Tag: islam throughout history

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His Life New Muslims

Building up Goodness: Lessons from the Prophet

The greatest, most profound change in history happened peacefully. Nevertheless, it was truly decisive. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) changed the people’s beliefs, their behavior, their customs, and their social norms, and he did so by convincing them with kindness and gentle persuasion.

He did not force people to agree with him. He did not resort to a show of strength except when absolutely necessary to protect his people.

For the first thirteen years of his mission, he lived in Makkah in a state of abject weakness, persecuted by his countrymen. After he emigrated to Madinah, his focus was on building and safeguarding his community.

Real Change

If we consider the landmark events of the Madinite era, we find that the battle of Badr was not pre-planned; the battle of Uhud was purely defensive as was the Battle of the Confederate tribes. The peace treaty of Hudaybiyah that the Prophet entered into with the Makkans was seen by many of the Muslims to be a humiliation for Islam, but the Prophet knew better.

Then, when the Muslims finally entered Makkah in victory, they did so peacefully. They took the city without fighting or bloodshed. Then the Prophet stood among the Makkans, who feared reprisals for the years of persecution they had meted out to the Muslims, and he said: “You may go as you please, for you are free.”

He restored to the weak and oppressed their rights, manumitted slaves, elevated the status of the people, and did away with oppressive practices against women. He likewise did away with the exploitative practices, pomp and influence of the city’s despots with the minimum of hardship for all parties concerned.

It is impressive how the Prophet rid Arabian society of the many deep-rooted and pernicious customs that they had during the times of ignorance. He was able to bring about a new mindset, freed from the rote, blind following of ancestral traditions. He made the people aware of the falsehood of their former customs, so this awareness could protect them from lapsing back into such modes of thought.

In this way, the Prophet brought them out of the darkness of superstition, fortune-telling and divination. He dispelled their wantonness and sexual exploitation. He did away with their tribal boasting and rivalries.

He rid their hearts of racism. When his own Companion Abu Dharr betrayed racist tendencies, he did not hesitate to tell him: “You are indeed a man possessed of some habits from the times of ignorance.”

Non-Negotiable Principle: Oneness of God

He never compromised on polytheism. He opposed it absolutely, regardless of the sacrifices and hardships this meant for him. He stove to dismantle polytheism in the minds and hearts of the people and bring them to monotheism. Nevertheless, when he went to Mecca after the Treaty of Hudaybiyah to perform the `umrah pilgrimage, there were three hundred and sixty idols around the Ka`bah.

He did not destroy the idols or interfere with them in any way. What would have been the point?

It is easy for people to recreate their idols as long as they believe in them. The only permanent way to dismantle them is to dismantle them in the people’s hearts and minds. Only after he entered Makkah as their leader, after the people entered into Islam in droves, did he remove the idols from the Ka`bah, restoring it as a place of worship for Allah alone.

At this time, a great majority of the people had been convinced of the falsehood of idol worship. Indeed, one of the Makkan leaders commented: “Had they been of any worth, they would not have forsaken us.”

The Prophet (peace be upon him) was an example of patience in how he coexisted with the pagans in Makkah, and in the fortitude he showed by responding gently and with an open heart to them, in spite of to their abuses and hostility towards him and towards the men and women who chose to follow him.

Peace & Coexistence

Then, after the emigration to Madinah, he lived alongside the Jews and the pagans from the local tribes, not to mention the hypocrites who concealed their animosity towards Islam and the Muslims who were weak in faith. These people were still in Madinah at the time of the Prophet’s death. The chapter of the Qur’an entitled Al-Hujurat, which addresses those who were being ill-mannered towards the Prophet and using spiteful names, was revealed in the ninth year after the emigration. One of its final verses reads:

The Bedouins say: “We have believed.” Say (to them): “You have not (yet) believed; but say (instead), ‘We have submitted’, for faith has not yet entered your hearts. And if you obey Allah and His Messenger, He will not deprive you from your deeds of anything. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. (Al-Hujurat 49:14)

At the time of the Prophet’s death, his shield was being held by a Jewish man as collateral for a debt he owed him. The Prophet had borrowed the money to provide food for his family. The Prophet needed the money at the time, and the purchase of the shield was in the Jewish man’s interest at the time. This is the basis of coexistence, to realize that your own welfare and that of other people can be realized together.

In this way, the Prophet gave a practical lesson for future generations. Madinah, the first capital of Islam, had this diversity within it. In this way, the people could learn how to call others to Islam and how to conduct themselves in a society where they live with people of other faiths as fellow citizens.

Throughout History

During the many eras of Islamic rule throughout history, the rights of the various religious communities and denominations were upheld and protected within the context of a strong social fabric. They were not forced to change their religion or their denominational affiliation. The Muslims continued to engage them in polite debate and discussion.

This social fabric can be torn apart by conflicts spurred on by political interests who instigate the ignorant people and play on their prejudices. When this happens, when neighbor turns against neighbor, people abandon our Prophet’s teachings which stress neighborly rights even with those you disagree with.

