The Islamic Revolution
The Tawheed, which Muhammad (SallAllaahu alayHi wa AaliHii Wasallam) propagated, was distinct from all other ideas because it was based on two
principles:
Tawheed
Rububiyyah, which means that Allah, is One, without any partners or
associates.
Tawheed
'Ulluhiyyah, which means that Allah must be worshipped alone in
everything, and total slavery must be to Allah alone in everything ranging from
the spiritual to the political.
It was this call for Tawheed, which provoked the anger of
the Makkan political authority because they realized that Muhammad (SallAllaahu alayHi wa AaliHii Wasallam) posed a threat to their societal setup with this call. The response of Ja'afar ibn Abi
Talib (RadiyAllaahu 'anhu) also illustrates this understanding which the Makkan authorities
feared:
"He
summoned us to worship the One True God and to reject the stones and idols we
and our fathers had been worshipping in addition to Allah. He ordered us to be
trustful in speech, to fulfill all the duties that were entrusted to us, to
care for our relatives, to be kind to our neighbors, to refrain from unlawful
food and consumption of blood. He forbade us to engage in lewdness and lying,
the devouring of the money of the orphan and the defamation of married women.
He commanded us to worship the One God and to assign no partners unto Him, to
pray, to pay the purifying tax and to fast. We deemed him truthful and we
believed him, and we accepted the Message he brought from Allah."
This understanding of the spiritual-political nature of the
Message of Islam can also be found in many verses of the Qur'an.
Neil Armstrong walked on the surface of the moon on July 20,
1969. Why did it take thousands of years for man to land on the moon?
Non-Muslims ask, "If Islam had never come into
existence, would there have been anything seriously lacking in world
history?" The answer is yes.
Polytheism and superstition looked upon things and creatures
as deities, and encouraged their worship. Before the advent of Islam,
polytheism dominated the entire world. Man considered the moon, the sun other
planets, wind, river, snake, cow, fire, mountain, etc. as deities. These
natural objects inspired man to bow before it rather than try to conquer it.
Holding the moon to be sacred was a major obstacle to even thinking of
conquering it. The supremacy of polytheism was brought to an end by the Islamic
revolution, which replaced it with monotheism, making it the dominant creed of
the times.
What is revolution?
Revolution is defined as a sudden, radical or complete
change; especially the overthrow or renunciation of one ruler or government and
substitution of another by the governed. To change fundamentally or completely.
To turn over in the mind: reflect upon: ponder.
In the Muslim world this revolution was brought about
through the influence of religion. The western world began its revolution by
separating the secular sciences from religion culminating in the landing of man
on the moon. Modern science is a part of the Islamic revolution. Because of the
polytheistic view natural sciences had become forbidden territory and natural
phenomena were given sanctity. The Islamic revolution of monotheism opened the
doors of research and investigation by displacing nature from its sacred
pedestal. Modern science is wholly the gift of the Islamic revolution-directly
in its initial stages, and indirectly in its later stages. Modern scientific
revolution was set in motion by Islam, which was sent by the Almighty for the
guidance of all mankind for all eternity. Henri Pirenne author of "History
of Western Europe" says, "Islam changed the face of the globe. The
traditional order of history was overthrown." Islam is complete truth.
All-pervasiveness of superstition served as a hurdle to all kinds of human
development. The kings or rulers exploited the masses through polytheism and superstition.
The kings represented God on earth. Some kings like Nimrod, Pharaoh claimed as
gods.
Dr. George Sarton, a former Professor of History of Science
at Harvard University, stated in his book, "The Life of Science" that
the foundations of science were laid for us by the Mesopotamian civilization
(present day Iraq) whose scholars and scientists were their priests. The second
development of science came through the Greeks. The Third Stage of development,
however, is to be credited to the meteoric rise of Islam. For nearly four
hundred years Islam led the scientific world as from one end of Islam to the
other, from Spain to India, the great body of past knowledge was exchanged
between her scholars and the torch carried forward with the new discoveries.
Scholars of Christendom from about the eleventh century were mainly occupied
for over two hundred years in translating from Arabic into Latin. Thus Islam
paved the way for the Renaissance, which in turn led to science's fourth great
development in the modern world.
