[Taken
from Introduction to Islam by Muhammad Hamidullah (Centre
Culturel Islamique, Paris, 1969), with some changes to make
it more readable. The changes are marked by pairs of brackets
like around this paragraph. Dr. Hamidullah's present address
is: 9 Beaver Court, Wilkes Barre PA, 18702, USA.]
IN
the annals of men, individuals have not been lacking who
conspicuously devoted their lives to the socio-religious
reform of their connected peoples. We find them in every
epoch and in all lands. In India, there lived those who
transmitted to the world the Vedas, and there was also the
great Gautama Buddha; China had its Confucius; the Avesta
was produced in Iran. Babylonia gave to the world one of
the greatest reformers, the Prophet Abraham (not to speak
of such of his ancestors as Enoch and Noah about whom we
have very scanty information). The Jewish people may rightly
be proud of a long series of reformers: Moses, Samuel, David,
Solomon, and Jesus among others.
2.
Two points are to note: Firstly these reformers claimed
in general to be the bearers each of a Divine mission, and
they left behind them sacred books incorporating codes of
life for the guidance of their peoples. Secondly there followed
fratricidal wars, and massacres and genocides became the
order of the day, causing more or less a complete loss of
these Divine messages. As to the books of Abraham, we know
them only by the name; and as for the books of Moses, records
tell us how they were repeatedly destroyed and only partly
restored.
Concept of God:
3.
If one should judge from the relics of the past already
brought to light of the homo sapiens, one finds that man
has always been conscious of the existence of a Supreme
Being, the Master and Creator of all. Methods and approaches
may have differed, but the people of every epoch have left
proofs of their attempts to obey God. Communication with
the Omnipresent yet invisible God has also been recognised
as possible in connection with a small fraction of men with
noble and exalted spirits. Whether this communication assumed
the nature of an incarnation of the Divinity or simply resolved
itself into a medium of reception of Divine messages (through
inspiration or revelation), the purpose in each case was
the guidance of the people. It was but natural that the
interpretations and explanations of certain systems should
have proved more vital and convincing than others.
3/a.
Every system of metaphysical thought develops its own terminology.
In the course of time terms acquire a significance hardly
contained in the word and translations fall short of their
purpose. Yet there is no other method to make people of
one group understand the thoughts of another. Non-Muslim
readers in particular are requested to bear in mind this
aspect which is a real yet unavoidable handicap.
4.
By the end of the 6th century, after the birth of Jesus
Christ, men had already made great progress in diverse walks
of life. At that time there were some religions which openly
proclaimed that they were reserved for definite races and
groups of men only, of course they bore no remedy for the
ills of humanity at large. There were also a few which claimed
universality, but declared that the salvation of man lay
in the renunciation of the world. These were the religions
for the elite, and catered for an extremely limited number
of men. We need not speak of regions where there existed
no religion at all, where atheism and materialism reigned
supreme, where the thought was solely of occupying one self
with one's own pleasures, without any regard or consideration
for the rights of others.
Arabia:
5.
A perusal of the map of the major hemisphere (from the point
of view of the proportion of land to sea), shows the Arabian
Peninsula lying at the confluence of the three great continents
of Asia, Africa and Europe. At the time in question. this
extensive Arabian subcontinent composed mostly of desert
areas was inhabited by people of settled habitations as
well as nomads. Often it was found that members of the same
tribe were divided into these two groups, and that they
preserved a relationship although following different modes
of life. The means of subsistence in Arabia were meagre.
The desert had its handicaps, and trade caravans were features
of greater importance than either agriculture or industry.
This entailed much travel, and men had to proceed beyond
the peninsula to Syria, Egypt, Abyssinia, Iraq, Sind, India
and other lands.
6.
