Success of Islam Essay Example for Free

Success of Islam Essay Islam word means peace literally, surrendering of the wills i. e. for the sake of God loosing oneself and for the pleasure of God surrendering one’s own pleasure. 1400 years before through the Holy prophet Muhammad (pbuh) the message of Islam was revealed. It was sent down by the angel Gabriel (pbuh) and in the Holy Quran it was preserved. The best features of the earlier scriptures are said to be recorded in the Holy Quran, which is a guarantee that’s Divine without any interruptions or errors. Unity of God is the primary message of Islam, only one is the creator of this world and only he is worthy of worship and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is His Messenger and we all are its servants. A person who believes in these is a true Muslim. Other beliefs of a Muslim are in the revealed Books of God, God’s angels, belief in all the prophets from Adam to Jesus (pbuh), in the Day of Judgement and in God’s Verdict. There are five main pillars to Islam or you can say five main duties to perform, these are of being a witness to the Unity of Allah and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as His Messenger, prescribed prayers observation, the payment of Zakat, in Ramadhan keeping the fasts and performing the pilgrimage to Mecca. Every person is born pure is what the Islamic beliefs say. God has given the human beings a choice to seek its pleasure through charity, faith and prayer and also a choice between good and evil is what the Holy Quran says. In God’s image mankind is created, says Islam and in order to attain nearness to Him mankind needs to fill in the attributes of God on a human level. Worshipping God and treating all of His creatures with compassion and kindness is what’s the main message of Islam. The rights of the needy orphans and old parents are clearly stated in the Holy Quran. 1400 hundred years ago the rights of women were safeguarded when the world was in complete darkness about liberation. The principles and rules of Islam are universal truly and have stood the test of time and the teachings of Islam also encompass every situation that’s imaginable. Neglecting the bounties of nature that are lawful is not indicated by Islamic virtue. Leading a healthy life is what it encourages, living our life with the qualities of kindness, honesty, charity, patience, politeness, courage and chastity. Basically Islam has all the guidance code for the individuals as well as communities as a whole. As time changes and time passes the messages of Islam are indisputable as the entire message is derived from the Holy Quran and the Hadith and Sunnah. Regardless of the human changes it is easily adaptable in actual fact though it may appear rigid to the eye. The spiritual path is open to all is what Islam teaches. Through sincere and earnest worship any individual can seek nearness to God if he/she believes in One Creator, establishing a relationship with the Almighty is central. A positive message like this fills the heart with courage and hope (Azam). In more than 50 countries of the world there are 1. 5 billion Muslims worldwide. The fastest growing faith in the world is Islam with its beautiful message reaching in the far corner of the earth to millions. To a merchant family the Holy prophet was born in Mecca. At the age of five he had been orphanage. To become a caravan manager he grew up and married widow rich women eventually who was his employer as well. He began to experience the visions inspired by Allah in his middle years. The Holy Prophet had believed that even though Allah had revealed himself through Moses and Jesus in parts through Hebrew and Christianity the final of the revelations were given now to him. On the basis of which the followers were to live were contained in the Quran which were the guidelines for mankind sent down as revelations to the Prophet. The teachings of the Prophet formed the basis of the religion Islam which means the ‘submission to the will of Allah’. Everything in this universe and the universe itself was created by Allah Almighty himself. For an everlasting life the humans must subject themselves to the will of Allah. The followers of him were called Muslims which meant â€Å"practitioners of Islam† Prophet Muhammad set out to convince the people of Mecca after the revelations were received. Many of the people at first thought of him as insane whereas some other people feared that the attacks of him on the corrupt society would disturb and social and political order. At the time of the failure of the Meccan’s in making people accept the religion the Holy Prophet along with his close followers migrated to Yathrib which was later renamed Medina (city of the Prophet). The holy Prophet had been invited to that town by some prominent residents over there. The Holy prophet soon had begun to win the support of the Medina people and other Bedouin tribes in the countryside surrounding it. He then formed the first Muslim community by these groups. There was no separation seen by the Muslims in the social and political authority, as to them the submission to the will of Allah was seen as submission to the Prophet Muhammad. The Holy Prophet then soon became a political and religious leader. By his military and political skills he was able to put together a reliable military force, with whom he had returned to Mecca in 630, to the new faith converting the city and the townspeople. Across the Arabian Peninsula Muhammad’s ideas began to spread quickly from Mecca and within a short period of time it resulted