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Influence of the Jahiliyya on Muhammad & Islam Every period of Islam history during which people associate partners with God in any way whether by worshipping idols and ascribing to them some divine functions or by deifying some persons or attributing creativity to nature and material causes is wholly dark. This is so because when belief in the Unity of God is removed from the heart, the mind and soul darken, all standards change and things and the world are judged from false points of view. This moral, spiritual, social and even economic and scientific state of a community is defined by the Quran as jahiliyya, and described as follows: Or like darkness on a deep sea obscure, covered by a wave, above which is a wave, above which is a cloud. Layers of darkness one upon the other.
When he holds out his hand, wellnigh he cannot see it. And he for whom God has assigned no light, for him there is no light. (al-Nur, 24. 40) No one likes describing falsehood. Besides, it is wrong for anyone to describe falsehood where the truth may be described. In the words of God, What is there, after truth, but misguidance? (Yunus, 10. 32). However, in order to clarify the subject, I feel it necessary to say a few words concerning the pre-Islamic era, that is, the age of jahiliyya.
The Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, appeared at a time when people had no knowledge of the true religion and therefore worshipped a great number of idols. As stated in the Quran: They were serving, apart from God, what hurts them not, neither profits them, and they say: These are our intercessors with God. (Yunus, 10. 18) They shaped idols of stones, earth, bread, even cheese, and then said: These are our intercessors with God. They were so degraded in thoughts and morals that, as reported by Abu Dark al-Ghifari, they would sit at meal-time, cut their idols into pieces and eat them. The only excuse offered was that they were following in the steps of their forefathers. When it is said to them, Follow what God has sent down, they say, No; but we follow that wherein we found our fathers. (al-Barbara, 2. 170) They buried their daughters alive. In the words of the holy Quran: When any of them is given the good tidings of a girl, his face is darkened and he chokes inwardly, as he hides himself from the people because of the evil of the good tidings that have been given to him, whether he shall preserve her in humiliation, or trample her into the dust. (al-Name, 16. 589) Women were despised, not only in pre-Islamic Arabia but also in the Roman and Sassanid lands.
The Quran openly declares that they will be questioned concerning this: When the female (infant) buried alive is questioned for what crime was she killed? (al-Takwir, 81. 8 - 9) One day, after Muhammad's declaration of his Prophethood, one of his Companions came to him and narrated what he had done with his little daughter: O Messenger of God, I had a daughter. One day I told her mother to dress her as I was taking her to her uncle the poor mother knew what this meant, but she could do nothing but obey and weep. My wife dressed the infant, who was rejoicing at the news of going to the uncle. I took her near a well, and told her to look down into the well. While she was looking into the well, I kicked her into it. While she was rolling down, she was shouting Dad, Dad!
As he was recounting this, the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, sobbed as if he had lost one of his nearest kinsfolk. This had a great impact on Mohammad who was famous for his mercifulness. Hearts had become hard. Every day a pit was dug in the corner of the desert for an innocent girl to be buried.
Human beings were more brutal and cruel than hyenas. The powerful crushed the weak. It was a time when brutality was taken for humanity, cruelty received approval, the bloodthirsty were exalted, bloodshed considered a virtue, adultery and fornication were more common than legal marriages. Family structure had been destroyed. This can mean "ignorance" or even "barbarism" and refers to the state people lived in before Muhammad received his revelation from God and brought Islam to the world.
This was a time of lawlessness and idolatry, as contrasted with the period of time under Islamic rule, characterized by morality, enlightenment and divine law. Islam came to take people from darkness into light. That time is called Jahiliyya in Arabic, the era of ignorance. Unfortunately, we are regressing, in our century, to jahiliyya ultra, another time of ignorance.
Everywhere now you find ignorance. The people on the right path are being opposed, disliked, defamed, and fought. The people of falsehood are being praised and honored. This was foretold by the Prophet (s) who said that in such a time, "Yukhawwanul amin wa yusaddiqul kha " in, "The most trustworthy one will be called 'dishonest and untrustworthy', and the dishonest one will be called 'trustworthy. '" The life of Mohammad's first wife Khadija, for example, flatly contradicts Muslim descriptions of the Jahiliyya period as one of Darkness.
Khadija was a widow. But she retained ownership of her business. She remarried, choosing her husband without an intermediary. Nor did she seek permission from any male member of her family. She also insisted that her marriage with Mohammad be monogamous.
Khadija was the first convert to Islam, the one person to whom the Prophet always returned for advice and comfort. In short, Khadija was very much a woman of the Jahiliyya. Bibliography: Koran, The holy Muslim Book.
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Research essay sample on Influence Of The Jahiliyya On Muhammad Islam
