This is not about Islam. It is about the art of nation-construction from zero nation in the 7th century to 1.7 Billions in the 21st century. It is the genius of Muhammad in constructing this mighty edifice with tools which our world of today sorely needs to employ.
It began with Muhammad, at the age of 40 (611 CE) advocating in Mecca that God is one. That one-ness of God directly resonated with both the Jews and Christians in Arabia. Triumphing over the many idols which the Arab tribes worshiped in Mecca during their pilgrimage season. A master ideological stroke which caused the Meccans to pursue, in bitter hostility, the new Prophet.
Yet, a cornerstone has been laid. The first adherent was a woman, Khdeejah, Muhammad's wife and employer; the poor and meek in the Meccan lording tribe of Quraish, flocked to Islam. It made them even as slaves equal to their masters. Another anathema to the proud tribal lords of the desert.
So potent weapons were employed: secrecy, selective conversion from idolatry to Islam. And immigration, first to Ethiopia, later to the Arabian city of Yathrib -a Jewish city northeast of Mecca.
The secrecy was a self-preservation stratagem. The conversion from multiple deities to one God was through persuasion: "Why worship what your own hands have created?" And why immigration to Ethiopia? That is where Christianity found in the Quranic description of Christ as "the word of God" a reflection of its own belief. Then the move to Yathrib was by invitation of the few converts to Islam. It was their means of saving the troubled peace which characterized the forever war between two tribal antagonists: Al-Aus and Al-Khazraj.
The move (immigration/Hijrah) from Mecca to Medina marked the beginnings of the Muslim "State" -in fact "nation." The date was September 20, 622 (and Muhammad was 51 years old). Not surprisingly, it marked the beginning of the Muslim (Hejira) calendar -now at 1439 years. Two pillars sustained the incipient nation: The construction of a mosque, as a town hall and a school, (where Muhammad is now buried), and the communal sharing of property between the immigrants (Al-Muhajeroon) and the Ansar (supporters), meaning the Yathrib Muslim population.
A bridge was thus constructed in Medina (Yathrib) across tribal chasms, the haves and the have-nots economically, and the Muslim-Jewish relationships memorialized in a pact of peace, though later it did not endure. Tawheed (the One-ness of God) permeating the two Semitic faiths) was ideologically sound, but communally an instigator of competition between Judaism and Islam.
Topping Muhammad's priorities was the equalizing between Arabs and non-Arabs (such as the Persians who were Yemen rulers); between men and women in terms of licensing women's ownership of property, and of enfranchising them as regards participation in Muhammad's councils. Women were even encouraged to quiz Muhammad publicly as regards his decisions. Their litmus test was to ask the Prophet: "Is your decision based on personal opinion or an inspiration from God?" If it was an opinion on which the participants in that "Town hall in the Desert" disagreed, Muhammad changed course.
In fact the first person who pledged allegiance to Muhammad was a woman (Afra Bint Obeid Ibn Thaalabah). The Quran, considered Muhammad's only miracle, made such allegiance (Baiaa) to Muhammad an allegiance to God himself. "Surely, those who swear allegiance to you swear allegiance to God; the hand of God is over their hands." The Quran, (Chapter 48/Verse 10).
What were the terms of that allegiance to Islam: No idolatry, as emphasis on the one-ness of God; no theft; no adultery; not infanticide (as the Arabs used to bury their infant daughters to avoid shaming them); truthfulness; and no contravening the word of God (the Quran). Piety, not ethnic or tribal roots, was the yardstick by which all humans were evaluated. "Surely, the most honorable of you in the sight of God is the most pious of you." (The Quran, Chapter 49, Verse 13).
Closely tied to the Muslim dogma as preached by Muhammad was humanity as one universal cooperative. It became a cardinal call for friendly relations among all nations, across ethnicities, languages, and time zones.
That revolutionary concept is today inscribed on a mural adorning a wall at the UN Headquarters in New York. It is a gift from Morocco which quotes from the Quran the following verses "O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you nations and tribes, that you may know one another." (Chapter 49, Verse 13).
The new nation was no longer held together by family lineage, but by a faith that regulated their lives flexibly, under the ethos of justice for all, Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The only difference between the two categories was that non-Muslim were made to pay a defense tax because of their exemption from defense services.
