Life-of-Muhammad

Life of Muhammad sa 75by the Prophet sa was enough to obliterate a social evilrooted deep in Arab society. In the other, prohibitionwas enacted by special laws. Police and the army,custom officials and excise inspectors, all exertedthemselves as a team and tried to put down the evil ofdrink but failed and had to confess their failure. Thedrunkards won and the drink evil could not be defeated.Ours is said to be an age of social progress. But whenwe compare our age with the age of early Islam, wewonder which of the two deserves this title—this age ofours or the age in which Islam brought about this greatsocial revolution?What happened at Uhud was not liable to be easilyforgotten. The Meccans thought Uhud was their firstvictory against Islam. They published the news all overArabia and used it to excite the Arab tribes againstIslam and to persuade them that Muslims were notinvincible. If they continued to prosper, it was notbecause of any strength of their own but because of theweakness of Arab orthodoxy. It was due to the weaknessof Arab idolaters. If the Arab idolaters made a concertedeffort, to overpower the Muslims was not a difficultbusiness. The result of this propaganda was thathostility against Muslims began to gather strength. Theother Arab tribes began to outstrip the Meccans inharassing the Muslims. Some began to attack themopenly. Some began to inflict losses upon themsurreptitiously. In the fourth year after the Hijra, twoArab tribes, the ‘Adl and the Qara, sent theirrepresentatives to the Holy Prophet sa to submit thatmany of their men were inclined towards Islam. Theyrequested the Prophet sa to send to them some Muslimswell-versed in the teaching of Islam, to live among themand teach them the New Religion. Actually this was anintrigue hatched by the Banu Lihyan, arch-enemy ofIslam. They sent these delegates to the Prophet sa underpromise of a rich reward. The Prophet sa received therequest unsuspectingly and sent ten Muslims to teachthe tribes the tenets and principles of Islam. When this