It was God's decree that Prophet Muhammad (SallAllaahu alayHi wa AaliHii Wasallam) to be a da'i (missionary)
as well as a mahi (eradicator).
The Qur'an says:
"We
have revealed to you this book so that, by the will of their Lord, you may lead
men from darkness to light.
(Quran, 14: 1)
The Nile Goddess
In Egypt, it was an ancient and pagan custom that sometime
in July a virgin decorated with bridal clothes was thrown in the Nile river as
an offering to propitiate (or to do something to get favors) the Goddess of the
river Nile. After the advent of Christianity, the Egyptians became Christians,
however they continued to follow the ancient custom of sacrificing a virgin to
the Goddess of river Nile.
During the time Hadrat Omar (RadiyAllaahu 'anhu), Egypt came under the Muslim
rule and Amar bin Al-Aas (RadiyAllaahu 'anhu) was appointed Governor of Egypt. The Egyptian elders
waited on the Governor in July, and wanted his permission for continuing the
old custom of throwing a virgin in the river to seek the pleasure and favors of
the Nile Goddess.
The Governor said that such a practice was offensive and
revolting to Islam and hence he disallowed such practice in an Islamic State.
He further argued that Islam knew of no Goddess of the Nile and the question of
any expiation did not arise. Islam knew of only One God - Allah and Allah did not
stand in need of any propitiation.
After listening to this argument the Egyptian elders were
not satisfied. They warned the Governor Amr bin Al-Aas (RadiyAllaahu 'anhu) that unless the
sacrifice was made, the Nile River would not rise in flood and the entire
countryside would get dry. Governor Amr was however, unyielding and inflexible
that floods or no floods human sacrifice could not be permitted. The Egyptian
leaders returned home in a gloomily mood.
The month of July came and passed away. No sacrifice was
offered, and there was also no rise in the level of the river Nile. The month
of August came and still the river did not rise. The Egyptians were trembling
at what would happen if the river did not rise. The month of August passed away
and still there was no flood in the river. The Egyptian leaders grieved and
said, " That is all due to Islam. The Muslims have brought this fate on
us."
The month of August was gone and September came, and still
there was no sign of any rise in the level of the river Nile. The Egyptians
lost hope and most of them were thinking of migrating elsewhere. That made Amar
bin al-Aas (RadiyAllaahu 'anhu) worried. He reported the facts of the case to Hadrat Umar (RadiyAllaahu 'anhu) and
wanted his instructions. Hadrat Umar (RadiyAllaahu 'anhu) approved of the action of Amr in not
permitting the human sacrifice. Along with the letter, Hadrat Umar (RadiyAllaahu 'anhu) sent a
card on which it was written:
"In
the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. From the slave of Allah, Umar
the Commander of the faithful to the Nile of Egypt.
"Everything
in the Universe is subject to the will of Allah. The rise in your level is
subject to the will of Allah, and we pray to Allah (SubhaabaHuu Wa Ta'aalaa) to command you to rise
in level."
Hadrat Umar asked Amr that the card should be thrown in the
middle of the river. On the eve of the Feast of the Christian Day of the Cross,
Amr had the Christians assemble on the river bank and after reciting some
verses from the Noble Qur'an and taking the name of Allah, he threw the card of
Hadrat Umar in the middle of the river.
Then the Muslims assembled on the
riverbank lifted their hands in prayers seeking the blessings of Allah, in
making the river rise in level. The card of Hadrat Umar floated on the surface
of the Nile for some distance and then it disappeared.
The next morning the river rose to its full flood height.
Verily Allah had commanded the river to flow, and that was the end of the evil
custom of sacrificing a virgin to secure a rise in the level of the river. That
was the vindication of Islam. Many Egyptians now came to believe that Islam was
a blessing and a true religion. They hastened to the Muslim camp and were
converted to Islam.
