Discussion Islam: The World Before Mohammad The Messenger Of God

Egypt had a long and well known history of slavery. Both the Old Testament (Torah) and the Glorious Quran gives solid evidences on presence of Slavery in the African country.

Torah On The Presence of Slavery in Egypt

It is a well known history that the Israelites were being kept as slaves in Egypt. It was prophet Moses who rescued them from the persecutions in Egypt. It was Moses who brought the children of Israel out of Egypt the house of slavery.

"Then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” – Deuteronomy 6:12

Here, the Israelites were being reminded of the blessings of Almighty God that He took them out of persecution i.e. out of Egypt.

Quran - On The Presence of Slavery In Egypt

The ten sons of prophet Jacob who were in Egypt, plotted to kill their own blood brother prophet Joseph who was a child. Eventually they decided to abandon him and they threw him inside a well.

Later on, there came a caravan of travellers.

"And there came a caravan of travellers and they sent their water-drawer, and he let down his bucket (into the well)." - Quran 12:19.

One of the traveller found a boy in the well.

"He said: "What good news! Here is a boy.'' - Quran 12:19.

They made him a commodity to be sold in the market.

"So they hid him as merchandise (a slave)." - Quran 12:19.

And they sold him in the slave market.

"And they sold him for a few Dirhams." - Quran 12:20.

Both the above testimonies show the presence of the centuries old practices of slavery in the Egyptian soil. Other historical sources also clearly confirm this point.

"There were four classes of property. The first was that of immovables, to which belonged land; the second, movables which were inanimate, such as tools, clothing, money, etc. ; the third, movables which were animate, such as animals and slaves." - THE LAW OF EGYPT - Page 63, Historical Jurisprudence by Guy Carleton Lee.

In Egypt, the slaves were counted along with the domestic animals such as cow, sheep, dog etc.

The World Before Mohammad The Messenger Of God

A glimpse on the conditions of this world before the arrival of Mohammad The Messenger of God would help to understand how he put forward his message that was claimed to be the revelations from Almighty God. Learning the conditions of the world before his arrival would help to understand how he cured The Cancer that this planet was affected with.

The Roman Empire and its alliance were fully immersed in slavery. They built amphitheatres for Gladiators The Bloody-Sport. Now comes the Egypt.

In his account on the eastern countries like Egypt, Briffault explains the secrets of the east.

"A somewhat unpleasant admission has to be made. That inevitable sequence of events, that absolutism of the great empires of the morning- land's, that wholesale subjugation of human herds, that unresisted tyranny which was founded in the very heart of the slave," - SECRET OF THE EAST, Page 108, Making of Humanity by Robert Briffault.

'Wholesale subjugation of human herds' - These are the precise words used by Briffault to explain the plight of the cattle-grade population who were called slaves. The absolutism of the empires was imposed on the slave population. Those helpless slave population had to bare all such autocratic rulers with unresisted tyranny.

It went well beyond those tyrannies. They had to mentally prostrate before the 'divine power' to keep their lives alive.

"in mental prostration before divine power, that fearful, willing, loyal abjection, that kismet of the river-lands, that terrible secret of the East -" - Ibid.

- For the slave population, their masters were their 'God'.

The Foundation Of Egypt

"The glory and the majesty of ancient Greece and Rome, as of ancient Egypt, had for their foundation a system of widespread slavery." - Jawaharlal Nehru, Page 83, Glimpses of World History.

Going through the pages of history, It can be very clearly seen that the world was immersed in the practices of slavery. No country of this world was completely free from using humans as slaves. The terrible secret of Egypt was the foundation of widespread slavery.

"That terrible secret of the East - was the foundation, the indispensable foundation of civilization. Without it Greece, Europe would have been impossible. I call it an "unpleasant admission " because it would be fine to be able to say that human civilization is the child of freedom, that it is incompatible with tyranny and slavery." - Page 109, Making of Humanity by Robert Briffault.

Civilization is one of the indispensable part of human growth throughout the history. Egypt was not different from the rest of the world. It had a great civilization. But those civilization was marred by the practices of slavery.

