ISLAM SUFI

Just Do As You're Told!

The Nazi war criminals criedin defense at
the Nuremburg Trials after the Second World War that they were simply
following orders. The horrible crimes they committed, they said, were
done because they were just doing as they were told. Even in the trial
of Saddam Hussein, taking place in Baghdad, part of the defense case
for some of those on trial is that they, too, were following orders,
doing as they were told. So where do we draw the line? Why should we
obey some people and not others? Should we even do as we are told at
all?

If a little boy of one year old goes to
put his hand in the fire because the flames seem colorful and exciting,
no one would dent the parents' right to stop the little boy's hand from
getting burned. Say, for example, a little girl of eight is shopping
with her mother n the supermarket and her hands stray to the most
delightful packet of sweets and puts it in her pocket. Once again, no
one would den the mother's right to tell the girl, without explanation,
to put the sweets back. A discussion about right and wrong might follow
later, but at that time the most important thing is to get the sweets
back on the shelf before anyone is accused of stealing.

Both of these examples are simple.
Somehow, the older we get, the reasoning gets a little less clear. A
fourteen year old wanting a new pair of trainers might just be able to
grasp the reason for his father's refusal as the family cannot afford
them. It gets a little more difficult when the sixteen year old is told
not to hang around with a certain group, or to be back home by a
certain time which always seems to be ridiculously early! This is when
the arguments begin and, sometimes, the only explanation on offer is
"Do as you are told." Before we explore that further, let's think about
the Qur'an.

Muslims believe that the noble Qur'an is the
directly revealed word of Allah. In it, Allah speaks to mankind and he
tells us how to behave. We are told to pray five times a day, to give
zakah and to fast during Ramadan. In the case of fasting in Ramadan, we
do it purely for Allah's sake. Books have been written, listing the
merits and benefits of fasting, but all of these explanations come
later. We fast, first of all, because Allah tells us to. Don't eat
pork, don't drink alcohol. We trust Almighty Allah when he tells us
that these are harmful.

Since the beginning of time, Allah sent
prophets and messengers to teach mankind about how they should live.
His final message is delivered by the final messenger, Muhammad (peace
be upon him). As Muslims, we know that Allah has an infinite care for
us and wants only what is best for us. He guides us to what is right
and He leads us away from what is wrong. As humans, we often rebel
against Him, refusing to follow what is best for us, but even in our
act of disobedience, we know that what the Qur'an says is right. Allah
cannot be wrong. Like the one-year-old toddler being warned about the
fire, we, too, are warned of a fire that will never go out.

The problem with rowing up, though, is
that we like to rebel just that little bit more. In trying to establish
who they are, and in allowing their personalities to develop, young
people sometimes reject authority just for the sake of it. Every
teacher knows well the boy in his class who will say "no" just to
provoke a confrontation, knowing all the other students are looking on.
Teenagers and young adults get into so many arguments with parents and
elders, partly because it is quite natural for them to do so.
University students famously rebel against the system, which five or
six years later they will be quite happily a part of!

There are many examples where the freshness
and the ideals of youth confronted the tied, old ideas of an unjust
system and brought about great change. The protest by South African
schoolchildren in Soweto against being taught in Afrikaans, ultimately
led to an end to apartheid, even though 700 youth lives were lost in
that protest. The world held its breath too when students in Tiananmen
Square, Beijing, China lost their lives protesting against human rights
abuses in China. So, yes, there is a time when young people are called
upon to say "no" to injustice and to make a difference.

There is also a time, though, when we need
to know when it is best to do as we are told. On the whole, parents
love their children. They make great sacrifices for them and do
everything they can to provide for them. Parents don't want their
children to come to any harm. This applies as much to when your son is
2 as to when he is 22. Fathers love their children. "Do as you are
told" might be a clumsy way of putting it, but can often be translated
as "do this because I love you and I don't want you to get hurt."

