Showing posts with label Prophet Muhammad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prophet Muhammad. Show all posts
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The Prophet of Islam - His Biography-2
1/27/2013 - Religious - Article Ref: IC0212-1812
By: Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah
IslamiCity* -
Revelation
He was forty years old, and it was the fifth consecutive year since his annual retreats, when one night towards the end of the month of Ramadan, an angel came to visit him, and announced that God had chosen him as His messenger to all mankind. The angel taught him the mode of ablutions, the way of worshipping God and the conduct of prayer. He communicated to him the following Divine message:
Then came a pause in revelation, extending over three years. The Prophet must have felt at first a shock, then a calm, an ardent desire, and after a period of waiting, a growing impatience or nostalgia. The news of the first vision had spread and at the pause the skeptics in the city had begun to mock at him and cut bitter jokes. They went so far as to say that God had forsaken him.
During the three years of waiting. the Prophet had given himself up more and more to prayers and to spiritual practices. The revelations were then resumed and God assured him that He had not at all forsaken him: on the contrary it was He Who had guided him to the right path: therefore he should take care of the orphans and the destitute, and proclaim the bounty of God on him (cf. Q. 93:3-11). This was in reality an order to preach. Another revelation directed him to warn people against evil practices, to exhort them to worship none but the One God, and to abandon everything that would displease God (Q. 74:2-7). Yet another revelation commanded him to warn his own near relatives (Q. 26:214); and: "Proclaim openly that which thou art commanded, and withdraw from the Associators (idolaters). Lo! we defend thee from the scoffers" (15:94-5). According to Ibn Ishaq, the first revelation (n. 17) had come to the Prophet during his sleep, evidently to reduce the shock. Later revelations came in full wakefulness.
The Mission
The Prophet began by preaching his mission secretly first among his intimate friends, then among the members of his own tribe and thereafter publicly in the city and suburbs. He insisted on the belief in One Transcendent God, in Resurrection and the Last Judgment. He invited men to charity and beneficence. He took necessary steps to preserve through writing the revelations he was receiving, and ordered his adherents also to learn them by heart. This continued all through his life, since the Quran was not revealed all at once, but in fragments as occasions arose.
The number of his adherents increased gradually, but with the denunciation of paganism, the opposition also grew intense on the part of those who were firmly attached to their ancestral beliefs. This opposition degenerated in the course of time into physical torture of the Prophet and of those who had embraced his religion. These were stretched on burning sands, cauterized with red hot iron and imprisoned with chains on their feet. Some of them died of the effects of torture, but none would renounce his religion. In despair, the Prophet Muhammad advised his companions to quit their native town and take refuge abroad, in Abyssinia, "where governs a just ruler, in whose realm nobody is oppressed" (Ibn Hisham). Dozens of Muslims profited by his advice, though not all. These secret flights led to further persecution of those who remained behind.
The Prophet Muhammad [was instructed to call this] religion "Islam," i.e. submission to the will of God. Its distinctive features are two:
When a large number of the Meccan Muslims migrated to Abyssinia, the leaders of paganism sent an ultimatum to the tribe of the Prophet, demanding that he should be excommunicated and outlawed and delivered to the pagans for being put to death. Every member of the tribe, Muslim and non-Muslim rejected the demand. (cf. Ibn Hisham). Thereupon the city decided on a complete boycott of the tribe: Nobody was to talk to them or have commercial or matrimonial relations with them. The group of Arab tribes called Ahabish, inhabiting the suburbs, who were allies of the Meccans, also joined in the boycott, causing stark misery among the innocent victims consisting of children, men and women, the old and the sick and the feeble. Some of them succumbed yet nobody would hand over the Prophet to his persecutors. An uncle of the Prophet, Abu Lahab, however left his tribesmen and participated in the boycott along with the pagans. After three dire years, during which the victims were obliged to devour even crushed hides, four or five non-Muslims, more humane than the rest and belonging to different clans proclaimed publicly their denunciation of the unjust boycott. At the same time, the document promulgating the pact of boycott which had been hung in the temple, was found, as Muhammad had predicted, eaten by white ants, that spared nothing but the words God and Muhammad. The boycott was lifted, yet owing to the privations that were undergone the wife and Abu Talib, the chief of the tribe and uncle of the Prophet died soon after. Another uncle of the Prophet, Abu-Lahab, who was an inveterate enemy of Islam, now succeeded to the headship of the tribe. (cf. lbn Hisham, Sirah).
The Ascension
It was at this time that the Prophet Muhammad was granted the mi'raj (ascension): He saw in a vision that he was received on heaven by God, and was witness of the marvels of the celestial regions. Returning, he brought for his community, as a Divine gift, the [ritual prayer of Islam, the salaat], which constitutes a sort of communion between man and God. It may be recalled that in the last part of Muslim service of worship, the faithful employ as a symbol of their being in the very presence of God, not concrete objects as others do at the time of communion, but the very words of greeting exchanged between the Prophet Muhammad and God on the occasion of the formers mi'raj: "The blessed and pure greetings for God! - Peace be with thee, O Prophet, as well as the mercy and blessing of God! - Peace be with us and with all the [righteous] servants of God!" The Christian term "communion" implies participation in the Divinity. Finding it pretentious, Muslims use the term "ascension" towards God and reception in His presence, God remaining God and man remaining man and no confusion between the twain.
The news of this celestial meeting led to an increase in the hostility of the pagans of Mecca; and the Prophet was obliged to quit his native town in search of an asylum elsewhere. He went to his maternal uncles in Ta'if, but returned immediately to Mecca, as the wicked people of that town chased the Prophet out of their city by pelting stones on him and wounding him.
Migration to Madinah
The annual pilgrimage of the Ka'bah brought to Mecca people from all parts of Arabia. The Prophet Muhammad tried to persuade one tribe after another to afford him shelter and allow him to carry on his mission of reform. The contingents of fifteen tribes, whom he approached in succession, refused to do so more or less brutally, but he did not despair. Finally he met half a dozen inhabitants of Madinah who being neighbor of the Jews and the Christians, had some notion of prophets and Divine messages. They knew also that these "people of the Books" were awaiting the arrival of a prophet - a last comforter. So these Madinans decided not to lose the opportunity of obtaining an advance over others, and forthwith embraced Islam, promising further to provide additional adherents and necessary help from Madinah. The following year a dozen new Madinans took the oath of allegiance to him and requested him to provide with a missionary teacher. The work of the missionary, Mus'ab, proved very successful and he led a contingent of seventy-three new converts to Mecca, at the time of the pilgrimage. These invited the Prophet and his Meccan companions to migrate to their town, and promised to shelter the Prophet and to treat him and his companions as their own kith and kin. Secretly and in small groups, the greater part of the Muslims emigrated to Madinah. Upon this the pagans of Mecca not only confiscated the property of the evacuees, but devised a plot to assassinate the Prophet. It became now impossible for him to remain at home. It is worthy of mention, that in spite of their hostility to his mission, the pagans had unbounded confidence in his probity, so much so that many of them used to deposit their savings with him. The Prophet Muhammad now entrusted all these deposits to 'Ali, a cousin of his, with instructions to return in due course to the rightful owners. He then left the town secretly in the company of his faithful friend, Abu-Bakr. After several adventures, they succeeded in reaching Madinah in safety. This happened in 622, whence starts the Hijrah calendar.
Reorganization of the Community
For the better rehabilitation of the displaced immigrants, the Prophet created a fraternization between them and an equal number of well-to-do Madinans. The families of each pair of the contractual brothers worked together to earn their livelihood, and aided one another in the business of life.
Further he thought that the development of the man as a whole would be better achieved if he coordinated religion and politics as two constituent parts of one whole. To this end he invited the representatives of the Muslims as well as the non-Muslim inhabitants of the region: Arabs, Jews, Christians and others, and suggested the establishment of a City-State in Madinah. With their assent, he endowed the city with a written constitution - the first of its kind in the world - in which he defined the duties and rights both of the citizens and the head of the State - the Prophet Muhammad was unanimously hailed as such - and abolished the customary private justice. The administration of justice became henceforward the concern of the central organization of the community of the citizens. The document laid down principles of defense and foreign policy: it organized a system of social insurance, called ma'aqil, in cases of too heavy obligations. It recognized that the Prophet Muhammad would have the final word in all differences, and that there was no limit to his power of legislation. It recognized also explicitly liberty of religion, particularly for the Jews, to whom the constitutional act afforded equality with Muslims in all that concerned life in this world (cf. infra n. 303).
Muhammad journeyed several times with a view to win the neighboring tribes and to conclude with them treaties of alliance and mutual help. With their help, he decided to bring to bear economic pressure on the Meccan pagans, who had confiscated the property of the Muslim evacuees and also caused innumerable damage. Obstruction in the way of the Meccan caravans and their passage through the Madinan region exasperated the pagans, and a bloody struggle ensued.
In the concern for the material interests of the community, the spiritual aspect was never neglected. Hardly a year had passed after the migration to Madinah, when the most rigorous of spiritual disciplines, the fasting for the whole month of Ramadan every year, was imposed on every adult Muslim, man and woman.
Struggle Against Intolerance and Unbelief
Not content with the expulsion of the Muslim compatriots, the Meccans sent an ultimatum to the Madinans, demanding the surrender or at least the expulsion of Muhammad and his companions but evidently all such efforts proved in vain. A few months later, in the year 2 A. H., they sent a powerful army against the Prophet, who opposed them at Badr; and the pagans thrice as numerous as the Muslims, were routed. After a year of preparation, the Meccans again invaded Madinah to avenge the defeat of Badr. They were now four times as numerous as the Muslims. After a bloody encounter at Uhud, the enemy retired, the issue being indecisive. The mercenaries in the Meccan army did not want to take too much risk, or endanger their safety.
In the meanwhile the Jewish citizens of Madinah began to foment trouble. About the time of the victory of Badr, one of their leaders, Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, proceeded to Mecca to give assurance of his alliance with the pagans, and to incite them to a war of revenge. After the battle of Uhud, the tribe of the same chieftain plotted to assassinate the Prophet by throwing on him a mill-stone from above a tower, when he had gone to visit their locality. In spite of all this, the only demand the Prophet made of the men of this tribe was to quit the Madinan region, taking with them all their properties, after selling their immovable items and recovering their debts from the Muslims. The clemency thus extended had an effect contrary to what was hoped. The exiled not only contacted the Meccans, but also the tribes of the North, South and East of Madinah, mobilized military aid, and planned from Khaibar an invasion of Madinah, with forces four times more numerous than those employed at Uhud. The Muslims prepared for a siege, and dug a ditch to defend themselves against this hardest of all trials. Although the defection of the Jews still remaining inside Madinah at a later stage upset all strategy, yet with a sagacious diplomacy, the Prophet succeeded in breaking up the alliance, and the different enemy groups retired one after the other.
Alcoholic drinks, gambling and games of chance were at this time declared forbidden for the Muslims.
The Reconciliation
The Prophet tried once more to reconcile the Meccans and proceeded to Mecca. The barring of the route of their Northern caravans had ruined their economy. The Prophet promised them transit security, extradition of their fugitives and the fulfillment of every condition they desired, agreeing even to return to Madinah without accomplishing the pilgrimage of the Ka'bah. Thereupon the two contracting parties promised at Hudaibiyah in the suburbs of Mecca, not only the maintenance of peace, but also the observance of neutrality in their conflicts with third parties.
