Some 1400 years ago, across the arid Arabian Peninsula roamed disparate primitive tribes in a constant state of war with one another. Acts of violence, pillage and slave trading were their way of life. Out of necessity and expediency, they refrained from active warfare for only one month a year—the month of Moharam (the forbidden month). Even during this lull in active warfare, the various tribes rearmed and prepared for the next eleven months of bloodletting. Violence of the worst kind and form was their way of life.
Although the ongoing warfare inflicted great suffering and death, it remained the major means of livelihood for the survivors in the harsh desert that sustained little other than the hardy goats, desert-suited camels and the indispensable vehicles of war—horses.
Violent death ruled. The victor had a reprieve for a time ‘til he became the victim.
Then there was a new summons. An orphan from the tribe of Quraish by the name of Muhammad, the son of the late Abdullah, offered the savages a deal they couldn’t refuse. He said that they should stop worshiping all the various idols in the idolatry of Mecca and turn to the one and only god, Allah, one of their numerous idols. He said it is Allah who is the creator of the universe and Allah has another world of immense bounty and pleasure. He promised the savages that by embracing Allah, banding together and carrying out his commands they assure themselves of great worldly spoils as well as eternal admission to a glorious paradise.
Muhammad promised further that instead of warring against one another, as they have done for millennia, for pittance of reward, they could venture out beyond the impoverished desert into a world of great wealth and bounties. Muhammad motivated his rapidly growing body of followers to rally around him by proclaiming, (1) if they are victorious they will have the treasures of the infidels as well as their women and children as slaves to hold or sell, (2) if the faithful kill the infidels in doing the work of Allah, further reward awaits them in paradise and, (3) in the unlikely event that they are killed, they find themselves in Allah’s glorious paradise for an eternal life of joy and bliss.
The outlandish, frequently confused and often contradictory incoherent rhetoric of Muhammad made the less gullible few question his sanity. They dismissed him as, “Insane Poet.” Yet, the generality of the savages found in him their savior—the one who would lead them to all the good in this world and the next. It was a win-win proposition for them. Win and you are rewarded handsomely, lose your life, and you go directly to heaven. How could they refuse? Read more here ...
Source: Amil Imani
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