Some thousands of years ago, when Huang-Ti, the yellow emperor took over
reign of government in what is today called China, a chronicler with a
visible penchant for fits threw himself to the ground and cried
vociferously; “Guardians of the skies and mountains, bless my emperor”.
Although this incident is purported to have happened way into the
anthropological dating of human existence, its relevance should not be
truncated to a dusty piece of history.
Symbolically, it shows that there has never been a theology of solitude, for
a solitary man sufficient on to himself, has no God to lean on for material
or spiritual elevation. But above all, the chronicler’s action besides its
rhythmic antiquity lucidly unravels that man had always taken the skies and
mountains as untouchable “pieces of art” beyond his innovative skills and
influence. Alternately these imposing masterpieces, are to humans, an
unflinching acme of spiritual exhibition, soiree of inspiration and
appreciation, for “beauty” in the lustrous eyes of John Keats, “is truth and
truth beauty”.
Arguably or rather evidently, right from the beginning, man had always
developed a flare for spiritual identity in great variety. From the per-
pharaohs era of Egypt, the scary hunters in the jungle of Borneo, the nomads
in the Sahara, the Eskimos in the frozen Arctic and to the urban dwellers in
the hotchpotch metropolis of today, all possess deified segments trusted to
monitor or appease the fearsome spirits and to gain the favour of the
benevolent. Indeed as Ivar Lissner intimated in a prelude to his thought
provoking Chef d’ouvre, Man, God and Magic, “one can only marvel at the
perseverance with which man has striven, throughout his history, to reach
outside himself. His energies were never directed solely towards the
necessities of life. He was forever questing, groping his way further, and
aspiring to the seemingly unattainable. This strange and inherent urge in
the human being is his spirituality.” And this human trait earns man a
spiritual dimension that makes him different from and superior to the less
meditative endowed creatures.
Logically, religion, or any of its semblance, either hallucinatory or
meditative is as old as the history of mankind, irrespective of nebulous and
sometimes garrulous analysis of archaeologists and anthropologists. But
religion of all epochs, from all the multitudinous strata of the “spiritual
world”, modern or ancient, have always sought a justification for their
existence and reasons for adoption as codes of conduct for humanity. The
pretext was usually juxtaposed to self-satisfaction, superiority of
spiritual culture, a factor that endowed the advocates of various religions
with civilising missions for the human race.
Yet man represents only a very small portion of the magnificent universe.
And if he can make plans and appreciate the merits of planning, then his own
existence and the survival of the universe must also be based on a planned
policy. This effectively translates that there is a Designing Will of
unrivalled artistic brilliance behind our material existence, and that there
is a Unique Mind streamling things into being. The marvellous wonders of our
world and the secrets of life are too mammoth to be products of random
accident or mere chance.
In cognisance of these irreversible facts, and driven by obsessive needs,
the gleam of spiritual discovery, man dabbled in a sweaty exotic allure of
meditative stints as the insatiable rapacity for codified religious systems
gained pinnacle heights. The consequent was the systematic outburst of
theories and thoughts; a few convincingly perspicacious, some seemingly
pertinacious, others bore a semblance of a perverse coterie of coterminous
confetti of codes bereft with perspicuous features.
But Islam, a religion that denotes peace and propagates for the complete
submission to Allah, has a stretching history of codified moral principles
glued by a chain of authentic spiritual revelations. The five pillars that
serve as an institutionalised source of reference and guidance, have unique
teachings that when combined, make Islam more of a way of life than a social
club propelled by artificial codes of imagination.
Centuries before the birth of Muhammad in 571 AD, Islam had already
sojourned as a religion, though on a dizzy plane mainly manacled by violent
resistance from the millions of idol worshippers in Arabia, where the first
segment of Prophets were commissioned to execute special missions to a
selected catchment of people. These Prophets, such as Ibrahim, Ismael, Musa,
Essa (Alaihi ma -Wa -Salaam) etc had an unassuming personality that hid
their razor sharp visions. Belligerent and charismatic, these early Prophets
of Islam exploited every avenue to execute duties ordained by the Almighty
Allah.
