Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society
CLASSIFICATION
OF DUTIES
1.
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS
The function of the
Code should be the realization of the Ideal and the actualization of the norms
that it implies.
Before we proceed to
the structural constituents of systematization, however, it is necessary to
establish the Qur’anic point of view with respect to the concepts of ‘Duty’ and
‘Right’.
Duty
and Right:
The Qur’anic moral code
is based on the emphasis on ‘obligation’ or ‘duty’ in contrast to the emphasis
on ‘right’ (5:48; etc.). Now, the implications of the emphasis respectively on
duty and right are:
Right is a right
against someone. Duty is a duty towards someone. Right means that someone else
owes something to us. For, when we say: ‘it is our right’, it means that
someone has to perform a duty to us. On the contrary when we say; ‘it is our
duty’, it means that someone has a right against us.
The emphasis on duty
creates harmony in social life, because if everyone were to concentrate on his
or her duty, the emphasis on grumbling for rights will naturally vanish. On the
contrary, the emphasis on rights creates strife, because if everyone were to
think about his rights on others, he would hardly have the mind to think of his
duties towards others. The immense increase in quarrels and strifes between the
different classes of human beings, as for instance, between laborers & capitalists, and between races & nations, which we find in the world today,
is the direct outcome of the emphasis on rights. As regards the political life
in different countries, the subjects or citizens clamor for their rights more
than taking pains for fulfilling their duties towards their fellow-beings, the
state and the country. Everyone tries thus to transfer blame to the shoulders
of others, and the confusion gets worse confounded. This state of affairs will
not improve unless the world adopts the Qur’anic emphasis on duty.
Then, the emphasis on
duty creates unity among human beings, because it is built up on the idea and
the sentiment of sympathy,— sympathy in the sense that in fulfilling our duty
we have always to do some positive good to someone in the world. On the contrary,
the emphasis on rights is conducive to disintegration and disunity among human
beings, because it is based on the idea of demanding some thing from others. We
all know that we feel happy when anyone gives something to us, and most people
feel unhappy and miserable when anyone demands anything from them.
The
Empire of Duties:
As to
the classification of Duties: Since, according to the Holy Qur’an, man is not
merely a moral being but also a spiritual, physical, rational and aesthetical
being, as we shall shortly see, the fulfillment of duties relating to all those
aspects of the human personality is necessary for the realisation of the
Qur’anic moral Ideal.
Now, since morality
originates in the attitude that man takes towards personality in his own being
or in the being of others, the moral duties should be classified basically
as:(1) Duties to Self, and (2) Duties
to Others. And since the person who is nearest to the moral agent is his own
person, Duties to Self should come first and the Duties to Others thereafter.
The question may now be
raised: What is the relationship between Duties to Self and Duties to
Others?
If the problem is
viewed in the light of the ideational cultural philosophy, the two duties
remain unconnected; because the point of view there is individualistic. Their
relationship can be affirmed only on the basis of the Qur’anic philosophy of
idealistic, or integralistic, culture which is based on the synthesis of the
ideational and the sensate, and which, consequently, stands for interdependent
relationship between morality and social life. Thus moral perfection of the
moral agent is conceived there with reference to the happiness of others,
which, in its turn, is possible only in terms of social welfare.
Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society
Chapter 3
MUHAMMAD’S
PERSONALITY AND CHARACTER AND SIDELIGHTS ON SOME REFORMS
PERSONALITY AND CHARACTER:
Mohammad was of middle height, rather thin but broad of
shoulder, wide of chest, strong of bone and muscle. His head was massive,
strongly developed. Dark hair, slightly curled, flowed in a dense mass almost
to his shoulders; even in advanced age it was sprinkled with only about twenty
grey hairs, produced by the agonies of his ‘Revelations’. His face was
oval-shaped, slightly tawny of colour. Fine long arched eye-brows were divided
by a vein, which throbbed visibly in moments of passion. Great black restless
eyes shone out from under long heavy eyelashes. His nose was large, slightly
acquiline. His teeth, upon which he bestowed great care, were well set,
dazzling white. A full beard framed his manly face. His skin was clear and
soft, his complexion ‘red and white’. His hands were as ‘silk and satin’, even
as those of a woman. His step was quick and elastic, yet firm as that of one
who steps ‘from a high to a low place’. In turning his face, he would also turn
his whole body. His whole gait and presence was dignified and imposing. His
countenance was mild and pensive. His laugh was rarely more than a smile.
