Islam, Science, Knowledge
Foreign Foreign The Golden Age of Islam in this program we will discuss about the life and character of our beloved Master the holy prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam in later episodes we will also look at the exemplary lives of the four rightly guided caliphs of Islam now a plethora of books have been
Written about the Holy prophets and also about Islamic history so it is impossible to cover all of them in this program but primarily we will base our sources on two very important books number one life of Muhammad by hazard in Mahmoud Ahmed the second head of the Ahmadi Muslim Community
Life and character of the seed of the prophets now about this book The Secret Garden Mahmoud Ahmed himself says that and I quote I believe that of all the biographies that have been written about the holy prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam this book is the best from among them that’s no small accolade
Now for this program joining me in the studio will be ayasaheb who is a missionary of the Ahmadi Muslim Community serving in the additional Steve Department and also with us on Skype will be Adam Walker sahib who is serving as the Director of MTA online gentleman assalamu alaikum a very warm welcome to
Both of you thank you for joining us on this program without a while without any further delay we will go straight into it as most people would say the beginning of Islam was the birth of the holy prophet salallahu um both would know that the famous sources say 12th review level which
Corresponds to 20th of August 570 CE but there is also another narration which is also cited as a ninth review of the following year which corresponds to 20th of April 571 CE but I want to go back slightly a few years before and talk about how prophet Abraham links with the
Holy prophet salallahu because the holy prophet in his life would always say that I am but a fruit of the prayer of Abraham what is what is the link there Zafir absolutely the holy prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would mention this often and if we just go back and look at the
Very moving story when Hazard Abraham um took his wife and a young infant child hazrat Ishmael at that time and under Divine instruction under the command of Allah the almighty settled them in a Barren desert where there was nothing no food no water it was a Barren piece of
Land and when he was leaving his family there it was a very emotional time for all of them another hajira would ask why are you leaving us here and has it Abraham overcome with emotion had it found it very difficult to respond but eventually it is narrated that he
Pointed towards the heavens and understood that if you are leaving us here on the Commandment of Allah then nothing will happen to us then you are free to go so after hazrat Abraham settled his family there we have the very miraculous incident of um Islam feeling thirsty and then The
Well of zamzam miraculously gushed forth from the from the ground there and then a settlement came there the jurham tribe came and eventually during that time grew um prophet Abraham alaihi Islam would come and visit them and it was during one of these uh visits that when his
Child became old enough to walk and help him in various tasks he saw a dream that he was slaughtering his child and Abraham Islam understood this to mean a physical slaughtering and he was ready to do that sacrifice and his son was also prepared for that sacrifice at a
Very young age but then Allah the almighty instructed that this was the dream has been fulfilled and if a symbolic slaughtering was meant so no need to slaughter your child absolutely Okay that’s why we sacrifice animals every year has mentioned something very beautiful very insightful he says that that dream and the Fulfillment of that dream was to indicate that has it slaughtering means to finish somebody’s life but it wasn’t a physical slaughtering this was symbolic and what this meant was that
Hazrat Abraham’s son would be devoted to the and would be sacrificed for the sake of Allah Almighty and so it was from that child and from that line that the holy prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was born when the Kaaba was constructed by hazrat Abraham and his son Ishmael
Prophet Abraham made a prayer which the Holy Quran has recorded and that prayer is that first Abraham said to Allah the almighty that oh Allah accept this from us you are hearing and you are all-knowing and then he made this prayer that feed him rasulum that raised from among them a messenger
Who will recite unto them your signs and who will teach them the book and who will teach them wisdom and who will purify them and so that prayer which the Holy Quran Records Was fulfilled in the form of our Master the holy prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam who
Taught wisdom and who purified not only the people around him at that time but till the end of days he it is through him that people will be purified and also as mentioned he was a physical project through the physical progeny of Abraham as well right as you mentioned
Earlier that jurong tribe was the first tribe to settle there in Arabia as in those days you know they would search for water so through the zamzam that was a a source of income as well for hazard Ismail so the jurham tribe settled there and it was the tribe’s uh the tribe
Chief’s daughter who has Ismael married and they were blessed with 12 sons one of whom was kether and it’s the Arabs who traced the lineage through together so they are directly descendants of absence as well the Arabs they they would say that we are from the children
