Communication Skills

Name Muhammad Farhan

Registration Number
SP20-BSE-049

Class
Section 3A

Teacher’s Name Mehmood Ul Hassan

Identify the different intercultural and intracultural variables from
the history of Prophethood.
Also discuss the reactions of Holy Prophet (PBUH) or other
Prophets while facing these variables

Intercultural and Intracultural Variables:

human verbal communication can be considered a process with two ends: intracultural end and
intercultural end. However, practically communicators are always in between, closer or further to
one of the ends creating and interpreting meaning by using their existing linguistic tools.

Intracultural communication occurs in interactions between members of a relatively definable

speech community following conventions of language and conventions of usage with individual
choices. Intercultural communication refers to interactions between speakers who have different
first languages, communicate in a common language, and, usually, represent different cultures.

Intercultural Variables:

Allah says of the diversity of human beings:

“O people, we created you all from a single man and a single woman, and made
you into races and tribes so that you should get to know one another. In God’s eyes, the
most honored of you are the ones most mindful of Him: God is All Knowing, All Aware
(49:13).”

Today we have many cross-cultures. The holy prophet (PBUH) also faced intercultural variable
when he (PBUH) wrote a letter to Persian empire Hercules. The letter was written in Arabic but
Persian emperor did not understand. Thus, he translated the letter in Persian and respond to holy
prophet (PBUH). This is called diversity in culture on language ground.

The only language that the Prophet (PBUH) knew and spoke was Arabic. There is no resource
mentioning that the Prophet spoke any other languages. It is stated in some resources that he
uttered a few words in Persian but it does not mean that he spoke Persian. 

After the Prophet (PBUH) came to Madinah, delegations and letters started to come from various
nations, especially the Jews living around Madinah. The Prophet advised Zayd bin Thabit, one of
the revelation scribes, to learn Hebrew and Syriac in order to understand what the delegations
said and to respond to the letters.

Once, he (PBUH) said to me,

"O Zayd! Learn the writing of Jews. By Allah, I cannot trust in what Jews write to me."

"I learned to read and write Hebrew in fifteen nights. After that, I started to read the letters Jews
sent to the Messenger of Allah and to write them answers in Hebrew." 

Once, Prophet (peace be upon him) traveled with his companion, Zayd ibn Harithah towards
Ta’if to invite the people of Ta’if towards Islam. But all of them rejected the invitation and
responded in the most sarcastic way. They sent a crowd of young people to attack the Prophet
(peace be upon him) and pelt him with stones.

The mob forced Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and Zayd out of town. Both men were
wounded by the stones thrown at them, and their feet were covered in blood. It was there that
Prophet Muhammad said his famous supplication to Allah:

“O Allah! To You alone I make complaint of my helplessness, the paucity of my resources

and my insignificance before mankind. You are the most Merciful of the merciful. You are
the Lord of the helpless and the weak, O Lord of mine! Into whose hands would You
abandon me: into the hands of an unsympathetic distant relative who would sullenly frown
at me, or to the enemy who has been given control over my affairs? But if Your wrath does
not fall on me, there is nothing for me to worry about.”

As we know that Prophet (PBUH) went to Ta’if for preaching of Islam but the people of Ta’if
showed their usual behavior and through stone at Prophet (PBUH) and his companion. Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) didn’t lose heart and continue to preach Islam.

Hazrat Suleman Parsi (R.A), one of the closed companions of Prophet (PBUH), was from Persia.
He had his own cultural values. His family used to worship of fire but didn’t. That’s why he
moved to Islam. He left his cultural values and adopt the Islamic cultural values. First, he faced
difficulty to adopt this but he adopted as he loves Islam.
Hazrat Bilal (R.A) was from Habshah he also had his own cultural values but he accept Islam
and adopted the Islamic cultural values. He faced many things due to his black skin color but he
didn’t lose heart and continue to preach Islam.

Intracultural Variables:

Intracultural communication occurs in interactions between members of a relatively definable

speech community following rules of language and rules of usage with individual choices.

Once a Bedouin came to Holy Prophet (PBUH) and he used very harsh nonverbal language.
However, he didn’t misbehave actually this is all due to his ascent. He belonged to Makkah.
Therefore, this is an intracultural variable among two people belong to a same culture.

Before the Holy Prophet (PBUH) Arabs used to bury their newborn daughter alive. The most
strident in doing this was Tamim, declaring fear of being subjugated and, that unqualified others
would take advantage of them. But Prophet (PBUH) overcome this culture. He (PBUH) gave
rights to the women.