The Ansar were very happy with the coming of the messenger of Allah to their town and his taking it as the capital of his state. After the conditions had been orderly in Medina, the Prophet (a.s.) took very important steps such as:
Brotherhood among Muslims
The first step the Prophet (a.s.) took was that he made the Muhajireen brothers of the Ansar by a tie of true brotherhood that was confirmer than the tie of blood and kinship. From among the conditions of this brotherhood was that each one should participate his brother in every possession and every ease and hardship. The Prophet (a.s.) made himself a brother of Imam Ali (a.s.). There is another thing worth of being mentioned is that the Prophet (a.s.) reconciled the Aws Tribe with the Khazraj Tribe after their long enmities and wars.
Building the Islamic civilization
When everything was orderly in Medina and the Prophet (a.s.) found protection and security among its people, he started the establishing of the Islamic civilization that would save man from all that might degrade him and would take him toward perfection. The Islamic civilization has made an integral method of life for man that he can find in it security, ease, and all that he wishes for in life. Islam deals with all fields of life and throughout all ages. The following are some of the articles of this method:
Liberation of woman
Woman, in the pre-Islamic age, was the weakest of Allah’s creatures and the most suffering and oppressed creature. From the abominable injustice against woman in that age was that whenever a female was born for a man, that man would be very angry and distressed. Allah has said in the Qur'an, (When if one of them receives tidings of the birth of a female, his face remains darkened, and he is wroth inwardly).[1] The worst of that was that they buried their daughters alive. Allah has said, (And when the female infant buried alive is asked: for what sin she was killed?).[2] This bad habit was widespread among some tribes like Rabee’ah, Kindeh, and Tamim. From the sayings famous among them was “the killings of girls is from noble deeds”. Islam has liberated woman and built her a honorable, exalted entity, for she is the renewer of life and the educator of generations.
Another form of the injustice against woman was that she was deprived of her right in inheritance. She had no right to inherit her father, mother, or husband. However, Islam has equaled her to man in this concern. She has the right to inherit and to bequeath.
As for one’s father’s widow in the pre-Islamic age, she was considered as a part of inheritance. She was possessed by the elder son of that dead father. He could get married to her if he wanted, or otherwise, he married her to anyone and took her dowry to himself, or he would let her unmarried until she died.
As for the marriage of woman in general, it was controlled by the personal wishes of fathers, brothers, and other male relatives, whereas woman herself has no right to interfere in the affairs of her marriage. Males had full control on woman. They could, if they wanted, leave her unmarried until she died, or she would ransom herself.
Islam has liberated woman from all those ties and made no authority for anyone over her except her father (according to some jurisprudents) because he is more aware of men’s affairs than her, but on condition that he must realize her welfare; otherwise, he shall have no authority over her. This concerns a virgin, but as for a non-virgin, her father has no authority over her (as to her marriage).
Equality
From the high values that Islam has established is the equality among all human beings with all their different races, nations, and languages with no difference between a ruler and a subject, a wealthy one and a poor one. The Prophet (a.s.) has said, “All of you are from Adam and Adam is from earth.”
Jeeb says, “Islam is the only religion that still has the ability to be greatly successful in uniting the discordant human races and communities in one front based on equality. When the discords of the East and the West are put to be discussed, it must be resorted to Islam.”
Jawaharlal Nehru says, “The theory of the Islamic brotherhood and the equality that Muslims believed in and lived with it had had a deep influence in the Hindus’ mentalities. The wretched, whom the Indian society had deprived of equality and human rights, were the most in submitting to this influence.”
Thomas Carlyle says, “In Islam there is a characteristic that is one of the noblest and most beloved characteristics; it is the equality between people.”[3]
It is not meant by the equality that Islam has announced the natural equality among people in color, intelligence, morals, and natures, for this is something impossible, as the equality in (the level and ways of) life is impossible as well. The Prophet (a.s.) has said, “If you are equal (in everything), you shall perish.” Anyhow, here are some aspects of the equality in Islam:
1. Social equality
Allah has said, (O mankind! Surely We have created you from a male and a female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. Surely the noblest of you with Allah is the best in conduct).[4] Ibn Abbas narrated a tradition about the cause of the revelation of this verse that a freed slave had proposed to a woman from the Bani Bayadhah. The messenger of Allah (a.s.) asked the woman’s family to marry her to the freed slave, but they said, “O messenger of Allah, would we marry our daughters to our freed slaves?”
