Dahna’, lying in the middle of the
southern part. There are practically no rivers worthy of
mention in the country. Small streams, however, are met with
here and there. Some of these lose themselves in the desert
sands, while others wind their way to the sea. From south to
north runs a chain of mountains known as Jabal al-Sarat,
the highest peak of which is eight thousand feet. Dates
are the main produce. In ancient days, Arabia was famous for
its gold, silver, precious stones and spices. Of the animals
found here, the camel is the most valuable and useful, while
the Arab horse has no match in the world for beauty, stamina
and mettle.
‘Iraq and
Syria:
As a matter of fact, Iraq and
Arabian Syria form an integral part of Arabia, though modern
political distribution shows them as distinct from the
mainland. Of these, Iraq stretches adjacent to Iran. The
towns of Basrah and Kufah, which long remained centres of
Islamic learning, were founded here during the caliphate of
‘Umar the Great. Arabian Syria lies to the north,
extending right up to Aleppo. Arab geographers have,
therefore, shown the Euphrates as the northern boundary of
Arabia. In this part lies Mount Sinai, where Moses received
Divine revelation. The Amalekites once had a mighty kingdom
here.
Hijaz:
Arabia proper is subdivided
into a number of parts. Of these, Hijaz is the province in
which the sacred land of Haram is situated. The Haram
(sacred or forbidden territory) is so called because from
time immemorial the place has been held in the highest
veneration, and every kind of warfare is forbidden therein.
It is within the precincts of the Haram that the
sacred house of Kabah stands. The Torah, sacred book of the
Jews, speaks of Hijaz by the name of Paran. Its chief towns
are Makkah, Madinah and Ta'if. This province extends along
the Red Sea in a rectangular strip. Jeddah and Yenbo are its
two main sea-ports, where pilgrims for Makkah and Madinah
respectively land. On the east, Hijaz is bounded by the
province of Najd and, on the south, by Asir, part of
Yaman.
Yaman:
The second main province is
Yaman, which lies in the south of the Peninsula. Hadzramaut
and Ahqaf form parts of this province. It is the most
fertile tract in the country and has consequently been the
most civilised. Even to-day relics of some most magnificent
buildings are met with here. Huge embankments were once
constructed here to control the springs of water from the
mountains and utilise them for purposes of irrigation. The
most famous of these was Ma'arib, the destruction of which
is mentioned in the Holy Quran [The Quran,
34:16].
Yaman was, moreover, the
centre of the trade in minerals, precious stones and spices
for which Arabia was once so famous. The mighty empire of
‘Ad, of which the Quran speaks [The Quran,
7:65],
was established here. This
particular area is known as Ahqaf. Hadzramaut is that part
of Yaman which lies in the extreme south, along the shore of
the Indian Ocean. Sand is the capital of the province and
Aden its chief port. To the north of Sand lies Najran, where
Christianity had spread before the advent of Islam. The
well-known Christian delegation, that waited upon the Holy
Prophet and which was allowed to stay in the Prophet's
Mosque, came from this place. To the north of Najran lies
'Asir.
Najd:
The third great part of Arabia
is Najd, which extends from Jabal al-Sarat eastward across
the interior of the country. It is a rich and fertile
plateau, some three to four thousand feet above sea-level.
Here lived the clan of Ghatafan, for whose chastisement the
Holy Prophet had once to lead an expedition. The desert
bounds it on three sides, while in its south lies Yamamah.
The Banu Hanifah, of which tribe came Musailimah, the
impostor, lived here.
‘Uman:
In the south-east of Arabia,
and along the coast of the Gulf of ‘Uman, stretches the
tract of land known as ‘Uman. Its capital is Masqat,
where a nominally independent Sultan has now been
established. To the north of ‘Uman lies the port known
as Bahrain also called al-Ahsa, famous for its pearls. Close
by is Hirah, once a kingdom.
Hijr:
Hijr, the home of the Thamud,
among whom Salih was raised as a prophet, is another place
of note. It lies to the north of Madinah. On his march to
Tabuk, the Holy Prophet happened to pass by this place. To
the west of Hijr lies Madyan, the home of the prophet
Shu‘aib. To the north of Madinah is Khaibar,
once the strong-hold of the Jews.