Of Ishmael is I know some people some historians have written otherwise but hazrat Mia sahib has explained in his book how the Arabs clearly mentioned afterwards then the tribe came in and gained Supremacy and then exiled the judham tribe so before the jurham tribe left they sealed the well and also their
Wealth as well their National Treasure they secured it absolutely and then the beautiful thing is that is that after that time many many years after it was the Beloved grandfather of the holy prophet sallallahu alaihi and that’s a beautiful incident which we’ll mentioned but before we go to that as um as
Mentioned earlier there are countless uh books on Islamic history um I don’t know I wanted to ask Adam actually Adams we mentioned earlier about some of the sources of Islamic history what are those early books um that you can tell us some of the famous ones
So I mean I think as we’ll discuss later sort of In the pre-islamic period it was very much an oral tradition um that existed and that preserved um the history and tradition of the region but with the Advent of Islam was this birth of um uh of uh of other Pursuit for
Knowledge and that led to um to lots and lots of books and lots of genres emerging that looked at early Islam from different perspectives um just focusing here purely on on you know history books um we do have some some um some really uh quite famous books so one is
Um there is IBN hisham’s history which uh Sierra which has uh the recession of IBN is um which is uh you know one of the main texts that’s generally referred to um and then there are other texts too like ebensars al-kubra which is a a very thorough book
Um and at dabaris as well which like him inside the book is uh is is a long long book that is you know these are these are multi-volume books it goes from the holy prophet right they mentioned about um early Islam history as well is that correct
Exactly that they the the life of the Prophet saws is like the Jewel of the uh of the crown as it would be but um uh but it begins from the beginning of time almost from with many of these books and then and then as the tradition develops we have
Books that come about later um so there’s for example it’s one example of um of a a voluminous book which uh which uh details the history very much in the footsteps of the books that I just mentioned a question then we have so many different sources and as you would
Know as well that there’ll be for example as as I mentioned in the introduction the Holy Bible was born in 570 A.D but then there’s a narration which says he was born in 571. um why is it that we choose one narration over the other what is the
Difference or what is what is the reason well I mean it in many ways you know the uh the the fact that we find these differences is uh is a mercy in some ways it shows the scrutiny to which people um looked into um into history and also sometimes the
The fear that people had of Allah that they even though they they found contradictory facts sometimes they wanted to include both and they might say that one is more more authoritative but I’m going to leave the other one in just because um because there are there are sources that are there
Um so we we have different ways of of approaching the sources and when people you know the early uh for example the scholars of Hadith um when they were looking at the Traditions that were talking about the birth of the Prophet salallahu um they were looking at the Traditions
From a whole wide range of um uh of different criteria that um that generally are are categorized into uh El mil Hadith and you have uh for example which is looking at the actual um the first of all at the isnard or the Synod of the traditions of the chain and
Looking at lots of different ways to verify whether that was um sound and solid you know for example if if a chain says that um Abdullah had heard something from Mustafa for example um then it would look at all sorts of factors you know for example did they
Even meet were they didn’t live in the same city um were they alive at the same time um and then you also have as I mentioned before the array which is looking at the um the actual narration itself and it’s looking at Key factors you know which which really is something quite unique
To Islam in this sense Islamic intellectual history that it’s looking um also at the moral capacity and character of the individuals that were passing on these Traditions so were the people honest for example were they reliable and then basic human factors did they have good memories
Um and and those sorts of uh criteria adamside was very eloquently given a very good overview of all of these texts sometimes people will ask um and I hear this often that while there is an incident that happened where the holy prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam did such and such and they will
Attribute a huge Injustice to him a cruelty on his part and then they’ll say well it’s written in such and such book it’s written in IBN Hisham for example so why do you reject those incidents has given a very beautiful principle that we can use to sift out those
Narrations which are not acceptable and attributed to the holy prophets quoted in the books of Sita and those ones which are authentic and he says that the first thing is the book of Allah the Holy Quran that is the word of God revealed to the holy prophet sallallahu
Alaihi wasallam and the authenticity of which even non-muslim historians and orientalists admit to that this is exactly as it was 1400 years ago after that we have the books of ahadis and the sahas are the most authentic and even from there then we move on to the books
