Before And After

Before And After

1990 5 May 11 Before And After (299)

Raising men from the level of animals

What were the Arabs before Islam, and what did they become after Islam? Before the advent of Islam they had fashioned statues from stone, which they named al-Lat, Manat and al-’Uzzah. They took great pride in these sculptured statues and would say: “AI-Lat and al-’Uzzah and Manat – they are the great ones, and we shall bow to their will.”

This was the state of their thinking before they received the message of Islam. After receiving it, they changed in their entire outlook. As a people, they underwent a complete change of character. Those who had taken pride in their idols were the very ones to smash them with their own hands. Those who had formerly bowed before men now came to make men bow before God.

One such was Ribi ibn Amir, who went in 14 AH to Qadsia in Iran, to the court of Rustam, the Iranian Commander in Chief, in order to carry on negotiations. When Ribi ibn Amir entered the court, Rustam was seated in great magnificence on a golden throne, and surrounded by every splendour. Rustam immediately invited him to sit on a finely wrought chair. But Ribi ibn Amir declined, and seated himself on the ground instead. Rustam asked him the reason. He replied, “We do not like sitting on such elaborate seats.” Then Rustam asked him what had brought him to his country. Ribi ibn Amir replied: “God has sent us so that those who are willing may be brought from the worship of men to the worship of God; from the narrowness of the world to its vastness; and from the cruelty and injustice of religions to the humanity and justice of Islam. Thus God has sent us with His religion to His creatures so that we may call them to it.”