Prophet’s Pioneering Role
English Essay on "Prophet’s Pioneering Role"
The Prophet (peace be upon him) under the Divine guidance created an ideally just and a highly successful sociopolitical order in the seventh century. This order shall for ever remain the archetypal model of polity and statecraft for mankind in general and Muslims in particular. However, far greater achievement of the Prophet was the laying of those firm foundations on which this order was based. For his singular success mainly consisted in establishing the kingdom of God in the hearts and souls of the believers. Thereafter, it was no longer difficult to erect and sustain the edifice of an ideally just and balanced social and political moral and spiritual order, that claimed the voluntary loyalty and total commitment of the believer s community.
First the Prophet transformed the believers through teaching and cleansing their minds and hearts from all those ailments and perversions that hinder moral development and screen the light of guidance from illuminating the interior self of man. Once this real stupendous task was accomplished, and Muslims formed a well-integrated community of faith, the other fruits of this human crop appeared in quick succession and full blossom.
When Muslims migrated from Makkah after going through thirteen years long taming of souls and training of minds, and joined their brethren in faith at Madinah, there emerged on the stage of history, an ideal moral and spiritual community and at the same time a perfect pattern of sociopolitics. All this was achieved by the Prophet with least external effort and little coercive means, thanks to the metamorphosis of the minds and souls of the believers at Makkah.
This new society and polity of Madinah was founded by the Prophet with active co-operation of his companions, on the grund norm of the supreme authority of Divine rule. Under this order, all people willingly submitted to Divine rule and none was exempted from its normative jurisdiction. In fact those placed at the important positions of collective responsibility by the Prophet were those who bound themselves most by this rule of divine law.
The Prophet himself vowed and declared that he was the first and the foremost to submit to the dictates of Divine ordinances and he proved it by all his actions. Indeed as the Mother of the Faithful Aysha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) testified, the Prophet was a ‘Quran Incarnate’ ‘a living embodiment of Divine words.’ So when the community of believers at large was required to submit to God, they found ample demonstration of this submission in the model pattern of the Prophet as well as in the virtuous conduct of his close companions.
By establishing an all-pervasive Divine rule, the Prophet emancipated the believers’ community from all shackles of subjugation and abolished all forms of exploitation of men by men. All existing shutters of slavery and serfdom, distinctions of classes and clans and all the diabolical instruments of human bondage’ characteristic of non-Islam were eliminated once arid for all. And eventually all images and symbols of discrimination and exploitation were trampled ‘down under the Prophet’s feet as he unequivocally declared in his historic address on the occasion of the farewell pilgrimage.
Under the terms of this new polity of Madinah every individual became a ruler over himself. There was no outside mortal sovereign over him in this world. For the real sovereignty in that society and polity belonged to Allah alone. And Allah’s rule was not confined like earthly rulers to the bodies of men, the territories inhabited and the riches earned by them.
This rule was firmly rooted in the innermost precincts of human hearts and souls. From the souls of believing men and women animated by faith in Allah, the rule of Allah was translated to their corporeal selves, their soils and, habitats and ipso facto showed in their voluntary acts and utterances, reactions and responses, inner feelings and external attitudes alike.
In the Prophet’s ideal polity, the ownership of man as well as his resources belonged to Allah. Man as Divine vicegerent and trustee had been, commissioned to live here and appropriate the resources of this world under the Divine dictates and decrees so as to shape his life and fashion this world according to the ethical vision given by Allah. Men and women did indeed acquire, possess and even enjoy the bounties of Allah spread in the rich resources of human habit. But those possessors of Divine bounties perceived themselves as belonging to Allah, and had therefore, willingly subordinated all their ambitions and desires to the pleasure of Allah Hence automatically all human and natural resources of the earth that were placed at the disposal of this polity, were employed and managed as demanded by man’s commitment of love and loyalty to Allah. The best example of the operationalization of this idea was witnessed in the historic event of Muakhat. All the helpers of Islam from Madinah (Ansar) on slight indication from. The Prophet quite happily decided to share their possessions and holdings with their Muslim brethren in faith who had migrated with the Prophet to Madinah.
