Mabath, the day of resurgence of humanitarian values
Publish Date: 5/7/2016 Code: 50689

Mabath, the day of resurgence of humanitarian values

Heartiest congratulations to you all on the anniversary of one of the most auspicious days that changed the destiny of the world.

 

Today is the 27th of Rajab, the Day of Mabath or Resurgence, when Almighty Allah formally entrusted the universal mission of Islam to His Last and Greatest Messenger, Prophet Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny). Please stay with us for a special feature on the then 40-year old person whom the pre-Islamic Arabs knew as “Sadiq” or the Truthful, and “Amin” or the Trustworthy.

 “We have not sent you but as Mercy unto the creation.”

This is how God Almighty introduces in ayah 107 of Surah Anbiya of the holy Qur'an, the start of the mission of the Prophet of Islam, at a time when mankind had plunged into the depths of darkness, with ignorance all around. In the words of Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (peace upon him), the Prophet’s dearest cousin and the nearest person to him who was present as a ten-year boy on Mount Noor outside Cave Hera, near Mecca when Archangel Gabriel brought the first ayahs of the holy Qur’an:

“Indeed, Allah sent Mohammad (SAWA) as a warner (against vice) for all the worlds and a trustee of His revelation, while you people of Arabia were following the worst religion and you resided among rough stones and venomous serpents. You drank dirty water and ate filthy food. You shed blood of each other and cared not for relationship. Idols are fixed among you and sins are clinging to you.”

Jahiliyya or ignorance was not just confined to the Arabs, but was widespread in the supposed civilized lands. The situation of the Iranian society was chaotic with injustice everywhere as rulers rose and fell, and the Zoroastrian priestly class imposed fire-worship and heavy taxes on the people. In the Christianized Roman and Byzantine Empires, people had long deviated from the monotheistic message of the Virgin-born Messiah and were worshipping the Trinity. In India, the discriminatory caste system and the multiplicity of the pantheon of deities was on a par with the Arabs, if not worse. In China, the Sui Dynasty, claiming to follow the supposedly peaceful teachings of Buddha had embarked on one of the worst bloodbaths in history. The Turks were immersed in Shamanism, and the Africans in sub-Sahara in animism.

To quote Imam Ali (AS) from his sermon 89 of the Nahj al-Balagha:

“Allah sent the Prophet – Muhammad (SAWA) – after the mission of other Prophets had stopped and the peoples were in slumber for a long time. Evils were raising heads, all matters were under disruption and in flames of wars, while the world was devoid of brightness, and full of open deceitfulness. Its leaves had turned yellow and there was absence of hope about its fruits and its water had gone underground. The minarets of guidance had disappeared and signs of destruction had appeared. It was stern to its people and frowned in the face of its seeker. Its fruit was vice and its food was carcass. Its inner dress was fear and outer cover was sword.”

In such a hopeless situation, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) proclaimed his universal message of monotheism. First he invited his relatives to conveyed to them the words of God at the gathering of Dhu’l-Ashira where his testimony of the Oneness of God – that is, ash-hado an-la ilaha il-Allah — received dumb looks, until the silence was broken by his ten-year old cousin, Ali (AS), who stood up and testified: “ash-hado anna Mohammadan Rasoul-Allah” – which means "I bear witness that Mohammad is the Prophet of Allah".

At this stage, the prime source of information on the life of the Prophet and the course of his call of monotheism is only the boy, Imam Ali (AS), as no one else had become a companion or a Muslim up till now. The boy whom the Prophet had hailed as “my legatee, my caliph” at the gathering of Dhu’l-Ashira, according to the Sunni hadith compiler, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, further informs us in Sermon 94 of Nahj al-Balagha:

“Allah brought him (the Prophet) out from the most distinguished sources of origin and the most honourable places of planting, namely from the same (lineal) tree from which He brought forth other Prophets and from which He selected His trustees. Mohammad's (SAWA) offspring are the best offspring, his kinsmen the best of kin and his lineal tree the best of trees. It grew in esteem and rose in distinction. It has tall branches and unapproachable fruits.”

These words are indeed food for thought, especially since Mab’ath means resurgence. It is the resurgence of not just humanitarian values but the basic purpose of life and the goal towards which mankind is moving. Hence it is more significant than the creation of Adam and the start of the human race. It is more important than the parting of the seawaters for Prophet Moses to allow him safe passage from the oppression of the Pharaoh. It is more precious than the miraculous virgin birth of Prophet Jesus without the association of any male for his mother, the Virtuous Mary. In other words, Mab’ath is not a spontaneous occurrence in the barren landscape of the Arabian Peninsula. On the contrary it is the highest water mark in history that separates good from evil, and sifts truth from falsehood. It is the goal for which mankind was being prepared through a long and unbroken chain of divine messengers spanning different eras and various geographical regions in order to build the mindset for the single universal message, Islam.

A glance at the state of humanity before and after the proclamation of his mission by Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) confirms this point. That is why the pre-Islamic society, not just of Arabia but also of the supposedly civilized worlds of the Romans, the Persian, the Chinese, the Indians etc, is called Jahiliyya or the Age of Ignorance.

Even a cursory glance at the above-mentioned civilizations, reveals that despite their pretensions to power and material achievements, they sorely lacked such basic humanitarian fundamentals as monotheism or faith in the One and Only Creator; equality of all human beings without any distinction of colour, race, language, and class; and women’s right to own property, marry according to their will, safeguard their honour and individuality through observing of modesty and hejab. These societies also did not have the concept of justice as the privilege of each and every individual including those adhering to other beliefs that none is entitled to violate. Other virtues they lacked were compassion, forgiveness, generosity, and truthful speech, that is so instrumental in promoting peace and fraternity.

Thus, when we mark Mab’ath every year we renew our allegiance to all such egalitarian principles that make a true Muslim and lead to the building of the real monolithic Islamic ummah, which the Prophet of Islam preached through practical demonstration and which the present Muslim world has largely neglected to its own detriment.

Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), whose universal message was foretold by all great prophets of God throughout history in different lands, such as Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and others, did not leave mankind in darkness after completing his 23-year mission that saw the grand revelation of the holy Qur’an – the Final Heavenly Scripture from Allah for the guidance of all humanity till doomsday. Imam Ali (AS), who on the express commandment of God was designated by the Prophet as his vicegerent at Ghadir-Khom in 10 AH, says about the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt in Sermon 97 of Nahj al-Balagha:

“Look towards the members of the Prophet's family. Adhere to their direction. Follow their footsteps because they would never let you out of guidance, and never throw you into destruction. If they sit down, you sit down, and if they rise up you rise up. Do not go ahead of them, as you would thereby go astray and do not lag behind them as you would thereby be ruined."

Thus, in light of these words of Imam Ali (AS), what better way to understand Islam, the holy Qur’an and Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) than pondering on the letter and spirit of the heavenly scripture and the genuine teachings of Islam as bequeathed by the Prophet to posterity through his Infallible Ahl al-Bayt. These facts warrant us to study the life and mission of the Mercy unto the creation from the proper perspective that is, through the words and statements of his Ahl al-Bayt, rather than the dubious chronicles compiled during the Omayyad and Abbasid caliphates, or the so-called hadith literature that needs to be scientifically scrutinized.

And this is absolutely necessary in our days when the Godless Takfiri terrorists, created and funded by the heretical Wahhabi cult and armed by the Zionist-US nexus, are tarnishing the image of Islam and the visage of the Prophet of Islam, through their savage and cannibalistic behaviour that has embroiled several countries into chaos, crises and bloodbath.