“In his habits he was extremely simple, although he bestowed
great care on his person. His eating and drinking, his dress and his furniture
retained, even when he had reached the fullness of power, their almost
primitive nature. The only luxuries he indulged in were arms, which he highly
prized, and a pair of yellow boots, a present from the Negus of Abyssinia.
Perfumes, however, he loved passionately, being most sensitive to smells.
Strong drink he abhorred.
“… He was gifted with mighty powers of imagination, elevation
of mind, delicacy and refinement of feeling.” ‘He is more modest than a virgin
behind her curtain’, it was said of him. He was most indulgent to his
inferiors, and would never allow his little page to be scolded whatever he did.
‘Ten years’, said Anas, his servant, ‘I was about the Prophet, and he never
said as much as ‘uff’ to me’. He was very affectionate towards his family. One
of his boys died on his breast in the smoky house of the nurse, a blacksmith’s
wife. He was very fond of children; he would stop them in the streets and pat
little heads. He never struck anyone in his life. The worst expression he ever
made use of in conversation was, ‘What has come to him? May his forehead become
darkened with mud!’ When asked to curse someone he replied, ‘I have not been
sent to curse, but to be a mercy to mankind’. ‘He visited the sick, followed
any bier he met, accepted the invitation of a slave to dinner, mended his own
clothes, milked the goats, and waited upon himself,’ relates summarily another
tradition. He never first withdrew his hand thus, out of another man’s palm,
and turned not before the other had turned.
“He was the most faithful protector of those he protected,
the sweetest and most agreeable in conversation. Those who saw him were
suddenly filled with reverence; those who came near him loved him; they who
described him would say, ‘I have never seen his like either before or after’.
He was of great taciturnity, but when he spoke it was with emphasis and
deliberation and no one could forget what he said.
“He lived with his wives in a row of humble cottages
separated from one another by palm-branches, cemented together with mud. He
would kindle the fire, sweep the floor, and milk the goats himself. The little
food he had was always shared with those who dropped in to partake of it.
Indeed outside the Prophet’s house was a bench or a gallery, on which were always
found a number of poor who lived entirely upon his generosity, and were hence
called ‘the people of the bench’. His ordinary food was dates and water, or
barley bread; milk and honey were luxuries of which he was fond, but which he
rarely allowed himself. The fare of the desert seemed most congenial to him
even when he was sovereign of Arabia.
“There is something so tender and womanly, and withal so
heroic, about the man, that one is in peril of finding the judgment
unconsciously blinded by the feeling of reverence, and well-nigh love, that
such a nature inspires. He who, standing alone, braved for years the hatred of
his people, is the same who was never the first to withdraw his hand from
another’s clasp; the beloved of children, who never passed a group of little
ones without a smile from his wonderful eyes and kind word for them, sounding
all the kinder in that sweet-toned voice. The frank friendship, the noble
generosity, the dauntless courage and hope of the man, all tend to melt
criticism into admiration.