Notwithstanding, the story was not all that fine and dandy as they
encountered serious resistance in the midst of parochial minded infidels
trailing under the murderous lunacy of ignorance and decadence. Their
resistance, violent in the main for centuries, was not the assertion of some
abstract or remote historical rights, but explicitly a vital, seemingly
unchangeable rejection of a permanent act of condemnation against the very
roots of their lives. Some of these resistances were so brutish that Islam
almost wallowed in doldrums as the biting hurdle of animosity between its
handful propagators and millions of idol worshippers geared up in strength.
But does this mean that, at any moment in history, one ought to give up and
abandon oneself, to blows and accomplished hatred? Not at all. Pessimism and
despair are contrary to the spirit of Islam, and helplessness is
incompatible with faith in God.
Apparently, the person who is ordained by Allah to be His active agent, must
necessarily have some power and authority, and be, at least potentially,
endowed with honour and integrity. And this is the status of man in Islam;
not a condemned race from birth to death, but a dignified being potentially
capable of good and noble achievements. The fact that the Almighty chose His
messengers from the human race shows that man is trustworthy and can acquire
immense treasures of goodness.
Prophethood is an eloquent expression of Divine teachings of truth to help
man realise the purpose of his existence. The sending of these Prophets from
God is a clear manifestation of a strong link between Heaven and Earth, God
and man. The promulgation process of prophets of Islam continued for
centuries, covering the registered 124,000 prophets before the closing
curtains were raised in 644 AD.
By 571 AD, a man poised to transform the world with stunning intellectual
standing and unrivalled spiritual significance was born to a peasant family
of the Quraish clan. His humble beginnings were characterised by routine
meditative spells in a secluded mountain in the outskirts of Mecca. This
man, Muhammad Rasulullah, is a supreme example of a fountain of hope and man
of action.
As he grew up, he questioned the religious practices of his generation,
visibly disturbed by incessant quarrelling in the avowed interest of
religion and honour among the Quraish elders. Stronger still was his
dissatisfaction with the primitive survivals in Arabian religion, the
idolatrous polytheism and animism, the immorality at religious convocations
and fairs, the drinking, gambling, and dancing that were fashionable, and
the burial alive of unwanted infants.
At around 621, Muhammad soon became the symbolic epitome of Allah’s
greatness. Ordained at age 40 with a herculean mission, his struggle for
survival and prominence had thus started. Unlike earlier prophets charged
with a sacred mission to a narrow catchment of inhabitants, Muhammad’s
mission had a universal bearing, the central theme of which was Submission
to the Will of Allah. His message was not simply a neutral revival, racial
monopoly, temporary change or reversion in the trends of history. The
message of Muhammad (S A W) was, and, ofcourse, still is, a universal
revival, a common blessing, a supranational heritage and an ever-lasting
spiritual deliverance. It is an evolutionary continuance of the previous
Messengers and a well-balanced incorporation of all the former revelations.
It transcends all boundaries of race, age, colour, and regional features. It
is addressed to man of all times and it is precisely what man needs.
Indisputably Muhammad’s message has the highest qualities of a truly
universal and conclusive faith.
Indeed as professor Ninian Smart opined in his book Background to the Long
Search, “looked at from a human point of view, the achievement of an Arabian
prophet living in the sixth and seventh centuries after Christ is
staggering. Humanly, it was from him that a new civilisation flowed. But
ofcourse for the Muslims, the work was divine and the achievement that of
Allah.”
Dr Hammudah Abdalati a renowned scholar in the Muslim Ummah minced no words
in his assessment of Prophet Muhammad; “his spiritual accomplishments, and
his mundane reforms are unparalleled in the entire history of mankind.
Victory did not spoil him, triumph did not weaken his excellent virtues, and
power did not corrupt his character. He was incorruptible, consistent, and
inaccessible to any notion of personal gain or glory. His words display
dazzling light of wisdom and truth”.
But as humans cannot escape the dictates of mortality, no matter the value
and contribution of individuals, Muhammad finally succumbed to the
invincible hands of death in 644 AD. Today, Islam’s billion plus
congregations pronounce his name at least five times daily. Certainly a man
who had done so much and contemplated such large designs cannot be relegated
to an ordinary stand. Gone on a journey of eternity, his ideas strongly
remain to us living memories of pride. His sayings, major sources of
reference and his deeds model to the human race.
Abou Jeng
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