The Revelation of the Qur'an Fuels Early Islamic Growth - Essay Example

Running Head: Muhammad and the Quran Muhammad and the Quran s Muhammad andthe Quran Islam is not only the second largest religion in the world but in recent years, has attracted greatest amount of media attention that has inadvertently fueled its growth as well. There were plenty of factors that led to the propagation of Islam but the main breakthrough came with the revelation of Quran that fueled the number of followers. Ever since then Islam became the fastest growing religion and Muhammad became synonymous with the Muslim population. The substance of this prose will examine the origin of the religion and its spread amongst the masses at that time, the manner in which Quran played a pivotal role in fuelled the growth of Islam and will also shed light on the life of Muhammad, who is the spiritual leader of more than 1.8 billion Muslims all over the world. Muhammad was born in 570 A.D in the city of Mecca, located in the Arabian Peninsula. He belonged to the respected clan of the Quraysh, who were not only well-to-do merchants but also the keepers of the Holy Ka’abah. The Ka’abah is the oldest known structure and attracted pilgrims from the entire Peninsula. (Haykal, 1994) Muhammad’s grandfather Abd al-Muttalib was the custodian and after his demise, the responsibility was passed on to his uncle Abu Talib. Muhammad was orphaned at a very young and was raised by his grandfather and then his uncle; hence Muhammad had a very honorable lineage and upbringing as he had been under the tutelage of some of the most respected members of the society. (Haykal, 1994) Despite the countless vices that pervaded the Arabian society at that, Muhammad earned the love and respect of the people for his honesty and truthfulness. He never indulged in corrupt activity and when he was 25 years old, he was hired a widowed businesswoman Khadija. Despite the fact that Muhammad was younger than Khadija and had an age difference of 11 years, they were bound by matrimony and together had a fairly happy marriage that lasted for a quarter of a century until the death of Khadija. Polygamy was rampant at that time, but throughout his marriage to Khadija, Muhammad never took up a new wife and remained devoted to her completely. Muhammad had always rejected the religion of Arabia at that that was largely based on paganism and idol worship. Muhammad felt that the idols were not responsible for giving life or creating this world, and was highly perturbed by the lawlessness that permeated every aspect of the society. In order to get away from these lecherous affairs of the society, he found solace in meditation and reflecting over various acts of the people. This became an act of private worship for Muhammad; however, this did not get him the answers he was looking for. When Muhammad was in his thirties, he developed a habit of becoming resigned to a cave called Hira. Muhammad used to seclude himself from friends and family, and began spending a great amount of time in the cave. This was the same cave, where Muhammad was later on visited by the archangel Gabriel with the divine revelation and the glad tidings of prophet hood was given to him. The first revelation of the Quran as delivered by Gabriel was: “Read! In the Name of your Lord, Who has created (all that exists, has created man from a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous, Who has taught (the writing) by the pen [the first person to write was Prophet Enoch has taught man that which he knew not.” [Quran 96: 1-5] Muhammad did not know how to read or write like all the Arabs in the peninsula but were known throughout the world for their eloquence in their speech. Muhammad was immensely taken aback by what he witnessed in Hira and related the entire incident to his wife Khadija, who took him to her cousin Warqa Bin Naufil. Her cousin explained the divine revelation and from there the struggle to spread Islam began. Throughout, his struggle the Quran was revealed in fragments and along with the revelation Muhammad continued converting people throughout the city. Many of his followers were literate, who recorded the verses as they revealed to Muhammad. The divine verses were meant to teach both Muhammad and the people of Arabia the moral code of conduct. Initially, the struggle was met with immense hostility and not many people were inclined to embrace; as converting to Islam meant attracting the hatred and persecution from the Quraysh, the same clan to which Muhammad belonged to. It was Muhammad’s immaculate that spurred the initial growth of the religion; the early converts of Islam were Muhammad’s close companion Abu Bakr, his cousin Ali and his wife Khadija. There was a close association between Muhammad and the Quran because had it not been Muhammad’s honesty and truthfulness the verses could never have been recorded as they were revealed, without any addition or omission from the original teaching. There were many obstacles that Muhammad faced but even his enemies could not bring themselves to calling him a liar. Abu Jahl, one of the bitterest enemies of Muhammad once said to him, “Muhammad I do not call you a liar but I do not think that whatever you preach is correct.” Though, Quran was one of the biggest contributors in the spread of Islam