Is It Cronyism, Or Just In The Blood?

The cry of cronyism is a popular cry in politics and business, but if we look at history, empire is built with the help of cronies.  No one can build anything of substance alone.  He needs his supporters.  These supporters, however, are not called cronies, but friends, associates or family members.

Muhammad the Prophet too did not establish the first Islamic Nation alone.  The Prophet, upon him be peace, did it through his close friends, family members and relatives.  

No Muslim worth his salt, however, would call his supporters, cronies.  Even the writers hostile to the Prophet do not venture to call them cronies.  They are called his companions. 

Now, if we look at the meaning of the word, we know that crony means long time friend.  Literally speaking, therefore, the leading companions of the Prophet are all his cronies, for they are his long time friends.  For an important appointment, such as leading an army, the Prophet always chose his crony.  Yet, no eyebrows were raised to this practice.

And Muhammad the Prophet is not alone in this practice.  Every man of note throughout history always relies on his cronies for support, and always appoints his cronies for important positions. 

Has the world changed?  Has the acceptable practice in the days of old become unacceptable in our times?  Or, do we miss something in this cry of cronyism?

A peek at the Seerah of the Prophet would perhaps shed some light on the issue.  The decision made by the Prophet in the light of this matter had never been objected except on two occasions.  The first was the distribution of booties after the Battle of Hunayn, and the second was the appointment of a leader in the expedition to Syria.  Let’s briefly look at both.

The Battle of Hunayn took place after the conquest of Makkah, in 8 AH (630 AD).  Having recently conquered Makkah without much resistant, the Muslims--with added strength from the newly converts, the people of Makkah--did not at first took the battle seriously and thereby suffered a temporary defeat. 

Mindful that it was not the number which led them to victory, they regrouped and renewed the fight.  They were victorious shortly thereafter, gaining abundant spoils of war, including cattle and slaves.  The Prophet gave most of the spoils of war to the recently converts, and the "veteren" Muslims who came to conquer Makkah, most of them were Helpers (Ansars, people of Madinah), were left only with very little booties. 

The tongues quickly wagged.  Muhammad had favored his people, namely his native folks, the Quraysh who had only recently converted.  All meat is given to his people, while all we get is bone, the Ansars murmured. 

The complaint reached the Prophet, and he called one of their leaders, Sa’d bin ‘Ubadah, to his tent.  He asked Sa’d to speak, to which the latter responded: 

“The Helpers are furious at you about the distribution of the booty that you had won. You have allotted shares to your own kinsmen and forwarded lots of gifts to the Arab tribes. But this group has obtained nothing.”  

“What do you think of all that?” The Prophet asked.

“O Messenger of Allah. You know that I am nothing but a member of this group.”  Sa’d replied.  In case you need translation, it was his way of saying he was also not happy with the Prophet’s decision.

“Call out on your people and bring them forth to me into this shed.” Said the Prophet.

Sa‘d went out and summoned them.  When they came, the Prophet spoke to them inquiringly:

“I have been told that you are angry with me. Didn’t I come to you when you were astray and Allah guided you? You were poor and Allah gave you wealth. Weren’t you foes and Allah made you love one another.”

“Yes,” they said, “Allah and His Messenger are better and more gracious.”

They already answered in a positive way, since they did not challenge the Prophet’s decision straight to his face.  But the Prophet knew that the matter was not yet settled.  All they did was saying the truth. Of course Allah and the Prophet are better, but the issue was about the spoils of war.  Seeing that they said nothing further, the Prophet provoked them:

“What prevents you from replying to the Messenger of Allah, O tribe of Helpers?”

Not knowing what else to say, they merely replied: “What should be the reply, O Messenger of Allah, while to the Lord and to his Messenger belong all benevolence and grace.”  .

To this reply, the Prophet rejoined:

“But by Allah, you might have answered and answered truly, for I would have testified to its truth myself: You came to us belied and rejected and we accepted you; you came to us as helpless and we helped you; a fugitive, and we took you in; poor and we comforted you.  You Helpers, do you feel anxious for the things of this world, wherewith I have sought to incline these people unto the Faith in which you are already established? Are you not satisfied, O group of Helpers that the people go with ewes and camels while you go along with the Messenger of Allah to your dwellings. By Him in Whose Hand is my life, had there been no migration, I would have been one of the Helpers. If the people would go through a valley and passage, and the Helpers go through another valley and passage, I would go through the valley and passage of the Helpers. Allah! Have mercy on the Helpers, their children and their children’s children.”