Of Sita so any narration from a book of Sira which does not Accord with more authentic narrations which we find in those books or in the narrations of ahadis or in the Holy Quran we know that this is acceptable and this is not so there’s a chain where the Holy Quran
First then the then the other narrations from the ahadis and then these books of Sita so we accept those narration which are in accordance with the Holy Quran and the more authentic narrations and those ones which contradict those more authentic sources we can very easily say
As hazath Mia sahib is written in this book as well that this is not authentic because it goes against a more authentic narration which we have in sahib for example uh it is an interactive program we will like to have your questions in as well if you have any questions about
Particular aspects of History do send us in and as I mentioned earlier there are a panel of experts that we will bring in as well for today’s program we have tamim Abu Dhaka sahib um please tell us briefly about pre-islamic Arabia how was it what were the customs and traditions
Of Arabia just at the time of the birth of the holy prophet sallallahu in the ancient world in general the women were in a very bad situation they were despised the spouses of the simple and fundamental rights untreated as human Goods in favor of men and Arabia the situation was not an exception
Although the status of women in general was very bad in the old Arab world but we can see in history that the status of women was mostly derived from the family status the woman from Royal and noble families had the privilege of ownership of properties and power and sometimes
They became pregnant Queens who enjoyed full power and authority we found another example in the Kingdom of Palmera or tadmar by the third Century SC where queen zainab or zanubia were all the vast Kingdom and Levant and recent history and Egypt there were many other similar kingdoms
And old award many centuries before and after that era the Holy Quran mentioned these kingdoms as the moon which is an old Arab civilization with many kingdoms and royal families that ruled Arabia and most of West Asia over a long span of ancient history so we can say in short that the woman’s
Status was very bad in general but if they were from noble families they had enjoyed rights and power thanks to family status not human values and equity in Islam the woman in general got the rights of the noble woman and much more so we can say that Islam then all
Women in the world and to Queens if we head towards pre-islamic Arabia at the time of the Holy prophet’s birth what were some of the Customs at the time strange Customs the the Arab Society at that time they were sahib writes that they were indulged in all sorts of sin
Um killing each other murder Bloodshed idolatry consumption of alcohol all of these things were rampant in society and strangely these things were seen as a as a as a means of Pride and Poets would write about their interactions with their so-called you know beloveds and and very indecent things took place at
That time which took place just because because someone’s camel was grazing in the wrong place and a person who had said that um who said to a literally we’re not making this up a a chief said to a bird that I will protect you and and the best of the
And the nest and the the drop the nest and destroyed the eggs of the bird and then they got into a fight over this your camel will not graze on this land again and the other person said no it will and then the person slaughtered the camel and that person
Then came and slaughtered the individual who had killed the camel and then the tribes went into constant Bloodshed for 40 years 40 years Adam what were some of the qualities then we we often mentioned the the negative aspects what are the some of the positive aspects in those in
Society of Arabia at the time of the Holy prophet’s birth yeah I mean it’s it’s a really important point because within the region we have this diaspora of Arabs we have zorachians Jews Christians that are living there and then this big majority of idolaters for example and then you know how the um
Mentions in his book that you then have this um these or these hanifs these people that still hold on to the abrahamic tradition in some shape or form and they still have that dignity and sense of Honor about them and they’re they’re sort of looking onwards at these
Terrible things that are happening you know many of the things that were just mentioned uh and and they were you know disgusted by them um you know we even find it for example when he um after he had uh entered Islam and the prohibition for alcohol came
Um you know he was he was insulted when it was insinuated to him that he should um uh give out uh give up alcohol because his you know his response was I never drank before Islam we were discussing earlier as well that the um during Saturday
Fast forward a few hundred years we come to the birth of the holy prophet Salas and just a few years prior though um the grandfather of the holy prophet sallallahu um and this is probably one of my all-time favorite narrations the finding of the zamzam uh how did that go about
Well absolutely it is a very wonderful story um he was looked upon with respect amongst his Circle um and within his tribe um at that time that person was considered to be the authority and the leader of the tribe who was known as the most able and the most noble amongst
Those people so there was no sense of the son of such and such and then his son and then his son whoever was most able they would be accepted as the leader and really had those qualities and this incident shows that that when the responsibility of provide providing
