SOCIAL REFORMS OF MUHAMMAD (sm)
EPITOMISED IN THE FOUNDATION OF MUSLIM UMMAH
Dr. Muin-ud-Din Ahmad Khan
EPITOMISED IN THE FOUNDATION OF MUSLIM UMMAH
Dr. Muin-ud-Din Ahmad Khan
Besides preaching the religion of Islam, Muhammad’s (sm) everlasting contribution in the social arena was the organization of the ever-expanding Muslim Ummah, which has steadily grown from a tiny society of Muslim brotherhood at Madinah, in course of the last fourteen hundred years, into a global Muslim Community of one and half billion people. The Muslim Ummatic community is a universal and unique social organization, an Egalitarian fraternity of the upholders of the convinced faith in the Unitarian doctrine of Allah, the unity of the Lordship of Allah, the creator, sustainer and providence of the universe, designated as the doctrine of Tawhid or Unitarianism beginning with the formula: There is no god but Allah, Kalimah: la ilaha illa Allah; and it ends with the emphatic confirmation that, Allah is ahad, unique, indivisible one, self-sufficient and perfect Being, having no need for taking or giving birth or else for any consort (Surah al-Ikhlas no. 112). The concept of Tawhid, Unitarianism, was formulated by Patriach Abraham, Ibrahim of the Quran, the progenitor of the three great Semitic religions, namely Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The Jews and Muslims still strictly maintain it; but the Christians deviated slightly from the religion of Jesus Christ, Isa Masih (peace be on him) by submerging it under the influence of the Theology of Saint Paul turning the Semitic religious concept of unity into the Aryan theological concept of Trinity. The Christians have also forgotten the proper name of God and have adopted the Aryan abstract concept of god in the place of Semitic Concrete name of the Supreme Lord preached by Jesus, curiously turning it into ‘god’ with capital ‘G’. Yet the Christians generally believe in oneness of God, in the theological sense of ‘monotheism’ even though a small Church of Unitarianism still exists in Canada. God is not, however, a suitable name for Allah since it is somehow derived from the Aryan concept of ‘devata’ as god’s adjective becomes ‘divine’ (deva- ine = Bangla ‘daiva’) instead of ‘godine’. Muhammad (sm) preached the pure religion of Tawhid, Unitarianism of Abrahamic origin without slightest deviation. Muhammad (sm) was also a liniel descendant of Abraham through his eldest son Ismail (peace be on him) as Jesus Christ was a descendant of Abraham through his youngest son Ishaq (peace be on him).
Muhammad (sm) was born in a vibrant Arab chieftain’s family circle. His grandfather Abdul Muttalib was the head of the Quraish Tribe of Makkah and the chief administrator of the holy Shrine of Ka’aba. In this capacity, he was primus inter pares in the whole of Arabia and commanded princely respect throughout the Arabian Peninsula. His father Abdullah was the youngest and most beloved son of his Grandfather, who suddenly died near Yathrib (latterly Madinah) on his way back from Syria on a trading journey around the year of the Elephant, 570 Cristian Era (C.E.) while Muhammad was in his mother’s womb. The event was disastrous and touching. Moved by the untimely demise of Abdullah, his Grandfather took him under his own guardianship at his birth. He remained for ten years most intimately close to his grandfather till the latter’s death in about 580 C.E. and thereafter he was adopted by the eldest son of Abdul Muttalib, namely Abu Talib who succeeded in the chieftainship of Makkah and holy Ka’aba on the death of his father. Muhammad (sm) lived under the guardianship of his uncle Abu Talib for over forty years next till the death of the latter in early 620’s C.E. His Father Abdullah ibn Abdul Muttalib was apparently a good and prosperous trader and left behind a sizeable building surrounded by boundary walls for his bereaved family. Thus Muhammad (sm) was born and brought up in an aristocratic ruling atmosphere which seems to have instilled a pensive mood in his psychology and a caring response to the welfare of his surrounding people. In the meanwhile, many curious events took place significantly affecting his life. His birth was happily celebrated by his paternal uncles who were nine in number; one of them manumitted a female slave as a prize of breaking the news of his nephew’s birth to him. On the other hand, in accordance with the aristocratic Arab’s custom, the child was given in the charge of a desert wet-nurse for taking advantage of healthy desert atmosphere and for learning chaste Arabic tongue. He lived in the desert habitat for (2+2) four years.
Evidence gathered from his nurse-mother indicates that Muhammad (sm) was born with a moral disposition. When he was put to the breast of his wet-nurse Halima Sa’dia while he was hardly two weeks old, he would suck from one breast and leave the other alone. His nurse-mother says that even on her insistence he would not touch the other, which apparently he left for his milk-brother, the own child of Halima Sa’dia (may Allah be pleased with her). We have noticed that he was born an Orphan. His father died when he was in his mother’s womb. The Quranic version in Surah Wa-d-Duha pronounces that the Lord-Providence himself looked after him in his early life. It posits with emphatic question marks: Didn’t We find you an orphan and gave you shelter? And find you aimless, and gave you right guidance? And find you destitute; so made you prosperous? (Q. 93 : 6-8). That covers his early life from orphan birth through the guardianship of his grandfather Abdul Muttalib and of his paternal uncle Abu Talib until his age of 25, when he got married with the rich widow Khadijah (ra) who entrusted all her wealth and trading capital to him. He was already a renowned trader, made a good name in business deals and not only became the in-charge of Khadizah’s trading concern but was also hailed by the Makkan inhabitants as al-Sadik and al-Amin, the truthful and trusted person. It is a glaring unique title. But with the viable capital money at his disposal, he made an about-turn to the business enterprise and opted for a dedicated renunciation of worldly prosperity. Leaving aside the thrilling comfort of a newly wed family home, he went to the jungle, the forest region of mount Hira, three miles (5 km.) away from the town, deep into the wilderness of Makkah and took shelter in a shallow cave at the mountain-top and gave himself up to continuous meditation as Goutam Buddha did in the South Asian region one thousand years before him. It was called ‘tahannus’ meaning renunciation or a recluse, though he himself happened to be a cordially loving husband and profusely loved by his wife; only Providence knows what agony, ailment, affliction or ideology prompted him to take such a drastic step!