We do not know much about the Libyanites of Central Arabia,
but Yemen was rightly called Arabia Felix. Having once been
the seat of the flourishing civilizations of Sheba and Ma'in
even before the foundation of the city of Rome had been
laid, and having later snatched from the Byzantians and
Persians several provinces, greater Yemen which had passed
through the hey-day of its existence, was however at this
time broken up into innumerable principalities, and even
occupied in part by foreign invaders. The Sassanians of
Iran, who had penetrated into Yemen had already obtained
possession of Eastern Arabia. There was politico-social
chaos at the capital (Mada'in = Ctesiphon), and this found
reflection in all her territories. Northern Arabia had succumbed
to Byzantine influences, and was faced with its own particular
problems. Only Central Arabia remained immune from the demoralising
effects of foreign occupation.
7.
In this limited area of Central Arabia, the existence of
the triangle of Mecca-Ta'if-Madinah seemed something providential.
Mecca, desertic, deprived of water and the amenities of
agriculture in physical features represented Africa and
the burning Sahara. Scarcely fifty miles from there, Ta'if
presented a picture of Europe and its frost. Madinah in
the North was not less fertile than even the most temperate
of Asiatic countries like Syria. If climate has any influence
on human character, this triangle standing in the middle
of the major hemisphere was, more than any other region
of the earth, a miniature reproduction of the entire world.
And here was born a descendant of the Babylonian Abraham,
and the Egyptian Hagar, Muhammad the Prophet of Islam, a
Meccan by origin and yet with stock related, both to Madinah
and Ta'if.
Religion:
8.
From the point of view of religion, Arabia was idolatrous;
only a few individuals had embraced religions like Christianity,
Mazdaism, etc. The Meccans did possess the notion of the
One God, but they believed also that idols had the power
to intercede with Him. Curiously enough, they did not believe
in the Resurrection and Afterlife. They had preserved the
rite of the pilgrimage to the House of the One God, the
Ka'bah, an institution set up under divine inspiration by
their ancestor Abraham, yet the two thousand years that
separated them from Abraham had caused to degenerate this
pilgrimage into the spectacle of a commercial fair and an
occasion of senseless idolatry which far from producing
any good, only served to ruin their individual behaviour,
both social and spiritual.
Society:
9.
In spite of the comparative poverty in natural resources,
Mecca was the most developed of the three points of the
triangle. Of the three, Mecca alone had a city-state, governed
by a council of ten hereditary chiefs who enjoyed a clear
division of power. (There was a minister of foreign relations,
a minister guardian of the temple, a minister of oracles,
a minister guardian of offerings to the temple, one to determine
the torts and the damages payable, another in charge of
the municipal council or parliament to enforce the decisions
of the ministries. There were also ministers in charge of
military affairs like custodianship of the flag, leadership
of the cavalry etc.). As well reputed caravan-leaders, the
Meccans were able to obtain permission from neighbouring
empires like Iran, Byzantium and Abyssinia - and to enter
into agreements with the tribes that lined the routes traversed
by the caravans - to visit their countries and transact
import and export business. They also provided escorts to
foreigners when they passed through their country as well
as the territory of allied tribes, in Arabia (cf. Ibn Habib,
Muhabbar). Although not interested much in the preservation
of ideas and records in writing, they passionately cultivated
arts and letters like poetry, oratory discourses and folk
tales. Women were generally well treated, they enjoyed the
privilege of possessing property in their own right, they
gave their consent to marriage contracts, in which they
could even add the condition of reserving their right to
divorce their husbands. They could remarry when widowed
or divorced. Burying girls alive did exist in certain classes,
but that was rare.
The Mission:
21.
The Prophet began by preaching his mission secretly first
among his intimate friends, then among the members of his
own tribe and thereafter publicly in the city and suburbs.
He insisted on the belief in One Transcendent God, in Resurrection
and the Last Judgement. He invited men to charity and beneficence.
He took necessary steps to preserve through writing the
revelations he was receiving, and ordered his adherents
also to learn them by heart. This continued all through
his life, since the Quran was not revealed all at once,
but in fragments as occasions arose.
22.