To that passionate speech, brief, but came from the heart of their beloved Prophet, the audience wept until tears rolled down their beards, and they said:

“Yes, we are satisfied, O Prophet of Allah, with our lot and share.”

That was the first occasion. 

As for the second, towards the end of his life, the Prophet assembled the largest army he ever assembled, said to be around 30,000 men to march to the Roman frontiers, Sham.  In that battalion, he appointed his grandson, Usamah bin Zayd, to be the leader.  Usamah was barely 20 years old at that time, or only 18 according to some. 

In that army, there were leading companions like Abu Bakar and Umar, but they were made to be ordinary soldiers.  Even the celebrated general, Khalid Al Walid, was in the army, but he too was made only ordinary soldier.

Thinking that perhaps the Prophet had made the wrong decision by appointing the young Usamah to be their leader, many of them objected.  Facing them, the Prophet asked:

“What would you say if his father was appointed instead?” 

It was a rhetorical question, of course.  Zayd bin Haritha, the adopted son of the Prophet and the father of Usamah, had become a martyr about three years back, in the war known as the Battle of Mu’tah.  He led an army of 3,000 strong to fight against the Romans army, whose number was said to be 100,000 strong, or 200,000 according to others.  The Battle of Mu’tah was the first encounter between the Muslims and the Romans. 

It was also the battle that the celebrated general, Khalid Al Walid, took part for the first time as a Muslim.  Khalid had recently converted at that time, and was made only an ordinary soldier.  In that battle, one after another the leaders appointed by the Prophet—first Zayd bin Haritha, then Jaafar bin Abu Talib and finally Abdullah bin Rawahah—fell martyrs.

Since the Prophet only mentioned those three, there was a vacuum in the leadership after Abdullah Rawahah fell martyr.  The Muslim army asked Khalid to take over the leadership, and the famous general managed to save the tiny Muslim army against the behemoth Roman army from total annihilation.  For his role in that battle, the Prophet called Khalid Al Walid “The Sword of Allah.”

Rhetorical perhaps the question was, but it had it desired effect, for the companions answered in unison: “We willingly submit.”

“Usamah is just as capable as his father.  Follow him, but support him with your good council.”  The Prophet rejoined. 

The companions did not take long to see that the Prophet meant what he said.  They had seen how Usamah performed in the Battle of Hunayn.  During that Battle, in which the Muslim army was ambushed, Usamah was among the few men who continued to fight with the Prophet.  He helped turning the near-defeat Battle into victory.

There was also personal reason.  His father was martyred in the first encounter between the Muslims and the Romans at the Mu’tah.  Usamah was told to lead the army to where his father went, with the mission to teach a lesson to the Romans who had been terrorizing the Muslims at the frontiers for the last couple of years.  Of all people, Usamah would be more keen to see the mission succeed, for he had a personal score to settle with the Romans.

Usamah was to lead, but he was told by the Prophet to seek good council from the senior companions who were more experience in war.  Usamah was wise enough to know that he was still a rookie in war as compared to the leading companions, but his role was symbolic. 

The Prophet had that in mind, and the leading companions soon came to understand the wisdom of their Prophet.  Even if that was not apparent to others, it was apparent to Abu Bakar.  Muhammad the Prophet died before the army left Madinah, but as soon as the Prophet was buried, Abu Bakar who took over the leadership ordered the army to dispatch exactly as the Prophet had planned, in spite of some reservation from the companions.

From the above two cases, we come to the crux of the matter. 

No man is an island.  Nothing of substance can be achieved without the help of others.  Great men or women throughout history did not achieve greatness alone.  They received help from their friends, companions, associates, or family members.

Muhammad did not achieve greatness alone, but through his companions.  So were Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, and many others.  And after greatness is achieved, it was perpetuated by their close friends or family members. 

It was Julius Caesar who paved the way for the Roman Empire, but it was his nephew, Octavius, better known as Augustus Caesar, who became the first Roman Emperor, and through his descendants and relatives, made the Roman Empire great.

Genghis Khan established the Mongol Empire—the largest empire ever accomplished by a single conqueror—through the help of his friends and children.  This great empire was perpetuated by his children and their descendants.

Alexander the Great took over the leadership from his father King Philip, and expanded the small Greek Empire into a huge one.  This he did through his associates.  Since he did not have any children, it was his associates who perpetuated this large empire into a few smaller dynasties.

As for Napoleon, well, he died as a prisoner in an island of St. Helena.  Enough said about him.