Recounting the prominent incidents of his past life and taking recourse to a historian’s acumen, we may surmise that his tortuous self-consciousness as a forlorn orphan and visible disdain and usual maltreatment meted out around him to the bereaved widows, orphans, slaves, weak and poor section of the people relentingly affected his compassionate demeanor. In his boyhood, he would seldom join his age-groups for playing games and making fun. He often remained isolated and in a contemplative mood. We have noted above that his bringing up, inspite of his being orphan, nonetheless was in the midst of an enlightening, respectful, elitist atmosphere and in a nomadic princely environment. Besides his exceptionally noble demeanor, kind heartedness, ever ready helping hand to the poor, destitute, widows, orphans, helpless, needy, combined with his extraordinary honesty, truthfulness and reliability and above all, his precise and chaste language being trained in childhood at the famous desert tribe of Banu Sa‘ad, made him a virtuous model of the youth. Moreover, his deep religious conviction and regular visit to the holy Shrine of Ka’aba endeared him to one and all. People loved him, revered him, and held him in such a high esteem as if none appeared before them like unto him. In his 20s or 30s by a chance incidence the covering curtain of the holy Ka’aba caught fire and was burnt down which weakened the foundation of the building for the rebuilding of which the Makkan Quraish clans took an honorably shared program. However, the differences of opinion as to whoever person or persons or clan be entrusted with the honor of handling the Black Stone by removing it from the old site while demolishing the wall of the old building and refix it in the new building, brought the task to the grips, even at the point of crossing swords. At that stage by a sheer chance the task fell upon Muhammad (sm) for arbitration. He took a blanket, put the black stone on it by his own hands and asked the elders of each clan to catch hold of the blanket. Thus and so it was removed from the old site and placed back in the new building which pacified the excitement and removed differences and made all happy. The widely renowned latest comprehensive biographer of Muhammad (sm), Professor Montgomery W. Watt gleaned from his life-long activities a constant anxiety that haunted him to mitigate the financial woes of the poor, destitute and weaker section of the Makkan population. In his two large volumes: Muhammad at Makkah and Muhammad at Madinah, Professor Watt observed a sort of growing mercantile capitalism at Makkah which was increasingly creating a sharp financial gap between the rich and the poor and that the helplessness and oppression suffered by the weaker section due to the scarce opportunity for earning a livelihood in the arid desert environment. There was a vast scope of participating in the Afro-Asian and European Transit trade over the extensive Arabian desert depending on investment of a large or sizeable capital. There was no agricultural or industrial product at Makkah which could help accumulation of capital. Cottage industries like tauning animal hide and skin were too small to be of any help. Trading capital was collected mainly out of the accumulated wealth, gathered through long time business enterprise by the rich Makkan traders. Some others collected capital taking resort to debt from usurious money-lenders, which provided a roaring banking business to the Jews of Madinah and Khaybar. Yet some others used to hoist a trading ‘flag’ inviting share of an equi-table business and people would come with small and big amounts of capital money as much as they could afford to participate in the venture in the trusted hope of reaping good-shared profit out of it. Muhammad (sm) adopted the last method in his business ventures till he gained the confidence of Khadizah Sa‘dia and eventually becoming her sole manager. Nevertheless, such business and trading ventures were the preserve of the fortunate few. The mass of the people, in general, were destitute, and poverty and hunger were rampant all around him. Another memorable incidence took place in his career at the age of forty.
We have noted above that after his marriage with the rich widow Khadizah Sa‘dia, he took to meditational tahannus, that is, devotional asceticism and took shelter in the narrow cave at the top of the mountain al-Hira. The cave is about 15 ft. long and about 7 ft wide, its height would be about 5ft. There are a few stone slabs around the cave where one can comfortably sit or lie down. The cave was probably used as a dormitory, hardly a comfortable abode, even for a single person. It takes about 45 minutes to climb on the top of Mount Hira and one can come down in 30 minutes. He was, however, a hermit with a difference. He lived an intimate family life. At the time of wedding he was 25years old and Khadijah Sa‘dia 40 years old and in about 25 years that they lived together, she gave birth to 7 children to him till her demise. Nonetheless, his keen emphasis of life was on renunciation of the worldly comfort and continuous meditation at the lonely cave for days together. He would often come home and stay around for collecting food and other necessities for the cave life and go to Hira and would come back again after the victuals are exhausted. Being raised in the distant forefather Patriarch Abraham’s tradition around the holy Ka’aba, which was built by Abraham and his eldest son Ismail, his eagerness for entertaining guests and kind hospitality were writ large in his nature. While staying at the cave of Hira, he would sometimes come down to the foothill and wait with food to eat along with the passers-by.