Makkah and
Kabah:
The three chief towns of
Hijaz, as previously mentioned, are Makkah, Madinah and
Ta'if. Ta'if owes its fame to the fact that, situated as it
is at the foot of the mountains, it is cool and rich in
verdure, with innumerable springs of water and abundance of
fruit. It lies to the east of Makkah and is the general
summer resort of the Hijaz nobility. But the most famous
towns of Hijaz are Makkah and Madinah. Makkah is also known
as Umm al-Qura (Mother of Towns). On all four sides
it is enclosed by mountains. Its present population numbers
fifty thousand. From days of hoary antiquity it has been the
spiritual and religious capital of Arabia, for here stands
the sacred House of God, known as Kabah, which has been the
resort of pilgrims from every corner of Arabia from
prehistoric days. Sir William Muir thus comments on the
antiquity of the House in his Life of Muhammad: "A
very high antiquity must be assigned to the main
features of the religion of Mecca .... Diodorus Siculus,
writing about half a century before our era, says of that
part of Arabia washed by the Red Sea, ‘there is in this
country a temple greatly revered by all the Arabs.’
These words must refer to the holy house of Mecca, for we
know of no other which ever commanded the universal homage
of Arabia.... Tradition represents the Kabah as from time
immemorial the scene of pilgrimage from all quarters of
Arabia: from Yaman, Hadzramaut, and the shores of the
Persian Gulf, from the desert of Syria, and from the distant
environs of Hirah and Mesopotamia, men yearly flocked to
Mecca. So extensive a homage must have had its beginning in
an extremely remote age. "
To establish the antiquity of the
Kabah, Muir has drawn upon historical facts and oral
traditions. The Quran also points to the same. It speaks of
the Kabah as "the first house appointed for men; [The
Quran, 3:96]" in other words, the first house on the
face of the earth assigned to the worship of God. The rays
of Divine revelation emanated first of all from this place.
And it is a remarkable coincidence that this same place
enjoys the distinction of giving birth to the last of the
prophets. Makkah owes its importance to this house. As early
as 2,500 years B.C., it was a halting-station for caravans
plying between Yaman and Syria. The Quran also confirms that
the sacred house was in existence before Abraham [The
Quran, 2:125]. When leaving his son Ishmael there, the
great patriarch prayed: "Our Lord, I have settled a part of
my offspring in a valley unproductive of fruit near Thy
Sacred House... [The Quran, 14:37]" These words show
that the Kabah was there even at that remote
date.
Madinah:
Madinah was originally called
Yathrib. Later, when it was adopted by the Holy Prophet as
his residence, it came to be known as Madinat al-Nabi
(the Prophet's Town), which was gradually contracted
into al-Madinah. This, too, is an ancient town. Historical
evidence suggests its foundation as early as 1600 B.C. It
was originally inhabited by the Amalekites, after whom came
the Jews, the Aus and the Khazraj. When the Holy Prophet
came to settle here, these three peoples formed the
population of the town. It was the latter two who, later,
came to be known by the name of Ansar (Helpers). In
the fourteenth year of his mission, the Holy Prophet
emigrated from Makkah to Madinah where he spent the
remaining days of his life. Here it was that he breathed his
last, and here stands his tomb to this day. Madinah lies 270
miles to the north of Makkah and, unlike the latter, is not
barren. Besides rich cultivation, it has an abundance of
fruit-bearing trees. In winter it is comparatively cooler
than Makkah.
Arabian
Races:
The ‘Ad, Thamud, Tasm and
Jadis are the most ancient races of Arabia, as far as can be
traced, the first two having been spoken of in the Quran.
These aboriginal races are known as the Baidah
(ancient Arabs). The destruction of the tribe of Noah
was followed by the rise of ‘Ad, whose settlements
spread far and wide beyond the limits of Arabia. Historical
evidence proves their domination over Arabia, Egypt, and
many other places. On the fall of this race, the Thamud rose
to power.
Then came the rise of the Banu Qahtan,
whose homeland was Yaman. In their days, they too attained
to great power and ascendancy. The Aus and the Khazraj were
the offshoots of this tribe. All these races are known as
the ‘Aribah (pure Arabs).
Ishmael and his
Progeny:
Last of all came Ishmael,
whose progeny goes by the name of Musta‘ribah
(naturalised Arabs). In obedience to a divine behest, he
was left by his father, Abraham, along with his mother
Hajirah, at the place, where stands the Kabah [The
Quran, 14:37; 2:125].
There is little truth in the
belief that they were banished by Abraham at the instance of
his second wife, Sarah. The idea is emphatically repudiated
in a saying of the Holy Prophet which says that on Hajirah's
question whether Abraham was leaving them there in obedience
to a Divine behest, the Patriarch replied in the
affirmative. The account given in the Quran also leads to
the same conclusion. Later, father and son reconstructed, at
the Divine injunction, the Sacred House of Kabah which, it
seems was in a dilapidated condition [The Quran,
2:127].