The number of his adherents increased gradually, but with
the denunciation of paganism, the opposition also grew
intenser on the part of those who were firmly attached
to their ancestral beliefs. This opposition degenerated
in the course of time into physical torture of the Prophet
and of those who had embraced his religion. These were
stretched on burning sands, cauterized with red hot iron
and imprisoned with chains on their feet. Some of them
died of the effects of torture, but none would renounce
his religion. In despair, the Prophet Muhammad advised
his companions to quit their native town and take refuge
abroad, in Abyssinia, "where governs a just ruler, in
whose realm nobody is oppressed" (Ibn Hisham). Dozens
of Muslims profited by his advice, though not all. These
secret flights led to further persecution of those who
remained behind.
23.
The Prophet Muhammad [was instructed to call this] religion
"Islam," i.e. submission to the will of God. Its distinctive
features are two: A harmonius equilibrium between the
temporal and the spiritual (the body and the soul), permitting
a full enjoyment of all the good that God has created,
(Quran 7:32), enjoining at the same time on everybody
duties towards God, such as worship, fasting, charity,
etc. Islam was to be the religion of the masses and not
merely of the elect. A universality of the call - all
the believers becoming brothers and equals without any
distinction of class or race or tongue. The only superiority
which it recognizes is a personal one, based on the greater
fear of God and greater piety (Quran 49:13).
Social Boycott:
24.
When a large number of the Meccan Muslims migrated to Abyssinia,
the leaders of paganism sent an ultimatum to the tribe of
the Prophet, demanding that he should be excommunicated
and outlawed and delivered to the pagans for being put to
death. Every member of the tribe, Muslim and non-Muslim
rejected the demand. (cf. Ibn Hisham). Thereupon the city
decided on a complete boycott of the tribe: Nobody was to
talk to them or have commercial or matrimonial relations
with them. The group of Arab tribes called Ahabish, inhabiting
the suburbs, who were allies of the Meccans, also joined
in the boycott, causing stark misery among the innocent
victims consisting of children, men and women, the old and
the sick and the feeble. Some of them succumbed yet nobody
would hand over the Prophet to his persecutors. An uncle
of the Prophet, Abu Lahab, however left his tribesmen and
participated in the boycott along with the pagans. After
three dire years, during which the victims were obliged
to devour even crushed hides, four or five non-Muslims,
more humane than the rest and belonging to different clans
proclaimed publicly their denunciation of the unjust boycott.
At the same time, the document promulgating the pact of
boycott which had been hung in the temple, was found, as
Muhammad had predicted, eaten by white ants, that spared
nothing but the words God and Muhammad. The boycott was
lifted, yet owing to the privations that were undergone
the wife and Abu Talib, the chief of the tribe and uncle
of the Prophet died soon after. Another uncle of the Prophet,
Abu-Lahab, who was an inveterate enemy of Islam, now succeeded
to the headship of the tribe. (cf. lbn Hisham, Sirah).
Ascension:
25.
It was at thIs time that the Prophet Muhammad was granted
the mi'raj (ascension): He saw in a vision that he was received
on heaven by God, and was witness of the marvels of the
celestial regions. Returning, he brought for his community,
as a Divine gift, the [ritual prayer of Islam, the salaat],
which constitutes a sort of communion between man and God.
It may be recalled that in the last part of Muslim service
of worship, the faithful employ as a symbol of their being
in the very presence of God, not concrete objects as others
do at the time of communion, but the very words of greeting
exchanged between the Prophet Muhammad and God on the occasion
of the former's mi'raj: "The blessed and pure greetings
for God! - Peace be with thee, O Prophet, as well as the
mercy and blessing of God! - Peace be with us and with all
the [righteous] servants of God!" The Christian term "communion"
implies participation in the Divinity. Finding it pretentious,
Muslims use the term "ascension" towards God and reception
in His presence, God remaining God and man remaining man
and no confusion between the twain.
26.