In the socio-political order of Madinah, the Prophet made every individual accountable for his, own particular sphere. A father was made responsible for his children, a husband for his wife, a wife for her home, a teacher for his pupils, an employer for his employees, and an administrator for his area of public service, a judge for his jurisdiction and a warrior for the frontiers of Islamic realms and so on. Each one was placed as a guardian over his wards as it were.
Naturally in this kind of a socio-political order, no one could establish his personal, group, family, clannish, tribal or ethnic superiority. Because the only criteria of respectability recognized therein was taqwa: i.e. “subordinating human discretion to the pleasure of Allah.” Significantly once the Prophet repeated three times in a sermon the fact that taqwa was essentially an inner condition best known to Allah alone.
In this way the Prophet abolished all concepts and cults of discrimination even on the basis of a supposed religiosity. It was indeed a real empowerment of the people, albeit a purposeful and constructive one: a empowerment to bring man and his world under the moral writ of Allah in order to realize the raison d’etre of human genesis. Through this unique empowerment, the Prophet delegated his mission to the community of his companions. And they in turn transferred this mission to subsequent generations.
The Prophet successfully inculcated the notion in the minds of the believers that power and governance were not desirable for their own sake. That was why self-candidature was not known in the political culture introduced by the Prophet. In act people seeking office for themselves were debarred from that office in the political dispensation given by the Prophet. For power was never acquired by the Prophet nor by his companions and followers for the sake of power. It was employed for the sake of liberating men from the rule of other men and bringing them under the rule of one God.
However, the believers lent themselves to Divine rule by their own conviction and willing acceptance of this rule. According to the explicit verdict of the Qur’an, power and authority belong exclusively to Allah, the Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe. The only way to justify its acquisition by men is to employ it for the furtherance of the Divinely approved objectives and within the strict framework of Divinely sanctioned moral norms arid for the service of the perennial interests of humanity as a whole.
All other forms of power politics that establish or perpetrate the subjugative authority of powerful men over powerless multitudes and thus divide humanity, are nothing but satanic machinations, whether these forms of power-mongering existed in the past or thus exist now. These are all inconsistent and often repugnant to the morals and norms of Islam. In fact in the true perception of Islam, these constitute a direct defiance of God and an erosion in this exclusive authority.
Naturally no sooner than this political order was established in Madinah under the guidance and leadership of the Prophet, all man-made distinctions of tribalism, ethnicity, language, colour, race, gender and territorial prejudice were rendered irrelevant. Because these affinities were overshadowed by the verriding commitment of the believers to Allah and their loyalty for the Prophet. This commitment to Allah and the Prophet transcended all other concerns and considerations of their lives.
That is the reason why we find that in the subsequent periods of Islamic history, the religious and cultural, social and political leadership of Islamic community did not remain confined to the Arabs of the Peninsula. It alternated in different epochs between Arabs, Persians, Turks, Byzantians, Mesopotamians, Central Asians, Moors, Indians, Afghans and Kurds. That is also why Islam gradually abolished slavery through a wise gradual reform and absorbed the freed slaves in the social body of the community. And that is why there could emerge in the generation immediately after the Proph4 a prominent group of gifted scholars of the Qur’an who almost entirely consisted of the freed slaves (mawali). Their erstwhile bondage was no stigma for them in attaining this singular honour – the knowledge and erudition in the Qur’an - which indeed was the highest honour in that society. That is also precisely why no civilization other than Islam had a series of dynasties of freed slaves. These facts amply prove that the Muslims not only freed the slaves from their bondage, but also brought them entirely at par with other freemen of the society in every respect.