At times of conflict, people behave irrationally and suspiciously. Sensible people know that this state of affairs is temporary and can –must– be surmounted. People can settle back into living together in peace and cooperation for their mutual wellbeing.

This is why `Amr ibn Al-`Aas praised the Roman people for being: “the quickest people to recover from a crisis.” He was referring to an aspect of their cultural mindset that allowed them to get past the times of strife and war and return to a productive state of dialogue and cooperation. This is what we see in Europe after the two world wars. The European people pulled themselves together and ultimately created the European common market, and ultimately the European Union with all of its impressive institutions.

By contrast, we find some Arab tribes holding on to their ancient feuds, passing the animosity down from one generation to the next, keeping them alive through their legends and poems as if the conflict began only yesterday.

These tensions can sometimes take on a sectarian or partisan character, spurred on by political rhetoric and ideology. We see this among both Islamist and secular factions, which shows that the particular ideology in the political theatre did not succeed in disciplining this trend, but instead channelled it one way or another.

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Source: Source: Source: Dawahskills.com

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His Life New Muslims

Life of the Prophet: The Message for Present Muslims

By Sheikh Abu Al-Hassan ‘Ali Nadwi

Obviously, the world was not a deserted place at the time of the upbringing of the Prophet (peace be upon him). It was not a graveyard. The wheels of life were moving at that time too with very little difference from what they are now. Business was carried on almost in the same manner, and the people, generally, were satisfied with the things around them and did not feel the need for change.

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The chief anxiety of the Prophet about the Muslims was that they would fall prey to the allurements of the world and forgot their mission.

But the Almighty did not like the state of the world. As it is mentioned in a prophetic tradition: “The Lord cast a glance at the dwellers of the earth, and felt highly displeased with them, whether Arabs or non-Arab. He was angry with all except for a few who believed in the revealed religions” (Muslim).

He, thereupon, sent down the Prophet Mohammad, and along with him, made provision for giving rise to a whole community. This community had evidently been created for a definite purpose which was not being fulfilled by others. There could be no need to raise a new community for something that was already being done or to produce the storm in the placid ocean of life that followed the emergence of the new Ummah.

For a Reason

When the Lord created Adam, the Angels asked: Were they not enough for His glorification? Why should this creature of clay be brought into being? The Lord replied: I know what you know not. (Al-Baqarah 2:30)

He, thereby, indicated that Adam had not been created to fulfill the function of the Angels, but He intended to take some other work from him.

If the Muslims were being raised merely for trade, the merchants of Mecca who took their caravans to Syria and Yemen, and the Jews of Madinah who had established large business houses had the right to ask whether they were not good enough that a new community was called for. And if it was agriculture, the farmers of Medina, Khyber, Najd, Syria, Yemen and Iraq could have complained why they were being overlooked. And so on.

But Muslims were being created for a new task which no one in the world was performing or could perform. A new community was required for it. Hence, it was said:

You are the best community that has been raised up for mankind. You enjoin right conduct and forbid indecency; and you believe in Allah. (Aal `Imran 3:110)

It was for this sake that people left their home for good, suffered loss in trade and agriculture, and shut their eyes to the comforts of the world. They shed their blood like water, preferred widowhood for their women, and the state of an orphan for their children.

Was all this strife, this struggle and sacrifice, aimed simply for the ends and activities with which the Muslims appear to be so contented today?

The way to their attainment was safe and even. There was no opposition from the contemporary world over it. Progress along it was not the bone of contention between the Arabs and the other people. They had repeatedly been offered the things the Muslims are hankering after now, but each time, the preacher of Islam, the Prophet, had firmly rejected all the proposals of power, wealth and luxury.

Now, were the Muslims to come down to the level of all the pagan communities subsisted at the time of the childhood of the Prophet, and come down to the level the entire non-Muslim population of the world is finding itself today, and plunge recklessly into worldly affairs and interests like the Arabs, Romans and Persians of those days, and then make the high aim of their existence the ends and advantages the sacred Prophet had  turned down with disdain, what could it denote save the repudiation and betrayal of the early history of Islam? Would it not show that the blood that was shed at Badr, Hunain, Al-Ahzab, Qadsia and Yarmouk had been in vain?

If the leaders of the Quraysh were able to speak today, they could rightfully tell the Muslims that the things they were craving for were exactly what they had offered to their Prophet. All these could be obtained without shedding a drop of blood. Was the net result of the whole struggle and the worth of all the sacrifices the way of life they had chosen and the moral standards that were so pleasing to them? What answer would we have then?

Man’s True Mission

The chief anxiety of the Prophet about the Muslims was that they would fall prey to the allurements of the world and forgot their mission. He had addressed this warning to them in the sermon he delivered during the last days of his life:

“It is not poverty that I fear for you, but what I really fear is that the earth should be spread for you, as it had spread for those who came before you, so that you could covet it as they had coveted, and, then, it destroyed you as it had destroyed them.”

