Early History — Kossay — Abdul Muttalib — The Abyssinian Attack — The Birth of Mohammed — His Ministry — The Hegira.
Our knowledge of the ancient history of Arabia is Early derived chiefly from the Koran, which contains much of the old folk-lore of the country, and from the traditions which the Arabs at all times were in the habit of handing down from father to son. These traditions were collected with great care and industry by the Arab historians of the eighth and succeeding centuries of the Christian era. The inscriptions which have been discovered in the south of Yemen, so far as they have been deciphered, largely verify our knowledge of the past as derived from the Koran and the traditions.
The people in whose history and fortunes we are chiefly interested are the Arabs of Hijaz and Yemen, who made themselves so famous in the Middle Ages. The principal tribe among the former was that of the Koraish, who were descended from Fihr, surnamed Koraish which in ancient Arabic means a merchant. Fihr lived in the third century of the Christian era. He was descended from Maad, son of Adnan, a descendant of Ishmael. The Koraish have always been proud of their ancestry and their high position among the other tribes, and are considered as the noblest section of the Arabs.
In the fifth century, Kossay, a descendant of Fihr, made himself master of Mecca, and gradually of the whole of Hijaz. Mecca was, until his time, a scattered village, consisting chiefly of huts and tents. Kossay rebuilt the Kaaba, erected for himself a palace in which the principal chamber was used as the Council-hall of the people, for the transaction of public business; and made the Koraish live in houses of stone built round the Temple. He also made rules for the proper government of the people, for raising taxes and supplying food and water to the pilgrims who came from many parts of Arabia to worship at the temple.
Kossay died about the year 480 a.c, and was succeeded by his son Abd ud-Dar. Upon Abd ud-Dar's death a dispute broke out among his grandsons and the sons of his brother Abd Manaf about the succession to the rulership of Mecca. This dispute was settled by a division of authority. The administration of the water supply of Mecca and the raising of taxes were entrusted to Abd ush-Shams, a son of Abd Manaf; whilst the guardianship of the Kaaba, of the Council-chamber, and of the Military Standard, was given to the grandsons of Abd ud-Dar.
Abd ush-Shams transferred the authority to his brother Hashim, a leading merchant of Mecca and a man of consequence, noted for his generosity to strangers. Hashim died about the year 510 a.c, and was succeeded by his brother Muttalib, surnamed " the Generous." Muttalib died towards the end of the year 520 a.c, and was succeeded by his nephew Shayba, better known by his surname of Abdul Muttalib, a son of Hashim.
Ommeya. The grandsons of Abd ud-Dar were meanwhile growing rich. Jealous of the position Hashim's family occupied in the public estimation, they were trying to grasp the entire authority, and to make themselves rulers of Mecca. On their side was ranged Ommeya, the ambitious son of Abd ush-Shams. But in spite of this, the high character of Abdul Muttahb, and the veneration in which he was held by all the Koraish, enabled him to rule Mecca for nearly fifty-nine years. He was assisted in the Government by the Elders, who were the heads of the ten principal families.
It was in his time Hijaz was invaded by a large Abyssinian army under the command of Abraha, and as this chief on his march towards Mecca rode on an elephant, an animal the Arabs had never before seen, the year in which the invasion took place (a.c. 570) is called in Arab traditions the " Year of the Elephant." The invading force was destroyed, partly by an epidemic and partly by a terrible storm of rain and hail that swept over the valley where the Abyssinians were encamped.
Abdul Muttalib had several sons and daughters. Among the sons four are famous in Saracenic history, viz. Abd Manaf, surnamed Abu Talib; Abbas, the progenitor of the Abbasside Caliphs; Hamza, and Abdullah. Another son was Abu Lahab, who is referred to in the koran as a persecutor of Islam. Abdullah, the youngest of Abdul Muttalib's sons, was the father of the Islamic Prophet. Abdullah was married to a lady of Yathreb named Am'na, but he died in the twenty-fifth year of his life, not long after his marriage. A few days after his death Am'na gave birth to a son, who was named by his grandfather Mohammed, or "the Praised One."
Mohammed lost his mother when he was only six years old, and was then thrown upon the care of his old grand-father. Abdul Muttalib died about 579 a.c, confiding he infant son of Abdullah to the charge of Abu Talib, who succeeded him in the patriarchate of Mecca. It was in the house of his uncle Abu Tafib that Mohammed passed his early life. Sweet and gentle of disposition, painfully sensitive to human suffering, he was much loved in his small circle. His early life was not free from the burden of labour, for Abu Talib was not rich like his ancestors, and the younger members of the family had to take their turn in tending the flocks and herds.