Profiting by the peace, the Prophet launched an intensive program for the propagation of his religion. He addressed missionary letters to the foreign rulers of Byzantium, Iran, Abyssinia and other lands. The Byzantine autocrat priest - Daughter of the Arabs - embraced Islam, but for this, was lynched by the Christian mob; the prefect of Ma'an (Palestine) suffered the same fate, and was decapitated and crucified by order of the emperor. A Muslim ambassador was assassinated in Syria-Palestine; and instead of punishing the culprit, the emperor Heraclius rushed with his armies to protect him against the punitive expedition sent by the Prophet (battle of Mu'tah).
The pagans of Mecca hoping to profit by the Muslim difficulties, violated the terms of their treaty. Upon this, the Prophet himself led an army, ten thousand strong, and surprised Mecca which he occupied in a bloodless manner. As a benevolent conqueror, he caused the vanquished people to assemble, reminded them of their ill deeds, their religious persecution, unjust confiscation of the evacuee property, ceaseless invasions and senseless hostilities for twenty years continuously. He asked them: "Now what do you expect of me?" When everybody lowered his head with shame, the Prophet proclaimed: "May God pardon you; go in peace; there shall be no responsibility on you today; you are free!" He even renounced the claim for the Muslim property confiscated by the pagans. This produced a great psychological change of hearts instantaneously. When a Meccan chief advanced with a fulsome heart towards the Prophet, after hearing this general amnesty, in order to declare his acceptance of Islam, the Prophet told him: "And in my turn, I appoint you the governor of Mecca!" Without leaving a single soldier in the conquered city, the Prophet retired to Madinah. The Islamization of Mecca, which was accomplished in a few hours, was complete.
Immediately after the occupation of Mecca, the city of Ta'if mobilized to fight against the Prophet. With some difficulty the enemy was dispersed in the valley of Hunain, but the Muslims preferred to raise the siege of nearby Ta'if and use pacific means to break the resistance of this region. Less than a year later, a delegation from Ta'if came to Madinah offering submission. But it requested exemption from prayer, taxes and military service, and the continuance of the liberty to adultery and fornication and alcoholic drinks. It demanded even the conservation of the temple of the idol al-Lat at Ta'if. But Islam was not a materialist immoral movement; and soon the delegation itself felt ashamed of its demands regarding prayer, adultery and wine. The Prophet consented to concede exemption from payment of taxes and rendering of military service; and added: You need not demolish the temple with your own hands: we shall send agents from here to do the job, and if there should be any consequences, which you are afraid of on account of your superstitions, it will be they who would suffer. This act of the Prophet shows what concessions could be given to new converts. The conversion of the Ta'ifites was so whole hearted that in a short while, they themselves renounced the contracted exemptions, and we find the Prophet nominating a tax collector in their locality as in other Islamic regions.
In all these "wars," extending over a period of ten years, the non-Muslims lost on the battlefield only about 250 persons killed, and the Muslim losses were even less. With these few incisions, the whole continent of Arabia. with its million and more of square miles, was cured of the abscess of anarchy and immorality. During these ten years of disinterested struggle, all the peoples of the Arabian Peninsula and the southern regions of Iraq and Palestine had voluntarily embraced Islam. Some Christian, Jewish and Parsi groups remained attached to their creeds, and they were granted liberty of conscience as well as judicial and juridical autonomy.
In the year 10 H., when the Prophet went to Mecca for Hajj (pilgrimage), he met 140,000 Muslims there, who had come from different parts of Arabia to fulfill their religious obligation. He addressed to them his celebrated sermon, in which he gave a resume of his teachings: "Belief in One God without images or symbols, equality of all the Believers without distinction of race or class, the superiority of individuals being based solely on piety; sanctity of life, property and honor; abolition of interest, and of vendettas and private justice; better treatment of women; obligatory inheritance and distribution of the property of deceased persons among near relatives of both sexes, and removal of the possibility of the accumulation of wealth in the hands of the few." The Quran and the conduct of the Prophet were to serve as the bases of law and a healthy criterion in every aspect of human life.
On his return to Madinah, he fell ill; and a few weeks later, when he breathed his last, he had the satisfaction that he had well accomplished the task which he had undertaken - to preach to the world the Divine message.
He bequeathed to posterity, a religion of pure monotheism; he created a well-disciplined State out of the existent chaos and gave peace in place of the war of everybody against everybody else; he established a harmonious equilibrium between the spiritual and the temporal, between the mosque and the citadel; he left a new system of law, which dispensed impartial justice, in which even the head of the State was as much a subject to it as any commoner, and in which religious tolerance was so great that non-Muslim inhabitants of Muslim countries equally enjoyed complete juridical, judicial and cultural autonomy. In the matter of the revenues of the State, the Quran fixed the principles of budgeting, and paid more thought to the poor than to anybody else. The revenues were declared to be in no wise the private property of the head of the State. Above all, the Prophet Muhammad set a noble example and fully practiced all that he taught to others.
Taken from Introduction to Islam by Muhammad Hamidullah (Centre Culturel Islamique, Paris, 1969), with some changes to make it more readable. The changes are marked by pairs of brackets like around this paragraph.
Source: http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/prophet/profbio.html
With the name of God, the Most Merciful, the All-Merciful.Deeply affected, he returned home and related to his wife what had happened, expressing his fears that it might have been something diabolic or the action of evil spirits. She consoled him, saying that he had always been a man of charity and generosity, helping the poor, the orphans, the widows and the needy, and assured him that God would protect him against all evil.
Read: with the name of thy Lord Who created,
Created man from what clings,
Read: and thy Lord is the Most Bounteous,
Who taught by the pen,
Taught man what he knew not. (Quran 96:1-5)
Then came a pause in revelation, extending over three years. The Prophet must have felt at first a shock, then a calm, an ardent desire, and after a period of waiting, a growing impatience or nostalgia. The news of the first vision had spread and at the pause the skeptics in the city had begun to mock at him and cut bitter jokes. They went so far as to say that God had forsaken him.
During the three years of waiting. the Prophet had given himself up more and more to prayers and to spiritual practices. The revelations were then resumed and God assured him that He had not at all forsaken him: on the contrary it was He Who had guided him to the right path: therefore he should take care of the orphans and the destitute, and proclaim the bounty of God on him (cf. Q. 93:3-11). This was in reality an order to preach. Another revelation directed him to warn people against evil practices, to exhort them to worship none but the One God, and to abandon everything that would displease God (Q. 74:2-7). Yet another revelation commanded him to warn his own near relatives (Q. 26:214); and: "Proclaim openly that which thou art commanded, and withdraw from the Associators (idolaters). Lo! we defend thee from the scoffers" (15:94-5). According to Ibn Ishaq, the first revelation (n. 17) had come to the Prophet during his sleep, evidently to reduce the shock. Later revelations came in full wakefulness.
The Mission
The Prophet began by preaching his mission secretly first among his intimate friends, then among the members of his own tribe and thereafter publicly in the city and suburbs. He insisted on the belief in One Transcendent God, in Resurrection and the Last Judgment. He invited men to charity and beneficence. He took necessary steps to preserve through writing the revelations he was receiving, and ordered his adherents also to learn them by heart. This continued all through his life, since the Quran was not revealed all at once, but in fragments as occasions arose.
The number of his adherents increased gradually, but with the denunciation of paganism, the opposition also grew intense on the part of those who were firmly attached to their ancestral beliefs. This opposition degenerated in the course of time into physical torture of the Prophet and of those who had embraced his religion. These were stretched on burning sands, cauterized with red hot iron and imprisoned with chains on their feet. Some of them died of the effects of torture, but none would renounce his religion. In despair, the Prophet Muhammad advised his companions to quit their native town and take refuge abroad, in Abyssinia, "where governs a just ruler, in whose realm nobody is oppressed" (Ibn Hisham). Dozens of Muslims profited by his advice, though not all. These secret flights led to further persecution of those who remained behind.
The Prophet Muhammad [was instructed to call this] religion "Islam," i.e. submission to the will of God. Its distinctive features are two:
- A harmonious equilibrium between the temporal and the spiritual (the body and the soul), permitting a full enjoyment of all the good that God has created, (Quran 7:32), enjoining at the same time on everybody duties towards God, such as worship, fasting, charity, etc. Islam was to be the religion of the masses and not merely of the elect.
- A universality of the call - all the believers becoming brothers and equals without any distinction of class or race or tongue. The only superiority which it recognizes is a personal one, based on the greater fear of God and greater piety (Quran 49:13).
When a large number of the Meccan Muslims migrated to Abyssinia, the leaders of paganism sent an ultimatum to the tribe of the Prophet, demanding that he should be excommunicated and outlawed and delivered to the pagans for being put to death. Every member of the tribe, Muslim and non-Muslim rejected the demand. (cf. Ibn Hisham). Thereupon the city decided on a complete boycott of the tribe: Nobody was to talk to them or have commercial or matrimonial relations with them. The group of Arab tribes called Ahabish, inhabiting the suburbs, who were allies of the Meccans, also joined in the boycott, causing stark misery among the innocent victims consisting of children, men and women, the old and the sick and the feeble. Some of them succumbed yet nobody would hand over the Prophet to his persecutors. An uncle of the Prophet, Abu Lahab, however left his tribesmen and participated in the boycott along with the pagans. After three dire years, during which the victims were obliged to devour even crushed hides, four or five non-Muslims, more humane than the rest and belonging to different clans proclaimed publicly their denunciation of the unjust boycott. At the same time, the document promulgating the pact of boycott which had been hung in the temple, was found, as Muhammad had predicted, eaten by white ants, that spared nothing but the words God and Muhammad. The boycott was lifted, yet owing to the privations that were undergone the wife and Abu Talib, the chief of the tribe and uncle of the Prophet died soon after. Another uncle of the Prophet, Abu-Lahab, who was an inveterate enemy of Islam, now succeeded to the headship of the tribe. (cf. lbn Hisham, Sirah).
The Ascension
It was at this time that the Prophet Muhammad was granted the mi'raj (ascension): He saw in a vision that he was received on heaven by God, and was witness of the marvels of the celestial regions. Returning, he brought for his community, as a Divine gift, the [ritual prayer of Islam, the salaat], which constitutes a sort of communion between man and God. It may be recalled that in the last part of Muslim service of worship, the faithful employ as a symbol of their being in the very presence of God, not concrete objects as others do at the time of communion, but the very words of greeting exchanged between the Prophet Muhammad and God on the occasion of the formers mi'raj: "The blessed and pure greetings for God! - Peace be with thee, O Prophet, as well as the mercy and blessing of God! - Peace be with us and with all the [righteous] servants of God!" The Christian term "communion" implies participation in the Divinity. Finding it pretentious, Muslims use the term "ascension" towards God and reception in His presence, God remaining God and man remaining man and no confusion between the twain.
The news of this celestial meeting led to an increase in the hostility of the pagans of Mecca; and the Prophet was obliged to quit his native town in search of an asylum elsewhere. He went to his maternal uncles in Ta'if, but returned immediately to Mecca, as the wicked people of that town chased the Prophet out of their city by pelting stones on him and wounding him.