into both the political and the religious unification of the Arab society (Spielvogel, 64). For the balancing of the individual and the spiritual life of an individual the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has provided guidance. The guidance of the Holy Prophet Muhammad was accepted by all Muslims and they were interested more in the spiritual and individual activities of the founder than his activities as a new social order founder. The success of the Prophet as the movement leader having worldwide implications can be explained by two aspects, spiritual being the first and the other being material. Generally accepted by the religious scholars and the other Muslims the first aspect holds that Prophet Muhammad was chosen as a Prophet by Allah and his success was divine. The second one which had been used and embraced by the historians and the western researchers believe that it was the distinctive leadership skills and the charismatic personality of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) that had helped in the success and also the success was believed to be the result of historical and experimental motives. The ideal personality and the historical personality were both aspects of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) that were regarded as the models of Islam. Both of these models require different research and analysis methods to be examined carefully, they do not contradict each other. With the existence of his great individual skills he lived a simple life which had been witnessed by other people. The life of the Holy Prophet would not have been considered a perfect model for humanity in the Holy Quran if this was not true. The Holy Prophet (pbuh) was sent as a guide to the wide variety of people with different emotional, aspirational and moral needs, with the mental and spiritual maturity that he possessed embraced the social and individual needs of these people and helped them in solving their problems. The depth and breadth in his policies were applied to all the societies and individuals with enormous human nature range with great sensitivity. In the social, political and economic fields Prophet Muhammad was the first Prophet and leader to put his policies into practice. To the sublime quality of the Prophet such implementation of the guidance and the leadership mission was a testament. Contrary to the Mecca situation, during Hijrah, the Prophet’s political aspect and his presidential status in particular for a state newly found had emerged. Along with his religious guidance his political leadership, the establishment of the relationships between the Muslim society and the other groups had started to grow importance. The holy prophet did not gain power or became the ruler of median at the time of Hijrah but acquired the control on the city when he had defeated his enemies in Mecca and the other places when people of Medina who had accepted Islam came to join him. Several years before the demise of the Holy Prophet the political leadership of the Holy prophet became undisputed with the subsequent developments when most of the Arabian tribes had accepted Islam. Therefore, it had been seen that under his ruling a wide political unity had been developed. The personal skills, the highly developed wisdom, his diplomacy as a ruler, his understanding with other people and his tactfulness cannot be separated from his success even if the conditions were said to be in his side always. The good behavior of the Holy prophet and his politics and leadership skills played a great role in the success besides the attractiveness of Islam and the fact that Islam responded to the needs of the Arab states religiously and as a social system (Abdul Rahman,25). Under the leadership of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) the political structure of the Arabian Peninsula changed with the quarter century. Due to the efforts of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) the Arabs had become a nation, first who were living as nomadic or semi-nomadic tribes. Rotting in terms of these concepts a new moral and social order in the society was also formed by the Prophet besides struggling heavily with the dominant religion, institutions and the social concepts. The superiority concept that was believed to exist since birth was ended by the Holy Prophet (pbuh) besides his elimination of the social injustice, tribal animosities and the inequalities. The artificial obstacles that tend to separate an individual from the society were also removed by him. A society that was based on affection, fellowship and cooperation was founded by him. The misbehavior toward women and the killing of girls was also stopped by him. The status of women was raised to such an extent by the Prophet that from the oppressive obedience rule they were made to share their lives with the men and had mutual amount or responsibilities and rights. The women were allowed to have their legal professions; they could purchase detached residences and spent their money on whatever they wanted. The old perceptions which did not treat or regard women’s as independent individuals were eliminated and he had invalidated the provisions in the field of family law of women. Steps to abolish slavery were taken by the Prophet (pbuh). After a short period of time as a matter of fact the liberated slaves began to outshine their masters in different fields like scholarships arts etc. In the tenth year of Hijrah as the entire Arabia had come under the Islamic rule and the Medina regions became Islamic state provinces