There is a very fine line, in the eyes of
parents, between being a child and being an adult. Knowing when to let
go is one of the most difficult things a father or a mother needs to
learn. Recognizing this in one's parents is difficult, too, for a son
or a daughter to see. As Muslims, we love our parents. We recoil from
the homes for the elderly so prevalent in the West, preferring to keep
elderly parents and grandparents close to us for as long as we can. It
is very touching and makes one so proud to be Muslim when you see that
in Muslim societies a son or daughter meeting an elderly parent with a
kiss on the hand or on the forehead, acknowledging the debt they owe to
their parents.

We read these lovely words in the Qur'an

How beautiful Islam is! Its not the
easiest thing growing up and becoming fully the person Allah wants us
to be. It isn't easy either being a parent and making yourself
understood all the time by your children.

We have a duty to speak out strongly
against injustice and oppression and against anything which opposes our
religion. In such cases, doing as you are told is clearly not the right
thing to do. However, faced with the experience and the wisdom of old
age, or the righteousness which comes from prayer and knowledge of the
Qur'an, or the love which parents have for their children, we are
called upon to listen attentively and to act accordingly with love and
respect. Islam has so much to teach the world, lost as it is in the
pursuit of material things. By listening to Allah, who loves us, we
find the happiness which the world cannot give. Doing as weare told, in
that case, can only, in sha' Allah, be to our good.

Idris Tawfiq
is a British Muslim writer who lives and works in Egypt. He has spent
many years working with young people. He was head of religious
education in different schools in the United Kingdom and, perhaps more
remarkably, before embracing Islam he was a Roman Catholic priest. You
can visit website at www.idristawfiq.com.

The picture represents the Big Bang, which revealed once again
that Allah created the universe from nothingness. The Big
Bang is a theory that has been proven with scientific evidence.
Although some scientists tried to advance arguments against
the Big Bang, scientific evidence has caused the Big Bang
theory to be completely accepted by the scientific community.

The Malevolent
Conduct of Quraysh

The conversion of `Umar to Islam reduced the power
of Quraysh significantly in that `Umar brought with him to the faith the tribal
loyalties with which he had fought Islam earlier. He did not hide himself or
conceal his Islam. On the contrary he proclaimed it to all the people and fought
them for not joining him. He did not at all approve of the Muslims' hiding
themselves or holding prayers in the outskirts of Makkah far beyond the
Quraysh's reach. He continued to struggle against the Quraysh until he could
pray near the Ka'bah where his fellow Muslims joined him. Henceforth, Quraysh
became certain that no injury inflicted upon Muhammad or his companions would
stop men from entering the religion of God since they could now rely upon the
tribal protection of `Umar, Hamzah, the Negus of Abyssinia, or others capable of
protecting them. The Quraysh then sought a new strategy, and agreed among
themselves to a written pact in which they resolved to boycott Banu Hashim and
Banu `Abd al Muttalib completely, prevent any intermarriage with them, and stop
all commercial relations. The written pact itself was hung inside the Ka'bah, as
was then the practice, for record and sanctification. They thought that this
negative policy of boycott, isolation, and starvation would be more effective
than the previous policy of harm and injury, though the latter was never
stopped. The Quraysh blockaded the Muslims as well as the Banu Hashim and Banu
`Abd al Muttalib for two or three years during which time they hoped that these
tribes would renounce Muhammad and thus cause him to fall under the hand of
Quraysh. They had hoped that such a measure would isolate Muhammad and remove
all danger from his mission.

The new strategy of Quraysh served only to
strengthen Muhammad's faith in God and his followers' determination to protect
his person and God's religion against attack. It did not prevent the spreading
of Islam, not only within the bounds of Makkah but outside of it as well.
Muhammad's mission became widely known among the Arabs of the Peninsula, and the
new religion became the subject of conversation everywhere. This growth, in
turn, increased the fury and determination of Quraysh to oppose and fight the
man who abandoned and blasphemed her gods and to prevent the spread of his cause
among the Arab tribes. Loyalty of these tribes was indispensable for Makkan
commerce and trade relations with other people.

