The Conditions of the World before Islam

The Conditions of the World before Islam

Introduction

After examining and reviewing the state of some world civilizations that preceded Islam, we are to outline the conditions of life, humans, and the globe before the mission of the Prophet (peace be upon him). We thus come upon the fact that how the life was in an urgent need to the coming of Islam and its civilization to remove the clustered darkness and unburden humanity.

 

The conditions of the World before Islam

Referring to the world scene before Islam, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) says, as reported by `Iyad Ibn Himar (may Allah be pleased with him): "Allah looked at the people of earth and disliked them all, Arabs and non-Arabs, except baqaya, i.e. some remnants, of the People of the Scripture."[1]   

People went on a heinous state of decline that incurred dislike of Allah on them. The Prophet (peace be upon him) used the term baqaya, i.e. some remnants, to give the meaning of traces as if they were the only remaining traces of the ancient that held no value in the real world. Again, those remnants did not constitute complete communities but they were scattered individuals.  

Elaborating on this point, Abul Hasan Nadwi said, "Generally speaking, there was no nation on earth that had good morals and there was no society built on the moral foundation of virtue and ethics. At the same time, there was no government based on justice and mercy or a universal leadership depending on knowledge and wisdom, or religion that was authentically traced back to a prophet.”[2] 

Life was undergoing deteriorated and fallen state that overcame the entire human world. Corruption dominated the political, economic, social and religious life. The world went deep in darkness when arrogant ignorance ruled the world to drown the world in rough sea of superstitions and delusions that were only led by desires and avarice. People thus deified stones, sun, moon, fire and even animals. They also became divided; masters and slaves, and consumed the property of orphans, severed ties of kinship, built their life on murder, plunder, and pillage. They boasted of committing vicious crimes, as there was no law to rule but that of the jungle; the strong trod on and destroyed the weak; the rich enslaved the poor; and they all lived in darkness with no way out or guidance.

The outcome of this state was a lost, stray human being whose heart was filled with fear and hopelessness and mind was haunted with emptiness and superstitions. This was the state of man before Islam.     

This was the state of mankind before Islam during the fifth and the sixth centuries AD when the world civilization disappeared and was quivering on an undetermined brink of a precipice and disorder, because the creeds that helped the foundation of civilizations were collapsed and no valuable thing appeared to replace them. At that moment, it appeared that the great human civilization, built throughout four-thousand years, was about to fall and humankind was about to return to the previous state of savagery and barbarianism. The tribes were occupied with fight and war with no law or order and the orders set up by Christianity helped disunity and collapse instead of unity and order. The civilized human life was like a big, old tree with long branches that covered the whole world but was then wavering feebly and about to decay when its core experienced ruining diseases.[3]

This state continued until the dawn of Islamic Civilization rose and its light shone proving the right guidance for humanity and all humankind as would be seen later, God willing.

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[1] Recorded by Muslim: Kitab al-Jannah wa-sifat na`imaha wa-ahlaha (Book of Paradise: Its Description, Bounties, and Intimates), Bab as-sifat-ulati yu`raf biha fi al-dunia ahlul-jannah wa-ahlul-nar (The Qualities by Which the Inmates of Paradise and the Denizens of Hell can be Recognized in This World) (Hadith number: 2765); Ahmad (17519); and Ibn Hibban (654).

[2] Madha Khasira al-`Alam bi-Inhitat al-Muslimin? (What the World Lost by the Decline of Muslims?), p. 91.  

[3] Emotions as the Basis of Civilization, by J.H Denison, quoted by Ahmad Shalaby, Mawsu`at al Hadarah al-Islamiyyah (Encyclopedia of Islamic Civilization), vol. Al-Mujtama` al-Islami (Islamic Society), vol.6, p. 36-37.

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