Some superficial observers might still consider these ideas as utopian. But history bears witness to the fact that these ideas were not only implemented by the Prophet but these principles actually guided the Islam’s political genius and shaped the course of Muslim political history for centuries. Thus it was evidenced that the political ideals of Islam as promulgated by the Prophet were not only unsurpassed in their perfection, but were also most practical, viable and fully tested by time.
First the Prophet transformed the believers through teaching and cleansing their minds and hearts from all those ailments and perversions that hinder moral development and screen the light of guidance from illuminating the interior self of man. Once this real stupendous task was accomplished, and Muslims formed a well-integrated community of faith, the other fruits of this human crop appeared in quick succession and full blossom.
When Muslims migrated from Makkah after going through thirteen years long taming of souls and training of minds, and joined their brethren in faith at Madinah, there emerged on the stage of history, an ideal moral and spiritual community and at the same time a perfect pattern of sociopolitics. All this was achieved by the Prophet with least external effort and little coercive means, thanks to the metamorphosis of the minds and souls of the believers at Makkah.
This new society and polity of Madinah was founded by the Prophet with active co-operation of his companions, on the grund norm of the supreme authority of Divine rule. Under this order, all people willingly submitted to Divine rule and none was exempted from its normative jurisdiction. In fact those placed at the important positions of collective responsibility by the Prophet were those who bound themselves most by this rule of divine law.
The Prophet himself vowed and declared that he was the first and the foremost to submit to the dictates of Divine ordinances and he proved it by all his actions. Indeed as the Mother of the Faithful Aysha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) testified, the Prophet was a ‘Quran Incarnate’ ‘a living embodiment of Divine words.’ So when the community of believers at large was required to submit to God, they found ample demonstration of this submission in the model pattern of the Prophet as well as in the virtuous conduct of his close companions.
By establishing an all-pervasive Divine rule, the Prophet emancipated the believers’ community from all shackles of subjugation and abolished all forms of exploitation of men by men. All existing shutters of slavery and serfdom, distinctions of classes and clans and all the diabolical instruments of human bondage’ characteristic of non-Islam were eliminated once arid for all. And eventually all images and symbols of discrimination and exploitation were trampled ‘down under the Prophet’s feet as he unequivocally declared in his historic address on the occasion of the farewell pilgrimage.
Under the terms of this new polity of Madinah every individual became a ruler over himself. There was no outside mortal sovereign over him in this world. For the real sovereignty in that society and polity belonged to Allah alone. And Allah’s rule was not confined like earthly rulers to the bodies of men, the territories inhabited and the riches earned by them.
This rule was firmly rooted in the innermost precincts of human hearts and souls. From the souls of believing men and women animated by faith in Allah, the rule of Allah was translated to their corporeal selves, their soils and, habitats and ipso facto showed in their voluntary acts and utterances, reactions and responses, inner feelings and external attitudes alike.
In the Prophet’s ideal polity, the ownership of man as well as his resources belonged to Allah. Man as Divine vicegerent and trustee had been, commissioned to live here and appropriate the resources of this world under the Divine dictates and decrees so as to shape his life and fashion this world according to the ethical vision given by Allah. Men and women did indeed acquire, possess and even enjoy the bounties of Allah spread in the rich resources of human habit. But those possessors of Divine bounties perceived themselves as belonging to Allah, and had therefore, willingly subordinated all their ambitions and desires to the pleasure of Allah Hence automatically all human and natural resources of the earth that were placed at the disposal of this polity, were employed and managed as demanded by man’s commitment of love and loyalty to Allah. The best example of the operationalization of this idea was witnessed in the historic event of Muakhat. All the helpers of Islam from Madinah (Ansar) on slight indication from. The Prophet quite happily decided to share their possessions and holdings with their Muslim brethren in faith who had migrated with the Prophet to Madinah.