Migration to Madinah
The annual pilgrimage of the Ka'bah brought to Mecca people from all parts of Arabia. The Prophet Muhammad tried to persuade one tribe after another to afford him shelter and allow him to carry on his mission of reform. The contingents of fifteen tribes, whom he approached in succession, refused to do so more or less brutally, but he did not despair. Finally he met half a dozen inhabitants of Madinah who being neighbor of the Jews and the Christians, had some notion of prophets and Divine messages. They knew also that these "people of the Books" were awaiting the arrival of a prophet - a last comforter. So these Madinans decided not to lose the opportunity of obtaining an advance over others, and forthwith embraced Islam, promising further to provide additional adherents and necessary help from Madinah. The following year a dozen new Madinans took the oath of allegiance to him and requested him to provide with a missionary teacher. The work of the missionary, Mus'ab, proved very successful and he led a contingent of seventy-three new converts to Mecca, at the time of the pilgrimage. These invited the Prophet and his Meccan companions to migrate to their town, and promised to shelter the Prophet and to treat him and his companions as their own kith and kin. Secretly and in small groups, the greater part of the Muslims emigrated to Madinah. Upon this the pagans of Mecca not only confiscated the property of the evacuees, but devised a plot to assassinate the Prophet. It became now impossible for him to remain at home. It is worthy of mention, that in spite of their hostility to his mission, the pagans had unbounded confidence in his probity, so much so that many of them used to deposit their savings with him. The Prophet Muhammad now entrusted all these deposits to 'Ali, a cousin of his, with instructions to return in due course to the rightful owners. He then left the town secretly in the company of his faithful friend, Abu-Bakr. After several adventures, they succeeded in reaching Madinah in safety. This happened in 622, whence starts the Hijrah calendar.
Reorganization of the Community
For the better rehabilitation of the displaced immigrants, the Prophet created a fraternization between them and an equal number of well-to-do Madinans. The families of each pair of the contractual brothers worked together to earn their livelihood, and aided one another in the business of life.
Further he thought that the development of the man as a whole would be better achieved if he coordinated religion and politics as two constituent parts of one whole. To this end he invited the representatives of the Muslims as well as the non-Muslim inhabitants of the region: Arabs, Jews, Christians and others, and suggested the establishment of a City-State in Madinah. With their assent, he endowed the city with a written constitution - the first of its kind in the world - in which he defined the duties and rights both of the citizens and the head of the State - the Prophet Muhammad was unanimously hailed as such - and abolished the customary private justice. The administration of justice became henceforward the concern of the central organization of the community of the citizens. The document laid down principles of defense and foreign policy: it organized a system of social insurance, called ma'aqil, in cases of too heavy obligations. It recognized that the Prophet Muhammad would have the final word in all differences, and that there was no limit to his power of legislation. It recognized also explicitly liberty of religion, particularly for the Jews, to whom the constitutional act afforded equality with Muslims in all that concerned life in this world (cf. infra n. 303).
Muhammad journeyed several times with a view to win the neighboring tribes and to conclude with them treaties of alliance and mutual help. With their help, he decided to bring to bear economic pressure on the Meccan pagans, who had confiscated the property of the Muslim evacuees and also caused innumerable damage. Obstruction in the way of the Meccan caravans and their passage through the Madinan region exasperated the pagans, and a bloody struggle ensued.
In the concern for the material interests of the community, the spiritual aspect was never neglected. Hardly a year had passed after the migration to Madinah, when the most rigorous of spiritual disciplines, the fasting for the whole month of Ramadan every year, was imposed on every adult Muslim, man and woman.
Struggle Against Intolerance and Unbelief
In the meanwhile the Jewish citizens of Madinah began to foment trouble. About the time of the victory of Badr, one of their leaders, Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, proceeded to Mecca to give assurance of his alliance with the pagans, and to incite them to a war of revenge. After the battle of Uhud, the tribe of the same chieftain plotted to assassinate the Prophet by throwing on him a mill-stone from above a tower, when he had gone to visit their locality. In spite of all this, the only demand the Prophet made of the men of this tribe was to quit the Madinan region, taking with them all their properties, after selling their immovable items and recovering their debts from the Muslims. The clemency thus extended had an effect contrary to what was hoped. The exiled not only contacted the Meccans, but also the tribes of the North, South and East of Madinah, mobilized military aid, and planned from Khaibar an invasion of Madinah, with forces four times more numerous than those employed at Uhud. The Muslims prepared for a siege, and dug a ditch to defend themselves against this hardest of all trials. Although the defection of the Jews still remaining inside Madinah at a later stage upset all strategy, yet with a sagacious diplomacy, the Prophet succeeded in breaking up the alliance, and the different enemy groups retired one after the other.
Alcoholic drinks, gambling and games of chance were at this time declared forbidden for the Muslims.
The Reconciliation
The Prophet tried once more to reconcile the Meccans and proceeded to Mecca. The barring of the route of their Northern caravans had ruined their economy. The Prophet promised them transit security, extradition of their fugitives and the fulfillment of every condition they desired, agreeing even to return to Madinah without accomplishing the pilgrimage of the Ka'bah. Thereupon the two contracting parties promised at Hudaibiyah in the suburbs of Mecca, not only the maintenance of peace, but also the observance of neutrality in their conflicts with third parties.
Profiting by the peace, the Prophet launched an intensive program for the propagation of his religion. He addressed missionary letters to the foreign rulers of Byzantium, Iran, Abyssinia and other lands. The Byzantine autocrat priest - Daughter of the Arabs - embraced Islam, but for this, was lynched by the Christian mob; the prefect of Ma'an (Palestine) suffered the same fate, and was decapitated and crucified by order of the emperor. A Muslim ambassador was assassinated in Syria-Palestine; and instead of punishing the culprit, the emperor Heraclius rushed with his armies to protect him against the punitive expedition sent by the Prophet (battle of Mu'tah).
The pagans of Mecca hoping to profit by the Muslim difficulties, violated the terms of their treaty. Upon this, the Prophet himself led an army, ten thousand strong, and surprised Mecca which he occupied in a bloodless manner. As a benevolent conqueror, he caused the vanquished people to assemble, reminded them of their ill deeds, their religious persecution, unjust confiscation of the evacuee property, ceaseless invasions and senseless hostilities for twenty years continuously. He asked them: "Now what do you expect of me?" When everybody lowered his head with shame, the Prophet proclaimed: "May God pardon you; go in peace; there shall be no responsibility on you today; you are free!" He even renounced the claim for the Muslim property confiscated by the pagans. This produced a great psychological change of hearts instantaneously. When a Meccan chief advanced with a fulsome heart towards the Prophet, after hearing this general amnesty, in order to declare his acceptance of Islam, the Prophet told him: "And in my turn, I appoint you the governor of Mecca!" Without leaving a single soldier in the conquered city, the Prophet retired to Madinah. The Islamization of Mecca, which was accomplished in a few hours, was complete.
Immediately after the occupation of Mecca, the city of Ta'if mobilized to fight against the Prophet. With some difficulty the enemy was dispersed in the valley of Hunain, but the Muslims preferred to raise the siege of nearby Ta'if and use pacific means to break the resistance of this region. Less than a year later, a delegation from Ta'if came to Madinah offering submission. But it requested exemption from prayer, taxes and military service, and the continuance of the liberty to adultery and fornication and alcoholic drinks. It demanded even the conservation of the temple of the idol al-Lat at Ta'if. But Islam was not a materialist immoral movement; and soon the delegation itself felt ashamed of its demands regarding prayer, adultery and wine. The Prophet consented to concede exemption from payment of taxes and rendering of military service; and added: You need not demolish the temple with your own hands: we shall send agents from here to do the job, and if there should be any consequences, which you are afraid of on account of your superstitions, it will be they who would suffer. This act of the Prophet shows what concessions could be given to new converts. The conversion of the Ta'ifites was so whole hearted that in a short while, they themselves renounced the contracted exemptions, and we find the Prophet nominating a tax collector in their locality as in other Islamic regions.
In all these "wars," extending over a period of ten years, the non-Muslims lost on the battlefield only about 250 persons killed, and the Muslim losses were even less. With these few incisions, the whole continent of Arabia. with its million and more of square miles, was cured of the abscess of anarchy and immorality. During these ten years of disinterested struggle, all the peoples of the Arabian Peninsula and the southern regions of Iraq and Palestine had voluntarily embraced Islam. Some Christian, Jewish and Parsi groups remained attached to their creeds, and they were granted liberty of conscience as well as judicial and juridical autonomy.
In the year 10 H., when the Prophet went to Mecca for Hajj (pilgrimage), he met 140,000 Muslims there, who had come from different parts of Arabia to fulfill their religious obligation. He addressed to them his celebrated sermon, in which he gave a resume of his teachings: "Belief in One God without images or symbols, equality of all the Believers without distinction of race or class, the superiority of individuals being based solely on piety; sanctity of life, property and honor; abolition of interest, and of vendettas and private justice; better treatment of women; obligatory inheritance and distribution of the property of deceased persons among near relatives of both sexes, and removal of the possibility of the accumulation of wealth in the hands of the few." The Quran and the conduct of the Prophet were to serve as the bases of law and a healthy criterion in every aspect of human life.
On his return to Madinah, he fell ill; and a few weeks later, when he breathed his last, he had the satisfaction that he had well accomplished the task which he had undertaken - to preach to the world the Divine message.
He bequeathed to posterity, a religion of pure monotheism; he created a well-disciplined State out of the existent chaos and gave peace in place of the war of everybody against everybody else; he established a harmonious equilibrium between the spiritual and the temporal, between the mosque and the citadel; he left a new system of law, which dispensed impartial justice, in which even the head of the State was as much a subject to it as any commoner, and in which religious tolerance was so great that non-Muslim inhabitants of Muslim countries equally enjoyed complete juridical, judicial and cultural autonomy. In the matter of the revenues of the State, the Quran fixed the principles of budgeting, and paid more thought to the poor than to anybody else. The revenues were declared to be in no wise the private property of the head of the State. Above all, the Prophet Muhammad set a noble example and fully practiced all that he taught to others.
Taken from Introduction to Islam by Muhammad Hamidullah (Centre Culturel Islamique, Paris, 1969), with some changes to make it more readable. The changes are marked by pairs of brackets like around this paragraph.
Source: http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/prophet/profbio.html
The Prophet of Islam - His Biography -1
1/27/2013 - Religious - Article Ref: IC0212-1812
By: Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah
IslamiCity* -
Prelude
In the annals of men, individuals have not been lacking who conspicuously devoted their lives to the socio-religious reform of their connected peoples. We find them in every epoch and in all lands. In India, there lived those who transmitted to the world the Vedas, and there was also the great Gautama Buddha; China had its Confucius; the Avesta was produced in Iran. Babylonia gave to the world one of the greatest reformers, the Prophet Abraham (not to speak of such of his ancestors as Enoch and Noah about whom we have very scanty information). The Jewish people may rightly be proud of a long series of reformers: Moses, Samuel, David, Solomon, and Jesus among others.Two points to be note: Firstly these reformers claimed in general to be the bearers each of a Divine mission, and they left behind them sacred books incorporating codes of life for the guidance of their peoples. Secondly there followed fratricidal wars, and massacres and genocides became the order of the day, causing more or less a complete loss of these Divine messages. As to the books of Abraham, we know them only by the name; and as for the books of Moses, records tell us how they were repeatedly destroyed and only partly restored.
