from the Seerah of Muhammad

The Call to Islam
At the time of the Prophet’s (saaw) call to Messengership, the land and wealth of the Arabs were
not in their hands but rather, in the hands of other people.
In the north, Syria was under Roman jurisdiction. The Romans appointed local Arab rulers. In
thesouth, Yemen was under the dominion of the Persian Empire and was locally ruled by the Arabs.
Arabs were masters only of the Hijaz, Tiharna and Najd, which were waterless deserts with a few
oases here and there.
It is also well-known that Muhammad (saaw) was called Al-Amin as Sadiq (The Trustworthy and
Truthful) by his people. Fifteen years before his Messengership began, the leaders of the Quraysh
had made him their arbiter in the incident of the placing of the Black Stone and had been pleased
with his decision. His lineage was from the Banu Hashim, the noblest branch of the Quraysh.
It can therefore be said that Muhammad (saaw) was capable of kindling among his compatriots the
fire of Arab nationalism and would thus have united them. They would have responded gladly to
this call, for they were weary of continual tribal warfare and blood feuds. He would then have been
able to free the Arab lands from the domination of Roman and Persian imperialism and would have
been able to establish a united Arab state.
It can be said that if the Prophet (saaw) had called people in this way, instead of bearing tortures for
thirteen years due to the opposition of the power brokers in the peninsula, the whole of Arabia
would have accepted it.
It can be said that if Arabia had thus been united under his leadership and the authority had once
devolved into his hands, he could have used all this to make them accept the belief in the Oneness
of God, for which purpose he (saaw) was sent; and to bring people to submit to their Sustainer after
they had submitted to his own human authority.
But the All-Knowing and All-Wise did not lead His Prophet (saaw) on this course. He led him to
declare openly that there is no deity but Allah, and to bear patiently, with his few Companions,
whatever trials came to them.
Why is this? Obviously, it was not for the sake of subjecting His Prophet (saaw) and the Believers
to oppression. Indeed, He knows that there is no other way. The way is not to free the earth from
Roman and Persian tyranny in order to replace it with Arab tyranny. All tyranny is wicked! The
earth belongs to Allah (swt) and should be purified for Allah (swt), and it cannot be purified for
Him unless the banner, “No deity except Allah” - “La ilaha illa Allah”- is raised into an
authoratative position; no sovereignty is existent except for Allah’s; no law emanates unless it is
from Allah (swt); and no authority of one man over another is operative; and the authority in all
respects belong to Allah (swt). The ‘grouping’ of men which Islam proclaims is based on this Iman
alone, the Iman in which all peoples of any race or color, such as Arabs, Romans or Persians- are
equal under the banner of Allah (swt). This is the only way.
At the time of the Prophet’s call to Messengership, the Arab society was devoid of the proper
distribution of wealth and justice. A small group monopolized all wealth and commerce, and it was
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