Then, this verse was revealed to destroy this notion that sowed differences between social classes. The infallible imams of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) were the first to follow the orders of Allah. Imam Zaynol Aabidin (a.s.) set his bondmaid free and then he got married to her. Abdul Melik bin Marwan blamed him for that in a letter to him saying in it, “I have been informed of your marriage to your freed slave. You know well that there are competent ones to you in Quraysh by whom you shall have glory in affinity and noble offspring. You have neither regarded yourself nor your offspring. With greetings.”
Imam Zaynol Aabidin replied to him saying, “Your letter has come to me where you blame me for my getting married to my freed slave and claim that there are in Quraysh well-qualified women by whom I shall have glory in affinity and noble offspring. There is no above the messenger of Allah an eminence in glory nor a nobility. She just was my bondmaid. She got out of me (out of bondage to me) by the order of the will of Allah the Almighty that I sought His reward by it, and then I got her back according to His laws. Whoever is pure in his religion nothing of his affairs shall harm him. Surely Allah has exalted by (the faith in) Islam the mean, repaired defects, and removed the blame. There is no blame on a Muslim, but the blame (in that matter) is the blame of the pre-Islamic age…”[5]
This is the clear logic of Islam. It has annulled all differences and barriers among Muslims. The Prophet (a.s.) said, “All of you are from Adam and Adam is from earth. Let some men stop glorying on their fathers or they shall be to Allah lower than dung-beetles.” He also said, “Allah has removed from you the defect of the pre-Islamic age (of ignorance) and the glorying on fathers. People are two men (kinds); one is dutiful, pious, and honored to Allah, and the other is dissolute, wretched, and ignoble to Allah.”[6]
Islam has established the rules of equality on the base of the sound nature preferring no people to others except by piety. Imam Zaynol Aabidin (a.s.) said, “Allah the Almighty has created the Paradise for whoever obeys Him even if he is an Abyssinian slave, and created the Fire for whoever disobeys Him even if he is a Qurayshi master.”
The Prophet (a.s.) addressed his family saying, “O Bani Hashim, let you not come to me with your lineage saying: we are the progeny of Muhammad…when people come to me with their deeds.”
The Prophet (a.s.) resisted the vying in glory by ancestors that was widespread among the Arabs. One day, a black slave disputed with Abdurrahman bin Ouf (one of the chiefs of Quraysh) who was angry and said to the black man, “O son of the black woman!” When the Prophet (a.s.) heard that, he angrily said to Abdurrahman, “There is no preference for the son of a white woman to the son of a black woman except by the truth.”
2. Equality before the law
One of the clear manifestations in the Islamic politics is the equality of people before the law where there is no preference for the strong to the weak or the wealthy to the poor. Once, the Prophet (a.s.) was begged to pardon a thief because of her noble family, but he refused and said, “Surely, those who were before you had perished because if a weak person from among them committed a sin, they punished him/her, and if a noble one committed a sin, they left him free. By Allah, if Fatima daughter of Muhammad stole, I would cut off her hand.”[7]
Imam Ali (a.s.), during his caliphate, lost his armor and then he found it with some Jewish man who claimed it was his. Imam Ali (a.s.) brought the case before the judge who judged for the Jew. Imam Ali (a.s.) simply submitted to the judgment.
During the reign of Umar, some Jewish man disputed with Imam Ali (a.s.). Umar said to the Imam Ali (a.s.), “O Abul Hasan, get up to stand up with your litigant.”
Imam Ali (a.s.) changed color. After the trial, Umar said to Imam Ali (a.s.), “O Abul Hasan, you might be angry that I asked you to stop with your Jewish opponent?”
Imam Ali (a.s.) said, “No, but I was angry because you called me by my surname (while it was not so with the Jew) and did not equal me to my opponent (did not regard the Jew equal to me). A Muslim and a Jew are equal before the truth.”
Islam has imposed on its followers to equalize the two opponents in courts. It is not right to prefer one to the other. It is worth mentioning to refer here to some wonderful pictures of equality in judgment.
1. Equalizing the litigants in greeting; a judge has no right to greet one of them and leave the other. If they both greeted him, he has to reply to them both.
2. Equalizing them in speaking; he is not to talk with one of them and give up the other.
3. Equalizing them in giving permission to come in to him; he is not to permit one of them and reject the other.
4. Equalizing them in regarding and respecting
5. Equalizing them in seating; it is not permissible to him to seat one of them in a good place and leave the other anywhere.
6. Equalizing them in cheerfulness
7. Listening to the speaking of both of them; he is not to listen to one of them carefully away from the other.
8. Equalizing them in justice and fairness.
9. A judge has no right to prefer one of the opponents to the other in anything.[8]
This equality that Islam has adopted has no any like in the modern and all other systems.[9]
3. equality in taxes
All Muslims are equal in paying the taxes that Islam has imposed like the zakat, the Khums, and others. They are not imposed on some people and some others are exempted from them.
