Eternal Message

Los Angeles State College

 

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The Prophet Muhamma
The Life of the prophet Muhammad

LO! MY WORSHIP AND MY PRAYERS AND MY LIFF AND MY DEATH ARE FOR ALLAH, LORD OF THE WORLDS. HE HATH NO PARTNER. THIS I AM COMMANDED, AND I AM THE FIRST OF THE MUSLIMS [THOSE WHO SURRENDER (UNTO HIM)].
                                                                                               Koran, 6:163-164

       The Muslims form a nation over thirteen centuriesold, and comprise at present more than six hundred million human beings in all parts of the world. The Prophet Muhammad was the first citizen of this nation, its teacher and its guide. He lived and died in the full memory of history. The evolution of his personality, religion, and nation assumed the force of a human drama of the greatest magnitude, witnessed not only by his contemporaries but also by the rest of the world in subsequent times.

      The hero of this drama did not die until his Message was delivered and a Muslim nation established in the Arabian peninsula.Says Bernard Lewis, "In an essay on Muhammad and the origins of Islam Ernest Renan remarks that, unlike other religions which were cradled in mystery, Islam was born in the full light of history.  ' Its roots are at surface level, the life of its founder is as well known to us as those of the Reformers of the sixteenth century.' " 1

    During the half-century following the death of the Prophet (in A.D. 632), his Message was carried forth by five of his Companions,2who adhered closely to the precedents which he had established for ruling his nation. Four of them3 were intimate, reliable friends and students who had followed him from the earliest days of his call, through persecution and ultimate triumph. The fifth caliph4 was Mu'awiyah, son of Abu-Sufyan, the formidable leader of the opposition to Muhammad. Mu'awiyah's career as caliph was longer than that of his predecessors. He presided over the affairs of the Islamic community for forty years as governor of Syria, then caliph.

       Yet in spite of the wealth of historical facts available to us, perhaps no prophet and religion are so little known or understood by the Western world as Muhammad and Islam. The West, which has maintained now for several centuries a tradition of freedom of thought, a high grade of literacy, and boundless knowledge in all spheres of human learning, knows far less about Muhammad-both as a prophet and as a leader of men who exercised a direct influence on the course of human events-than about Alexander or Caesar, whose influences have been less than those of Muhammad and Islam.5
        What is the cause of such indifference in a world so eagerto learn and to understand ?Two explanations merit consideration. The first is from the pen of a distinguished Swedish scholar, who writes:

        The cause . . . may perhaps be best expressed by the proverb: Relatives understand each other least of all. A Christian sees much in Islam which reminds him of his own religion, but he sees it in an extremely distorted form. He finds ideas and statements of belief clearly related to those of his own religion, but which, nevertheless, turn off into strangely different paths. Islam is so familiar to us that we pass it by with the careless indifference with which we ignore that which we know and know only too well. And yet it is not familiar enough to us to enable us really to understand its uniqueness, and the spirit by which it has won its own place in the sphere of religion, a place which it still rightly occupies by virtue of its very existence. We find it much easier to understand religions that are completely new and strange to us-as, for example, the religions of India and China. A greater degree of in sight and of spiritual freedom is required of him who would understand the Arabian Prophet and his book.6
 

A second explanation is presented by another scholar:

      History has been such that the West's relations with the Islamic world have from the first been radically different from those with any other civilization. . . . Europe has known Islam thirteen centuries, mostly as an enemy and a threat. It is no wonder that Muhammad more than any other of the world's religious leaders has had a "poor press" in the West, and that Islam is the least appreciated there of any of the world's other faiths. Until Karl Marx and the rise of communism the Prophet had organized and launched the only serious challenge to Western civilization that it has faced in the whole course of its history. . . . The attack was direct, both military and ideological. And it was very powerful.7
         The Prophet was born in Mecca. The exact date of his birth is disputed, but it is agreed to be around A.D. 570. This uncertainty is usual in Arabia, "the country of illiterate people," as the Koran called it. Even today it is difficult to establish the exact birthdates of other famous men; for instance, it is hard to date the birth of the famous `Abd-aI `Aziz ibn-Su'ud (or ibn-Saud), the conqueror and unifier of Arabia, a man who ruled for more than fifty years (he died in 1953), and whose personality, conduct, and biography are known in great detail.

     The undisputed source for Muhammad's life is the Koran; here are also many siyar (singular: sirah) or biographical studies of the Prophet, written from the accounts of those who knew him personally or to whom his memory was quite vivid.

      Both his parents died young, his father, `Abd-Allah, first and his mother Aminah shortly after. It is said that he was about six years of age at the time of his mother's death. His grandfather `Abd-al-Muttalib, a prominent leader in Mecca, then took charge of him. It is related that `Abd-al-Muttalib loved the boy dearly and often kept him close beside him, even in meetings where important affairs were discussed, usually in the shade of the Ka'bah.8  When his uncles would try to remove the child, the grandfather would prevent them, saying, "Let him be; my child will be leader of his people."

      Upon the death of his grandfather, Muhammad's guardianship passed to his uncle Abu-Talib, a no less devoted patron, whose love for and protection of Muhammad persisted long after the Prophet proclaimed his mission and the new faith. Even though Abu-Talib was never converted to the new religion, he continued to show love and protection for his nephew, despite extreme hardships and dangers, until his death, when Muhammad was fifty years old.

      Mecca was the traditional center of Arabia in both religion and trade; it was the crossroad of commercial transit between east and west, north and south, Abu-Talib's clan, the Banu `Abd-Manaf, the most influential in all Arabia, was a part of the great Quraysh tribe,9 and formed the important element in an oligarchy that ruled Mecca and its surrounding tribes. The Prophet's youth was that of the normal young Qurayshi-he fought the battles, joined the peace negotiations, and shared in the duties and rights of his society10 -except that he manifested from early years a revulsion to the worship of idols. Once when he was besought to act in the name of the gods al-Lat and al-'Uzza, he replied with the startling answer, "Do not ask me anything for the sake of these idols. I have never hated anything more."
 
        But such strong expressions of disbelief in the gods or idols of his tribe did not alienate his kinsmen and friends from him or close him out from their friendly society, for he was loved by all for his noble character and great kindness and honesty. It was only at the age of forty, when his duty to the one God compelled him to preach against idol worship, that his people began to persecute him.

       Muhammad, like the rest of the young men in Abu-Talib's family, had to work and help preserve the dignity of a generation of Hashimites who, though they were less prosperous than their predecessors, still remained proud and powerful. He acted as am shepherd, and later, while participating in business, his relations with his people gained him the name of al-Amin (trustworthy).

      At the age of twenty-five, be married a lady of forty, his first wife, Khadijah, a relative and a rich widow. They lived twenty-five years together in prosperity and happiness, and had four daughters and two sons, but of the daughters who lived and married, only Fatimah had descendants.
11 Muhammad was a devoted, loving father, and was kind to children in general. In his twenty-five years of life with Khadijah, he was the ideal husband. When she died, he remained several years without a wife, and even after he married-for a number of reasons-several wives, he always remembered Khadijah. "When I was poor, she enriched me; when they called me a liar, she alone remained true." It is an undisputed fact that Khadijah was the first to believe in Muhammad's mission- before anyone, even himself, believed in it.

       When he received his first revelation while on a retreat inthe countryside, he returned home frightened and shivering. Khadijah received him with the comforting words, "No, you have nothing to fear. God will never let you down; you are kind to your relatives, you are astute and patient, you give to the needy, you are generous to guests, and you never fall to relieve people from distress."12
 
     So was Muhammad described by the one who knew him best before the call and the prophetic revelation. Let us now follow his role in the great drama that was destined to transform his land, his people, and the world.