As for Muhammad, we know that after his death, the Islamic Empire was perpetuated by his close family members.  His first four successors were all his in laws.  In fact, the fifth caliph, Muawiyah, who established the Umayyah Dynasty, was also his in law.  We have narrated it in All In the Family. 

The objection on cronyism is therefore not about favoring one’s family members, associates, friends or relatives.  After all, who can we rely for support if not from those we know well and trust fully.  As is often the case, these would be friends, family members or our associates.  We would be crazy to rely on some strangers.

Cronyism is not about favoring friends or family members.  It is human nature to favor those whom we love. 

It is about the perceived lack of worthiness of these favored ones.  While crony simply means long time friend, cronyism brings with it the connotation of favoring friends for no reasons other than the fact that they are our friends.

Thus, when the Helpers understood that the Prophet was not actually favoring his kinsmen in the distribution of booties after the Battle of Hunayn, but was simply trying to win the hearts of the newly converts, and that what was left with them, the Prophet himself, was much better than all the wealth in the world, they readily accepted his decision.

Likewise with the appointment of Usamah bin Zayd as the leader of the contingent to fight against the Romans.  The companions felt that Usamah was too young for the role.  Some even ventured to say that the only reason Usamah was appointed was because he was the adopted grandson of the Prophet.  But when the Prophet said that the appointment was because of Usamah’s capability, aside from the symbolic reason surrounding it, and not merely because he was the adopted grandson, they willingly submitted.

Alas, the companions of the Prophet were of different breeds.  If the current leader makes that kind of decisions and gives that kind of answers, I wonder whether people will acquiesce.  Even the third Caliph, Uthman bin Affan, whose service to Islam was too numerous to enumerate, was accused of practicing the policy of favoritism, by his contemporary no less.  Many of those who were not happy with him were leading companions.  What more the people of our times.

Info Seerah: The Story Of Four Hunafa (4/4)

We have narrated the way of Hanafiya in Part 1, and introduced the first and second Hunafa, Uthman bin Huwarith and Zayd bin Amr, in Part 2 and Part 3, respectively.  Now, let’s turn to the last two Hunafa.

The first of these two is Waraqah bin Nawfal.  He is well known.  He is the cousin of Khadijah, the wife of the Prophet.  He is well known because he was the one whom Khadijah brought Muhammad to meet when the latter was shaken upon receiving the first revelation.  By then, he was an old man of about 80 years old.

Unlike Uthman bin Huwarith who had some political ambition and finally decided to embrace Trinity Christian to further his cause, or Zayd who decided not to follow any of the established religions during his time but would rather continue searching for the true Hanafiya religion, Waraqah became a scholar. 

He decided to embrace Christianity, but not of trinitarian kind.  It is said that he was an Ebionite Christian, the Christian sect that considered Jesus to be a man, not a God.  He learnt the old scriptures and knew that the foretold prophet was forthcoming, and was hoping to meet him while he was still alive.

Also unlike Zayd bin Amr who went far and wide looking for an answer, and came back when the answer was to come from his own country, Waraqah remained in Makkah.  He knew Muhammad personally, and respected the latter highly, and was elated when at last the Prophet he was waiting finally appeared.

Now, the story when Muhammad received his first revelation is well known, and need not be repeated here.  Suffice to say that the experience had shaken him to the bones.  While his beloved wife Khadijad tried her best to comfort him, his mind was still not at peace.  So she brought him to her cousin, Waraqah bin Nawfal.

Listening to the story, Waraqah consoled his cousin’s husband, saying that he was not possessed by the Demon, but instead was visited by the Archangel, whom he called Namus, but we call Gabriel (Jibril).  Being learned in the ancient scriptures, and knowing Muhammad personally, it quickly dawned upon him that this was the much awaited prophet.  So, he told Muhammad as such.   

But his consoling words were added with serious warning: “If only I am still alive by the time people would oppose and drive you out, then I would surely have defended you with all my might.”

Thus consoled that he was not losing his mind, Muhammad was shocked again to learn that his life was about to be stormy.  Not long thereafter, the old Waraqah died.  He died as Muslim. 

Thus, unlike his colleagues, firstly Uthman who was a Hanif who died a Trinitarian Christian, and secondly Zayd who was a Hanif who died a Hanif, Waraqah was a Hanif who became an Ebionite Christian but died a Muslim.

The last Hanif was Ubaydillah bin Jahsh.  He was the brother of Zaynab bint Jahsh, the cousin of the Prophet who later on became his wife as well.  Ubaydillah was therefore the Prophet’s cousin as well.  He was the younger companion of Waraqah, and probably followed the way of Waraqah before Muhammad became a prophet.

