The Islamic World

The Islamic World

After reading and understanding what Muslims believe about Jesus, son of Mary, there may be some questions that come to mind, or issues that need clarification. You may have read the term “People of the Book” and not been completely clear about what this meant. Likewise, while exploring the literature available about Jesus you could have come across the name Eissa and wondered if Jesus and Eissa were the same person. If you are considering investigating a little further or perhaps reading the Quran, the following points may be of interest.

Who is Eissa?

In Madina, Umar lived in an elevated part of the city. His neighbour was Banu Umayya bin Zaid Ansari. The practice was that one day Umar attended the Holy Prophet, and informed his Ansari friend about all that had happened in the Prophet's Mosque. The other day Banu Umayya attended the Prophet's Mosque and on return informed Umar of all that had happened that day.

Umar felt that while in Mecca the Quraishites dominated over their women, in Madina things had changed, and the women asserted themselves. One day Umar was cross with his wife on some matter, but instead of being quiet she retorted, "How is it that you feel annoyed at my remonstrance. Go and see that the wives of the Holy Prophet remonstrate with the Holy Prophet. Tonight one of his wives quarrelled with him all the night."

Musailma. Musailma a cunning man did not go to war against Sajjah. Instead he invited Sajjah to visit Yamama as his honored guest. Sajjah accepted the invitation and proceeded to Yamama in Central Arabia. Musailma held a royal reception in her honor. Musailma was a handsome man of attractive personality. Sajjah was beautiful and passionate. Both were mutually attracted. Musailma pattered the vanity of Sajjah. He argued that as the Muslims were their common enemy, it would be to their mutual interest to join forces, and overpower the Muslims by united action. The idea appealed to Sajjah, and she said that she was prepared to make common cause with him. Musailma recited the verses that he claimed to have been revealed to him. Sajjah also recited her verses.

Al-Numan was the son of Adiy. Adiy was an early convert to Islam. He migrated to Abyssinia under the instructions of the Holy Prophet and died there. Al. Numan was born in Abyssinia. Later he returned to Madina. He was a good poet.

During the caliphate of Umar, he was appointed the Administrator of the district of Maisan in Iraq. He had a beautiful wife al-Hasna who stayed at Madina.

In a poetic vein, Al-Numan composed some verses and sent them to his wife at Madina.

The verses read:

"Hasn't al-Hasna heard that her husband in Maisan

Is drinking from glasses and jars?

If I wished the chief men of the city would sing to me

And the dancing girls whirl in ecstasy.

If you are my friend, give me a drink in the largest cup,

Don't give me the half-filled cup,

Perhaps the Commander of the Faithful will take it amiss

That I am indulging in the drinking of wine."

Promotion of the purposes of Islam
Uthman was a great Muslim. He followed the injunctions of Islam rigorously in letter as well as in spirit. He spent a greater part of the night in prayers. He knew the Holy Quran by heart, and would complete the recitation of the whole of the Holy Quran during a night. He held that the primary and basic responsibility of the Caliph was to protect and safeguard Islam, and take steps to promote its purposes and values. During his caliphate Uthman took several measures with a view to promoting the purposes of Islam.

Other measures of Uthman

In view of these traditions the view of Uthman was that there was a divinity about the office of the Caliph, and as such the Caliph was responsible to God and not to the people. As such the people had no right to disobey or criticize the Caliph. If the Caliph was just his reward lay with God.

Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau
When Jacob approached the land of Seir, the angels greeted him. He sent a messenger ahead with greetings to his brother Esau, asking forgiveness and humbling himself before him. The messenger returned greetings and told Jacob that Esau was riding towards him with four hundred men.
This made Jacob afraid and he entreated and prayed to Allah Almighty. He prostrated in humiliation and asked Him to fulfill His promise which He had made before. He asked Him to stop the evil of his brother Esau. Then Jacob prepared a great present for his brother: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milk camels, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

Allah Declares He Has No Son
In many verses of the Glorious Qur'an Allah the Exalted denied the claim of the Christians that He has a son.

A delegation from Nagran came to the Prophet Muhammad . They began to talk about their claim about the Trinity, which is that Allah is three in one, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with some disagreement among their sects. That is why Allah affirmed in many verses of the Qur'an that Jesus is a slave of Allah, whom He molded in the womb of his mother like any other of His creatures, and that He created him without a father, as He created Adam without a father or mother.