This done, together they
addressed the Lord with a prayer which the Quran reports in
these words: "Our Lord, raise up in them a Messenger from
among them ... [The Quran,
2:129]"
This prayer found fulfilment
in the person of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. For this reason,
the Holy Prophet is reported as saying: "I am the prayer of
my father Abraham." Ishmael's progeny multiplied and
ramified into numerous tribes. One of these is known as the
Quraish which is descended from Nadzr. This tribe was later
subdivided into a number of clans, the Holy Prophet being a
scion of one of these, known as the Banu Hashim.
Time of
Ignorance:
The period preceding the
advent of the Holy Prophet has been designated as the Dark
Age. The Quran gives it the name al-Jahiliyyah,
(Ignorance or the time of Ignorance) [The Quran, 33:33,
48:26].
The picture drawn in the verse
"corruption has appeared in the land and sea ... [The
Quran, 30:41]" portrays the fallen state of Arab
idolaters, Jews, Christians and followers of other religions
alike. It avers that corruption was rampant throughout the
world. This does not, however, imply that the world had
never witnessed a better state of things; but whatever
civilisation and moral awakening had ever sprung up anywhere
through the various prophets sent from time to time among
different peoples had by that time utterly disappeared in
consequence of the lapse of long ages. Every nation of the
world had at the time fallen into a state of decrepitude.
These words found utterance through the mouth of one who
was, no doubt, quite illiterate. He had had no opportunity
of going round the world to study the condition of different
countries; nor had he the benefit of the publicity systems
of today that might have acquainted him with the state of
the world at that time. Nevertheless, a reference to the
pages of history corroborates the truth of the assertion in
a striking manner. Barring the fact that Europe had a mighty
Empire towards its south-east - the Christian Empire of Rome
- it was sunk in barbarism. Asia, of all the continents of
the world, had once been the nursery of civilisation. But a
study of the various countries of this cradle of
philosophies and religions shows that here, as elsewhere,
rank immorality was the order of the day. India, once the
centre of ancient Eastern culture, presented the same horrid
picture. Foul, base and heinous things were attributed even
to those whom the people regarded as their gods. Evil had
taken so great a hold on them, that even the virtuous were
painted in dark colours. Persia and China, too, were in the
same plight. This no doubt was due to the fact that
centuries had elapsed since the advent of former teachers;
and whatever reformation had been previously brought about
had become gradually weak and finally extinct. The Quran
says that "time was prolonged for them, so their hearts
hardened... [The Quran, 57:16]"
A modern writer, J.H. Denison, who has
studied the different systems of religion and the
civilisations that grew up therefrom has come to exactly the
same conclusion in his Emotion as the Basis of
Civilization: "In the fifth and the sixth centuries, the
civilized world stood on the verge of chaos. The old
emotional cultures that had made civilization possible ...
had broken down and nothing had been found adequate to take
their place.... It seemed then that the great civilization
that it had taken four thousand years to construct was on
the verge of disintegration and that mankind was likely to
return to that condition of barbarism where every tribe and
sect was against the next, and law and order were
unknown....The new sanctions created by Christianity were
working division and destruction instead of unity and order
.... Civilization like a gigantic tree whose foliage had
over-reached the world... stood tottering... rotted to the
core.... It was among these people that the man [The
reference is to the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him.]
was born who was to unite the
whole known world of east and south."
Christianity in a
Decrepit State:
Jesus was the prophet most
proximate to the Holy Prophet Muhammad in point of time. One
would have naturally expected amongst Christians some relics
of virtue and morality. But what was the state of
Christianity at the time? Let us quote Christian writers
themselves on the point. Drawing a picture of those days, a
bishop says that the heavenly kingdom was utterly upset, and
a state of veritable hell had been established on the earth,
in consequence of inner corruption. Sir William Muir writes
to the same effect: "Moreover, the Christianity of the
seventh century was itself decrepit and corrupt. It was
disabled by contending schisms, and had substituted. the
puerilities of superstition for the pure and expansive faith
of the early ages."
This is a picture of Christianity
concerning its general state. Belief in the Oneness of God
had disappeared long since. The doctrine of Trinity had
given rise to numerous complications. Diverse schisms and
sects vied one another in the exercise of their ingenuities
in the disentanglement of the riddle how man became God or
how three made one and vice versa. This led to the
production of a mass of polemical works, taking man far from
the true purpose of religion. Gibbon, commenting on the
event of the famous library at Alexandria having been set on
fire by intolerant Christians, makes a significant
observation in this connection: "But if the ponderous mass
of Arian and Monophysite controversy was indeed consumed in
the public baths, a philosopher may allow, with a smile,
that it was ultimately devoted to the benefit of mankind."
The general evils - drinking, gambling and adultery - were
in full swing even in those days. Dozy quotes the Caliph
‘Ali as speaking of the Taghlib, a Christian tribe, in
the following significant words: "All they have borrowed
from that Church is the practice of a wine-bibbing." In
short Christianity - last of the revealed religions of the
world - was practically defunct. It had lost all driving
force towards moral reformation.