“He was an enthusiast in that noblest sense when enthusiasm
becomes the salt of the earth, the one thing that keep men from rotting whilst
they live. Enthusiasm is often used despitefully, because it is joined to an
unworthy cause, or falls upon barren ground and bears no fruit. So was it not
with Muhammad. He was an enthusiast when enthusiasm was the one thing needed to
set the world aflame, and his enthusiasm was noble for a noble cause. He was
one of those happy few who have attained the supreme joy of making one great
truth their very life-spring. He was the messenger of the one God, and never to
his life’s end did he forget who he was or the message which was the marrow of
his being. He brought his tidings to his people with a grand dignity sprung
from the consciousness of his high office together with a most sweet humility
…”[1]
“His (i.e., Muhammad’s) politeness to the great, his
affability to the humble, and his dignified bearing to the presumptuous,
procured him respect, admiration and applause. His talents were equally fitted
for persuasion or command. Deeply read in the volume of nature, though entirely
ignorant of letters, his mind could expand into controversy with the acutest of
his enemies, or contract itself to the apprehension of the meanest of his
disciples. His simple eloquence, rendered impressive by the expression of a
countenance wherein awfulness of majesty was tempered by an amiable sweetness,
excited emotion of veneration and love; and he was gifted with the
authoritative air of genius which alike influences the learned and commands the
illiterate. As a friend and a parent, he exhibited the softest feelings of
nature; but, while in possession of the kind and generous emotions of the
heart, and engaged in the discharge of most of the social and domestic duties,
he disgraced not his assumed title of an apostle of God. With all that
simplicity which is so natural to a great mind, he performed the humblest
offices whose homeliness it would be idle to conceal with pompuous diction, even
while Lord of Arabia, he mended his own shoes and coarse woollen garments,
milked the ewes, swept the hearth, and kindled the fire. Dates and water were
his usual fare and milk and honey his luxuries. When he travelled he divided
his morsel with his servant. The sincerity of his exhortations to benevolence
was justified at his death by the exhausted state of his coffers.”[2]
“Mohammed … despised grandeur, and lived on principle an
extremely frugal life, though he was no ascetic… He is reputed to have behaved
very simply, and there is no reason for not supposing that he did. He performed
the most menial tasks with his own hands, and was essentially puritan, saying
the Divine revelation forbade him to wear either gold or silk .”[3]
“His deportment, in general, was calm and equable; he
… was grave and dignified, though he is said to have possessed a smile of
captivating sweetness. His complexion was more ruddy than is usual with Arabs,
and in his excited and enthusiastic moments there was a glow and radiance in
his countenance, which his disciples magnified into the supernatural light of
prophecy.
“His intellectual qualities were undoubtedly of an
extraordinary kind. He had a quick apprehension, a retentive memory, a vivid
imagination and an inventive genius.
“He was sober and abstemious in his diet, and a rigorous
observer of fasts. He indulged in no magnificence of apparel, the ostentation
of a petty mind; neither was his simplicity in dress affected but a result of
real disregard for distinction from so trivial a source.
“In his private dealings he was just. He treated friends and
strangers, the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak, with equity, and
was loved by the common people for the affability with which he received them,
and listened to their complaints.
“His military triumphs awakened no pride nor vain glory, as
they would have done had they been effected for selfish purposes. In the time
of his greatest power he maintained the same simplicity of manners and
appearance as in the days of his adversity. So far from affecting a regal
state, he was displeased if, on entering a room, any unusual testimonials of
respect were shown to him. If he aimed at universal dominion, it was the
dominion of the faith, as to the temporal rule which grew up in his hands, as
he used it without ostentation, so he took no step to perpetuate it in his
family.”[4]
“Mahomet himself, after all that can be said about him, was
not a sensual man … His household was of the frugalest; his common diet barley-bread and water;
sometimes for months there was not a fire once lighted on his hearth. They
record with just pride that he would mend his own shoes, patch his own cloak …
careless of what vulgar men toil for … something better in him than hunger of
any sort, or these wild Arab men, fighting and jostling three and twenty years
at his hand, in close contact with him always, would not have reverenced him
so! They were wild men, bursting ever and anon with quarrel, with all kinds of
fierce sincerity; without right worth and manhood, no man could have commanded
them … No emperor with his tiaras was obeyed as this man in a cloak of his own
clouting. During three-and-twenty years of rough actual trial, I find something
of a veritable hero necessary for that myself.”[5][6]
“His (i.e., Muhammad’s) memory was capacious and retentive,
his wit easy and social, his imagination sublime, his judgment clear, rapid and
decisive. He possessed the courage of both thought and action; and … the first
idea which he entertained of his divine mission bears the stamp of an original
