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Americans and Europeans have heard a number of stories about
the Prophet which they have thought to be true, although the
narrators were either ignorant or antagonistic: most of them
were clergy; others were ignorant Muslims who repeated
unfounded traditions about Muhammad which they ignorantly
believed to be to His praise.
Thus some benighted Muslims made His polygamy the pivot of
their praises and held it to be a wonder, regarding it as a
miracle; and European historians, for the most part, rely on
the tales of these ignorant people.
For example, a foolish man said to a clergyman that the true
proof of greatness is bravery and the shedding of blood, and
that in one day on the field of battle a follower of Muhammad
had cut off the heads of one hundred men! This misled the
clergyman to infer that killing is considered the way to prove
one's faith to Muhammad, while this is merely imaginary. The
military expeditions of Muhammad, on the contrary, were always
defensive actions: a proof of this is that during thirteen
years, in Mecca, He and His followers endured the most violent
persecutions. At this period they were the target for the
arrows of hatred: some of His companions were killed and their
property confiscated; others fled to foreign lands. Muhammad
Himself, after the most extreme persecutions by the
Qurayshites, who finally resolved to kill Him, fled to Medina
in the middle of the night. Yet even then His enemies did not
cease their persecutions, but pursued Him to Medina, and His
disciples even to Abyssinia.
These Arab tribes were in the lowest depths of savagery and
barbarism, and in comparison with them the savages of Africa
and wild Indians of America were as advanced as a Plato. The
savages of America do not bury their children alive as these
Arabs did their daughters, glorying in it as being an
honorable thing to do.š Thus many of the men would
threaten their wives, saying, "If a daughter is born to
you, I will kill you." Even down to the present time the
Arabs dread having daughters. Further, a man was permitted to
take a thousand women, and most husbands had more than ten
wives in their household. When these tribes made war, the one
which was victorious would take the women and children of the
vanquished tribe captive and treat them as slaves.
When a man who had ten wives died, the sons of these women
rushed at each other's mothers; and if one of the sons threw
his mantle over the head of his father's wife and cried out,
"This woman is my lawful property," at once the
unfortunate woman became his prisoner and slave. He could do
whatever he wished with her. He could kill her, imprison her
in a well, or beat, curse and torture her until death released
her. According to the Arab habits and customs, he was her
master. It is evident that malignity, jealousy, hatred and
enmity must have existed between the wives and children of a
household, and it is, therefore, needless to enlarge upon the
subject. Again, consider what was the condition and life of
these oppressed women! Moreover, the means by which these Arab
tribes lived consisted in pillage and robbery, so that they
were perpetually engaged in fighting and war, killing one
another, plundering and devastating each other's property, and
capturing women and children, whom they would sell to
strangers. How often it happened that the daughters and sons
of a prince, who spent their day in comfort and luxury, found
themselves, when night fell, reduced to shame, poverty and
captivity. Yesterday they were princes, today they are
captives; yesterday they were great ladies, today they are
slaves.
Muhammad received the Divine Revelation among these tribes,
and after enduring thirteen years of persecution from them, He
fled.˛ But this people did not cease to oppress; they united
to exterminate Him and all His followers. It was under such
circumstances that Muhammad was forced to take up arms. This
is the truth: we are not bigoted and do not wish to defend
Him, but we are just, and we say what is just. Look at it with
justice. If Christ Himself had been placed in such
circumstances among such tyrannical and barbarous tribes, and
if for thirteen years He with His disciples had endured all
these trials with patience, culminating in flight from His
native land--if in spite of this these lawless tribes
continued to pursue Him, to slaughter the men, to pillage
their property, and to capture their women and children--what
would have been Christ's conduct with regard to them? If this
oppression had fallen only upon Himself, He would have
forgiven them, and such an act of forgiveness would have been
most praiseworthy; but if He had seen that these cruel and
bloodthirsty murderers wished to kill, to pillage and to
injure all these oppressed ones, and to take captive the women
and children, it is certain that He would have protected them
and would have resisted the tyrants. What objection, then, can
be taken to Muhammad's action? Is it this, that He did not,
with His followers, and their women and children, submit to
these savage tribes? To free these tribes from their
bloodthirstiness was the greatest kindness, and to coerce and
restrain them was a true mercy. They were like a man holding
in his hand a cup of poison, which, when about to drink, a
friend breaks and thus saves him. If Christ had been placed in
similar circumstances, it is certain that with a conquering
power He would have delivered the men, women and children from
the claws of these bloodthirsty wolves.