He became among the earlier converts.  Waraqah probably told him to embrace the religion brought by Muhammad, which he did.  He was married to Ramlah bint Abu Sufyan, more popularly known as Umm Habibah.  Yes, the same Abu Sufyan who fought against Muhammad before he converted to Islam after the Prophet conquered Makkah.

After the persecution imposed upon the Muslims, Ubaydillah left Makkah and migrated to Abyssinia (Ethiopia).  This occurred in the fifth year of Prophethood.  Somehow, after some years in Abyssinia, mingling with the Christians there, he got attracted to their Christianity and became a Christian. 

It is said that one of the reasons for his conversion was because he wanted to continue drinking wine, but this is probably only a speculation.  Allah guides whomever He wills. In any case, because of his conversion, he was forced to divorce his wife Umm Habibah, whom the Prophet married later on.

Since he was no longer a Muslim, he never came back either to Makkah, as some of his companions did before the migration to Madinah, or to Madinah, when the Migration that marked the turn of the event took place.  Instead, he died in Abyssinia as a Christian.  He was a Hanif who became Muslim but died a Christian.

Allah guides whoever He wills, and leads astray whoever He wills.

The End

Info Seerah: The Story Of Four Hunafa (3/4)

In Part 2, we have narrated the brief account of the first Hanif, Uthman bin Huwarith.  To those who have missed that part, a Hanif is one who follows the way of tawheed, the way of Abraham.  For more, please go to the introduction of this subject in Part 1.

Also in Part 2, we have introduced the second Hanif, Zayd bin Amr.  Who was Zayd bin Amr?

He was the cousin of Umar bin Al Khattab, because Al Khattab, the father of Umar, was his uncle.  His father Amr, and Al Khattab, were brothers.  They were sons of Nufayl.  They belonged to Adiy clan, of which Al Khattab was one of their leaders.

Zayd was not only critical but rejected the Quraysh’s way completely.  He was searching for the way of Abraham, but no one was to guide him.  His critical attitude to the way of the Quraysh had angered them.  Since Al Khattab was the elder within his clan, the responsibility to reign Zayd fell under his shoulder. 

Now, Al Khattab was pretty much like his son, Umar: stern, strict, unbending and can be physical.  He controlled Zayd the way he knew best, by giving the latter a good deal of beatings.  If Zayd did not participate in the important ritual of the Quraysh, then Al Khattab was there to kick his butt.

Later in his life, Zayd felt that such was not the way to live.  Not only that he did not know how to live as a Hanif, but he also got beaten frequently by his uncle for refusing to follow their way.  One day, leaving his family behind, he escaped and travelled far and wide, looking for the true religion.

There were Christians and Jews already, but he thought that they were not the true Hunafa, so he kept searching.  Knowing that Abraham used to live in Palestine, he went there, looking for answer.  By chance he was told by one of the monks that the prophet who would bring the true religion was about to appear, and he would appear from his country, Arabia.

Travelling far and wide, only to be told that the answer would be forthcoming from his own hometown, he came back, hoping to meet the foretold prophet.  Alas, he was murdered on his way back. 

The Prophet used to say that Zayd bin Amr is the dweller of Paradise, a special paradise for people like him.  He had a son, Saeed bin Zayd, who embraced Islam as soon as Muhammad became a prophet.  Saeed and his wife were among the early converts. 

In case you are wondering who is this Saeed, the son of Zayd the Hanif, he was the brother in law of Umar Al Khattab.  Well, he married Umar’s sister, Fatima.  He was the one who got kicked by Umar when the latter went searching for Muhammad in rage, to kill the Prophet.  Umar was not yet a Muslim at that time. 

This story is well known, but let’s narrate it briefly here. 

True to his character, Umar felt that enough was enough.  Being intelligent, he knew the source of the problem was Muhammad.  The way to solve the problem, of course, was to eliminate its source.  Muhammad had to die, he decided.  He knew if he killed Muhammad, the Bani Hashim would kill him.  But he didn’t care, for all he wanted was to solve the problem with these pests called Muslims.

Alas, he was shocked to learn that his sister and his brother in law had been Muslims all along, but they kept it secret from him.  Wanting to put his house in order first, Umar went to his sister’s house, gave Saeed a good beating, but ended up embracing Islam. 

While this story is well known, not many perhaps know that the brother in law whom Umar beat was none other than Saeed, the son of Zayd the Hanif.  Saeed was not only his brother in law, but his son’s cousin as well.  His cousin, Zayd bin Amr, was a Hanif who died a Hanif.