It is nearly impossible for us to imagine the
intensity and extent of the efforts which Quraysh spent in its struggle against
Muhammad, or its perseverance during many long years in that struggle. The
Quraysh threatened Muhammad and his relatives, especially his uncles. It
ridiculed him and his message, and it insulted him as well as his followers. It
commissioned its poets to revile him with their sharpest wits and to direct
their most caustic sting against his preaching. It inflicted injury and harm on
his person and on the persons of his followers. It offered him bribes of money,
of royalty and power, of all that which satisfies the most fastidious among men.
It not only banished and dispersed his followers from their own country but
injured them in their trade and commerce while impoverishing them. It warned him
and his followers that war with all its tragedies would fall upon them. As a
last resort, it began a boycott of them designed to starve them. All this
notwithstanding, Muhammad continued to call men with kind and gentle argument
unto the God of truth who sent him as a prophet and a warner. Would Quraysh lay
down its arms and believe the man whom it had always known to be truthful and
honest? Or would they, under the illusion that they could still win, resort to
new means of hostility to save the divine status, of their idols and the
hallowed position of Makkah as their museum?

No! The time had not yet come for the Quraysh to
submit and to convert to the new faith. Rather, they were more apprehensive than
ever when the religion began to spread outside of Makkah within the Arab tribes.
They had still another weapon which, though they had used it right from the very
beginning, was yet capable of more power and damage. That was propaganda, or
mental warfare, with all it implies by way of debate, counterargument, spreading
of false rumors, ridicule of the opponent's point of view, and positive
apologetics in favor of their own view. The development of this weapon was not
to be limited to Makkah but would apply to the whole countryside, to the whole
desert, and to the tribes of the Peninsula. Threat, bribery, aggression, and
gangsterism allayed the need for propaganda within Makkah. There was a great
need for it, however, among the thousands who came into Makkah every year for
trade or pilgrimage, and among the attendants of the markets of 'Ukaz, Majannah,
and Dhu al Majaz, who later arrived at the Ka'bah for thanksgiving and worship
near the Ka'bah idols. Therefore, it was expedient for the Quraysh, the moment
the lines of battle against Muhammad were clearly drawn, to plan and organize
its propaganda forces. It had all the more reason to do so since Muhammad
himself had always taken the initiative of approaching the pilgrim and
addressing him on the subject of restricting worship to God alone without
associates. The idea of such initiative did not occur to Muhammad until years
after his commission to prophethood. At the beginning, revelation had commanded
him to warn his nearest relatives. It was only after he had warned Quraysh and
those who wanted to convert had converted that his revelation commanded him now
to address his warning to the Arabs as a whole. He was later to be commanded to
address his call to all mankind.

As Muhammad began to approach the pilgrims coming
from various corners of Arabia with his call to God, a number of Quraysh leaders
met with al Walid ibn al Mughirah to consult for a possible strategy. What would
they say regarding Muhammad to the Arabs coming for pilgrimage? Their answers to
this question should be universally the same; otherwise they would constitute
arguments in favor of Muhammad's claims. Some suggested that they should claim
that Muhammad was a diviner. A1 Walid rejected this suggestion on the grounds
that what Muhammad recited was unlike the secret formulae of common diviners.
Others suggested that they should claim that Muhammad was possessed or mad. A1
Walid again rejected this view on the grounds that the symptoms of madness or
possession were not apparent in Muhammad. Still others suggested that they
should claim that Muhammad was a magician, but al Walid again rejected this view
on the grounds that Muhammad did not practice the common tricks of magicians.
After some discussion, al Walid suggested that they should tell the non-Makkan
Arab pilgrim that Muhammad was a magician whose craft was eloquence that by
means of eloquent words he was capable of dividing the man against his father,
his brother, his spouse and his own tribe. A1 Walid advised that they could
produce evidence for such nefarious eloquence by pointing to the division which
befell Makkah after Muhammad began to practice his craft. Any consideration of
the present division, internal struggle, and internecine fighting raging among
the Makkans who were once the exemplars of tribal solidarity and social unity
would convince the observer that Muhammad's influence had brought the worst.
During the pilgrimage season the Quraysh made a special effort to warn every
visitor to Makkah against ever lending his ear to Muhammad for fear that he
would be mesmerized by his magic eloquence and then suffer in turn the same
evils that had befallen Makkah and thus bring about a general war in Arabia
detrimental to all.

