The Preservation of Culture

For instance, during the last days of the Prophet of Islam, a Yemenite called Musailima claimed prophethood. He sent two envoys to the Prophet of Islam to ask him to accept his claim. The Prophet asked the two men what their views were regarding Musailima, and they replied that they believed in his claim. At this, the Prophet replied that, since it was the prevailing custom not to kill any messengers, he would refrain from doing so. Otherwise he would have done so. (Seerat Ibn Hisham). This tradition of the Prophet clearly shows us that, if any principle has been accepted at the international level, it has to be followed. This being so, the preservation of cultural heritage will be considered as important by Islam as it is by other nations. In the modern world, great stress indeed is laid upon the preservation of cultural legacies or historical monuments and Islam has no quarrel with this. It will certainly never follow a divergent course on matters of common consent. The Prophet of Islam was born in Makkah where there were no date palms. When he migrated to Madinah, he found dateorchards in abundance. One day, as the Prophet was passing by an orchard, he saw some men high up in the palm-trees, pollinating them with their hands. The Prophet said that he did not think there was any particular advantage in doing this and advised them to leave off this practice. That year, the yield of dates was very low. When the Prophet asked why this was so, he was told that since he had discouraged the owners of the trees from pollinating them, the yield of dates had fallen. At this, the Prophet said, “Continue to do what you have been doing, for you know your worldly matters better.” This advice given by the Prophet points to a very important principle. It is the necessity to differentiate between matters of creed and practicalities. According to Islam, practical matters,