Depraved and desolate society of pre-Islamic Arabia, where fear was everywhere; obscurantism had deprived and corrupted the nationhood from sincerity and sympathy; hooliganism and vandalism had become a presidingelement.

By the time the Prophet (SAAS) began his Da’wah, the human mind had become so numb that it could not think of any other reality beyond the limits of matter and material gains. The rational thinking of people was so weightless that they could not think creatively and from a developmental perspective. They had made some self-desired scales and were weighing everyone on the same scale. Human values were absentand broad visionary minded persons; rather they had their laws and customs based on a notion that ‘might is right’.
Prophet (SAAS) blessed this society with such intelligent souls who were the epitome of civility, nobility, and generosity. Prophet Muhammad (SAAS) transformed the ruined society into an ideal society and continued to present unobtrusive examples of valiant thought and action on all fronts, in which there was always moral excellence, selflessness, and humility, contentment in the heart.
On the one hand, the Prophet (SAAS) was trying to interact and familiarize the ignorant Arabs with thehighness and the greatness of life. By that time, Arabs had known their experience, when they saw their princes rising above this standard. What the Quraysh delegation said to the Prophet (SAAS) was the representation of their mentality, and it was an expression of their feelings. In response to this, what the Prophet (SAAS) said to them was the actual representation of Prophet hood and the true expression of the Muslim Ummah. He (SAAS) proved that he did not seek any sort of worldly and materialistic favours from them. The message he (SAAS) preached was higher and broader than their materialistic wealth and self-based desires as heavens are above the earth. He (SAAS) was not concerned for his comfort and progress but the salvation and welfare of mankind. He (SAAS) did not desire to create an artificial paradise for himself but was concerned to bring the people who were expelled from heaven to the real paradise forever. He sought to liberate humanity from the tyranny of stereotropism and seek refuge in the footsteps of Islam. This is the foundation on which this Ummah has been formed and conveyed the same message to the whole of humankind. Based on this belief, the Khulafah of Islam formed a standard government that was completely based on Divine guidance, where self-made rules had no place. The great rulers of Islam lived with such dignity that people considered them ordinary laborers and placed their burdens on their shoulders. Because the richest man of this Ummah lived such a life that it was known that they did not consider the comfort of this life as comfort but they were seeking the comfort of the hereafter.
In every aspect of the existence and newness of this Ummah, apart from material authenticities, and personal requirements, there was a declaration of the existence of a completely different certainty. What was that? This was the same system that preached the message of Oneness of Almighty Allah, taught to do justice and to respect humanity, freed humanity from the servitude of barbarism, racism, materialism, bigotry, and monarchy; and to introduce a higher sense of humanity and a wider concept of religion; terminated the sophisticated desires, abstraction, genocide, aversion to humanity, the spell of thousands of years of superstitions and assumptions were shattered; and the restrictions to seek knowledge were aluminated.
In the modern era, the whole Ummah seems to be fragmented and their claims are restricted only to the extent of words, and on a practical basis, it has not been seen anywhere for centuries in the real sense. They started worshiping the same idols again and forgot the teachings of Muhammad (SAAS) and became divided into racial, linguistic, and regional differences. Instead of being friendly, their character and actions are hostile.
Muslims throughout history had had strong love and affection for their Prophet (SAAS). Is that relationship still existing or have they parted ways on their own? If this is true, then they must repent and strengthen their relationship with Muhammad (SAAS) by following his teachings in the true sense.‘Islam’ is not the name of any custom or heritage, and ‘Muslims’ is not the name of any nation or race; rather this is the Ideal system of living for the welfare of whole humanity. Achieving this pious life and preaching the high call is the distinguishing feature of Islam and it is a recognized fact that achieving a pure and pious life and preaching the noble message is not possible without the guidance of the Qur'an and without following the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (SAAS).

The author is a Senior Researcher of Islamic Studies at the Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University

Email:---- khalid6484@bgsbu.ac.in