Jahiliyyah - Part 5

[Guest guest]

('Jahiliyyah' - traditionally translated " Time of Ignorance " , and used to apply

to the pre-Islamic period in Arabia, but in the Muslim sources its primary

meaning is violent and explosive irascibility, arrogance, tribal chauvinism.

[Muhammad Prophet For Our Time Glossary pg. 217].)

 

 

Jahiliyyah - Part 5

 

Say he is God, one

God forever

Not begetting, unbegotten,

and having as equal none. [44]

 

(p.74) The principle of 'tawhid' ( " unity " ) became the crux of Muslim

spirituality. It was not simply an abstract metaphysical affirmation of the

singularity of the divine, but, like all Qur'anic teaching, a call to action.

Because Allah was incomparable, Muslims must not only refuse to venerate the

idols, but must also ensure that other realities did not distract them from

their commitment to God alone: Wealth, country, family, material prosperity, and

even such noble ideals as love or patriotism must take second place. Tawhid

demanded that Muslims integrate their lives. In the struggle to make God their

sole priority, a Muslim would glimpse, in the properly ordered self, the unity

that was God. It was perhaps at this time that new converts were first required

to utter the 'shahadah', the declaration of faith recited by all Muslims today:

" I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is his

prophet. "

 

The Quraysh would not have been shocked by monotheism per se, which was not,

after all, a new idea to them. They had long found the religion of Jews and

Christians compatible with their own traditions, and had not been particularly

disturbed by the hanifs' (*) attempt to create an authentically Arabian

monotheism. (p.75) But Muhammad was doing something different. Most hanifs had

retained a deep respect for the Haram (**) and had made no attempt to reform the

social order. But in attacking the effigies that surrounded the Kabah, (+)

Muhammad implied that the Haram, on which the Meccan economy depended, was

worthless. The Bedouin tribes did not make the hajj [pilgrimage to Mecca] to

visit the house of Allah but to pay their respects to their own tribal gods,

whose cult was now condemned by the Qur'an [lit. " Recitation " /scripture revealed

to Muhammad by God] in the strongest terms. [45] The Quraysh often invoked the

" exalted gharaniq " (++) as they circumambulated the Kabah; now this practice was

dismissed as deluded and self-indulgent. Ta'if, where Al-Lat had her shrine,

provided Mecca with its food; many of the Quraysh had summer homes in this

fertile oasis. How could Ta'if remain on friendly terms with them if they

condoned the insult to their goddess?

 

[*] hanif--Originally a pre-Islamic monotheist. In the Qur'an, the word refers

to a person who followed the 'hanifiyyah', the pure religion of Abraham, before

this split into rival sects. (Glossary, p.216).

 

[**] Haram--Sacred; forbidden--hence " sanctuary, " especially the sanctuary

surrounding the Kabah where all violence was prohibited. (Glossary, p.216).

 

[+] Kabah--Literally, cube. The granite shrine in the Haram, dedicated to Allah.

(Glossary, p.217).

 

[++] gharaniq--The three goddesses Al-lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat. " Daughters of

Allah, " who were compared to beautiful " cranes " . (Glossary, p.216)

 

Overnight Muhammad had become the enemy. The Qurayshan leaders sent a delegation

to Abu Talib, asking him to disown his nephew. Nobody could survive in Arabia

without an official protector. A man who had been expelled from his clan could

be killed with impunity, without fear of vendetta. Abu Talib, who was genuinely

fond of Muhammad and not himself a Muslim, was in an impossible position. He

tried to temporize, but the Quraysh returned with an ultimatum. " By God, we

cannot endure that our fathers should be reviled, our customs mocked, and our

gods insulted! " they cried. " Until you rid us of him, we will fight the pair of

you until one side perishes. " Abu Talib summoned Muhammad, begging him to stop

this subversive preaching. " Spare me and yourself, " he pleaded. (p.76) " Do not

put upon me a burden greater than I can bear. " Convinced that Abu Talib was

about to abandon him, Muhammad replied with tears in his eyes: " O my uncle, by

God if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left on condition

that I abandon this course, until God has made it victorious, or I perish

therein, I would not abandon it. " He then broke down and left the room, weeping

bitterly. His uncle called him back. " Go and say what you please, for by God I

will never give you up on any account. " [46] For a while, Muhammad was safe. As

long as Abu Talib remained his patron and could make this protection effective,

nobody dared to touch him.