The greatest crisis of his life, however, dawned upon him at the age of forty in a dark night while he was in a deep trance of meditation, the Arch Angel Jibrail appeared before him in shining brightness and asked him: “Read!’’ Muhammad was taken aback as he was unlettered and replied in amazing fear: “Not am I amongst readers.” The angel hugged him and pressed him hard and then asked him again: “Read!’’ In fear and remorse, he gave the same answer saying “ma ana bi-qari-in.” The angel hugged and pressed him once again and asked the same question. There upon he began reading the first installment of divine revelation of the five verses of Surah al-Alaq. This made his life topsy-turvy.
After this mysterious beatific session was over, he hurried back home and trembling in excitement of highest hope and tremendous fear disclosed the matter to his beloved wife Khadizah, who calmly consoled him saying: If any supernatural being got hold of you, it will do no harm to you. You never do anything bad. You do not hurt anybody. You help the poor, the needy and destitute. You carry the burden of the weak, orphan, widow, slaves. You visit the sick and afflicted persons. You maintain goodly relations with you friends and relatives! He was still shivering with deep apprehension and called out jammiluni jammiluni! Cover me up; cover me up with a blanket! I am afraid of my life! His wife’s cogently told observation at the high peak of crisis of his life, gives indelible witness to what she observed of his behavior from close quarters during the fifteen years of her married life with him, that factually confirms our assumption also of his early pensive mood and Professor Watt’s calculation of his socio-economic anxieties. These problems of social inequality, social discrimination, societal disequilibrium and economic oppression made significant points in his latterly built-up socio-economic structure.
Six Phases of His Internal Life
The life of Muhammad (sm) can be studied candidly in six consecutive and continuous phases taking into consideration his inner feelings and ideological endeavor. In the first instance, he consciously or unconsciously and assumably divinely guided life, involved himself in a moral striving to be honest. Morality was his motto and guidance of life, which he never violated. This phase of his devoted honesty came to the fruition about the age of twenty, by dint of which he was generally hailed as Muhammad al-Amin; that is, ‘Muhammad the Honest.’
The second phase of his devotional life, following his marriage with Khadizah Sa‘dia about the age of twenty five began with his adoption of ascetic-like life. The reasons were various, which need not detain us here except probably noticing his detestation of the honorable titles of al-Amin and al-Sadiq (the trusted and the truthful) conferred upon him without following his model of honesty by the people; secondly his detestation of the heavy and unbearable task of preserving trusted deposit of funds and valuable materials entrusted to him by the people in general. Since no other person was available in Makkah like unto him; and thirdly he must have deeply felt called upon to pay attention to awakening his inner self. This phase is akin to what the Greek sage Socrates said: ‘Know thyself’ and the Muslim Sufis say: ‘whoever knows one’s ownself knows his Providence’ and the Indian Baidic Aryans say: the knowledge of one’s self, leads to the knowledge of Brahma, the Supreme Lord.’ This is the phase of blossoming the inner self by dint of devoted meditation, Sadhana. He remained enamored in this endeavor for 15 years till he was blessed by Allah with prophethood at the age of forty. He felt the touch of his soul, his inner self, the light of his heart bolstered up his insight and far-sight and he began receiving revelation from Allah for the guidance of humankind, for bringing them out from darkness to light, which continued for the next 23 years till his demise at the age of 63, in 632 C.E.
In the third phase, he established religious institutions and ceremonies in the hostile environment amongst the Makkan idolaters, preaching the Islamic doctrine of Unitarianism, that is, there is no god but Allah, the Creator. Sustainer and Providence of the Universe with patience, fortitude and blessed gratefulness towards Allah for a period of 13 years of his Makkan Prophetic life till he attained to the age of 53. Peaceful preaching with boundless trouble and tribulation, torture and persecution marred this phase of his Makkan life. His preaching of Islam when crossed the meridian towards the end of this third phase, he was taken up in the company of Arch Angel Jibrail to the seventh heaven and beyond at the farthest end of the created universe and thereafter still farther beyond all alone to the Beatific Throne (arsh mualla) for communion with Allah, which is called ‘mi‘raj’. This maturity of prophethood carried him to the fourth phase of his devotional life.
Coming back to the earth he felt an indomitable urge for Institutional teaching of the fourfold lessons which he acquired through fourfold devotional experience, such as, (a) honesty, truthfulness, trustworthiness and moral behavior called precisely etiquette or adab, (b) devotional meditation (zikr) for awakening the soul power and spiritual awareness, (c) reading, writing and logical cum mathematical calculation to know the unknown which is ilm or science introduced by the Holy Quran, and (d) the regular performance of religious duties and obligations and devotional services to Allah and providing welfare to His creatures.
These were the fourfold educational virtues which he wanted to introduce in the human society. He asserted: “I have been raised as a teacher’’ (buithtu-mu’alliman) in a hadith. Following his nocturnal journey of Communion with Allah in course of the famous mi‘raj, he confronted the Makkan people with evidential proof of the miraculous experience. The miraculousness of the event was clearly pointed out. They asked him as to whether in his journey from Ka’aba (Makkah) thousand miles away to the Baitul Muqaddis (Jerusalem, Palestine). He saw the trading Kafela of the Quraish? He readily pointed out the place where they were resting on their way back from Syria and said that, he drank water from so and so person’s drinking jar, which was found correct. There was lengthy cross-examination and it became the gossip of the time and on each and every point Muhammad’s (sm) descriptions were found accurate and true.