Concept of God
If one should judge from the relics of the past already brought to light of the homo sapiens, one finds that man has always been conscious of the existence of a Supreme Being, the Master and Creator of all. Methods and approaches may have differed, but the people of every epoch have left proofs of their attempts to obey God. Communication with the Omnipresent yet invisible God has also been recognized as possible in connection with a small fraction of men with noble and exalted spirits. Whether this communication assumed the nature of an incarnation of the Divinity or simply resolved itself into a medium of reception of Divine messages (through inspiration or revelation), the purpose in each case was the guidance of the people. It was but natural that the interpretations and explanations of certain systems should have proved more vital and convincing than others.
Every system of metaphysical thought develops its own terminology. In the course of time terms acquire a significance hardly contained in the word and translations fall short of their purpose. Yet there is no other method to make people of one group understand the thoughts of another. Non-Muslim readers in particular are requested to bear in mind this aspect which is a real yet unavoidable handicap.
By the end of the 6th century, after the birth of Jesus Christ, men had already made great progress in diverse walks of life. At that time there were some religions which openly proclaimed that they were reserved for definite races and groups of men only, of course they bore no remedy for the ills of humanity at large. There were also a few which claimed universality, but declared that the salvation of man lay in the renunciation of the world. These were the religions for the elite, and catered for an extremely limited number of men. We need not speak of regions where there existed no religion at all, where atheism and materialism reigned supreme, where the thought was solely of occupying one self with one's own pleasures, without any regard or consideration for the rights of others.
Arabia
We do not know much about the Libyanites of Central Arabia, but Yemen was rightly called Arabia Felix. Having once been the seat of the flourishing civilizations of Sheba and Ma'in even before the foundation of the city of Rome had been laid, and having later snatched from the Byzantians and Persians several provinces, greater Yemen which had passed through the hey-day of its existence, was however at this time broken up into innumerable principalities, and even occupied in part by foreign invaders. The Sassanians of Iran, who had penetrated into Yemen had already obtained possession of Eastern Arabia. There was politico-social chaos at the capital (Mada'in = Ctesiphon), and this found reflection in all her territories. Northern Arabia had succumbed to Byzantine influences, and was faced with its own particular problems. Only Central Arabia remained immune from the demoralizing effects of foreign occupation.
In this limited area of Central Arabia, the existence of the triangle of Mecca-Ta'if-Madinah seemed something providential. Mecca, desertic, deprived of water and the amenities of agriculture in physical features represented Africa and the burning Sahara. Scarcely fifty miles from there, Ta'if presented a picture of Europe and its frost. Madinah in the North was not less fertile than even the most temperate of Asiatic countries like Syria. If climate has any influence on human character, this triangle standing in the middle of the major hemisphere was, more than any other region of the earth, a miniature reproduction of the entire world. And here was born a descendant of the Babylonian Abraham, and the Egyptian Hagar, Muhammad the Prophet of Islam, a Meccan by origin and yet with stock related, both to Madinah and Ta'if.
Religion
From the point of view of religion, Arabia was idolatrous; only a few individuals had embraced religions like Christianity, Mazdaism, etc. The Meccans did possess the notion of the One God, but they believed also that idols had the power to intercede with Him. Curiously enough, they did not believe in the Resurrection and Afterlife. They had preserved the rite of the pilgrimage to the House of the One God, the Ka'bah, an institution set up under divine inspiration by their ancestor Abraham, yet the two thousand years that separated them from Abraham had caused to degenerate this pilgrimage into the spectacle of a commercial fair and an occasion of senseless idolatry which far from producing any good, only served to ruin their individual behavior, both social and spiritual.
Society
In spite of the comparative poverty in natural resources, Mecca was the most developed of the three points of the triangle. Of the three, Mecca alone had a city-state, governed by a council of ten hereditary chiefs who enjoyed a clear division of power. (There was a minister of foreign relations, a minister guardian of the temple, a minister of oracles, a minister guardian of offerings to the temple, one to determine the torts and the damages payable, another in charge of the municipal council or parliament to enforce the decisions of the ministries. There were also ministers in charge of military affairs like custodianship of the flag, leadership of the cavalry etc.). As well reputed caravan-leaders, the Meccans were able to obtain permission from neighbouring empires like Iran, Byzantium and Abyssinia - and to enter into agreements with the tribes that lined the routes traversed by the caravans - to visit their countries and transact import and export business. They also provided escorts to foreigners when they passed through their country as well as the territory of allied tribes, in Arabia (cf. Ibn Habib, Muhabbar). Although not interested much in the preservation of ideas and records in writing, they passionately cultivated arts and letters like poetry, oratory discourses and folk tales. Women were generally well treated, they enjoyed the privilege of possessing property in their own right, they gave their consent to marriage contracts, in which they could even add the condition of reserving their right to divorce their husbands. They could remarry when widowed or divorced. Burying girls alive did exist in certain classes, but that was rare.
Birth of the Prophet
It was in the midst of such conditions and environments that Muhammad was born in 569 after Christ. His father, 'Abdullah had died some weeks earlier, and it was his grandfather who took him in charge. According to the prevailing custom, the child was entrusted to a Bedouin foster-mother, with whom he passed several years in the desert. All biographers state that the infant prophet sucked only one breast of his foster-mother, leaving the other for the sustenance of his foster-brother. When the child was brought back home, his mother, Aminah, took him to his maternal uncles at Madinah to visit the tomb of 'Abdullah. During the return journey, he lost his mother who died a sudden death. At Mecca, another bereavement awaited him, in the death of his affectionate grandfather. Subjected to such privations, he was at the age of eight, consigned at last to the care of his uncle, Abu-Talib, a man who was generous of nature but always short of resources and hardly able to provide for his family.
Young Muhammad had therefore to start immediately to earn his livelihood; he served as a shepherd boy to some neighbors. At the age of ten he accompanied his uncle to Syria when he was leading a caravan there. No other travels of Abu-Talib are mentioned, but there are references to his having set up a shop in Mecca. (Ibn Qutaibah, Ma'arif). It is possible that Muhammad helped him in this enterprise also.
By the time he was twenty-five, Muhammad had become well known in the city for the integrity of his disposition and the honesty of his character. A rich widow, Khadijah, took him in her employ and consigned to him her goods to be taken for sale to Syria. Delighted with the unusual profits she obtained as also by the personal charms of her agent, she offered him her hand. According to divergent reports, she was either 28 or 40 years of age at that time, (medical reasons prefer the age of 28 since she gave birth to five more children). The union proved happy. Later, we see him sometimes in the fair of Hubashah (Yemen), and at least once in the country of the 'Abd al-Qais (Bahrain-Oman), as mentioned by Ibn Hanbal. There is every reason to believe that this refers to the great fair of Daba (Oman), where, according to Ibn al-Kalbi (cf. Ibn Habib, Muhabbar), the traders of China, of Hind and Sind (India, Pakistan), of Persia, of the East and the West assembled every year, traveling both by land and sea. There is also mention of a commercial partner of Muhammad at Mecca. This person, Sa'ib by name reports: "We relayed each other; if Muhammad led the caravan, he did not enter his house on his return to Mecca without clearing accounts with me; and if I led the caravan, he would on my return enquire about my welfare and speak nothing about his own capital entrusted to me."
An Order of Chivalry
Foreign traders often brought their goods to Mecca for sale. One day a certain Yemenite (of the tribe of Zubaid) improvised a satirical poem against some Meccans who bad refused to pay him the price of what he had sold, and others who had not supported his claim or had failed to come to his help when he was victimized. Zuhair, uncle and chief of the tribe of the Prophet, felt great remorse on hearing this just satire. He called for a meeting of certain chieftains in the city, and organized an order of chivalry, called Hilf al-fudul, with the aim and object of aiding the oppressed in Mecca, irrespective of their being dwellers of the city or aliens. Young Muhammad became an enthusiastic member of the organization. Later in life he used to say: "I have participated in it, and I am not prepared to give up that privilege even against a herd of camels; if somebody should appeal to me even today, by virtue of that pledge, I shall hurry to his help."
Beginning of Religious Consciousness
Not much is known about the religious practices of Muhammad until he was thirty-five years old, except that he had never worshipped idols. This is substantiated by all his biographers. It may be stated that there were a few others in Mecca, who had likewise revolted against the senseless practice of paganism, although conserving their fidelity to the Ka'bah as the house dedicated to the One God by its builder Abraham.
It is from this moment that we find Muhammad becoming more and more absorbed in spiritual meditations. Like his grandfather, he used to retire during the whole month of Ramadan to a cave in Jabal-an-Nur (mountain of light). The cave is called 'Ghar-i-Hira' or the cave of research. There he prayed, meditated, and shared his meager provisions with the travelers who happened to pass by.
27 September, 2012
Muhammad and modesty before God
Asir Gov. Prince Faisal bin Khaled with officials of the Charitable Society for Qur’an Memorization in Abha recently. (SPA)
ARAB NEWS
THE Prophet (may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him) said: “Every religion has its characteristic, and the characteristic of Islam is modesty.” (Al-Muwatta)
Modesty, in the sense of shyly protecting oneself with propriety from the lustful or envious gaze, means one takes care about how to express oneself in word and deed. One does not want others to look at one strangely or as if one is blameworthy. It encourages one to be proper in behavior and thought with other people, and with one’s relationship with God. The Prophet once said to his companions: “Be bashful before God according to His right to modesty before Him.”
They said: “O Messenger of God, verily we are shy, praise be to God.”
He said: “That is not it. Modesty before God according to His right to modesty is that you protect your mind in what it learns; your stomach in what it ingests. And remember death and the tribulations attached to it; and whoever wishes for the Hereafter, leaves the adornments of this life.
“So whoever does all that is truly bashful before God according to His Right to modesty.”
Modesty and shame apply to every aspect of one’s life, and awareness of God’s presence helps one to be bashful and seemly in the way we comport ourselves in every activity we are engaged in. It crowns the moral ethics of behavior and practice, for it inspires him to do all that is beautiful and prevents him from doing all that is wicked. It is a shield of chastity for the body and of purity for the soul, as private shame concerning one’s wickedness stems from being aware that God is watching. The Prophet said:
“Modesty is from the faith, and the faith is in Paradise.” (Ahmed)
On the occasion of his marriage in Madinah with Zaynab, the daughter of Jahsh, the Prophet invited the people to his wedding feast. This was a late morning invitation, and most people simply rose and left after eating, as was the custom. The bridegroom, however, remained sitting and some people, perhaps thinking that this was a signal that they, too, should remain with him, stayed behind after the other guests had left. Out of propriety, the Messenger of God did not like to tell the people to go away, so he got up and left the room with his ward, ibn Abbas.
He went as far as the room of Ayesha, another of his wives, before returning back to Zaynab’s room, expecting the guests to have taken the hint. However, they were still there, sitting in their places, so he turned away once again and went back to Ayesha’s room, still accompanied by his ward.
The second time they returned the people had left, so the Messenger of God went in. Ibn Abbas was going to follow him, but Muhammad took the dividing curtain and drew it across the doorway, blocking the egress.
One of the story’s lessons is that a person’s home is private and one should be shy of abusing an invitation to it. Moreover, because Muhammad(peace be upon him) was too nice to ask people to leave, his actions provide an example of how to teach a lesson without being offensive. He used a non-verbal means to show the people they should leave and, once his private space was vacated, he used another non-verbal gesture to drive home the fact that the invitation was over.