In the socio-political order of Madinah, the Prophet made every individual accountable for his, own particular sphere. A father was made responsible for his children, a husband for his wife, a wife for her home, a teacher for his pupils, an employer for his employees, and an administrator for his area of public service, a judge for his jurisdiction and a warrior for the frontiers of Islamic realms and so on. Each one was placed as a guardian over his wards as it were.
Naturally in this kind of a socio-political order, no one could establish his personal, group, family, clannish, tribal or ethnic superiority. Because the only criteria of respectability recognized therein was taqwa: i.e. “subordinating human discretion to the pleasure of Allah.” Significantly once the Prophet repeated three times in a sermon the fact that taqwa was essentially an inner condition best known to Allah alone.
In this way the Prophet abolished all concepts and cults of discrimination even on the basis of a supposed religiosity. It was indeed a real empowerment of the people, albeit a purposeful and constructive one: a empowerment to bring man and his world under the moral writ of Allah in order to realize the raison d’etre of human genesis. Through this unique empowerment, the Prophet delegated his mission to the community of his companions. And they in turn transferred this mission to subsequent generations.
The Prophet successfully inculcated the notion in the minds of the believers that power and governance were not desirable for their own sake. That was why self-candidature was not known in the political culture introduced by the Prophet. In act people seeking office for themselves were debarred from that office in the political dispensation given by the Prophet. For power was never acquired by the Prophet nor by his companions and followers for the sake of power. It was employed for the sake of liberating men from the rule of other men and bringing them under the rule of one God.
However, the believers lent themselves to Divine rule by their own conviction and willing acceptance of this rule. According to the explicit verdict of the Qur’an, power and authority belong exclusively to Allah, the Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe. The only way to justify its acquisition by men is to employ it for the furtherance of the Divinely approved objectives and within the strict framework of Divinely sanctioned moral norms arid for the service of the perennial interests of humanity as a whole.
All other forms of power politics that establish or perpetrate the subjugative authority of powerful men over powerless multitudes and thus divide humanity, are nothing but satanic machinations, whether these forms of power-mongering existed in the past or thus exist now. These are all inconsistent and often repugnant to the morals and norms of Islam. In fact in the true perception of Islam, these constitute a direct defiance of God and an erosion in this exclusive authority.
Naturally no sooner than this political order was established in Madinah under the guidance and leadership of the Prophet, all man-made distinctions of tribalism, ethnicity, language, colour, race, gender and territorial prejudice were rendered irrelevant. Because these affinities were overshadowed by the verriding commitment of the believers to Allah and their loyalty for the Prophet. This commitment to Allah and the Prophet transcended all other concerns and considerations of their lives.
That is the reason why we find that in the subsequent periods of Islamic history, the religious and cultural, social and political leadership of Islamic community did not remain confined to the Arabs of the Peninsula. It alternated in different epochs between Arabs, Persians, Turks, Byzantians, Mesopotamians, Central Asians, Moors, Indians, Afghans and Kurds. That is also why Islam gradually abolished slavery through a wise gradual reform and absorbed the freed slaves in the social body of the community. And that is why there could emerge in the generation immediately after the Proph4 a prominent group of gifted scholars of the Qur’an who almost entirely consisted of the freed slaves (mawali). Their erstwhile bondage was no stigma for them in attaining this singular honour – the knowledge and erudition in the Qur’an - which indeed was the highest honour in that society. That is also precisely why no civilization other than Islam had a series of dynasties of freed slaves. These facts amply prove that the Muslims not only freed the slaves from their bondage, but also brought them entirely at par with other freemen of the society in every respect.
Some superficial observers might still consider these ideas as utopian. But history bears witness to the fact that these ideas were not only implemented by the Prophet but these principles actually guided the Islam’s political genius and shaped the course of Muslim political history for centuries. Thus it was evidenced that the political ideals of Islam as promulgated by the Prophet were not only unsurpassed in their perfection, but were also most practical, viable and fully tested by time.
No comments:
Post a Comment