A mental warfare of such order could not be
expected to withstand or counteract Muhammad's so-called magic eloquence all
alone. If genuine truth were to come on the wings of this so-called magic
eloquence, what would prevent the people from accepting it? Is the
acknowledgment of the distinction of the antagonist and the acknowledgment of
the inferiority of the protagonist ever successful as a propaganda weapon? There
must needs be other fronts on which to attack Muhammad in addition to this
proposed mental warfare. Let the Quraysh seek this second front with al Nadr ibn
al Harith. The said al Nadr was one of the sophisticated geniuses of Quraysh. He
had studied at al Hirah the history, religion, wisdom, theories of good and
evil, cosmology, arid other literature of the Persians. Whenever Muhammad
finished preaching his faith in an assembly calling men to God, and warning them
of the consequences on the Day of Judgment taking the bygone peoples and
civilizations as examples of such divine punishment for failure to worship
God-al Nadr would rise and tell his fellow Makkans about Persia and its
religion. He would conclude by asking the assembly, "Why is Muhammad's speech
better than mine? Does he not draw from the tales of antiquity just as I do?"
The Quraysh used to memorize al Nadr's speeches and statements and circulate
them around and outside Makkah as countermeasures to the claims of Muhammad and
his message.

Muhammad used to tarry at the shop of a Christian
youth called Jabr whenever he passed by the Marwah quarter of Makkah. The
Quraysh took advantage of the fact and began to spread the rumor that this
Christian Jabr had taught Muhammad all that he knew and that if anyone were
expected to apostatize from the religion of his ancestors, the Christian should
be the first one to do so. As this rumor spread, revelation itself answered the
claim in the verse: "We know they claim that the Qur'an is taught to him by
another man. But the man whom they suspect is Persian of tongue, whereas the
tongue of this Qur'an is pure and clear Arabic."[Qur'an,16:103]

With this and like feats of propaganda the Quraysh
sought to fight Muhammad in hope of achieving by these means more than they did
by means of injury and harm to his person and followers. The clear and simple
might of truth, however, shone brilliantly in Muhammad's preaching. While the
struggle between the two forces continued, Islam spread more and more widely
among the Arabs. When al Tufayl ibn `Amr al Dawsi, a nobleman of great poetic
talent, arrived in Makkah, he was immediately approached by the Quraysh and
warned against Muhammad and his magical eloquence. They admonished him that
Muhammad's craft might well divide him and his people and that his tribe might
well suffer the same evil as had befallen Makkah. They asked him not to visit
Muhammad or hear him if he wanted to avoid the evil. A1 Tufayl, however, went
one day to the Ka'bah and there heard a little of the preaching of Muhammad and
liked it. He then thought, "Woe to me! Am I, the intelligent poet, the mature
man, to fear that I may not distinguish between the genuinely beautiful and the
really ugly in human discourse? Shouldn't I go to Muhammad, hear all that he has
to say and apply my own judgment? If I should find it good, why shouldn't I
accept it? And if I find it evil, surely I shall avoid it." He followed Muhammad
one day to his house and there told him exactly what. he thought and what he had
decided. Muhammad welcomed him, presented to him the new religion, and recited
for him the Qur'an. Al Tufayl was immediately converted, recited the confession
of truth, and returned to his people a missionary for Islam. He was responsible
for the conversion of many, though not all, of his tribesmen. For many years, he
continued his missionary activity and succeeded in converting the greater number
of them. He and they joined themselves to the forces of Muhammad after the
conquest of Makkah once the political structure of the Islamic community began
to crystallize.