      Muhammad, at the age of forty, was inclined to worshipin solitude in a cove on Mount Hira outside the city. It was while praying, during the sacred month of his people, that he heard a voice command him, "Read." "I cannot read," he replied. But the voice again commanded him, "Read: In the name of thy Lord Who createth . . man from a clot. Read: And thy Lord is the Most Bounteous, Who teacheth [writing] by the pen, teacheth man that which he knew not."13
         Trembling, Muhammad rushed home to Khadijah and told her of his experience. She comforted him and encouraged him. After a short interlude, he again heard the voice calling to him: "Thou art the messenger of God, and I am Gabriel." Rushing back to Khadijah in a state of complete exhaustion, he asked that she cover him with a cloak. Then he heard the call: "O thou enveloped in thy cloak, arise and warn! Thy Lord magnify, thy raiment purify, pollution shun! And show not favor, seeking worldly gain! For the sake of thy Lord, be patient!"14
          It was then Muhammad realized what his mission to his people was to be, and that was how it began. It is this mission which forms the subject of this book-this mission which conquered the hearts of men, and continues to do so with soaring vitality over thirteen centuries later. Muhammad's sincerity was never doubted by those who knew him well-his wife, his attendant-secretary, and his young cousin `Ali who lived with him; these were his first converts. And though to his grief he could not convert his uncle Abu-Talib, the old man never ceased to show faith in the sincerity of his nephew: when `Ali, his son, converted, he told him, "Go, my son; he will never call you but to what is good."

      Was Muhammad's inspiration genuine? Did he speak in entirely good faith? The Muslims, of course, had no doubt; but this was also the attitude of knowledgeable men and serious scholars. Such men were and still are convinced of Muhammad's earnestness, faithfulness, and sincerity. Some thirty years ago, I asked Sir Denison Ross, then dean of the London School of Oriental Studies, if he believed that Muhammad had been sincere and faithful. he answered, "I am sure of that; he never lied or deceived; he was sincere and truthful." I asked further, "Do you believe that he was the Prophet of God?" To this he replied, "That is another matter." Modern scholars no longer question his truthfulness. According to Tor Andrae,

       Formerly, men thought that his character revealed a certain premeditation, a calculating cleverness. . . That Muhammad acted in good faith can hardly be disputed by anyone who knows the psychology of inspiration. That the message which he proclaimed did not come from himself nor from his own ideas and opinion, is not only a tenet of his faith, but also an experience whose reality he never questioned. Possibly he was in doubt at first as to the identity of the hidden voice-as to whether it really came from the heavenly messenger whom he had seen in the mountains of Mecca or from an ordinary jinni . . .15
       Muhammad quietly preached his faith in one God for some time. He won a few converts: his best friend, Abu-Bakr, a wise, respected, and rich merchant; later, `Uthman and Talhah, equally important and well-to-do Meccan Qurayshis; and a number of poor citizens and slaves. Then he received the command to preach in public: "Thus We send thee [O Muhammad] unto a nation, before whom other nations have passed away, that thou mayst recite unto them that which We have inspired in thee . . . . Thus have We revealed it, a decisive utterance [Koran] in Arabic. . . . "16With this command from god, the Prophet went forward to warn his people against idol worship and to tell them to expect a resurrection and a day of judgment.

       He stood for the first time on the Hill of Safa opposite the Ka'bah, where the Meccan idols were glorified, and said to the people: "Supposing I now told you that just behind the slopes of this hill there was an enemy cavalry force charging on you. Would you believe?" "We never knew that you lied," they replied.

     Then he said, "I warn you I have a Message from God,and I have come to you as a warner and as the forerunner of a dreadful punishment. I cannot protect you in this world, nor can I promise you aught in the next life, unless you declare that there is no God but the one God."17
      They mocked him and went away. Thus began his ten-year career of active struggle and persecution in Mecca. He did not desist from preaching to his people of a punishment that would come upon the unbelieving city. He told them, in the fiery language of the early Surahs,18 how God had punished the old tribes of the Arabs who would not believe in His messengers-how the flood had swallowed up the people who would not harken to Noah.

      He swore unto them-by the wonderful sights of nature, by the noonday brightness, by the night when it spreads its view, by the day when it appears in glory-that a like destruction would assuredly come upon them if they did not turn away from their idols and serve God alone. He fired his Message with every resource of language and metaphor until it seared the ears of his people. And then he told them of the last day when a just reckoning would be taken of the deeds they had done, and he spoke of Paradise and Hell with all the glow of Eastern imagery. The people were moved and terrified; conversions increased.

      It was time for the Qurayshis to take action. If the idols were destroyed, what would become of them, the keepers of the idols, and their renown throughout the land How would they retain the allegiance of the neighboring tribes who came to worship their several divinities at the Ka'bah? That a few should follow the ravings of a madman or magician who preferred one God above the beautiful deities of Mecca was of small concern; but that some leading men of the city should join the sect, and that the magician should terrify the people in broad daylight with his denunciation of the worship which they superintended, was intolerable.

        The chiefs were seriously alarmed, and resolved on a more active policy. Hitherto they had merely ridiculed the preacher of this new faith; now they would take stronger measures. Muhammad they dared not touch directly, for he belonged to a noble family which, though reduced and impoverished, deserved well of the city and which, moreover, was now headed by a man who was revered throughout Mecca and was none other than the adoptive father and protector of Muhammad himself. Nor was it safe to attack the other chief men among the Muslims, for blood revenge was no light risk.19 They were thus compelled to content themselves with the invidious satisfaction of torturing the black slaves who had joined the obnoxious faction.

        The struggle grew in intensity. The Meccan oligarchy was seriously disturbed. Muhammad was in earnest: he was the Messenger of God, and was under His orders. The idols of Mecca were not gods or partners with the Almighty; they were helpless and useless, and there was no God but Allah. This purest form of monotheism, which is the essence of Muhammad's faith, was an impossible doctrine for the Qurayshis to accept. The polytheism of  Mecca had been established from time immemorial. It was not only the religion of their ancestors but the source of their distinction in all Arabia. If it went, with it would go their honor, power, and wealth. Muhammad was the descendant of `Abd-Manaf, Hashim, and `Abd-al-Muttalib, who, generation after generation, had been the leading men of Quraysh and had had its interest at heart; so why not try to settle with him, on whatever might satisfy his dream of power and ambition

       A prominent leader of the Meccan oligarchy, `Utbah ibn Rabi'ah, was authorized to negotiate with Muhammad. `Utbah called Muhammad to the Ka'bah and there stated his proposals:

"O son of my brother, you know your place among us Qurayshis. Your ancestors are high in our pedigree, and your clan is foremost and strong. You have shocked and disturbed your people. You have broken their unity; you have ridiculed their wisdom; you have insulted their gods; you have degraded their religion; and you have even denied piety and pure faith to their ancestors."

Muhammad then said, "I am listening."

Utbah continued, saying, "If you want wealth, we will all contribute to make you the richest of us all. If your object is honor and power, we will make you our leader and promise to decide nothing without you. If, even, you think of royalty, we will elect you our king. If that which you experience and see"-meaning the revelation and the visitation of Gabriel-"is beyond your control and you cannot defend yourself against it, we shall help cure you by spending money for medical care. It is possible for a man to be overcome by the force of an unseen power until he finds a way to a cure." Muhammad's answer was frustrating to the great representative of the Meccan leaders. He said, with respect, "Abu-al -Walid, listen to me, please," whereupon he began to recite from the Koran the basic tenets of his new creed. 20
The negotiation was broken; a compromise was impossible. Muhammad wanted nothing less than a complete submission to the new faith. He himself was only a Messenger, and he had to carry out his orders from God and fulfill his mission faithfully.