Nonetheless, The Quraishite opposition further hardened. His guardian uncle Abu Talib had died and his influencial wife Khadijah had also died. He felt socially forlorn and at the same time his archenemy, uncle Abu Lahab became the Chieftain of his clan Banu Hashim. Consequently, the prospect of setting up a school at Makkah absolutely dimmed. Only the Underground secret education centre at Darul Arkam in the hillside vicinity of Ka‘aba remained agoing, He thought of trying his luck elsewhere. Taif was a health resort, a town of wealthy and enlightened people; some of them had also social relationship with the Quraish. He decided to try his luck thither and accompanied by his servant companion Jaid ibn Harithah, he went around preaching there for ten days. These people were loyal friends of the Quraish. None of them listened to him; rather at the behest of some conspirators, the street urchins pelted him with stones and he came back heavily wounded and molested. By all mundane as well as next worldly standards, he was at the moment the greatest personality in the universe. The Quran pronounces: ‘Haven’t We sent you except as the mercy to the universe? He was the first and the last personality in the universe who was taken up by the Supreme Lord to the divine Throne for beatific vision and communion with the Lord and also he made a comeback to the earth “with guiding light and true religion’’ for the guidance of mankind.
Yet by dint of his strenuous effort and personal endeavor he could achieve nothing. There is the popular saying: ‘man proposes and God disposes.’ In his case, at this point, Allah Himself intervened. A few heart-searching pilgrims of hajj came from Madinah and by a haply chance met him at a lonely place in a dark night. He placed the Unitarian doctrine and the concordant values of Islam before them. They were deeply impressed by his conversation and went back inspired. They thought of Muhammad (sm) as the god-sent person they were looking for in order to pacify the strife-torn society of Madinah amongst the two major Arab tribes of Aus and Khajraj. The Deadliness of the strife between them and common eagerness to have a capable arbitrator urged the people belonging to both the tribes to lend a willing ear to the urging of the pilgrim party about the personality of Muhammad (sm) and the prospect of gaining peace through the harmonious doctrines of Islam. Friendly attitude towards Muhammad (sm) quickly gained popularity in Madinah in contrast to the increasing hostility towards Islam in Makkah. In two years’ time, terms and conditions were settled and in a gradual process Muslims of Makkah and elsewhere migrated to Madinah including Muhammad (sm) whom the Madinans promised to protect and defend him, in a solemn compact, like as they defend their women and children. Thus, though Makkah was the birth place of Islam, Madinah turned into its cradle and center of propagation. With the Hijrat or migration of Muhammad (sm) to Madinah in 622 C.E. his life entered into the 4th devotional phase. In this phase his supreme aim lay in setting up his projected educational institutions of Islam by organizing a homogeneous society. Muhammad (sm) had realized through five decades of dire experience that mere individual person or personality, however great and (a) honest (b) enlightened (c) educated and learned or else (divinely gifted and wise may be, can do no good to humanity all alone, no welfare, and little or nothing at all, save and except in the milieu of a society or State; even so, that can only be done with the active backing and, if needs be, with the challenging stance of a strong collective will. So, in the fourth phase of his life, he concentrated his attention towards building up an integrated Muslim society and a helpful Metropolitan social environment at Madinah. Madinah was known at that time as Yathrib. It was an old and famous settlement of two big Arab tribes, namely Aus and Khajraj and a number of smaller but prosperous Jewish tribes such as, Banu Qainuqa, Banu Nadir, Banu Quraiza and some others. Around Yathrib, there were some scattered tribal Arab people who were idolatrous. In Yathrib, there existed no big tribes like Hawazin, Quraish, Asad etc. Yet, people were living in tribal atmosphere in smaller clannish solidarity. Solidarity was based on clannish loyalty and clans were numerous and scattered. In desert life tribal solidarity is indispensable for the security of life and property. But the clans therein being independent of one another, small and scattered having no central authority or big neighbor to control or unify them, they were required to enter into treaty-arrangements with like-minded clans for collective security and mutual help. Such partners were called halif, that is, sworn friend. In Yathrib, where multiple and numerous small clans lived scattered and mutual strife, loot, plunder, vendetta, even killing human folk were rampant, there collective security treaties, which were usually small and numerous, not only made sworn friends but also sworn enemies. It divided the populace into multiple warring parties. Criss-cross mini-security treaty arrangements at Yathrib, thus produced widely reactionary counteractive results rendering human life extremely precarious. The mini-treaty system had brought Aus and Khajraj also at degger’s drawn with their respective sworn partners supporting respective sides. About the time when Muhammad (sm) migrated to Madinah, Aus and Khajraj had moreover just terminated forty years of hostility and returned to traditional friendliness following a long drawn battle of Buas. Still the individuals of either tribe did not feel secure in going out of home in the darkness of night. This was the chief reason why they combinedly sought his mediation. Muhammad’s (sm) first task was, therefore, unification of them under the common banner of Islam, which was also the high hope and deep expectation of the neo-Muslim leaders of both the tribes. But there was also a third group who clustered round one Abdullah ibn Ubay who was on the verge of being crowned as the king of Aus and Khajraj before the arrival of Muhammad (sm). Under overwhelming popularity of shifting loyalty to Muhammad (sm), he was also compelled by circumstances to accept Islam and offer his loyalty to Muhammad (sm). Yet, he entertained a deep-seated grudge and rancour at heart. Outwardly he behaved as a faithful Muslim, but inwardly he would lose no opportunity to conspire against Islam. He had also considerable followers, whom Muhammad (sm) habitually accepted as Muslims in good faith remaining, however, widely cautious about their probable untoward activities. One of his pressing problems was, nevertheless, rehabilitating the immigrant Muhajirs who left off all their properties and wealth at Makkah which were grabbed by the Quraish. As a result they became paupers. The burning problem which was, however, hanging like a sword over his head, was that of building up the security and resistance to the aggressive designs of the Makkan idolaters. They had already threatened the Madinites in a letter to their friends demanding ouster of Muhammad and the Muslims from Yathrib or face Makkan invasion. His first and foremost craving at Yathrib was, on the other hand, to set up an educational institution and a training center, for which he started building up a mosque that came to be known as Masjid al-Nabawi. Secondly, he took a census of the Muslim population at Yathrib and found About 180 able-bodied local men who were called Ansars (Helpers) and 180 able-bodied Muhajirs (Immigrants) whom he tied down into so many pairs of cordial brothers taking one from Answer and one from Muhajir who would commonly share each other’s property and inherit each other’s wealth. This came to be known as Muslim Brotherhood.