and its teachings had huge impact on attracting people towards Islam, but the way Muhammad preached these teachings also had an immense effect on the number of people reverting to Islam. At first, the message of Islam was only popular amongst slaves due to the message and the relevance of the verses to the daily affairs of the Muhammad. Like Muhammad, there were countless other people, who were highly distressed by the lawless society. The verses of the Quran have remained unchanged and are purely the word of God. In order to preserve the verses the Muhammad had ordered scribes in order to write the verses down and commit them to their memories so that the essence of revelation will never be lost and the newly converts to Islam can mold their lives according to the teachings of the Quran. Quran had references to all the prophets and apostles of God preceding Muhammad and just as every prophet was a given a miracle to draw people towards them and for this purpose, Muslims believe that the miracle of Muhammad was the Quran. Often western speculators and even back during the advent of Islam, the Quraysh of Mecca often accused Muhammad for making up revelation. However, it must be noted that Muhammad did not know how to read or write, like all Arab nor he possessed the Poetic aptitude like his fellow Arabs at that time. Muhammad never deleted or added anything to the revelations that were given to him. The message carried in the Quran is clear-cut and remains consistent throughout. (Long, 2005, p. 5) Muhammad took the responsibility of compiling and recording all the revelation till the chain of revelations ended. Muhammad had hired scribes to write down as soon as the revelation was passed on to him, the written material was then approved by Muhammad and in this manner almost all the verses and revelations were compiled systematically. Besides writing the verses down, the companions also committed these revelations to their memories and also kept a private record of all the verses. In this manner almost, the entire revelations were preserved during Muhammad’s time, though it was not given a proper book format until after the demise of the prophet. It is a proud and incontrovertible claim made by Muslims that the Quran that exists today is the same as it was then. During the caliphate of Abu Bakr; who was a close companion of Muhammad took on the responsibility of maintaining uniformity between the increasing Muslim population. (Mirza, 2011) The problem arose with people recruiting the Quran in their own dialects and as several versions of the book Caliph Abu Bakr gathered all the scribes and people who had memorized the holy Quran and systematically compiled all the verses and revelation in one. After the Quran was compiled in the form of a book, during Uthman’s caliphate copies were made of the book and were distributed all over the regions that now had a Muslim majority. (Mirza, 2011) Ever since then, the language, phonetic system and lexicon has remained unchanged, and from that era till the Muslim world recites the Quran in the same manner (Saeed, 2010). Therefore, not only the message has remained uniform and consistent, but the way the Quran is recited is also the same, that creates a strong bond between every Muslim all over the world. There are various revelations in the Holy Quran that has reached out to people subsequently encouraged the people to embrace the faith. (Mirza, 2011) The prevailing situation in the Arab society can be used as an ideal example to assess the role that Quran played in escalating the number of people coming towards Islam. There was widespread discrimination towards the black and slavery was rampant. Women were treated as articles of trade and had no real status in the society; vices such as female infanticide and sex slavery pervaded almost every facet of the society, which is why the early converts to Islam were largely African slaves or women, who were oppressed by their lords. (Long, 2005, p. 5) Even Omar, who was a prominent member in the Arab society and a bitter enemy of Muhammad, reverted to Islam after listening to the following verses of the Quran that softened his heart and caused him to embrace Islam: “Lo! I, indeed I am Allah. There is none worthy of worship except me. So serve me and establish Salaat (prayers) for my remembrance” [Quran, 20:14] The most notable example in this regard is that of Bilal, who was a slave from Abyssinia and became an early convert upon hearing about Islam and the message of equality it propagated. At that Quraysh of Mecca or the Arabs believed that they enjoyed a special kind of superiority over all other races and were known for their arrogance and ill-treatment of the slaves. The Quran eradicated all such notions amongst the Arabs with the following verse: "O Mankind! We have created you from a male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honorable of you in the sight of Allah is he who has most faith among of you. Verily, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware." [Quran, 49:13] The fact that Islam eradicated all kinds of distinction between human beings further escalated the hatred of people; particularly the Quraysh, towards the Muslims and the religion of Islam. Racial discrimination is not only an aspect of the Arab society during the ‘age of