The Islamic World

The Islamic World

The idea of Jesus dying on the cross is central to the Christian belief. It represents the conviction that Jesus died for the sins of mankind. The crucifixion of Jesus is a vital doctrine in Christianity; however Muslims reject it completely. Before describing what Muslims believe about Jesus’ crucifixion, it may be useful to understand the Islamic reaction to the notion of original sin.

When Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree in paradise, they were not tempted by a serpent. It was Satan who deceived and cajoled them, whereupon they exercised their free will and made an error in judgement. Eve does not bear the burden of this mistake alone. Together, Adam and Eve realised their disobedience, felt remorse and begged for God’s forgiveness. God, in his infinite mercy and wisdom, forgave them. Islam has no concept of original sin; each person bears responsibility for his own deeds.

“And no bearer of burdens shall bear another’s burden”. (Quran 35:18)

Walid b Uqba remained the Governor of Kufa for a period of five years and during this period he was very popular among the people and there were no complaints against him.

Thereafter the events took a sudden turn, and the position of Walid as Governor became uneasy. One night some young men beat to death a citizen of Kufa, Ibn Hesiman Khuzaii by name. Three young men Zubair b Jandab Azdi; Mawan b Abi Lawah Asadi; and Shabilb Abi Al Azdi were accused of the murder. Abu Sharih Khuzaii and his son who were the neighbors of Ibn Hesiman watched the murder from their house.

Uqba bin Farqad was the Governor of Azarbaijan. It was the month of the Ramadan. When 29 fasts were over the faithful gathered to sight the Eid moon, but no moon was seen. Uqba bin Farqad accordingly ordered that the fast should be kept for the thirtieth day of the Ramdan as well.

The next day Uqba kept the fast, and went on tour in the interior of the country. The Governor said the noon prayers and then retired to rest. When he woke up, he was told that the new moon was visible in the sky. Uqba went out and he saw that though there were yet a few hours for the sun to set, the moon was visible in the sky.

On sighting the moon, the Governor summoned the Ulema and sought for their opinion about the observance of the fast ud the Eid. The concensus of opinion was that after the noon had been sighted the observance of the fast was not lawful. In deference to this opinion Uqba broke the fast before sunset and other Muslims did likewise.

In the days of ignorance sexual laxity was the order of the day. Islam stood for reform in the moral and social fields, and condemned sexual laxity in all forms. Under Islam a limitation was placed on the number of wives one could marry. Such number was not to exceed four, and it was enjoined that all the wives should be treated alike with due justice. Lapidation was provided as the punishment for those found guilty of adultery.

When Umar became the Caliph he took further steps to rid the society of sexual laxity.

Abu Bakr and the Caliphate. The caliphate issue. Immediately on the death of the Holy Prophet, the caliphate issue came to pose a great threat to the solidarity of the Muslim community. The Ansars insisted that in view of their services of Islam, the office should go to them. The Holy Prophet was a Quraish, and according to the Arab custom, Quraish insisted that the office should go to them. The Ansars by way of compromise proposed that they might have two leaders, one from the Ansars and one from the Quraish. The proposal militated against the solidarity of the Muslim community, and was not agreed to by the Quraish. The issue did not concern the Quraish and the Ansars alone; it pertained to the entire Muslim community. If the Caliph was chosen from the Quraish, the tribe to which the Holy Prophet belonged, the other tribes could accept him, but if the Caliph was chosen from among the Ansars, the other tribes were likely to demand that they should also have their own Caliphs.

Abu Bakr's love for Islam. Abu Bakr's love for Islam was of great depth. Islam in fact became the end all and be all of his existence. In the battle of Badr, Abdul Rahman a son of Abu Bakr who had by that time not accepted Islam fought on the side of the Quraish. When Abdul Rahman became a Muslim he told his father that on the day of the battle of Badr, he had on several occasions come within a striking distance, but he went the other way. Abu Bakr said that if he had such an opportunity, he would not have spared him. Abu Bakr was a loving father, but when his son Abdullah in his love for his wife Atika neglected his prayers and did not participate in some expeditions, Abu Bakr took him to task and asked him to divorce his wife.

Challenge of the tribes. When Abu Bakr rejected the demand of the tribes to exempt them from the payment of the Zakat, they had no argument to meet the argument of Abu Bakr, but in a state of desperateness they took such refusal as a challenge. Islam sat lightly on them, and tribal feelings were most dominant in them. They accordingly decided that if Islam involved the payment of Zakat to Madina, they would prefer to forego Islam, rather than yield to the dictates of the authorities in Madina. During their stay in Madina the delegates of the tribes saw for themselves that with the departure of the main Muslim army under Usamah for Syria, there was hardly any fighting force with the Muslims in Madina and as such the city was vulnerable. When the delegates returned to their tribes and gave an account of what Abu Bakr had said feelings ran high among the tribesmen. They decided to attack Madina when the main Muslim army was away, and teach the authorities of Madina a lesson.

From the house of his sister, Umar proceeded to the house of Arqam at the foot of the Safa hill, where the Holy Prophet was lodged.

Umar knocked at the door of the house of Arqam.

"Who comes", enquired the guard.

"Umar bin al-Khattab". said Umar.

As the guard peeped through the door he saw that Umar had buckled his sword. The guard therefore hesitated to open the door.

Hamza said to the guard, "Open the door; if he comes in peace he will be welcome. If he is bent on mischief, we are enough to overpower him".

