This episode will be focusing on the state of the Arab communities before the prophet’s noble mission.

At Your Service O’ Prophet Mohammad – Part 2

 

Arabs before the Prophet’s Mission

This episode will be focusing on the state of the Arab communities before the prophet’s noble mission. A natural narration of the prophet’s (pbuh) biography requires us to present a brief glance on the history prior to the mission and related events, to learn about the circumstances and situations that dominated the communities and the region during that time in which the prophet’s call for Islam emerged. We will also tackle the religious, political, social, and moral circumstances and situations during the pre-Islamic era in the Arabian Peninsula, which included the Hejaz and its surroundings.

On the Religious Level

On the religious level, Idolatry was the dominating religion in the Arabian Peninsula. The ideology of Polytheism and Idolatry was spread among the people of this region. Idolatry had tribal bases, as every tribe, even more, every house had its own idol and method of worship. Despite their belief in the existence of God and His creation of the universe, they considered that their worship of idols brought them closer to God. The Holy Koran has pointed to this, stating: “… (as for) those who take guardians besides Him, (saying), We only serve them so that they make us closer to Allah…” {Az-Zumar:3}

On the Political Level

On the political level, people of the Arabian Peninsula did not submit to any authority or system besides the tribal one, due to several factors. On one hand, most of the people of this region were from the nomads who spent their night in one place and their morning in another. On another hand, they refused any form of supremacy which would limit their individual, family, and tribal freedoms. Moreover, some economic factors contributed in establishing this fact, as the desert nature of the region made it unfit for planting and labor, and hard for settling down, organizing life and producing. For all these reasons, this region remained far from any of the major powers’ control at that time, and did not submit to any of the Romans', Persians', or Habashis’ rule, and was not influenced by their concepts and religions.

From this point, the phenomenon of tribal statelets emerged, every tribe had its leader, every leader had supremacy and no rule or political authority united them, they rather lived political vacuum.

On the Social Level

As for the social situation, the Arab individual lived a tough nomadic life, and the tribal rule, as well as the absence of any strong religious or conscientious restraints drove tribes to wage wars and assault each others, sometimes just to ensure a living, others to take control or revenge. So one tribe used to assault another tribe, take control over its money, take its women and children into captivity, and kill or capture its men. Later on, the assaulted tribe awaits the victorious tribe to take revenge.

Therefore, people who read history can clearly see the level of social deterioration during that era. Robbery, invasion, and tribal bigotry were among the characteristics of that society; and for the silliest reasons, fierce and destructive wars used to erupt between them leaving to thousands of casualties.

One of the most significant examples on that could be the so-called “Dahes and Ghabra’a” battle. Prince of Believers, Ali Bin Abi Taleb (as) describes the social situation of the Arabs before the prophet’s (pbuh) mission: “Allah sent Mohammad as a portent and a guardian on revelation, as you Arabs adopt the worst belief and live in the worst region between rough stones and poisonous snakes, drinking from the mud and eating rough food, you shed your own blood and break apart from your own kinship, idols are planted in you and sins are tied to you.”

On the Moral Level

On the moral level, harshness, adultery, alcohol drinking, usury, and burying newborns alive for fear of disgrace and poverty were the general features of the morals spread during the pre-Islamic era. It is enough to refer to some of the habits and traditions of that time and which the Holy Quran referred to describe the level of adultery and moral degradation of those societies. Moreover, among their bad habits was circling around the Kaaba naked, both men and women. In addition, if a man felt he was facing bankruptcy, he used to kill his children so that he doesn’t see them hungry, and the Quran referred to that: "…kill not your children on a plea of want;- We provide sustenance for you and for them…” {Al-An’aam: 151}

We can witness the spread of the phenomenon of burying newborns alive in the Holy Quran, which mentioned it and denounced this crime, rebuking the brutal attitude of those societies. It said: “When the female (infant), buried alive, is questioned - For what crime was she killed;” (At-Takwir” 8-9}, It also said: “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! {An-Nahl: 58-59}

These were the situations of the Arab society in the Peninsula at that time. And from that society and that complicated tribal atmosphere, which contained all kinds of corruption and detachment from values and morals and needed comprehensive change, came the prophet of Allah (pbuh) to lead this change. This great prophet was able in a short period of time to transfer this nation from the disgrace it lived in to the peak of power, glory, and honor; and to change all its habits and understandings, and eliminate all the reasons behind its sufferings and pains.

The Prophet Makes a Real Coup

Islam was able only in a few years to make the greatest achievement in the region which had the mentioned characteristics. It succeeded in making a real and basic coup in the hearts, minds, attitudes, and morals of that nation, and in its understandings, and carried it from nonexistence to existence and from death to life. 

Jaafar Bin Abi Taleb talked about that to the king of Habashis after explaining about the deteriorating situation they lived in before the prophet’s (pbuh) mission. He said: “We have lived under that until Allah sent us a prophet who was one of us, we knew his origin, honesty, integrity, and virtue, so he called upon us to unify and worship Allah and to abandon the idols we and our fathers used to worship. He ordered us to speak honestly, keep the trust, preserve kinship, good neighboring, and to abandon the prohibited, bloodshed, performing adultery, speaking false speech, and taking the orphans’ money.”

 

Translated by Sara Taha Moughnieh