      The situation became more serious. The Meccan oligarchy resorted to violence against the growing humble element of the new congregation. They appealed to Muhammad's dignity and to his aristocratic blood, rebuking him for being the leader of the slaves and the unworthy in the city: "Thou art followed only by the contemptible and degraded people who do not think."21
       But Muhammad was not sent to the aristocrats alone; he was a Messenger to all people. He was preaching what God ordered: "O mankind! Lo! We . . . have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another [and be friends]. Lo! the noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct." 22

       The persecution of those who listened to the Apostle of God continued. At last the Meccan leaders appealed to Muhammad's sense of tribal solidarity. They explained the danger to which Quraysh and the city were exposed by the humiliation of their idols and the dissolution of Arab religious tradition. They said, "If we were to follow the right path with thee, we should be torn out of our land [and dispersed]."23 They meant that they would be no different from the nomads of Arabia and would not be secure in their homes.

     For Muhammad that danger did not exist. God Who commanded him would provide for the defense of the faithful and the victory of those who abided by His Law. They should know and recognize the truth that the idols were helpless stones, and that there was no God but the almighty Allah, the Creator of all, Who had no partners. They should recognize that there would be a resurrection and a day of judgment in which nothing would avail but devotion to God.

     But they hated that menace of a judgment, and did not believe in a resurrection. A prominent leader, Umayyah ibn- Khalaf, took a decayed human bone from its grave and brought it to the Prophet, asking, "You say that this will live again?"

     "He Who has created it in the first instance can make it return," the Prophet replied.

     The arguments and disputes went on, accompanied by an intensive persecution of the Prophet's followers. Muhammad then advised them to migrate to the opposite side of the Red Sea, to Christian Abyssinia (Ethiopia). They were received there by the Negus (emperor), whose protection they asked. According to tradition, they appealed to him in these words:

      "O King, we lived in ignorance, idolatry, and impurity; the strong oppressed the weak; we spoke untruths; we violated the duties of hospitality. Then a Prophet arose, one whom we knew from our youth, whose decent conduct, good faith, and morality is well known to all of us. He told us to worship one God, to speak the truth, to keep good faith, to assist our relations, to fulfill the duties of hospitality, and to abstain from all things impure and unrighteous; and he ordered us to say prayers, to give alms, and to fast. We believed in him, and we followed him. But our countrymen persecuted us, tortured us, and tried to cause us to forsake our religion. And now we throw ourselves upon your protection. Will you not protect us?"

The Muslim refugees recited parts of the Koran which praise Christ and the Virgin Mary. It is said that the Negus and bishops thought their belief to be derived from the same sources as those of Christianity. Meanwhile,the Meccans did not remain idle. They sent emissaries with presents to the Abyssinians and petitioned them for the surrender of their escaped slaves and the other emigrants;but they were refused.

In Mecca, the Prophet and a few of his convert, who through tribal customs and clan usages could protect themselves, remained as adamant and as devoted as ever in preaching the faith and in praying publicly at the Ka'bah against its gods.

       Quraysh had already tried to negotiate with Muhammad's kinsmen, the Banu-Hashim, for the Prophet's death, offering payment of blood money in return, but the tribe had refused the  offer. Finally, the Meccan oligarchy decided in desperation to  take steps against Abu-Talib. In their opinion, he was the real  protector of the blasphemy, although still a revered upholder of Meccan institutions and unconverted to Muhammad's faith. They agreed to send him an ultimatum. When he received their warning, the old man was disturbed. He called in his nephew and told him that he had been warned by his tribe. "I am afraid that the masses of Arabs will rally against me. Save yourself and me, and  burden me not beyond the possible." Muhammad wept, and answered, "May God be my witness, if they were to place the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left, I would not renounce my Message but would rather perish instead." Then he departed, but his uncle called him back and said, "Go, my son. Say what you believe; I shall never, under any circumstance, let you down."

        This stand taken by the uncle, who was never converted to the new faith and who remained a leader in Mecca with its pagan  traditions and codes of honor, constitutes a remarkable episode  in history. Abu-Talib, though strictly a traditionalist and unwilling to  part with his ancestors religion, had found it just as important or even more important not to surrender to growing pressures or persecute his protege, of whose sincerity and righteousness he had no doubt.

       The Meccan leaders were perplexed. Abu-Talib's refusal to act meant war. The Arabs were used to feuds and wars, but they could not accept this challenge,for it would have involved  fratricidal slaughter in which Muhammad's followers would be negligible. The staunch traditionalists like themselves, including a majority of the Hashimites, Muttalibites, and others, would fight for the Prophet's cause for family reasons while sharing the Meccans' religion; and those who shared his faith (Abu-Bakr, `Uthman, Talhah, Umar, and others) would be on the other side  against their kinsmen. The leaders backed down, waiting for Muhammad to realize the dangerous  situation toward which he was leading his clan, its  supporters, and those who believed in him.

       Muhammad was not to seek any conc!iation. He was  in the hands of God. He was sure that another, higher will was directing his destiny, and that the  only way out was for Qu raysh to see, despite all its pride and vested interests, that its shame lay in worshiping useless idols that could not direct men to  piety and righteousness in this world or save them in  the next on the great day of judgment. He, Muhammad, an Arab prophet with an Arab Koran,  was sent through the mercy of God to make of the  Arabs a worthy people dedicated to the cause of serving mankind and their Creator.

       Quraysh and its  mass supporters heaped ridicule and con tempt upon  the Prophet and his mission, and threw dirt on him wherever he went but to no avail. He still preached publicly, and went to the Ka'bah to pray in his own way. Ultimately, they decided to take extreme measures against his family, the Hashimites: they refused to have any contact with them, to marry with them, or even to trade with them. They pledged themselves to that end in a proclamation which they placed in the sacred Ka'bah.

      Abu-Talib wisely and quietly took stock of the situation, and decided to withdraw to a valley on the eastern outskirts of Mecca, where he and loyal
Hashirnites entrenched them selves. He wanted to avoid bloodshed, and all
Hashimite supporters, except Abu-Lahab, felt the same way. The Muttalib an, cousins of the Hashimites, followed suit, and also entrenched themselves in the shi'b (a short, closed valley). Deprived of everything for more than two years, the Hashimites and their supporters endured extreme hardships. Food was scarce; there was not enough to meet their needs. Some of the merciful people of the city would now and then smuggle a camel-load of food and supplies to them.

       Hardly any new converts were made during this  period. Most of those converts who remained  outside the shi'h took refuge in Abyssinia. Nevertheless, the Prophet's determination and courage never weakened. He continued to go to the Ka'bah and to pray publicly. He used every opportunity to preach to outsiders who visited Mecca for business or on pilgrimage during the sacred months. He never doubted God's ultimate victory.

       In the third year of boycott and siege, many Quraysh leaders began to feel guilty about isolating their kinsmen to perish in the shi'b. After all, the majority of those boycotted and besieged were not even converts; they were idol worshipers, like themselves, but they were going through these trials just the same, in keeping with their code of honor, for the protection of a kinsman who had always been a truthful and honest person.

      The moderates found an excuse in that the proclamation suspended in the Ka'bah under the watchful eyes of the idol gods was eaten by worms. The merciful party thus took courage; their leaders put on their arms and went to the shi'b, where the exiles had been suffering, and extricated them. And so, in the eighth year of the Prophet's mission, the Converts, his uncle Abu-Talib, and the clan that had honored its tribal tradition in giving protection to a faithful son went back to their homes.

       That was not the end of bad times and suffering. Muhammad soon lost his uncle, the veteran Sheik of Banu-Hashim. Abu-Talib was soon followed by the faithful Khadijah, the first convert of the Prophet, his beloved wife, adviser, and comforter. Hearing of the respite from siege and boycott, many of the emigrants to Abyssinia came back, but they soon met an intensified persecution and were subjected to endless suffering.

