| Pain, Pleasure and Prejudice The Complete Layman’s Guide to the Koran Rukaya Saves the Prophet (Formerly: Rockin the Ka’ba) Worshipping at the Ka’ba was not always the somber, ritual spectacle you have today, during the Hajj for instance. The revelation pertaining to pre-Islamic worship at the Ka’ba is part of a series of revelation which begin with a verse about Allah outscheming (sic) the Meccans and thereby saving his Prophet’s life, but not from being expelled from Mecca as you will soon discover. 8:30 And [remember (Muhammad)] when the unbelievers plotted against you, so as to confine you, kill you or expel you. They schemed and Allah schemed, but Allah is the Best of schemers. There were at least two attempts on the Prophet’s life during his time in Mecca. One rather disgusting attempt occurred about three years after he received the first communication from the Angel Gabriel. He was kneeling in prayer at the Ka’ba when a fellow by the name of Abu Jahl came up behind him with the stomach of a dead camel which he placed like a sac on top of the Prophet’s head intending to suffocate him. Somehow, Abu Jahl managed to get God’s Messenger completely inside the camel’s stomach which he then sealed with the intestines of the animal. None of the men who witnessed the attempted murder intervened; but one woman rushed to the house of the Prophet and told Rukaya what was being done to her father. She rushed to the Ka’ba and liberated her dad from the camel’s stomach saving his life. Tiring of listening to the Prophet insult their ancestors for worshipping idols – the last straw was probably God’s Messenger’s insistence that their forefathers were burning in Hell because they died unbelievers and that is where they would end up if they followed their ancestor’s example – the Meccans banned the Prophet and his followers from the Ka’ba. The believers defied the ordinance, prompting the Meccans, in 616, to send them all into exile. The next time the Prophet will enter Mecca, it will be as its conqueror. It’s not that the Meccans did not want to believe that the man they had known all their adult lives, if not longer, was the Messenger of God, but some of the stuff he preached they had heard before; and if he was God’s Messenger, why couldn’t he get God to send them a sign; dropping a few bricks from Paradise, for example, which the Prophet maintained was above the clouds and contained structures similar to those found on earth, but much bigger (see Chapter 18, Heaven). 8:31 And when Our Revelations are recited to them, they say: “We have heard. Had we wished, we would have uttered the like of this; this is nothing but fables of the ancients.” 8:32 And when they said: “O Allah, if this is indeed the truth from You, then rain down upon us brickstones (sic) from heaven, or inflict upon us a very painful punishment.” God’s Messenger, or perhaps his followers, may have wondered why Allah did not punish those who had tried to kill him, including attempting to suffocate him using parts of a dead camel’s digestive system. 8:33 And Allah did not wish to punish them while you (Muhammad) were in their midst, and Allah was not going to punish them while they were asking for forgiveness. Some Meccans obviously regretted being part of the plot to kill the Prophet or not coming to the aid of God’s Messenger and asked for forgiveness. As to the believers being barred from the Ka’ba, the unbelievers had no right! 8:34 And what excuse do they have that Allah should not punished them, when they bar people from the Sacred Mosque[80], although they were not its guardians? Its guardians are only those who fear Allah; but most of them do not know. And what was it like worshipping at the Sacred Mosque before the believers became its guardians and it was the unbelievers who were denied admittance. 8:35 Their prayer at the House (the Ka’ba) is nothing but whistling and clapping; so taste the punishment for your disbelief. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Allah’s claim notwithstanding – Rukaya could have been His instrument - the Prophet owed his life to a brave female while males stood by and watched. It was also woman, his first wife Khadijah, whose faith in her husband and wealth ensured his success as a merchant and later financed his activities as a budding prophet. Knowing this, it is even harder to fathom Allah and His Messenger’s distrust and disparagement of females and the restrictions they have placed on their freedom of movement and action. If the interdiction against women leaving the house unaccompanied by a close male relative or guardian had been in effect when the attempted suffocation of God’s Messenger’s was made, the Prophet’s progress would have come to an abrupt halt. Why No Signs and No Punishment What Allah told His Messenger to say to those who wanted concrete (no pun intended) signs from Allah that he was His Messenger. 29:50 They said: “If only signs from his Lord were sent down on him (Muhammad).” Say: “Signs are only with Allah, and I am only a manifest warner.” 29:51 Does it not suffice them that We have sent down on you the Book which is recited to them? There is, indeed, in that a mercy and a reminder to a believing people. 29:52 Say: “Allah suffices as a witness between you and me. He knows what is in the heavens and on earth; and those who have believed in falsehood and disbelieved in Allah – those are the losers.” As to hastening the punishment of the unbelievers: 29:53 And they urge you to hasten the punishment; but had it not been for an appointed term, the punishment would have certainly smitten them. In fact, it will smite them suddenly, while they are unaware. 29:54 They urge you to hasten the punishment. Hell shall surely encompass the unbelievers. 29:55 Upon the Day the punishment shall overwhelm them from above them and from under their feet and He says: “Taste now what you used to do.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A sign from Allah can also be not doing what He is asked to do, for example not dropping a peace of heaven revelation 34:9) on those who do not believe in the Hereafter to prove the existence of Paradise. 34:7 The unbelievers say: “Shall we show you a man who will tell you that, once you have been torn to pieces, you shall become again a new creation? 34:8 “Does he impute falsehood to Allah or is he possessed?” No, those who do not believe in the Hereafter will undergo the punishment and are in grave error. Remember, as you read the following revelation that heaven in the Koran is just above the clouds, therefore, the reference to “what is in front of them” is undoubtedly heaven, with the earth what is “behind them”, what the people he could have caused to be suffocated under a pile of dirt are standing on. 34:9 Have they not looked at what is in front of them and behind them of the heavens and the earth? Had We wished, we would have caused the earth to cave in under them, or dropped fragments from heaven upon them. Surely, in that is a sign to every repenting servant. ----- [80] The enclosure surrounding the Ka’ba.
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