The universal ancient

civilizations before Islam

By : Hanan Nasser Wafy3rd Year at HIISFL

Supervisor : Dr. Gharib Khalil

The Social and classes discrimination of the Ancient

Civilizations

Why they Collapse ?!How we can benefit

from their shortcomings?

على » لعجمي وال ، عجمي على لعربي فضل العلى ألسود وال ، أسود على ألبيض وال ، عربي

من - : وآدم ، آدم من الناس ، بالتقوى إال أبيض « Mتراِب

: - : - : الرقم: - أو الصفحة الطحاوية شرح المصدر األلباني المحدث الراوي361

: صحيح المحدث حكم خالصة

“There is no priority of Arab over non –Arab nor non-Arab over Arab, nor of white over

black, nor black over white except by piety, All people are from Adam, and Adam is

from Dust”

Some hadiths about why the ancient civilizations collapse :

قال قال وسلم عليه الله صلى :النبي• ((، الحد عليه أقاموا الضعيف فيهم سرق إذا كان أنه قبلكم كان من أهلك إنما الناس أيها

)).... تركوه الشريف فيهم سرق .وإذا البخاري رواه• “O people, those who have gone before you were destroyed, because

if any one of high rank committed theft amongst them, they spared him; and it anyone of low rank committed theft, they inflicted the prescribed punishment upon him….”

كان)) • من أهلك الشح ،فإن الشح ،واتقوا القيامة يوم ظلمات الظلم ،فإن الظلم اتقوا. )) مسلم رواه محارمهم واستحلوا دماءهم سفكوا أن على ،حملهم قبلكم

• "Beware of injustice, for oppression will be darkness on the Day of Resurrection; and beware of stinginess because it doomed those who were before you. It incited them to shed blood and treat the unlawful as lawful."

• [ )) أحمد)) اإلمام رواه وجل عز الله عقاِب بأنفسهم أحلوا إال والزنا الربا قوم في ظهر ما.] صحيح بسند

• “What appeared in the folk usury and adultery, except to descend to themselves the punishment of God Almighty”

Some civilizations before Islam:

The Greek Civilization The Indian Civilization The Persian Civilization The Chinese Civilization The Egyptian Civilization The Roman Civilization The Arabic Civilization

The universal ancient civilizations before Islam

Civilization Timeline

NO ETHIC; NO MORAL !

Political and Social Structure: a meritocracy having (Plato’s utopia as well as Aristotle) :

--Guardians, or rulers. Chosen on the basis of good stock, physique, mind, and education. Main virtue is wisdom.{God put gold in them}

--Auxiliaries, or warriors. Made up of young guardians not yet ready to be rulers and others from the guardian class who have a violent, rather than philosophical, nature. Main virtue is valor. {God put Silver in them}

--Workers. Farmers and artisans. : they were the low class --Slaves. The Patients have no place in their utopia

The Greek Civilization

. "No one is to know his own child, nor any child his

parent." Only the "best" of both sexes are to be brought together to have children, and if the "worst" have children, these children are to be "put out of sight in secrecy and mystery."

There are certain ages for childbearing, and if children are born other than in this prime period, they are "disposed of." Children born outside of wedlock are declared "unauthorized and unholy.“

They allow Infanticide to Reduce the population density.

Place of Women: For the Auxiliaries women is public ownership

Kings ruled the land. Brahmins were the priests teachers and

judges. Kshatriyas were the warriors or knights. Vaisyas were the farmers and merchants. Sudras were the craftworkers or

labourers. They are called Untouchables; they were the outcasts.

The Indian civilization

Untouchables were the outcasts: were given

degrading tasks such as collecting trash and handling dead bodies .

They made up of about 5 percent of ancient India.

They were not even considered human, and there very presence was considered harmful to the members of other classes.

No Indian would touch or eat food handled by an Untouchable .

Untouchables lived in separate areas than the rest of the population.

Untouchables

Patriarchal life The superiority of males in ancient Indian society:

Only males could inherit property, except in a few cases where their were no sons.

Women were not allowed to serve as priest, and generally, only males were educated.

Ritual of suttee: During this ritual the dead was placed on a heap of

burning materials. The suttee required a wife to throw herself on her

dead husband’s flaming pile. Most women did this gladly. Women who refused were held in disgrace.

Some killed themselves after their husbands death; not to be inherited as the rest of his properties.

Women

They allow “Incestuous marriage” to be Closer to God.

Zoroastrian philosopher known as Mazdak the Elder, who taught a combination of altruism and hedonism: "he directed his followers to enjoy the pleasures of life and satisfy their appetite in the highest degree with regard to eating and drinking in the spirit of equality, to aim at good deeds; to abstain from shedding blood and inflicting harm on others; and to practice hospitality without reservation".