and superior genius.”[7]
“Head of the State as well as of the Church”, remarks
Bosworth Smith, “he was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without Pope’s
pretensions, Caesar without the legions of Caesar. Without a standing army,
without a body-guard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue, if ever any
man had the right to say that he ruled by the right divine, it was Mohammad,
for he had all the power without its instruments and without its supports. He
rose superior to the title and ceremonies, the solemn trifling, and the proud
humility of court etiquette. To hereditary kings, to princes born in the
purple, these things are naturally enough as the breath of life; but those who
ought to have known better, even self-made rulers, and those the foremost in
the files of time—a Caesar, a Cromwell, a Napolean, have been unable to resist
their tinsel attractions. Mohammad was content with the reality; he cared not
for the dressings of power. The simplicity of his private life was in keeping
with his public life. ‘God’, says AlBokhari, ‘offered him the keys of the
treasures of the earth, but he would not accept them’.”[8]
“Never has a man set for himself, voluntarily or
involuntarily, a more sublime aim, since this aim was superhuman: to subvert
superstitions which had been interposed between man and his Creator; to render
God unto man he and man unto God; to restore the rational and sacred idea of
divinity amidst the chaos of the material and disfigured gods of idolatry, then
existing. Never has a man undertaken a work so far beyond human power with so
feeble means, for he (Muhammad) had in the conception as well as in the
execution of such a great design no other instrument than himself, and no other
aid, except a handful of men living in a corner of the desert. Finally, never
has a man accomplished such a huge and lasting revolution in the world, because
in less than two centuries after its appearance, Islam in faith and in arms,
reigned over the whole of Arabia, conquered, in God’s name, Persia, Khorasan,
Transoxania, Western India, Syria, Egypt, Abyssinia, all the known continent of
Northern Africa, numerous islands of the Mediterranean, Spain, and a part of
Gaul.
“If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astounding
results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any
great man in modern history with Muhammad? The most famous men created arms,
laws and empires only. They founded, if anything at all, no more than material
powers which often crumbled away before their eyes. This man moved not only
armies, legislations, empires, peoples and dynasties, but millions of men in
one-third of the then inhabited world, and more than that, he moved the altars,
the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and the souls.
On the basis of
a Book, every letter of which has become law, he created a spiritual
nationality which blended together peoples of every tongue and of every race.
He has left for us as the indelible characteristic of this Muslim nationality
the hatred of false gods and the passion for the One and Immaterial God. This
avenging patriotism against the profanation of Heaven formed the virtue of the
followers of Muhammad; the conquest of one-third of the earth to his dogma was
his miracle, or rather it was not the miracle of a man but that of reason. The
idea of the Unity of God, proclaimed amidst the exhaustion of fabulous
theogonies, was in itself such a miracle that upon its utterance from his lips
it destroyed all the ancient temples of idols and set on fire one-third of the
world.
His life, his meditations, his heroic revilings against the
superstitions of his country, and his boldness in defying the furies of
idolatry, his firmness in enduring them for fifteen years at Makka, his acceptance
of the role of public scorn and almost of being a victim of his fellow
countrymen; all these and, finally, his flight, his incessant preaching, his
wars against odds, his faith in his success and his superhuman security in
fortune, his forbearance in victory, his ambition, which was entirely devoted
to one idea and in no manner striving for an empire; his endless prayers, his
mystic conversations with God, his death and his triumph after death: all these
attest not to an imposture but to a firm conviction which gave him the power to
restore a dogma. This dogma was two-fold, the unity of God and the immateriality
of God; the former telling what God is, the latter telling what God is not; the
one overthrowing false gods with the sword, the other starting an idea with the
words.
“Philosopher, orator, apostle,
legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational dogmas, of a cult
without images, the founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual
empire, that is Muhammad. As regards all standards by which human greatness may
be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he?”[9]
“… These Arabs, the man Mahomet and that one century,—is it
not as if a spark had fallen, one spark, on a world of what seemed black
unnoticeable sand; but lo! the sand proves explosive powder, blazes heaven-high
from Delhi to Grenada; I said the Great Man was always as lightning out of
heaven, the rest of the men waited for him like fuel, and then they too would
aflame.”[10]
“It is impossible for anyone who studies the life and
character of the great Prophet of Arabia, who knows how he taught and how he
lived, to feel anything but reverence for that mighty Prophet, one of the great
messengers of Supreme.”[11]
[1] Stanley Lane-Poole: The Speeches and Table-Talk of the Prophet
Mohammad, Introduction, pp. 27-30.