the people from the Prophet’s tribe were assigned these provinces to administer. Through merit and personal ability these people were assigned the provinces. In recalling the people who were incompetent and assigning the provinces to the more skilled workers the Prophet was never hesitant. A person who was well skilled and well informed would not be assigned the work if he had issues with overcoming the task. From the values of nobility, class, tribal superiority and wealth the value of faith was more essential in administration. According to their personal capacity everyone was given the opportunity to achieve. It is hence seen that only the competent believers were assigned by the Holy Prophet (pbuh) (Malise,43). The act of consultation was one of the indispensible actions he employed in administration. On the issues of significance he consulted leading believers and took their opinions. The decision he used to make was enact to the decisions formed by these consultants even if it contradicted his own opinions (Ozel). The Holy prophet possesses some great leadership qualities which played a major role in the success of Islam at the time of the unification of Arabia. The Holy Prophet when received his first revelation, he with fear was trembling. Of the great responsibility he was fully aware of the great responsibility being given to him. He could only confide about this was to his wife Khadija as he was so fearful. The confidence by which the Holy Prophet took Hazrat Khadija in confidence was remarkable. Regardless of the prevailing norms it reflected his inner strength and confidence in judgment. At that time he trusted and respected his wife for her support something which was very rare at that time. The Holy Prophet’s deep humility was also reflected. He only preached to his family and close friends in the start, true to his humility. He was completely aware of the fact that this would completely turn his community upside down but would transform it for the better. He took the risk of dividing his community with great courage. His desire was to save the community and not destroy it (Khan). The followers of the Holy Prophet used to carry out all the orders of the Holy Prophet without any kind of hesitation as they all had blind faith in him and if they were asked to plunge themselves in the river of fire they were also ready to do that but the Holy Prophet never adopted any of the methods that were dictatorial. At times when the Holy Prophet received no instructions from Allah he used to consult his companions about the issue and respected whatever views they put forward and considering those he took his decisions. To the advice of his companions in the battle of Badr about choosing the camping grounds, taking military action against the enemies, how the prisoners should be dealt with etc were all left to the companions. He also consulted his companions at the time of the battle of Uhad about whether to attack the troops from within the city of Medina or from outside of Medina. On the Battle of Ahzab and Tabuk also he consulted his companions (Hart). The Holy Prophets kindness and tolerance, his anxiety in seeking the forgiveness of its community’s sins, he giving so much of importance to his companions and all his consultations with them were all main factors that had contributed to the great influence and wonderful exercise over his companions. The maximum qualities of leadership were all that he himself possessed. Like firmness, boldness, determination, no fear of any consequences of an action, bearing criticism, delegation of the powers in accordance to their abilities, giving importance to others, flexibility in his personal matters, emotional and practical talents, modesty, humility, contentment, simplicity, dignity, elevation of manners and great interest in the organizing of human resources (Mutahhari). At the disposal of humanity a complete program and a code of comprehensive laws had been placed with the raising of the Prophet of Islam. The teachings and laws implementation of Islam would ensure the happiness and the prosperity of the human beings in this as well as the next worlds. When the Quraish saw Islam as a threat they started torturing the Holy Prophet and all of his followers. But in spite of the unbearable hostility and suffering they were firm on their belief and held fast on their faith. When the news of the success of Islam reached the Quraish in general and the Umayyad in particular they with the Jews conspired to uproot the Muslims. Treachery was widespread and the Holy Prophet who had never yielded a weapon had to defend Islam by the force of arms. From the battle of Badr commencing a series of the battles were being fought in which the community had defended itself successfully. The Muslims remarkable achievements were primarily due to the outstanding leadership qualities of just one man- the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his teaching and explicit faith in Islam. By the same spirit his followers were also imbibed, which had carried them across the continents and inclined them against the two mighty empires, as the Muslims armies marched on were swept aside (Lodi). A successful prophet was Muhammad and a statesman who in brief span of 21 years went from the visionary of persecution to the ruler of Arabia. It was his success that made Islam a powerful tool for the providence and the second largest religion in the world. So the success of Islam is great due to the skills of the Holy Prophet which lead it to become a widespread strong belief religion (Cromwell).