From early youth Mohammed was given to meditation. He travelled twice into Syria with his uncle Abu Talib, and there noticed the misery of the people, and their evil ways, their wranglings and strife. In his twenty-fifth year, Mohammed married a lady named Khadija, who is famous in Arabian history for the nobility of her character. They had several children ; all the sons died in infancy, but the daughters lived to see the great events of their father life. The youngest, Fatima, surnamed az-Zahra, " the Beautiful," called by Moslems " Our Lady," was married to Ali, the son of Abu Talib.
Mohammed lived very quietly for the next fifteen yean, appearing only once or twice in public life. He revived the League which had been formed many years before for the protection of widows, orphans, and helpless strangen. He settled by his quick discernment a quarrel which threatened serious consequences ; but not though these public acts,but we know that his gentle disposition and the severe purity of his life, his un-flinching faithfulness and stern sense of duty,endowed him during this period, from his fellow-citizens, the title of aI-Ameen, the Trusty. One of his particular characteristics was his fondness for children, who flocked round him whenever he issued from his house ; and it is said he never passed them without a kindly smile. He spent a month every year in meditation and spiritual communion in a cave in Mount Hira, not far from Mecca, and one night as he lay in the cave wrapped in his mantle, God spoke to his soul to arise and preach to his people. Henceforth his life is devoted to the task of raising them from their degradation ; of making them give up their evil ways, and of teaching them their duty to their fellow-beings.
The first to accept his mission was his wife Khadija. Then followed Ali and several notable men, Abu Bakr, Omar, Hamza, and Osman. When Mohammed first began to preach, the Koraish laughed at him, but when they found him earnest in his work their animosity grew into persecution. They began to ill-treat him and his followers, some of whom they tortured to death. Many of his disciples took refuge with a good Christian king in Abyssinia, whilst others remained to suffer ill-treatment and persecution by the side of their Teacher. On the death of Abu Talib and Khadija, which happened shortly after, the Koraish re-doubled their persecutions. Hopeless now of success among the Meccans, Mohammed bethought himself of some other field for the exercise of his ministry. He accordingly proceeded to Tayef, but the people there drove him from their city, pelting him with stones. Mohammed returned to his native town sorely stricken in heart. He lived there for some time, retired from his people, preaching occasionally and confining his efforts mainly to the strangers who came to Mecca during the season of pilgrimage, hoping that some among them might listen to his words and give up their evil and inhuman ways.
Thus he obtained a few disciples among some Yathrebites who had come to Mecca. They accepted his mission, and took a pledge that they would not worship idols, would not steal, nor commit any wicked act, or kill their children, or slander people. These Yathrebites, on their return to their homes, spread the news that a Prophet had arisen among the Arabs to wean them from evil ways, and accordingly a number of them came the following year and repeated their pledge. In the year 622 A.c, the Yathrebites sent a deputation to invite Mohammed to their city. As Yathreb was a rival city to Mecca, the news of this invitation and of the pledge roused the fury of the Koraish against the Prophet and his disciples. Many of the latter succeeded in escaping to Yathreb, where they were received with much kindness. However, when the Koraish came to know this, they planned to murder the Prophet, who had remained at his post with Abu Bakr and Ali. Warned of the danger, he took refuge with Abu Bakr in a cave, not far from Mecca, leaving Ali behind. When the Koraish found their intended victims had escaped, they severely maltreated Ali, and started in pursuit of Mohammed. They could not, however, find the cave where the fugitives were concealed. For two days the Prophet and his companion remained in the cave. In the evening of the third day they left the place, and procuring two camels journeyed swiftly to Yathreb, where they arrived on Friday, the 2nd of July 622. Here they were subsequently joined by Ali. This is called the Hijrat (Exile) ; in European annals, Hegira," "the Flight of Mohammed," from which dates the Islamic Calendar.
The " Hegira," or the era of the Hijrat, was instituted seventeen years later by the Second Caliph. The commencement, however, is not laid at the real time of the departure from Mecca, which happened on the 4th of Rabi I., but on the 1st day of the first lunar month of the year — viz. Moharram — which day, in the year when the era was established, fell on the 15th of July.
No comments:
Post a Comment