The Social Organisation of Islam

The Social Organisation of Islam

The Prophet Muhammad did not only spread a religion, but he also laid down a complete social system, containing minute regulations for a man’s conduct in all circumstances of life, with due remarks and penalties, according to his fulfilment or otherwise of these rules. The social and the religious parts of Islam are so inseparably bound up that it is impossible to cut off the one from the other without destroying both.

Religion according to Islam should not only lay down the law of relation of man to God, but should also regulate and distinctly define the proper relation between man and his fellow-creatures.

The Glorious Qu’ran inculcates the softer virtues, such as friendliness, good temper, affability of manners, hospitality, forgiveness, fairness in dealing, regard for superiors, kind treatment of inferiors, respect for women, care of orphans, tending the sick, helping the helpless and the destitute, with a force and persuasion which it is difficult to find elsewhere. The critics of Islam have for most part expressed their unstained admiration for the heroic, or sterner virtues, to wit: patient endurance, fortitude, love of truth under personal risk, courage and manly independence, which Islam has always dignified and in practice of which the Prophet himself and the early Muslims were so marvellously distinguished; but these critics often forget that Islam enjoins with equal emphasis the cultivation of gentler virtues too. Lessons of modesty, benevolence and charity have been so often repeated in the Qu’ran; and again, these virtues form so conspicuous an element in the life and conduct of the Prophet and his companions, that Islam can justly claim to be ranked as a Religion of Love. Every chapter of the Glorious Qu’ran begins with the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.” [1]

The Prophet of Islam has been denominated in the Qu’ran as “the tender, the compassionate,’ and ‘the mercy for the universe.’ Himself the tenderest and the most loving of men, he was never tired of preaching to his followers the brotherhood of man and humanity to all God’s creatures. He displayed the greatest consideration for the feelings and sensibilities of others. He loved his wives, and was kind to his servants. He was particularly fond of little children and discouraged the use of the rod for their correction. He enjoined humanity to dumb animals.

Such being the Qu’ran ethics and Apostle of Islam teachings, it is easy to form some idea of the exact nature and extent of the change shaped the Arabs life and thought. Some of the first few converts to Islam, unable to bear persecutions at the idolaters hands sought refuge in Abyssinia. As mentioned previously, when asked by the Negus as to the reason why they had left country, Jaafar, a cousin of the Prophet, spoke thus as the mouthpiece of the small band of refugees: “O King, we lived in ignorance, idolatry and unchastity; the strong oppressed the weak, we spoke untruth; we violated the duties of hospitality. Then a prophet arose, one whom we know from our youth, with whose descent and conduct and good faith we are all acquainted. He told us to worship one God, to keep good faith to, assist our relatives, to fulfil the rights of hospitality, and to abstain from all things impure ungodly, unrighteous. And he ordered us to perform prayers, give alms, and to fast. We believed in him; we followed him. But our countrymen persecuted us, tortured us and tried to cause us to forsake our religion; and now we throw ourselves upon your protection. Will you not protect us?”

Dealing with this great spiritual revolution, Sir William Muir observes as follows: “Never since the days when primitive Christianity startled the world from its sleep, had men seen the like arousing of spiritual life…Thirteen years before the “Hijra’, Makkah lay lifeless in its debased state. What a change had those thirteen years now produced. A band of several hundred persons had rejected idolatry, adopted the worship of one God, and surrendered themselves completely to the guidance of what they believed a Revelation from Him; praying to the Almighty with frequency and dedication, looking for pardon through His Mercy and striving to follow after good works, alms–giving, purity and justice. They now lived under the constant sense of the omnipotent power of God and of His providential care over the minutest of their concerns. In all the gifts of nature, in every relation of life, at each turn of their affairs, individual or public, they saw His hand. Muhammad was preacher of life to them, the source under God of their new hopes, and to Him they yielded an unquestioned or reserved submission.” [2]