Water to the pilgrims was came over to him and the quresh at that time he felt the need to revive and find that lost water well to provide water to the pilgrims who were coming to Mecca so along with his son Hadith he went out on
This search nobody else had a dream and he had yes absolutely and he had a dream about it which is why he then went out and searched for it and nobody helped him at that time and people actually mocked him as well right yeah they were
Laughing at him okay what is this guy doing absolutely but he continued on the basis of that dream and eventually he was able to locate that well and he also found the treasure which the judham had buried before they left Mecca and at that time mentions that other people then started to
Lay claim yeah and impose their Authority I think that kind of cemented authorities um and so moving forward he’s found the the well the zamzam well is now again flourishing he marries but there’s an important part as well of that he just at the lowest point when people were
Mocking him when he hadn’t found it he made a vow he said that oh Allah help me find this well and if I am blessed with ten sons who grow up to adulthood I will sacrifice one of them in your way um and and when he did eventually find the world he
Um was a man of his word he went had ten Sons Allah blessed him with ten sons and he drew Lots with all of them and the lot fell to his favorite and beloved Son as Abdullah he was the youngest and he’s the father of the holy prophet
Sallallahu and this put him in a very very difficult situation because um he obviously he loved all of his sons but there was a special um you know son to him had a very close relationship with him so sacrificing him would be um you know unimaginable but then again
He was a man of his word so as he was going taking him and the beauty in this incident as well is that of course we can’t compare the people of prophet Abraham and Prophet Ismail but look at the incidents very very similar yeah abdulillah said to his son I’ve made a
Vow I need to fulfill it and Abdullah very willingly says puts his life on the line says I will obey and just like Prophet Ismail again he he said the same thing un no if snowbots no um you know no hesitation so that was another beautiful
Um incident there so he as he was going through this law to the place where he would be slaughtered the crash try and stop him and why because the quresh said that how can you sacrifice Abdullah he’s he’s a man of so many qualities exactly and then
Um then what happens and then they they said why don’t you put his name and then 10 camels in instead and so they would draw lots and every single time the name of Hazard Abdullah would come so they would increase the number of camels against Hazard Abdullah and eventually
Then when they had put in a hundred camels then the name of um the camels came that you should sacrifice the camels but then took the lot a second time and then to confirm it was again the camels and then he did a third time and then the ballot
For the camels came and then they sacrificed those hundred camos instead and this this concept of taking lots and pulling out ballots this was something which was a part of the Arab Society at that time they would often uh um leave many of their matters to this
Sort of chance uh taking one thing over the other but in any case in this case uh this is why then the life of Abdullah was spared and those hundred camels were sacrificed instead again such a beautiful similarity between the incident of Hazard Abraham and his son Ishmael is
Absolutely yes this fast forward slightly a few years Adam Saleh we are talking about Abdullah and his sacrifice um that the the what the camels were sacrificed instead of him a hundred to be precise now he is a young man of 25 and he gets married a noble woman from yesterday tell us
About this marriage so yeah I mean that’s there there are two marriages that actually take place at the same time so like you say this is some time forward and it’s uh um it’s uh it’s a few months before the uh uh the occurrence of this Harbor feel and
Um and what we have here is you would you know um I think you were talking earlier about the the amazing qualities and how uh you know it was said that he shouldn’t be killed because of um because of those qualities and then uh um then
Um wants to to marry him and he looks for someone with similar qualities so he finds uh who was from the uh tribe um and she has this reputation you know that she’s earned through through her her character and her qualities to have to be very uh Noble woman
Um and the narrations differ as to what age she is at this time you know whether she’s 17 or 25 um and then they they’re married but at the same time that Abdullah also marries a cousin what happened as well to at the same time and and she later on gives birth to
Her the tanza um so we have this occurrence of these two marriages and and one marriage um you know the the second of the marriage is uh gives uh rise to the birth of her that Hamza and uh and obviously with the marriage we have this uh you know the uh
And the holy prophet saws his birth takes place absolutely gentlemen a lot to cover as well in this program but we are coming towards the end of the first episode um the viewers this is an interactive program if you’d like to send us questions about um anything to do with the history of
Islam or your queries send us um your video messages and the information is displayed on this screen let’s look at today’s question I am from morogoro Tanzania my question is I want to know the incidence of as herbal field please if you could explain it for that very topical