 

Abu Talib was a gifted poet and he now wrote passionate verses denouncing the

clans who had deserted Hashim (*) in its hour of need. The clan of al-Muttalib

(**) responded by declaring their solidarity with Hashim, but this good news was

followed by a fateful defection. Abu Lahab, Abu Talib's half-brother, had

opposed Muhammad and his revelations from the start, but to prevent a schism

within the clan, he had betrothed two of his sons to Muhammad's daughters,

Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthum. Now he forced his sons to repudiate the women. The

elegant young Muslim aristocrat 'Uthman ibn 'Affan, however, had long admired

Ruqayyah, one of the most beautiful girls in Mecca, and could now ask Muhammad

for her hand.

 

(*) Hashim--The Meccan clan to which Muhammad belonged. (Glossary, p.224).

 

(**) Al-Muttalib--One of the Meccan clans, closely related to Hashim, Muhammad's

clan. (Glossary, p.223).

 

The Qurayshan elders--especially those who had lost family members to Islam--now

mounted a furious offensive against Muhammad. They would ostentatiously turn

their backs whenever they heard Muslims praising Allah as the " one and only

divine being, " and aggressively demonstrate their joy when other deities were

invoked. [47] (p.77) They demanded that everybody remain faithful to the

traditional faith. It was the only decent thing to do! All this talk of

revelation was outrageous! Muhammad had made the whole thing up. Why should he

alone, of all the Quraysh, have received a divine message? [48] Muhammad was

mad; he had been led astray by a jinni; he was a sorcerer, who lured young

people away from their fathers' sunnah (**) by magic arts. [49] When he was

asked to validate his claims by working a miracle--as Moses or Jesus had

done--he admitted that he was an ordinary mortal like themselves. [50]

 

(*) jinni--(plural:'jinn') " Unseen being, " usually one of the sprites who

haunted the Arabian desert, inspired poets, and led people astray; also

stranger, a person hitherto " unseen. " (Glossary, p.217)

 

(**) sunnah--A path, a way of life. (Glossary, p.219).

 

The leaders of the opposition included some of the most powerful clan chiefs in

Mecca. Foremost among them were Abu l-Hakam, (*) an irascible, ambitious man,

who seemed deeply disturbed by Islam; the elderly, corpulent Ummayah ibn Khalaf;

(**) and the highly intelligent Abu Sufyan, (***) who had been a personal friend

of Muhammad, together with his father in law 'Utbah ibn Rabi'ah and his brother.

As yet Suhayl ibn 'Amr, (+) chief of Amir--a devout man who, like Muhammad, made

an annual retreat on Mount Hira'--had not yet made up his mind and Muhammad

hoped to win him over. Some of the most able young men in Mecca were also

virulently hostile to Islam: the warriors 'Amr ibn l-'As and Khalid ibn

al-Walid, and--most zealous of all--'Umar ibn al-Khattab, (++), the nephew of

Abu l-Hakam, who was fanatically devoted to the old religion. While the other

chiefs were proceeding cautiously against Muhammad, 'Umar was ready for more

extreme methods.

 

(*) Abu l-Hakam ibn Hisham--also called Abu Jahl, " Father of Insolence, " the

nickname given by the Muslims to Abu l-Hakam; the most virulent of Muhammad's

early opponents. (Glossary, p.222).

 

(**) Ummayah ibn Khalaf--Chief of the Meccan clan of Jumah; an inveterate

opponent of Muhammad.

 

(***) Abu Sufyan Ibn Harb--Chief of the Qurayshan clan of 'Abd Shams; a leading

opponent of Islam.

 

(+) Suhayl ibn 'Amr--Chief of the clan of Amir in Mecca; a devout pagan; a

leading member of the opposition to Muhammad.

 

(++) 'Umar ibn al-Khattab--The nephew of Abu Jahl; at first passionately opposed

to Muhammad, but later became one of his closest companions.

 

Muhammad (Prophet For Our Time)

Chapter 2, 'Jahiliyyah', p. 74-77

Karen Armstrong

Harper Perennial - London, New York, Toronto and Sydney

ISBN-13 978-0-00-723248-2

ISBN-10 0-00-723248-9

 

Notes:

 

[44] Qur'an 112, Sells translation.

 

[45] Reza Aslan, 'No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam'

(London and New York, 2005), 43-46.

 

[46] Ibn Ishaq, 'Sirat Rasul Allah', 167-8, in Guillaume, 'Life of Muhammad',

119.

 

[47] Qur'an 17:46, 39:45.

 

[48] Qur'an 38:6.

 

[49] Qur'an 38:4-5.

 

[50] Qur'an 41:6.