Moses and Zaphorah
After waiting for a long time in the queue, being only two females among all the males, someone finally helped them, and they were able to take their flock of sheep and goats home. Their father was old, and they had no brother to do their outside chores. Being one of the most onerous of tasks, drawing water from the well in order to water one’s livestock was one performed by men; a lucky day for them to come home early with the drove freshly watered. The father was surprised about their early return, and when he inquired into the occurrence, his daughters told him that a man who seemed a traveler had helped them. The father asked one of them to seek the man out and invite him home. Upon returning to the well, the lady approached him shyly. When she was in earshot, she gave him her father’s invitation so that he might recompense him for his help. He kept his gaze low to the ground as he replied to her, saying that he had done it for the sake of God alone, and required no compensation. However, realizing that this was God-sent help, he accepted the invitation. As she was walking ahead of him, the wind blew her dress, which revealed part of her lower legs, so he asked her to walk behind him and point out the way he should follow when he reached a fork in the foot path.
Once they arrived at the house, the father presented him with a meal and asked where he was from. The man told him that he was a fugitive from Egypt. The daughter who had brought him home whispered to her father: “O Father, hire him, because the best of the workers is one who is strong and trustworthy.”
He asked her: “How do you know he is strong?”
She said: “He lifted the stone lid of the well that cannot be removed except by many together.” He asked her: “How do you know that he is trustworthy?”
She said: “He asked me to walk behind him so that he couldn’t see me as I walked, and when I conversed with him, he kept his gaze low with shyness and respect.”
This was Prophet Moses (may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him) who had run away from Egypt after killing someone by mistake, and the father of the girls was a God-fearing man from the tribes of Midian; a man who was sonless, but had had these two daughters. The verse in the Qur’an that tells us this story stresses upon the manner of her approaching Moses: “So one of the two (daughters) came to him walking modestly...” (Qur’an 28:25)
Both the way Zaphorah approached Moses and his care about not seeing more of her than was needful at the time describe acute senses of propriety. Neither had a chaperone, nor could people see what they did, yet both conducted themselves with the utmost decorum. This was done out of fear of the One who sees everything. The outcome was that when her father proposed to Moses that he marry one of his daughters, Moses considered them a suitable marriage prospect. He and his daughters also saw in him all the virtues a man needs as a mate for a woman to consent to his guidance and nurture through life.
- Courtesy of www.islamreligion.com
13 August, 2012
19 August, 2010
Prophet Muhammad — 21: Implementing general orders
Prophet Muhammad — 21: Implementing general orders
Since Islam is a complete way of life, it wants the government of the Muslim community to implement its principles and carry out its orders. There is no rigidity in the Islamic system of government.
Islam simply lays down broad lines, which must be observed. Within these broad lines, any system that is acceptable to the Muslim community is appropriate. One of the principles that Islam lays down is consultative decision making in all spheres of life. Therefore, any system of government that is essentially consultative is acceptable from the Islamic point of view.
When orders are made and decisions taken, the question is: Who implements them? Let us take the case of an order that pertains to the social life of the community. If the order is clear and does not admit divergent interpretations, should individuals take it upon themselves to ensure its implementation? For example, Islam requires women to dress modestly and to cover all their bodies, with the exception of their faces and hands, when they go out. Suppose a woman goes out wearing clothes that clearly violate Islamic rules, can her neighbors force her to observe the Islamic dress code? The answer is that they may only give her advice in a way that does not alienate her from Islam. They can use no force or undue pressure. It is the government that has the authority to ensure that Islamic rules are observed. It may enact regulations that deal with such a contravention of Islamic law.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) made this very clear, and gave us a practical example. Abdullah ibn Umar reports that the Prophet asked him to bring him a knife. When he did, the Prophet made sure that it was sharpened. He gave the knife to Ibn Umar and told him to bring it with him the following morning. "On the morrow he went out with a group of his companions and walked through the streets of Madinah, where wine had just been imported from Syria. He took out the knife and cut off every wine container he saw. He then gave me the knife, and ordered those with us to go along with me and to help me. He commanded me to go through all markets and to cut off every wine container I find. I did so, leaving no single container."
This apparently happened shortly after the drinking of intoxicant drinks was finally made strictly forbidden. The Prophet could have issued a general order that anyone who saw a container of wine should cut it off or break it. That would have led to much chaos. To prevent this, he started the action himself, in the presence of a group of his companions. He then ordered a certain person to complete the task, appointing helpers for him so that no one could question his authority.
Unfortunately, some Muslims who are keen to see Islam implemented try to take the Islamic law into their own hands. This is not acceptable from the Islamic point of view, as it will lead to much chaos and will leave the community divided. No individual or group can appoint themselves overseers to ensure the implementation of Islamic law. Its implementation is left to the Muslim government. If the government of a Muslim country does not implement Islam, it will be answerable to God for this omission. This does not give individuals the right to act on their own.
Since Islam is a complete way of life, it wants the government of the Muslim community to implement its principles and carry out its orders. There is no rigidity in the Islamic system of government.
Islam simply lays down broad lines, which must be observed. Within these broad lines, any system that is acceptable to the Muslim community is appropriate. One of the principles that Islam lays down is consultative decision making in all spheres of life. Therefore, any system of government that is essentially consultative is acceptable from the Islamic point of view.
When orders are made and decisions taken, the question is: Who implements them? Let us take the case of an order that pertains to the social life of the community. If the order is clear and does not admit divergent interpretations, should individuals take it upon themselves to ensure its implementation? For example, Islam requires women to dress modestly and to cover all their bodies, with the exception of their faces and hands, when they go out. Suppose a woman goes out wearing clothes that clearly violate Islamic rules, can her neighbors force her to observe the Islamic dress code? The answer is that they may only give her advice in a way that does not alienate her from Islam. They can use no force or undue pressure. It is the government that has the authority to ensure that Islamic rules are observed. It may enact regulations that deal with such a contravention of Islamic law.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) made this very clear, and gave us a practical example. Abdullah ibn Umar reports that the Prophet asked him to bring him a knife. When he did, the Prophet made sure that it was sharpened. He gave the knife to Ibn Umar and told him to bring it with him the following morning. "On the morrow he went out with a group of his companions and walked through the streets of Madinah, where wine had just been imported from Syria. He took out the knife and cut off every wine container he saw. He then gave me the knife, and ordered those with us to go along with me and to help me. He commanded me to go through all markets and to cut off every wine container I find. I did so, leaving no single container."
This apparently happened shortly after the drinking of intoxicant drinks was finally made strictly forbidden. The Prophet could have issued a general order that anyone who saw a container of wine should cut it off or break it. That would have led to much chaos. To prevent this, he started the action himself, in the presence of a group of his companions. He then ordered a certain person to complete the task, appointing helpers for him so that no one could question his authority.
Unfortunately, some Muslims who are keen to see Islam implemented try to take the Islamic law into their own hands. This is not acceptable from the Islamic point of view, as it will lead to much chaos and will leave the community divided. No individual or group can appoint themselves overseers to ensure the implementation of Islamic law. Its implementation is left to the Muslim government. If the government of a Muslim country does not implement Islam, it will be answerable to God for this omission. This does not give individuals the right to act on their own.
14 August, 2010
Prophet Muhammad — 20: Leadership qualities
Prophet Muhammad — 20: Leadership qualities
As we mentioned last week, the Prophet (peace be upon him) made it clear that when Muslims are engaged in some mission as a group, they should have someone as their head or commander. Whenever the Prophet sent out a group on a mission, or an expedition, or an army, he appointed someone as their commander. The criteria he applied in his selection of commanders were basically the person's ability and also mutual love and respect between him and the group he is commanding. Every time, the Prophet urged the commander to look after those traveling with him, making clear that he was responsible for their welfare. He also urged the group to obey their commander so that their mission would be successful. Should they have divergent aims and follow different methods, they were bound to fail.
All this becomes natural if people would develop their sense of responsibility. The Prophet was keen to instill this sense among Muslims, regardless of their positions. Everyone is accountable for their deeds and the fulfillment of their responsibilities. The Prophet says: "Everyone of you is a shepherd and will be accountable for his flock. The ruler is a shepherd and will be accountable for his community; a man is a shepherd of his family and will be accountable for them; a woman is a shepherd of her husband's household and will be accountable for her charge; a slave is a shepherd looking after his master's property and will be accountable for it: indeed, everyone of you is a shepherd and will be accountable for what is under their care."
When everyone in a community develops such a sense of responsibility, the affairs of the community will run smoothly and everyone will have what is due to them. Indeed, this helps develop a feeling of love and unity within the community, ensuring its success and prosperity.
The guiding principle in discharging one's responsibility is seeking God's pleasure. We know that God does not allow injustice. In a sacred Hadith, the Prophet quotes God as saying: "My servants, I have forbidden Myself injustice and made it forbidden for you. Therefore, be not unjust to anyone." This must be the rule that governs all relations in society.
Moreover, a person in a position of responsibility must not require his subordinates to do anything that is not permitted by Islam. If he does, then they must not obey him. The Prophet says: "No one may be obeyed in what constitutes disobedience of God." If a commander orders someone to do what is forbidden, that person must disobey the commander. Once the Prophet appointed someone as the head of a small expedition. When they had stopped to rest, the commander ordered that a fire should be lit. He then asked those with him to go through the fire. They said to him: "We have followed God's messenger so that we do not suffer the fire of hell. Are you now asking us to go through this fire. We certainly will not do that." When they returned to Madinah, they complained to the Prophet. He questioned the commander who said that he simply intended it as a joke and he was not going to allow anyone to go through the fire. The Prophet accepted this as true, but he commended the people who refused to go through the fire. He said: "Had they gone through it, they would not be out of it." What he meant was that they would have committed suicide and would be punished for it by being thrown in hell on the Day of Judgment.
As we mentioned last week, the Prophet (peace be upon him) made it clear that when Muslims are engaged in some mission as a group, they should have someone as their head or commander. Whenever the Prophet sent out a group on a mission, or an expedition, or an army, he appointed someone as their commander. The criteria he applied in his selection of commanders were basically the person's ability and also mutual love and respect between him and the group he is commanding. Every time, the Prophet urged the commander to look after those traveling with him, making clear that he was responsible for their welfare. He also urged the group to obey their commander so that their mission would be successful. Should they have divergent aims and follow different methods, they were bound to fail.
All this becomes natural if people would develop their sense of responsibility. The Prophet was keen to instill this sense among Muslims, regardless of their positions. Everyone is accountable for their deeds and the fulfillment of their responsibilities. The Prophet says: "Everyone of you is a shepherd and will be accountable for his flock. The ruler is a shepherd and will be accountable for his community; a man is a shepherd of his family and will be accountable for them; a woman is a shepherd of her husband's household and will be accountable for her charge; a slave is a shepherd looking after his master's property and will be accountable for it: indeed, everyone of you is a shepherd and will be accountable for what is under their care."
When everyone in a community develops such a sense of responsibility, the affairs of the community will run smoothly and everyone will have what is due to them. Indeed, this helps develop a feeling of love and unity within the community, ensuring its success and prosperity.
The guiding principle in discharging one's responsibility is seeking God's pleasure. We know that God does not allow injustice. In a sacred Hadith, the Prophet quotes God as saying: "My servants, I have forbidden Myself injustice and made it forbidden for you. Therefore, be not unjust to anyone." This must be the rule that governs all relations in society.