Unlike his colleague, Uthman bin Huwarith, who died a Christian, Zayd died a true Hanif.  He would have died a Muslim had he lived long enough to meet Muhammad as a prophet.  Alas, both of them died before Muhammad was anointed as a prophet. 

But while Zayd died a blissful death although he was murdered, since the Prophet mentioned that he was a dweller of Paradise, the same could not be said about his colleague, Uthman.

The other two Hunafa, i.e., Waraqah bin Nawfal and Ubaydillah bin Jahsh, managed to meet Muhammad when the latter assumed his prophethood.

We shall cover both of them in the final part.  Stay tune.

End of Part 3

Info Seerah: The Story of Four Hunafa (2/4)

In the first part, we have talked about the background of the Hanafiya Way, or the way of oneness of God.  This is the way of Prophet Abraham.  We have also introduced the four Hunafa who lived during Muhammad’s time.  In this part, let’s talk about the first of the four, Uthman bin Huwarith.

Uthman bin Huwarith was probably the most senior among them, and the most ambitious of all.  It is said that he was rich as well.  While living as a Hanif, he changed his way after one of his journeys to Sham (Syria). 

In that particular journey, he went to see the Roman Emperor there.  The place was most likely Caesarea, the capital of Judea, also the second headquarters of the Roman Empire after Constantinople.  He embraced the Trinitarian Christianity, the official religion of the Roman Empire, and promised the emperor to bring Christianity to Arabia. 

There was already a Christian community in the Arabian Peninsula, located in Najran, to the north of Yemen and far south of Makkah, but their number was small.  The ambitious Uthman promised the Roman Emperor that he could turn the paganistic Arabs into Christians if the Emperor made him the king of Arabs. 

The Arabs of the North (Sham, Iraq, etc) were already Christianized.  By Christianizing the Arabian Peninsula, not only that this region would pay homage to the Roman Empire, but the whole Arabs would become Christians.   All he needed was a letter from the Emperor anointing him as the King of Arab. 

Whatever went on in the mind of the Emperor is difficult to gauge, but putting his name on that piece of paper was no big deal.  So the Emperor gave him the letter, anointing him as the King of Arabian Peninsula. 

Upon his return to Makkah, Uthman boastfully showed the Emperor’s letter to his friends, the elders of Makkah.  He demanded them to pay homage to him as their king, for he was officially anointed by the Roman Emperor, he said.  They just laughed to his face.

He said the Roman army was behind him.  If they did not accept him as their king, and help him in Christianizing the Arabia, the mighty Roman army will come crushing.  And this army was not going to be like the Elephant army of Abrahah.

The episode with Uthman Huwarith most likely took place when Muhammad was a teenager, or perhaps in his early twenties, before his marriage.  The Abrahah army, which consisted of many elephants, commemorated the birth of the Prophet.  The Makkans were helpless when Abrahah came to demolish the Kaabah.  Thus, some degree of fear must have entered the hearts of the Quraysh leaders, for the Roman army was much bigger than the army of Abrahah.  A short surah (chapter) in the Quran talks about this Elephant army and what happened to them.

The fiercely independent outlook of the Arabs, of which the Quraysh was their leading tribes, however, rejected Uthman’s proposal outright.  One of the Quraysh leaders at that time was Abu Talib, the Prophet’s uncle.  He was also the Prophet’s custodian, for the Prophet’s father, mother and grandfather had already died. 

Cursing him for selling his soul to the Romans, they kicked him out of Makkah.  Uthman threatened them, saying that they had just signed a death warrant to the Arabs.  The Quraysh leaders replied that they would rather die than being subservient to anyone, including the mighty Romans.  Feeling desperate, Uthman went back to Syria, asking the Romans to invade the Arabian Peninsula.

The Roman Empire was big at that time.  It was the second of the two superpowers, with the Persian Empire its worthy rival.  They were co-equal.  They fought against each other from time to time.  Sometimes the Roman had the upper hand, sometimes the Persians.  But none could actually deal a fatal blow to another.

Included in their empire was Egypt, the fertile country rich with agriculture produce.  Egypt was the rice bowl for the Roman Empire. Also included in their Empire was Judea and Greater Syria (Sham).  These areas were also rich.  The Arabian Peninsula, with the exception of Yemen and a few small regions here and there, was a barren desert.  Yemen was already under the influence of Persia. The other regions were independent.

