What Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) Brought to the Mankind?
Every period of time is dark when the creed of oneness is rocked because when belief in Allah, which is the light of the skies and the earth, is not dominant over people, the spirit and conscience of people become pitch-black. Since the quality of the looking by such a heart and conscience at things and events is short-sighted and blurry, that person will live in a dark world like bats.
In a period when the religion and all of the principles of religion were rocked to its foundations and the heavenly religions were distorted by their followers, maybe a few people believed in only one God, whom they could not name and know and hence they could not worship; however, they were so weak that nobody noticed them.
Idolatry in Jahiliyyah
All polytheists took pride in worshipping their idols that filled the Kaaba and consoled themselves. Those who had a little knowledge said that they regarded those idols as a means to approach them to Allah. This issue is expressed as follows in a verse:
“We only serve them in order that they may bring us nearer to Allah.”
(az-Zumar, 39/3)
Thus, the feeling of worshipping that was placed in the body of man as a trust was misused and betrayed again. People worshipped trees, stones, soil, the sun, the moon and stars; they even worshipped the idols that they themselves made out of food like halva and cheese for a while and then ate them when they felt hungry.
The Quran expresses that groundless thought and old understanding as follows:
“They serve, besides Allah, things that hurt them not nor profit them, and they say: "These are our intercessors with Allah." Say: "Do ye indeed inform Allah of something He knows, not in the heavens or on earth?― Glory to Him! and far is He above the partners they ascribe (to Him)!” (Yunus, 10/18).
“Is it not to Allah that sincere devotion is due? But those who take for protectors other than Allah (say): "We only serve them in order that they may bring us nearer to Allah." Truly Allah will judge between them in that wherein they differ. But Allah guides not such as are false and ungrateful.” (az-Zumar, 39/3).
They looked of excuses for their superstitious thoughts. Their biggest excuse was that their fathers did the same thing:
“When it is said to them: "Follow what Allah hath revealed" they say: "Nay! we shall follow the ways of our fathers." What! even though their fathers were void of wisdom and guidance?”
(al-Baqara, 2/170).
Tragedy of Daughters
Another bad deed belonging to the Era of Jahiliyyah (Ignorance) is narrated as follows in the Quran:
“When news is brought to one of them, of (the birth of) a female (child), his face darkens, and he is filled with inward grief! With shame does he hide himself from his people, because of the bad news he has had! Shall he retain it on (sufferance and) contempt, or bury it in the dust? Ah! what an evil (choice) they decide on?!..”
(an-Nahl, 16/58-59).
Yes, when one of them was informed that he had a daughter, he would be furious; therefore, his face would darken and he would feel ashamed of himself to walk around and to be seen by others due this bad news. He found this news so bad that he would wish to disappear, hide somewhere and feel obliged to endure either of the following alternatives, hesitate and make a decision: to endure the humiliating situation in the society and let the girl live or to eliminate her in order to save His honor.
Women were disdained like that during the Era of Jahiliyyah; this contempt and despising did not prevail among Arabs only. It was the same in Roman and Sassanid Empires. Therefore, it can be said that the amazing determination and revolution of Islam regarding women among Jahiliyyah Arabs is a matchless operation in terms of women all over the world.
Yes, the Quran confronted that savagery and prohibited people from killing their children no matter why and how:
“Kill not your children on a plea of want;― we provide sustenance for you and for them.”
(al-An’am, 6/151).
