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Before we move one more step and meditate on the
last days of the Messenger of Allâh’s life, we ought to cast a quick glance at the
great work that was a peculiarity of his. That very peculiarity that made him excel all
other Prophets and Messengers and made him so superb that Allâh made him atop the formers
and the latters. It was him that was addressed by:
"O you wrapped in
garments (i.e Prophet Muhammad [pbuh])! Stand (to pray) all night, except a little."
[Al-Qur'an 73:1,2]
And said:
"O you (Muhammad
[pbuh]) enveloped (in garments). Arise and warn!" [Al-Qur'an 74:1,2]
So he arose and kept on like that for over twenty
years. During those years he undertook to carry the burdens of the great expectations on
his shoulders for the sake of the whole mankind and humanity, the Faith and Jihad in
various fields.
The Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] undertook the burdens
of struggle and Al-Jihad in the conscience of mankind which was then drowning in
the illusions of Al-Jahiliyah and its images that were loaded with the ground
weights and gravitations. He took upon his shoulder to free man’s conscience which
was chained with desires and lusts. As soon as he had freed the conscience of his
Companions from the burdens and heaps of Al-Jahiliyah and earthly life, he started
another battle in another field or rather successive battles against the enemy of
Allâh’s Call, and against those who conspired against it. It was a battle against
those who conspired against the believers and against those who were so careful to tend
that pure plant in its implantation before it grew up and stretched its roots in soil and
extended its branches up into the air and thus dawned upon other areas. No sooner had he
finished the battles in the Arabian Peninsula than the Byzantines began preparations to
destroy this new nation on the northern borders.
The first battle — i.e. the battle of
conscience — was not over yet. It was in fact a perpetual one. Satan, who was its
leader did not spare a moment without exercising his activity in the depth of human
conscience. Muhammad [pbuh], on the other hand was attending on calling to Allâh’s
religion there and he was keen on fighting that perpetual battle in all fields in spite of
their hard circumstances and the world’s conspiracy against him. He went on calling
effectively and actively surrounded by the believers who were seeking security through
ceaseless toil and great patience.
The Companions acted perpetually and patiently by
day and they spent the night worshipping their Lord, reciting and memorizing the
Qur’ân glorifying and magnifying Allâh and imploring Him by night; all that at the
behest of their Lord, the All-Mighty. [Fi Zilal Al-Qur'an 29/168,169]
For over twenty years the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh]
had been leading that progressive steady battle, disregarding any other affairs that kept
him off that noble goal. He went on that way till the Islamic Call proved to be successful
on a large scale that puzzled all men possessed of good reason.
The Islamic Call eventually prevailed all over
Arabia. It removed all traces of Al-Jahiliyah from the horizon of the peninsula.
The sick minds of Al-Jahiliyah grew healthy in Islam. They did not only get rid of
idol-worship, but they also knocked them down. The general atmosphere began to echo
"there is no god but Allâh." The calls to prayers were heard five times a day
penetrating space and breaking the silence of the dead desert and bringing back life
through the new belief. Reciters and memorizers of the Qur’ân set out northwards and
southwards reciting verses of the Qur’ân and carrying out Allâh’s injunctions.
Scattered people and tribes were united and man
moved from man’s worship of man to man’s worship of Allâh. There were no more
oppressors nor oppressed; no masters nor slaves, nor people bound to other people, nor
aggressors that would practise aggression. All people were slaves of Allâh. They were
beloved brothers obeying Allâh’s rules. Thanks to Allâh they disposed of arrogance
and the boastful spirit:
"An Arab is no better
than a non-Arab. In return a non-Arab is no better than an Arab. A red raced man was not
better than a black one except in piety. Mankind are all Adam’s children and Adam was
created from dust."
Thanks to the Islamic Call, the Arab unity had
become a reality, and so was the case with human unity and social justice as far as their
earthly and heavenly affairs were concerned. The time course of events had changed, the
features on the earth’s surface and the crooked line of history had grown straight
and the mentality had been rectified.
The spirit and the corrupted conscience of people,
the distorted values and measures of Al-Jahiliyah had overwhelmed the whole world
during that period of Al-Jahiliyah. The prevalence of slavery, injustice,
extravagant luxury, adultery, depression, deprivity, disbelief, stray from the straight
path and darkness; all of those were fait accomplis in spite of the
existence of the heavenly religions. The teachings of those religions had grown weak and
lost all influence on men’s souls and spirits and became mere lifeless ritual
traditions.
When this Call had accomplished its role in human
life, it freed mankind’s spirit of superstitions, illusions, white slavery,
corruption and man’s worship of man. Islam had freed the human society of filth,
dissolution, injustice and tyranny. There were no more social distinctions, nor
clergymen’s or governors’ dictatorship. Islam had set up a world built on solid
virtuous and clean foundations, it was based on positivity, righteous construction,
freedom and renewal. Truth, faith, dignity active steady deeds, the development and
improvement of means of living and reclaim of rights were all bases upon which the Islamic
state was built. [Madha
Khasira Al-'Alam bi-Inhitatil-Muslimeen p.14]
Thanks to these evolutions, Arabia witnessed such an
unprecedented blessed resurrection, since construction and establishment found its way to
it. Never had its history been so religious, pious and brilliant as it had been during
those peculiar days of its life.
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