Background of the Birth of Islam [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

spiritual expectations of the people, and was inadequate
in satisfying their religious spirit, and for this reason
he gave Manichaeus a free hand as a religious reformer.
This shows that zoroastrianism, which some people wish to
revive now and make it replace Islam in some parts of
Islamic lands, was as early as so many centuries before
the advent of Islam, as ineffective a creed that it could
not satisfy the people, and thus the king allowed a
religious reformer like Manichaeus to become active. It
should be remembered that at that time a religious vacuum
existed in the realm of Iran. Manichaean faith has had a
strange fate and has had many ups and downs, not as much
as a religion, but as a philosophy it sent ripples as far
as China on the one side, and as far as Europe including
England and France in the other direction but that in
itself is a long story.

The Rise of Mazdak

Another interesting development from that religious
viewpoint in the Sassanid period is the rise of Mazdak.
In the time of Qubad, father of Anushiravan, a man named
Mazdak rose with a new religion. In Mazdak's faith a new
aspect of faith is discernible that did not exist in the
former religions. In Zoroastrianism attention was paid to
moral aspects such as truth and honesty and spiritual
matters and worship of God, and sacrifice etc., but it
did not deal with rights and social problems, and not
only accepted class divisions but also supported it. Thhe
Manichaean faith, too, despite proposing reforms in
religious matters, introduced no social changes. But
Mazdak dealt with both religious and social matters. On
the one hand with its inclinations towards
Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Christianity, namely towards
asceticism, abandonment of carnal desires, and isolation
from worldly affairs by leading an ascetic life, and with
such views about social matters, Mazdak threatened the
social order of the time. About his philosophy and
religion, Mazdak used to say "True bliss for human
beings lies in a peaceful environment free from rancour
and enmity. But the disputes and wars which occur among
people are either over wealth and enjoyment of affluence,
property, water, trade, capital, luxuries or over women.
In order to remove these disputes altogether, wealth and
women should be commonly shared.[45]

This creed threatened the system of social class
structure and quite naturally, it found numerous
followers among the deprived classes. Qubad, too, as a
young ruler who was opposed to the influence of priests,
nobles and upper classes, and felt that their influence
would hinder the proper administration of the country,
supported Mazdak faith, and patronised Mazdak very
strongly. In this way about the year 484 A.D. that is
about 125 years before the advent of Islam, a
revolutionary religious fervour governed under which the
deprived masses tore up the former bonds of class life
and formalities and adopted to an extreme extent the
ideas of communal sharing of everything including women
and abolition of family and marriage and proprietorship,
with the result that chaos and disorder reigned
everywhere, since such ideas both from the viewpoint of
religion and social rights and internal politics were not
acceptable to the people of that time, even though Qubad
supported Mazdak to diminish the deep influence of the
ecclesiastical organisation.

However, the clergy's influence succeeded in rousing
people to revolt. On the other hand Mazdak's ideas, too,
about family and wealth sharing were so extremist that
they shook the foundations of the existing system since
they were contrary to human nature. Therefore they could
not endure for long, and when Anushirvan assumed power in
the year 531 A.D. Mazdak was executed. His followers were
scattered or destroyed, and once more the Zoroastrian
faith and its priests gained dominance over the
situation.[46]

P) Conditions
Prevailing in Iran at the Time of the Rise of Islam

At the time of advent of Islam the government of Iran
had become strangely weak, and after Khosrow Parviz
within a few years he was succeeded by several male and
female rulers until Yazdgerd the 3rd assumed power.[47]

In brief, to the east of the region of the birth of
Islam there existed a vast realm with an ancient
civilisation spread over twelve centuries. In Iran the
central government had existed a long time and several
religions appearing during this period which had exerted
profound influence and found many followers had not
survived for long. Neither Zoroastrianism, nor the
religions of Manichaeus nor Mazdak could stand against
Islam. In that environment there was a kind of readiness
and thirst for destroying the existing order both
socially and spiritually, and thus Islam entered Iran in
an environment that was all set to accept the new faith.
Those who attribute the rapid spread of Islam to the use
of the sword are not sufficiently familiar with the
history of that period. The fact of the matter is as the
historians write: In most cases before the soldiers of
Islam reached the cities which they had conquered, the
populace would throw open the gates for them from within
and welcomed them. What is certain is that Iran had
fallen into a state of deterioration in all respects
whether political social or religious at the time of the
rise of Islam.

2) Questions and Answers

Question:

You said in your discourse that in t
he present world environment there are no societies based
on classes, but classes exist in a modified form.

Answer:

Not in that form. In the class system
certain people are explicitly told that they have not the
right to even think of entering a class of an upper
status. The hardest and ugliest obstacles that could be
imagined exist in such systems which to put limitations
on the thinking of a group. It is true that indirect
pressure has considerable effect, but the very existence
of indirect pressure shows that the worth of those placed
under pressure has gone up to some extent. If they tell
you that you cannot directly and openly strike a person,
it means that the said person's personality has grown in
relation to you so that you cannot directly strike him.
Of course even today there exist indirect restrictions in
the world, though term, class could not be applied to
them; they might be called communities. Communities under
indirect pressure do exist although these could not be
compared with their previous form. You could never think
of what a class society actually meant.

Unfortunately among the aristocrats in Iran, sometimes
you would see the son of a farmer or villager who,
despite his education and worth, is not given the chance
to raise his status, simply because of his lineage. This
is a vestige of those old class divisions which is a
system based on man's inherent selfishness. Therefore you
can never uproot it fully, even though it's effect might
diminish. Now can you imagine if such a system found
legal support, how comical it would be. The existence of
such a law which would prevent a farmer or tradesman from
rising up to the class of warriors and that he would be
punished even for entertaining such a thought, would seem
ridiculous and incredible to us. They say that in India
there still exists a class system. I cannot bring myself
to believe it until I saw it for myself. For us, Muslims
such a situation is unthinkable; for, since our birth and
growing up we have been accustomed to the concept of
Islamic brotherhood and equality. But there is no doubt
that there exist groups that always seek to preserve
their interests in one way or another.

Question:

How did the holy Prophet write his
letters? The Qur'an says that h