Islam is
much misunderstood by many of its followers now, but when it was first propounded
it was a simple religion which taught ethical behaviour to its followers.
Before Prophet
Mohammed came on to the scene, the Arabs were peaceful Semitic Sheppard’s who
inhabited and roamed the Arabian Peninsula. They were nomadic pastoral tribal
societies split into numerous tribes. Each of the tribes had their own religion
and way of worship.
Prophet Mohammed was born at Mecca in 570 AD as
Ahmed but was later known as Mohammed which means ‘He who will be praised.” He
was the son of Abdullah & Amina and was a camel driver. He was an epileptic
and suffered from spells of unconsciousness when he dreamed strange dreams and
heard the voice of Angel Gabriel.
Khadija Bint Khuwaylid was born into the
Arsitocratic clan Asad of the Quraysh tribe. She was a rich merchant by herself
and was considered as a noble personality in her tribe. She first employed
Mohammed to manage her caravan in Syria, but later impressed with his skills,
had offered to marry him which he accepted. At that time Mohammed was 25 years
old, while Khadija was 40. She was the first convert to Islam.
The couple had 2 sons; Qasim and Abdallah and 4
daughters; Zaynab, Ruqayya, Umm Kulthum and Fatima.
At Mecca, Mohammed started telling his
neighbours and others that he was the long expected prophet sent by Allah to
save the world. His neighbours laughed at him and hated his speeches, but
Mohammed continued them and one day they decided to kill Mohammed as they
regarded his as a lunatic and public bore.
Mohammed came to know about the plot and in the
dark he fled to Medina with his most trusted pupil Abu Bakr. This happened in
the year 622 AD when Mohammed was 52 years old and is considered as the important
date of Hegira by the Muslims.
Unlike Mecca, the people of Medina did not know
Mohammed and were more willing to listen to his teachings. He named his faith
as Islam or “The submission to the will of God” which Mohammed praised as the
highest of all virtues. Soon his following increased and for 7 years he
preached at Medina.
Then, in 629 AD, he marched his followers
across the desert and they took Mecca easily, and when a number of its
residents were killed by Mohammed’s followers, they could easily convince others
that Mohammed is a great Prophet. From
that time till his death in 632 AD, Mohammed was successful in whatever he had undertaken.
Mohammed had 13 wives with the eldest being
Khadija and the youngest, Aisha.
Why did Islam succeed so well?
Firstly the Arabs had numerous Gods with their
own way of worship. They were a tribal people and their religion was
rudimentary.
Islam was a simple religion and was superior to
any religion that was practiced in Arabia at that time. The disciples were told to love Allah, the
ruler of the world, the merciful and compassionate. They must honour and obey
their parents. They were warned against being dishonest to their neighbours and
were asked to be humble and charitable to the poor and the sick.
They were ordered to abstain from strong drinks
and be frugal in what they ate. There were then no priests in Islam. The
mosques were just large stone halls without benches or pictures where the
faithful could gather to read and discuss the chapters from the Quran. The
average Muslim was not restricted by the regulations of an established Church.
He turned his face towards Mecca 5 times each day to recite a simple prayer.
As you can see from what it said then, Islam
remained a simple religion and had inculcated morals and ethics of behaviour.
Secondly, the Muslims had been successful in
their warfare against the Christians because the Prophet promised that anyone
who died fighting the enemy would go directly to Heaven. It gave an enormous
advantage to the Muslims over the crusaders who in contrast were in dread of
the dark world hereafter.
After putting the people around him in order
and making his religion popular in the region, Mohammed then began to enjoy the
power of being the undisputed ruler of a large number of Arab tribes. Then he
favoured the rich people by a number of regulations. He allowed men to have 4 wives.
As an ordinary person could then (perhaps even today) maintain only one wife
with his resources, this move was obviously aimed at the richer classes. Slowly,
the simple religion meant for the tribal communities of the desert got
transformed to suit the needs of rich merchants.
Mohammed went on preaching Islam and
proclaiming new rules of conduct till his death in 632 AD due to a fever. He
was then 62 years old.
As long as Khadija was alive, Mohammed did not
take a 2nd wife and did so only after her death. Mohammed married
his 3rd wife Aisha (daughter of Abu Bakr) in 619 AD when she was 6
years old and Mohammed was 50 years old. Their marriage was consummated when
she was 9 years old. Before the marriage Mohammed reportedly said that he saw
Aisha twice in his dreams and an angel told him that she would be his wife.
When Aisha’s hand was asked for marriage to
Mohammed, Abu Bakr hesitated but later agreed. Aisha’s engagement to another
boy was cancelled for the sake of Mohammed’s marriage to her. Aisha is regarded
in the Sunni tradition as intelligent, inquisitive and scholarly and
contributed in the transmission of Mohammed’s sayings for 44 years after his
death.
She is credited with having narrated some 2000
Hadiths on Mohammed’s personal life and also on legal, ritual and theological
subjects. Her knowledge of poetry, medicine and Islamic jurisprudence was
praised by Islamic scholars. She was active in Islamic discourse during the
Caliphates of Abu Bakr, Uthman & Ali.
After Mohammed, Abu Bakr became the first
Caliph for 2 years and was succeeded by Omar who in less than 10 years
conquered Egypt, Persia, Phoenicia, Syria & Palestine and made Damascus the
capital of the first Islamic empire. Omar was succeeded by Ali the husband of
Fatima the daughter of Mohammed.
However, a quarrel broke out on a point of
Muslim doctrine and Ali was murdered in 661 AD. The Muslims then split into
Sunni & Shia. After his death, the Caliphate was made hereditary and the
spiritual head became the head of a vast empire and this is known as the
Ummayed Caliphate. A new city Baghdad was built by them and the capital was
shifted to that city from Damascus. The Arab armies marched and in 700 AD, a
general by the name of Tariq crossed the sea and reached Gibraltar ( Gibel al
Tariq) in Europe.
11 years later in 711 AD, Tariq defeated the
king of the Visigoths, and then the Muslim army moved northward following the
path taken by the Carthaginian general Hannibal, crossed the Pyrenees and
defeated the Duke of Aquitania near Bordeaux and marched on to Paris. However,
in the year 732 AD, the Muslim armies were defeated by the Frankish chieftain
Charles Martel and Europe was saved from the Muslims. Charles Martel drove them
out of France but they maintained themselves in Spain where Abd ar Rahman
founded the Caliphate of Cardoba which became a great centre for science and
arts in medieval Europe. This kingdom known as Moorish kingdom so called
because the people came from Mauritania lasted for 700 years.
It was only after the conquest of Granada, the
last Muslim stronghold in Europe in 1492, Columbus received the Royal Grant for
his journey. Of course, the Muslims regained their strength with the new
conquests they made in Asia and Africa.
