Prophet Muhammad Established The Kingdom
Of Heaven In A Small Part Of The World For A Short Period Of Time.
We should remember that
the Arab civilization then was so primitive that the people used to
kill their female children or sell them in childhood. They did
not care for the female children; they only wanted male children.
Also, they had many, many Gods, and they worshipped statues, etc.
***
Prophet Muhammad started
his mission in Mecca, and Mecca was the center of idol worshipping.
There were 365 idols in their place of worship, and everyday they
worshipped one of these idols. And every idol belonged to a
tribe, or a nation, or a people. There is a story that even
the statue of Krishna was in the temple so when the Hindus came to
Mecca they had their god there so they could worship Krishna.
And the tribes of the Arabs themselves had many, many different
gods.
Everyone had
their god. Everyone was happy. From all over the world
they would come there, worship their god, and bring the merchants to
Mecca. These people bought and sold, and so they made profits
there. You could find almost anything you wanted in Mecca.
If you wanted some cashmere from places in India, you could find it.
If you wanted something from Egypt, or from Persia, you could go to
Mecca and buy it. Apparently it was a peaceful place.
Suddenly
Muhammad came and said, “I have received this revelation that there
is no god but God, ‘La ilaho ill Allah.’” That hurt all those
merchants and all those people who had the power of Mecca in their
hands and were prosperous. They were prosperous because they
made this set-up of 365 idols. This attracted many merchants
there. They spent their money and the people of Mecca
prospered.
They did not
pay too much attention to him in the beginning. But when his
followers started growing and becoming strong, they said, “Well,
this really is going to be a threat to the three hundred and
sixty-five gods,” and they were going to lose a lot of business
because the merchants with different beliefs would no longer come
that route to stay in Mecca. So they started opposing him.
The merchants
and people in power in Mecca became pretty upset, because if they
agreed with what he said, then their gods were no longer God, they
were just idols. So they tried to bribe him. They tried
to give him money. They tried to give him position or anything
he wanted. He said, “If you give me the sun in one hand and
the moon in the other, I am not going to change my mind. I
know what I received, and I believe in what I received.”
***
To Prophets of God, it
does not make any difference if you offer them the whole universe,
still they are going to go ahead and do their missions.
***
When a Prophet comes and
brings a new religion, a new ideology, a new revelation, probably he
is ahead of his time. When he is ahead of humanity, they have
a hard time to understand him. And because they have a hard
time to understand, they do not want him to say what he is saying.
It is probably that they feel it is opposing their social set-up.
Resistance to a new teaching comes from human fears.
***
However, after Islam was
established, in a short period of time, that same society became the
center of world civilization. In a hundred years, they started
creating algebra, they started studying the stars, and the people
became educated. Suddenly when Europe was in the Dark Age,
Islam was the center of civilization and all the many wonderful
discoveries that later on helped humanity came from them.
Mecca not
only became a greater center of business, it became a great city.
A lot of people started traveling to it, and they even started
becoming greater in all levels, scientifically, business wise, and
theologically. Everything became much greater than before.
***
This shows how, with the
proper environment and by following God’s principles, a difference
will be made for the progress of man.
