Islam's Lost Legacy

The spread of the Arab empire along with the religion of Islam during the mid 7^th to mid 8^th centuries is nothing short of amazing. One could easily say it surpassed that of the Roman Empire. Yet, supremacy on the battlefield often leads to a breakdown of the very foundation that helped to bring about such greatness.

Most people tend to see the spread of the Islamic empire as founded upon religious conviction. Whereas history shows that the more rooted the religious conviction, the more it was actually suppressed by the Arab empire. Perhaps the most telltale event concerns a devout Arab, strongly revered by most modern-day Muslims. Hussein ibn Ali son of Ali ibn abi Talib ( حسين ابن علي سن أف علي ابن ابي طالب ) and grandson of the prophet Mohammed bore an image of Mohammed to a martyr’s death. This image is Islam’s Lost Legacy.

It is no accident that Islam’s Lost Legacy spells out the acronym ILL; for it is the lost legacy that creates an ILLness within Islam that is in dire need of a cure. Hussein held the cure and died while trying to inoculate the empire. When the leadership of the empire was at stake, he could have followed the normal operation and gathered together forces strong enough to put him into the khalifate. Instead, he took a course of peace expecting the Muslims to follow the course of his grandfather Mohammed.

Mohammed lived during a very savage time in history and many attribute to him a high degree of savagery. A closer look reveals a clear distinction between his use of force and that of the khalifs that followed him.

Hussein left Mecca and headed toward Kufa looking for a peaceful settlement to the question of succession. His course of action was honorable and protected within the very precepts of the Qur’an and by the words and character of Mohammed. In a very real sense, we see Hussein heading toward Kufa as if he himself was an incarnation of Mohammed, heading toward a people who claimed to profess their faith and allegiance to Mohammed and the Qur’an.

They call Hussein’s engagement with Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad and his force of 30,000 as the battle of Karbala. Hussein with members of his family and some of his followers totaled around 72. It certainly could not be considered a battle of arms. Rather, it was a battle for truth and justice.

The slaughter of Hussein epitomizes the ILLness of the Islamic people during that time; an ILLness which continued until the very foundations of the empire crumbled till nothing remained but Muslim factions fighting one another.

The reaction to Hussein’s martyrdom did not follow the peaceful course that Hussein embarked upon. Rather it fostered more hate, violence, and revenge; a course that we continue to see in the modern world.

Today, Qur’an scholars would point out the fact that revenge is an inherent part of the Qur’an. This helps empower the extreme factions of Islam, who are quick to evoke a jihad of violence whenever they feel threatened, injured, or denigrated. If that seems to be the final answer, we must still ask how does the Qur’an explain the peaceful actions of Hussein and many of the merciful and peaceful actions of Mohammed? Is something missing that is causing an ILLness throughout the Muslim world? Is something missing that Hussein was taught by his grandfather Mohammed that so much of the Muslim world suppressed during Hussein’s time? And is this same suppression happening today? If so, just what is Islam’s Lost Legacy?

When someone is ILL and visits a doctor, that doctor will generally try to build a history of a person’s health through a series of questions that will eventually lead to various medical testing and finally and hopefully to a cure. Why does the world see the Muslim world so quickly erupt into violence? Is that a symptom of a disease that requires investigation or is it merely a part of the religion as directed within the Qur’an?

If the lives of Hussein and Mohammed reveal Muslims of health, then we need to consider that today’s Islam is ILL and in need of a cure. A most interesting thing that might help in this investigation is the fact that most Muslims at the time of Hussein and in our own time claim to be peaceful and that Islam is for the most part a religion of peace. The only problem with that position is that no Muslim scholar has ever produced solid supporting evidence for such a peaceful position from the Qur’an, whereas, the violent factions can produce much backing from the Qur’an. The looming question is: with the Qur’an seemingly strongly in favor of the extremists, what accounts for the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremist position and live lives of peace? Is it merely selfish materialism or is there something much deeper at work?

Like the doctor, we must look at the history of the problem. With Hussein he had a symptom of peace that we know little about other than his relationship as the grandson of Mohammed. Religiously devoted and growing up in the heartland of Islam, he would have been surrounded by many who could have taught him the full character of Mohammed. It is with Mohammed we have to look for our answers. It is with Mohammed we must ask the question: what gives us a clue concerning that part of his nature that was forgiving and peaceful?

The answer lies in the life of Mohammed before the Qur’an was ever written. The ILL nature of modern Islam tends to revere the fearlessness of Mohammed in regard to his military exploits, where he often faced vastly superior numbers. This is where the ILLness begins, an ILLness which is fostered most notably among the extremist groups.