Moreover, a person in a position of responsibility must not require his subordinates to do anything that is not permitted by Islam. If he does, then they must not obey him. The Prophet says: "No one may be obeyed in what constitutes disobedience of God." If a commander orders someone to do what is forbidden, that person must disobey the commander. Once the Prophet appointed someone as the head of a small expedition. When they had stopped to rest, the commander ordered that a fire should be lit. He then asked those with him to go through the fire. They said to him: "We have followed God's messenger so that we do not suffer the fire of hell. Are you now asking us to go through this fire. We certainly will not do that." When they returned to Madinah, they complained to the Prophet. He questioned the commander who said that he simply intended it as a joke and he was not going to allow anyone to go through the fire. The Prophet accepted this as true, but he commended the people who refused to go through the fire. He said: "Had they gone through it, they would not be out of it." What he meant was that they would have committed suicide and would be punished for it by being thrown in hell on the Day of Judgment.
Source; Arab News
Islam in Perspective
18 June, 2010
Prophet Muhammad - 19: A perfect management
Prophet Muhammad - 19: A perfect management
By ADIL SALAHI
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was an ordinary human being who was chosen by God to deliver His final message to mankind. As Islam is not merely a religious faith that governs only the relation between man and God, but rather a complete way of life that seeks to regulate all aspects of human life, the Prophet's role gave him the leadership of the Muslim community in every respect. He was the religious, social, military and political leader of the all Muslims.
In other words, he combined both the religious and the secular leadership. In doing so, he set the regulation of people's affairs at a new level, making clear that appropriate religious and moral values must govern all aspects of life.
Today, most people throughout the world suggest that religion should not interfere with politics or economics, or even with social relations. When we look at what this means in practice we find that people accept that politicians lie, misrepresent facts and try to deceive others and their own population. Even in the most liberal democracies people accept much of this as normal. The scandal of members' expenses in the British Parliament is a clear example that self-interest is acceptable justification for unethical behavior.
The Prophet laid the foundation of a system of management that showed great insight and looked at the interests of the community and ensured that friendly relations should prevail within it. Wherever a group of people needs to work together, either for themselves or for society, someone should be chosen as a head of the group. This would ensure that they would stick together and that their work would be mutually complementary and without duplication.
How many people should be in the group to need to have someone acting as its chief? The Prophet made this very clear. He said: "When three people travel together, they should appoint one of them as their head." This will ensure that the group will have someone responsible for keeping them together, so that none is left out at some point on the way because the others wanted to move on. If they face a problem on the way, they are in it together. Without someone taking this responsibility, anyone of them facing a problem might find himself alone while the others move on.
The Prophet sent out many expeditions, some very small. Indeed one of them consisted of only eight people. Others included several hundred men. In all cases he appointed a commander. He gave the commander clear instructions with regard to the treatment of his men and the mission they were undertaking. He set very high standards in the treatment of opponents. No plundering was allowed. No one should be fought except an enemy who is out to fight Muslims. Even with enemies, no religious person, elderly man, woman or child should be killed in any circumstances.
What were the criteria the Prophet applied in choosing such commanders? The two basic criteria were ability and love. No one was given a command by the Prophet unless he had the qualities that make him able to handle the job in hand very efficiently. Moreover, he must be known to love his fellow Muslims, keen to ensure their welfare. He must also be acceptable to them. With regard to the first criterion, the Prophet said: "Whoever appoints someone as head of a group of ten people, knowing that among them there is a better one to lead them, betrays God, His messenger and the Muslim community." Even in worship, the leader must be acceptable to the congregation. The Prophet says: "Anyone who leads a congregation when they dislike him, his prayer does not go beyond his ears." If prayer is unacceptable because the imam is disliked by the congregation, then this applies in an even greater measure to all situations.
By ADIL SALAHI
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was an ordinary human being who was chosen by God to deliver His final message to mankind. As Islam is not merely a religious faith that governs only the relation between man and God, but rather a complete way of life that seeks to regulate all aspects of human life, the Prophet's role gave him the leadership of the Muslim community in every respect. He was the religious, social, military and political leader of the all Muslims.
In other words, he combined both the religious and the secular leadership. In doing so, he set the regulation of people's affairs at a new level, making clear that appropriate religious and moral values must govern all aspects of life.
Today, most people throughout the world suggest that religion should not interfere with politics or economics, or even with social relations. When we look at what this means in practice we find that people accept that politicians lie, misrepresent facts and try to deceive others and their own population. Even in the most liberal democracies people accept much of this as normal. The scandal of members' expenses in the British Parliament is a clear example that self-interest is acceptable justification for unethical behavior.
The Prophet laid the foundation of a system of management that showed great insight and looked at the interests of the community and ensured that friendly relations should prevail within it. Wherever a group of people needs to work together, either for themselves or for society, someone should be chosen as a head of the group. This would ensure that they would stick together and that their work would be mutually complementary and without duplication.
How many people should be in the group to need to have someone acting as its chief? The Prophet made this very clear. He said: "When three people travel together, they should appoint one of them as their head." This will ensure that the group will have someone responsible for keeping them together, so that none is left out at some point on the way because the others wanted to move on. If they face a problem on the way, they are in it together. Without someone taking this responsibility, anyone of them facing a problem might find himself alone while the others move on.
The Prophet sent out many expeditions, some very small. Indeed one of them consisted of only eight people. Others included several hundred men. In all cases he appointed a commander. He gave the commander clear instructions with regard to the treatment of his men and the mission they were undertaking. He set very high standards in the treatment of opponents. No plundering was allowed. No one should be fought except an enemy who is out to fight Muslims. Even with enemies, no religious person, elderly man, woman or child should be killed in any circumstances.
What were the criteria the Prophet applied in choosing such commanders? The two basic criteria were ability and love. No one was given a command by the Prophet unless he had the qualities that make him able to handle the job in hand very efficiently. Moreover, he must be known to love his fellow Muslims, keen to ensure their welfare. He must also be acceptable to them. With regard to the first criterion, the Prophet said: "Whoever appoints someone as head of a group of ten people, knowing that among them there is a better one to lead them, betrays God, His messenger and the Muslim community." Even in worship, the leader must be acceptable to the congregation. The Prophet says: "Anyone who leads a congregation when they dislike him, his prayer does not go beyond his ears." If prayer is unacceptable because the imam is disliked by the congregation, then this applies in an even greater measure to all situations.
11 June, 2010
Prophet Muhammad — 18: Great people flock to a great man
Prophet Muhammad — 18: Great people flock to a great man
By ADIL SALAHI
The early companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him), who accepted Islam in its early days when it was opposed by the powerful, the rich and the nobles of their community, were a group of great men.
It is only a person of high caliber that accepts a message that declares at the outset that it aims to change the life of individuals and society, doing so only after he examines it carefully, sets aside hostile propaganda and identifies its merits. Hence, we are not surprised that this elite group included a long line of great people. Yet they exhibited different aspects of greatness. Among them there were those who excelled as military commanders and those who were superior in moral courage. Some were distinguished by high family descent, yet were personally of high caliber. Others showed nobility of character. Some had great minds and souls, but lacked the material means to achieve the sort of distinction they deserved, while others came to Islam from a highly distinguished social position. What brought them all together was their profound faith in Islam and their love of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
When a person excels in a particular field, it will not be surprising that his closest friends would be interested in that field. An excellent sportsman will attract people who are enthusiastic about sport, whether they play a particular game or are simply viewers who enjoy watching it. A scholar will attract only those who are interested in learning and reading. Indeed, a great Prophet will be surrounded by pious people, just like Jesus had his group of disciples. In the case of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) we find that great people who excelled in a wide spectrum of areas getting very close to him. Every one found with him what responded to his own greatness. None felt out of place with him. In fact, it is very difficult to say that a particular type of greatness was closer to him. All these people felt very close. What is more is that they recognized their own differences and respected each other's excellence. When they were called upon to provide leadership in different areas, they proved to be great indeed. With the Prophet, however, they were close friends, followers and supporters. Each one was ready to lay down his life for the Prophet's sake.
How could he maintain such friendships with so many different types and characters? The answer is that he loved every one of them, and he was sincere in his love. He reciprocated their good feelings, giving always much more than he received. Moreover, he was always ready to point out their goodness and to acknowledge their favors. Referring to his closest companion, he said: "Abu Bakr is the one who has done me the greatest favors ever. He supported me with his life and property, and he gave me his daughter to marry." He also said: "Abu Bakr and Umar are to me like my sight and hearing." Mentioning some of his companions, he said: "God has commanded me to love four people telling me that He loves them. Ali is one of them. The others are Abu Dharr, Al-Miqdad and Salman."
His love of mankind was exemplary. He never retaliated for a personal injury, physical or mental. He was always ready to pardon anyone who took a hostile attitude to him. Indeed, he pardoned someone who lifted up his sword aiming to kill him, when that person's sword fell off. Whenever there was a chance to make peace with an enemy, he immediately took that chance. Hence, it is not surprising that even his most hardened enemies often spoke highly of his nobility and integrity.
By ADIL SALAHI
The early companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him), who accepted Islam in its early days when it was opposed by the powerful, the rich and the nobles of their community, were a group of great men.
It is only a person of high caliber that accepts a message that declares at the outset that it aims to change the life of individuals and society, doing so only after he examines it carefully, sets aside hostile propaganda and identifies its merits. Hence, we are not surprised that this elite group included a long line of great people. Yet they exhibited different aspects of greatness. Among them there were those who excelled as military commanders and those who were superior in moral courage. Some were distinguished by high family descent, yet were personally of high caliber. Others showed nobility of character. Some had great minds and souls, but lacked the material means to achieve the sort of distinction they deserved, while others came to Islam from a highly distinguished social position. What brought them all together was their profound faith in Islam and their love of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
When a person excels in a particular field, it will not be surprising that his closest friends would be interested in that field. An excellent sportsman will attract people who are enthusiastic about sport, whether they play a particular game or are simply viewers who enjoy watching it. A scholar will attract only those who are interested in learning and reading. Indeed, a great Prophet will be surrounded by pious people, just like Jesus had his group of disciples. In the case of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) we find that great people who excelled in a wide spectrum of areas getting very close to him. Every one found with him what responded to his own greatness. None felt out of place with him. In fact, it is very difficult to say that a particular type of greatness was closer to him. All these people felt very close. What is more is that they recognized their own differences and respected each other's excellence. When they were called upon to provide leadership in different areas, they proved to be great indeed. With the Prophet, however, they were close friends, followers and supporters. Each one was ready to lay down his life for the Prophet's sake.
How could he maintain such friendships with so many different types and characters? The answer is that he loved every one of them, and he was sincere in his love. He reciprocated their good feelings, giving always much more than he received. Moreover, he was always ready to point out their goodness and to acknowledge their favors. Referring to his closest companion, he said: "Abu Bakr is the one who has done me the greatest favors ever. He supported me with his life and property, and he gave me his daughter to marry." He also said: "Abu Bakr and Umar are to me like my sight and hearing." Mentioning some of his companions, he said: "God has commanded me to love four people telling me that He loves them. Ali is one of them. The others are Abu Dharr, Al-Miqdad and Salman."
