Islam and the Pre-Islamic Period of Ignorance `Jahiliyya'
Since the descending of heavenly Messages, mankind has been divided into two parties that contradict each other in matters pertaining to belief, understanding and views towards life and what it contains of wealth, pleasure, enjoyment, social relationships and the connections between the soul and other things in existence. The Holy Qur'an recorded this phenomenon, saying:
"Mankind is a single nation. So Allah raised prophets as bearers of good news ans as warners, and He revealed with them the Book with truth, that it might judge between people concerning that in which they differed…" Holy Qur'an (Baqara 2: 213)
Primitive life embarked on development as a result of the evolution of man's faculty of thought, the power of his intellect and the improvement in scientific experiments. Human society, thus, took a more complex form; power and state came into existence, law and order emerged, then, followed the birth of philosophy, thought and theoretical concepts.
Ever since the descent of revelation to this earth, mankind had two parties; one following the course of the Prophets and the other that of the tyrants. The latter built their civilization upon apostasy and materialistic understanding. This course and chart sometimes rises and at other times falls, reaching its peak with Greek thought and Roman rule. By this time, it had definite philosophical, canonical and social forms. It was under this Greco-Roman civilization that `Jahiliyya' thought took its theory and assumed more complex forms.
At the same time, divine thought pursued its work of reform, inviting mankind to believe in Allah and building man's life on the foundations of knowledge, faith and moral values. For all the period of human existence, there were Messengers and Prophets with their messages.
"…and there is not a people but a warner has gone among them." Holy Qur'an (Fatir 35: 24)
The struggle between materialistic and Divine thoughts continued throughout the ages and reached its peak on the advent of Islam and the Prophethood of the saviour of mankind, Muhammad (s.a.w.). The Islamic message triumphed on the plane of thought, as well as, in the arena of force and battle. Consequently, a society, a state and a civilization were brought into existence based on the principles of Islam, the power of which depended on the course of guidance and man's wholesome achievements.
This Divine Message provided humanity with a complete ideological project for the leadership of human society. This project was able to vanquish all the theories, ideologies and philosophies of atheistic materialism which are opposed to the call to belief and moral values. Islamic culture and civilization had, in a day, flourished , while different branches of natural and social sciences thrived over many centuries. Faith was guiding, fostering and directing the path of science while the latter served faith by establishing its principles in the souls. Thus, science and faith were but twins whose fruits compliment each other and they helped one another in constructing the society and human welfare.
The history of human thought had witnessed a gigantic scientific revolution at the hands of Muslim scholars in the fields of philosophy, ethics, thought and investigations on the intellect, literature, art, historical, political and social sciences and studies in legislation and law, etc. Similarly, the Muslims enriched human thought in the natural and biological sciences by establishing methods of scientific research and investigated on and discovered scientific theories in the fields of physics, medicine, pharmacy, astronomy, mathematics, engineering, chemistry and other physical sciences.
A famous writer on the history of science, Gorge Serton, had this to say:
"The Muslims are the geniuses, of the east, in the Middle Ages. That they had the greatest influence on mankind, can be realized considering the fact that they undertook the writing of the most valuable works and studies surpassing all others in originality and depth. They wrote in their language, Arabic, which was without doubt, mankind's scientific language during the period from the middle of the eighth to the end of the eleventh century. The importance of Arabic in the sciences was such that any scholar who wanted to acquaint himself with the culture of his time and the most current issues in the sciences had to learn Arabic."
Knowledge, science and systematic methods of scientific research reached Europe through Muslims in Andalusia (Spain) and Sicily. These scientific foundations formed the basis of a modern scientific renaissance in Europe, at a time when the Muslims retrogressed after they stripped themselves of their Islamic values; differences and the struggle for power was rife. Their empire divided into small kingdoms and their rulers reveled in pleasures and worldly desires.