Arab
Poetry:
As to Arabia itself, it is
true that Arab poetry was at its zenith, and pre-Islamic
poetry displays a high degree of ability and skill. It is
also true that the art of writing was not unknown to the
Arabs; but they seldom turned it to useful purpose. Even
their poetry was not preserved in writing. Poetical
compositions of the Dark Age have all come down to us
through oral tradition with the solitary exception of the
pieces known as the Mu‘allaqat which were
committed to writing and hung on the walls of the Kabah. As
regards Arab development of the art of poetry, it is enough
to say that mere poetry, as such, affords no sure criterion
of a people's stage of civilisation. Interest in poetry is
observed in almost every stage of society, however crude and
primitive. And the reason is not far to seek. Primitive
people have very few interests, which multiply only with the
growth of civilisation, and hence their exclusive devotion
to the only available form of fine art - poetry. But Arab
poetry is devoid of the breadth of vision and loftiness of
thought which come only with culture. Beauty of language is
all it can boast of.
The Arab
Character:
There were, no doubt, certain
noble traits in the Arab character. Hospitality, love of
freedom, daring, manliness, tribal fidelity and generosity
were some of the qualities in which the Arab had no equal.
But a few virtues, by themselves, especially when
overbalanced by the weight of barbarity and brutality can
hardly be taken to constitute civilisation. Side by side
with the most hospitable treatment accorded to a guest, it
was common practice to rob a wayfarer. The sentiment of
tribal patriotism, though highly commendable in itself, had
also been abused and carried to excess. Trifling disputes
between individuals would lead to terrible conflagrations of
war and blood-feuds extended from generation to
generation.
The Arab
Idolatry:
No doubt, the Arabs professed
faith in the unity of God, but their belief was shallow.
Their practical life belied their profession. They were
given to idolatry, thinking that the Almighty had entrusted
the discharge of the various functions of the universe to
different gods, goddesses and idols. They therefore turned
to these, invoking their blessings in all their
undertakings. Thus their belief in the Unity of God was an
empty dogma, finding no place in the system of their
practical life. Besides, idols, they looked upon the air,
the sun, the moon and the stars as the controllers of their
destinies, and worshipped them as such. They had fallen as
low as to worship pieces of stone, trees and sand-heaps.
They prostrated before any fine piece of stone they might
come across. Should they fail to find a piece of stone, they
would worship a sand hill, after having milked their
she-camel thereon. They looked upon angels as the daughters
of God! Even men of fame were worshipped, images being
carved out in their names. It was not necessary to have the
stones properly carved or shaped; even rough, unhewn ones
served the purpose.
Going out on a journey, they would
carry four stones along with them, three to make a hearth,
and the fourth to serve as an object of worship. Sometimes
no separate one for purposes of worship would be carried.
The cooking done, any of the three would be pulled out and
worshipped. Besides the three hundred and sixty idols set up
in the Kabah, every tribe had an idol of its own. In fact,
one was kept in each and every household. Idol-worship had,
in short, become second nature with them and it influenced
their everyday life in all its detail. The central idea of
their faith was that God had made over the control and
administration of the universe to others in whom He had
vested all powers, such as healing the sick, granting
children and removing famine and epidemic. Divine favour
could not be obtained but through the intercession of these
idols. They would prostrate before them, circumambulate
them, offer sacrifices to them, and set apart some of the
produce of their fields and their animals as offerings to
them.
From such debasing idolatry, the Holy
Prophet Muhammad uplifted the whole of Arabia in the brief
span of twenty years. Not only was idolatry extirpated root
and branch from the soil of Arabia, but such enthusiasm for
the Unity of God was kindled in the hearts of the self-same
Arabs that it carried them far and wide over the length and
breadth of the then known world to uphold the name of the
One God. The weaning of a whole country extending over a
vast area of twelve hundred thousand square miles from the
curse of idol-worship, to which it was hopelessly wedded by
long-established traditions and heredity, in no more time
than a fifth of a century, so far as to win for it the title
of iconoclast - is not this the mightiest miracle that the
world has ever witnessed?
Religion a
Mockery:
In addition to idol-worship,
which was the order of the day, star-worship had taken as
firm a root in the soil of Arabia. Human destiny was
associated with the movements of various stars and the
phenomena of nature affecting the fortunes of man for good
or evil were attributed to their influence. Whereas on the
one hand the worst form of idolatry had its hold on the Arab
mind in general, there were also some who had no faith in
the existence of God, the immortality of the human soul and
the day of retribution. To them all religion was mockery.
