The Prophet Muhammad

Оглавление

Muhammad Yasin Mazhar Siddiqi. The Prophet Muhammad

Отрывок из книги

The PROPHET MUḤAMMAD

A ROLE MODEL

.....

The point that features in Arab traditions and poetry and which merits the attention of analysts, is that it was a Makkan who had distorted the Abrahamic faith. He was a Khuzāʿī by descent and hence a non-Quraysh. After the expulsion of Banū Khuzāʿah from Makkah, a reaction against their faith was inevitable. The Quraysh Arabs and Makkans were, no doubt, practitioners of idolatry yet they had not drifted completely from their ancestral faith. Idolatry was common. So was the attachment to idols. Yet the community leaders were aware of the roots of polytheism. They were swayed by customs of the day. Their sound psyche and conscience directed them to the Abrahamic faith and caused revulsion against the conventional faith. This spiritual longing, intellectual yearning and emotional urge impelled them to revert to their original faith. This was not restricted to a particular era; in each age this trend was noticeable. However, in the period coinciding with the Prophet’s advent this grew into a dynamic movement.

Reports indicate that the Prophet (peace be upon him) was known also as Abū Kabshah. For Abū Kabshah Wajz ibn Ghālib Khuzāʿī had abandoned idolatry and criticized those given to it. He reproached idolaters. While equating the Prophet’s denunciation of idolatry with Abū Kabshah’s earlier criticism, the Quraysh drew a parallel between the two. Abū Kabshah, it is worth-noting, was the maternal grandfather of the Prophet’s maternal grandfather. Some other reports state otherwise. However, the above account is authentic.39 According to Baghadādī, many persons of the day were known as Abū Kabshah.

.....