ignorance’ but even in the contemporary there are several instances that clearly indicate the degree to which discrimination on the basis of race and ethnocentric ideology has reaped and permeated in to the society. (Long, 2005, p. 5) This is particularly one of the many reasons as to why the African-American population is largely attracted towards Islam. The severe oppression that the African Americans were subjected to eventually pushed them towards Islam, eminent leaders such Malcolm X and boxer Mohammed Ali; both were victims of racial discrimination and oppression in their youth, and after prior research and guidance from various people, they eventually reverted to Islam because of the message of equality that Quran contained. After performing a pilgrimage to Mecca, Malcolm X stated: "Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and the overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as is practiced by people of all colors and races here in this ancient Holy Land, the home of Abraham, Muhammad, and all the other prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people of all colors."[Bukhari, 2004, p. 246] Furthermore, not only the message of equality is what draws people towards the Quran but the most important aspect that is involved in the Quran is the fact that it contains detailed accounts of Judeo-Christian beliefs and in a manner that is not only acceptable to the Jews and Christians but also very accurate. This aspect of the Quran has attracted countless people towards and caused the Muslims to grow in numbers. (Engineer, 2005, p. 104) After the persecution of Muslims in Mecca had become extremely severe, many people tried to flee from Mecca in order to protect themselves, their families and their faiths. Most of them fled to Abyssinia that was governed by a Christian ruler; in order to be granted shelter in their country, Ja’fir Bin Abu Talib approached the king and recited verses from Surah Maryam that has a detailed account of the birth of Jesus Christ and a dialogue between Virgin Mary and God. This greatly impressed the king, who marveled at the fact that how can a book contain teachings that are so close to his faith and was also convinced that considering the fact that Muhammad was an illiterate man could not have possibly written the entire thing himself, with so much historical accuracy. Upon hearing the verses from the Quran, the Abyssinian king drew a line on the ground and said, “This is the difference between us.” This aspect of the teachings of Quran shows that Quran has further fuelled the number of Muslims all over the world because it does not teach major religions in the world as separate fragments but is a unifying force for all faiths. It synthesizes the beliefs and teachings of other religions such as Judaism and Christianity. In the Quran there are detailed chapters pertaining to the events that occurred in the lives of David, Jesus, Moses, Joseph and various other apostles of the God, therefore the Quran is a unifying force for all faiths. Maryam Jameelah, an American Jew reverted to Islam after reading the Quran; her interest in Muslims had been spurred by Arabian music but during her interview with the Islamic Bulletin in San Francisco, New York she described her experiences and how well she could relate to the scriptures in the book and how well she could relate it back to her own faith that was Judaism but she had been living as an atheist. She stated: “The kinship between Judaism and Islam is even stronger than Islam and Christianity. Both Judaism and Islam share in common the same uncompromising monotheism, the crucial importance of strict obedience to Divine Law as proof of our submission to and love of the Creator, the rejection of the priesthood, celibacy and monasticism and the striking similarity of the Hebrew and Arabic language.” Maryam Jameelah describes that the most amazing part of reading the Quran was the fact she found familiar biblical stories that were told to her when she was a young and realized that Judaism, Christianity and Islam are not different, but in the essence of their message, they are in fact the same religions. Besides containing religious references the Quran is also an enlightening literature for people with an avid interest in science that has been the most fundamental reason as to why individuals belonging to fields of science and research revert to Islam after reading the Quran; which contains several verses that contain a strong element of scientific accuracy in them. Recent researches have shown that various verses in the Quran carry valuable information regarding the field of embryology and human creation. Many researches, after doing in-depth research of the Quran have found astounding facts regarding the subjects that are not only accurate but it is quite an incredible fact that these facts were recorded in a book in a time when people did not possess the right resources to gain access to such detailed and important pieces of information, and they were all present in the Quran. Professor Keith Moore was a distinguished and the world’s most eminent scientist in the fields of embryology and anatomy in University of Toronto. Moore acknowledged after thorough examination of the verses of the Holy Quran that clearly showed that the knowledge contained in Holy