[2] John Davenport: An Apology for Mohammad and the Koran, pp. 52-53.
[3] A. C. Bouquet: Comparative Religion, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth,
Middlesex, 1954, pp. 269-270.
[4] Washington Irving: Mahomet and his Successors, London 1909; pp.
192193, 199.
[5] Thomas, Carlyle: On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History,
p.
The message of Islam
brought by the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad pbuh was the
last link in the long chain of invitations toward Allah Almighty by the noble Prophets.
Throughout history, this message has remained the same: that human beings
should recognise that their true Sustainer and Lord is One God, that they
should submit to Him Alone, and that the lordship of man be eliminated. Except
for a few people here and there in history, mankind as a whole has never denied
the existence of Allah Almighty and His sovereignty over the universe; it has
rather erred in comprehending the real attributes of Allah, or in taking other
gods besides Allah as His associates.
This association with Allah
Almighty has been either in belief and worship, or in accepting the sovereignty
of others besides Allah. Both of these aspects are Shirk in the sense that they
take human beings away from the religion of Allah Almighty , which was brought by the Prophets.
After each Prophet, there was a period during which people understood this
religion, but then gradually later generations forgot it and returned to Jahiliyyahh. They started again on the
way of Shirk, sometimes in their belief and worship and sometimes in their submission
to the authority of others, and sometimes in both.
Throughout every period of
human history the call toward Allah Almighty has had one nature. Its purpose is
'Islam', which means to bring human beings into submission to Allah Almighty,
to free them from servitude to other human beings so that they may devote
themselves to the One True God, to deliver them from the clutches of human
lordship and man-made laws, value systems and traditions so that they will
acknowledge the sovereignty and authority of the One True God and follow His
law in all spheres of life. The Islam of Muhammad pbuh was for this purpose as well as the messages of the earlier Prophets.
The entire universe is
under the authority of Allah Almighty, and man, being a small part of it,
necessarily obeys the physical laws governing the universe. It is also
necessary that the same authority be acknowledged as the law-giver for human
life. Man should not cut himself off from this authority to develop a separate
system and a separate scheme of life. The growth of a human being, his
conditions of health and disease, and his life and death are under the scheme
of those natural laws which come from Allah Almighty; even in the consequences
of his voluntary actions he is helpless before the universal laws. Man cannot
change the practice of Allah Almighty in the laws prevailing in the universe.
It is therefore desirable that he should also follow Islam in those aspects of
his life in which he is given a choice and should make the Divine Law the
arbiter in all matters of life so that there may be harmony between man and the
rest of the universe.
Jahiliyyahh, on the other hand, is one
man's lordship over another, and in this respect it is against the system of
the universe and brings the involuntary aspect of human life into conflict with
its voluntary aspect. This was that Jahiliyyahh
which confronted every Prophet of Allah Almighty, including the last Prophet pbuh in their call toward submission to One God. This Jahiliyyahh is not an abstract theory;
in fact, under certain circumstances it has no theory at all. It always takes
the form of a living movement in a society which has its own leadership, its
own concepts and values, and its own traditions, habits and feelings. It is an organized
society and there is a close cooperation and loyalty between its individuals,
and it is always ready and alive to defend its existence consciously or
unconsciously. It crushes all elements which seem to be dangerous to its personality.
When Jahiliyyahh takes the form, not of a
'theory' but of an active movement in this fashion, then any attempt to abolish
this Jahiliyyahh and to bring people back
to Allah Almighty which presents Islam merely as a theory will be undesirable,
rather useless. Jahiliyyahh controls the practical
world, and for its support there is a living and active organization. In this
situation, mere theoretical efforts to fight it cannot even be equal, much less
superior, to it. When the purpose is to abolish the existing system and to
replace it with a new system which in its character principles and all its
general and particular aspects, is different from the controlling Jahili system, then it stands to reason that this new system should also
come into the battlefield as an organized movement and a viable group. It
should come into the battlefield with a determination that its strategy, its
social organization, and the relationship between its individuals should be
firmer and more powerful than the existing Jahili
system.
