THE PROPHET AND HIS COMPANIONS IN MADIINAH: In Medina, away from the continuous day-to-day persecutions of the pagan Meccans, the Prophet was able to give form and continuity to the community and system he had been commanded to establish. Here the parts of the Quran constituting legislation concerning various matters were revealed, and here they were put into practice by the Muslims as soon as the verses were received by the Prophet. Here too the Islamic community and state, with all the various elements of social, political and economic life cast into a form which would be an example for all the future generations of Muslims, came into existence. But even here there was no peace for the Prophet and his community, They were repeatedly harassed by the continued threats and military expeditions of the pagans, and by the opposition and treachery of dissident groups in and around Medina. Yet the Muslim community, although initially small in number and poorly-equipped for battle, resisted with such valor that after some nine years it was able to subdue these enemies by a series of actions, both military and diplomatic. The Prophet (peace be on him) then entered the city of Mecca—from which he had fled several years earlier under the threat of death—as the leader and ruler of a humbled populace. Instead of reproaching or taking any sort of vengeance upon those who had persecuted him so cruelly, he freely forgave even his most bitter enemies, and thus the conquest of Mecca took place without bloodshed. The Prophet entered the Kabah, the sacred house of Gods worship built in antiquity by the prophets Abraham and Ishmael, and with his own hands broke into pieces the three-hundred-and-sixty idols which had been erected and worshiped there, purifying the Kabah once again for the worship of God, the Praised and Exalted, alone. Prophet Muhammad (Gods peace and blessings be on him) died a few years later. Truly he had delivered the message with which he had been entrusted by God, and he left behind for all many welltime to come two permanent, unchangeable sources of guidance: the Holy Quran and his sunnah— that is, his own example and practice, The details of which were within some years collected in documented verbal reports known as Hadith which have been presented accurately to the present time as the second source of guidance in Islam after the Quran.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 01:21:17 +0000
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