       To preach in Mecca seemed hopeless, and to provoke the Qurayshis was not the best of wisdom. The Prophet then turned his hopes away from his tribe and city to other cities and tribes. The nearest and strongest competitor of Mecca was the city of al-Ta’if, fifty miles southeast of Mecca. With his servant Zayd the Prophet walked up the rugged mountains to that city. He visited the tribal leaders, and quietly asked their help. He was refused and badly treated. Dismissed, and followed by vagabonds and thoughtless children who drove him on and would not allow him to rest, he became exhausted. His feet bleeding, he sat and appealed to the Almighty for His mercy. The prayer that ensued has become one of the cherished legacies of the faithful appealing to God in desperate circumstances.

       He gathered strength and continued on his way back to Mecca, reaching it three days later. Zayd was concerned, and asked the Prophet whether he did not fear thrusting himself  into the hands of the Qurayshis, who continued to plot against the powerless in the city. "God will protect His religion and His Prophet" was the reply. The Meccans had learned of the Prophet's reverses at al-Ta'if and were preparing a degrading reception for him. None of the Meccan chieftains from whom Muhammad requested protection for safe entry into the city would extend him help; but a good- hearted pagan chief, al-Mut'im ibn-'Adiy, took him under his protection and brought him to his home. Thus did Muhammad re-enter Mecca-guarded by a polytheist, scoffed at by his fellow citizens, and pitied for his lot by his helpless followers.

      In that sad year of recurring calamities and gloom, when tragedy seemed about to engulf Muhammad's mission, a gleam of hope came to sustain him. During the pilgrimage season and the sacred months, when the traditional laws forbade violence, the Prophet had by happy chance converted a few people from Yathrib, who swore allegiance to him. They returned to `Aqabah in the spring of  A.D. 621 with the good news that his faith was being accepted by many in Yathrib. They were accompanied by twelve representatives of the two principal tribes, Aws and Khazraj, who in Muslim history later became known as Ansar (helpers). The Yathribite delegation told the Prophet that their people were willing to accept Islam, and pledged, "We will not worship save one God; we will not steal nor commit adultery nor kill our children; we will in no wise slander, nor will we disobey the Prophet in anything that is right." This pledge was later called the first Bay’at al-Aqabah (Pledge of al-'Aqabah). The second came a year later, following the pilgrims' season, when seventy of the Yathribites came again to `Aqabah, and secretly pledged themselves and their people to defend the Prophet as they would defend their own wives and children.

       Mecca was no longer a safe place for the Muslims to reside in.  The Prophet then directed those who had returned from Abyssinia  and other converts to emigrate and head for Yathrib. Quietly they started to move out. In a few months, more than a hundred families left their homes and migrated to Yathrib. The Qurayshis were on their guard. The migration of the Prophet to a rival city was harmful to them, and they were determined to prevent it at all cost. They decided to kill him, but collectively-representatives of all clans would plunge their swords into him-so that the Hashimites, faced with this joint responsibility, would be prevented from taking vengeance on a single clan.

       The trusted Abu-Bakr and Ali stayed behind in Mecca with the Prophet. `Ali sought to deceive the spies of the oligarchy by occupying the Prophet's bed, while the Prophet and Abu-Bakr went to hide out in a neglected cave a few miles south of Mecca, on Mount Thaur. When the Meccans discovered that the Prophet had eluded them, they immediately instigated a search, but they failed to catch him, and after concealing himself in the cave for three days Muhammad rode off to Yathrib. 24With his arrival, a new era dawned. Conscious of this fact, the Muslims dated their new era from this year of the "flight," commonly called the Hijrah (or Hegira). It began on June 16, AD. 622. 25
       When the Prophet entered Yathrib in the summer of that year, many leading Ansar and a few hundred others were already converted. There were also the Muhajirun (the Meccan Muslim emigrants), who greeted him on the outskirts of the city. The pagans and Jews gave him a good reception as well, each for a different reason. The Arab Jews were monotheists__they constituted three tribes, living as neighbors of the Arab pagan tribes who had originally come from Yemen and had gradually gained supremacy in Yathrib. The Jews hoped that Muhammad, as a monotheist, might become their ally against the pagan Arabs and even against the Christians in northern Arabia. As for the pagans, their reason for receiving Muhammad was not religion but rather the competition between Mecca and Yathrib. Furthermore, the Prophet was related to them on his maternal side-his great- grandmother was a member of Khazraj, the most important tribe in Yathrib-and "the enemy of my enemy" was as good a reason as any!

       Members of each group tried to direct Muhammad's camel toward their quarters so that he would become their guest. He asked them to let the animal go freely and stop where it would be best for everybody. Where it stopped, he chose his abode. Today, it is the famous shrine where the Prophet's tomb stands, and it is visited yearly by thousands of Muslim pilgrims.

       On that spot he lived, directed the affairs of the new nation, and built the first masjid or mosque of Islam; and on that spot he died.

      After thirteen years of intensive struggle to survive, the Prophet had at last found a friendly city where he could defend himself and base his future operations.

      The Qurayshis in Mecca were disturbed. They were powerful as owners of interests in all parts of Arabia, as guardians of polytheism and the idol gods of the tribes, and as leaders of the Arabian pilgrimage. Their city was a center both of Arabian trade and of a banking system whose money- lenders granted usurious loans to the various tribes. Muhammad, their rebellious kinsman, had now taken refuge in a competitor town, and had created a rival base astride their important trade routes to Syria and the north. Moreover, many of their sons and daughters had migrated with him to the enemy camp. They knew that Muhammad would never compromise in his religion, and that peace would be impossible with him.

       Muhammad, however, was not to seek refuge for safety. He was the Messenger of God to the world, and idol worship in his tribe and homeland must come to an end. His new nation would have to divorce itself from idolatry, usury, immorality, alcoholism, and vain and sanguine pride in tribalism, and above all it would have to become muslim, that is, submissive to God, the almighty One, Who has no partners, and to Whom all will return to be judged for whatever they have been.

       His first concern in Yathrib was to build his simple placeof worship, the masjid, where the faithful could also meet to discuss the affairs of their world. We must remember that Islam, unlike other great religions, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity, subscribes to a political and social order which is to be carefully established and observed in the here and now as a road to the afterworld. The Kingdom of God in Heaven is achieved through piety and through a system of social and political order, namely, a Kingdom of God on earth.

     The life of the Prophet in Mecca had been primarily concerned with the fundamentals of his faith: the unity of God, resurrection, the day of judgment, worship, and the purification of the soul. This concern continued in Yathrib, where the ummah-congregation or nation-could be organized as an independent entity. A constitution and a system of defense were needed. The new society had to engender a social order and a state. The Prophet, guided by revelation, was able toimplement the political and social structure of the new ummah, despite exposure to a war ofannihilation.

       In meeting this challenge, the Prophet, with the guidanceof God and his own personal aptitude, fused the Muslim congregation of various clans into a solid nation with one loyalty, Islam, and one brotherhood transcending tribal customs. The second task was an alliance with the neighboring Jews and pagan Arabs for a common defense and for security and peace in Yathrib. This was accomplished through treaty. This was the famous Covenant of Yathrib, resembling in certain aspects that of the League of Nations or of the United Nations, which aimed at the maintenance of peace and security among the various tribes and the creation of a common system of security as a consequence of common responsibility.

        The next problem was what kind of defense to erect, a mobile or static one. In nomadic Arabia, static defense was but the final resort in extreme necessity, as it meant isolation accompanied by hardships. More important, it would also mean a halt in the expansion of the new faith and in the growth of the new ummah. Muhammad was essentially the Prophet of God to mankind and the chosen instrument of the propagation of Islam, and whether in Mecca or Yathrib, the faith was his fundamental objective; therefore, he decided against static defense.