They held up to ridicule the very idols they professed to
adore. It is said of the famous poet, Imra' al-Qais, that on
the murder of his father he consulted an oracle in
accordance with the traditional practice among the Arabs, to
decide whether or not he should avenge the murder. The
process consisted in marking two arrows, one with the word
na‘am (yes), the other with la (no), to
indicate respectively whether the undertaking should be
entered upon or not. A blank one was also put in, which if
drawn, advised the lot to be drawn afresh. Imra' al-Qais
drew the arrows three times and each time the negative one
came out. In a fit of rage he flung the arrow in the face of
the idol, saying: "O Wretch! Had it been the murder of thy
own father thou wouldst not have forbidden me to avenge
it."
Social
Life:
Such was the state of
irreligion and idol worship in Arabia! Social life presented
no better a picture. The Arabs were ignorant of the very
rudiments of social virtues. Their manner of life made the
evolution of any social virtue impossible. Tribal feuds
engaged their whole attention. A settled and peaceful mode
of life, indispensable to the cultivation of social
qualities, was unknown to them. The prospect of hostilities
with another clan that might break out at any time was ever
present before their minds. They led a nomadic life,
wandering with their cattle from place to place. They would
set up their tents of camel-skins wherever they found water
to drink and forage for their cattle. Only a small minority
of them had settled in villages and still fewer in towns.
How was it possible, under such circumstances, that the
blessings of an ordered and settled society should accrue to
them?
No Law and
Order:
There was no central
government to enforce law and order in the country, which
was rent into innumerable petty states, each clan forming a
separate and independent political unit. They were too weak
to enforce justice; to wrench one's rights from another, one
had to depend upon one's strength of arm. Each tribe had a
chief of its own, its leader in battle; but there was no law
whatsoever binding the tribe to the nation. Each was
independent, owing no allegiance to any central authority
until Islam came with its unifying force. William Muir says
that "The first peculiarity, then, which attracts our
attention is the subdivision of the Arabs into innumerable
bodies, governed by the same code of honour and morals, and
exhibiting the same manners, speaking for the most part the
same language, but each independent of the others; restless
and often at war amongst themselves; and even where united
by blood or by interest, ever ready on some insignificant
cause to separate and give way to an implacable hostility.
Thus at the era of Islam, the retrospect of Arabian history
exhibits, as in the kaleidoscope, an ever-varying state of
combination and repulsion, such as had hitherto rendered
abortive any attempt at a general union .... The problem had
yet to be solved, by what force these tribes could be
subdued, or drawn to one common centre; and it was solved by
Muhammad."
The Quran sums up succinctly this
utter deterioration that embraced every phase of life in a
single sentence: "You were on the brink of a pit of fire...
[The Quran, 3:103]" Hostilities once breaking out
continued for generations. Trifles, such as a word of
contempt, or a slight mischief in a horse race, led to the
slaughter of thousands and the eternal bondage of the
vanquished. It was this fallen humanity whom the Holy
Prophet raised to the highest level of moral rectitude. He
welded these discordant elements into a brotherhood unique
in the history of the world. A mighty transformation! A
miracle, as a modern writer calls it in his Ins
and Outs of Mesopotamia: "A more disunited people it
would be hard to find, till, suddenly, the miracle took
place. A man arose who, by his personality and by his claim
to direct Divine guidance, actually brought about the
impossible namely the union of all these warring
factions."
Position of
Woman:
Woman occupied a very low
position in Arab society. Despite love-songs in praise of
the beloved, which were the outcome of carnal lust, woman
was accorded no better treatment than the lower animals.
Polyandry, which is a characteristic of the very primitive
stages of human society, was also in vogue; yet neither was
there a limit to the number of wives a man could take.
Besides a plurality of wives, he could have illicit
relations with any number of other women. Prostitution was a
recognised profession. Captive women, kept as handmaids,
were forced to make money for their masters in this debasing
manner. Married women were allowed by their husbands to
conjugate with others for the sake of offspring [This
practice was called Istibdza’; and was similar
to the practice of Niyoga still prevalent among
Hindus.].
Moreover, woman was looked upon as a
mere chattel. She was entitled to no share of the legacy of
her deceased husband, father or other relations. On the
contrary, she was herself inherited as part of the property
of the deceased. The heir was at liberty to dispose of her
as he would. He could even marry her himself, or give her in
marriage to anybody he chose. On the death of his father, a
son would even marry his step-mother, she being a part of
the inheritance. The practice of divorce in vogue among them
was no less barbarous. A thousand times could a man divorce
his wife and take her back within a prescribed period (known
as ‘iddah). Sometimes he would swear he
would not go near her, sometimes he would announce that he
would look upon her as his mother, thus leaving her in a
state of suspension, being neither wife nor yet divorced.
