The Prophet of Islam

If one were to close one's eyes and imagine one-self in the world of 1400 years ago, one would find that it was a world completely different from ours, having not even the least semblance with the rough and tumble that we find around ourselves. How few and far between were the opportunities for the exchange of ideas ! How limited and undeveloped were the means of communications! How little and meager was man's knowledge ! How narrow was his outlook ! How engrossed he was in superstition and wild ideas.

Darkness held the sway. There was only a faint glimmer of learning which could hardly illumine the horizon of human knowledge. Neither was there wireless nor telephone, neither television nor cinematograph. Railways and motor-cars and airplanes were unknown. I-land written books or copyists alone supplied whatever scanty literary material was there to be transmitted from generation to generation. Education was a luxury, meant only for the most fortunate ; and educational institutions there hardly existed.

The store of human knowledge was scanty, man's outlook was narrow, and his ideas of men and things were confined to his limited surroundings. Even a scholar of that age lacked in certain respects the knowledge possessed by a lay-man of today, and the most cultured person was less refined than a man in the street of the present time.

Indeed, humanity was steeped in ignorance and superstition. Whatever light of learning there was, seemed to be fighting a losing battle against the darkness prevailing all around. What are considered to be matters of common knowledge today could hardly be acquired in those days even after years of calculated thought and patient research. People used to, undertake hazardous journeys and spend a whole lifetime struggling to acquire that modest information which is everybody's heritage in the present age of learning. Things which are classed as `myth' and `superstition' today were the unquestionable truths of truths of that age. Acts which we now regard as heinous and barbarous were then the order of the day. Methods which appear obnoxious to our moral sense today constituted the very sense of morality, and one could hardly even imagine in those days that there could be. a different way of life. Incredulity has assumed such mighty proportions and had become so wide-spread that people refused to consider anything as lofty and sublime unless it appeared in the garb of the supernatural, the extraordinary, the uncanny. They had developed such complex that they could never imagine a human being to possess a pure and uncorrupted soul or a true saint to be a human being.

Arabia-Tide Abyss of Darkness

In that benighted era, there was a territory -- Arabia-where darkness lay heaviest and thickest. 'The neighboring countries of Persia, Byzantine and Egypt possessed a glimmer of civilization a faint-light of learning. Put Arabia had received no share from their cultural heritage. It stood isolated, cut off by vast oceans of sand. Arab traders, plodding at distances which tools them months, carried their wares to and from these countries but they could hardly acquire, any grain of knowledge on their journey. In their own country, they did not have a single educational institution or library. None seemed to be interested in the cultivation and advancement of knowledge. The few who were literate were not educated enough to have anything to do with the existing arts and sciences. They did possess -a highly-developed language capable of expressing the finest shades of human thought in a remarkable manner. They also possessed a literary taste of a high order. But the study of the remnants of their literature reveals how limited was their knowledge, how low was their level of culture and civilization, how saturated were their minds with superstitions, how barbarous and ferocious thoughts and customs, and how uncouth and degraded were their moral standards and conceptions.

It was a country without a government. Every tribe claimed sovereignty and considered itself to be an independent unit. There was no law except the law of the jungle. Loot, arson and murder of innocent and weak people had become the order of the day. Life, property and honor were constantly at stake. Different tribes were always at daggers drawn with one another. Any trivial incident was enough to cause a war to blaze out in ferocious fury, which sometimes even developed into a country-wide conflagration ceaselessly continuing for several decades. Indeed, a Bedouin could not understand why he should let off a person of another tribe, whom, he thought, he had every right to kill and plunder.

Whatever notions they had of morals, culture and civilization, were primitive and uncouth. They could hardly discriminate between pure and impure, lawful and unlawful, civil and uncivil. Their life was wild. Their methods were barbaric. They reveled in adultery, gambling and drinking. Loot and plunder were their motto, murder and rapine their very habits. They would stand stark naked before each other without any qualms of conscience. Even their women-folk would become nude at the ceremony of circumambulation of the Ka'ba. Out of sheer foolish notions of honor, they would bury their- daughters alive lest anyone should become their son-in-law. They would marry their step-mothers after the death of their fathers. They were ignorant of even the rudiments of everyday routine of eating, dressing and washing.

