THE VIOLATION OF MUḤAMMAD'S COVENANT
MUHAMMAD completed His mission. Out of the unpromising material
presented to Him He had created a spiritual nation such as the world had never
seen and one which would prove itself possessed of a solidarity and
effectiveness which have always been the wonder of mankind. The future would
depend on the loyalty, the understanding and sympathy of His followers and on
the guidance given them by their leaders.
Moses had appointed Joshua as His immediate successor and
as long as Joshua led the Israelites the sun of Moses shone high in the
heavens. Jesus appointed Peter to succeed Him, without notifying him as to the
limit of his authority or who was to succeed him in his office, if anyone. Muḥammad,
without naming him, designated 'Alí, His son-in-law, by signs so many and so
striking that no one could mistake their meaning and, what is more,
Muḥammad had with him a number of conversations dealing with the future
of the Cause and the nature of its development. Muḥammad also stated in
plain terms that His family and His book were to succeed Him, thus in effect
giving to 'Alí, as His son-in-law, the right of succession to the place of the
But sectional loyalties, tribal jealousies and personal
ambition all conspired to defeat Muḥammad's purpose. 'Alí,
whose character and outstanding ability made him conspicuously suited for the
position to which Muḥammad had appointed him, was set aside, and Islám was thus deprived, until too late,
of the inspired guidance which he could have given it. Because of this
violation of the Covenant, the spirit and meaning of the Islámic Faith were
degraded, weakened and poisoned. Factions grew, the Prophet's family was
dispossessed, and before long the powerful Umayyad clan, which had opposed Muḥammad
more bitterly than any other, gained the ascendancy, to rule Islám as an Arab
empire with little regard for
religion or the precepts of the Prophet.
'Abdu'l-Bahá describes this clan as the beast from the
bottomless pit that warred against the spiritual life of Islám and killed it,
leaving nothing of the religion of Muḥammad but the prayers and the
fast; all the justice, the righteousness, the mercy and indeed all the virtues
which the Prophet had enshrined in Islám were irretrievably lost.
Deprived of the guidance of Muḥammad's family and
ruled by descendants of Muḥammad's enemies, Islám was transformed into a
secular state whose rulers used religion for secular ends. Muḥammad's
plans remained unknown and so remain to this day, though it is easy to surmise
their general character.
This heinous violation swept away all possibility of
Muḥammad's love for Christendom, so conspicuously displayed in His
lifetime, from developing, and thereafter the relationship of these two chief
civilizations followed its tragic course, continuing right down to our own day
to disturb the order of the world and to prevent the establishment of that
unity in brotherhood which was the desire of both Christ and Muḥammad.
1. They said he was too young.