These methods were adopted simply to harass her. She had no
way out of her sad plight.
The most obscene language was used in
expressing sex relations. Stories of love and illicit
relationships were narrated proudly and with utter absence
of shame in verses of the most indecent kind. Women of high
families were openly addressed in love-songs. Considering
the state of things obtaining among the Arabs with regard to
the status of woman, it is not difficult to judge what a
heavy debt of gratitude woman owes to Muhammad, peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him, who lifted her up from the
depths of lowliness to a position of respect and dignity
[Even modern European civilisation, which has a
superficial respect for the gentle sex, fails to grant those
rights to women which Islam has given them. Genuine respect
for the female sex lies in having proper regard for its
chastity and the equality of its rights with man, neither of
which is, unfortunately, met with anywhere in Western
society.].
Let us turn to the amelioration
wrought in the condition of woman by Islam. The Quranic
injunction, "Women shall have the same rights over men as
men have over them, [The Quran, 2:
228]"
was the Magna Carta, so
to speak, of women's franchise. In the same strain observed
the Holy Prophet: "The best of you is he who treats his wife
best." To implant veneration for woman in a soil where it
was regarded as a mark of nobility to bury female offspring
alive is surely no mean service to humanity. On hearing of
the birth of a daughter, the father's face would turn black
with grief and rage. He had either to bury her alive or put
up with social disgrace [The Quran, 16:58, 59]. He
would take his daughter to the desert, throw her into a pit
dug there beforehand and bury alive the screaming child with
his own hands underneath a heap of earth! The Prophet when
informed of one such incident burst into tears of pity.
Sometimes an explicit agreement was made at the nuptial
ceremony that female offspring was to be killed, in which
case it was the duty of the mother herself to commit the
barbarous deed. She had to do it in the presence of all the
female members of the family, especially invited to attend
the grim function. All these cold-blooded brutalities were
ended, at a single stroke, by the Quranic words: "And when
the one buried alive is asked for what sin she was killed
.... [The Quran, 81:8, 9]"
Never thereafter even in a
single instance was the horrible cruelty repeated. In this
respect, Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
stands unrivalled in the history of the world for his
service to mankind.
Standing
Evils:
Drinking was another vice to
which the whole of Arabia was hopelessly wedded.
Intoxicating liquors were served several times daily. There
was not a household but had a number of wine pitchers in
store. No sooner, however, was the Quranic prohibition
proclaimed [The Quran, 5:90] than the very pots used
for storing liquor were broken to pieces and thrown away;
and, it is related, wine flowed like rain-water in the
streets of Madinah. The centuries-old habit of drinking was
thus rooted out in no time, and utter abstinence became the
order of the day.
Gambling was another curse which had a
firm hold on the Arab society. It was indulged in as a
common daily pastime. Those who abstained were looked down
upon as miserly. The Holy Prophet Muhammad's spiritual force
made short the work of this as well, and relieved Arabia of
another longstanding evil.
There was no education worthy of
mention among the Arabs. Those able to decipher a script
could be counted. Ignorance bred superstition, and they were
given to all sorts of queer beliefs. They had faith in the
existence of genii and evil spirits, whom they would conjure
up in solitary places: To these they attributed certain
diseases, to escape which they would make use of charms and
incantations. In times of drought, they would fasten dry
blades of grass and undergrowth to a cow's tail, set fire
thereto and drive the animal to the mountains. They thought
the flame of fire resembled a flash of lightning and would,
by reason of similarity, attract rainfall. In case a
calamity befell them, they would enter the house by the back
door. From the flight of birds they took good or evil omens.
If a bird crossed their way from left to right, it was
regarded as a good omen; from right to left it was a bad
omen. Those who believed in a life after death would tie a
camel to a tomb and starve it to death, thinking the
deceased would mount it on the day of resurrection. They
held the human soul to be a tiny creature which entered a
man's body at the time of his birth and went on growing. At
his death it assumed the form of an owl and kept hovering
over his tomb. In the event of violent death, the owl would
keep droning "Give me water, Give me water," until the
murder had been avenged. They believed in soothsayers and
fortune tellers, and had implicit faith in whatever they
told them. In short, these and a hundred and one other
superstitions were believed in by the Arabs of the
pre-Islamic days. In the course of a few years, the Holy
Prophet Muhammad emancipated them from all these shackles of
hereditary bondage and elevated them to the pinnacle of
morality, learning and culture. History will vainly turn its
pages to point to a parallel of the wholesale reformation
and elevation of a fallen people such as the Arabs were. A
mighty achievement indeed!