Muhammad never fought against the Christians; on the contrary,
He treated them kindly and gave them perfect freedom. A
community of Christian people lived at Najrán and were under
His care and protection. Muhammad said, "If anyone
infringes their rights, I Myself will be his enemy, and in the
presence of God I will bring a charge against him." In
the edicts which He promulgated it is clearly stated that the
lives, properties and honor of the Christians and Jews are
under the protection of God; and that if a Muhammadan married
a Christian woman, the husband must not prevent her from going
to church, nor oblige her to veil herself; and that if she
died, he must place her remains in the care of the Christian
clergy. Should the Christians desire to build a church, Islám
ought to help them. In case of war between Islám and her
enemies, the Christians should be exempted from the obligation
of fighting, unless they desired of their own free will to do
so in defense of Islám, because they were under its
protection. But as a compensation for this immunity, they
should pay yearly a small sum of money. In short, there are
seven detailed edicts on these subjects, some copies of which
are still extant at Jerusalem. This is an established fact and
is not dependent on my affirmation. The edict of the second
Caliphł still exists in the custody of the orthodox Patriarch
of Jerusalem, and of this there is no doubt. šˇš
Nevertheless, after a certain time, and through the
transgression of both the Muhammadans and the Christians,
hatred and enmity arose between them. Beyond this fact, all
the narrations of the Muslims, Christians and others are
simply fabrications, which have their origin in fanaticism, or
ignorance, or emanate from intense hostility.
For example, the Muslims say that Muhammad cleft the moon, and
that it fell on the mountain of Mecca: they think that the
moon is a small body which Muhammad divided into two parts and
threw one part on this mountain, and the other part on another
mountain.
Such stories are pure fanaticism. Also the traditions which
the clergy quote, and the incidents with which they find
fault, are all exaggerated, if not entirely without
foundation.
Briefly, Muhammad appeared in the desert of Hijáz in the
Arabian Peninsula, which was a desolate, sterile wilderness,
sandy and uninhabited. Some parts, like Mecca and Medina, are
extremely hot; the people are nomads with the manners and
customs of the dwellers in the desert, and are entirely
destitute of education and science. Muhammad Himself was
illiterate, and the Qur'án was originally written upon the
bladebones of sheep, or on palm leaves. These details indicate
the condition of the people to whom Muhammad was sent. The
first question which He put to them was, "Why do you not
accept the Pentateuch and the Gospel, and why do you not
believe in Christ and in Moses?" This saying presented
difficulties to them, and they argued, "Our forefathers
did not believe in the Pentateuch and the Gospel; tell us, why
was this?" He answered, "They were misled; you ought
to reject those who do not believe in the Pentateuch and the
Gospel, even though they are your fathers and your
ancestors."
In such a country, and amidst such barbarous tribes, an
illiterate Man produced a book in which, in a perfect and
eloquent style, He explained the divine attributes and
perfections, the prophethood of the Messengers of God, the
divine laws, and some scientific facts.
Thus, you know that before the observations of modern
times--that is to say, during the first centuries and down to
the fifteenth century of the Christian era--all the
mathematicians of the world agreed that the earth was the
center of the universe, and that the sun moved. The famous
astronomer who was the protagonist of the new theory
discovered the movement of the earth and the immobility of the
sun. šˇ˛ Until his time all the astronomers and
philosophers of the world followed the Ptolemaic system, and
whoever said anything against it was considered ignorant.
Though Pythagoras, and Plato during the latter part of his
life, adopted the theory that the annual movement of the sun
around the zodiac does not proceed from the sun, but rather
from the movement of the earth around the sun, this theory had
been entirely forgotten, and the Ptolemaic system was accepted
by all mathematicians. But there are some verses revealed in
the Qur'án contrary to the theory of the Ptolemaic system.
One of them is "The sun moves in a fixed place,"
which shows the fixity of the sun, and its movement around an
axis.šˇł Again, in another verse, "And each star moves
in its own heaven."˛ˇš Thus is explained the movement
of the sun, of the moon, of the earth, and of other bodies.
When the Qur'án appeared, all the mathematicians ridiculed
these statements and attributed the theory to ignorance. Even
the doctors of Islám, when they saw that these verses were
contrary to the accepted Ptolemaic system, were obliged to
explain them away.
It was not until after the fifteenth century of the Christian
era, nearly nine hundred years after Muhammad, that a famous
astronomer made new observations and important discoveries by
the aid of the telescope, which he had invented.˛ˇ˛ The
rotation of the earth, the fixity of the sun, and also its
movement around an axis, were discovered. It became evident
that the verses of the Qur'án agreed with existing facts, and
that the Ptolemaic system was imaginary.
In short, many Oriental peoples have been reared for thirteen
centuries under the shadow of the religion of Muhammad. During
the Middle Ages, while Europe was in the lowest depths of
barbarism, the Arab peoples were superior to the other nations
of the earth in learning, in the arts, mathematics,
civilization, government and other sciences. The Enlightener
and Educator of these Arab tribes, and the Founder of the
civilization and perfections of humanity among these different
races, was an illiterate Man, Muhammad. Was this illustrious
Man a thorough Educator or not? A just judgment is
necessary.
-`Abdu'l-Bahá
Notes
1 [The Banú-Tamím, one of the most barbarous Arab tribes,
practiced this odious custom.]
2 [To Medina.]
3 [Of `Umar.]
1.1 [Cf. Jurjí Zaydán's Umayyads and Abbasids, trans. D. S.
Margoliouth.]
1.2 [Copernicus.]
1.3 [Cf. Qur'án 36:37]
2.1 [Cf. Qur'án 36:38]
2.2 [Galileo.]
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