This binding arrangement brought about three significant solidarities viz. (a) it integrated the Muhajirs coming from different tribes and clans of Makkah and elsewhere into a solid block of Muhajirs; (b) it integrated the Muslims of Aus and Khajraj of Yathrib likewise into a solid block of Ansars and (c) it integrated all Muslims into a solid Brotherhood as a stepping-stone towards building up a broader Muslim Community. He declared Muslim Brotherhood as a compact Ummah, a societal organization, that is, a compact society. Thirdly, the brotherhood was recognized by Allah sending down a verse of the Quran stating that “Verily the Muslims are brethren,” one single brotherhood (Ikhwah); and in another verse, it was declared that the Muslims are a single Ummah (Ummatun wahidah) thereby intending to shift the tribal and clannish loyalty which was the sine qua non of Arab life, towards the new collective entity of the Muslim Ummah.
Muhammad (sm) made the Masjid al-Nabawi, the Prophet’s Mosque, the center of the Ummatic life. Five times daily prayers were held at the mosque. Praying unitedly in the Jama‘at was made compulsory. The prayer call azan was devised and five times prayer call pronounced loudly from a high place everyday which brought a new sense of unity and solidarity amongst the Muslim Ummah. Both sexes of the community, men and women, were allowed to attend the daily five times prayer at the Mosque. Non-attendant males without valid reason were severely scolded. Exchange of salam (greetings) with Allah’s blessings was made a moral duty for all and sundry, musafaha (hand shake with both hands) and occasional mu‘anika (hugging) male to male and female to female were introduced as virtuous usage. These ceremonial greetings went a long way in breaking down tribal and clannish arrogance and isolationist conservatism. It strengthened the Islamic sense of equality and brotherhood between man and man.
Muhammad (sm) further ruled that, not to greet one another and stop speaking to a brother Muslim constituted serious offence and grave sin. The Muslim Ummah was regarded as a single body-politic and if anyone is hurt as if a part of the body was hurt. The social solidarity so formed was further strengthened by five times daily prayers and weekly congregational Jum‘ah prayers. The cordiality and fellow-feeling thus produced played an active role in the coveted shifting of loyalty from tribal solidarity towards loyalty to the ideals of Islam and Muslim Ummah. The institution of zakah (zakat), micro-economic financial help or relief to the poor section of the community, gave added strength to the social solidarity. It was a compulsory poor tax levied by Allah. Muhammad (sm) said: “I have been ordered to take zakah from the wealthy and distribute it to the poor and needy. It is stated in the holy Quran that people are asking: what to spend in charity? Tell them to spend the afwah, the surplus wealth in charity for the relief of the poor. Muhammad (sm), however, fixed a minimum wealth tax, zakah, which was made obligatory: Its calculation was a simple mathematics; so that, people can easily understand and remember. Zakat of the crops of rain-fed lands is one-tenth as the share of Allah, of the crops of irrigated lands is half of it one-twentieth, to be contributed at the time of harvesting; for business enterprise half of half, one-fortieth, that is two and half p.c. of whatever remains at hand after deducting the establishment expenditure and capital assets. For animal herds there is a different approximate calculation. These are to be collected centrally by the ruling authorities through authorized collectors whose salary or emoluments would be paid from the zakat fund. So that, although it was put under the control and supervision of the government or Ummatic organization, yet, the administration of zakat was made autonomous and independent of the ruling establishments. Zakat being Allah’s share, the Quran has fixed up eight counts on which this is to be spent. The Quran calls it sadaqah, which is for the (1) poor (2) destitute, (3) its collectors, (4) for drawing the hearts of neo-Muslims or would be Muslims (5) for the manumission of slaves, (6) for relieving the indebted, (7) the travelers and (8) the paupers. If zakat is properly collected and appropriately spent as a social tax in a given society, alleviation of poverty can he accomplished in one single decade. Besides, the surplus of zakat of one area around the world can be transferred to the deficit areas anywhere inside or outside of a country. It may be noted that the Quran mentions salat (prayer) and zakat (poor tax) eighty two or eighty three times emphasizing obligatoriness and importance of these two pillars of Islam.
Introduction of compulsory month-long fasting for one and all from dawn to dusk in the month of Ramadan and the fixation of the 1st day of next month of Shawal, the fast-breaking Eid festival, was the third pillar of Islam; the fasting intensified love, loyalty and fearful cautiousness (taqwa) of the faster towards Allah. In spiritual terms Allah promised unlimited blessing to the sincere fasters and on the physiological plain its long-time, regular, strict and comprehensive abstention from eating, drinking, sexual propensity, quarrel and immoral loose talk as well as contribution of a substantial amount of fitrah, being zakat of fasting for each family member, amounting to about 2kg of wheat from each person to the poor people on the Eid day for a square family meal, substantially strengthened the social solidarity of the Ummah. It is a unique institution for socio-moral training something comparable to and much more effective than the modern Japanese Morology institutions. It is not only fasting at the daytime, but is combined with long time additional regular prayers at night and optional prayers during the last part of the night. In fact, it constitutes one full month of training camp, of Islamic religious institutions of prayer, fasting and charity, which exerts in addition heavy impact on the harmful fattiness and various over-eating diseases of the body. It is also a potent reducer of the cholesterol in the body frame.