A1 Tufayl ibn `Amr al Dawsi is only one of many
examples. The idol worshippers were not the only ones responding favorably to
the message of Muhammad. While Muhammad was still in Makkah, twenty Christian
men arrived, sent by their own people on a fact-finding mission concerning the
new faith. They sat with Muhammad and asked him all kinds of questions and
listened to him. They, too, were converted on the spot, believed in Muhammad and
in the revelation. This conversion aroused great anger and resentment among the
Quraysh. Indeed the latter addressed the new converts in these words: "Wretched
factfinding mission that you are! Your fellow religionists sent you here in
order to investigate the man and bring them the factual news concerning him. But
you have hardly sat down with him before you apostatized from your religion and
believed him in everything he said." In vain did the Quraysh try to dissuade the
Christian delegation from following Muhammad and converting to his faith. On the
contrary, the Quraysh's attack against their sincerity had strengthened their
faith in God and added to their monotheistic convictions since, before they
heard Muhammad, they were already Christian and hence submissive to
God.

The struggle against Muhammad reached even greater
proportions. The most antagonistic of the Quraysh began to ask themselves: "Is
it true that this man is really calling unto the religion of truth? That what he
promises us and threatens us with in the hereafter is true?" Abu Sufyan, Abu
Jahl and al Akhnas ibn Shariq went out one night to hear Muhammad preach in his
own house without any one of them knowing what the other was about. Unobserved
by his colleagues, each one of them took his place in some corner and spent the
night listening to Muhammad preach, then pray and recite the Qur'an in the still
of night, cantillating its holy verses with his beautiful voice. As dawn arrived
and the three auditors repaired to their houses, they met one another on the
road. Each one of them knew what the others were about and blamed the others for
such behavior. Arguing that this would be a blow to the morale of the rank and
file of the Quraysh if they ever knew of it, they mutually promised one another
never to do it again. When the following night came, however, and the hours of
yesterday struck, each one of them felt as if he were being carried to the house
of Muhammad without being able to stop himself. An irresistible power was
drawing them to spend another night of listening to Muhammad's prayer,
preaching, and cantillation of the divine verses. Again they met one another at
dawn on their way back and blamed one another anew. Even this repeated violation
of their mutual threat and promise did not prevent them from going to the same
place the third night. It was only after the third violation that they realized
their weakness and the strong attraction they felt toward the voice of Muhammad,
his faith, and Qur'anic recitation. They pledged solemnly never to return again,
but what they had heard from Muhammad during the three previous nights left such
a deep impression upon their souls that it disturbed their inner peace and
reduced their spirit of resistance. Naturally, they were quite apprehensive
that, being leaders of their people, their inner disturbance would some day be
discovered by their followers and sap the morale of the whole
community.

What prevented these men from following Muhammad?
He had not asked of them either reward or power or kingship. Rather, Muhammad
was a very modest man, full of love for his people anxious to do good to them
and to guide them in the true path. He was both strongly self-critical and
fearful of bringing the least harm to the weak or the oppressed. In suffering
the injuries inflicted upon him by others and forgiving their authors, he found
peace and tranquility of conscience. Evidence of this personal characteristic of
Muhammad may be found in the story of ibn Umm Maktum. Muhammad was once involved
in serious conversation with al Walid ibn al Mughirah, one of the leading
aristocrats of Quraysh, whom he hoped he would convert to Islam. Ibn Umm Maktum,
the blind, stopped by and asked Muhammad to recite some Qur'anic verses for him.
Preoccupied with his conversation, Muhammad did not answer. Ibn Umm Maktum
insisted until he interrupted the conversation of the two men, to the severe
annoyance of Muhammad. The conversation thus abruptly ended, Muhammad frowned,
gave an angry look to the blind man and moved on without satisfying his request.
When Muhammad came to himself, he began to criticize himself for this
maltreatment of the blind man, and soon the following verses were revealed to
him: "He frowned and turned aside when the blind man approached him. Perhaps,
the blind man may have sought to purify himself, to remember the words of God
and to benefit there from. But to him who is disdainfully indifferent, you
[Muhammad] pay great attention, though you are not responsible if he should
never become purified. But he who came to you exerting himself and striving in
fear and reverence, him you neglected. No! No! The whole matter is a reminder.
So let him who so desires, be reminded of it. The Qur'an is inscribed in honored
sheets, exalted and purified, and written by hands noble and virtuous."[Qur'an, 80:1-16] If such was Muhammad's character, what did
in fact prevent the Quraysh from following him and from helping him in his
cause, especially as their hearts had mellowed, as the years had caused them to
forget the obsolete traditions to which they had lethargically attached
themselves, and as they saw in Muhammad's message true majesty and
perfection?