As regards their religious beliefs, they suffered from the same evils which were playing havoc with religion the world over.

They worshipped stones, trees, idols, stars and spirits : in short everything conceivable except God, They did not know anything about the teachings of the prophets of God. They had an idea that Abraham and Ishmael were their fore-fathers, but they knew next to nothing about their religious preachings and about the God whom they worshipped. The stories of Ad and Thamud were to be found in their folklore, but they contained no traces of the teachings of prophets such as Hud and Salih. The Jews and the Christians had transmitted to them certain legendary folk-tales relating to the Israelite prophets. They presented a harrowing picture of those noble souls. Their teachings were adulterated with the, figments of their own imagination and their lives were tarred black. Even today, an idea can be had of the religious conceptions of those people by casting a cursory glance at those Israelite traditions which Muslim commentators of the Qur'an had conveyed to us. Indeed, the picture which had been presented of the institution of the prophethood and of the character of the Israelite prophets is the very anti-thesis of all that those noble followers of truth had stood for.

The Savior id Born

In such a dark age and in such a benighted country a man is born. In his very childhood his parents die and, a few years late, the sad demise of his grandfather also occurs. Consequently, he is deprived even of that scant training and upbringing which an Arab child of his time could get. In his boyhood he tends the flocks of sheep and goats in the company of Bedouin boys. When of age, he takes to commerce. All his associations and all his dealings were with the Arabs alone, whose condition had been just described Education has not even touched him; he is completely unlettered and unschooled. He never gets a chance to sit in the-company of learned men, for such men were totally non-existent in Arabia. He did have a few opportunities to go out of his country, but those journeys were confined to Syria and were nothing more than the usual business-trips undertaken by Arab trade-caravans. If .he met any learned man there or had the occasion to observe any aspect of culture and civilization, those random meetings and stray observations cannot be given any place in the malting of his personality. For, such things can never have that profound influence on anyone which might lift him totally out of his environment, transform him completely and raise him to such heights of originality and glory that there remains no affinity between him and the society in which he is born. Nor can they be the means of the acquisition of that profoundly refined aesthetic outlook and moral sensitivity. Surrounded on all sides by stone-hearted people, he himself has a heart overflowing with the mills of human kindness. He helps the orphans and the widows. He is hospitable to travelers. He harms non one ; rather, he goes all out to suffer hardships for the sake of others. Living among those for whom war is bread and butter, he is such a lover of peace that his heart melts for them when, they take up arms and cut each other's throats. He keeps aloof from the feuds of his tribe, and is foremost in bringing about reconciliation. Bred up in an idolatrous race, he is so clear-minded and possesses such a pure soul that he -regards nothing in the heavens and the earth worth worshipping except the One True God. He does not bow before any created thing and does not partake of the offerings made to idols, even in his childhood. Instinctively he hates all kinds of worship of the creatures and objects besides God. In brief, the towering and radiant personality of this man; in the midst of such a benighted and dark environment, may be likened to a beacon-light illumining a pitch-dark night or to a diamond shining in a heap of dead stones.

A Revolutionary Comes

After spending a great part of his life in such a chaste, pure and civilized manner there comes a revolution in his being. He feels up with the darkness and ignorance massed around him. He wants to swim clear .of the horrible sea of ignorance, corruption, immorality, idolatry and disorder which surrounds him on all sides. He finds everything around him out of harmony with his soul. He retires to the hills, away from the hum and drum of habitation. He spends days and nights in perfect seclusion and meditation: He fasts so that his soul and his heart may become still purer and nobler.

He muses and ponders deep. He is in search of such a light which might melt away the encompassing darkness. He wants to get hold of that power with which he might bring about the downfall of the corrupt and disorderly world of his day and lay the foundations of a new and better world.