Both the Persian and the Roman empires were eyeing for Arabia.  Neither felt that the region was worth conquering, on account of its barren land, scarce in resources.  But should one empire make the move, the other will not sit still, for strategic and military reasons.  Seeing that Uthman had failed in his bid to convince his people to accept him as their king, in spite of the Emperor’s letter, the Roman Emperor decided that the venture was not worth taking.  He refused to help Uthman.

Rejected by his own people and neglected by his patron, Uthman died broken hearted.  Some said he was poisoned by the Romans, probably to keep him from pestering them to help him.  He was a Hanif who died a Christian.

Zayd bin Amr, Uthman’s colleague, led a different course.  He was a true Hanif through and through.  We shall talk about him in Part 3. Stay tune.

End of Part 2

Info Seerah: The Story of Four Hunafa (1/4)

Before the Prophet started his mission, there were four Hunafa in Makkah.  Muhammad would have been the fifth, except that he was not called a Hanif.

Hunafa were people who followed the way of Abraham (Nabi Ibrahim).  Hanif is the singular of Hunafa.  The way of Abraham is known as Hanafiya.

Before you wonder about the meanings of those terms, let me explain.  The way of Hanafiya is the way of Oneness of God.  Simply put, it is tawheed, i.e., monotheism.  Islamic way is, broadly speaking, the way of Hanafiya.  It is the way of all prophets, including Moses (Nabi Musa) and Jesus (Nabi Isa).

The ways of current Jews and Christians are of different matters altogether.  When Muhammad appeared, all those ways were null and void.  But we can discuss this issue later.

Prophet Abraham may be said as the first ancient prophet who appeared in the historic time.  All prophets who appeared before him, like Noah (Nabi Nuh), flourished in a prehistoric period. We know a lot more about Abraham as compared to his predecessors, but since he appeared in an ancient time, little is known about his way or his syariah. 

We don’t know the kind of rituals he practiced.  He must have circumambulated the Kaabah which he built with his son, Ishmael.  Circumambulation is English for tawaf.  But this would only be performed when he visited Mecca.  This tawaf performance could only be done occasionally, for he lived in Hebron, Canaan (currently Palestine).

Now, his descendants through Ishmael are said to continue living as Hunafa until the authority in Makkah was replaced by Banu Khuza’a, who were not of Ishmaelite extraction.  Under their leader, Amr bin Luhayy, idol worshipping was introduced.  It is said that he brought the idol called Hubal and placed it near Kaabah.  Thereafter, many new idol worshipping rituals were introduced, until finally people had forgotten the Way of Hanafiya. 

Amr bin Luhayy is said to have flourished sometimes in the early Christian Era, probably a few generations after Adnan, and most likely in the second century AD.  They flourished for about three hundred years before their power was wrested by Qusayy bin Kilab in the fifth century AD.  We have already mentioned about Qusayy in Muhammad’s Lineage.  He was the not so distant ancestor of our Prophet.

On the other side of Abraham’s lineage, that is through his grandson Jacob (Nabi Yaakob), this Hanafiya Way was established through Moses, who was given the Torah (Tawrat).  This probably took place some five or six hundred years, thereabout, after Abraham died. 

From Moses onwards, this Way was institutionalized and systematized.   Nowadays, we call it Judaism, but from Islamic perspective, this Way of Life pioneered by Moses is in reality Islam at that time.  After all, the Quran says that Abraham is neither a Jew, nor a Christian, but a Muslim.  As for Moses’ Way, it was nothing but a systematic institutionalization of Abraham’s Hanafiya Way, the Way of Tawheed.

We shall discuss this subject later, but for now, let’s focus on the Ishmaelite line.  From Ishmael down to Adnan, the first 40 generations, and a few generations after Adnan, it is said that they lived the Hanafiya Way.  When their supremacy in Makkah was replaced by the Banu Khuza’ah, a tribe said to hail from Yemen, the Hanafiya Way gave way to idol worshipping, all the way down to the time of the Prophet. 

It is said, however, that the direct lineage of the Prophet, as we have briefly narrated in our previous entry, did not indulge in idol worshipping.  For instance, his father Abdullah and his grandfather Abdul Muttalib were said to worship no idols.  They may not have practiced strict monotheism or tawheed either, for that way was already lost during that time.

With that background, let’s introduced the four Hunafa who lived during the Prophet’s time.  They are Uthman bin Huwarith, Zayd bin Amr, Waraqah bin Nawfal and Ubaydillah bin Jahsh.  They were all alive when Muhammad was born, but only two of them managed to meet him as the Prophet.  The other two died before Muhammad assumed his prophethood.

The two who knew Muhammad personally but did not meet him as a prophet were Uthman and Zayd.  The other two, of course, were Waraqah and Ubaydillah.