Regular five times daily prayers, zakat and month-long fasting of Ramadan, are the three main planks of the religion of Islam. These are formally counted as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th out of fives fundamentals, the 1st being faith in the doctrine of Uniterianism: kalimah, “there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah” and the 5th fundamental is the performance of the hajj pilgrimage to Ka’aba, the House of Allah. Islam is founded on these five fundamentals and all out exertion, striving, endeavor and struggle to establish these fundamental, is called jihad, which basically means self-exertion, which is generally regarded as the 6th fundamental of Islam. The inner exertion, in this regard against the propensities of the self or mind defined as the greater jihad and the outer security and defensive struggle including defensive fighting is defined as lesser jihad.
There is a saying of Muhammad (sm) that if any mischief happens or takes place in the society in front of a faithful person, it is his duty to rectify it by using his hands; if however he is not able to use his hands, he has to rectify it by using his tongue; if he is yet unable to use his tongue, he must hate it at heart, which is the weakest state of faith (Hadith).
Obviously faith in Islam has its obligation and responsibility which one cannot disown without losing faith. To see it from upside down, it clearly indicates that if you hate a misdeed and other faithfuls similarly hate it, it will produce the collective ability to use the tongue and collective use of tongue in righting a wrong will also generate the power to rectify it by using the hands. This circular argument indicates that the basic framework of jihad or self-exertion is to be waged for creating a congenial atmosphere in the Ummatic society in an appropriate manner as a demand of faith.
These five fundamentals are the basic structure of the religious structure of Islam. Muhammad (sm) said: “Islam is founded on five pillars.” He tried his best to establish them on the societal plane in a non-violent manner at Makkah for thirteen years without visible success. At Makkah, he was not permitted by Allah to engage in any altercation or to display violent response to any attack on himself or on his followers. He was permitted only for, peaceful preaching with sabr, patience cum fortitude, and shukr, grateful forbearance.
This is the gist of the religion of Islam, the most significant and substantive part of Islamic system of life. Had Muhammad (sm) been successful in establishing the coveted educational and religious training institutions in a freely preaching environment, he might not have gone for political activities. In that case, he might have confined Islamic activities within spiritual, societal and formal religious arena.
Even after his migration to Yathrib, he engaged himself solely in organizing an Islamically unified cosmopolitan Muslim societal community, Ummah, for establishing his fourfold teaching and training institutions. Moreover, had there been no threat of outside aggression, he would still have kept his preaching of Islam confined to a non-violent peaceful endeavor, striving and struggle within the expanding Muslim Ummah at Yathrib or Madinah.
In their exalting rejoice for getting the Messenger of Allah permanently amongst them the people of Yathrib renamed their settlement soon after his arrived as the Madinatun-Nabi, the city of the prophet, in short, Madinah. Muhammad (sm) demarcated the boundaries of Madinah as a haram or sacred prescinct and declared it as a sacrosanct place where all kinds of violence such as fighting, aggression, murder etc. are strictly prohibited. This raised the status of Madinah to the same category of the haram or sanctuary of Makkah on the one hand, and induced the inhabitants of Madinah to take recourse to settling their disputes peacefully through arbitration and mutual understanding on the other.
The mosque of the Prophet was made a place of shelter for the neo-Muslims who came to meet Muhammad (sm) from far and near. They were required to stay at the mosque for learning the correct process of the five times prayer and to learn the required portion of the holy Quran by heart which is to be recited in the prayer as well as other rules, regulations, injunctions and usages relating to the five fundamentals. A portion of the Mosque was also used for the halqah zikr, circle of meditation, over the names of Allah and for teaching reading and writing.
In course of time, Muhammad (sm) set up two educational institutions, one for the males and the other for the females and appointed teachers to give them lessons. The educational institution of the males was called suffah, that is, the covered portion of one side of the Mosque. Some hapless destitute Muslims who coveted constant nearness and association of the holy Prophet (sm) like Abu Hurayrah, used to stay at the suffah permanently. They attentively listened to the sayings of the holy Prophet and memorized them.
The other school for the female was set up at the vicinity of the mosque called haram, the family circle of the holy Prophet. It is pertinent to recall that Muhammad (sm) married Khadijah, who was twice widowed and had attained to the age of forty while he himself was a youth of twenty-five. He lived with her alone over 25 years till her death. Thereafter, he married a very old widowed lady Sawdah (ra) to look after his young daughter Fatima and to manage his home. Then on the insistence of his closed friend and oldest associate Abu Bakr, he married the young Ayesha, daughter of Abu Bakr who was a mere child, obviously for raising her in the realities of Islam from childhood. Both Abu Hurayrah and Ayesha latterly became the greatest repository of the sayings and tradition of Muhammad (sm) and also greatest teachers of the Muslims. Muhammad (sm) married ten more widows and the haram in the prescinct of the Mosque where the wives of the Prophet (sm) were housed became an educational institution for the girls and ladies. It was actually the combined academic activities of the Mosque goers, the people of suffah and the ladies of the Haram, who later on developed by propagating the tradition and sayings of the holy Prophet, the educational madrasah and university system of the Muslims. It is reasonable to think that he married those ladies at the old age for training them as educators for the women as any male person cannot go intimately near the women without getting married. We have received thousands of pieces of intimation and information including tidbits of the private life of Muhammad (sm) from their narration and descriptions, like of which we have not obtained about the life and activities of any other great man in human history. We received, in fact, the highest number of Hadith or Prophetic sayings from Abu Hurayrah and Hadrat Ayesha. It is calculated that these two brilliant products of the two schools have transmitted nearly one-third of the Prophetic traditions relating to the day-to-day practical activities of a good life presently available to us.