Earlier
Prophets:
Prophets appeared in various
parts of Arabia before the dispensation of the patriarch
Abraham as well as after. References to some of them have
been made in the Quran. Hud was deputed for the reformation
of the tribe of ‘Ad that settled in a part of Yaman,
known as Ahqaf, and Salih was raised for the Thamud,
inhabiting the part called Hijr, to the north of Madinah.
Both these reformers preceded Abraham; while two others,
Ishmael and Shu‘aib, who appeared in Yaman and Madyan
respectively, came after him. Traditions as well as
inscriptions show that the ‘Adites were a very mighty
people. They had founded a great empire which extended far
beyond the confines of Arabia. It seems that prophets had
been sent among them even before the advent of Hud, who made
his appearance at a time when the nation was sunk very low.
They turned a deaf ear lo this prophet and were severely
punished. Their destruction was wrought by a dust-storm from
the desert which lies to the north of Ahqaf and goes by the
name of the Rub ‘Khali (the Barren Quarter). The
Thamudites, therefore, betook themselves to the mountains,
where they carved homes for themselves out of the rocks
[The Quran, 26:149]. But since the doom was sealed,
strongholds could not save them. They perished in an
earthquake. A look at the map of Arabia shows that, of these
four, the mission of Hud and Ishmael was confined to the
south, and that of Salih and Shu'aib to the north of Arabia;
the middle portion, known as Hij'az, remained without a
prophet. But Abraham's visiting Makkah and leaving Ishmael
there, and afterwards his building the Kabah, have preserved
to this day the association of Abraham's name with certain
places there.
Jewish
Settlement:
During the dispensation of the
Israelite prophets, idol-worship had reached its highest
pitch in Arabia. A queen of Yaman was converted to the
doctrine of the Unity of God by Solomon. This was followed
by another feeble ripple on the religious deep of Arabia.
Jews migrated and settled there, probably about the
5th century B.C., when Nebuchadnezzar, drove them
out of their homelands. Prophecies as to the appearance of
the Last Prophet from the soil of Arabia were current among
them. Therefore they took up their abode there, and Khaibar
became a purely Jewish settlement. When they had gained a
firm footing, they began propagating their faith and about
the 3rd century B.C., the King of Yaman, Dhu
Nawas by name, embraced Judaism. This added fresh momentum
to the Jewish movement of proselytism and in the course of
time Judaism won considerable ascendancy in Arabia. But the
Arab nation as a whole remained addicted to its ancestral
religion of idol-worship, and after a short-lived career the
Jewish religious movement died a natural death, leaving the
Arabs as a nation of idolaters.
Christians:
A second wave of reformation
followed. Christian missionaries began pouring into Arabia
in the 3rd century A.D. and settled in Najran.
Their proselytising activities were considerably
supplemented by the political influence of the two Christian
powers in the neighbourhood of Arabia, the Abyssinian to the
west and the Roman Empire to the north. Consequently the
entire province of Najran, which lies between 'Asir and
San'a, accepted Christianity. Barring just a bare sprinkling
of converts here and there, little impress was made by
Christianity on Arabia proper. Thus ended in utter failure
the second attempt at the reformation of Arabia.
Unitarians:
The third reformatory wave set
in motion was internal. Just a little before the advent of
Islam, there had sprung up a new school of thought known as
Hanif. It was a small band of earnest men who discarded
idolatry but were not disposed towards Judaism or
Christianity. They worshipped only one God, but did not
trouble themselves at all about reformation in the social
life of their country. Feeling aversion for idol-worship,
some of them did no doubt join the fold of Christianity,
such as Waraqah, Khadijah's cousin, and ‘Abd Allah ibn
Jahsh, Hamzah's nephew, but their number was insignificant.
The majority of them found no satisfaction in either
Christianity or Judaism. Of these, the noteworthy were Zaid
ibn ‘Amr ibn Nufail, 'Umar's uncle, and Umayyah, a
renowned poet and the chief of Ta'if. These people had
little zeal for promulgating their newly-conceived notions.
Nevertheless they made no secret of their abhorrence of
idolatry, and openly avowed Unitarianism as their faith,
which they professed to be the religion taught by Abraham.
Feeble though the movement was, it was undoubtedly there.
But, like its predecessors, this internal movement also
failed to go below the surface, leaving Arab society as
unaffected as ever. In fact, it was more feeble than either
the Jewish or the Christian movement.
Failures:
The Jews had family affinity
with the Arabs. Both came of the same stock. Their language,
their manners, their customs had much in common. Both held
the great patriarch Abraham in high esteem. A king of Yaman,
the most fertile province of Arabia, had accepted the Jewish
religion. Thus to all human calculations, these various
forces in favour of Judaism had a cumulative effect potent
enough to secure the conversion of the whole of Arabia. But
Arabia proved adamant to all these influences.