But is it true that time makes men forget their
obsolete past and lethargic conservatism? Perhaps so, but only among those who
are endowed with superior intelligence and a will to perfection. Such people
spend their lives trying out and testing the truth which they have taken to be
such in order to keep it free of admixture, superstition, and error. The minds
and hearts of such people are cauldrons forever, boiling, accepting every new
idea in order but to boil it down, purify it, and separate its good from its
evil as well as its beauty from its ugliness. Such souls seek the truth in
everything, everywhere, and from every source. In every nation and age, such
people are few; they are the chosen and the distinguished. Such men
always find themselves on the other side of any contest with the rich, the
established, and the powerful. The latter are forever apprehensive of anything
new lest it may adversely affect their wealth, prestige, or power and, generally
speaking, they do not know any other facts besides those of concrete everyday
living. Everything is true, in their opinion, if it leads to an increase in the
substance of this very life, and false if it implies the slightest doubt
regarding that substance. For the capitalist, virtue is good if it increases the
substance, evil if it dissipates it. Religion itself, is indeed true only if it
serves his passions and desires, and false if it denies or fails to satisfy
them.

The man of political power and the man of social
prestige stand here on a par with the capitalist. In their enmity to everything
new and fearful, they mobilize the masses on whom their wealth, social prestige,
or power depend against the innovator. This mobilization of the masses is
carried out under an appeal to save the sanctity of the old order which may very
well have become corrupt, obsolete, and spiritless. They present the old order
they seek to save in great monuments of stone designed to delude the innocent
rank and file. They pretend that the great spirit and value which moulded those
monuments still lives therein with all its majesty and grandeur. The masses
usually respond to their appeal with enthusiasm, for they are above all
concerned with their daily bread; it is not easy for them to realize that any
truth cannot remain for long imprisoned within the walls of any temple or
monument, however beautiful or majestic it may be. It is hard for them to
understand that it is of the nature of truth to be free, to invade the souls of
men and to nourish them without discrimination between nobleman and slave; that
no matter how hardily a system may defend itself against the truth and how
closely it may be protected, the truth is always bound to win. How then could
those Quraysh leaders who were seeking to listen to the Qur'an in secret,
believe in its call when it proclaimed the wrath of God against the very
practices which they were doing? How could they believe in a religion which did
not differentiate between the blind pauper and the great capitalist except as
regards the purity of their own souls? How could they believe in the call of
Islam unto all men that "the greatest of you with God is the most pious and
virtuous?"[Qur'an,
49:14]. If, therefore, Abu Sufyan
and his colleagues remained true to the religion of their ancestors, it was not
due to their faith in its truth value. Rather, it was due to their zeal to
preserve the old order that not only protected them but also enabled them to
achieve their position of wealth, social prestige, and power.