The news of this celestial meeting led to an increase
in the hostility of the pagans of Mecca; and the Prophet
was obliged to quit his native town in search of an asylum
elsewhere. He went to his maternal uncles in Ta'if, but
returned immediately to Mecca, as the wicked people of
that town chased the Prophet out of their city by pelting
stones on him and wounding him
Migration to Madinah:
27.
The annual pilgrimage of the Ka'bah brought to Mecca people
from all parts of Arabia. The Prophet Muhammad tried to
persuade one tribe after another to afford him shelter and
allow him to carry on his mission of reform. The contingents
of fifteen tribes, whom he approached in succession, refused
to do so more or less brutally, but he did not despair.
Finally he met half a dozen inhabitants of Madinah who being
neighbour of the Jews and the Christians, had some notion
of prophets and Divine messages. They knew also that these
"people of the Books" were awaiting the arrival of a prophet
- a last comforter. So these Madinans decided not to lose
the opportunity of obtaining an advance over others, and
forthwith embraced Islam, promising further to provide additional
adherents and necessary help from Madinah. The following
year a dozen new Madinans took the oath of allegiance to
him and requested him to provide with a missionary teacher.
The work of the missionary, Mus'ab, proved very successful
and he led a contingent of seventy-three new converts to
Mecca, at the time of the pilgrimage. These invited the
Prophet and his Meccan companions to migrate to their town,
and promised to shelter the Prophet and to treat him and
his companions as their own kith and kin. Secretly and in
small groups, the greater part of the Muslims emigrated
to Madinah. Upon this the pagans of Mecca not only confiscated
the property of the evacuees, but devised a plot to assassinate
the Prophet. It became now impossible for him to remain
at home. It is worthy of mention, that in spite of their
hostility to his mission, the pagans had unbounded confidence
in his probity, so much so that many of them used to deposit
their savings with him. The Prophet Muhammad now entrusted
all these deposits to 'Ali, a cousin of his, with instructions
to return in due course to the rightful owners. He then
left the town secretly in the company of his faithful friend,
Abu-Bakr. After several adventures, they succeeded in reaching
Madinah in safety. This happened in 622, whence starts the
Hijrah calendar
Reorganization of the Community:
28.
For the better rehabilitation of the displaced immigrants,
the Prophet created a fraternization between them and
an equal number of well-to-do Madinans. The families of
each pair of the contractual brothers worked together
to earn their livelihood, and aided one another in the
business of life.
29.
Further he thought that the development of the man as
a whole would be better achieved if he co-ordinated religion
and politics as two constituent parts of one whole. To
this end he invited the representatives of the Muslims
as well as the non-Muslim inhabitants of the region: Arabs,
Jews, Christians and others, and suggested the establishment
of a City-State in Madinah. With their assent, he endowed
the city with a written constitution - the first of its
kind in the world - in which he defined the duties and
rights both of the citizens and the head of the State
- the Prophet Muhammad was unanimously hailed as such
- and abolished the customary private justice. The administration
of justice became henceforward the concern of the central
organisation of the community of the citizens. The document
laid down principles of defence and foreign policy: it
organized a system of social insurance, called ma'aqil,
in cases of too heavy obligations. It recognized that
the Prophet Muhammad would have the final word in all
differences, and that there was no limit to his power
of legislation. It recognized also explicitly liberty
of religion, particularly for the Jews, to whom the constitutional
act afforded equality with Muslims in all that concerned
life in this world (cf. infra n. 303).
30.
Muhammad journeyed several times with a view to win the
neighbouring tribes and to conclude with them treaties
of alliance and mutual help. With their help, he decided
to bring to bear economic pressure on the Meccan pagans,
who had confiscated the property of the Muslim evacuees
and also caused innumerable damage. Obstruction in the
way of the Meccan caravans and their passage through the
Madinan region exasperated the pagans, and a bloody struggle
ensued. 31. In the concern for the material interests
of the community, the spiritual aspect was never neglected.