Umar was admitted. Hamza caught him by the hem of his cloak and said, "Umar, what brings you here?" The Muslims with drawn swords surrounded Umar, so that he could be overpowered if he showed any signs of violence.

Hearing the noise, the Holy Prophet came out of his cell. Addressing Hamza the Holy Prophet said, "Leave him Let him come forward".

Jabala bin Aiham was a Ghassanid prince. He became a convert to Islam and came to Madina. At Madina, Jabala stayed as the personal guest of Umar. A few days later Umar and Jabala travelled to Mecca for the purposes of pilgrimage. In Mecca too, Jabala was the State guest.

As Jabala was circumambulating the Holy Kaaba, his pilgrim scarf was accidentally trodden by a poor Arab of the Banu Fazara. That aroused the wrath of Jabala. Without waiting to listen to any explanation, Jabala buffeted the Arab in the face bruising him severely in the nose.

The Arab lodged a complaint with Umar. Umar sent for Jabala and asked him whether the charge levied against him by the Arab was true. Jabala answered haughtily "This rascal trod on my reverence for the Kaaba and, but for the prohibition to shed blood within the sacred premises, I would have slain the man on the spot, instead of merely thrashing him."

On the return of the sacred month of pilgrimage, the Prophet, under the presentiment of his approaching end, determined to make a farewell prilgrimage to Mecca. In February 632, he left Medina with a very considerable concourse of Muslims. It is stated that from ninety thousand to one hundred and forty thousand persons accompanied the Prophet. Before completing all rites of the pilgrimage, he addressed the assembled multitude from the top of Mount Arafat in the following words:

With the victory at Qadisiyya, thc road to Ctesiphon (called Al-Madain by the Muslims) the capital of Persia lay open to the Muslims. Ctesiphon was on the Tigris, a few miles downstream of the present day Baghdad.

The battle of Qadisiyya shook the Persian rule in Iraq to its foundations, but that was not the end of the Persian rude in Iraq. As long as the Persians held their capital Ctesiphon, there was always the danger that at some suitable moment they would make an attempt to recover what they had lost, and drive away the Arabs from Iraq.

Umar accordingly sent instructions to Sa'ad that as a sequel to the battle of Qadisiyya, the Muslims should push forward to Ctesiphon and wrest it from the Persians.

Some time towards the end of November 636, Sa'ad bin Abi Waqqas issued orders to the Muslim forces under his command to march to Ctesiphon. Sa'ad reorganised his army into five corps, and each corps was placed under the command of a veteran General. The commanders were:

In the second week of January 637, Zuhra advanced with his corps and reached Sabat four miles from Ctesiphon. It was a Persian cantonment, but there was no garrison there. The Mayor of Sabat, Sheerzad waited on Zuhra and offered allegiance to the Muslims. The residents were given protection on the usual terms. Now the entire land upto the very gates of Ctesiphon belonged to the Muslims.

Ctesiphon the capital of Persia was not one city; it was a conglomeration of several cities. Indeed the Arabs called Ctesiphon 'Al-Madain', meaning the cities. The main city I lay on the eastern bank of the Tigris. One of the cities forming part of 'Al-Madain' lay on the western bank of the Tigris and was known as Bahrseer.

Description of the Pharaoh
The pharaoh who ruled Egypt was a tyrant who oppressed the descendants of Jacob , known as the children of Israel (Bani Israel). He used every means to demean and disgrace them. They were kept in bondage and forced to work for him for small wages or nothing. Under this system the people obeyed and worshipped the pharaoh, and the ruling class carried out his orders, thereby authorizing his tyranny and crazy whims.

The pharaoh wanted the people to obey him only, and to believe in the gods of his invention. Perhaps, during that time, there were many classes of people who did not believe in or practice polytheism; however, they kept this to themselves and outwardly did as they were expected to do, without revolting or revealing themselves to anyone.

Thus, successive dynasties came to Egypt and assumed that they were gods or their representatives or spokesmen.

Visions of Dethroning the Pharaoh

A year after the Hudaibiyah pact the Holy Prophet at the head of 2,000 Muslims proceeded to Makkah to perform the Hajj in accordance with the terms stipulated in the pact. As the Muslims reached Makkah, most of the Quraish left their houses, and took to the neighboring hills. In view of the Hudaibiyah pact, the Quraish had no option but to permit the Muslims visit Makkah and perform the pilgrimage, but they were loath to offer any welcome to the Muslims. The general view among the Quraish was that if their young men and women came in contact with the Muslims they were apt to be attracted by the new faith, and as such any contacts with the Muslims were to be avoided. The permission to the -Muslims to visit Makkah extended to three days only.

The Cowardice of Moses's People
Allah had also directed Moses to lead them to the Promised Land (Palestine) which had been promised to Abraham as a land in which the pious and Allah-fearing of his offspring would live and uphold Allah's law. The children of Israel were an ungrateful people. In spite of all of Allah's favors, they could not stay away from evil and continued to reject Allah's laws. When Moses ordered them to conquer the town of the Canaanites and Hittites (their enemies who had hounded them), the children of Israel were cowardly and made excuses: "0 Moses, a great people dwell therein. We will not go in unless they leave." Ancient books tell that they were six hundred thousand men. Moses did not find among them but two men who were ready to fight. These two said to the people: "Once we enter through the door, Allah will make us victorious." However, all the children of Israel were an incarnation of cowardice and quivered from within.