In addition to this anxiety and despair, jealousy
and competition did their work to prevent the Quraysh from following the
Prophet. Umayyah ibn Abu al Salt was one of those who predicted the rise of a
prophet among the Arabs; indeed, he hoped that he himself was such a prophet. He
was full of resentment and jealousy when revelation came to Muhammad rather than
to him; he could not, despite his own superiority over Muhammad as far as
poetical composition is concerned, follow a person whom he believed was his
competitor. When Muhammad heard the poetry of Ummayyah, he exclaimed: "What a
man is Ummayyah ! His poetry believes, but his heart does not." Likewise, al
Walid ibn al Mughirah said: "It is incomprehensible to me that revelations would
come to Muhammad and not to me while I am the greatest elder and master of
Quraysh. Neither do I understand that revelation would not come to Abu Mas'ud
`Amr ibn `Umayr al Thaqafi, the elder and master of Thaqif." It was in reference
to such commonplace sentiments that the Qur'an says: "They said: would that this
Qur'an be revealed to one of the great men in one of the two cities. Would they
thus divide the mercy of your Lord? It is We who do so, as We do divide their
livelihood among them in the world." [Qur'an, 43:31-32]
After Abu Sufyan, Abu Jahl, and al Akhnas had listened for three consecutive
nights to Muhammad's recitation of the Qur'an, as we have reported earlier, al
Akhnas visited Abu Jahl in his home and asked, "O Abu al Hakam, what do you
think of what we heard from Muhammad?" Abu Jahl answered, "What did you hear?
Our house and the house of Banu `Abd Manaf have been competing for the honor:
They have given the people to eat and so did we; they have carried the water to
the pilgrims and so did we; they have assumed other burdens and so did we, they
have given and so did we. Whenever we and they mount on our horses it always
looks as if we are in a race. Now they are saying, among us is a prophet to whom
revelation comes straight from heaven! When, if ever, will we achieve such a
feat? Now, by God, we shall never believe in their prophet: we shall never
accept what he says as true."

In these Bedouin souls of Muhammad's
contemporaries, jealously and competition were deeply rooted, and it would be a
great mistake to overlook them. We should remember that such passions are not
unique to the Arabs but are shared by all men. To neutralize their effects or
get rid of them demands long and arduous self-discipline, a radical self
transformation that raises reason far above passion and ennobles one's spirit
and heart to the degree of acknowledging the truth whithersoever it may come
from, be he enemy or friend. It also demands believing that the possession of
the truth is more precious than all the wealth of Midas, the glory of Alexander,
or the power of Caesar. Such nobility and magnanimity of soul is hardly ever
reached except by those whose hearts God Himself guides. Commonplace men are
usually blinded by the wealth and pleasure of the world and by the present
moment in which alone they spent their lives. Obviously, they are unable to rise
to such spiritual height. In pursuit of quick satisfaction during the fleeting
present, they struggle, fight, and kill one another. For its sake, nothing seems
to prevent any of them from striking his teeth and claws into the very neck of
truth, goodness and virtue, and from trampling to death the noblest and highest
values. Seeing Muhammad's followers increasing in numbers and strength day by
day, the Arabs of Quraysh were horrified by the idea that the truth which
Muhammad proclaimed would one day achieve victory and power over them, over
their allies and beyond, and over all the Arabs of the Peninsula. Heads shall
roll rather than allow such a thing to happen, they thought. Counterpropaganda
and mental warfare, boycott, blockade, injury and harm, persecutional these and
the vials of wrath shall be poured over Muhammad and his followers.

A third reason prevented the Quraysh from
following Muhammad, namely, the terror of the resurrection on the Day of
Judgment with its punishment of hell. They were a people immersed in recreation
and the pursuit of pleasure; trade and usury were their means to its attainment.
Those of them who could afford to indulge in these pursuits did not see in them
anything immoral and felt no imperative to avoid them. Through their idol
worship they thought that their evil deeds and sins could all be atoned for and
forgiven. It was sufficient for a man to strike a few arrows at the foot of the
statue of Hubal for him to think that anything he was about to undertake was
blessed if not commanded by the god. It was sufficient to sacrifice something to
these idols for him to have his sins and guilt wiped out and forgotten.
Therefore, to kill, to rob, to commit adultery, to indulge in unbecoming speech
and indecency were all proper and permissible as long as one was capable of
bribing those gods and placating them with sacrifices.

