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THE FIRST PHASE THE STATUS QUO IN MADINAH AT THE TIME OF EMIGRATION
Emigration to Madinah could never be attributable to attempts to escape from jeers and oppression
only, but it also constituted a sort of cooperation with the aim of erecting the pillars of a new society
in a secure place. Hence it was incumbent upon every capable Muslim to contribute to building this
new homeland, immunizing it and holding up its prop. As a leader and spiritual guide, there was no
doubt the Noble Messenger (Peace be upon him), in whose hands exclusively all affairs would be
resolved.
In Madinah, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) had to deal with three distinctively different categories
of people with different respective problems:
1. His Companions, the noble and Allâh fearing elite (May Allah be pleased with them).
2. Polytheists still detached from the Islam and were purely Madinese tribes.
3. The Jews.
1. As for his Companions, the conditions of life in Madinah were totally different from those
they experienced in Makkah. There, in Makkah, they used to strive for one corporate target,
but physically, they were scattered, overpowered and forsaken. They were helpless in terms
of pursuing their new course of orientation. Their means, socially and materially, fell short of
establishing a new Muslim community. In parallel lines, the Makkan Chapters of the Noble
Qur’ân were confined to delineating the Islamic precepts, enacting legislations pertaining to
the believers individually and enjoining good and piety and forbidding evils and vices.
In Madinah , things were otherwise; here all the affairs of their life rested in their hands.
Now, they were at ease and could quite confidently handle the challenges of civilization,
construction, means of living, economics, politics, government administration, war and
peace, codification of the questions of the allowed and prohibited, worship, ethics and all the
relevant issues. In a nutshell, they were in Madinah at full liberty to erect the pillars of a
new Muslim community not only utterly different from that pre-Islamic code of life, but also
distinctive in its features in the world at large. It was a society that could stand for the
Islamic Call for whose sake the Muslims had been put to unspeakable tortures for 10 years.
No doubt, the construction of a society that runs in line with this type of ethics cannot be
accomplished overnight, within a month or a year. It requires a long time to build during
which legislation and legalization will run gradually in a complementary process with mind
cultivation, training and education. Allâh, the All-Knowing, of course undertook legislation
and His Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), implementation and orientation:
·
“He it is Who sent among the unlettered ones a Messenger [Muhammad (Peace be
upon him) from among themselves, reciting to them His Verses, purifying them
(from the filth of disbelief and polytheism), and teaching them the Book (this
Qur’ân, Islamic laws and Islamic Jurisprudence) and
Al-Hikmah
[
As-Sunna
: legal
ways, orders, acts of worship, etc. of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon
him)].” [62:2]
The Prophet’s Companion (May Allah be pleased with), rushed enthusiastically to assimilate
these Qur’ânic rules and fill their hearts joyfully with them:
·
“And when His Verses (this Qur’ân) are recited unto them, they (i.e. the Verses)
increase their Faith.” [8:2]
With respect to the Muslims, this task constituted the greatest challenge for the Messenger
of Allâh (Peace be upon him). In fact, this very purpose lay at the heart of the Islamic Call
and the Muhammadan mission; it was never an incidental issue though there were the
matters that required urgent addressing.
The Muslims in Madinah consisted virtually of two parties: The first one already settled down
in their abode, land and wealth, fully at ease, but seeds of discord amongst them were
deeply seated and chronic enmity continually evoked; they were
Al-Ansar
(the Helpers). The
second party were
Al-Muhajirun
(the Emigrants), homeless, jobless and penniless. Their
number was not small, on the contrary, it was increasing day by day after the Prophet
(Peace be upon him) had given them the green light to leave for Madinah whose economic
structure, originally not that prosperous one, began to show signsof imbalance aggravated
by the economic boycott that the anti-Islamic groups imposed and consequently imports
diminished and living conditions worsened.
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