To Unite The Arabs?

to unite the arabs?

the claim that muhammad’s (peace and blessings be upon him) goal was to unite the arabs is also difficult to defend when one looks into the life of muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and his own statements against nationalism, tribalism etc.

firstly, again, had this been his goal, he could have archived it when the chiefs of makkah offered him wealth and riches in exchange for him agreeing to stop preaching.

secondly, the concept of nationalism does not exist in islam. islam made the bond of faith and truth and falsehood the most important basis for binding people together and not nationalism, tribe affiliation, race, or ethnicity.

muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) himself spoke out on numerous occasions against this type of ideology stating:

"let people stop boasting about their forefathers who have died, who are merely fuel for the hell fire; or they will certainly be more insignificant with allah than the beetle which rolls dung with its nose. allah has removed from you the partisanship of the days of jaahiliyyah (refers to the pre-islamic days) and the boasting about one's forefathers. indeed a person is either a pious believer or a wretched sinner. all of mankind are the children of adam, and adam was created from clay. [related by abu dawood and at-tirmithi]

muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) also said: "indeed there is no excellence for an arab over a non-arab, nor a non-arab over an arab, nor a white person over a black one, nor a black person over a white one, except through piety.” [related by ahmad]

the qur’an is filled with the same message. one example of this is in the following verse:

"o mankind, we have created you from male and female and have made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. indeed the most noblest of you with allah is the one who has the most piety." [surah al-hujuraat 49:13]

the examples from both the qur’an and the statements of muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) are too numerous to mention them all but this should suffice to make the point.

regardless of one’s color, nationality, or tribe, anyone who believes in the islamic message is part of the brotherhood.

with the above being the case, the logical question beckons that had this been written by muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) as these people allege for the purpose of uniting the arabs, then why would he have put the exact opposite message in this book? indeed, from the story we quoted above, we can see that this islamic message actually divided the arabs into two distinct groups: muslims and non-muslim.

muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) also had companions that were from different tribes and were other than arab.