With eyes as bright as the shining sun, a reality on the lips more brilliant than the light of the sun, a heart more fresh than the flowers of the gardens of Yathrib and Taif, habits and morals more decent than the moon-lit nights of the Hijaz, a mind more brisk than the strong winds, a bewitching tongue, a heart with heavenly light, firm determination like a trenchant sword and heavenly words on the tongue such was Muhammad son of Abdullah, the prophet of Arabia, the prophet who destroyed the idols which had separated brothers from brothers. He did not break only the idols of wood and stone but also broke the idols of wealth, indecent habits and party spirit.
The only thing which the cowardly Quraysh desired was money should be transferred from the hands of the nomadic Arabs to their own pockets. The only value which they attached to life was that in order to earn profit they should travel through the desert on the back of the camels undergoing extreme hardships and then return to their hometown Mecca -the same Mecca which was the city of idol-worship, and where money was the only thing which counted. Suddenly they heard a voice which shook their nerves. Their hopes were shattered. The world turned away its face from them saying “The value of man is not the same which you have assessed and the object of the creation of the nomadic Arabs is not the same which you think it to be”.
Banu Asad and Banu Tamim were so foolish and ignorant that they buried their daughters alive without any cause. There was no justification for their doing so except that it was a custom which had survived amongst them. They were opposed to the divine will. They hated the beauty of nature. And then they heard a voice, which was expressive of deep love and sympathy for the people saying: “Don’t bury your daughters alive. Daughters are as good a creation of God as the sons. No human being has a right to deprive others of life. It is only God who creates the people and makes them die”. The Arabs were always fighting. They fought and shed blood for years on account of very trivial things. They killed their own brothers and then rejoiced and glorified themselves on it. To sacrifice their lives for the sake of their own ignorance was something very ordinary for them. The children cried and screamed and grew up in conditions which were not conducive to the creation of love or sympathy for anyone in their minds.
In these circumstances, they heard another voice which said “What are you doing? You kill one another although you are all brothers because all of you have been created by God. Strife is something satanic. Peace and friendship are more beneficial for you. The blessing for which you fight can’t be achieved except through peace”. The Arabs were the most proud and egoistic people. They considered the non-Arabs inferior to themselves. Not only this but they did not consider the non-Arabs even human beings. Muhammad disliked this attitude of the Arabs very much. Addressing these proud people he said: “No Arab is superior to a non-Arab unless he is more pious. Whether you like it or not all human beings are brothers of one another”.
There were oppressed, homeless and helpless persons whose faces had been scorched by the hot winds. The society had discarded them and made their lives miserable. They were more humble in the eyes of the people than the particles of sand and their life had become extremely unenviable. And these were the true friends of the prophet of Islam, just as the indigent and outcasts of society were the friends of Jesus Christ and other great men of the world. It was these very people for whose benefit the prophet of Islam endeavoured to prevent the establishment of a dictatorship, disallowed slavery, freed man from the bondage of his fellow men, and established the public treasury so that all might benefit from it without any discrimination. He directed the efforts of the people towards public welfare. He insisted on Quraysh, who were his kinsmen, at every step that they should improve their conduct, do good deeds, and keep their attention directed wholeheartedly to God, who has united the scattered creation into a single whole.
However, Quraysh instigated the ignorant persons as well as their own children to stone and ridicule him. The helpless, oppressed and homeless slaves among whom one was Bilal, the Mu’azzin of the prophet, were overjoyed when they heard this: “All human beings are fed by God. He likes him most who is more helpful to his creatures”. Those who were his enemies and stoned and ridiculed him heard this animating voice: “If you (Muhammad) had been stern and hard-hearted they would all have deserted you a long time ago. Forgive them and ask God to forgive (their sins) and consult with them on certain matters. But when you reach a decision, trust God. God loves those who trust aim “.
The following pure words were imprinted on the minds of those who were endeavouring in the path of God for a better life, and were ready to support him (Muhammad) in his campaign against idol-worship and evil-doing, and were afraid lest their rights and good conduct might be wasted in the battle-field. “Remember! Don’t be treacherous. Don’t commit a breach of trust. Don’t kill either a child or a woman or an old man or a monk in a monastery. Don’t burn a date-palm tree and don’t cut any tree nor pull down a building”. The Arabs heard this heavenly voice from Muhammad and spread it in all four corners of the world. They covered powerful rulers and kings with this voice, established brotherhood amongst human beings and strung them in one faith, and created a relationship between man and God.
The shade of Muhammad spread so much that the entire Old World came under it and the land from the east up to the west began producing the fruits of goodness, knowledge, peace and friendship. The prophet of Islam stretched his hand and sowed the seeds of friendship and brotherhood throughout the world. That hand is still stretched and is busy sowing the seeds. Hence, there is no part of the world wherein the followers of Muhammad are not found. One of them may be in Pakistan and the other may be in Spain, but in spite of this, both of them are treated to be under one and the same standard. The prophet provided honour and respect to the Orientals which is even now a shining crown on their heads.
This voice of the Prophet was a call for human brotherhood. It stopped the hands of the rulers from reaching the property of the subjects and gave equal rights to all human beings. In his religion, there is no discrimination between a common man, a ruler and a subject and an Arab and a non-Arab, because all human beings are the slaves of God and it is He who provides sustenance to all of them. This voice emancipated women from the oppression of men, freed the labourers from the injustice of the capitalists and delivered the servants from the degradation of submission to their masters. As opposed to Plato and other philosophers, who deprive the workers of their social rights on account of their mean occupation and divided society into many grades, the prophet of Islam made all human beings participate in the affairs of government. He also disallowed usury and exploitation of one man by another. After the prophet of Islam, it was Ali bin Talib who called men to good morals.
by: George Jordac
