Mohammad Elshinawy – Proof of Prophethood #15 – How did Muhammad manage to banish age old societal issues

			In just 23 years, the final prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam takes a conglomerate of tribes in
some remote region of the world, surrounded by perilous deserts, largely isolated from the ideas
from the events of the major civilizations of their era, and also further weakened by their internal
strife and disunity, and their prevailing illiteracy. And somehow, within two short decades, they
become a model generation that transforms the world forever. How was that possible? Upon becoming
the purist observers of monotheism, this didn't just make them the most devoted servants of God in
terms of their ritual worship of Him, but also placed them at the forefront of contributing to
		

			humanity.
		

			At night, they would be found standing in prayer longing for the divine, with tears streaming down
their cheeks as they reflected over His revealed Word. By day they would live for purposes greater
than themselves, exhausting themselves in philanthropy, in education, and riding off as knights as
well as liberating the world from the tyrannical regimes that were subjugating them. They brought
justice to the nations as we find the book of Isaiah in the Bible foretelling that they would, and
subsequently unlocked the virtue of innumerable ascetics and reformers have and men of piety and
women of piety and great thinkers for centuries. Out of them emerge the civilization where chastity
		

			and integrity and propriety were the norm, and societies in which alcoholism was never widespread.
until this very day, when we see all around the world as the World Health Organization reports
millions upon millions of alcohol related deaths. The lowest of these numbers are found consistently
in Muslim countries, as is the case with sexually transmitted diseases, as is the case with suicide
and homicide rates as well. The impact of Islam on preventing alcohol abuse and what becomes of it,
and on low life satisfaction in all of its manifestations, is sometimes just so glaring, the
hallmarks of Islamic civilization feeding off of the inertia of that initial model generation where
		

			justice and equality, balance and moderation, diversity, progress and the pursuit of beauty. Adam
Smith, the famous 18th century economist, he himself admits that the Empire of the caliphs as he
puts it seems to be the very first state in which a tranquility existed, that the cultivation of the
sciences requires. It was under the protection of those generous and magnificent princes, he says,
of the early years of Islam, that the ancient Greek philosophy was finally restored. That
tranquility he adds which they're mild, gentle, just and religious government, he says, diffused
over their vast empire is what revived the curiosity of mankind and drove them to inquire about the
		

			connecting principles of nature. Muslim centuries later also looked back to the companions of the
Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him as the gold standard for magnanimity and clemency
and forgiveness, even when it came to military conflict and rules of engagement. To share just one
beautiful example of the precedent, the earliest model generation set, Abu Aziz, who was a warring
poet who would spread propaganda and provoke armies against the Prophet Muhammad, peace and
blessings be upon him, was captured at the very first battle in the prophetic lifetime, the Battle
of bed, and he says, the Prophet Muhammad told his companions treats the captives well. And that is
		

			why every time when it was lunch or dinner, they would leave to me the bread and they would only eat
dates without any sort of breads out of regard for the strict instructions of the Prophet Muhammad,
peace and blessings be upon him. And so we can look back at all of these accomplishments, all of
these achievements, and ask ourselves How did this happen in a single generation? Has history ever
known anyone with the ability to wean people off of alcoholism whatsoever, let alone do it
overnight? Why were Muslims able to just give it up? These were a people whose honor and whose
income was interlocked with drinking wine. Yet with a gradual program that the Prophet Muhammad
		

			set them upon, he reached his trajectory and whatever was remaining of wine upon the final
instructions was poured into the streets the barrels were broken, and they flowed all at once. Has
any single person ever been able to ban and abolish age old customs, whether about unrestricted
polygyny, or about male only inheritance laws or about female infanticide, even modern India today
after 100 years with strict enforcement still struggles with their female infanticide problem. And
yet with the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his meager resources over such a
short span of time. All of this was changed such a blessing transformation. Even the famous Indian
		

			scholar Malala curry Rahim Allah, he comments on the statement of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam, when he said to the people, Allah will raise people many ranks, by virtue of their
commitment to his book the Quran, and he will demote others accordingly. He said and we saw this as
a historical reality within one generation after the Prophet Muhammad, the entire leadership
practically of Muslim civilization was the slave class because they committed themselves to
scholarship and committed themselves to studying the sacred texts. And so captured in these past
five episodes are some of the unique achievements of God's final prophet Muhammad, peace and
		

			blessings be upon him, through which God solidifies our belief and our certainty that all of this
success could have only happened at the hand of God. He transformed those under his tutelage from
one of the most savage and lawless communities imaginable, to the best community of all among
humankind, brought out for the betterment and inspiration of humankind.