of Islam. It would not be out of place to assert that it has been a persistent tradition of world civilizations.
The battle between the old and the new orders led to many outcomes. In the phase preceding the Prophet Muḥammad’s advent ancestral faith generally gained ascendancy while the true believers were exiled and martyred. The forces representing falsehood were, however, destroyed in line with Allah’s practice. Divine penalty overtook them reducing them to naught. Earlier believers were sometimes rewarded with success or gained power in their land of emigration. At times the whole community was transformed.
The Prophet Muḥammad (peace be upon him), it must be recalled, was the final Messenger and Islam the universal, eternal faith for everyone. It was, therefore, inevitable that his message be preserved for ever. Accordingly it is destined that Islam had its beginning and evolution in the non-Muslim milieu of Makkah. The accomplishing phase took place in Madīnah as Islam was ascendant. Makkan Islam, nonetheless, served as the basis for Islam in Madīnah. The latter represents the extension and completion of the former. Moreover, Makkan Islam provides the Prophetic role model for the growth of Islam in a non-Muslim society, an example to be emulated by Muslim minorities in all lands until the Last Day.
These are two features of the universal message of Islam. Historical factors and laws of nature throw ample light on the rise and fall of all communities.
Several Qur’ānic verses as principles and the stories of Prophets as parables clarify these stages explicitly. While addressing Muslims the Qur’ān makes it plain that Islam is universal whereas the rise and fall of the Muslims is contingent upon the laws of nature, especially of causality. If Muslims fulfill necessary conditions for gaining ascendancy, pursue consistently the path of hard work, they are bound to attain success. If they fail to do so, they would be consigned to the abyss of fall and degeneration. This divine exhortation appears thus in the Qur’ān: ‘If you turn back from the path, Allah would substitute you with another people, then they would not be like you.’1 The same is pronounced as the unalterable way of Allah. It is made clear that Muslims would undergo rise and fall in proportion to their conduct. This divine promise came true in the very early days of the Makkan phase that Makkan Muslims would achieve heights of success. They were told unequivocally that in the event of their violation of divine commands the Prophet’s teachings and laws of nature, they would be subject to loss and destruction. Many Qur’ānic verses of the Makkan period bring home the above point. These bear out the above truth.
The construction and evolution of the Muslim ummah in the Makkan phase and its consolidation and perfection in the Madīnan phase underscore the same divine law. Every community is subject to growth and decline. The Muslim community is subject to growth and decline. The Muslim community is not an exception to it. These verses thus reinforce the universality, timelessness and meaningfulness of the Qur’ānic message which the gifted souls cannot afford to ignore.
As it became apparent that Muslims would undergo both rise and fall, it was imperative that relevant laws for these two stages be in place. The same distinction pervades the Makkan and Madīnan sūrahsin terms of their rulings and teachings. Makkan commands and exhortations are the guidelines for Muslim minorities while Madīnan ones cater for the powerful Muslim community. The Qur’ān exhorts man to reflect and act insightfully. In line with this it emerges that the division between Makkan and Madīnan phases is premised on the same wisdom, emanating from laws of nature. For, it was not beyond Allah’s power to bless Muslims with power in the Makkan phase itself. The Makkan Quraysh would have pledged subservience. However, Allah intended that the Muslim community should face both the situations. Accordingly, ascendancy was granted only in the Madīnan phase.
The distinct difference between the two phases was sharpened by divine revelation and hence it was perceived by the Prophet (peace be upon him). The leading Companions and their followers too, appreciated this important point. The Quraysh chiefs who were gifted with far-sightedness and a balanced approach to things did discern this philosophy of ascendancy and subservience and of majority and minority, to some extent. As guided by Allah, the Prophet (peace be upon him) devised his strategy in the Makkan phase while the Quraysh chiefs acted in their own ways. The Makkan model was formulated in the light of Makkan sūrahs and other divine commands. For thirteen years Muslims were trained how to live as a minority and how to construct their society for achieving progress and success. It enabled them to do well in the Madīnan phase and helped produce a blue print for Muslim minorities, providing them with a way of life and of constructing their society.
The Prophet’s Career: Rationale behind Makkan and Madīnan Phases
Generally speaking, traditional biographers of the Prophet (peace be upon him), who abide by Oriental values, do not analyze vigorously the Makkan phase of the Prophet’s career. They faithfully follow primary sources. They are so much swayed by Ibn Isḥāq’s and Ibn Hishām’s work, Al-Sīrah al-Nabawīyah, that they blindly follow in their footsteps. They betray sheer ignorance of the factors and phases of the evolution of the Prophet’s career. So doing, they keep the readers in the dark. Generally their practice is to describe the thirteen long years of the Prophet’s Makkan phase from 610 CE to 623 CE in terms of providing an account of the ills of the Jāhiliyyah period and relating the Prophet’s ancestors and his assuming the office of messengership. They strictly follow the line adopted by the classical masters, Ibn Isḥāq and Ibn Hishām. Then they offer a traditional overview of the sending down of revelation, the gradual revelation of the Qur’ān, the divine command for making a call to Islam, early Muslims’ acceptance of Islam, the preaching of Islam in both secret and public and other familiar events. Their treatment of the Islamic commands and Qur’ānic teachings does not advance understanding. By mentioning only the beliefs and some other religious commands they fail to present a complete picture of Islam. This is on account of the lack of a detailed analysis. As a result, they fall short of projecting how the Muslim community was constituted in the Makkan phase.
The truth of the matter is much more complex, varied and multi-layered. The Prophet had adopted a particular strategy for this phase of subjugation. He had devised it with reference to the Qur’ānic directives and other divine instructions. His main objective was to erect the Muslim community. It is clear from some Qur’ānic passages and aḥādīth that at times, the Muslim community comprised a single individual. For example, the Qur’ān brands the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) as a community unto himself. In a similar vein, the Prophet (peace be upon him) spoke of Zayd ibn Nufayl as a single community. A single votary of Allah thus constitutes unto himself a community. Another note-worthy point is that a single person has the potential to blossom into an entire community. Presently it is only in its potential form. However it can grow into a full-fledged community. This potential has existed since the days of the Prophet Adam (peace be upon him) and passed on to his progeny. It pervades man’s primordial covenant and also the community embodied by the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him). Being his successor and the seal of Messengers, the Prophet Muḥammad (peace be upon him) was a community unto himself.
Viewed against this background when the Prophet (peace be upon him) embraced Islam in preference to the Quraysh’s ancestral faith, the Qur’ān branded him as the first of believers and Muslims. It is worth-reiterating that Muslims did not exist then. Yet in view of the vast potentials the Qur’ān conferred upon him the above honour. His acceptance of Islam established the principle that everyone is free to choose his faith. The Qur’ān, other Scriptures and traditions of all communities recognize this basic right.
Right to Choose Faith
It is borne out by the jāhiliyyah practices of the Makkan Quraysh and of later history that every member of Makkan society enjoyed the freedom to choose their faith. This explains why there were Christians, Jews, idolators, pagans, Ḥunafā’ and followers of the Abrahamic faith in Makkah. No one ever challenged their right to profess the faith of their choice. When the Quraysh chiefs learnt about the Prophet’s new faith, they accepted it as an instance of his
