Islam and Ignorance الإِسلام و الجاهليه
محمد مرسى
1433/02/03 - 2011/12/28 08:31AM
كانت المساواة بين المؤمنين في الإِسلام وما ساد بينهم جميعاً من أخوة مشتركة لا تسمح بوجود فوارق بين عربي وعجمي أو بين حر وعبد ممن اعتنقوا الإِسلام، فكرة عارضت في الصميم نعرة الشعور القبلي عند العربي الذي بنى احترامه الشخصي على شهرة أجداده، وأخذ يقتدي بهم في إِثارة النزاع الدموي الدائم الذي كان يلتمس فيه اللذة والسرور. والواقع أن المبادئ الأساسية في دعوة محمد كانت تعارض كثيراً ما كان ينظر إليه العرب نظرة ملؤها التقدير والإجلال حتى ذلك الحين، كما أنها كانت تعلم حديثي العهد بالإسلام أن يعدوا من الفضائل صفات كانوا قبل إسلامهم ينظرون إليها نظرة الاحتقار.
وكانت الصداقة والعداوة في نظر العربي الجاهلي ديناً يجدّ في أدائه عن رغبة، وكان يتباهى برد الشر بالشر، وينظر إِلى كل من يسلك خلاف ذلك نظرته إِلى كل نذل ضعيف:
إِذا أنت لم تنفع فضر فإِنما يرجَّى الفتى كيما يضر وينفعا
ولقد خاطب النبي أمثال هؤلاء بقوله: }ادْفَعْ بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ السَّيِّئَةَ{(سورة المؤمنون: آية 96)، }وَلْيَعْفُوا وَلْيَصْفَحُوا{ (سورة النور: آية 22)، "إِذا أحبوا أن يغفر الله لهم. }وَجَنَّةٍ عَرْضُهَا السَّمَاوَاتُ وَالأَرْضُ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ الَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ فِي السَّرَّاء وَالضَّرَّاء وَالْكَاظِمِينَ الْغَيْظَ وَالْعَافِينَ عَنِ النَّاسِ وَاللّهُ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ{ (سورة آل عمران آية: 133، 134).
وكانت الصداقة والعداوة في نظر العربي الجاهلي ديناً يجدّ في أدائه عن رغبة، وكان يتباهى برد الشر بالشر، وينظر إِلى كل من يسلك خلاف ذلك نظرته إِلى كل نذل ضعيف:
إِذا أنت لم تنفع فضر فإِنما يرجَّى الفتى كيما يضر وينفعا
ولقد خاطب النبي أمثال هؤلاء بقوله: }ادْفَعْ بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ السَّيِّئَةَ{(سورة المؤمنون: آية 96)، }وَلْيَعْفُوا وَلْيَصْفَحُوا{ (سورة النور: آية 22)، "إِذا أحبوا أن يغفر الله لهم. }وَجَنَّةٍ عَرْضُهَا السَّمَاوَاتُ وَالأَرْضُ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ الَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ فِي السَّرَّاء وَالضَّرَّاء وَالْكَاظِمِينَ الْغَيْظَ وَالْعَافِينَ عَنِ النَّاسِ وَاللّهُ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ{ (سورة آل عمران آية: 133، 134).
وكان مجرد فرض الصلاة مثار سخرية بين هؤلاء العرب الذين وجه إليهم محمد صلي الله عليه وسلم رسالته أول الأمر. وكان من أشق مراحل رسالته أن يوجه تفكيرهم وجهة دينية نحو الخالق، الشيء الذي كان يغرسه الإِسلام في النفوس كما كانت اليهودية والمسيحية، إِلا أنه لم يكن في الواقع معروفاً لدى الوثنيين من العرب، فإن ما اتصفوا به من هذا الاعتماد على النفس، وذلك النقص في الروح الدينية، فضلاً عن مباهاتهم البالغة بالجنس، لم يجعلهم مهيئين تمام التهيؤ لتلقى تعاليم الرجل الذي خاطبهم قائلاً: }إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ{ (سورة الحجرات: آية 13)the equality in Islam of all
believers and the common brotherhood of all Muslims, which suffered no distinctions between Arab and non-Arab, between free and slave, to exist among the faithful, was an idea that ran directly counter to the proud clan-feeling of the Arab, who grounded his claims to personal consideration on the fame of his ancestors, and in the strength of the same carried on the endless blood-feuds in which his soul delighted. Indeed, the fundamental principles in the teaching of Muhammad were a protest against much that the Arabs had hitherto most highly valued, and the newly-converted Muslim was taught to consider as virtues, qualities which hitherto he had looked down upon with contempt.
To the heathen Arab, friendship and hostility were as a loan which he sought to repay with interest, and he prided himself on returning evil for evil, and looked down on any who acted otherwise as a weak nidering.
.
To such men the Prophet said, "Recompense evil with that which is better" (xxiii. 98); as they desired the forgiveness of God, they were to pass over and pardon offences (xxiv. 22), and a Paradise, vast as the heavens and the earth, was prepared for those who mastered their anger and forgave others. (iii. 128.)
The very institution of prayer was jeered at by the Arabs to whom Muḥammad first delivered his message, and one of the hardest parts of his task was to induce in them that pious attitude of mind towards the Creator, which Islam inculcates equally with Judaism and Christianity, but which was practically unknown to the heathen Arabs. This self-sufficiency and this lack of the religious spirit, joined with their intense pride of race, little fitted them to receive the teachings of one who maintained that "The most worthy of honour in the sight of God is he that feareth Him most" (xlix. 13).
believers and the common brotherhood of all Muslims, which suffered no distinctions between Arab and non-Arab, between free and slave, to exist among the faithful, was an idea that ran directly counter to the proud clan-feeling of the Arab, who grounded his claims to personal consideration on the fame of his ancestors, and in the strength of the same carried on the endless blood-feuds in which his soul delighted. Indeed, the fundamental principles in the teaching of Muhammad were a protest against much that the Arabs had hitherto most highly valued, and the newly-converted Muslim was taught to consider as virtues, qualities which hitherto he had looked down upon with contempt.
To the heathen Arab, friendship and hostility were as a loan which he sought to repay with interest, and he prided himself on returning evil for evil, and looked down on any who acted otherwise as a weak nidering.
.
To such men the Prophet said, "Recompense evil with that which is better" (xxiii. 98); as they desired the forgiveness of God, they were to pass over and pardon offences (xxiv. 22), and a Paradise, vast as the heavens and the earth, was prepared for those who mastered their anger and forgave others. (iii. 128.)
The very institution of prayer was jeered at by the Arabs to whom Muḥammad first delivered his message, and one of the hardest parts of his task was to induce in them that pious attitude of mind towards the Creator, which Islam inculcates equally with Judaism and Christianity, but which was practically unknown to the heathen Arabs. This self-sufficiency and this lack of the religious spirit, joined with their intense pride of race, little fitted them to receive the teachings of one who maintained that "The most worthy of honour in the sight of God is he that feareth Him most" (xlix. 13).