Introduction
A revolution is considered an event which has a MAJOR impact on changing the political, economic or social structure of society – usually in a short space of time. The aims of revolutions are usually tied to an ideology.
Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) is the greatest revolutionary in the history of the World.
“If we compare the Revolution of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon Him) with the French Revolution and the Russian Revolution it becomes evident that the French Revolution succeeded in changing only the political system and the Russian revolution changed only the economic system. But the Revolution of Holy Prophet changed everything….religion, belief, rituals, the political system, the economic system and the entire social fabric.” Dr Israr Ahmad.
The greatest need of Muslim Ummah today, is not wealth, government, fame, technology, education, democracy, but according to me, the most important need is, that Muslims understand the way of Muhammad, His way of bringing revolution. The only way of bringing revolution today is understanding & implementing the methodology of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon Him.
Steps Taken By Prophet Muhammad In Bringing Revolution.
1- Ideology.
Called people to believe in One God. He said: “Oh people, believe that there is no God but Allah & you will be successful” (at this point, he said nothing about His Prophet hood).
‘There is no deity worthy of worship except God’ this conviction creates a world view, a perspective and a unique behavior. It essential means that all actions – from having a shower to picking up litter from the floor – should be referred to the Creator. This establishes a constant awareness, mindfulness and consciousness of God in everything that the Muslim says or does.
This means that there will be no human sovereignty. No human is hakim (owner) of anything (meaning, negation of communism & capitalism). Ownership & sovereignty only belongs to Allah. Ownership for Allah & Caliphate for humans. Sovereignty for Allah & Trust for humans.
Humans need to be intellectually convinced. The Prophet was told to simply give the message and not worry whether people converted or not, therefore, there is no question in Islam of forcing your opinions on any one else, as the Qur’an tells us that there is “no compulsion in religion.”
He stood up against oppression & injustice & called people to unite under the flag of monotheism.
His message was, that, each & every human is equal on a social level. For example, a CEO & office tea boy have different posts & duties, but as humans they are equal. It was an end of racism. And to spread this message, He used all the means possible, at that time.
2- Organizing People.
Second step was to organize the people, who accepted His message & agreed to stand up against oppression & injustice. For this, He introduced the practice of taking pledge. Asked people to give Him pledge of allegiance on the following conditions:
“We will listen and obey (the orders) both at the time when we are active and at the time when we are tired, and at our difficult time and at our ease and to be obedient to the ruler (but, we will say what we think is right, we won’t think that it is silly, we will say whatever our suggestions will be & the decision will be yours) and give him his right even if he did not give us our right, and not to fight against him unless we noticed him having open Kufr (disbelief) for which we would have a proof with us from Allah.”
The Prophet did not have a need to take this pledge, as the companions believed in Him, but He introduced this system for the future, so that Muslims follow His way instead of the western ways.
3- Training People.
Third step was to train the people. It included the following things,
i- The idea of bringing a revolution must always be on the minds of people & the way of doing this is, studying the Qur’an, because studying it will keep reminding them about their goal.
ii- ‘No resistance’, not at any cost. Even if the enemy cuts you in pieces, don’t resist.
iii- Spending everything in the way of Allah.
iv- Strong belief in the hereafter. If your heart is attached to this world, you become weak.
4- Passive Resistance.
For 3 long years, the Prophet was attacked with hate speech. People called him mad, magician, poet etc. It hurted him, but He stayed patient & responded them by simply turning His face to someone else, but never got rude or harsh. And He told the same to His companions.
After 3 years when the enemy noticed that the Muslims are standing firm & more & more people are converting to Islam, they started physical persecution. They did not give them food to eat, the rich were imprisoned & the poor slaves were beaten in the worst ways, in the center of the streets, a woman companion was killed in front of her son, but none of the Muslims resisted.
As a result of this, sympathies of the people diverted towards the Muslims, they realized that these people did nothing wrong, they only said, “we believe that there is no God but Allah & Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah”.
After this, when Abu Talib died, who was protecting the Prophet, the disbelievers decided to kill Him. At this point, the Prophet migrated to Madinah. Even in Madinah, he did not resist for 6 months but took some very important decisions.
i- Constructed the mosque. It was not only a mosque but also an institution, a place of worship, parliament, suggestion center & a government house.
ii -Second important decision that He took was, He made one immigrant (muhajir) brother of one Muslim from Madinah (ansaar).
iii- And third decision was that Muslim and Jewish clans signed a pact to protect each other, in case Madina gets attacked.
5- Active Resistance.
This is the most crucial step in the process of revolution. If it is not taken on the right time, all the efforts will be wasted.
After taking these decisions, The Prophet started the active resistance by sending small groups of people to block the ways from where the Quraish used to take their goods for trade, in other words, ‘Economic blockade of Makkah’. Also, the Prophet talked to the clans who supported Quraish & due to this, the political influence of Quraish was diminishing & of Prophet was increasing. During all this time, there was no movement from the Quraish, this initiative was taken by the Prophet. (This is what some scolars of Islam lied about. To please the non believers, they invented this lie that the Prophet never initiated anything).
The war started when Muslims had a fight with one of the clans of Quraish & a Muslim man killed one of the non Muslim. The Prophet got angry at this, because He ordered his companions to not fight or kill anyone. But when this happened, the war started. And as all of this was done after a preparation of 6 years, as a result Muslims got successful & the greatest revolution on earth happened which changed everything – religion, belief, rituals, the political system, the economic system and the entire social fabric.”. It was an end of oppression, injustice, nationalism, racism & falsehood.
Conclusion.
Prophet (peace be upon Him) never sent anyone out of Makkah to spread the message of Islam for 10 years. He had money but still he did not send anyone to other Empires with His message. In the 10th year, He went to Tai’f, and called people to Islam. Later, when He came to Madinah, He worked only inside Arab.
When the treaty of Hudaibyah took place & Quraish recognized Muhammad and acknowledged him as a leader, it was only after this that He sent his people to other Empires, to call people towards Islam.
This is the essence of revolutionary process, that it does not spread in the initial stages, like the missionary work & tableghi work, but the revolutionary process goes up in one direction & then spreads. Muhammad ‘s struggle was not of missionary type, it was revolutionary type.
And this is how the greatest revolution in history took place. If Muslims of today want to bring a revolution, ‘tabdeeli’ or inqilab’, the only way to accomplish this mission is by following the way of the Prophet (peace be upon Him) & rejecting the ways of the west & saying no to Democracy, Capitalism, etc.
Bitter Truth 