His love of mankind was exemplary. He never retaliated for a personal injury, physical or mental. He was always ready to pardon anyone who took a hostile attitude to him. Indeed, he pardoned someone who lifted up his sword aiming to kill him, when that person's sword fell off. Whenever there was a chance to make peace with an enemy, he immediately took that chance. Hence, it is not surprising that even his most hardened enemies often spoke highly of his nobility and integrity.
28 May, 2010
Prophet Muhammad — 16: Qualities for good friendship
Prophet Muhammad — 16: Qualities for good friendship
By Romulo Tangbawan
We mentioned that the Prophet (peace be upon him) was loved by all his companions. Every one of them felt that he could do no better than being close to the Prophet, because he was a most caring friend. When he met someone, he would inquire about his affairs and his family. He would attend to their business and give whatever help was available to him. If someone sat with him for a while, then stood up to leave, the Prophet would stand up with him. The Prophet would not turn away from his visitor in order to attend to anything that needed his attention until his visitor has turned away to leave. In this way, he made his visitor feel that he was welcome until the last minute of his visit.
When he met anyone and shook hands with him, the Prophet would not be the first to withdraw his hand. He would wait until the other person has withdrawn his hand. Likewise, when he bade goodbye to anyone, he would hold his hand. He would keep it until the other person has moved away. It is authentically reported that any young girl would come to him, take him by the hand, taking him wherever she wanted. He would go with her and do for her whatever she needed to be done.
These may be small gestures, but they are indicative of highly refined manners, with the Prophet keen to make everyone feel that he was close to him. He was always ready to do for his friends and companions whatever they needed to be done. At the same time, the Prophet was very shy. His shyness is described as greater than that of a maiden girl who is unused to social occasions.
One aspect of good friendship is respecting other people's privacy. He would not divulge any private matter even to those who were very close to him. Everyone was certain that if he told the Prophet anything of private nature, no one else would know about it from him. He instilled in his companions the virtue of respecting other people's privacy. This means that we must not try to know anyone's private affairs. He says: "Whoever pries into someone else's private matters without his knowledge actually pries into the fire of hell."
Coupled with all this was his keen sense of cleanliness. He was always keen that his body and his clothes were clean and having a good smell. He said that one of the two things he loved of worldly comfort was perfume. If he woke up at night, he would give his teeth a quick brush. Every time he performed ablution for his five daily prayers he would brush his teeth. Although he was aware that he had a very pleasant body smell, he always made certain that his mouth and clothes gave no bad smell.
The task assigned to him by God was to give guidance. He fulfilled his duty in the way that no one would feel that following Islamic teachings would be burdensome. He waited for the right moment to give advice. If he saw something unbecoming, he would not embarrass the person concerned by pointing it out on the spot. He would wait until a proper chance offered itself. Then he would give the advice in general terms so that it would not be taken as directed at any particular person. If something wrong was reported to him, and he needed to make a public announcement regarding it, he would not mention anyone concerned by name. He would say: "Some people may think, say, or do this or that." He would then point out the right thing to do.
All this made him an exemplary friend with whom people were very comfortable. Hence, they loved him and cherished the fact that they were his friends and companions.
By Romulo Tangbawan
We mentioned that the Prophet (peace be upon him) was loved by all his companions. Every one of them felt that he could do no better than being close to the Prophet, because he was a most caring friend. When he met someone, he would inquire about his affairs and his family. He would attend to their business and give whatever help was available to him. If someone sat with him for a while, then stood up to leave, the Prophet would stand up with him. The Prophet would not turn away from his visitor in order to attend to anything that needed his attention until his visitor has turned away to leave. In this way, he made his visitor feel that he was welcome until the last minute of his visit.
When he met anyone and shook hands with him, the Prophet would not be the first to withdraw his hand. He would wait until the other person has withdrawn his hand. Likewise, when he bade goodbye to anyone, he would hold his hand. He would keep it until the other person has moved away. It is authentically reported that any young girl would come to him, take him by the hand, taking him wherever she wanted. He would go with her and do for her whatever she needed to be done.
These may be small gestures, but they are indicative of highly refined manners, with the Prophet keen to make everyone feel that he was close to him. He was always ready to do for his friends and companions whatever they needed to be done. At the same time, the Prophet was very shy. His shyness is described as greater than that of a maiden girl who is unused to social occasions.
One aspect of good friendship is respecting other people's privacy. He would not divulge any private matter even to those who were very close to him. Everyone was certain that if he told the Prophet anything of private nature, no one else would know about it from him. He instilled in his companions the virtue of respecting other people's privacy. This means that we must not try to know anyone's private affairs. He says: "Whoever pries into someone else's private matters without his knowledge actually pries into the fire of hell."
Coupled with all this was his keen sense of cleanliness. He was always keen that his body and his clothes were clean and having a good smell. He said that one of the two things he loved of worldly comfort was perfume. If he woke up at night, he would give his teeth a quick brush. Every time he performed ablution for his five daily prayers he would brush his teeth. Although he was aware that he had a very pleasant body smell, he always made certain that his mouth and clothes gave no bad smell.
The task assigned to him by God was to give guidance. He fulfilled his duty in the way that no one would feel that following Islamic teachings would be burdensome. He waited for the right moment to give advice. If he saw something unbecoming, he would not embarrass the person concerned by pointing it out on the spot. He would wait until a proper chance offered itself. Then he would give the advice in general terms so that it would not be taken as directed at any particular person. If something wrong was reported to him, and he needed to make a public announcement regarding it, he would not mention anyone concerned by name. He would say: "Some people may think, say, or do this or that." He would then point out the right thing to do.
All this made him an exemplary friend with whom people were very comfortable. Hence, they loved him and cherished the fact that they were his friends and companions.
21 May, 2010
Prophet Muhammad - 15: The essence of permanent relations
Prophet Muhammad - 15: The essence of permanent relations
By ADIL SALAHI | ARAB NEWS
Some people are eager to have friends, and extend a generous hand to others hoping to forge good relations with them, yet they always complain of poor response. They have the necessary emotion to develop friendship, but the response from others is lacking. This could be because of some negative trait in their personality or manners. Take, for example, the case of one who rigidly sticks to his ideals and wants others to adhere to them at all times. They may like him generally and enjoy his company up to the point where such ideals are touched upon, when he becomes uncompromising. They may be apathetic to these ideals, or at least flexible in regard to them. Hence, they are disturbed when he insists that they should be meticulously observed. This could lead to some estrangement at times, allowing the friendship to weaken and dissolve.
Another reason for the failure to forge friendships is bad manners. A person may be generally of good manners, but he has one or two failings which could put people off. However, the main characteristic that helps to cement friendship and gives it a solid foundation is loyalty. When we realize that a particular friend is loyal to us, we would cherish his friendship and do all we can to ensure that it is a lifelong friendship.
In his emotions, manners, character and loyalty, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) set a high example which is hard to follow. Hence, all those who knew him were eager to be his friends. His loving emotions were always overflowing, particularly to those who were close to him. Yet we see the best expression of these emotions given to those who looked after him when he was young, particularly because he was an orphan. He was only 12 when he saw his uncle Abu Talib, who had been looking after him since he was 8, getting ready to travel to Syria on business. He clung to him, unwilling to let him go alone. His uncle realized what was troubling him and decided to take him along, even though the trip was very hard. This was not the whim of a spoiled boy who sticks to his spoiling father. It was the blossoming feeling of loyalty that made him want to go with the man who looked after him when he stood alone in the world at a very young age.
The same feeling of loyalty is demonstrated in a different setting. He was around 60 years of age when he stood weeping hard by his mother's grave. He did not forget her although she was dead for over half a century during which he went through a life experience that was so rich that it would have been sufficient for a whole community, rather than an individual.
Another example of his loyalty is seen in his reception of Halimah, his wet nurse who breast-fed him when he was a baby. More than fifty years had passed before she visited him in Madinah. His warm reception thrilled her as he cried with joy, "Here is my mother! Here is my mother." In Islam a wet nurse is treated like a mother. When she was about to depart, he gave her camels and sheep that would give her enough to live on for the rest of her life.
Could loyalty to friends have a better expression than the Prophet's treatment of the women taken prisoner after a war their tribe waged on him and his companions? There were hundreds of them, and according to the practice of the time, they would have become slaves. Yet an old man related to Halimah, his wet nurse, from that tribe came to him and reminded him that as a baby, he was breast-fed in that tribe. He told him: "These women are, then, your mothers and your aunts. I am appealing to you for their release." As slaves they did not belong to him, but to the army which fought the war. He appealed to his companions and the majority relinquished their claims. Some refused, so he bought their shares and set all those women and children free.
By ADIL SALAHI | ARAB NEWS
Some people are eager to have friends, and extend a generous hand to others hoping to forge good relations with them, yet they always complain of poor response. They have the necessary emotion to develop friendship, but the response from others is lacking. This could be because of some negative trait in their personality or manners. Take, for example, the case of one who rigidly sticks to his ideals and wants others to adhere to them at all times. They may like him generally and enjoy his company up to the point where such ideals are touched upon, when he becomes uncompromising. They may be apathetic to these ideals, or at least flexible in regard to them. Hence, they are disturbed when he insists that they should be meticulously observed. This could lead to some estrangement at times, allowing the friendship to weaken and dissolve.
Another reason for the failure to forge friendships is bad manners. A person may be generally of good manners, but he has one or two failings which could put people off. However, the main characteristic that helps to cement friendship and gives it a solid foundation is loyalty. When we realize that a particular friend is loyal to us, we would cherish his friendship and do all we can to ensure that it is a lifelong friendship.
In his emotions, manners, character and loyalty, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) set a high example which is hard to follow. Hence, all those who knew him were eager to be his friends. His loving emotions were always overflowing, particularly to those who were close to him. Yet we see the best expression of these emotions given to those who looked after him when he was young, particularly because he was an orphan. He was only 12 when he saw his uncle Abu Talib, who had been looking after him since he was 8, getting ready to travel to Syria on business. He clung to him, unwilling to let him go alone. His uncle realized what was troubling him and decided to take him along, even though the trip was very hard. This was not the whim of a spoiled boy who sticks to his spoiling father. It was the blossoming feeling of loyalty that made him want to go with the man who looked after him when he stood alone in the world at a very young age.
The same feeling of loyalty is demonstrated in a different setting. He was around 60 years of age when he stood weeping hard by his mother's grave. He did not forget her although she was dead for over half a century during which he went through a life experience that was so rich that it would have been sufficient for a whole community, rather than an individual.
Another example of his loyalty is seen in his reception of Halimah, his wet nurse who breast-fed him when he was a baby. More than fifty years had passed before she visited him in Madinah. His warm reception thrilled her as he cried with joy, "Here is my mother! Here is my mother." In Islam a wet nurse is treated like a mother. When she was about to depart, he gave her camels and sheep that would give her enough to live on for the rest of her life.
Could loyalty to friends have a better expression than the Prophet's treatment of the women taken prisoner after a war their tribe waged on him and his companions? There were hundreds of them, and according to the practice of the time, they would have become slaves. Yet an old man related to Halimah, his wet nurse, from that tribe came to him and reminded him that as a baby, he was breast-fed in that tribe. He told him: "These women are, then, your mothers and your aunts. I am appealing to you for their release." As slaves they did not belong to him, but to the army which fought the war. He appealed to his companions and the majority relinquished their claims. Some refused, so he bought their shares and set all those women and children free.