4. equality in employment
Islam has equalized all citizens in employment and posts. Whoever is well-qualified to a certain post is worthier of occupying that post. No certain class of people is preferred to another concerning certain posts.
Individual responsibility
Man, in Islam, is responsible for his deeds, and no one other than him should be blamed in place of him for that. Allah says, (every man is responsible for what he shall have wrought),[10] and (That was a people that have passed away; they shall have what they earned and you shall have what you earn, and you shall not be called upon to answer for what they did).[11]
This responsibility is one of the wonderful rules that Islam has fixed in its civilization that has announced the human rights.
Annulling the racial segregation
One of the high values in Islam is the annulling of the racial segregation among Muslims and among all human beings. A very poor black woman lived in the mosque. One day, the Prophet (a.s.) missed her. When he asked about her, it was said to him that she had died. He felt pain and said to his companions, “Would that you have told me of that!” He asked about the place of the woman’s tomb and he visited it.[12]
The Prophet said about Salman al-Farisi (the Persian), “Salman is from us the Ahlul Bayt. Charity to Salman is impermissible.”[13]
The Prophet (a.s.) said about Bilal al-Habashi (the Abyssinian) when some hypocrites criticized and mocked at him because he pronounced [s] as [sh], “The [s] of Bilal is [sh] to Allah. The [s] of Bilal is better than your [sh].”
There are many other examples showing that the Prophet (a.s.) cared too much for the equality among Muslims.
The Islamic brotherhood
The Islamic brotherhood was not just a slogan, but it was an eminent reality in the rulings of Islam. The Islamic brotherhood was not established on tribal, racial, or regional bases, but it was established as a part of the Islamic doctrine that every Muslim would be asked about and punished for. It supplies the society with the means of unity, mutual understanding, altruism, and cooperation, and it creates a unique example of social integrity and blocks the way before its enemies.
As for the reality of the Islamic brotherhood, the Prophet (a.s.) said, “No one of you is a true believer until he wishes to his brother what he wishes to himself.”
The Prophet (a.s.) described the Muslim society as one body saying, “The example of believers in their mutual love and mercifulness is like the body when one of its organs suffers a pain, the rest of the body falls in fever and sleeplessness for it.”
Islam has considered the Islamic brotherhood as better and stronger than the tie of blood and kinship. The Prophet (a.s.) said, “A Muslim is a brother to a Muslim; he should not wrong, degrade,…him.”
The Islamic brotherhood is not just a mere passion, but it is a firm relationship extending to the deep of hearts and the inners of souls. It requires all Muslims to participate in joy and in sorrow. The Prophet (a.s.) had often declared that. Once, he sent some man to do something for him. The man was late. When he came back, the Prophet asked him why he was late and he said it was ‘clothlessness’.
The Prophet (a.s.) asked him, “Do you not have a neighbor who has two garments to lend you one?”
The man said, “Yes, O messenger of Allah.”
The Prophet (a.s.) was unpleased and said, “He is not a brother to you!”
Imam as-Sadiq (a.s.) said, “A Muslim is a brother to a Muslim; he is his eye, mirror, and guide. He should not betray, wrong, cheat, backbite, or tell him lies…”[14]
Imam al-Baqir (a.s.) said, “A believer is a brother to a believer; he should not abuse, anger, or mistrust him.”[15]
Islam has recommended some acts that they encourage love and brotherhood among Muslims. The following are some of them:
1. Mercifulness and sympathy
Imam as-Sadiq (a.s.) said, “Fear Allah and be brothers loving each other for the sake of Allah, helping each other, and showing mercy to each other. Visit each other, meet, consider our matter (imamate), and liven it up.”[16]
He also said, “Muslims are required to strive for interconnection and cooperation in comforting and showing mercy to the needy until you shall be as Allah has ordered you to be(compassionate among themselves), showing mercy to each other, caring for what is unknown to you from their (other Muslims) affairs like the community of the Ansar was at the time of the messenger of Allah (a.s.).”
