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Part 2 - The Advent of Islam |
Hashim died in the year 510 A.D. or about that time. After him his son ‘Abdul Muttalib took charge and proved to be as capable as his father, if not more. He ruled Arabia for a period of 59 years. ‘Abdul Muttalib was the chief of the clan Banu Hashim. He was respected all over Arabia for his righteousness and strength of character. He had earned the title of Saiyyad al ‘Arab, or the Leader of Arabia. It was during this period that the king of Yemen, Abraha, invaded Makkah unsuccessfully, with an army of elephants. This was the year 570 A.D., known as the year of the elephant.
About this time, a son was born in the house of Hashim, to a lady named Amina. The new-born was named Muhammad (may our salams and Allah’s peace be unto him and his holy progeny). His father ‘Abdullah had already passed away so he was looked after by his grandfather, ‘Abdul Muttalib. This Abdul-Muttalib was a son of Hashim, and he was also the leader of the clan of Banu Hashim.
Banu Hashim were neither very rich nor were they a large clan as compared to Banu Umayya. Banu Umayya were the largest, the most powerful and collectively, the richest of all clans among the tribe of Quraysh of Makkah. However, Banu Hashim always had that bit more respect because of their personal character and a long line of such members in the past. This made Banu Umayya more and more jealous of their cousins. Until the time came when an orphan child from Banu Hashim rose to become the leader of all Arabia Nay! He claimed to be the leader of all mankind.
One may very well imagine the sort of feelings nurtured by Banu Umayya in general, and against the Prophet of Islam in particular. Not surprisingly, one of the most prominent among them, Abu Sufyan, the grandson of Umayya, turned out to be the arch enemy of Muhammad, a great grandson of Hashim, during the early years of Islam. While the people of Arabia generally opposed the movement of Islam because it forbade worshipping the idols they revered for generations, and some for economic and social reasons (Islam in those days talked about emancipation of women and slaves, forbade the exploitation of the poor by the rich); Banu Umayya came against the movement tooth and nail, mainly for one reason: they saw it as an instrument through which Banu Hashim would become prominent and actually shadow their hegemony among Quraysh.
Muhammad realized this problem and he preached about all mankind having equal right to exist on earth and enjoy the gifts of nature equally. Qur'an has verses to the effect that tribes and races are there so that people may know each other for being different and not that they would despise each other for their color, creed or language. As it turned out, this message was completely lost on Banu Umayya.
Muhammad's true mission was spiritual and moral; therefore, he did indicate at numerous occasions where to look for spiritual and moral leadership. When Fatima, his daughter, used to visit him in the mosque, he would rise in front of his Companions; and he would also introduce his daughter to all present with glorious epithets.
He showed extreme love for Hasan and Husayn in public, Fatima and ‘Ali's two sons and his grandchildren. In the tenth year of Hijra when a delegation of the Christians from Najran visited him and challenged the Qur'anic verses about Jesus and Mary, he invited their leaders to come with their sons and women to confront him (Muhammad) and his sons and women in a Mubahala (holy confrontation), so that Allah's wrath may befall the liars. At the time for this confrontation, Muhammad appeared with Fatima, ‘Ali, Hasan and Husayn. The Christian leaders looked at this and declined the confrontation. This whole episode is recorded in Qur'an in Chapter 3, verse 61
The fact that in spite of a general invitation to bring women and sons Muhammad brought only Fatima and ‘Ali, Hasan, and Husayn, points to one thing, i.e., in the Qur'anic context there was only one woman in the entire Muslim community who could be called really truthful. What Muhammad was trying to do was to show to Muslims that true spiritual and moral leadership would always remain within his closest family.
History however, has shown us that this message was lost on the majority of the Muslims. They thought that whoever became the temporal ruler in succession to Muhammad would also hold the spiritual leadership. This in fact, would have been the case if the Muslims had accepted Muhammad's choice of his successor, that is, ‘Ali.
This was the beginning of the confusion. Soon after Abu Bakr became Khaleefa, there were three specific incidents where the spiritual leadership of Fatima's family was challenged and in fact, undermined by the ruling oligarchy of Quraysh while the Helpers (Ansar) of Madinah remained silent spectators.
It is however, interesting to see how, many other Arab tribes joined in with Banu Umayya in the persecution of the family of Muhammad.
Fatima appeared in Abu Bakr's court and claimed her inheritance/bestowal from her father, namely the farming estate of Fadak. Abu Bakr took it upon himself to refuse Fatima's claim, in effect implying that she had brought a false claim. (For details, see Sahih of Bukhari)
This was too much for her. After all, it was her mother's enormous wealth on which the early Islamic movement was dependent. Fatima Zahra was the lady presented to the entire Muslim community as being the most truthful by Qur'an, and here the Khaleefa of Islam was branding her as a liar.
Soon afterwards a lynching mob pounced on ‘Ali. He was dragged in the streets of Madinah. ‘Ali refused to retaliate, because he did not want to see a civil war starting among the Muslims. A few days later, another mob gathered in front of Fatima's house and threatened to set it on fire. They broke the door which fell on Fatima. Apparently she was carrying a child at that time, which she lost.
All this within a short period of a few days and soon after her illustrious father's death who had actually pulled these people out of misery, obscurity and barbarism to civilization, was too much for her. Although she kept a brave face, inside she was broken hearted. She died only 72 days after her father's death.
Husayn was seven years old at that time. These frightening scenes must have left deep marks in his memory.
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