Then came Christianity with quite a
new message. Its so-called Unitarianism resembled the Arab
concept of Godhead. The idolatry obtaining among the Arabs
was akin to Greek idol-worship under the influence of which
the Christian doctrine of Trinity had taken birth. St. Paul,
the real founder of the Church religion as we have it, had
given such an idolatrous form to the monotheistic teaching
of the Israelite prophets as to make it fascinating for the
idolatrous peoples of his day. Consequently, Christianity
secured large numbers of converts from among the Arabs. It
had another feature particularly attractive to them. It
dispensed with the necessity of observing the law - a
licence quite in keeping with the Arab mode of life. Having
no religious or secular code of laws to regulate their
conduct, these wild children of the desert had given
themselves up to unbridled debauchery. Christianity allowed
ample latitude for the gratification of their licentious
propensities. It was therefore a creed offering the least
line of resistance, and hence the easiest for them to adopt.
In addition to these inherent attractions, Christianity had
the advantage of temporal power to commend it to the Arabs.
The great Roman Empire to the north, the Abyssinian kingdom
to the west, the conversion of one of the provinces of Yaman
and the hold acquired by Christianity over the states of
Hirah and Ghassan - these were the manifold influences in
favour of Christianity. Under such circumstances, the
conversion of the peninsula seemed but a matter of days.
Nevertheless, the Church failed to make any appreciable
impression on Arab society.
The third movement, that of the Hanifs
was purely internal in origin and had little to do with the
social reformation of Arabia, confining its aims to one
single object - the supplanting of idolatry by Unitarianism.
Notwithstanding such an unambitious programme, it found the
soil of Arabia far less congenial than had the preceding
movements. It proved the weakest of all, perhaps, for the
reason that it was backed by no worldly power.
It is remarkable that before the
appearance of the Holy Prophet, three different movements
were set afoot, all aiming at the reformation of Arabia.
Keeping at work for centuries with all the advantages that
worldly power can afford, all these movements vanish in
smoke. But then arises an individual who achieves,
single-handed and in a state of utter helplessness, what
they had all failed to achieve. In the course of a few
years, he brings about a transformation unparalleled in the
history of the world. Not only is the debasing superstition
of the country -idolatry - eradicated, but the entire social
fabric is reclaimed and released from long-standing and
deep-rooted corruption.
Arabia Impervious
to Reform:
In view of all this, a
critical eye cannot fail to perceive that, behind the
scenes, it was the mighty hand of the Lord that helped the
Holy Prophet Muhammad in working such a radical
transformation in the religious, social and moral life of
Arabia within the brief span of twenty years - a
transformation that stands unique in the history of the
world. William Muir, by no means a friendly critic of the
Prophet, has to admit this miraculous regeneration of Arabia
in the following words: "During the youth of Muhammad, the
aspect of the Peninsula was strongly conservative; perhaps
reform never was at any period more hopeless. Causes are
sometimes conjured up to account for the results produced by
an agent apparently inadequate to effect them. Muhammad
arose, and forthwith the Arabs were aroused to a new and a
spiritual faith. Hence the conclusion that Arabia was
fermenting for the change, and prepared to adopt it. To us,
calmly reviewing the past, pre-Islamite history belies the
assumption. After five centuries of Christian
evangelization, we can point to but a sprinkling here and
there of Christian converts."
"In fine, viewed thus in a religious
aspect, the surface of Arabia had been now and then gently
rippled by the feeble efforts of Christianity; the sterner
influence of Judaism had been occasionally visible in a
deeper and more troubled current; but the tide of indigenous
idolatry and of Ishmaelite superstition, setting strongly
from every quarter towards the Kabah, gave ample evidence
that the faith and worship of Mecca held the Arab mind in a
rigorous and undisputed thraldom."
Further on, the same critic observes
that "the prospects of Arabia before the rise of Muhammad
were as unfavourable to religious reform as to political
union or national regeneration. The foundation of the Arab
faith was a deep-rooted idolatry, which for centuries had
stood proof, with no palpable symptom of decay, against
every attempt at evangelization from Egypt and
Syria."
Thus the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him) was sent as a warner to
a people who were proof against all warning. They had
baffled all previous attempts at their regeneration. But
phenomenal success attended his labours in bringing about
the reformation of that self-same, incorrigible race. It is
to this miraculous transformation of idolatrous Arabs, and
through them of the followers of other religions, that the
Quran prophetically refers: "Those who disbelieve from among
the People of the Book and the idolaters could not have been
freed till clear evidence came to them - A Messenger from
Allah, reciting pure pages, wherein are (all) right books.
[The Quran, 98:1-3]"
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