2. The spread of greeting
One of the ties of the Muslim society is the greeting of each other. The Prophet (a.s.), when he arrived in Yathrib, ordered Muslims of some things saying to them, “Spread greeting (among you), speak good, offer food (to the needy), retain kinship, and offer prayers in the night while people are asleep, then you shall enter the Paradise peacefully.”[17]
3. Mutual visiting
Islam encourages Muslims to visit each other because these mutual visits confirm the love and relation between them. Imam Ali (a.s.) said, “The meeting of brothers is a great gain even if they are few.”[18]
Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (a.s.) said to one of his companions, “Give my regards to our followers and recommend them of the fear of Allah and that their wealthy should help their poor, their powerful should help their weak, their alive should attend the funerals of their dead, and to meet in their houses. If they meet each other, it shall be a life to our matter (imamate). May Allah have mercy on whoever livens up our matter.”[19]
There are many other traditions transmitted from the infallible imams inviting Muslims to keep on visiting each other.
4. Satisfying the needs of people
Satisfying the needs of people causes more love and cordiality among people. The Prophet (a.s.) often and always encouraged that. He said, “Whoever moves to satisfy a need of his brother an hour in the night or in the day, whether he satisfies it or not, it shall be better to him than spending a month of worshiping in seclusion.”[20]
Safwan al-Jammal narrated, “Once, I was with Imam Abu Abdullah as-Sadiq (a.s.) when a man from Mecca, called Maymun, came to him. He complained to him that he could not pay the rents. He (Imam as-Sadiq) said to me, ‘Go and help your brother!’ I went to satisfy the need of the Meccan man, and when I came back, Imam as-Sadiq (a.s.) asked me, ‘What did you do to the need of your brother?’ I said, ‘Allah has satisfied it, may my father and mother die for you.’ Imam as-Sadiq (a.s.) was delighted and said, ‘Surely if you help your Muslim brother it is more beloved to me than circumambulating the House (the Kaaba) for a week.’”[21]
5. Helping a Muslim
The Prophet (a.s.) said, “Whoever relieves a Muslim from a distress from the distresses of this life, Allah will relieve him from a distress from the distresses of the Day of Judgment. Allah is in the assistance of a servant as long as that servant is in the assistance of his brother.”[22]
Imam al-Baqir (a.s.) said, “Let no one of you think that when he pleases a believer that he pleases him only, but, by Allah, he pleases us, and in fact, by Allah, he pleases the messenger of Allah (a.s.).”[23]
These are some of the means that increase love and strengthen the relations among the members of the Muslim society, and consequently they lead to the unity and solidarity of Muslims.
Factors of separation
Islam has closed all the doors through which separation may come in and affect the Islamic brotherhood and split the unity of Muslims. Here are some factors that lead to that:
1. Mocking and insulting each other
Allah says, (O you who believe! Let not a folk deride a folk who may be better than they (are), not let women (deride) women who may be better than they are; neither defame one another, nor insult one another by nicknames. Bad is the name of lewdness after faith. And whoso turns not in repentance, such are the evil-doers).[24]
2. Backbiting
Islam has prohibited backbiting. Allah says, (…nor let some of you backbite others. Does one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? But you abhor it; and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, surely Allah is Oft-returning, Merciful).[25]
The Holy Qur'an has likened backbiting to the eating of one’s dead brother’s flesh. The Prophet (a.s.) often emphasized on the prohibition of backbiting. He said, “O folk of those who believed by their tongues and did not believe by their hearts! Do not backbite Muslims and do not look for their defects! Surely whoever looks for the defect of his brother Allah will look for his own defect until He will expose him in the heart of his house.”[26]
The Prophet (a.s.) also said, “Backbiting is faster in (destroying) a Muslim’s faith than a canker in his inners.”[27]
He also said, “No meeting is built by backbiting except that its religion is destroyed. Purify your hearings from the listening to backbiting, because the sayer and the listener to it (backbiting) are participants in sin.”[28]
3. Talebearing
The Prophet (a.s.) has prohibited talebearing, for it leads to grudge, enmity, and quarrels among Muslims.
The Prophet (a.s.) said, “The most hated ones of you to Allah are those who practice talebearing, separate between lovers, and ascribe defects to the innocent.”[29]
He also said to his companions, “Shall I inform you of the worst of you?” They said, “Yes, O messenger of Allah.” He said, “Those who practice talebearing, separate between lovers, and ascribe defects to the innocent.”[30]
Many other traditions have been transmitted from the infallible imams about talebearing. Muhammad bin Fudhayl said to Imam al-Kadhim (a.s.), “May I be sacrificed for you! Something that I hate is informed to me about one of my brothers and when I asked him about it, he denies it, though those who inform about him are trustworthy.”