Thus, the core institutions of Islam, which Muhammad (sm) set up were in sum: adab, tarbiyah, ta‘lim and ibadah, which can be explicated as below: (a) Adab means ethical , moral and truthful behavior based on ‘adl, the Semitic tradition of righteousness, which absorbed the first 25 years of Muhammad’s (sm) life as we have discussed above. It echoes the sayings of the infant Jesus Christ from the cradle as cited in Surah Maryam of the holy Quran (19: 30-33): When relatives of Jesus’s mother Mary asked her about the legitimacy of the child, she beckoned to the child and the child said: “Verily I am a servant of Allah; to me given the heavenly Book [in the mother’s womb]. And I have been made Messenger. And made me blessed wherever I might be; And I have been instructed to perform prayer and to give zakah or relief in charity, howsoever long I live. And to be lovingly truthful to my mother. And I have not been made arrogant and unlucky. And peace he on me on the day I was born and on the day I shall die and on the day I shall be raised alive in resurrection.”
Likewise Muhammad (sm) said: (a) addabani rabbi fa ahsana ta‘dibi, I have been taught adab, ethical-moral demeanor, by Providence, so that, my demeanor has become best of all (Hadith). (b) Tarbiyah or tarbiyat is training in spiritual meditation or zikr, remenbrance, mujahida, exercise in revivification of the spiritual awareness, mushahida, meditative exercise for gaining insight or inner sight and murakaba, concentration of attention on the personality of the Providence Lord. This is what every Prophet was required to do except Jesus Christ who was made a Prophet in the mother’s womb; which was performed by Muhammad (sm) at the cave of Hira for a period of 15 years before he received Messengership of Allah. (c) Ta‘lim is reading, writing and arithmatic (hisab) which are ordained by the holy Quran, for knowing the unknown by calculation. Muhammad (sm) said: allamani rabbi fa-ahsana ta‘limi, my Lord-Providence taught me learning, so that my learning has become excellent of all (Hadith). Seeking after knowledge was made obligatory by Muhammad (sm) on every man and woman (Hadith). He even encouraged the Muslims to go to China in quest of technical and scientific learning. The Quran requires the Muslims to decipher the science and technology of the creation of Allah all around them and even the stages by which man have been created from a drop of sperm to a fully developed human being in fourteen stages as described by the Quran. Muhammad (sm) asked the Muslims to seek after knowledge from cradle to the grave (Hadith). (d) Ibadah or ibadat is the ceremonial prayers, fasting, payment of zakah, which are preceded by the adoption of faith in one Supreme Lord, Allah, as the creator, sustainer, providence, destroyer and recreator of the universe Who is omnipotent, all-powerful, all-seeing, all- hearing and all controlling at the micro as well as macro level of the universe. And faith in Muhammad (sm) as the last and final Messenger of Allah for the right guidance of mankind and also faith in the mission of all the true Prophets who preceded him.
Thus, at the first opportune time offered by his migration to Madinah, he built up a full-fledged society, which was self-contained, symbolized Abrahamic Semitic tradition with Baytul Maqaddis of Palestine as the first qibla, direction of prayer, which was later on changed towards Ka‘aba at Makkah. He gave to this society an innovative name of Ummah or Ummatul Muslimin, The Muslim Ummah, as a ‘societal community’ coming out of the mother womb of Islam. It was not, however, communal. It included Muslims of all tribes, races, nations and climes. Anybody converting to Islam automatically becomes its member. It is multi-racial, multi-national and hence by nature cosmopolitan and at present, a solid international community, to tataling over one and half billion populations scattered throughout the globe.
The Muslims were declared brethren, equal in status, all are servants of Allah and the best of them is the best in servitude of Allah. The link between them and Allah is His servant and Messenger Muhammad (sm). It is their duty to help brothers in distress. So long as they help one another, Allah helps them. The Ummah was a body-politic, like a single body, if any part of it is hurt, the whole body becomes affected. Muhammad (sm) was not, however, self-educated like Socrates or Confucius or Raja Rammohan Roy. He was educated by Allah in moral demeanor (adab), scientific learning (ilm) and spiritual truth cum religious doctrines (din al-haqq) and raised by Him as a Messenger and a teacher for the guidance of mankind. The principles of guidance imparted to him by Allah by direct revelation contain in the holy Quran which has been preserved with complete purity as well as in the sayings and precepts and examples laid down by Muhammad (sm) himself, which are collected and carefully preserved and edited in the voluminous Hadith. These are open for reading in original texts and translations in different languages of the world, for any one, Muslim or non-Muslim. The Quran is, in fact, the most read book in the world.