The theoretical foundation
of Islam, in every period of history, has been to bear witness "La ilaha illa Allah"-"There is no deity
worthy of worship except Allah" - which means to bear witness that the
only true deity is Allah, that He is the Sustainer, that He is the Ruler of the
universe, and that He is the Real Sovereign; to believe in Him in one's heart,
to worship Him Alone, and to put into practice His laws. Without this complete
acceptance of "La ilaha illa
Allah", which
differentiates the one who says he is a Muslim from a non-Muslim, there cannot
be any practical significance to this utterance, nor will it have any weight according
to Islamic law.
Theoretically, to establish
it means that people should devote their entire lives in submission to Allah
Almighty, should not decide any affair on their own, but must refer to Allah's
injunctions concerning it and follow them. We know of Allah's guidance through
only one source, that is, through the Messenger of Allah pbuh. Thus, in the second part of the Islamic creed, we bear witness 'Wa ashhadu anna Muhammadar Rasul Allah" - "And I bear
witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."
It is therefore necessary
that Islam's theoretical foundation – belief – materialize in the form of an
organized and active group from the very beginning. It is necessary that this
group separate itself from the Jahili society, becoming independent
and distinct from the active and organized Jahili
society whose aim is to block Islam. The centre of this new group should be a
new leadership; the leadership which first came in the person of the Prophet pbuh himself, and after him was delegated to those who strove for
bringing people back to Allah Almighty's sovereignty, His authority and His
laws. A person who bears witness that there is no deity worthy of worship
except Allah and that Muhammad is His Messenger should cut off his relationship
of loyalty from the Jahili society, which he has
forsaken, and from Jahili leadership, whether it be
in the guise of priests, magicians or astrologers, or in the form of political,
social or economic leadership, as was the case of the Quraish in the time of
the Prophet pbuh. He will have to give his
complete loyalty to the new Islamic movement and to the Muslim leadership.
This decisive step must be
taken at the very moment a person says, "La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammadar Rasul Allah" with his tongue. The Muslim
society cannot come into existence without this. It cannot come into existence
simply as a creed in the hearts of individual Muslims, however numerous they
may be. Unless they become an active, harmonious and cooperative group,
distinct by itself, whose different elements, like the limbs of a human body,
work together for its formation, its strengthening, its expansion, and for its
defence against all those elements which attack its system, working under a
leadership which is independent of the Jahili
leadership, which organizes its various efforts into one harmonious purpose,
and which prepares for the strengthening and widening of their Islamic character
and directs them to abolish the influences of their opponent: the Jahili life.
Islam was founded in this
manner. It was founded on a creed which, although concise, included the whole
of life. This creed immediately brought into action a viable and dynamic group
of people who became independent and separate from the Jahili society, immediately challenging it; it never came as an abstract
theory devoid of practical existence. And, in the future it can be brought
about only in this manner. There is no other way for the revival of Islam in
the shade of Jahiliyyahh, in whatever age or
country it appears, except to follow its natural character and to develop it
into a movement and an organic system.
When Islam, according to
the method described above, starts a Muslim community on this basis, forms it
into an active group, and makes this faith the sole basis for the relationship
between the individuals of this group, its ultimate aim is to awaken the
'humanity of man', to develop it, to make it powerful and strong, and to make
it the most dominant factor among all the aspects found in man's being. It
seeks to implement this purpose through its teachings, its rules, its laws and
injunctions.
Some human characteristics
are common with those of animals, even with those of inorganic matter. This has
misled the exponents of 'scientific Jahiliyyahh' to consider man to be nothing more than an animal, or even than inorganic
matter! But in spite of the characteristics which man shares with animals and
inorganic matter, man possesses certain other characteristics which distinguish
him and make him a unique creation. Even the exponents of 'scientific
ignorance' were forced to admit this, the evidence of observational facts
choking them; but even then, their admission of this fact is neither sincere nor
unequivocal.