Civilization Built Using Kurbash

Kurbash is a tool for punishment. It is flexible and is about a yard in length. Egypt was known for the use of Kurbash. They used the Kurbash to discipline animals and slaves.

"As a matter of fact men never bethought themselves of building decent homes for themselves until they had seen gorgeous palaces and temples built with the tears and blood of thousands;" - Ibid, Page 109.

- Slaves were the 'manufacturing machines' for building enormous palaces.

"They never bethought themselves of living in reasonable comfort until they had witnessed the opulence and luxurious orgies of satraps and kings; they never bethought themselves of controlling the forces of nature till herds of human chattels under the kurbash of their slave-drivers had dug canals and artificial lakes, embanked rivers, and quarried mountains ;" - Ibid, Page 109.

- They built marvels under the kurbash of slave-drivers.

The 'Fruits' Of Slavery

"Commanding inexhaustible supplies of forced labour ready at hand to carry out their will, the priests of Sumer and Babylon and Egypt devised, contemplated, thought, discovered;

they brought forth architectural and pictorial arts, crafts, industries, taught men to chisel stone, hammer and inlay metals, glaze pottery and tiles, blow glass, ..." - Ibid, Page 109.

Slaves became the symbol of forced labour. Never ending supply of slaves were one of the treasures of this world using which countries like Egypt built their country. Under the glory and the majesty of territorial emperors, there were the Sweat, the Blood and the Spoils
of the poor slaves.

Emperors Who Were 'god'

Egypt was known for god rulers. Emperors who dictated the country were almost treated as the god of the Egyptian people. These god rulers dictates their will and imposed it on the people, be it good or bad.

"In Egypt there was no republic, but a monarchy, and the ruler was not only supreme, but was considered almost a god."- Jawaharlal Nehru, Page 89, Glimpses of World History.

Above is only a tiny and extremely limited account on the conditions of this world, especially Egypt, before the arrival of Mohammad The Messenger of God.

Mohammad The Messenger of God

Eradication of Slavery by Integration. This is one of the precise wordings on what and how he could achieve in the marvellous episode of treating one of the cancerous disease named Slavery.

Mohammad The Messenger of God didn't have the crown of any of the emperor. He didn't have the authority of any monastery. But he did have a profound message for the whole universe.

Following were the three worst conditions of this world during arrival of Mohammad The Messenger of God.

• The world emperors of that time considered themselves as god.
• The rich upper class people of that time considered themselves as masters of their slaves.
• The poor cattle-grade slave people had no option except being a cattle-grade slave of a rude master.

All such Emperors, all such Masters, all such Slaves, Mohammad The Messenger of God literally called them by one of the verses of Glorious Quran.

"There is none in the heavens and the earth but comes unto the Most Gracious as a slave." - Quran 19:93.

The above Quranic verse called the whole humanity to a common message, to a common platform. Never in the history, have we seen such a great message that called these three parties onto a common platform of unity.

For an Emperor, the above Quranic verse reminded him - You are not god. There is only one God and that you are only a slave of Almighty God, The God of Universe.

For a Master, the above Quranic verse reminded him - You are not a master. There is only One Master and that you are only a slave of that Master, The Master of Universe.

For a Slave, the above Quranic verse reminded him - You are not a Slave of a puny human; rather you are a slave of Almighty God, The Most Gracious to His slaves.

As a result -

• Negus, The King of Ethiopia accepted the message.
• Slave masters in the Arabian continent started accepting the message.
• Downtrodden slave people in the Arabian continent started accepting the message.

And, the rest of the world started accepting this message of submission to The Master of Universe.

The Message of Equilibrium

Historically speaking. This world had seen many thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle etc etc. No such great people could ever put forward such as great message of unity for this world , above what Mohammad The Messenger of God could put forward.

This message of Being the Slaves of Almighty God brought The Emperors, The Masters and The Slaves, shoulder to shoulder, in The Complete Submission to The Commands of Almighty God.

...

The Message of God's Slave & God's Messenger

Mohammad The Messenger of God said - "So, call me the Slave of Allah and His Messenger." - Imam Bukhari.