THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET |
EXPLORING THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST COMMUNITY ISLAM WAS INTRODUCED TOUnless stated otherwise, all historical accounts in this post have been derived from: “Al-Sahih min Seerat Al-Naby Al-A'tham” (The Correct History the Greatest Prophet) Vol 1. Sayed Jaafar Murtadha Al-Hussaini Al-Amely. Jame'at al-Mudaresseen, Qom, Iran. pp 43 - 50. The Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, also nicknamed the Arabian ‘semi-island’, is a rectangular land surrounded by water from three directions. It’s northern regions extend to the Levant and southern Iraq, and is encased by the Persian Gulf from the east, the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean from the south, and the Red Sea to its west. The region has particularly harsh environmental conditions, in terms of extreme weather, and at times scarcity of food. There are no rivers flowing throughout it, and its terrain is mostly mountains, valleys, and barren plains. Although these conditions render the area unsuitable for optimal working conditions or growing vegetation, they have played a vital role in protecting the region from being invaded by nearby empires - namely, the Romans and Persians. As such, the people of the region were minimally influenced by the religions or philosophical ideas of either empire. In fact, the Jewish population that was settled in Medina at the time had fled the Roman empire for this very reason.
The people living in the Arabian Peninsula had tribal nations; a social structure where individuals lived in family groups headed by a patriarch. These tribes were either nomadic and lived in the desert, or were so-called ‘civilised’ and lived in towns and cities. Out in the desert, tribes were notoriously harsh and merciless. Individuals were expected to stand with any and all members of their tribe when in conflict with someone from outside, regardless of who was right or wrong. In turn tribe members were provided with protection from any external threat. There was a strong sense of tribal patriotism, in addition to prevelant inter-tribal prejudices which resulted in countless conflicts. The accumulation of difficult environmental conditions, the nature of tribal life, and the lack of a strong religious establishment resulted in numerous tribal wars, struggles for power, raids, consequential revenge attacks, and so on. When one tribe raided another, they would loot them, take their wealth, enslave the women and children, and kill or imprison the men. The devastated tribe would usually then avenge themselves, hence creating a cycle of aggression. In cities and towns, where people were supposedly more civilised, people adopted very similar notions to those living in the desert. The behaviours, cultural habits and mannerisms in which they led their lives were so similar that there was no tangible difference, intellectual or otherwise, between the Bedouin Arabs and town-dwellers of pre-Islamic Arabia - both were as ignorant as each other. Women in the Age of Ignorance This area of Arabian history is frequently discussed in many publications and so we will not delve too deeply into it. In essence, women commonly had no autonomy nor a real value at all. In fact, they were viewed as a commodity that could be stolen when another tribe attacks, inherited by the men in their lives, and many were subjected to a practice known as وأد (pronounced wa’d). This was a horrific and widespread tradition where a tribe would bury its girls alive, mostly during infancy. Five tribes that were known for practicing this act were Tameem, Qais, Asad, Hatheel, and Bakr bin Wa’el. When the religion of Islam was introduced by the Prophet (pbuh&hf), these practices were heavily condemned and were explicity mentioned in the Noble Quran in several verses, declaring the abhorrence of these practices and exposing the gravity and commonness of how ill-treated the women were. In verses 6:151 and 81:8-9, the Noble Quran explicitly mentions the killing of children and forbids people from doing it. In verses 16:58-59, the Quran describes how men during this era would become so angered, even embarrassed, when they were told of their newborn daughters. Later, we will examine how Islam sought to change this backwards perception of women in society. Sciences, Knowledge and Literacy The general consensus is that the population in pre-Islamic Arabia were rather ignorant. They were not knowledgeable in the fields of astronomy, medicine, or otherwise, and the ‘sciences’ they had were more often inherited, naive, basic, and founded on instinct or guesses. Ibn Khaldun, a circa 14th century AD Arab Muslim historiographer and historian, who is widely acclaimed as an exemplar of modern historiography [1], agrees with this view. He asserts that their knowledge did not extend beyond basics, and even goes on to say that it was not worthy of being called a science, or similar. Many, or rather, most, were illiterate. In fact, so obtuse was the view that some saw literacy as a shame. In spreading the message of Islam, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh&hf) sent a letter to the Bakr bin Wa’el tribe, but none in that entire tribe could read it. The 9th century AD historian, Al-Baladhuri, chronicles that out of the two tribes residing in Medina during the emergence of Islam, the tribes of Aws and Khazraj, only 12 men were literate. Astonishingly, the tribe of Quraish, which was the strongest and most-esteemed tribe in the region, only had 17 literate men among them. Even then, those that were literate had weak and very basic literacy skills. The intellectual levels of the pagan Arabian tribes was secondary, perhaps even inferior, to that of the Jews or Christians living in the area. We mention this important point here as it will be a notion that we shall refer to in later posts. What Arabian populations lacked in literacy, they made up for in memorisation. Historians, including Sayed Al-Amely whose book we are following, pay special attention to how well they could remember events and words, and in fact this is one of the main ways how the message of the Noble Quran was spread in its earlier days, and indeed, how hadiths were transmitted for a period of time. One of the earliest missions of Islam was to focus on improving the literacy of the Arabian population, as this would not only help spread the message of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh&hf), but would also elevate the intellect of the religion’s adherents. For example, the prisoners of war from the Battle of Badr, as we will later analyse, were freed if they taught ten Muslim children how to read. As such, ignorance was widespread in pre-Islamic Arabia, and so the society that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh&hf) faced earlier in his mission was a very aggressive one with deeply entrenched prejudicial, misogynist, and nescient traditions. In the next edition, we will look at more specific Arabian characteristics including their hospitality and courage, and how that played a role in shaping how Islam was introduced to them, as well as the history of the Ka’ba. Until then, take time to ponder upon how the Prophet (pbuh&hf) managed to transform an incredibly ignorant society into one that produced significant advances in medicine, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, and so on, at a time when the rest of the world was in the midst of its Dark Ages. By pondering this, we may begin to appreciate the character and leadership of our holy Prophet and the value of his message, and truly understand just who exactly we call our guide in this world. _____________________________
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