The imam said to him, “O Muhammad, do not believe your hearing and sight about your brother. If fifty witnesses bear witness (about him), and says to you something else, you should believe him and deny them. Do not spread about him something that defames him and destroys his status, and then you shall be from those about whom Allah has said, (Surely those who love that scandal should spread respecting those who believe, shall have a grievous chastisement in this world and the hereafter).[31]”[32]
4. Irrelation
The Prophet (a.s.) based the Muslim society on interconnection and love and he prohibited the absence of relation. He said, “If any two Muslims desert each other and remain three days without making peace with each other, they shall be out of Islam and there shall be no guardianship between them. Whichever of them precedes in talking with his brother shall be precedent to the Paradise on the Day of Judgment.”[33]
He also said, “It is not permissible for a Muslim to desert his brother more than three days.”[34]
5. Non-cooperation
Islam has built the Muslim society on cooperation and prohibited the violation of it. Imam al-Baqir (a.s.) said, “Whoever refrains from assisting his Muslim brother and satisfying his need, he shall be afflicted by assisting one whom he shall be punished and not rewarded for.”[35]
Imam as-Sadiq (a.s.) asked his companions, “Why do you belittle us?”
A man from Khurasan said to him, “Allah forbids that we belittle you or anything of your matter!”
The imam answered him while being angry, “You are one of those who have belittled us”
The man said, “Allah forbid!”
The imam said, “May Allah forgive you! Did you not hear so-and-so, when we were in Qarn al-Jahfah, saying: ‘carry me on the mount for a mile. By Allah, I have been tired.’? By Allah, you did not raise your head to him. You belittled us. Whoever belittles a believer from among us belittles and neglects the sanctity of Allah the Almighty.”[36]
6. Harming and insulting
Islam has prohibited the harming and the insulting of a Muslim. Many traditions were transmitted from the Prophet (a.s.) and the infallible imams about that.
The Prophet (a.s.) said, “A (true) Muslim is he whom Muslims are safe from his tongue and hand.”
He said, “It is not permissible for a Muslim to point to his brother with a look that may hurt him.”
He said, “Allah the Almighty has said, ‘He, who degrades my believing servant, resists Me.’”[37]
Imam as-Sadiq (a.s.) said, “Whoever abases and despises a believer for his neediness and poverty Allah will expose him (the despiser) before the creatures on the Day of Judgment.”[38]
He also said, “Whoever despises a poor or not poor believer Allah the Almighty will be despising and hating him until he shall renounce his despising to him (the believer).”[39]
7. Frightening and terrorizing
Islam has prohibited the terrifying and terrorizing of any Muslim. The messenger of Allah (a.s.) said, “Whoever looks at a believer with a look by which he intends to terrify him Allah will terrify him on the Day where there shall be no shelter except His.”[40]
Imam as-Sadiq (a.s.) said, “He, who terrifies a believer by a ruler that a harm from him (the ruler) may afflict him but it does not afflict him, shall be in Fire, and he, who terrifies a believer by a ruler that a harm from him may afflict him and it does afflict him, shall be in the Fire with the Pharaoh and the family of the Pharaoh.”[41]
Islam has prohibited terrorism and promised terrorists to be in the fire of the Hell forever.”
8. Revilement
From the high values of the Islamic education is the prohibition of revilement even toward the opponents of the religion. Allah says, (And do not abuse those whom they call upon besides Allah, lest exceeding the limits they should abuse Allah out of ignorance).[42]
The Prophet (a.s.) said, “Abusing a believer is apostasy, eating his flesh (backbiting) is disobedience, fighting him is disbelief, and the inviolability of his property is like the inviolability of his blood.”[43]
A man from Tamim asked the Prophet (a.s.) to recommend him of something. One of the Prophet’s recommendations to him was, “Do not revile people lest you earn enmity of them.”[44]
9. Watching of others’ slips and defects
Islam has surrounded the Muslim society by a strong fence to protect it from splitting and separating. From that which causes separation in the society is the watching of others’ slips and faults which Islam has insistently prohibited. Allah the Almighty says, (Surely those who love that slander should be spread concerning those who believe, shall have a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter).[45] The Prophet (a.s.) said, “O folk of those who have become Muslims by the tongue and not by the heart, do not watch the slips of Muslims, because whoever watches the slips of Muslims Allah watches his slips and Allah will expose whomever He watches his slips.”[46]
Imam Abu Ja’far (al-Baqir) (a.s.) said, “The soonest of good in being rewarded for is beneficence, and the soonest of evil in being punished for is oppression. It is an enough defect for a man to see in people what he overlooks in himself, and to blame people for what he himself can not give up, and to hurt his companion with what does not concern him.”[47]
Imam al-Baqir (a.s.) said, “From that which makes one nearer to disbelief is that he befriends someone in religion and he watches his slips to censure him for them someday.”[48]
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