     In the second year of the Hijrah, the Prophet initiated mobile defense, which led in the third year to the famous Battle of Badr, located southwest of Yathrib. His forces were some three hundred infantrymen and three cavalrymen, with no armor but swords and limited supplies. His enemy, Quraysh, had three times his infantry, a hundred cavalrymen, and a large supply caravan. The Prophet's force nevertheless defeated them. The causes of the victory lay in their superior discipline and leadership and the high morale which resulted from their great faith in God and the promise of afterlife.

       The Battle of Badr was a great victory, especially because it established the Muslim community as a separate political and social as well as religious entity and confirmed the power of the Prophet, but it was not decisive. Muhammad treated his Quraysh prisoners in a chivalrous and humane way. His prestige in the eyes of the pagan bedouins 26 around Yathrib rose considerably. During the Battle of Badr, these nomads waited like poised vultures, ready to sweep down on the defeated and carry off the loot. As the Qurayshis were well established in Arabia, they would have been afraid to exploit them in adversity; however, the Prophet's party still lacked roots firm enough to survive misfortune and the Arab nomads' greed for plunder. But God saved His followers, who never boasted of their victory - it was God's victory, they all agreed; even the angels were reinforcing them against the pagans.

       The first Muslim army came back to Yathrib with Meccan prisoners who were mostly of the same tribe as the Prophet, who treated them with mercy and sent them home.
In the third year of the Hijrah, while the Prophet was as usual absorbed in his worship and in his preaching, he consolidated the position of his ummah and looked after the defense of his city. Neither were his enemies idle. One year later they were ready, and again marched on Yathrib with a force three times as large as the one defeated at Badr. The Prophet moved to engage them, and they met on the slopes of Mount Uhud. The fierce battle ended with the retreat of the Muslim forces and the wounding of the Prophet; but through his endurance and his resourceful and courageous leadership, he managed to save his small army. Abu-Sufyan, who was leading the Meccans, called from the top of the hill, saying, "Uhud for Badr; we call it even. We will meet again next year." Both forces retired to their original bases. But that was not the end; Uhud, like Badr, was not decisive. Two years later, Quraysh built up a much larger force, allied itself to many tribes, and was able to mobilize an army of ten thousand men. It was well armed and equipped, and thus far greater than any force that the Prophet could muster. The attackers laid siege on Yathrib, and for two weeks pressed to break through; but they failed. The Prophet had introduced new defense tactics-digging trenches and raising barricades, at which he himself labored with the men day and night. The Prophet's faith in God and the great zeal of his followers, particularly the Muhajirun and Ansar, balanced the enemy's superiority in arms and numbers. A severe wind blew, accompanied by a dust storm. The morale of the ahzab 27 faltered with the evening; they arguedamong themselves, and ultimately broke camp and retired. The Muslims followed them a certain distance. That was the last Quraysh attempt to destroy its enemy's base in Yathrib.

      A year later, that is, in the sixth year of the Hijrah, the Prophet moved in force toward his home city, Mecca. He wanted to make his lesser pilgrimage (`umrah) to the Ka'bah, which, although it housed pagan idols, was still regarded by Muslims as sacred, because in the view of the Prophet the Ka'bah had been built by the Patriarch Ibrahim for the worship of God. It was in the vicinity of the Ka'bah, near the well of Zamzam, that Ibrahim had settled his Egyptian wife Hagar with her son Ismael. The Qurayshis and other northern Arab tribes were the descendants of Ibrahim through his son Ismael. The Muslims therefore believed that they had the right to perform the pilgrimage initiated by their great father Ibrahim, the first Arab to worship Allah, the only God. But the Meccans disagreed with them, and sought to bar their entry. Finally, a ten-year truce 28 was concluded with Quraysh whereby the Prophet agreed, among other things, to postpone his pilgrimage to the following season.

      The march on Mecca and the truce that resulted therefrom constitute a turning point in Muslim history: for the first time, the right of every person to preach and practice his faith freely was recognized by a formal treaty. A year after the conclusion of the truce, the Prophet and two thousand men entered Mecca, which, according to previous agreement, was evacuated temporarily of its inhabitants. The Muslims completed their pilgrimage in an admirable manner, and impressed the Meccans to such an extent that conversions to Islam increased by leaps and bounds. Delegations were sent by Arabian tribes from the four corners of the peninsula to pledge their loyalty to Muhammad in Yathrib.

      When two years later the Qurayshis violated their treaty obligations and attacked the Khuza'ah tribe, which was allied with the Muslims, the Prophet led a march on Mecca on Wednesday, the tenth of Ramadan (in the eighth year of the Hijrah-A.D. 630), with ten thousand men. On that memorable day, the Prophet asked the Meccans, "What do you think I will do to you?" They answered, "You are a generous brother and the son of a generous brother." "Go," the Prophet rejoined, "you are freed."
Lane-Poole writes,

. . . the day of Muhammad's greatest triumph over his enemies was also the day of his grandest victory over himself. He freely forgave Quraysh all the years of sorrow and cruel scorn with which they had afflicted him, and gave an amnesty to the whole population of Mecca. Four criminals whom Justice condemned made up Muhammad's proscription list, when as a conqueror he entered the city of his bitterest enemies. The army followed his example, and entered quietly and peaceably; no house was robbed, no woman insulted. One thing alone suffered destruction. Going to the Ka'bah, Muhammad stood before each of the three hundred and sixty idols, and pointed to them with his staff saying, "Truth is come, and falsehood is fled away!" and at these words his attendants hewed them down and all the idols and household gods of Mecca and round about were destroyed. 29          After the conquest of Mecca, Muhammad had to march on another stubborn enemy, al-Ta`if, the important dwelling place of the much-exalted idol god Hubal. It was the city to which the Prophet had journeyed in his worst days of persecution, seeking refuge but receiving humiliation instead. Ten years had elapsed since then, and now he believed that the victory in Mecca might persuade the inhabitants of al- Ta`if to sue for peace. On the contrary, they mobilized the great Hawazin confederacy of tribes against him, and rallied the city people for a decisive day with the enemy of their god. The two forces met at Hunayn. The Muslims were then commanding the largest force in their history to date, but they were being routed and were retreating when the Prophet rallied the old Ansar and Muhajirun veterans. Fighting courageously, though Muhammad was wounded, they won the day. The Prophet was so generous and forgiving to his old enemies and persecutors that some of his followers among the Ansar objected. But the Prophet soothed them with wise and fair exhortations, and played upon their sympathies until they wept.

      Upon returning to Yathrib, Muhammad encountered delegations sent by tribes and settled peoples of Arabia. They came to do homage to him and to profess the faith of Islam. Thus was Arabia won over to Islam.

      But what about the rest of the world Muhammad always conceived of his mission as being directed to all people. Already he had sent his emissaries to Arabia's neighboring emperors, the Persian and Roman (Byzantine), who ignored his Message or humiliated the messengers. The only courteous response was from the Coptic leader of Egypt. In southern Syria (modern Jordan), certain of his emissaries were brutally murdered, which occasioned the battle at Mu'tah later.30For some years after their army's defeat at Mu'tah, the Muslims were in a state of war with the Byzantine emperor, Heraclius, who was said to be gathering together a large force in Syria to deal with the new Arab menace on his southern frontier and to liquidate the new Arab ruler who entertained such serious pretensions.

      For this and other reasons, the Prophet decided to preparea large army and march north. This was the last military expedition he was to plan. He had pointed out the direction. A short time after his death, his companions marched north, and four years later, they conquered both mighty empires, the East Roman and the Persian.

