In 1349, the Black Death wiped out nearly half of Europe. And in 1918, the Spanish Flu rocked the world in four consecutive waves, killing 50 to 100 million people. And yet, despite that, historians seem to agree that it was actually the sixth century that was the darkest hour of all of the Dark Ages, as you can find in the writings of Professor Michael McCormick, who chairs Harvard University's Initiative for the Science of the Human Past. This episode will cover the atmosphere in which the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was sent to the world, and how a most merciful God would not and did not leave a crumbling world without intervention. Rather, he sent to them the guidance they needed at that moment more than ever. In the sixth century, wherever a person would turn, darkness prevailed. In a Roman Colosseum, crowds would cheer as a lion mauled at a screaming prisoner, or gladiators hacked away at each other in a brutal fashion. In Persia, incest was widespread, rampant even in the royal family. Private ownership was threatened under Mazdakite ethics, and plagues would ravage the world one wave after another. In India, sectors of society were rendered inferior to rodents and vermin. In Arabia, it was common to find someone whose heart was so stony he could stomach burying his own daughter alive as an infant. In Eastern religions, people could be found worshiping fire, water, weapons, genitalia, writing instruments. In Christianity, mystery prevailed regarding the identity of Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, some claiming that he was God incarnate, others alleging that he was an imposter prophet born out of a legitimate wedlock.
Nearly everywhere, a woman had no soul to begin with or was given an inferior spirit solely to serve the man, and she could be pawned off by her own husband in a recreational game of gamble with one of his friends, or she would have to burn herself at his funeral in solidarity with him as if there is no meaning to her existence after he's gone. In that age, few people would survive birth, and even fewer would make it to adulthood. The slave populations in some of those major civilizations were 75% of the population, and if you were born into that class, that meant you were doomed for life. With that being the condition of the world, how could an all-aware, all-compassionate, all-capable God leave the world without a remedy? He certainly did not. Rather, he sent the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, as a guiding light with a message that was here for humanity's wellbeing, for good. In one authentic tradition, the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, spoke about this period and said, Allah looked, meaning at that darkest hour, upon the earth and despised the people for the evil and corruption that was there. All of them, Arabs and non-Arabs alike, except for a few that remained from the original people of the book. And so he sent his Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and he said, I have sent you, O Muhammad, to test you and test people through you. Will they make use and avail themselves your beautiful message? And I have sent with you a book that the water of the oceans can no longer wash away.