The result of these internal weaknesses was that the Muslim empire became politically torn apart. Their lofty position in science collapsed, and a very dreadful relapse occurred to the Muslim world with the loss of Andalusia and the continuity of the crusades. European advancement in science and knowledge started, while the crusades was busy destroying and occupying Islamic lands for two centuries.
This situation subjected the Muslims to the worst stages in history; relegating them to a life of darkness, backwardness and the abominable colonial oppression, especially after the Second World War. The Muslims, who had been liberators and conquerers now turned into a colonized people under the yoke of servitude to foreign powers, and from being exporters of thought, science and culture to receivers of the same.
The worst phenomenon witnessed by the declining Muslim position is the emergence of Zionism, Socialism and European Capitalist civilizations as allied powers working for the annihilation of Islam. The socialist camp, whose political and cultural existence was based on the Marxist theory, has imploded because of internal contradictions, leaving the arena open for the alliance of the Jews and the European Crusaders who are allied against Islamic existence.
In the closing decades of this century (20th century), the Islamic world has witnessed the herald of an ideological renaissance as a result of which Islamic awareness has increased, Islamic tendency has grown, in-roads have been made and widespread developments in the Islamic community have occurred. These positive changes, in the Islamic camp, are an indication of a return of Islam as a civilizational enterprise and a political existence, which would play its natural role in leading the world at a time when the Marxist civilization has collapsed and European civilization is passing through an ideological vacuum. The death knell of Judaism and Christianity has been sounded and today we witness the increase of propaganda and political, ideological and armed attacks on Islam and Islamic awareness.
The Holy Qur'an has prepared our minds with complete awareness of the present world events by furnishing us with its analysis of the existing contest between Islam and its opponents. In the light of Qur'anic language, it is a contest between Islam and a new form of Jahiliyya, the likes of which Islam has faced since its revelation to the Prophet of Mercy, Muhammad (s.a.w.), who identified the nature of Jahiliyya and its foundations.
The materialistic civilization, spearheaded by Europe and America in alliance with Zionism, is passing through economic and moral crises eating into its very fabric and leading it into an abyss. At this same time, the graph of the Islamic course is registering a notable rise exhibiting the signs of victory, by Allah's permission. Morad Forman, the German Ambassador to Morocco, had this to say: "The twenty-first century is that in which Islam shall spring forth in Europe."
This assertion confirms the statement of Bernard Shaw in which he predicted as follows: "I predict that in the future, Europeans will turn to the religion of Muhammad. It is already gaining acceptance in today's Europe".
The Holy Qur'an, in the course of its revelation to the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (s.a.w.), has clearly identified the reality of Jahiliyya and what miseries and catastrophes it visited on mankind. In a number of Qur'anic declarations, the ideological, political, economical and behavioural foundations of the Jahiliyya system have been exposed. It is clearly pointed out that the basis of this system is disbelief in Allah, His Messenger and His Prophets; turning away from the divine legislation, shari'a and holding the call to guidance in contempt and attacking the principles of faith- exactly what modern Jahiliyya subscribes to.
Many verses of the Holy Qur'an deal with this topic, viz:
"And those who have no knowledge say: `Why does not Allah speak to us or a sign come to us?' Even thus said those before them, the like of what they say. Their hearts are all alike. Indeed We have made the messages clear for a people who are sure." Holy Qur'an (Baqara 2: 118)
"Like those before you - they were stronger than you in power and had more wealth and children. So they enjoyed their portion; thus have you enjoyed your portion as those before you enjoyed their portion, and you induldge in idle talk as they did. These are they whose works are null in this world and the Hereafter, and these are they who are the losers." Holy Qur'an (Tawba 9: 69)
"Have they charged each other with this? Nay, they are an inordinate people." Holy Qur'an (Dariyat 51: 53)
An analysis of these verses will reveal what the Jahiliyya of different peoples and nations throughout history have in common in ideology and behaviour, their possessions and attainments in science and civilization not withstanding. In Qur'anic terminology, Jahiliyya does not only refer to an epoch passed in history, nor exclusively to the Arabs before the advent of Islam, as some people think. Rather Jahiliyya means the continuation of a system of thought and civilization founded on disbelief in Allah, His Messengers and His legislation. To depict this, Allah, the Most High said:
"Their hearts are all alike", "Have they charged each other with this?", "and you have induldged in idle talk as they did.", "Even thus said those before them."