As we learn from Abu Ayyub Al-Ansari, when it was felt by the Ansar of Madinah that they withdrew, for some time, from struggle in the path of Allah and paid attention to trade and agriculture which were suffering through neglect, they could not even think of exempting themselves from the principal duties like Salah, Fasting and Zakat, but had only expressed the intention of taking leave for a time from participation in the active endeavor for the glory of faith– this temporary withdrawal, too, was held to be nothing short of suicide, and the following verse of Surat Al-Baqarah was revealed:

Spend your wealth for the cause of Allah, and be not cast by your own hands to fitting destruction; and do good as it ought to be and carry it on. Lo! Allah loves those who do good deeds. (Al-Baqarah 2:195)

The particular mould of a Muslim’s life is such that he should either be engaged in the preaching and propagation of Faith and other practical endeavors in its path or lending help and support to those who are so engaged, and also, wishing, genuinely, to join in the task himself.

The life of a contented citizen or businessman is not the life of a Muslim. It can never be his aim and ideal. Legitimate concerns of life and lawful economic activity, of course, are not forbidden.

On the contrary, these are a form of worship and a means to the gaining of the propinquity of the Lord provided that the intention is pure and the eye is on the reward of the hereafter and such an occupation is carried on within the limits prescribed by Islam.

This is the chief message of the life of the Prophet for Muslims. To remain indifferent to it is to allow its purpose to be wasted and turn a blind eye to the fundamental reality the life of the Prophet presents to us.

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Source: ilmgate.org

The article is an excerpt from the author’s Pathway to Medina.

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Categories
His Legacy New Muslims

Prophet Muhammad: The Greatest Revolutionary Ever

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Prophet Muhammad’s great contribution to history lies in his being a philosopher and a seer as well as a living embodiment of his own teachings.

In the cavalcade of world history the sublime figure of this wonderful person towers so high above all others that they appear to be dwarfs when contrasted with him. None of them possessed a genius capable of making a deep impression on more than one or two aspects of human life. Some are brilliant theoreticians but are lacking when it comes to practical action. Some are men of action but with little knowledge. Some are renowned as statesmen only, others are masters of strategy.

Others again have devoted their energies to ethical and spiritual problems but have ignored economics and politics. In short, one comes across heroes who are expert in one walk of life only.

His is the only example where all the excellences have been blended into one personality. He is a philosopher and a seer as well as a living embodiment of his own teachings. He is a great statesman as well as a military genius. He is a legislator and also a teacher of morals.

He is a spiritual luminary as well as a religious guide. His vision penetrates every aspect of life. His orders and commandments cover a vast field from the regulation of international relations down to the habits of everyday life like eating, drinking and personal hygiene.

On the foundations of philosophy he established a civilization and a culture without the slightest trace of a flaw, deficiency or incompleteness. Can anyone point to another example of such a perfect and all round-personality?

Why that Unique?

Most of the famous personalities of the world are said to be the products of their environment. But his case is unique. His environment seems to have played no part in the making of his personality. At most one might accept in the light of Hegel’s philosophy of history or Marx’s historical materialism that the time and environment demanded the emergence of a leader who could create a nation and build an empire.

But Hegelian or Marxist philosophy cannot explain how such an environment could produce a man whose mission was to teach the highest morals, to purify humanity and to wipe out prejudice and superstition, who looked beyond the artificial compartments of race and nation-state, who laid the foundations of a moral, spiritual, cultural and political superstructure for the good of the whole world, who practically, not theoretically, placed business transactions, civics, politics and international relations on moral grounds and produced such a balanced synthesis between worldly life and spiritual advancement that even to this day it is considered to be a masterpiece of wisdom and foresight.

Can anyone honestly call such a person a product of all-pervading darkness of Arabia?

He does not only appear to be independent of his environment. When we look at his achievements we are irresistibly drawn to the conclusion that he actually transcends the limitations of time and space. His vision breaks through all temporal and physical barriers, passes beyond centuries and millenniums and encompasses within itself the whole of human history.

History Maker

He is not one of those whom history has cast into oblivion, and he is not praised only because he was a good leader in his own time. He is that unique and incomparable leader of humanity who marches with time, who is modern in every age and in every era.

Those whom people style ‘makers of history’ are only ‘creatures of history’. In fact, in the whole of history of mankind, he is the unique example of a ‘maker of history’.

One may scan the lives and circumstances of the great leaders of the world who brought about revolutions and one will find that on such occasions the forces of revolution were gathering momentum for the destined upheaval, were taking their course in certain directions and were only waiting for the right moment.

In harnessing these forces the revolutionary leader played the part of an actor for whom the stage and the role is set beforehand. On the other hand the Prophet is only a person who had to genuinely create a revolution; he had to mold and produce the kind of men he wanted because the spirit of revolution and its necessary conditions were nonexistent.

He made an indelible impression on the hearts of thousands of his disciples by his forceful personality and molded them to his way of thinking. By his iron will he prepared the ground for revolution and directed events into the channels he wanted. Can anyone cite another example of a maker of history of such distinction, another revolutionary of such brilliance and splendor?

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The article is an excerpt from the book “Towards Understanding Islam” by Abul A`la Al-Mawdudi.

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