Author: Shaykh Muhammad Yunus Khalid
The Divine Education Model in the Family of the Prophets (Part 139)
Educational Lessons from the Life of the Messenger of Allah, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
The Conditions of the World Before the Birth and Prophethood of the Leader of Both Worlds, the Noble Messenger (PBUH)
The Conditions of the Countries and Nations of the World Before Islam (Continued)
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The Roman Empire
The Eastern Roman Emperor, known as the Byzantine Emperor, whose territories at that time included Greece, the Balkans, Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine, the entire Mediterranean region, Egypt, and all the lands of North Africa, with Constantinople as its capital, ruled through an oppressive government that imposed injustice and tyranny upon the aforementioned peoples. Disorder and chaos had spread everywhere, while the rulers themselves lived lives of luxury and indulgence. Egypt, in particular, had become a scene of religious oppression and the worst form of political despotism. To the Romans, Egypt was like a sheep whose milk they used while providing it with insufficient fodder.
Various forms of oppression, forced labor, and slavery had also become widespread in Syria. In ruling and governing its people, the Romans relied solely on force and power. In addition to subjecting them to repeated attacks, they ruled over them like foreigners who recognized no principle other than the logic of force and showed them no leniency, to the extent that the people of Syria sometimes sold their children in order to pay their debts. [1]
The Eastern Roman Empire had been so exhausted under the burden of crushing taxes that its people preferred any foreign government to their own. Repeated revolts and rebellions took place. In the Nika revolt in Constantinople alone, thirty thousand people lost their lives.
The greatest occupation of the people was accumulating wealth by every possible means and spending it on amusement, pleasure, and luxury. Their pursuit of pleasure, entertainment, and recreation had reached a level that was hardly distinguishable from savagery.
The authors of the book Past and Present Civilization have portrayed the social conditions of Byzantium, its contradictions, moral corruption, and its fascination with pleasure and entertainment as follows: “A terrible contradiction dominated Byzantine social life. Religious tendencies had deeply penetrated their minds. Renunciation of the world and monasticism were widespread throughout the country. Ordinary people involved themselves in profound religious debates. Public life was mysterious and characterized by an inward religious atmosphere. On the other hand, these same people were extremely fond of various games, amusements, and frivolities. There were large sporting arenas capable of accommodating 80,000 spectators. People would sit there and watch men wrestle with one another and, at times, men fight wild animals.
The people were divided into two groups, the Blues and the Greens. The Byzantines greatly loved beauty, but they were also inclined toward violence and cruelty. Their games often resulted in harassment and bloodshed, and their methods of torture were extremely severe and terrifying. The lives of their rulers and nobles were mixed with pleasure, luxury, conspiracies, excessive formalities, and ugly and reprehensible habits.” [2]
Among some nations, politics was based on the glorification and exaltation of the nation and homeland. The Roman state, for example, had made the glorification of the Roman homeland and people its standard, while other countries and peoples had no status beyond serving its interests and functioning as channels through which resources were transferred to the center. In pursuing this policy, the state respected no principle or moral foundation. It trampled upon every form of honor and value and permitted every kind of oppression and injustice. No country could be saved from this oppression merely through religious affiliation, common beliefs, sincerity, or loyalty to the state. Under no circumstances were they willing to accept that these peoples should have the right to govern themselves or enjoy their rights in their own lands. They were like a camel that was sometimes used for riding and at other times milked, while only enough grass was provided to keep it alive and producing milk. [3]
Roman Rule in Egypt and Syria
Dr. Alfred J. Butler says concerning Roman rule in Egypt: “Roman rule in Egypt pursued no objective other than seizing the wealth of the subjects and placing it in the hands of the rulers. It never considered making the welfare of the subjects and the improvement of the people’s condition, progress in life, moral refinement, and the organization of economic affairs among its objectives. In other words, the existing government was a foreign rule based solely on force and power, with no compassion or mercy toward the people under its authority.”
A Syrian Arab historian speaks about Roman rule in Syria as follows: “Despite the internal problems and crises they faced, the Romans who ruled Syria dealt with the Syrians fairly and well. When their state grew old and weakened, they fell into the worst condition of slavery and humiliation. The people of Syria were not regarded as Roman citizens, nor was their land considered Roman territory. Rather, they were treated as subjects who were strangers and foreigners. On many occasions, they sold their children in order to pay the taxes imposed upon them. Slavery, oppression, and injustice were rampant. With those same weak and powerless arms, the Roman state established large centers and workshops in Syria.” [4]
The Romans ruled Syria for seven hundred years. With the beginning of their rule, war and conflict, despotism, selfishness, killing, and bloodshed also began.
To be continued…
References:
[1] Al-Sallabi, Ali Muhammad, The Model of Guidance, Haramain Publications, 1st Digital Edition, 1394 AH, vol. 1, p. 34
[2] Nadwi, Sayyid Abu al-Hasan, The Prophet of Mercy, translated by Muhammad Qasim Qasmi, Maktabah Haqqaniyyah, n.d., pp. 26–27.
[3] Al-Nadwi, Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Hasani, An Examination of the Conditions of the World, translated by Abd al-Hakim Uthmani, Ihsan Publications, 2nd ed., 1388 SH, pp. 113–114.
[4] Al-Nadwi, Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Hasani, An Examination of the Conditions of the World, translated by Abd al-Hakim Uthmani, Ihsan Publications, 2nd ed., 1388 SH, pp. 114–115.