Although they were all Hunafa, each took a different route in their lives.  One started as a Hanif but died a Christian.  The other started as a Hanif and died a Hanif. Yet the other started as a Hanif, lived mostly as a Christian but died a Muslim. Still yet the other started as a Hanif, then became a Muslim, but in the end died as a Christian.

We shall briefly cover their interesting stories in the subsequent parts.  Stay tune.

End of Part 1

Have I Gone Astray? Help!!!

I launched my blog two months ago. 

Well, a little less actually, since the first posting was on December 12, 2011. 

From the beginning, I have been receiving encouraging remarks, mostly given in private, either through email, sms or in person.  These compliments made all the hard work felt worth it. 

Quite a handful, however, said that the blog is way too heavy and too serious for them.  I shrugged it off, saying that the blog is meant to be serious.  It is a commentary you see.  How can a commentary, or tafsir, be light.

One English teacher, a daughter of my good friend, said that it is a nice cut and paste work.  Hah?????  Is my writing that bad?  Have I failed to write coherently, as the cut and paste work generally is?  Or, does she think that I don’t know all those stuff I wrote?

Some asked me whether I have my sources.  What sources?  I couldn’t write all those things without having references.  This is a blog, my dear.  I am not going to burden myself and my readers with bibliography.  I am not doing a Ph.D. thesis, you see.

In short, I chew all those feedback but then spitted them out, without digesting them.  They all seem like natural comments to me. 

But last night, while having a talk over a dinner with my colleague, who used to work with me some years back, but is now separated by the South China Sea, for I am in Malaya (as the West Malaysia used to be called), and he is in North Borneo (as Sabah used to be called), I felt rather disturbed. 

He is a follower of my blog.  He has been reading it religiously.  "It is quite a task to read your blog," he said.  "I have to scroll up and down to keep track of the idea.  Maybe because of the subject matter, or perhaps due to my English command, but that’s not how I want to read a blog," he continued. 

It is rather boring, too academic, and feels like reading a textbook.  That was the gist of his comment. 

No one has told me that my blog is boring, or too academic, or reads like a textbook.  I can brush off all other comments.  But this comment I cannot ignore. 

You see, I can laugh it off if people say that it is heavy, for Seerah and History are not joking matters.  But when someone says that it is boring and too academic, then I feel concerned.  Yes, I care about my blog.  More so because he is one of those who religiously follows my writings.    

Well, I didn’t lose sleep because of that comment.  It is not a sin to write a boring blog.  A futile exercise, perhaps, but can still be remedied.  Besides, the pageviews keep increasing.  Hence, all is not lost…not yet.

In the morning, I got another surprise.  A facebook friend of mine dropped a message: About your blog, I haven’t ventured into it yet…too heavy a reading, he he he….

In case you are wondering, I didn’t expect that kind of comment from her.  She is an academician, you see, a lecturer at one of the universities.  If my blog is too heavy a reading for a person of her standing, then what chance do I have with the less academically inclined folks?

Now my dear readers, if you read this far, please take a moment of your time to answer this question: Is my blog too heavy a reading for you?  If you don’t find it heavy, do you think that it is a little too heavy for most people?

If you don’t mind and have some ideas, please suggest how I can make it readable, enjoyable and fun without compromising the substance.

I thank you all in advance. 

P.S.: If you have something to say in Malay, can too.

Is Jesus A Jew (2/2)

In Part 1, we have seen that due to their errant behavior of making the gold into a cow statue and declaring it to be their god, the Israelites were made to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.  This happened while Moses went to the Mount Tur to receive further guidance from Allah. 

Being the descendants of Jacob, the Israelites worshipped one true God, but there were elements in their society who were affected by the religion of their masters, the Egyptians.  How they could easily fall into idolatry is somewhat surprising, but we need not analyze it here.  Probably only a minority among them who really fell into disbelief, while many who joined the party of Samiri did it for excitement or for fun, considering the dreaded life they were experiencing after escaping the slavery in Egypt. 

Needless to say, that was not the first of their errant behaviors, and was not the last.  From time to time, they fell into disbelief, showed weak faith, or displayed the kind of behavior unfit for the Chosen People, as they fancied themselves to be, even to these days.  For instance, when Moses asked them to fight against their enemy, they replied: “You go ahead.  If you win, we will join you.  If you lose, at least some of us would still be alive.” 