The Birth of Mary - Qur'anic
Allah the Almighty said: Allah chose Adam, Noah, the family of Abraham and the family of Imran above the Alamin (mankind and jinns) (of their times). Offspring, one of the other, and Allah is the All-Hearer, All-Knower.

Moses is Informed of a Wise Man
One day, Moses delivered such an impressive sermon that all who heard it were deeply moved. Someone in the congregation asked: "0 Messenger of Allah, is there another man on earth more learned than you?" Moses replied: "No!", believing so, as Allah had given him the power of miracles and honored him with the Torah.

However, Allah revealed to Moses that no man could know all there is to know, nor would one messenger alone be the custodian of all knowledge. There would always be another who knew what others did not. Moses asked Allah: "0 Allah, where is this man? I would like to meet him and learn from him." He also asked for a sign to this person's identity.

Character of the State. In the Islamic State under Abu Bakr, the emphasis was on moral values, and the people were not motivated by material considerations. There was no race among the people to get rich overnight. Islamic laws operated to discourage the amassing of wealth. Islam favored trade, but the faithful were enjoined not to indulge in any unfair practices. In the Muslim society there was no economic exploitation of one class by another, although there were slaves, they were not exploited, and in the families the slaves were treated like other members of the families.

The economic levies. The economic levies were few. These were limited to Zakat, Ushr, Kharaj, Jizya, and Fay. When the Muslims embarked on their career of conquest "Ghanimah" i.e. the spoils of war became a major source of revenue.

When Emessa was still under siege, Heraclius the Byzantine emperor made another bid to muster strength and drive away the Muslims from the land of Syria. This time he planned action on a massive scale. By May 636 A.D., a Byzantine army of 150,000 men had been put in arms and concentrated at Antioch.

At this time the Muslims were operating in four pockets. Amr b. Al Aas was operating with his corps in Palestine; Shurahbil was in Jordan; Yazeed was in Caesara, while Abu Ubaida and Khalid were at Emessa.

The plan of the Byzantines was that one Byzantine force was to march from Damascus from the west, and cut off the Muslim force at Emessa. Another force was to attack the Muslims at Emessa from the north. One force was to attack Emessa from the east and still another from the west. The plan was to recapture Emessa and Damascus.

In the winter of 638-639 virulent plague broke out in Syria, Egypt and Iraq. The plague exacted its heaviest toll in Syria, particularly Amwas, and the plague came to be known as the Amwas plague.

When Umar heard of the outbreak of plague he decided to proceed to Syria personally to watch the measures to be adopted to suppress the epidemic.

When Umar reached Surgh a few stages from Madina, he met Abu Ubaida and other officers of the Muslim army in Syria. He was told that the virulence of the plague was increasing and that people were dying in thousands.

On the whole the people were satisfied with the verdict of Uthman, and they praised him for his generosity in paying the blood money out of his own pocket. There were, however, a few persons who found fault with his judgment, and insisted that Ubaidullah should have been executed. In a poem the poet Ziyad b Labid said:

"O Uthman, there is no doubt that after the assassination of Hurmuzan, Ubaidullah had no right to live. You have unjustly pardoned him although you had no right to do so".

Uthman summoned Ziyad, and explained to him the justification for his verdict. Thereafter Ziyad composed some verses praising Uthman for his verdict, and for his generosity in paying the blood money out of his pocket.

Tabari's version

As Umar lay thinking about the issue of nominating a successor he fell asleep. In the dream he saw that a man who had laid out the garden was plucking all the ripe and unripe fruit, and gathering it on the ground. He interpreted this dream to mean that he should name the eligible candidates and then leave them to choose one of themselves as the Caliph. Umar accordingly constituted a Committee of six persons to choose the next Caliph out of themselves.

This Committee comprised: Ali b Abu Talib Uthman b Affan Abdur Rahman b Auf Saad b Abi Waqas Zubair b Awwam Talha b Ubaidullah All these persons were among the most eminent companions of the Holy Prophet, whom he had given the tidings of paradise in their lifetime.