Alienation is associated with feelings of isolation from one’s social environment. This may be occasioned by psychological reasons, but others suggest alternative patterns of alienation, such as Karl Marx, who illustrated the feeling of alienation the worker feels from his work as a result of its capitalist associations. Alienation can perhaps be caused by a change of place that imposes a new and unaccustomed situation, and this phenomenon is identifiable from the sufferings caused by displacement and the change of the social environment.
This title comes from one of the books of the late Khalīl ‘Abd al-Karīm in which the author categorically denies that one could describe the pre-Islamic Quraysh community as jāhilī (‘pagan, ignorant’). For evidence he cites the words of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb: “Arabs are the raw material for Islam”, the meaning being: Arabs are the source of many rulings, rules, regulations and customs promoted and legislated by Islam. We might even say, quite confidently, that Islam is the legacy of the Arabs with respect to a large part of all practices of worship and society.
In its beginnings Islam represented a revolution against injustice and corruption, and a corrective movement against many practices of Arab society. But what this revolution started with at the outset was not what it became at the end. For just as soon as things were established among the Muslims, when lands were conquered and metropolises occupied, their funds were exhausted and they were left in dire need of those whom they had revolted against and reformed.
Not all of the Qur’ān was collated during the life of the Prophet. In fact the Qur’ān was originally not collated at all. Some believe that the Prophet was unaware of the day when he would die and death caught up with him unawares. For this reason he did not organise its collection before his death. Some are of the opinion that the reason for this is that the copyist was waiting for the Prophet’s changing of his directives, and so was looking out for the last legal directive before collating it.
This title comes from one of the books of the late Khalīl ‘Abd al-Karīm in which the author categorically denies that one could describe the pre-Islamic Quraysh community as jāhilī (‘pagan, ignorant’). For evidence he cites the words of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb: “Arabs are the raw material for Islam”, the meaning being: Arabs are the source of many rulings, rules, regulations and customs promoted and legislated by Islam. We might even say, quite confidently, that Islam is the legacy of the Arabs with respect to a large part of all practices of worship and society.
In its beginnings Islam represented a revolution against injustice and corruption, and a corrective movement against many practices of Arab society. But what this revolution started with at the outset was not what it became at the end. For just as soon as things were established among the Muslims, when lands were conquered and metropolises occupied, their funds were exhausted and they were left in dire need of those whom they had revolted against and reformed.
Not all of the Qur’ān was collated during the life of the Prophet. In fact the Qur’ān was originally not collated at all. Some believe that the Prophet was unaware of the day when he would die and death caught up with him unawares. For this reason he did not organise its collection before his death. Some are of the opinion that the reason for this is that the copyist was waiting for the Prophet’s changing of his directives, and so was looking out for the last legal directive before collating it.