      In the tenth year of the Hijrah, the Prophet made his last pilgrimage to Mecca, and delivered his Farewell Speech at Mina to a congregation of forty thousand Muslims. He commenced, "O people, listen to me; I may not ever meet you again here after this year." Then, in a great sermon, he expressed his fears that they might lose the way of God and return to a lawless society and to tribal feuds. He ended a great law-giving speech by asking them if they thought that be had faithfully delivered his Message. They answered with one voice, "Yes!" He then said, "God, You are my witness," and descended from his camel.

      The Muslims called that sermon the Farewell Speech and that pilgrimage the Farewell Pilgrimage. Since the Prophet's first call by the angel Gabriel twenty-three years earlier, revelation after revelation had continued. He had learned them by heart and inscribed them, and so had his friends. They formed together the glorious Book of Islam, the Koran. At the end of this sermon, and as a final word, he recited in the name of God this revelation: "This day have I [Allah] perfected your religion for you and completed My favor unto you, and have chosen for you as religion AL-ISLAM."31 His dear friends then wept. They felt that his end was near, that the Prophet had fulfilled his mission; and it was so.

       The Prophet died of fever in Yathrib, which thereafterwas called al-Madinah. His life, suffering, and triumph will remain for Muslims and non-Muslims alike a symbol of modesty, faithful devotion, and dedicated service to God, a high example of manhood.
 

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On the Fundamentals of the Message

The Two Fundamentals

The eternal Message is based on two fundamentals: faith (iman) and right-doing (.ihsan) .on these its structure rises; from them it branches out, and on them must its beliefs depend. According to the words of the Almighty,
        Lo! those who believe [in that which is revealed unto thee, Muhammad], and those who are Jews, and Christians, and Sabaeans-whoever believeth in Allah and the Last Day and doeth right-surely their reward is with their Lord, and there [in the other world] shall no fear come upon them, neither shall they grieve.1
       Nay, but whosoever surrendereth his purpose to Allah while doing good, his reward is with his Lord; and there shall no fear come upon them, neither shall they grieve.2
        Who is better in religion than he who surrendereth his purpose to Allah while doing good [to men] .  .  .3
        These and similar verses set forth the directives of Islam and the total of Muhammad's Message: beliefs, acts of worship, and laws. In them lies the secret of the Message's simplicity, its power, universality, and rapid diffusion among the learned and the common people of mankind. And in them lies the history of the Message, of which Muhammad is the final disseminator among the many since the beginning of man's time:
        Say [O Muslims]: We believe in Allah and that which is revealed unto us and that which wasrevealed unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received, and that which the Prophets received from their Lord.4
        The Message itself is eternal because God, its Author, is eternal. Muhammad came to expound, confirm, and renew the Message, and to develop the meaning of its two fundamentals, faith and right-doing.

