Page 166 - Islam Denounces Terrorism

164 Islam Denounces Terrorism

The Bedouin Character in the Qur'an

In the period of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), there existed two
basic social structures in Arabia. City-dwellers and Bedouins (desert
Arabs). A sophisticated culture prevailed in Arab towns. Commercial
relations linked the towns to the outer world, which contributed to the
formation of good manners among Arabs dwelling in cities. They had
refined aesthetic values, enjoyed literature and especially poetry.
Desert Arabs, on the other hand, were the nomad tribes living in the
desert who had a very crude culture. Utterly unaware of arts and liter-

ature, most of them developed an unrefined character.

Islam was born and developed among the inhabitants of Mecca,
the most important city of the peninsula. However, as Islam spread to
the rest of the peninsula, all the tribes in Arabia embraced it. Among
these tribes were also desert Arabs, who were somehow problematic:
their cultural background prevented some of them from grasping the
profundity and noble spirit of Islam. Of this God states the following
in a verse:

The desert Arabs are the worst in disbelief and hypocrisy, and more
fitted to be ignorant of the limits which God has sent down to His
Messenger. But God is Knowing, Wise. (Qur'an, 9:97)

Some among the desert Arabs who were "worst in disbelief and
hypocrisy" and prone to disobey God's commands, became a part of
the Islamic community in the Prophet's (pbuh) time. But in subsequent
periods, due to erroneous interpretations and attitudes, some of them

have given rise to bodies incompatible with the moral values of Islam.

The sect called "Kharijites" that emerged among the Bedouins was
an example. The most distinctive trait of this perverse sect (which was
called "Kharijites", literally "those who leave", because they greatly
deviated from Sunni practices), was their wild and fanatical nature.
The "Kharijites", who had little understanding of the essence of Islam