This characteristic of the ideological and social milieu of Jahiliyya with its conceited mentally as a result of its science, knowledge, power and wealth, is further highlighted; Allah said:
"Do they not travel in the land and see what was the end of those before them? They were more numerous than these and greater in strength and in fortifications in the land, but what they earned availed them not. Then when their messengers came to them with clear arguments, they exulted in what they had with them of knowledge and that at which they used to mock befell them." Holy Qur'an ( Ghafir 40: 82-83)
Thus, Jahiliyya's thought, throughout the ages, has been arrogant duee to power, wealth and scientific attainments. At no stage in history is this conceit worse than it is in contemporary Jahiliyya thought - which considers these attainments as yardstick for judging Islam and attacking its eternal values. In this way, the propagators of this materialistic ideology try to convince others on the veracity of their thoughts and theories.
Contemporary materialistic ideology is founded on principles and philosophies propounded in order to serve as the basis of thought for building a civilization with its culture, law and order and modes of human behavior. This world view takes refuge in those philosophies in the war with the Islamic camp and its formation. The foundations of this Jahiliyya civilization can be summarized in the following principles:
1- The materialistic method believes only in sensory perception as a means of acquiring knowledge, science and extorting human intellect in discovering scientific facts.
2- In harmony with the materialistic method, science, knowledge, civilization and materialistic culture flourished in a manner unconnected with faith in Allah, His messages and Messengers. Therefore, the culture of this Jahiliyya rejected the existence of Allah and belied the unseen. Its thinkers and philosophers assumed this atheistic outlook in their methods and began attacking the divine method of thought by stripping it of all scientific features. They only acted in this way after establishing in their minds the firm belief that science and scientific thinking is peculiar to the materialistic method of investigation.
3- On those ideological premises, they founded the call to secularism which means divorcing religion from practical life and erecting it on the basis of what they discovered in knowledge and science, devoid of belief in Allah and ethical principles. This led mankind to nothing but misery and suffering. Secularism became a tool for enthroning tyrants and extending hegemony over the weak, a glaring fact in the contemporary political experiments where the dominating powers subject the weak to killings, massacres, starvation, torture and all out tyranny in all nooks and corners of the world.
4- Studies and investigations in psychology and behavioural sciences are, likewise, based on the foundations of materialistic thinking and methods of research. In this way, they ended up calling for licentiousness and complete freedom in behavioral thinking that belief in the values of permission, prohibition and ethics is a shackle preventing man from gratifying his inner tendencies and mental desires. And that Islamic laws and ethical values cause suppression of natural urges and self-deprivation resulting in mental stress and the killing of man's inclinations and internal desires.
We shall observe, by way of statistical data, how licentiousness and moral depravity was not only unable to deliver man from misery and mental torture, but, also caused multiple mental tribulations, thereby increasing the rate of crime, drug addiction, anxiety, homeless-ness, political scandals and economic crises. Perhaps what exposes the reality of secular, materialistic civilization or Jahiliyya, as the Qur'an calls it, is the statistics which portray the different sides of the individual, economic and political behavioural picture of life.
Based on three figures we can judge the claim of the secular, materialistic approach and the truth of how it regards Islamic thought as retrogressive, not on a par with the contemporary world and incapable of encompassing the scientific movement or the ever-progressing civilization.
Let us now consider the Qur'anic declaration and analyses on a Jahiliyya society, and the confirmation of this description, by reports and statistics that portray those deteriorating conditions.
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Author: Al Balagh Foundation