On the other hand, Muhammad was proclaiming that
the Lord was standing in wait for them, that they will be resurrected on the day
of judgment, and that their works will be their only credit. Moreover, he did so
with verses of such tremendous, power that they shook men's hearts to the
foundation and threw their consciousness into horror and panic. The Qur'an
proclaimed: "But when the deafening cry is heard, when man would flee from his
brother, from his father and mother, his wife and children, everyone will have
enough to concern himself with his own destiny. On that day some faces will be
bright, joyous and gay. Others will be dark and gloomy. The latter are the
unbelievers, the wicked." [Qur'an, 80:33-42]
It proclaimed that the deafening cry would come-"the day when heaven will be
like molten copper, when mountains will be like flakes of wool, when no friend
will be able to concern himself for his friends. Beholding the fate which is to
be theirs, the condemned will wish to ransom themselves with their own children,
their wives and brothers, their tribes that gave them protection, even the whole
of mankind if such could save them from the impending doom. No indeed! There
shall be a flame of fire, burning and dismembering, grasping without relief him
who turned his back to the call of God, who played deaf to the moral imperative,
who hoarded wealth and withheld it from the needy . . . ."[Qur'an, 70:8-18]

"On that day you will be presented before God;
none of your secrets will be hidden. Then, he who has received his record with
his right hand will say: `Come, read my record. I had rightly thought that I was
to meet my reckoning.' Such a man will lead a blessed life in a lofty garden
whose fruits are ripe and within reach. When he is brought therein he will be
told: Eat and drink joyfully for in the days gone by, you have done the good
deeds.' As for him who is given his record in his left hand he will say: `Would
I that I had never been given my record; that I never knew of my reckoning. Oh,
would that death had made an end of me! My wealth is of no avail, and my
power has come to naught.' To him God will say: `Seize him and fetter him. Broil
him in the fire. Then bind him in a chain seventy cubits long. For he did not
believe in Almighty God, nor did he urge the feeding of the hungry. Today, he
shall have no loyal friends and no food except what is foul, which none eat
except his fellow sinners.?[Qur'an, 69:18-37]

After this I may ask the reader: Have you read
this well? Did you ponder every word of it? Have you fully understood its
meaning? Are you not petrified and panic-stricken? But that is only a portion of
Muhammad's warning to his people. You read these verses today and remember that
you have read them many times over before. Concurrently with your reading, you
will remember the Qur'an's description of hell. "On that day, We shall ask hell,
`Are you full?' And hell will answer: `Give me more!' . . . Whenever their skins
wear out, We shall give them new skins that they may continue to suffer the
punishment." [Qur'an,
50:30; 4:56]. You can well
imagine then the horror which must have struck Quraysh, especially the rich
among them wallowing in the protection of their gods and idols whenever Muhammad
warned them of the imminent punishment. It would then become easy for you to
appreciate the degree of their enthusiasm in belying Muhammad, opposing him, and
urging the people to fight him. Previous to the Prophet's preaching, the Arabs
had no idea of the Day of Judgment or of the resurrection, and they did not
believe what they heard thereof from non-Arabs. None of them thought that he
would be reckoned with after death for what he had done in this world. Whatever
concern they had for the future was limited to this world. They feared disease,
loss of wealth and children, of power and social prestige. This life, to them,
was all there is to life. Their energies were exhausted in the amassing of the
means with which to enjoy this life and to keep it safe from misfortune. The
future was utterly opaque. Whenever their consciences were disturbed by a
premonition of evil following upon their misdeeds, they had recourse to
divination by arrows, pebbles, or bird chasing in order to dissipate the fear or
confirm it. If confirmed they would sacrifice to their idols and thereby avoid
the imminent misfortune.

As for reckoning after death, resurrection, and
the Day of Judgment-paradise for the virtuous and hell for the unjust-all this
completely escaped them despite the fact that they had heard of it in connection
with the religion of the Jews and of the Christians. Nonetheless, they never
heard of it described with such emphatic, frightening, indeed horrifying, terms
and seriousness such as Muhammad's revelation had brought to them. What they had
heard of before Muhammad never succeeded in pressing home to them the
recognition that their continued life of pleasure, pursuit of wealth,
exploitation of the weak, robbery of the orphan, neglect of the poor, and excess
in usury, would surely incur eternal punishment. They had no idea of impending
suffering in the depth of hell, and when they heard of it described in these
terms, it was natural for them to be seized with panic. How strongly they must
have felt when they realized, though they did not openly admit it, that the
other world with its reward and punishment is truly there, waiting for them only
one step beyond this life which was soon to end in death!