The Prophet of Islam - His Biography
[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.
Birth of the Prophet
10. It was in the midst of such conditions and environments
that Muhammad was born in 569 after Christ. His father, 'Abdullah
had died some weeks earlier, and it was his grandfather who took him
in charge. According to the prevailing custom, the child was entrusted
to a Bedouin foster-mother, with whom he passed several years in the
desert. All biographers state that the infant prophet sucked only one
breast of his foster-mother, leaving the other for the sustenance of
his foster-brother. When the child was brought back home, his mother,
Aminah, took him to his maternal uncles at Madinah to visit the tomb
of 'Abdullah. During the return journey, he lost his mother who died
a sudden death. At Mecca, another bereavement awaited him, in the
death of his affectionate grandfather. Subjected to such privations,
he was at the age of eight, consigned at last to the care of his uncle,
Abu-Talib, a man who was generous of nature but always short of
resources and hardly able to provide for his family.
11. Young Muhammad had therefore to start immediately to earn his
livelihood; he served as a shepherd boy to some neighbours. At the age
of ten he accompanied his uncle to Syria when he was leading a caravan
there. No other travels of Abu-Talib are mentioned, but there are
references to his having set up a shop in Mecca. (Ibn Qutaibah,
Ma'arif). It is possible that Muhammad helped him in this enterprise
also.
12. By the time he was twenty-five, Muhammad had become well known in
the city for the integrity of his disposition and the honesty of his
character. A rich widow, Khadijah, took him in her employ and
consigned to him her goods to be taken for sale to Syria. Delighted
with the unusual profits she obtained as also by the personal charms
of her agent, she offered him her hand. According to divergent
reports, she was either 28 or 40 years of age at that time, (medical
reasons prefer the age of 28 since she gave birth to five more
children). The union proved happy. Later, we see him sometimes in the
fair of Hubashah (Yemen), and at least once in the country of the 'Abd
al-Qais (Bahrain-Oman), as mentioned by Ibn Hanbal. There is every
reason to believe that this refers to the great fair of Daba (Oman),
where, according to Ibn al-Kalbi (cf. Ibn Habib, Muhabbar), the
traders of China, of Hind and Sind (India, Pakistan), of Persia, of
the East and the West assembled every year, travelling both by land
and sea. There is also mention of a commercial partner of Muhammad at
Mecca. This person, Sa'ib by name reports: "We relayed each other; if
Muhammad led the caravan, he did not enter his house on his return to
Mecca without clearing accounts with me; and if I led the caravan, he
would on my return enquire about my welfare and speak nothing about
his own capital entrusted to me."
An Order of Chivalry
13. Foreign traders often brought their goods to Mecca for sale.
One day a certain Yemenite (of the tribe of Zubaid) improvised a
satirical poem against some Meccans who had refused to pay him the
price of what he had sold, and others who had not supported his
claim or had failed to come to his help when he was victimised. Zuhair,
uncle and chief of the tribe of the Prophet, felt great remorse on
hearing this just satire. He called for a meeting of certain chieftains in
the city, and organized an order of chivalry, called Hilf al-fudul, with
the aim and object of aiding the oppressed in Mecca, irrespective of
their being dwellers of the city or aliens. Young Muhammad became
an enthusiastic member of the organisation. Later in life he used to
say: "I have participated in it, and I am not prepared to give up that
privilege even against a herd of camels; if somebody should appeal
to me even today, by virtue of that pledge, I shall hurry to his help."
Beginning of Religious Consciousness
14. Not much is known about the religious practices of Muhammad until
he was thirty-five years old, except that he had never worshipped
idols. This is substantiated by all his biographers. It may be stated
that there were a few others in Mecca, who had likewise revolted
against the senseless practice of paganism, although conserving their
fidelity to the Ka'bah as the house dedicated to the One God by its
builder Abraham.
15. About the year 605 of the Christian era, the draperies on the
outer wall of the Ka'bah took fire. The building was affected and
could not bear the brunt of the torrential rains that followed. The
reconstruction of the Ka'bah was thereupon undertaken. Each citizen
contributed according to his means; and only the gifts of honest gains
were accepted. Everybody participated in the work of construction,
and Muhammad's shoulders were injured in the course of transporting
stones. To identify the place whence the ritual of circumambulation
began, there had been set a black stone in the wall of the Ka'bah.
dating probably from the time of Abraham himself. There was rivalry
among the citizens for obtaining the honour of transposing this stone
in its place. When there was danger of blood being shed, somebody
suggested leaving the matter to Providence, and accepting the
arbitration of him who should happen to arrive there first. It chanced
that Muhammad just then turned up there for work as usual. He was
popularly known by the appellation of al-Amin (the honest), and
everyone accepted his arbitration without hesitation. Muhammad placed
a sheet of cloth on the ground, put the stone on it and asked the
chiefs of all the tribes in the city to lift together the cloth. Then
he himself placed the stone in its proper place, in one of the angles
of the building, and everybody was satisfied.
16. It is from this moment that we find Muhammad becoming
more and more absorbed in spiritual meditations. Like his grandfather,
he used to retire during the whole month of Ramadan to a cave in
Jabal-an-Nur (mountain of light). The cave is called `Ghar-i-Hira' or
the cave of research. There he prayed, meditated, and shared his
meagre provisions with the travellers who happened to pass by.
Revelation
17. He was forty years old, and it was the fifth consecutive year
since his annual retreats, when one night towards the end of the month
of Ramadan, an angel came to visit him, and announced that God had
chosen him as His messenger to all mankind. The angel taught him the
mode of ablutions, the way of worshipping God and the conduct of
prayer. He communicated to him the following Divine message:
With the name of God, the Most Merciful, the All-Merciful.
Read: with the name of thy Lord Who created,
Created man from what clings,
Read: and thy Lord is the Most Bounteous,
Who taught by the pen,
Taught man what he knew not. (Quran 96:1-5)
18. Deeply affected, he returned home and related to his wife what had
happened, expressing his fears that it might have been something
diabolic or the action of evil spirits. She consoled him, saying that
he had always been a man of charity and generosity, helping the poor,
the orphans, the widows and the needy, and assured him that God would
protect him against all evil.
19. Then came a pause in revelation, extending over three years. The
Prophet must have felt at first a shock, then a calm, an ardent
desire, and after a period of waiting, a growing impatience or
nostalgia. The news of the first vision had spread and at the pause
the sceptics in the city had begun to mock at him and cut bitter
jokes. They went so far as to say that God had forsaken him.
20. During the three years of waiting. the Prophet had given
himself up more and more to prayers and to spiritual practices. The
revelations were then resumed and God assured him that He had not
at all forsaken him: on the contrary it was He Who had guided him
to the right path: therefore he should take care of the orphans and
the destitute, and proclaim the bounty of God on him (cf. Q. 93:3-11).
This was in reality an order to preach. Another revelation directed
him to warn people against evil practices, to exhort them to worship
none but the One God, and to abandon everything that would displease
God (Q. 74:2-7). Yet another revelation commanded him to warn his
own near relatives (Q. 26:214); and: "Proclaim openly that which
thou art commanded, and withdraw from the Associators (idolaters).
Lo! we defend thee from the scoffers" (15:94-5). According to Ibn
Ishaq, the first revelation (n. 17) had come to the Prophet during his
sleep, evidently to reduce the shock. Later revelations came in full
wakefulness.
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).
The 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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