Belief in the One God

Belief in the one God as the sole and unassisted author of creation is the fundamental principle of the  Muhammad religions. It is the font of the Message of Muhammad. It is the spring from which the Almighty flooded the heart of Muhammad with guidance and with the truths pertaining to goodness and to peace. Belief is the deep, resounding echo of that voice which called out to Muhammad from Heaven and from earth:
        Read: In the name of thy Lord who createth . . Man from a clot. Read: And thy Lord is the Most Bounteous, Who teacheth [writing] by the pen, teacheth man that which he knew not.5
        O thou enveloped in thy cloak, arise and warn! Thy Lord magnify, thy raiment purify, pollution shun! And show not favor, seeking worldly gain! For the sake of thy Lord, be patient!6
        And thus have We revealed to thee [Muhammad] Our command. Thou knewest not what the Scripture was, nor what the Faith. But We have made it a light whereby We guide whom We will of Our bondsmen. And lo! thou verily dots guide unto a right path, the path of Allah,7  unto Whom belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Do not all things reach Allah at last?8
        Muhammad went out to his relatives and to their people with the call to believe in the one God, Allah. They rejected his Message and sought to turn him away from it. They suspected him, branded him a magician, a soothsayer, a mad man, and sought to bribe him with wealth, authority, and rank that he might renounce his Message, but he would not. They then resisted him, persecuted him, and harmed him, but he would only say, as he said to Abu-Talib, "May God be my witness, if they were to place the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left, I would not renounce my Message but would rather perish instead." He would let himself be swayed neither from this faith, which had filled his soul with contentment and to which his God had commanded him, nor from his summons to it, whether he would rule the day and the night or not! His major concern was that people should come together through the worship of the omnipotent Creator, Who has no partner (sharik) in His worship.9
        Since the dawn of time, man has been puzzled. Intuitively
He has sought security in a supernatural force. From such a force he drew inspiration and succor, welcoming its blessings and evils. He offered his prayers to this force out of fear and out of greed. He lavished upon it offerings and worship. He Found through his belief in this intangible force support and Refuge from the dreaded physical forces of the universe as Well as consolation and comfort in the hardships and pains Of everyday life.
        Strong intuitive feelings impel human beings to worship Force. This is clearly expressed in the revelation of the Koran in the chapter called "Cattle" (al-An'am), which narrates the Story of Abraham's recognition of God:
        Thus did We show Abraham the kingdom of the heavens and
The earth that he might be of those possessing certainty: When The night grew dark upon him he beheld a star. He said: This is My Lord. But when it set, he said: I love not things that set. And
When he saw the moon uprising, he exclaimed: This is my Lord.
But when it set; he said: Unless my Lord guide me, I surely shall Become one of the folk who are astray. And when he saw the sun uprising, he cried: This is my Lord! This is greater! And when
It set he exclaimed O my people! Lo! I am free from all that ye associate [with Him]. Lo! I have turned my face toward Him Who created the heavens and the earth, as one by nature upright
And I am not of the idolaters.10
         Thus did Abraham's mind gradually move toward finding God through perception and awe of God's manifestations Of power and glory in the stars, moon, and sun. His
Unblemished natural powers forced him to accept the fact that these Astral bodies which rise, set, and are surrounded with
Impediments, are subjects, or subordinates, not masters. Therefore, He turned away from their worship and, guided by his in telligence, sought the path to a chosen, perpetual, and unlimited force, the force that created and subdued the heavens
And earth. Through his exercise of intelligence, the inspiration and guidance of God came to his rescue.
       Man has worshiped many forces, either through sincere Belief or as a means of drawing nearer that great, all-con- quering force which he perceives by his native intelligence.
He has worshiped ghosts and spirits, minerals and animals,
Stars and planets, water and fire, lightning and thunder. He
Has not doubted that these possessed, represented, or constituted a manifestation of power. Man has even worshiped man whenever man has  displayed supernatural powers, and then has slain him when he has fallen  short of the powers he was supposed to possess.
       In my experience, one  of the most peculiar examples of  Man’s worship of man occurred over thirty years ago when I sat in the company of one of the gods of the Negroes of the Nuba hills in  the extreme south of Kordofan, in the Sudan. We sat on the ground in the  shade of a huge tropical tree while a group of naked men and women  danced and sang Before al-Kujur.  This al-Kujur, whether they believed  him to be the god himself or his symbol, was customarily the object of  worship, to whom invocations were raised and sacrifices offered. He was  the lord over the concerns of this world, and to him belonged every  sanctification. His subjects would feed him, offer him gifts, and draw near  him in return for his granting them rain for their crops and flocks, for  pointing out the appropriate times to hunt and to make war, and for  warding off calamities and diseases.
        I was never able to judge whether in their eyes he was the perfect god  or, like the idols of pre-Islamic (Jahiliyah)11 Arabia, was worshiped In lieu of  something greater.
       The wife of al-Kujur approached me and began to con verse through  an interpreter, pointing out bruises on her leg. According to the interpreter,  she had been beaten by a commoner and was at present voicing her  complaint to me, sup posing that I represented the proper authorities.  Taken by surprise, I asked how the beating could have occurred, since  her husband, al-Kujur, was the god depicting omnipotence!  I Learned from the interpreter, however, that the god's sanctity was  personal and did not include members of his family, who were regarded  as ordinary people. Thereupon, I said to my companion that  notwithstanding their simple mindedness and confused religious beliefs,  these people set an excellent example of democracy!
       Al-Kujur, although possessing rights, also possessed obligations; if he  were to have faltered in fulfilling them, they would have put an end to him.  Here is an example: if the earth should suffer from drought and vegetation  should wilt, they would ask him to send rain. If he should refuse or delay,  they would attempt to appease him with offers and sup plication. If the  year passed and drought persisted without their being able to persuade  their al-Kujur to command rain for their mercy, the might continue to wait  through a few more seasons and then do away with him; or they might  stone him immediately and replace him with someone whom, through  good heritage and experience, they regarded as capable of unraveling mysteries and performing certain extraordinary feats.
       One of the strangest tales I was told about these people concerns a complaint  they filed with their government against one of their gods for refusing to send  down rain. They were not to be conciliated until they had compelled the government official to imprison the god. They then continued to wait for days. Suddenly  al-Kujur asked the governor to re lease him, promising to bring rain in a hurry. As soon as he was released, and while he was marching with his people to the hills, rain began to fall in torrents. In other words, they did not question his abilities,  nor did they consider him handicapped; they simply suspected his intentions.
       There we have an example of the human mind in its simplicity. The mind of man,  even when cultured, is not usually on a much higher plane. Man has worshiped  spirits, matter, animals, water, fire, certain human beings, and a variety of objects.
       Muhammad's call to belief in the unity of God (wahdaniyah)12was foreign to the Arabs, though it may appear obvious and simple today. There had been a great  need for someone to propagate the doctrine of belief in the unity of God so that  the human mind would become receptive to an understanding of the universe and  creation and able to direct itself toward the omnipotent Creator, thereby attaining  addi tional force and the inspiration of wisdom.
       If we were to analyze the life of Muhammad in Mecca and contemplate the  contents of his Message, we would discover that Muhammad devoted his heart  and efforts and offered his life and the lives of his followers to the crystallization  of the first fundamental, belief in the unity of God. He fought his enemies and  made peace with them; he shunned and then forgave them, and he appealed to  peoples of other religions (Christians and Jews) to join with him in one common  belief: worship of the one God, a worship which would admit no partners.
       Say: O People of the Scripture!13Come to an agreement between us and you: that we shall worship non (missing word) Allah, and that we shall. ascribe no partnerr unto Him, and that none of us shall take others for lords beside Allah. And if they turn away, then say: Bear witness  that we are they who have surrendered14[unto Him].15
       In his call to belief in the oneness of God, Muhammad displayed no forbearance  or conciliation to the polytheists and idol worshipers with whom he contended.  He was, however, very tolerant with the People of the Scripture.! The Koran says,  "And argue not with the People of the Scripture unless it be in [a way] that is  better. . ."16As concerns Christians, it declares, "And thou wilt find the nearest  of them in affection to those who believe [that is, to the Muslims] [to be] those  who say: Lo! We are Christians,"17 and it asserts in general, "Call unto the way  of thy Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation, and reason with them in the betterway."18hristians  and  Jews  in  Muhammad's Message  reached a level unknown even to this age, which has witnessed the rise of  nonreligionists; and this tolerance has not been attained by a considerable number of those who adhere to other faiths and claim to be religious, for they  have not opened their hearts to the exercise of tolerance or displayed the mercy  of God toward others
      Lo! those who believe [in that which is revealed unto thee, Muhammad], and  those' who are Jews, and Christians, and Sa baeans -whoever believeth in Allah  and the Last Day and doeth right-surely their reward is with their Lord, and there  [in the other world] shall no fear come upon them, neither shall they grieve.19
       The noblest aim of Muhammad's Message is to secure belief in the one God Who  admits of no partners. All obstacles may be overcome in the attempt to achieve  this unity of belief. All peoples, all nations, and even all religions would then  become equal in the words of the Almighty:
       Say [O Muslims]: We believe in Allah and that which is revealed unto us and that  which was revealed unto Abraham, and
Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus  received, and that which the Prophets received from their Lord We make no  distinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered.20
       Thc Apostle of God considered the goal of his mission not to initiate new  religious laws and beliefs but to perfect those begun   previously   and   to   affirm   true  devotion  in   God's
 worship, this being the religion of Abraham, Noah, and Adam. There is no  substitute for that righteous religion based on the oneness of God on which  depends the unity of His creation.
       He hath ordained for you that religion which He commended Unto Noah, and  that which We revealed unto thee [Muhammad]. and that which We  commended unto Abraham and Moses and Jesus, saying: Establish the  religion,. and be not divided therein. Dreadful for the idolaters is that unto  which thou callest them.21
       O ye messengers! Eat of the good things, and do right. Lo! I am Aware of  what ye do. And lo! this, your religion, is one religion, and I am your Lord, so  keep your duty unto Me.22
      But when Jesus became conscious of their disbelief, he cried: Who will be  my helpers in the cause of Allah The disciples said: We will be Allah's  helpers. We believe in Allah, and bear thou witness that we have surrendered  [unto Him].23
       The Prophet differed with the People of the Scripture only on the question of  the perfection (tanzih) of the Creator; he debated with and opposed others in  matters concerning both God's oneness and His perfection. He would  conclude neither truce nor peace at the expense of compromising his  Message because belief in the oneness of God was the basis of his mission,  its object, and the object of existence.
       I created the jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me. I seek no  livelihood from them, nor do I ask that they should feed Me.24
       All that is in the heavens and the earth glorifieth Allah; and He is the Mighty, the Wise. His is theSovereignty of the heavens and the earth; He quickeneth and He giveth death; and He is Able to do all things He is the First and the Last, and the Out ward and the  Inward; and He is Knower of all things.25
       Aside from its consequential broadening of human intelligence, the  monotheism which Muhammad preached is the source of bounty (khayr) and the  foundation of happiness (sa'adah) and of proper upbringing (adab), as we shall  see in the next chapters.