Hardly a year had passed after the migration to Madinah,
when the most rigorous of spiritual disciplines, the fasting
for the whole month of Ramadan every year, was imposed
on every adult Muslim, man and woman
Struggle against intolerance and
unbelief:
32.
Not content with the expulsion of the Muslim compatriots,
the Meccans sent an ultimatum to the Madinans, demanding
the surrender or at least the expulsion of Muhammad and
his companions but evidently all such efforts proved in
vain. A few months later, in the year 2 H., they sent
a powerful army against the Prophet, who opposed them
at Badr; and the pagans thrice as numerous as the Muslims,
were routed. After a year of preparation, the Meccans
again invaded Madinah to avenge the defeat of Badr. They
were now four times as numerous as the Muslims. After
a bloody encounter at Uhud, the enemy retired, the issue
being indecisive. The mercenaries in the Meccan army did
not want to take too much risk, or endanger their safety.
33.
In thc meanwhile the Jewish citizens of Madinah began
to foment trouble. About the time of the victory of Badr,
one of their leaders, Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, proceeded to
Mecca to give assurance of his alliance with the pagans,
and to incite them to a war of revenge. After the battle
of Uhud, the tribe of the same chieftain plotted to assassinate
the Prophet by throwing on him a mill-stone from above
a tower, when he had gone to visit their locality. In
spite of all this, the only demand the Prophet made of
the men of this tribe was to quit the Madinan region,
taking with them all their properties, after selling their
immovables and recovering their debts from the Muslims.
The clemency thus extended had an effect contrary to what
was hoped. The exiled not only contacted the Meccans,
but also the tribes of the North, South and East of Madinah,
mobilized military aid, and planned from Khaibar an invasion
of Madinah, with forces four times more numerous than
those employed at Uhud. The Muslims prepared for a siege,
and dug a ditch to defend themselves against this hardest
of all trials. Although the defection of the Jews still
remaining inside Madinah at a later stage upset all strategy,
yet with a sagacious diplomacy, the Prophet succeeded
in breaking up the alliance, and the different enemy groups
retired one after the other.
34.
Alcoholic drinks, gambling and games of chance were at
this time declared forbidden for the Muslims.
The Reconciliation:
35.
The Prophet tried once more to reconcile the Meccans and
proceeded to Mecca. The barring of the route of their
Northern caravans had ruined their economy. The Prophet
promised them transit security, extradition of their fugitives
and the fulfillment of every condition they desired, agreeing
even to return to Madinah without accomplishing the pilgrimage
of the Ka'bah. Thereupon the two contracting parties promised
at Hudaibiyah in the suburbs of Mecca, not only the maintenance
of peace, but also the observance of neutrality in their
conflicts with third parties.
36.
Profiting by the peace, the Prophet launched an intensive
programme for the propagation of his religion. He addressed
missionary letters to the foreign rulers of Byzantium,
Iran, Abyssinia and other lands. The Byzantine autocrat
priest - Dughatur of the Arabs - embraced Islam, but for
this, was lynched by the Christian mob; the prefect of
Ma'an (Palestine) suffered the same fate, and was decapitated
and crucified by order of the emperor. A Muslim ambassador
was assassinated in Syria-Palestine; and instead of punishing
the culprit, the emperor Heraclius rushed with his armies
to protect him against the punitive expedition sent by
the Prophet (battle of Mu'tah).
37.
The pagans of Mecca hoping to profit by the Muslim difficulties,
violated the terms of their treaty. Upon this, the Prophet
himself led an army, ten thousand strong, and surprised
Mecca which he occupied in a bloodless manner. As a benevolent
conqueror, he caused the vanquished people to assemble,
reminded them of their ill deeds, their religious persecution,
unjust confiscation of the evacuee property, ceaseless
invasions and senseless hostilities for twenty years continuously.
He asked them: "Now what do you expect of me?" When everybody
lowered his head with shame, the Prophet proclaimed: "May
God pardon you; go in peace; there shall be no responsibility
on you today; you are free!" He even renounced the claim
for the Muslim property confiscated by the pagans. This
produced a great psychological change of hearts instantaneously.