Quran is accurate and there is huge possibility that Quran can be the word of God (Ahmad, 2008, p. 5). Keith Moore said: “It has been a great pleasure for me to help clarify statements in the Quran about human development. It is clear to me that these statements must have come to Muhammad from Allah, or Allah, because almost all of this knowledge was not discovered  until many centuries later. This proves to me that Muhammad must have been a messenger of Allah.” [Maan, 2009, p. 221] The Quran contains verses that describe the way a human is created and describes the embryonic stages of human inside a woman’s womb. It is clearly mentioned as to how a child is conceived and the way life develops. The Quran says: “He It is who created all things in the best way and began the creation of man from clay, and made his progeny from an extract of despised fluid (Sulalah)…” (Quran, 32: 7-8) The despised fluid actually refers to the sperm that a man ejaculates and which then combines with the fluids in the woman’s body. In the aforementioned verse, it is abundantly clear that only a small portion of the fluid is used to create life and scientific research has further supported this argument that clearly states that not more than one sperm is required to fertilize an egg. From there on the egg transforms in to an embryo and this stage is described in the Quran through the following verse: “O mankind!  If ye have a doubt about the Recreation (consider) that We created you out of dust, then out of sperm, then out of a leech-like clot, then out of a chewed-like lump of flesh, formed and unformed, in order that We may manifest (Our power) to you; and We cause whom We will to rest in the wombs for an appointed term.” (Quran, 22: 5) The word “leech-like” describes what the embryo looks like during its initial stages and then how it remains in the mother’s womb for a given period of time and after that it assumes it proper shape of a human being. As mentioned earlier, the strong concurrence between Quran and contemporary scientific research regarding embryology has truly amazed people all over the world. This is how the proper assessment and analysis of the Quran has fuelled the spread of Islam, which is vitally stimulated further by the scientific accuracy that is highly incorporated in the text. Other than the scientific accuracy regarding embryology but has also spurred the interest of many astronomers and contains valuable amount of information for them. Professor Alfred Kroner, a renowned geologist and works in the department of Geosciences in the University Mainz, Germany. Kroner’s statement concurs with of Moore, where they both exhibit their shock over the scientific matters encompassed in the Quran and the immense accuracy of the information. (Ibrahim, 1997, p. 14) The references in the Holy Quran regarding astronomy describe the orbit followed by the planets and the stars in the Universe and how they are aligned in a fixed pattern. The Quran states: “The heavens and the earth were ordered rightly, and were made subservient to man, including the sun, the moon, the stars, and day and night. Every heavenly body moves in an orbit assigned to it by God and never digresses, making the universe an orderly cosmos whose life and existence, diminution and expansion, are totally determined by the Creator.” [Quran 30:22] In conclusion, the substance of this prose has examined the role of Quran in the propagation of Islam. It should be noted that the prime reason for which people have grievances against Christianity was its scientific inaccuracy and the fact that the message of the bible was tampered with and had been changed greatly over the years; due to the addition of subtraction of Christian Priests. The teachings of the bible were not unacceptable for people belonging to scientific field but the people subjected the teachings to their personal interpretation that distorted the message, which in turn became intolerant to other religions. Whereas, the Quran remains unchanged even though it has been more than 1400 years and not only due to its scientific and astronomical accuracy, the message of the Holy Quran encompasses the teachings of all the religions and is acceptable to all human beings because it carries a message of peace and equality. The prose has used contemporary and example from the Arabs during the age of ignorance and this clearly shows as to why Islam was and remains one of the fastest growing religions. References Ahmad, M. B. 2008. The magnificence of the Holy Quran. Darussalam: p. 5 Bukhari, Z. H. 2004. Muslim’s place in the American public square. Rowman Altamira: p. 246 Engineer, A. A. 2005. The Quran, Women and Modern Society. Sterling Publishers Pvt.: p. 104 Haykal, M. H. 1994. The Life of Muhammad. The Other Press. Ibrahim, I.A. 1997. A brief illustrated guide to understanding Islam. Darussalam: p. 14 Long, D.E. 2005. Culture and Customs of Saudi Arabia. Greenwood Publishing: p. 5 Maan, B. 2009. The thistle and the crescent. Argyll Publishing: p. 221 Mirza, M. 2011. The History of the Holy Quran. Web. http://www.quran.org.uk/out.php?LinkID=125 Saeed, S. 2010. The art of Quran recitation. Al-Azhar University, department of Quranic studies and theology. Shakir, M.H. 2006. The Holy Quran: Arabic text and English translation. Dist: R.A. Juma. Read More