Calling them Zimmis is not an apartheid practice. Contrary to western orientalist depiction, "zimma" in Arabic means "a security guarantee." It is also the sum total of all obligations to which a person commits. It is akin to a treaty obligation. Its violation is not due to the faith, but due to the faithless practice of those who scorn human rights.
What bound this new nation together was an Islamic jurisprudence based on a tripod of principles and rules: The Quran, non-changeable in text, but amenable to interpretation (the science of Tafseer); the Sunna of Muhammad, that is what the Prophet has said and done, but also amenable to authentication since it was not written during the Prophet's life-time; and "wisdom" (Hekmah), the resort to common sense in utilizing the other two bases for resolving a dispute or settling an issue.
Within those parameters, the new community functioned, quarrelled, reconciled, and spread outward. All within the broad concept of Islam, meaning the submission to God's will. While unity was stressed, communities were led by consensus (ijmaa) not throughout all Muslim regions, but within the community of scholars of each region. Unity was in the ultimate purpose, not in sectoral decisions.
The Quran exalted unity as "harmony," taking into account the divergence of cultures, systems of governance, and changing circumstances. In praise of harmony the Quran stated: "God is the One who united their hearts; had you (Muhammad) expended all the riches of the earth, you could not have united their hearts together." (Chapter 8; Verse 63).
War, for the new nation, was restricted only to self-defense of territory (homeland) and faith. It is not exportable, nor is it waged beyond national borders. And must be proportional. A far far cry from the criminal ideology of jihadism which advocated the primacy of Islam and conversion to it by the sword - "There is no compulsion in religion" (The Quran, Chapter 2, Verse 256). Diplomacy to end wars and achieve peace was decreed. "But if they incline to peace, then incline to it." (The Quran, Chapter 8, Verse 61). Prisoners of war are to be safely repatriated and exchanged, and an annual war-free month (Muharram) was set aside.
Insurrection (Fitna) was regarded as a catastrophe, represented by the total breakdown of law and order. Unjust rulers should be removed provided that such efforts should not lead to ascertained mayhem. In all cases, injustice which violates the liberty and human rights of the community or the individual shall always be a violation of God's decrees.
The Quran calls the unjust "an evildoer," who has no excuse whatsoever. "On the Day (of Judgment) when the excuses of the evildoers shall avail them nothing; they shall have the curse and the evil abode." (The Quran; Chapter 40; Verse 52).
When Muhammad died at the age of 63, the edifice of the Muslim Nation, having arisen from a Zero Nation in Arabia, evolved into a global Muslim entity existing in every corner of the earth.
Though divided and at times at war with one another and also within (Syria, Yemen, and Libya), it has kept the faith as spread by its great founder. Muhammad. The Prophet did not even name a successor; refused during his lifetime to have his sayings written, and left no heir to claim a hereditary mantle.
Today's pilgrimage of over 2 million to Mecca is a testimony of that enduring phenomenon which is still vastly misunderstood in many parts of the world. Though Islamophobia has now morphed into anti-Islamism, the plain fact is that those aberrations are hurtful primarily to those who espouse them. For they are the unwitting auxiliaries of groups like ISIS, Al-Qaeda and the like.
Muhammad died on June 8, 632 at the age of 63. His first successor as "The First Enlightened Caliph," Abu-Bakr, gave the eulogy to a stunned Muslim community. In it, he pointed out the knob of the Prophet's enduring legacy. "To the Believers, stay on the path of Justice."
The pilgrimage to Mecca earlier this month numbered over 2 millions. With a global waiting list estimated to stretch out for 583 years in the future. Pillorying it by an ignoramus and an ethical thug like Rudy Giuliani proves his racism. For that pilgrimage instituted by Muhammad, as an optional manifestation of a faith of tolerance, raises the ubiquitous flag of inclusiveness.
The Prophet Muhammad was chased away from his birthplace, Mecca, by vicious tribal campaigners who preferred to worship idols over the belief in the One God. It was therefore axiomatic that his return victorious from Medina to Mecca, was initially thought to signal a blood path for his tormentors. Again Muhammad's genius asserted itself. He told the fearful Meccan throngs: "From now on, you are released from your past!! (Al-Tolaqa)".
That was the historic exercise by Muhammad's power of pardon. No Nuremberg trials. No Tokyo trials. The victor of 1439 years ago did not write history, as it is the practice of our times. He caused history to be engraved about him.
Thus, Abdel-Rahman Azzam, the first Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, titled his book about Muhammad: "The Hero of Heroes!!"
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