Muhammad (sm) received from Allah two kinds of revelation viz. (a) directly revealed verses of the Quran through the Anch Angel Jibrail which is called wahi matlu, the recited and recitable revelation and (b) indirectly revealed by Allah in his heart, which is called wahi ghayr matlu’ non-recited inspirational revelation. On the basis of these two kinds of revelational inspirations, he built up a complete system of value-judgment to buttress societal organization of the Muslim Ummah. These may be illustrated by (1) faith (2) taqwa or Allah fearing (3) adab or etiquette (4) loyalty and (5) love towards Allah and his messenger Muhammad (sm) (6) fraternal compassion towards Muslim and humanity at large (7) women’s mahr (bride money), facility and property right based on human right guarantee (8) equality of status between man and women (9) financial responsibility for the maintenance of family life devolving on the male member (10) rules of inheritance distributing the deceased’s wealth equitably to male and female relatives (11) maintenance of prayer (12) fasting and (13) zakat and (14) preparation annually for pilgrimage to Ka‘aba at Makkah and other related matters.
Besides, Muhammad (sm) appointed collectors of zakat called amil (aamil) or amlah (pl. awamil) occasionally to different areas and permanently to different countries, who were to collect zakat and distribute it amongst the poor section of the area. He also appointed some learned persons as judges called Qadi and sent them to different places for dispensation of justice amongst the people.
Thus, before Muhammad (sm) laid his hands strongly upon politics at Madinah, he had set up a comprehensive society of the Muslims, which played the role of a basic nucleus for the broader societal organization of the Muslim Ummah that could ply locally, nationally and also internationally or as it is happening today, globally as an autonomous organization with or without the help and backing of any political power.
Muslim Ummah is a complete society, an ever-expanding worldwide society comprising any one and every one who embraced Islam. It is not community, rather it is multi-racial, multi-communal and multi-national society. The holy Quran designated all of its members as one single Ummah and stated that they have been divided in tribes and clans, (so also groups and nations) for acquaintance and not for identity. Their real identity is Muslim, submitters to and servants of the Unitarian Supreme Lord, Allah. The strength and existence of the Muslims lie in the Ummah, which is a universal Brotherhood with the strong ties of religious faith. In the zakat fund all over the world, there is a travel money for the Muslim travelers and Allah has enthused them to go out and travel worldwide and see the beauty of Allah’s creation and the consequences of the doers of good and the doers of evil deeds. On the other hand, for the Muslims, the State is local and geographical. If the Muslim State is destroyed, Islam is not destroyed, but if the Muslim society or Muslim Ummah is destroyed Islam would be destroyed. For that reason defending the Muslim Ummah and its integrity is binding on all Muslims. For the reason why, we find all addresses in the Quran to the Muslims, concern the Ummah and not the State. Allah has asked the Muslims: “And catch hold of the rope of Allah all together and do not be separated from one another.” If you separate from one another and divide yourselves into different groups and parties, then Allah has threatened to separate your hearts, so that, you would walk down the path of destruction.
The fourth phase of Muhammad’s (sm) devotional life was, therefore, enamored in social organizational activities during the initial years of Hijrah at Madinah. It gives witness to his intense devotion for social organization. As an edifying ceremonial adjunct to the Ummatic social organization Muhammad (sm) seems to have felt the necessity of adding some festive occasions. It is narrated that soon after his arrival at Madinah, the people informed him that, similar to the Naoroz or New Year’s celebration of the Persians, they are accustomed to hold a festival about the same time; they asked him whether they would proceed to celebrate it on this occasion too. After a while Muhammad (sm) gave them good tidings that the merciful and compassionate Allah has bestowed upon them two grand festivals, one being the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr, the fast-breaking festival on the consecutive next day of the fasting mouth of Ramadan, on the first day of Shawal. He explained to them that the fast-breaking festival, Eid-ul-Fitr was to be celebrated as a general invitation of Allah to the Muslims for eating, drinking (sharbet) and to make merry during the whole day, beginning with the congregational prayer and sermon of Eid-ul-Fitr after sunrise. In order to make rich and poor equally happy, Allah has further ordained the well-to-do fasting Muslims to pay Fitrah (break-fasting gift) to the needy Muslims as a mark of accomplishment of their fasting, an amount of slightly over one and half kilo of wheat, barley or dates per head, or an equivalent amount of money for the entertainment of high and low together; so that, as the invited guests of Allah nobody goes hungry. Besides, this festivity is to be made a special occasion for mutual happy Eid greetings and embracing man to man and women to women. The general entertainment of guests in the Eid-ul-Fitr festival is done with sweet items specially marked by vermicelli. Eid-ul-Fitr is at present a gigantic festival involving one and half billion Muslims throughout the world. It offers also a good opportunity for exchanging salams and greetings between friends and relatives with artistic printed cards.
The other festival offered by the compassionate and merciful Allah is the Eid-ul-Azha, Bakr-e-Eid, marking the occasion of the symbolic sacrificing incident of Hazrat Ismail, the eldest son of Hazrat Ibrahim, which is carried on by sacrificing animal in the name of Allah. On this occasion which occurs on the tenth of Zil-Hizzah, the well-to-do Muslims sacrifice goats, cows, camels in the name of Allah, symbolizing the sacrifice of one’s nafs ammarah, propensitous animal self, that stands for satanic propensity cum jealousy and hatred cum excessive greed for food and sex. Muhammad (sm) instructed to divide the meat of sacrificed animals into three portions, one for festivity at home, the second portion for gifting to the friends and relations and the third for the poor section of the community; so that, none feels deprived of the happiness of the festivity.
In course of time, there has grown up another festive occasion of celebrating Eid-e-Miladunnabi, the birthday celebration of the holy Prophet Muhammad (sm) which is also being celebrated widely throughout the Muslimdom. There is indication that celebration of the birthday of Muhammad (sm) started during his lifetime and in due course it has become a universal festive occasion.
