ULEMA AND THE MODERN AGE — Misguided Politics

have become disgusted with Islam itself. And so, no longer do many globally-influential intellectuals believe that Islam can be a means for human welfare in the present age. The Example of the Prophet Abdullah Ibn Abbas, a companion of the Prophet reports an incident from the early Makkan phase of the Prophet’s time. One day, the leaders of the Quraysh gathered near the Kabah. They decided to send one of their men to the Prophet to call him so that they could talk over matters with him. When he received this message, the Prophet went to meet them. When the discussion started, the representative of the Quraysh told the Prophet that he had become a source of trouble for their tribe, and accused him of abusing their forefathers, criticizing their religion, and insulting their Gods. After going on in this vein, he told the Prophet that he should desist from what he was doing, in return for which the Quraysh were ready to give him whatever he wanted. The Quraysh would even concede to making him their ruler if he wanted that. The Prophet did not accept this offer of the Quraysh, and, instead, continued with his missionary efforts. Later, when he shifted to Madinah, he established an Islamic government there. Now, the question arises as to why the Prophet did not accept the offer of heading the government earlier, in Makkah, which the Quraysh had made to him, while he established an Islamic government 15 years later, in Madinah. Why didn’t he establish this Islamic government in Makkah, fifteen years earlier? The reason for this is that the way to establish an Islamic government is not that any ‘Islamic personality’, using any means whatsoever, comes to occupy the seat of governance. The establishment of a regime is very closely linked to the prevailing external conditions. The establishment of an Islamic government requires a suitable society, whose members have become receptive to Islam, and where the political factors necessary for the stability of the administration are present. In the Makkan period of the Prophet, these favourable factors had not crystallized. That is why the Prophet did not try to establish Islamic government in Makkah. But, later, in Madinah, these factors had crystallized, and that is why the Prophet established the rule of Islam there.