What Was The Prophet A Witness To? - (Concluding Part of The Book “What Happened To Islam?”)

By Muhammad Yunus, New Age Islam 18 August 2025 What Was The Prophet A Witness To? If the Prophet had a civilizational crystal ball or kaleidoscope, he would have observed the following cross-section of deeply embedded social and ethical vices as implicit in the Qur’anic narrative and illustrated in Part-1 of this book. Therefore, the author has attempted to make a 360 degree glance at what has been reviewed in some detail under scores of sub-headings or Notes. Given the enormity of themes, personal laws, tenets of guidance, behavioural paradigms and notions embedded in the Qur’an, no author can claim to capture them with perfection or veracity. Besides each clips of the hypothetical crystal ball are liable to be viewed from different angles by the numerous exegetes over the past centuries, making it impossible to make any claim of perfection. Accordingly, the author cannot claim perfection of this work. But if there is any flaw or minor error in interpretations tabled, the author remains personally responsible in the divine court. A World Without Justice The Arabia of the Prophet’s time knew no concept of universal justice or due process. Punishments were arbitrary, often brutal, and determined by tribal chiefs who ruled according to their oral customs. Powerful tribes enjoyed impunity, their offenders escaping retribution even for crimes as grave as murder or robbery. Inter-tribal raids—Ghazwa, looting caravans of rivals—were an accepted mode of commerce, a way to recover losses. Civil rights did not exist; disputes were settled by whim, and crimes were punished tribally: if a member of one tribe was killed, vengeance could be taken on any member of the offender’s tribe—whether guilty or innocent. Blood feuds spanned generations, fed by a distorted code of retaliation, “a hand for a hand, an eye for an eye,” leaving no space for forgiveness. Accused persons and prisoners of war were treated mercilessly, their fate determined by force, not fairness. Economic Injustice Wealth was viewed as absolute personal property, bound by no moral obligation to share with the poor. No notion existed that the needy had any moral claim (Ḥuqūq) on the wealth of the affluent. Traders cheated openly in weights and measures; trustees betrayed deposits by returning inferior goods. Moneylenders charged exorbitant interest, driving debtors into lifelong bondage. Raiding rival caravans, again, was normalized as a means of commercial profit. Economic life was marked by unbridled exploitation and dishonesty. Women in Chains Perhaps most striking was the plight of women. They were treated as chattel—ostracized during menstruation, stripped of legal rights, and even inherited as property upon the death of a husband. Female infanticide was practiced to escape the supposed shame of raising daughters. Marriage itself lacked institutional clarity: while a man could claim his wife’s fidelity, he might tolerate her cohabitation with others in his absence. Sexual exploitation of female slaves was common. Women were scantily clothed due to poverty, their beauty (Zinat) displayed without protection. Widows and divorced women faced bleak prospects: they could not remarry freely, nor did they enjoy maintenance or inheritance rights. Female kin were excluded from family estates, and guardians often misappropriated the inheritance of orphans. Adultery was a capital offense, punishable by stoning, but the very structures of marriage and divorce denied women dignity or agency. A woman could not terminate her marriage except by returning her dowry; she could not step outside her home without a male guardian. In short, women lived under burdensome shackles, both social and legal. Neglect of the Vulnerable The most vulnerable were abandoned. Orphans, widows, the destitute, the emaciated “lying in the dust,” as the Qur’an vividly puts it, were disregarded. The disabled—the blind, the crippled, the leprous—were considered cursed and isolated. Stranded travellers found no safety net. Slaves, deprived of rights, could not even purchase their freedom over time. Poverty and weakness meant invisibility in public life; only strength commanded recognition. Idolatry and Superstition All this was compounded by a culture steeped in idolatry and superstition. Children were sacrificed to idols or slain for fear of poverty. Tribal loyalty dictated morality in the absence of any higher guidance. Without scripture, without prophets for generations, the Arabs had only their faltering conscience to navigate life. The Qur’anic Turning Point This was the world weighed down by what the Qur’an calls “burdens and shackles.” Into this society, God raised Muhammad—“the untutored Prophet, whom they find described in the Torah and the Gospel, who enjoins what is right and forbids what is wrong, makes lawful the good things, forbids the impure, and relieves them of their burdens and shackles” (Qur’an 7:157). His mission was not for Arabia alone but for all humankind. Reforming such a morally degraded society required nothing less than a revolution of values. The Qur’an’s revelations, unfolding over twenty-three years, gradually restructured a civilization—anchoring justice, protecting the vulnerable, restoring dignity to women, and infusing economic and social life with accountability before God. Through these revelations, the Prophet not only witnessed the darkness of his society but also illuminated a path of moral reformation. That was, and remains, the historical pivot of Islam. ------ With this we bring this discourse to a close with a simple reminder: Those who wish to hear the voice of the Qur’an—stripped of its linguistic nuances, historical allusions, elliptical diction, thematic shifts, unique literary form, changing tone and style, and its reach beyond space and time, parables and cosmic imagery, and even its claim to be a book of wisdom—may find in this work an objective reading of what the Qur’an says and what it does not. It is for the reader to dig into it or consign it to the archive. The Qur’an has lived for fifteen centuries as a font of wisdom and guidance. As it declares, it guides many and leaves others to stray. It never claims to convert all humanity to the historical Islam revealed to Prophet Muhammad, but it does claim to be a book of wisdom and mercy that sets forth the criteria of right and wrong. Those who seek its best meanings are likely to grow kinder, wiser, more discerning between right and wrong, and, overall, better human beings than the common lot. ----- Muhammad Yunus, a Chemical Engineering graduate from Indian Institute of Technology, and a retired corporate executive has been engaged in an in-depth study of the Qur’an since early 90’s, focusing on its core message. He has co-authored the referred exegetic work, which received the approval of al-Azhar al-Sharif, Cairo in 2002, and following restructuring and refinement was endorsed and authenticated by Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl of UCLA, and published by Amana Publications, Maryland, USA, 2009. 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