Questionable field it actually took place just before one year before the holy prophet’s birth absolutely Zafir if we look at the Historical account of that time we will find that during the time of hazrat Abdul muttalib there was a a region a Yemen to be precise which
Was ruled by the African sovereignty of abyssinia and that was a center for Christianity so naturally the people of Yemen and the ruler the Viceroy of Yemen he was a Christian and his name was Abraham al-ashram a very famous name in history famous because of the manner in
Which he stood up against God and the way that God brought about his and which is here for all times to remember so he had a lot of enmity in his heart he harbored a lot of enmity against the the quraish and the Kaaba particularly and this really bothered him why do people
Go and perform pilgrimage in in the Kaaba because obviously he felt that when people go to pill for pilgrimage to Kaaba the the importance of the Kaaba also adds to the importance of The quresh Who and the people around the Kaaba who are the custodians of that
Place so he built a place of worship in his own land and he invited people to come and do pilgrimage there and how could the Arabs accept this they were people of uh you know who who had a lot of sense of national identity and they couldn’t accept anything else being
Built in comparison to the Kaaba so one man out of his uh anger um to dis to degrade and to show his contempt for that other place which ashram had built he went and he relieved the call of nature um inside that place to show how detestable he thought that place was
And this sparked the fury of Abraham and he took his army and said I will go and destroy the Kaaba because of this insult some narrations say that he came with an army of 60 000 but in any case you had no way to combat that the quraish didn’t
Have anywhere near that amount but anyway so he brought his armies uh they they’re called the asabul field because the people of the elephant because they came on elephants and that was something which was new for the Arabs at that time but in any case he came and when Abdul
Muttalib found out about this of course all of the people sent their leader to go and save them because they were worried about what would happen the response was just beautiful when he went and met Abra he said to abraha with courage and dignity he said in a very
Awe-inspiring manner that your army has seized my camels and I would like you to return my camels and abraha looked at him in astonishment and said I had heard so many great things about you that you were a very Noble leader who is a very very well known as a man of many
Qualities in Europe amongst your people I have come here to destroy the Kaaba and all you care about is your camels what a what a strange thing to say and the response that Hazard Abdullah gave as a result was even greater than his first one he said
I am the owner of these camels so my concern is with them and I would like you to return my camels as far as this house is concerned the Kaaba it also has an owner and a master who is Allah he will protect it himself he doesn’t need
Me to come and speak on his behalf and then we see what happened after that exactly how did this incident of asabul feel end so I mean after that um amazing response um obviously Abraham was was enraged by that so he said okay yes I’ve said let’s
Uh let’s see how the owner of this uh of the Kaaba will uh will protect it and then he directs his forces to um his army to attack um so they you know they try to to move the the camel in the direction because obviously the camera would be something
Really uh sorry the elephant obviously would be something very intimidating as well um but each time that they tried it wouldn’t move um it refused and which must have been incredibly embarrassing and added salt to the wound and then um something absolutely miraculous happens and devastating for Abraham’s Army the
Um birds come and they and they drop um dirt or soil or something that that falls upon Abraham’s Army and uh and it’s contagious you know perhaps they’d flown in um from from a region where they had become infected with disease which you know we we we have seen in recent years
In our times um here in terms of how uh bird flu and whatnot um but uh but they they infect the Army and every person that um that becomes infected they uh they become ill and they they die it’s a it’s a fatal um injury you know to the degree that it
Said that the um that those who contracted it um and you know particularly Abraham that their the disease affected them in such a way that their skin or their flesh began to fill up to fall off um and obviously in the Quran this is mentioned
Um uh you know and and sort of feel where it it mentions the the this incident and what happened here um and ultimately they’re defeated um and and they don’t succeed and uh you know Allah defended the uh uh the the house you know his house and in fact
This incident was so important that it was known as the armor field the year of the elephant and it was etched in history for all times and as a probably Mark of uh like a warning for other people as well not to contest with the Kaaba and God almighty
Um their viewers that’s all we have time for for this episode um stay with us same time next week um and we will bring you another episode of the golden age of Islam where we will discuss the birth of the holy prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and his early life until then mm-hmm