Lo ! a remarkable revolution comes over his person, All of a sudden his heart is illuminated with the Divine Light, giving to him the power he had yearned for. He comes out of the confinements of his cave, goes to the people and addresses them in the following strain:

The idols which you worship are a mere sham. Cease to worship them from now on. No mortal being, no star, no tree, no stony, no spirit is worthy of human worship. Therefore, bow not your heads in worship before them. The entire universe with everything that it contains belongs to God Almighty alone. He alone is the Creator, the Nourisher, the Sustainer and consequently, the real Sovereign before Whom all should bow down and to Whom all should pray and render obedience. Thus worship Him alone and obey His commands only. Loot and plunder, murder and rapine, injustice and cruelty-all the vices in which you indulge are crimes in -the sight of God: Give up your evil ways ; He hates them all. ,Speak the truth. Be just. Do not kill anyone. Do not rob anyone. Take your lawful share and no more. Give what is due to others in a just manner. You are human beings and all human being are equal in the sight of God. None is born with the slur of shame on his face, nor anyone has come into the world with the mantle. of honor hung around his neck. He alone is high and honored who is God-fearing and pious, true in words and deeds. Distinctions of birth and glory of race are no criteria of greatness and honor. The one who fears God and does good deeds is the noblest of all. One who is shorn of love of God and is steeped in bad manners is doomed. There is an appointed day after, your death when you shall have to appear before your Lord. You shall be called to account for all your deeds-good or bad, and you shall not be able then to hide anything. The whole record of your life shall be an open book to Him. Your fate shall be determined by your good or bad actions. In the court of the True Judge-the Omniscient God-the question of unfair recommendation and favoritism does not arise. You shall not be able to bribe Him. No consideration will be given to your pedigree or parentage. True faith and good deeds alone will stand you in good stead at that time. He who will be fully equipped with them shall take his abode in the Paradise of eternal happiness, while the one who is devoid of them shall be cast in the fire of Hell.

This is the message with which he comes. The ignorant nation turns against him. Abuses and stones are showered at his august person. Every conceivable torture and cruelty was perpetrated on him. And this continues not for a day or two but uninterruptedly for thirteen long agonizing years. At last he was exiled. But he is not given respite even there. He is tormented in various ways in his abode of refuge. The whole of Arabia is incited against him. He is persecuted and hounded down continuously for full eight years. He suffers it all, but does not budge an inch from the stand he has taken. He is resolute, firm and inflexible in his purpose and stand.

Why all that Enmity?

One might inquire; how is it that his nation became his worst enemy? Was there any dispute about gold and silver or other worldly possessions? Was it due to any blood feud? Did he ask for anything from them ? No! The whole enmity was based on the fact that he had asked them to worship the One True God and to lead a life of righteousness, piety and goodness. He had preached against idolatry and the worship of other beings besides God arid had denounced their wrong way of life. He had stricken out at the roots of priest-craft. He had inveighed against all distinctions of high and low between human beings, and had condemned the prejudices of clan and race as sheer ignorance. And he wanted to change the whole structure of society which had been handed down to them from time immemorial. In their turn, his countrymen told him that the principles of his mission were hostile to their ancestral traditions and asked him either to give them up or to bear the worst consequences.

One might ask, what for did he suffer all those hardships? His nation offered to accept him as its king and lay all the riches of the land at his feet if only he would leave preaching his religion and spreading his message. ^{[1. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had to face tempests of adversity for the sake of truth. He braced all the opposition and oppression with a smile on his lips. He stood firm, undeterred by criticism and coercion. When the natives felt that the threats failed to frighten him and the severest tribulations to which he and his followers were subjected could not move them even an inch, they played another trick – but that too was destined to doom! A deputation of the leading Quraish called upon the Holy Prophet and tried to bribe him by offering him all the worldly glory and riches that they could imagine. They said: "If you want to possess wealth, we will amass for you as much as yon wish: if you aspire to win honor and power, we are prepared to swear allegiance to you as our overlord and king; if you have a fancy for beauty, you shall have the hand of the most beautiful maiden of your own choice." But the reply of the Prophet was: "O Uncle! Should they place the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left, in order to make me renounce this mission. IT SHALL NOT BE, I will never give it up till it should please God to make it a triumph or I perish in the attempt." This was the character of the Prophet of Islam!]} But he chose to refuse tempting offers and to suffer for his cause, instead. Why ? Was he to gain in any way if those people became godly, pious and righteous?