Mani's teaching is based on a rigid dualism of good and evil, locked in eternal struggle. In his mid-twenties, Mani decided that salvation is possible through education, self-denial, fasting and chastity. He forbid marriage.

Social structureThe measurement is according how valuable the thing that produce. Shi – Gentry Scholars Nong – Peasant Farmers Gong – Artisans and Craftsmen Shang – Merchants and Traders: they did

not produce anything, but rather transported and traded goods made by others. Popular perception of these people as greedy and immoral.

The Chinese civilization

Women: The main job of a woman in ancient China was to bear sons.

• women were not equal to men and were not worthy to have literary and education.

• was not given a name; instead she was called "daughter no1", "daughter no2" and so on

• serve her husband like a slave• men were allowed to have more than one wife• If the husband of a young Chinese woman

died, she was not allowed to remarry. Death penalty was given, if she remarried.

• Binding feet:is the custom of applying

painfully tight binding to the feet of young girls to prevent further growth.

Women

Social structure

Egyptian Civilization

Labors

Egyptian women achieved parity with Egyptian men. They enjoyed the same legal and economic rights Women could manage, own, and sell private property( have

their private ownership) They were honored to be scarified in the festival “Fidelity of

the Nile” Marriage , Divorce, Dowry, Adoptions, Court, Inherit and Be

inherited by even her Daughter Widow inherited two-thirds of their community property, but

the other one-third was divided among their children. She could be adopted by her husband to inherit all his wealth

Be the Ruler (Queen: Hatshepsut, Nefertiti(the wife of Akhenaten), Nefertari (the favorite wife of Ramesses the Great )), Be goodness( nearly15 out of 40)

A mother named her child immediately following birth, thereby making sure the child would have a name in the afterlife

the effect of the ancient Egyptian civilization over the Roman(famous Cleopatra the 7th (Greek pharaoh) )

Egyptian Women

Social Structure in Rome

Patricians:• the upper-class citizens• arranged due to wealth; owned a lot of property• highly educated and had far more advantages than anyone

else• perform religious customs• had more power, created the laws, were the majority of the

Senate and they had the right to vote• had a choice in responsibilities• had very important jobs and had much power over other

citizens Plebeians:• were the poor, low-class citizens• participated in the army, and they paid the taxes for the city• could not marry the patricians or take part in the government• were treated so badly that if they fell into debt, they could be

sold into slavery

The Roman Civilization

Slaves (non-person human):• were at the bottom of the class system• could become a slave is if you were a plebeian

and you fell into debt or if you were a prisoner of war

• were also to be gladiators, or fighters who fought others or animals, farmers, craftsmen, traders, laborers, or people who did manual labor

Salves

They were controlled by their fathers, until they were given to

their husbands around the age of 9 to 14 through arranged marriage, through which the husband gained complete control of the household.

They could not hold public office or vote. They were not allow to eat meat they were not going to live in the hereafter They were not allow to laugh ( they were padlock from iron) They were filth, So, they wore Chastity belt which their keys

with the husband. Men could choose whether he wanted to keep the baby or not Men could hit their wives and slaves; They could even put

them to death

Women( creatures without Spirits)

Discussion: ( don’t generalize cause every tribe Have its

custom, habits and tradition) _• Virtue of the Arabs • Beliefs- deities ( Allah the Creator “Al Rab”• - gods and goddess)• Marriage( 4 kinds)• Makans – Qurish tribe (Qurish tribe is Superior to all other due

to its neighborhood to al Kaaba “the holy Mosque”)• Women ( mother –wife- daughter) Most of them are Highly respected and some of them have their economic right(the 1st mother of the believers “the Lady Khadiga” (RAA) and other ,depending on their tribes - Qais Bin Assem, a leader of the Tamim tribe.

Arab before Islam

The main reasons for civilizations’ collapse are

Unjust Discrimination Lack of the ethic and the

Morals

conclusion

“what the Muslims offer to the world” by Dr Rahib el Sirgani http://www.alminbar.net/alkhutab/khutbaa.asp?mediaURL=2769 http://sunnah.com/ http://www.trivia-library.com/a/utopia-theory-in-history-the-republic.htm http://www.buzzle.com/articles/women-in-the-ancient-chinese-culture.html http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/china/ancient-china-social-classes/2413  http://www.historyonthenet.com/Egyptians/society.htm http://egypt.mrdonn.org/women.html http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/11-things-you-may-not-know-about-ancient-egypt http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/womneg.htm http://www.jasminjahal.com/articles/99_09.html http://www.slideshare.net/Ashbenn/ancient-china-12118206 http://www.egypthasitall.com/blog/2008/12/the-bride-of-the-nile/ http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Egyptian_gods_and_goddesses http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Arab_societies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_pre-Islamic_Arabia#cite_note-

Ahmed_1992_12.E2.80.9316-4

reference

Thank You

Azakom Allah 5iera