The Divine Education Model in the Family of the Prophets (Part 142)
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
The Persian Empire
Dear reader, the story of Yazdegerd provides some insight into the conditions of that period.
When Yazdegerd was forced by the Muslim conquests to flee and leave Madain, the capital of the Sassanid Empire, he took with him, during his escape, one thousand cooks, one thousand musicians, one thousand leopard keepers, one thousand falcon keepers, and numerous other servants. Yet he considered even this number insufficient. He regarded himself as a miserable refugee and wondered how he could live without adequate facilities for comfort, entertainment, and service. Consequently, he considered himself an object of pity and a helpless person.
Alongside the luxurious lifestyles of the kings, the people suffered severely from deprivation, misery, hardship, and poverty. They endured extreme difficulties merely to earn their livelihoods, struggled under heavy taxation, and remained trapped in the chains of oppression and injustice. They lived like animals and had no control over their own lives.
Many peasants, exhausted by taxation and compulsory military service, abandoned their agricultural lands and sought refuge in temples and monasteries.
During the prolonged and bloody wars between the Sassanid state and the Byzantine Empire, the people were used like worthless firewood. These wars brought no benefit to the population, nor did the people have any interest in them. [1]
Persia, which at that time shared with Rome the domination of the civilized world, was one of the principal centers of some of the greatest forms of social corruption known to the world up to that time. From ancient times, its moral foundations had been unstable and disturbed. Marriage between close blood relatives, the prohibition and abhorrence of which were recognized by peoples throughout the temperate regions of the world, was still a subject of debate and discussion among them. So much so that Yazdegerd II, who ascended the throne in the middle of the fifth century CE, married his daughter and later had her killed.
Bahram Gur, who occupied the throne in the sixth century, married his sister. [2]
The Treasuries and Wealth of the Persian Kings
In Persia, only a negligible portion of the state budget was spent on the development and improvement of the country. From ancient times, Persian kings had been accustomed to accumulating money and hoarding precious and rare objects for themselves.
When Khosrow II transferred his wealth to his new palace in Madain, which had been constructed in 607–608 CE, his reserves of gold amounted to 468 million mithqals. This figure was equivalent to 375 million gold francs. In the thirteenth year of his reign, the amount of gold in his treasury had reached 800 million mithqals. [3]
The Deep Class Divide in Persian Society
Wealth and prosperity belonged to a small number of individuals, whereas poverty and misery were the lot of the majority of Persian citizens.
The author of Iran Dar Ahd-e Sasanian (Iran Under the Sassanids), discussing one of Persia’s most prosperous periods and its supposedly most just king, Khosrow Anushirvan, states: “The reforms that Khosrow introduced into the country’s financial system served the financial interests of the state rather than those of the people. The masses continued to live in misery and poverty, just as they had before.
The hereditary privileges and discrimination among social classes, the enormous gaps between them, and the suffering of the lower classes were so distressing that they astonished Greek philosophers and compelled them to criticize Persian society.
They declared, ‘In Persian society, the powerful trample upon the weak and treat them with extreme injustice and cruelty.’
Government positions were reserved for certain wealthy and influential families and generations with connections to the ruling establishment.” [4]
The Condition of the Peasants in Persia
New and varied taxes placed a heavy burden on the general population. As a result, many peasants abandoned agriculture, while many others sought refuge in monasteries to escape taxation and military service for a government in which they had no interest and for a cause to which they felt no devotion. Unemployment, crime, and fraudulent occupations had become widespread. [5]
Artificial Civilization and a Life of Splendor
A life of comfort and luxury had strongly dominated the people of the Persian and Roman empires. The overwhelming waves of artificial civilization and a life of outward splendor had brought them to their knees, and they were all submerged in it up to their necks. The kings of Persia and Rome and the rulers of these two states lived in a state of profound heedlessness. They had no ambition beyond worldly pleasure and enjoyment. They had turned to boundless indulgence and pleasure-seeking and had gone to extremes in the use of life’s amenities and in extravagant spending.
Khosrow Parviz possessed twelve thousand women, fifty horses, and an incalculable number of luxurious facilities, magnificent palaces, and other manifestations of wealth. [6]
A study of history reveals that, just as in the Roman Empire, ancient Persia also suffered from numerous problems and widespread disorder. Oppression of the subjects, severe social pressures, the extravagant lifestyles and indulgence of certain kings and courtiers, and the rulers’ detachment from the actual lives of ordinary people were among the major problems of that era.
Alongside these disorders, the institution of the family had also lost its proper standing among certain ruling and aristocratic classes. As mentioned above, some historical accounts refer to marriages between certain kings and their close blood relatives, including their sisters or daughters. Such conduct indicates serious deviations in the moral and family systems of some ruling classes of that period.
Therefore, despite its achievements in certain areas of civilization, Persian society was not immune to moral, social, and family-related problems. The vast gap between the lives of the aristocracy and kings and those of ordinary people, together with the weakening of family values among some members of the elite, contributed to various forms of social disorder.
[1] Nadwi, Abu al-Hasan, Nabi Rahmat (The Prophet of Mercy), translated by Muhammad Qasim Qasmi, pp. 12–15.
[2] Al-Nadwi, Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Hasani, Kand-o-Kavavi dar Awza-e Jahan (An Examination of the Conditions of the World), translated by Abd al-Hakim Uthmani, Nashr Ihsan, 2nd ed., 1388 SH, p. 85.
[3] Al-Nadwi, Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Hasani, Kand-o-Kavavi dar Awza-e Jahan (An Examination of the Conditions of the World), translated by Abd al-Hakim Uthmani, Nashr Ihsan, 2nd ed., 1388 SH, p. 116.
[4] Al-Nadwi, Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Hasani, Kand-o-Kavavi dar Awza-e Jahan (An Examination of the Conditions of the World), translated by Abd al-Hakim Uthmani, Nashr Ihsan, 2nd ed., 1388 SH, p. 116.
[5] Al-Nadwi, Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Hasani, Kand-o-Kavavi dar Awza-e Jahan (An Examination of the Conditions of the World), translated by Abd al-Hakim Uthmani, Nashr Ihsan, 2nd ed., 1388 SH, p. 117.
[6] Al-Nadwi, Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Hasani, Kand-o-Kavavi dar Awza-e Jahan (An Examination of the Conditions of the World), translated by Abd al-Hakim Uthmani, Nashr Ihsan, 2nd ed., 1388 SH, p. 118.