For those errant behaviors, the land promised to them was beyond their reach for about three centuries.  It was around 1050 BC or about 250 years after they left Egypt that they managed to gain some ground.  Under their first king, King Saul, who hailed from the tribe of Benjamin, Joseph’s full brother, they defeated the dominant nation who controlled Canaan at that time, the Philistines. 

It was a young soldier in King Saul’s army, a shepherd by the name of David, who changed the course of the event.  David rose to replace Saul when the latter died.  Under his leadership, he unified all the tribes and established a unified Kingdom of Israel.  King David, of course, was none other than the Prophet Dawood.  When King David died, he was replaced by his son, Solomon.  Under his leadership, the Kingdom flourished ever further.  King Solomon, of course, was none other than the Prophet Sulaiman.

Fantastic tales made it look as if King Solomon was the ruler of the world.  The reality was somewhat different.  King Solomon was powerful, no doubt.  He was a man of wisdom.  God gave him many special abilities, such as communicating with animals or using the genie race (jinn) as his slaves, but he was no land conqueror like Genghis Khan.  He was rich, powerful and very influential, but conquering other nations was not his hobby.  His kingdom was only slightly larger than the current Israel and Palestine combined. 

Yet, while the size of his kingdom was relatively small, he was powerful and influential because of his diplomatic relation with other empires at that time.  Due to his wisdom and justice, he was respected and revered not only by his people, but by other kings as well. It seems likely that other empires paid tribute to him. It was partly because of these diplomatic relations and political alliances that he had many wives.  Three hundred wives and seven hundred concubines it was said, making the total about one thousand.

But when he died circa 930 BC, the United Kingdom of Israel broke into two.  The northern part of the Kingdom, home to ten of the twelve tribes of Israel, refused to accept the sovereignty of Solomon’s successor.  They seceded and established an independent Kingdom known as the Kingdom of Israel, taking the original name of the kingdom.  The southern part, ruled by Solomon’s descendants, was known as the Kingdom of Judah, since Solomon, the son of David, was from the tribe of Judah.

Unlike the Kingdom of Judah, which recognized that the monarchy had to be from the line of Judah, the Kingdom of Israel recognized no such thing.  Succession of power depended on who was more acceptable to the ten tribes.  For that reason, it became less stable due to internal strife for power as well as foreign threats, including the threat from her sister kingdom in the south. 

By 722 BC, it was conquered and annihilated by the Assyrians, after slightly more than 200 years in existence.  It was said that all those ten tribes were captured and brought in captivity in Assyria, and thereafter lost without a trace, and hence known as the Ten Lost Tribes.  It is possible that many of them were enslaved and lost into oblivion, but the more likely scenario is that many of them escaped and lived in the Southern Kingdom, the Kingdom of Judah.  In any case, the Kingdom of Israel was no more.  There was only the Kingdom of Judah.

The Kingdom of Judah too was annihilated in 586 BC by the Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar, and the Temple of Solomon, completed in 960 BC, was razed to the ground.  The Israelites were once again became the people without the kingdom, but this time their condition was worse.  They were scattered all over, no longer forming a cohesive group, unlike the time when they had the empire, or even when they escaped out of Egypt. 

In 332 BC, Alexander the Great conquered that land, but there was no mention that Alexander had either conquered Israel of Judah.  This tells us that no such kingdom existed at that time.  The Children of Israel did exist, but they were without kingdom of note.

They rose again in 167 BC and established a dynasty known as Hasmonean Dynasty, led by their leader, Judah Maccabee.  But this was not a powerful or unified kingdom like the time of David and Solomon.  This dynasty was at last conquered by the Romans under Pompey, a Roman general who was at first the ally but later the rival of Julius Caesar.

The Romans called the area Judea and the people there the Jews.  It was during the Romans’ occupation that Jesus was born.  By then, the term Israelite was no longer in vogue.  This group of people was simply known as Jews.

So, was Jesus a Jew?  You bet he was. 

One may argue: Since you put it that way, then Jesus may be called a Jew.  But, if we want to be more specific, is he a Jew (that is, from the line of Judah) or is he a Levite (that is, from the line of Levi)?

Well, I don’t really see the need to be specific in that way.

But, one may further argue, the Quran says that he is a sister of Aaron and from the family of Imran.  This means that he is a Levite rather than a Judah.

Considering that both Levi and Judah, along with the other eight brothers, were accomplices in the crime of trying to get rid of Joseph, I fail to see the significance of Jesus being the descendant of any of them.  At the same time, considering that from both lines appeared great prophets and kings, being the descendant of either would be a great honor in itself.  But Jesus is honored not so much because of his ancestors, but because of himself.  We shall talk more about him in later entry.

The End