JIHAD, OR EXTENSION OF TRIBAL CULTURE?
Cultural Conditioning
DURING the early period of Islam, Makkah came under its fold in the year 630 A.D. Thereafter, the Arabian tribes began entering the fold of Islam in multitudes (THE QURAN 110: 1-2). This was a phenomenon of what is called ‘mass conversion’. According to Jabir bin Abdullah, after this incident the Prophet is reported to have said these words of historical significance: “People have entered God’s religion in multitudes, and they will soon, in the future, turn away from it in multitudes.” (Musnad Ahmad)
Jabir bin Abdullah, the narrator of this Hadith (sayings of the Prophet) report, was a well-known Companion of the Prophet. He died in the year 697 A.D. In the battle of Siffin, Muslims were divided into two groups. One group was led by Ali, the other by Muawiya. This resulted in a bloody civil war, the first in Muslim history. It is said that some 70,000 people died in this war.
The Prophet of Islam wanted people to resolve their natural differences through peaceful discussion.
A neighbour of Jabir bin Abdullah’s relates that when he returned from a journey, Jabir came to meet him. He mentioned to Jabir the civil war that had torn apart the Muslims. Thereupon, Jabir began to weep and narrated the above Hadith. Why is it that divisions and strife began to appear shortly after the Prophet left this world?
It was not because people’s intentions were corrupt or that they had lost their sincerity. The only reason for this was because of the phenomenon known as ‘conditioning’.
An Arabic saying succinctly expresses what conditioning is about: ‘That which you grow up on is precisely what you grow old on, too.’ This means that the environment that conditions you when you are young remains with you until the end of your life.
This fact is expressed in the form of another Hadith: “Every child is born on pure nature; it is then his parents that make him into a Jew, a Christian or a Zoroastrian.” (Bukhari)
The massive corruption and strife among Muslims after the Prophet left this world, owed in large measure to this fact of conditioning. Mass conversions brought large numbers of people into the fold of Islam. In this period, which was much before the invention of the printing press, there was no system of mass education and training. This resulted in many people entering the fold of Islam by simply reciting the Kalimah (testifying that they believed in one God and accepting the Prophet). However, due to the absence of an appropriate system of training, their cultural deconditioning could not happen. In terms of religion they identified themselves as Muslims, but in terms of culture they remained largely as they had been before, clinging on to their ancient cultural values, norms and practices.
There are numerous Hadith reports that mention beforehand that degeneration would soon set in among Muslims. This degeneration or perversion is generally thought to be arising from anarchy and disorder in society, but in reality its cause was the phenomenon of conditioning. That is to say, people continued to remain under the influence of their ancient mindsets.
The environment that conditions you when you are young remains with you until the end of your life.
For instance, there is a report which appears in several books of Hadith wherein the Prophet warns: “Do not return to disbelief after me, by striking the necks of one another.” (Bukhari)
In this Hadith of the Prophet the verb, “to return” appears, which indicates reverting to one's earlier condition. This earlier condition was the pre-Islamic tribal culture which the people practiced before entering the fold of Islam. In this tribal culture, every man carried a sword and there was no room for peaceful disagreement. People conditioned by this culture knew only one way to solve their differences—by wielding their swords.
In the pre-Islamic Arab society, it was not that fighting ever solved people’s conflicts. Instead, it only further exacerbated them, because the vanquished burned with the desire for revenge. That is why this tribal society was characterized by continuous war, or chain war. The Prophet of Islam wanted people to resolve their natural differences through peaceful discussion. He strongly sought to dissuade them from letting their differences become an excuse to fight with one another under the influence of tribal conditioning.
History shows that vast numbers of people who began entering the fold of Islam did not, however, go through the process of deconditioning this deep rooted pre-Islamic tribal conditioning. There was no appropriate system for mass de-conditioning in those times. So, all sorts of pre- Islamic cultural norms, customs and practices, including internecine war, infiltrated Muslim society through converts who recited the kalimah but retained their ancient, pre-Islamic mental attitude. This proved to be the case with many new converts to Islam not only in Arabia but in several other parts of the world where mass conversions to Islam later took place.
This phenomenon of returning to the past assumed various forms— for instance, the emergence of hereditary monarchies among Muslims after the age of the first four Caliphs, the emergence of a completely ‘form-based’ understanding of Islamic worship and the writing of Muslim history solely on political lines.
The most undesirable form that this phenomenon took—as mentioned in the above Hadith—was a return to violence and war after the Prophet left this world, violence and war began to tear apart Muslim societies. This phenomenon continues even today. It is essentially due to the deep rooted cultural conditioning that continues to remain unaddressed. Put simply, it is all about the extension of ancient, pre-Islamic tribal culture in the name of Jihad.