When a Meccan chief advanced with a fulsome heart towards
the Prophet, after hearing this general amnesty, in order
to declare his acceptance of Islam, the Prophet told him:
"And in my turn, I appoint you the governor of Mecca!"
Without leaving a single soldier in the conquered city,
the Prophet retired to Madinah. The Islamization of Mecca,
which was accomplished in a few hours, was complete.
38.
Immediately after the occupation of Mecca, the city of
Ta'if mobilized to fight against the Prophet. With some
difficulty the enemy was dispersed in the valley of Hunain,
but the Muslims preferred to raise the siege of nearby
Ta'if and use pacific means to break the resistance of
this region. Less than a year later, a delegation from
Ta'if came to Madinah offering submission. But it requested
exemption from prayer, taxes and military service, and
the continuance of the liberty to adultery and fornication
and alcoholic drinks. It demanded even the conservation
of the temple of the idol al-Lat at Ta'if. But Islam was
not a materialist immoral movement; and soon the delegation
itself felt ashamed of its demands regarding prayer, adultery
and wine. The Prophet consented to concede exemption from
payment of taxes and rendering of military service; and
added: You need not demolish the temple with your own
hands: we shall send agents from here to do the job, and
if there should be any consequences, which you are afraid
of on account of your superstitions, it will be they who
would suffer. This act of the Prophet shows what concessions
could be given to new converts. The conversion of the
Ta'ifites was so whole hearted that in a short while,
they themselves renounced the contracted exemptions, and
we find the Prophet nominating a tax collector in their
locality as in other Islamic regions.
39.
In all these "wars," extending over a period of ten years,
the non-Muslims lost on the battlefield only about 250
persons killed, and the Muslim losses were even less.
With these few incisions, the whole continent of Arabia.
with its million and more of square miles, was cured of
the abscess of anarchy and immorality. During these ten
years of disinterested struggle, all thc peoples of the
Arabian Peninsula and the southern regions of Iraq and
Palestine had voluntarily embraced Islam. Some Christian,
Jewish and Parsi groups remained attached to their creeds,
and they were granted liberty of conscience as well as
judicial and juridical autonomy.
40.
In the year 10 H., when the Prophet went to Mecca for
Hajj (pilgrimage), he met 140,000 Muslims there, who had
come from different parts of Arabia to fulfil their religious
obligation. He addressed to them his celebrated sermon,
in which he gave a resume of his teachings: "Belief in
One God without images or symbols, equality of all the
Believers without distinction of race or class, the superiority
of individuals being based solely on piety; sanctity of
life, property and honour; abolition of interest, and
of vendettas and private justice; better treatment of
women; obligatory inheritance and distribution of the
property of deceased persons among near relatives of both
sexes, and removal of the possibility of the cumulation
of wealth in the hands of the few." The Quran and the
conduct of the Prophet were to serve as the bases of law
and a healthy criterion in every aspect of human life.
41.
On his return to Madinah, he fell ill; and a few weeks
later, when he breathed his last, he had the satisfaction
that he had well accomplished the task which he had undertaken
- to preach to the world the Divine message.
42.
He bequeathed to posterity, a religion of pure monotheism;
he created a well-disciplined State out of the existent
chaos and gave peace in place of the war of everybody
against everybody else; he established a harmonious equilibrium
between the spiritual and the temporal, between the mosque
and the citadel; he left a new system of law, which dispensed
impartial justice, in which even the head of the State
was as much a subject to it as any commoner, and in which
religious tolerance was so great that non-Muslim inhabitants
of Muslim countries equally enjoyed complete juridical,
judicial and cultural autonomy. In the matter of the revenues
of the State, the Quran fixed the principles of budgeting,
and paid more thought to the poor than to anybody else.
The revenues were declared to be in no wise the private
property of the head of the State. Above all, the Prophet
Muhammad set a noble example and fully practised all that
he taught to others.
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