It looks as if God Almighty addressed them as follows: Why do you kill your children? I provide sustenance for you and for them. Do you not see that the earth is presented to you in the forms of thousands of dinner tables? The sky is always ready to help you. Who can send the clouds to give you rain and snow and make millions of kinds of plants sprout but Me? Although you know all of them, why, based on what conscience, justice and mind, do you kill your children? Do not forget that those who do so will never deserve to be addressed by Allah; however, those innocent children will be addressed by Allah and they will be asked why they were killed, and those cruel people who killed their children will definitely be punished. The following verse tells us about the ethics of that period with its terrible creepiness, “When the female (infant) buried alive, is questioned― For what crime she was killed.” (at-Takwir, 81/8-9)
Once a Companion came to the presence of the Messenger of Allah and narrated that savagery as follows: “O Messenger of Allah! During the Era of Jahiliyyah, we used to bury our daughters alive. I had a daughter. I said to her mother, ‘Dress her; I will take her to her uncle’. (The woman knew what it meant. Her beloved daughter would be thrown into a pit and she would die there struggling to breathe. Unfortunately, the mother had no right or authority to prevent it. The only thing she could do was to cry for her daughter). My wife did what I had asked her. The girl thought she was really going to visit her uncle and was running about joyfully. I held her hand and took her to the pit that I had dug. I told her to look into the pit. Just as she was about to look, I kicked her back and she fell into the pit. However, she managed to get hold of the edge of the pit. On the one hand, she was struggling to be saved; on the other hand, she said, ‘Dad! Your clothes got dusty’ and was trying to shake the dust off my clothes. I kicked her a second time and buried her alive.”
While the man was narrating it, the Messenger of Allah and the people around him started to cry sobbingly. One of the people there said to the man, “Hey, man! You made the Messenger of Allah sad!” the Messenger of Allah said, “Narrate it again.” The man narrated it again. The tears of the Prophet ran down to his beard (1). The Messenger of Allah made the man narrate the incident again because he wanted to make the people around realize this: “You were like that before Islam. I made him narrate it again so that you will remember the humanity Islam has made you gain!”
As it is seen in that tragic example, the humankind was undergoing a terrible crisis at that time; along with thousands of disgusting incidents in the darkness of the desert, deep pits would be dug and many innocent children would be buried alive and die in those pits. Human beings had become worse than hyenas in terms of savagery. A toothless being had no right to live; it was bound to be torn to pieces by the sharp teeth of a toothed being. The society was undergoing a depression. There was nobody to stop that depression.
Values that had Changed
The society was in such a terrible state that;
- all of the humane values had been reversed,
- virtues were started to be regarded as faults, and faults and sins were started to be regarded as virtues.
- Savagery had been applauded and humanity had been despised; sheep were suffering due to the torture of merciless shepherds.
- Prostitution and fornication were so common that many people did not know who their fathers were. The pedigrees and family lines of people had disappeared.
- Alcohol and gambling were not things to be ashamed of.
- Despising people and humiliating them were regarded as something normal; bleeding people dry through various speculations were considered as a skill and cleverness.
There was a need for a person of efficient speech to stop all those things. The need was so urgent that the mercy of Allah took action and Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) was sent with the duty of prophethood; with his advent, everything changed. As the great poet, Ahmed Şevki said:
“The guidance rose; the universe was illuminated
Now the time has a sweet smile and praise in its lips”
The time and place, which were dark, became a bunch of roses that smile thanks to the light that Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) brought, as the people of Madinah chanted when they welcomed him during Hijrah (migration) after many years:
“O the White Moon rose over us from the Valley of Wada'
And we owe it to show gratefulness where the call is to Allah” 3.
They welcomed him with lyrics that expressed those feelings. Those people with clean faces chanted those clean lyrics with their clean mouths.
1) See Ibn Kathir Muh. 3/82.
2) Muslim Faraid 14.
3) See Muslim Faraid 14, Bukhari Tafsir Surah al-Ahzab 33, Istiqrad 11 - Musnad 3/311.
- What did the custom of burying girls alive in the Era of Jahiliyyah originate from? Was there a certain limit for it? Were all daughters buried?
- Why is the share given to women in Islam regarding inheritance is half of that given to men? What is the arrangement Islam introduced regarding the share of women in inheritance and equality?
- Can I get information about the high ethics of Hz. Muhammad (PBUH)?
- Julaybib (r.a.)
- Will you give information about the people killed with Hz. Husayn in Karbala?
- Will you give information about the children of the Prophet (pbuh)?
- Asma bint Abi Bakr (r.anha)
- Will you give information about the life and virtue of Hz. Aisha?
- "The wealth and blood of a non-Muslim are halal for a Muslim.” How should we understand this statement? Does it not contradict with the following verse: "if any one slew a person…, it would be as if he slew the whole people"?
- What is the importance of taking care of girls (daughters)?