Islamic Revolution
Before the time of the Prophet of Islam (SallAllaahu alayHi wa AaliHii Wasallam), the ancient
civilizations such as Greek, Egyptian, Roman and Persian- all were polytheistic
(shirk) in
their beliefs. That is they worshipped natural phenomena such as the earth
(Goddess Gaiga now in the west), rivers, mountains, sun, moon or stars. Only
Islam was able to displace them from the pedestal of worship and created the
intellectual frame of mind, which is known as the scientific revolution.
The polytheists believed the river to possess divine
attributes. They believed the goddess of river caused the water to move and
made it useful or harmful. In Islam the river is a creation of Allah and not a
creator and it was a servant of Allah and not the Lord. Thus the Muslims found
ways and means to exploit the rivers on a large scale. The history books tell
us that there is no precedent in any nation to the large-scale irrigation
system developed by the Spanish Muslims. The Spanish Muslims developed agriculture
and created Departments of agriculture science and irrigation in the
universities. They studied trees and carried out research on the properties of
soil. The infertile lands were converted into orchards and lush green fields,
in today's terms -a green revolution. Before this people treated rivers,
springs and sea as gods. But the Muslims brought the green revolution because
of their monotheistic thinking.
Polytheism (shirk) was prevalent until the 7th
century. It was replaced with monotheism (Tawhid) by the Islamic
Revolution. This in turn opened the doors of research and investigation by
abolishing the practice of worshipping the natural phenomena. Modern industrial
progress owes its existence to the Arab Muslims due to their creed of
monotheism, which instilled them a mental and practical revolution. Islam
changed the thinking of the Muslims and contributed to the modern scientific
revolution. Historians acknowledge that Islam changed the face of the globe.
Polytheism and superstition blocked the progress and advancement of human
development. Islam encouraged the investigation of nature and destroyed the
sanctity of nature.
Islam also destroyed the concept of intermediaries between
God and man, such as the Kings and priests who claimed as God's representatives
on earth or even the incarnations of God on earth. Polytheism (shirk)
curbed freedom of thought. Polytheism and superstition were the major obstacles
to all kinds of progress. Superstitious beliefs were an obstruction in the pat
of free enquiry. The search for new truths and discovery of nature's secrets
remained forbidden areas for them for centuries. Before the Islamic revolution,
the world had been swept by superstitious beliefs and idolatry. The revolution
based on monotheism of Islam put an almost complete end to polytheism (shirk) The
Greeks excelled in the fields of art and philosophy. Their contribution to the
field of science (except Archimedes' hydrostatics) was actually quite
negligible. Plato's teacher, Socrates (may be construed as a Haneef)
never worshipped the pagan gods which were worshipped by the Athenians in
Greece and instilled free enquiry among the youth of Athens and for that he was
forced to drink hemlock as a punishment in 399 BC. Archimedes was killed by a
Roman soldier in 212 BC failing to recognize him. The atmosphere for scientific
progress did not exist in ancient Greece. Similarly, the mighty Roman Empire
never produced a single scientist.
In Islam with its foundation of monotheism created an
atmosphere and environment which stimulated scientific research that lead to
the conquest of natural phenomena. The modern age which is the age of science
and industry, of freedom and equality is the direct consequence of the Islamic
revolution rooted in the Qur'an.
From the sixth century to the 10th century Europe was in
dark ages while the Islamic civilization attained the pinnacles of science and
technology. After the crusades the Europeans came in contact with the Islamic
civilization. They went to Muslim universities in Spain, Sicily, Cairo, and
Baghdad. They translated the Arabic works into Latin for over two hundred
years. The European Renaissance started in the 15th century and culminated in
the emergence of the modern industrial civilization. Islamic revolution is
responsible for the emancipation of the human thought.
During the Abbasid era, paper was being manufactured on a
large scale and so books could be produced without the dearth of paper. There
were more than 400,000 books in the library of Cordoba (Spain) in the tenth
century, whereas in Europe at that time, the library of Canterbury- the top of
the list of the Christian libraries- contained only 1800 books in the 13 the
century.
Reference: http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_1_50/islamic_revolution.htm
With thanks from
Mr. Ibrahim B. Syed, Ph. D. President,
Islamic Research
Foundation International,
God
bless the entire humanity
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