The Consequences of Belief in the Unity of God

      We have seen how belief in the one supreme God is the ultimate goal of the Islamic Message. God-may He be glorified considers the believer in Him alone a Muslim.
      If we were to read through the Koran verse by verse, we would find the call to  belief in God's oneness and perfection in every chapter; there is hardly a page  that does not expound on or refer to these attributes.
     The wisdom of this is clear: from belief in the one God stems all that is righteous;  it makes for righteousness in the Message. It is the bond that unites all the  component parts of the Message and strengthens them, for its position is com  parable to the relationship of the soul to the body, which falls slack, deteriorates,  and vanishes once the soul departs from it. Religious laws devoid of faith are like  ordinary laws that fall with those who sustain them and disappear with the  circumstances that produced them.
       For this reason, belief in the one  supreme God constitutes the dividing  line between people, andnot creeds  and races or adherence or lack of  adherence to the Muslim religion itself.  The religion of Islam establishes itself  as the protector of the Christian  Church and honors its own  commitments to Jews when peoples of  these faiths seek and are granted  protection. Muslims are even enjoined  to do battle in order that the protected  religious sects may enjoy the freedorn  of their beliefs. "For had it not been for  Allah's repelling some men by means of others, cloisters and churches and synagogues and  mosques, wherein the name of Allah is oft mentioned, would assuredly have been  pulled down."26
Islam differentiates between believers in the one God and idolaters, who receive a  different kind of treatment and are accorded no respect. However, Muslims honor  agreements and ties concluded with nonbelievers, provided the latter do not attempt  to hamper the extension of the truth or resort to tyrannical action. In this regard, we  refer to the historical case of the Prophet's pledge to Khuza'ah27 and his Truce of al- Hudaybiyah.28 The struggle against idol worshipers is perpetual.
       On the other hand, Islam admits People of the book into the Islamic family by sanctioning marriages with Christian and Jewish women. Such kinship is not permitted with polytheists (mushrikun) who are denied this distinction. "Wed not  idolatresses till they believe; for lo! a believing bonds-woman is better than an  idolatress, though she please you; and give not your daughters in marriage to  idolaters till they believe, for lo! a believing slave is better than an idolater, though he  please you."29  Islam even goes so far as to consider it defiling to do so: "The idolaters  . . . are unclean. So let them not come near the Inviolable Place of Worship [the  Mosque] after this their year."30
       This intolerance of idol worshipers and of their gods who are made partners with  Allah in worship is not due to blind obstinacy or indulgence in bigotry, for if that were  the case, Islam would have treated equally members of all other faiths. Islam met with  a great deal of insolence and evil from People of the Scripture, but this did not prevent  the Islamic Message from differentiating between them and polytheists. This may be  explained in terms of the Islamic attitude that belief in the oneness of God is the  ultimate goal of human endeavor and the path to perfection. Once the servant realizes  that he is the creation of the great Creator, he admits by the same token that his ties  with the Creator are those of a personal relationship, as between father and son; he  realizes that he is but one of the endless products of the only Creator, and that the only acknowledged tie uniting Creator and created is that of faith. Bonds  of faith are unseverable, furthering the cause of progress, righteousness, and  charity by one accord; the source of faith is surrender to the one Will. With  this, our existence in this world becomes related in principle and united in  aim.
       If all men could open their souls to this belief, their tasks would become easy.  And if we could depict man as possessing perfect faith in God's oneness and  fulfilling his duties in accordance with this faith, it would be possible to  picture that creation most capable of wickedness, man, as becoming the finest  creation of God, because then he would no longer need to be coerced and  guided by anything but his faith. This would enable us to conceive of this  world under the government of conscience.
       For this reason, belief in the one supreme God was the whole object of  Muhammad's devotion, the true reason for the success and clarity of the  Message. The abolition of the concept of polytheism is accompanied by the  destruction of its sources of corruption. The Message of Muhammad claims  that all were born under faith to worship God alone; then they deviated. If they  were to return to this worship, they would be on the right path.
       On probing into the history of the religions of mankind, we discover that  association or partnership of other subjects with God for worship was often  the result of innovations introduced by man, who multiplied and diversified  his gods. Innovators and corrupters set themselves up as representatives of ??these gods, as their supporters and guardians and as their trustees and  deputies, usurping for themselves the power of the gods. Then these men of  unworthy aims conspired and cooperated in their endeavors to pervert the  masses, and ended up by imprisoning them in a jumble of nonsense and  frivolity. Priests and the like, trustees and leaders of the people, who had set  themselves up as guardians of the mysteries of religion were themselves in  reality the gods who directed the destiny of the captivated masses.
      The first  trace of association in worship (al-shirk) appearing in history is the  transformation from idol worship to man worship, or the worship of those who  were the servants of the idol. Periods of such despotism in Egypt and  Mesopotamia lasted thousands of years. Not a part of the world has been free  from this worship, from the dawn of history until the present. Whatever may have happened to change the forms of worship, polytheism and the despotism of the priesthood went hand  in hand.
       As for unity of belief, it is accompanied and attended by a sense of fair play, like man's shadow; for the God to Whose worship the  prophets, including Muhammad, summoned the faithful is free from passions and selfish aims. He requests no property and no sustenance  from His creation. He needs no trustees, no deputies, and no mediators; He ordains, "Ask and it shall be granted unto you." He is closer to them than their jugular veins; He is most merciful and most capable; He is the Creator and Molder, the Bountiful and the For- giver, the Giver  and Withholder, the just Ruler and great Avenger, the Omniscient and All-Informed, the Master of His bondsmen's destinies, the Cherished  and the Wise.
 Such qualities and virtues have paced Godhood in a position above and beyond any limitation, and have rendered creation under Him equal  in His judgment, with the most pious being favored of God and those most just to God's bondsmen the closest to Him.
       Just as tyranny and selfishness accompany al-shirk, so are justice and equity associated with the belief in the unity of God (tawhid). For that  reason, the ultimate goal of Muhammad's Message is belief in God alone. To Islam, He is above everything. The glorious Koran declares,  "Lo! Allah forgiveth not that a partner should be ascribed unto Him. He forgiveth [all] save that to whom He will."31
       A faith free from impurities and emanating from the heart is served eventually by all the munificence known to it. The faithful man discovers  that his account with God is to he settled directly with God. Thus he places this account before God only, and commits neither major nor  minor sins deliberately. Once faith finds this man, it will have found the perfect man.
        If a society were composed of such men, it would be sustained by mercy and charity, for among the traditional in junctions of Islam we find,  “Truly, none of you believes if he does not desire for his brother what he desires for him self,” “The merciful are shown mercy by the  Merciful,” and “Grant mercy to those on earth, and He Who is in Heaven will grant you mercy.” These, therefore, are the conditions for a  happy society.
       It was not peculiar that some of the Kharijites,32 during the period of civil war  between `Ali33 and Mu'awiyah,34 preached the abolition of human government;  they con tended that there is no rule other than the rule of God. If the rule of God  were to materialize, conscience would be its king, justice its law, and common  tradition its admonisher.
      Because of its truthful concepts and its recognition of  human nature, the Message of Muhammad undertook to achieve reform through  faith and law. Leadership was granted to those whom the faithful selected to  execute what the Message had legislated, thereby insuring the proper conduct of  human affairs.
       We have seen how belief in one God is necessarily accompanied by the triumph  of all virtues in the believer, who no longer exists for himself but for all his  brethren in God's creation. It erases from the believing soul every evil. In this  cleansed soul, excellence flourishes and the will to sacrifice for the common  welfare prevails.
       The believer cannot be tyrannical, because he would be acting contrary to an  important characteristic of God: justice. He cannot be a hardened brute, because  his Lord is most merciful. He cannot be a liar, a deceiver, or a hypocrite, because  his account is with the omniscient God Who "knows the stealthy looks and that  which the breast conceals." He cannot be weak or cowardly, because he realizes  that this would not benefit him so long as the decision rests in the hands of God.
       If we should thus continue to enumerate human short- comings, we would see  how the faithful are shielded from them by faith. We would also discover that all noble traits are welcome to the believing and confident soul who enters the worship of God, and thereby His Kingdom of mercy, once it has answered the  call: "But ah! thou soul at peace! Return unto thy Lord, content in His good pleasure! Enter thou among My  bondsmen! Enter thou My Garden!"35
       This soul, serene in its faith, lives in a happiness enjoyed only by  believers in the unity of God. It is possible for those of us who dwell  on the margin of faith and who ask God for guidance to visualize the  confident soul actually in a paradise on earth, for the spiritual  happiness which it would then en joy is the sweetest that Paradise  can provide.
       This faith in the one God and the virtues inevitably at tending it  purify the soul from evil and wickedness and elevate the human  mind. Atheism and partnership in worship or polytheism occupy the  mind with the world of the senses and surround it with a cordon of  falsehoods, falsehoods which emanate from the preachings of  magicians, soothsayers, and the sects that dwell upon the worship  of personified gods who are divided and whose authority is  distributed and disputed. Such worship serves only to imprint on the  human mind a picture of the nature of humans or the absurdities  into which they have fallen. Belief in the unity of God and perfection  do just the opposite. They induce the mind to think, contemplate,  and act wisely. For the God Whom Islam preaches brings together  authority and virtue. He is with man wherever he may be. There is no  need for an intercessor to reach Him; and He cannot be reached with  the senses. He must therefore be approached by the exercise of  intelligence. A way to Him is to be sought through His vestiges;  hence, human intelligence must ponder His creation.