THE HISTORY OF ISLAM
Our beloved Prophet Muhammad PBUH went through many hardships in the history of Islam, during the Makkan period of his life. The enemies of Islam applied lots of tactics in order to undermine the position of the Prophet of Allah so that he would not enjoy the positive response from the Makkan society and new Muslims get confused.
They raised this objection that if Muhammad PBUH was really a Prophet sent from Almighty Allah then why He didn’t choose an angel instead. Allah SWT answers to these tyrants in the following verse of the Quran,
The explanation of these verses clearly states that human beings can only relate to another human and learn from the experience of another being. This states the importance of learning the history of Islam if we make a deeper observation here.
Understanding the crux of this verse is so important as it motivates Muslims to study the history of Islam. Humans learn from the experience of another human and get benefit from them. When we learn from the lived experiences like parents, siblings, and spouse in so many worldly matters why not learn from the best person on the face of the earth; our beloved Prophet Muhammad PBUH. For this, we need to refer to the history of Islam to understand human nature as well as the nature of this world.
Benefits of Learning History of Islam
The subject of Islamic history is so noble and scholars like Ibn e Khaldun give it a status of noble science. The proper understanding of the Islamic history gives us a deep understanding of the character and morals of previous nations, stories of Prophets and deep understanding of politics and government in Islam.
One will end up doing a valuable imitation of the mindset of the people of the past on the subject of worldly matters and religion. While having the best analysis and insight is very important and so is not deviating from the truth of source. Islamic history is a sensitive matter and some false sources may easily deviate one from the right path.
Deriving Conclusions by Primary Comparison
Studying the history of Islam is not a mere study of the facts and figures of all chronological reports. The intention of studying Islamic history should be a deep comparison of the nature of civilization, politics, customs, and conditions of the Muslims of that era with the present. Only then you will be able to derive the honest and believable conclusion to help you stray on the path of Islam
May Allah SWT guide us on the right path, Ameen?