Story No. 135 – Arabia during the dark Pre-Islamic Times (Before Prophet Muhammed (saw))
The people of the Arabian Peninsula suffered from their tribal and pastoral life in the deserts, coupled with blood-thirsty feudalism. The economic crisis resulting from the exploitation of the people by the ruling class and by bands of usurers had robbed human life of its meaning and darkened the horizon of social well-being.
What was lacking was law and justice. The wealthy usurers who engaged in trade in Makkah had amassed enormous amounts of wealth by illegitimate means and exploited the weak and poor classes of society and by overcharging the orphan and the widow. In fact, they increasingly exacerbated anti-human social class differences through usury and oppressive exploitation.
Due to their ignorance, the Arab tribes in those days generally engaged in worshipping natural phenomena. Most shameful of all was their worship of lifeless statues – idols. The House of God, the Kaaba, was used as the idol-temple of the Arabs.
Any one of the indecent, degrading social and moral customs in Arabia at that time was enough to destroy the honour of a whole nation. False beliefs and class differences were strong. The Arabs wrongly believed that only those were superior who descended from the Arab race and had Arab blood! As a matter of fact, the twentieth-century form of nationalism and racism was quite prevalent among the Arabs during the first pagan period.
Arabia during the dark Pre-Islamic TimesMurder, bloodshed, drinking, and illegitimate sexual intercourse were quite ordinary and commonplace. Plunder, robbery, savagery, aggression, and treachery were their obvious characteristics, and genocide was considered a sign of bravery and courage. As the Arabs before the time of the Prophet Muhammed (saw) believed the birth of a daughter to be harmful or were either afraid of poverty and destitution, they either killed their innocent daughters or buried them alive. In some cases even the existence of one daughter in a family was considered shameful.
“And do not kill your children for fear of poverty; We give them sustenance and yourselves (too); surely to kill them is a great wrong.” (Noble Qur’an 17:31)
Such was the situation and moral conditions of a miserable society out of whose dark horizon came the light of Islam.
There is no doubt that a leader who is himself immoral, unscrupulous, and without praise-worthy human characteristics is unable to rectify human societies and save the people. It is only divine leaders who, inspired by Almighty Allah (SWT), are able to make profound basic transformations in all phases of the people’s individual and social life.
Now we must try to understand what kind of person such a leader of the worldwide revolution was and what changes he made in the world. It is crystal clear that a person who not only is not affected by such a corrosive society, but also grieves over it and attempts to combat it, possesses a great divine character and is competent to lead people and guide them onto the path of salvation.