In this respect the service
rendered by Islam's pure way of life has produced concrete and valuable
results. Islam based the Islamic society on the association of belief alone,
instead of the low associations based on race and colour, language and country,
regional and national interests. Instead of stressing those traits which are
common to both man and animal, it promoted man's human qualities, nurtured them
and made them the dominant factor. Among the concrete and brilliant results of
this attitude was that the Islamic society became an open and all-inclusive
community in which people of various races, nations, languages and colours were
members, there remaining no trace of these low animalistic traits. The rivers
of higher talents and various abilities of all races of mankind flowed into
this vast ocean and mixed in it. Their intermingling gave rise to a high level
of civilization in a very short span of time, dazzling the whole world, and
compounding the essences of all the human capabilities, ideas and wisdom of
that period, in spite of the fact in those times travel was difficult and the
means of communication were slow.
In this great Islamic
society Arabs, Persians, Syrians, Egyptians, Moroccans, Turks, Chinese,
Indians, Romans, Greeks, Indonesians and Africans were gathered together - in
short, peoples of all nations and all races. Their various characteristics were
united, and with mutual cooperation, harmony and unity, they took part in the
construction of the Islamic community and Islamic culture. This marvellous
civilization was not an 'Arabic civilization', even for a single day; it was
purely an 'Islamic civilization'. It was never a
'nationality' but always a ‘community of belief.’
Thus they all came together
on an equal footing in the relationship of love, with their minds set upon a
single goal; thus they used their best abilities, developed the qualities of
their race to the fullest, and brought the essence of their personal, national
and historical experiences for the development of this one community, to which
they all belonged on an equal footing and in which their common bond was
through their relationship to their Sustainer. In this community their
'humanity' developed without any hindrance. These are characteristics which
were never achieved by any other group of people in the entire history of
mankind!
The most distinguished and
best known society in ancient history is considered to be the Roman Empire.
Peoples of various races, languages and temperaments came together in this
society, but all this was not based on 'human relationship' nor was any sublime
faith the uniting factor among them; rather their society was ordered on a
class system, the class of 'nobles' and the class of 'slaves', throughout the
Empire. Moreover, the Roman race - in general - had the leadership and the
other races were considered its subjects. Hence this society could not achieve
that height which was achieved by the Islamic society and did not bring those
blessings which were brought by the Islamic society.
Various societies have also
appeared in modern times. For example, consider the British Empire. It is like
the Roman society to which it is an heir. It is based on national greed, in
which the British nation has the leadership and exploits those colonies annexed
by the Empire. The same is true of other European empires. The Spanish and
Portuguese Empires in their times, and the French Empire, all are equal in
respect to oppression and exploitation. Communism also wanted to establish a
new type of society, demolishing the walls of race and colour, nation and
geographical region, but it is not based on 'human relationship' but on a
'class system'. Thus the communist society is like the Roman society with a
reversal of emphasis; there nobles had distinction, while here the proletariat
has distinction. The underlying emotion of this class is hatred and envy of
other classes. Such a selfish and vengeful society cannot but excite base
emotions in its individuals. The very basis of it is laid down in exciting
animalistic characteristics, and in developing and strengthening them. Thus, in
its view, the most fundamental needs of a human being are those which are
common with the animals, that is, ‘food, shelter and sex.’ From its point of
view, the whole of human history is nothing but a struggle for food!
Islam, then, is the only
Divine way of life which brings out the noblest human characteristics,
developing and using them for the construction of human society. Islam has
remained unique in this respect to this day. Those who deviate from this system
and want some other system, whether it be based on nationalism, colour and
race, class struggle, or similar corrupt theories, are truly enemies of
mankind! They do not want man to develop those noble characteristics which have
been given to him by his Creator nor do they wish to see a human society
benefit from the harmonious blending of all those capabilities, experiences and
characteristics which have been developed among the various races of mankind.
Allah Most High says about
such people:
“Say (O Muhammed), ‘Shall we
(believers) inform you of the greatest losers as to (their) deeds?
(They) are those whose effort is
lost in worldly life, while they think that they are doing well in work’
Those are the ones who disbelieve in
the verses of their Lord and in (their) meeting Him, so their deeds have become
worthless; and We will not assign to them on the Day of Resurrection any weight
(i.e. importance).
That is their recompense – Hell - for
what they denied and (because) they took My signs and My Messengers in
ridicule.” Surah al-Kahf 18:103-106.