14 May, 2010
Prophet Muhammad - 14: Suffering loss of young children
Prophet Muhammad - 14: Suffering loss of young children
By Naushad Shamim Al-Haq
The early life of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was full of events that would have made any child prone to extreme depression.
He never knew his father who died before he was born. His mother died when he was only six years of age. Two years later, his grandfather, who took over his upbringing, also died. Yet God protected him from the traumatic effects that could have cast a shadow over his personality, giving him a home where he was loved and cared for. That was the home of his uncle, Abu Taleb, whose wife loved Muhammad as one of her own children. In his adult life, he suffered the loss of his two sons born to his first wife, Khadijah. He had no children by his other wives, until he was sent a gift of an Egyptian slave, Maria, who gave him his last son Ibraheem.
When Ibraheem was born, the Prophet was around 60 years of age. As one who always cared for other people, tried his best to alleviate their troubles, providing help wherever help was needed, caring for people in distress or difficulty, the Prophet was extremely happy when Ibraheem was born. He was a model father. No one loved his children as much as Muhammad (peace be upon him) did.
To have a son after a gap of more than 20 years since his youngest daughter was born gave him a feeling of supreme happiness and consummate joy. Although Maria, the child's mother, lived on the outskirts of Madinah, at some distance from the Prophet's mosque and home, he visited her regularly, and provided her with help to look after the child.
Yet Ibraheem did not complete two years of life. He was only 18 months when he died to give the Prophet heartfelt sorrow. His death extinguished the great hope that was kindled when he was born. The Prophet realized that God only chose what was best for him, and he looked at his son's death in that light. However, as human beings we are unable to discern God's wisdom when adversity strikes. We always wonder: Would it not have been better for us if we were spared that adversity? The Prophet was a human being and he must have felt the bitter pain. As the child was placed in his grave, the bereaved father stood weeping, nursing his bitter loss and praying to God. He tamed his sorrow with resigned acceptance of God's will. He said: "Eyes are tearful, minds are submissive and we are sorrowful to see you, Ibraheem, departing, but we only say what pleases our Lord."
Yet this was not the only time the Prophet experienced the loss of a child in his old age. Zainab, his eldest daughter, sent word to him that her young son was dying and she wanted him to come over. He told the messenger who brought her message: "Tell her that it is God who gives life and takes it away. Everything is determined by Him according to a fine measure. Let her be patient and resigned."
She sent back appealing to him to go over to her. He went to her home with a few of his companions. The child was given to him, painfully struggling for life. His companions saw his eyes brimming with tears. Saad asked him: "How come, Messenger of God?" He said: "This is a feeling of compassion which God places in the hearts of whomever He wills. God only shows mercy to those of His servants who are merciful." No human being was ever more merciful and compassionate than Muhammad (peace be upon him).
By Naushad Shamim Al-Haq
The early life of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was full of events that would have made any child prone to extreme depression.
He never knew his father who died before he was born. His mother died when he was only six years of age. Two years later, his grandfather, who took over his upbringing, also died. Yet God protected him from the traumatic effects that could have cast a shadow over his personality, giving him a home where he was loved and cared for. That was the home of his uncle, Abu Taleb, whose wife loved Muhammad as one of her own children. In his adult life, he suffered the loss of his two sons born to his first wife, Khadijah. He had no children by his other wives, until he was sent a gift of an Egyptian slave, Maria, who gave him his last son Ibraheem.
When Ibraheem was born, the Prophet was around 60 years of age. As one who always cared for other people, tried his best to alleviate their troubles, providing help wherever help was needed, caring for people in distress or difficulty, the Prophet was extremely happy when Ibraheem was born. He was a model father. No one loved his children as much as Muhammad (peace be upon him) did.
To have a son after a gap of more than 20 years since his youngest daughter was born gave him a feeling of supreme happiness and consummate joy. Although Maria, the child's mother, lived on the outskirts of Madinah, at some distance from the Prophet's mosque and home, he visited her regularly, and provided her with help to look after the child.
Yet Ibraheem did not complete two years of life. He was only 18 months when he died to give the Prophet heartfelt sorrow. His death extinguished the great hope that was kindled when he was born. The Prophet realized that God only chose what was best for him, and he looked at his son's death in that light. However, as human beings we are unable to discern God's wisdom when adversity strikes. We always wonder: Would it not have been better for us if we were spared that adversity? The Prophet was a human being and he must have felt the bitter pain. As the child was placed in his grave, the bereaved father stood weeping, nursing his bitter loss and praying to God. He tamed his sorrow with resigned acceptance of God's will. He said: "Eyes are tearful, minds are submissive and we are sorrowful to see you, Ibraheem, departing, but we only say what pleases our Lord."
Yet this was not the only time the Prophet experienced the loss of a child in his old age. Zainab, his eldest daughter, sent word to him that her young son was dying and she wanted him to come over. He told the messenger who brought her message: "Tell her that it is God who gives life and takes it away. Everything is determined by Him according to a fine measure. Let her be patient and resigned."
She sent back appealing to him to go over to her. He went to her home with a few of his companions. The child was given to him, painfully struggling for life. His companions saw his eyes brimming with tears. Saad asked him: "How come, Messenger of God?" He said: "This is a feeling of compassion which God places in the hearts of whomever He wills. God only shows mercy to those of His servants who are merciful." No human being was ever more merciful and compassionate than Muhammad (peace be upon him).
07 May, 2010
Prophet Muhammad - 13: When a child dies
Prophet Muhammad - 13: When a child dies
By ADIL SALAHI
When we contemplate the Prophet's personal life, we always come back to the conclusion that every aspect of it was determined by God in a particular fashion so that it relates to the full picture of the character of the man God chose to be His last messenger to mankind.
The Prophet married his first wife, Khadijah, when he was in his mid-twenties. She gave him six children over a period of 10 years. All six children were born before he received his first revelations, to become God's Prophet and messenger. He then lived with his first wife for 15 more years before she died. She gave him no more children. After she died, he married nine other wives, three of whom had children by earlier marriages, but none of them gave him any child, although all of them except Sawdah were of childbearing age. Then he had an Egyptian slave girl sent to him as a gift by the ruler of Egypt. She gave him his last child, a son whom he named Ibraheem, after his great ancestor, Prophet Abraham.
Why was Muhammad (peace be upon him) denied having sons who would grow up and give him support? We remember that his grandfather, Abd Al-Muttalib, prayed to God to grant him 10 sons to grow up and give him protection. He did so at the time when he was commanded to dig up the well of Zamzam. When he did so, helped by his only son at the time, his people wanted to take the well from him. He wished to have his own sons to protect him. Had the Prophet had sons who were young men at the time when he faced determined opposition by the unbelievers, they could have given him the support that seemed at times to be lacking. A case in mind is that when those unbelievers emptied a camel's stomach over his head as he was prostrating himself in prayer. In fact, the unbelievers took comfort from the fact that he was without sons, saying that once he died, he would soon be forgotten.
It was God's will that he would have no direct line of offspring, because people would have attached a privileged position to his descendants. God has willed that Islam would not be linked to anyone or any group other than His messenger, Muhammad (peace be upon him). The Prophet stressed to all his relatives that their positions did not give them any privilege and that they were in exactly the same position as everyone else. Therefore, they needed to ensure their own salvation through hard work. Yet people, even today, think that those who are given the title 'Syed', indicating that they have some relation to the Prophet through their ancestry, have a special status. How mistaken!
More than 20 years elapsed between the birth of Fatimah, the Prophet's youngest daughter, and Ibraheem, his last son. Yet he had several wives, some of whom were in their twenties, i.e. in the prime period of reproduction, while others were mothers of children born in earlier marriages. There was nothing wrong with the Prophet or his wives to prevent the birth of children, as it was proven when he had his last son, Ibraheem. May be God wanted him to concentrate all his attention on the progress of his mission.
Yet he was always looking after his grandchildren, of whom he had a few. He also cared for the young children of his companions, particularly those who were close to him. When Jaafar, his cousin, died in battle, he went to enquire after his young children and to ensure that they lacked nothing.
Then he had Ibraheem, a son born when the father was about 60. With him a great hope was born, but only 18 months later, all the hope was extinguished as this young life was brought to an end. In all this, Muhammad (peace be upon him) provided a model of resigned acceptance of God's will. He taught us that when parents suffer the loss of a young child, that child will be waiting for them on the Day of Judgment, to take them by the hand into heaven.
By ADIL SALAHI
When we contemplate the Prophet's personal life, we always come back to the conclusion that every aspect of it was determined by God in a particular fashion so that it relates to the full picture of the character of the man God chose to be His last messenger to mankind.
The Prophet married his first wife, Khadijah, when he was in his mid-twenties. She gave him six children over a period of 10 years. All six children were born before he received his first revelations, to become God's Prophet and messenger. He then lived with his first wife for 15 more years before she died. She gave him no more children. After she died, he married nine other wives, three of whom had children by earlier marriages, but none of them gave him any child, although all of them except Sawdah were of childbearing age. Then he had an Egyptian slave girl sent to him as a gift by the ruler of Egypt. She gave him his last child, a son whom he named Ibraheem, after his great ancestor, Prophet Abraham.
Why was Muhammad (peace be upon him) denied having sons who would grow up and give him support? We remember that his grandfather, Abd Al-Muttalib, prayed to God to grant him 10 sons to grow up and give him protection. He did so at the time when he was commanded to dig up the well of Zamzam. When he did so, helped by his only son at the time, his people wanted to take the well from him. He wished to have his own sons to protect him. Had the Prophet had sons who were young men at the time when he faced determined opposition by the unbelievers, they could have given him the support that seemed at times to be lacking. A case in mind is that when those unbelievers emptied a camel's stomach over his head as he was prostrating himself in prayer. In fact, the unbelievers took comfort from the fact that he was without sons, saying that once he died, he would soon be forgotten.
It was God's will that he would have no direct line of offspring, because people would have attached a privileged position to his descendants. God has willed that Islam would not be linked to anyone or any group other than His messenger, Muhammad (peace be upon him). The Prophet stressed to all his relatives that their positions did not give them any privilege and that they were in exactly the same position as everyone else. Therefore, they needed to ensure their own salvation through hard work. Yet people, even today, think that those who are given the title 'Syed', indicating that they have some relation to the Prophet through their ancestry, have a special status. How mistaken!
More than 20 years elapsed between the birth of Fatimah, the Prophet's youngest daughter, and Ibraheem, his last son. Yet he had several wives, some of whom were in their twenties, i.e. in the prime period of reproduction, while others were mothers of children born in earlier marriages. There was nothing wrong with the Prophet or his wives to prevent the birth of children, as it was proven when he had his last son, Ibraheem. May be God wanted him to concentrate all his attention on the progress of his mission.
Yet he was always looking after his grandchildren, of whom he had a few. He also cared for the young children of his companions, particularly those who were close to him. When Jaafar, his cousin, died in battle, he went to enquire after his young children and to ensure that they lacked nothing.
Then he had Ibraheem, a son born when the father was about 60. With him a great hope was born, but only 18 months later, all the hope was extinguished as this young life was brought to an end. In all this, Muhammad (peace be upon him) provided a model of resigned acceptance of God's will. He taught us that when parents suffer the loss of a young child, that child will be waiting for them on the Day of Judgment, to take them by the hand into heaven.
04 May, 2010
Prophet Muhammad - 17: Enjoying being loved by all
Prophet Muhammad - 17: Enjoying being loved by all
Zayd ibn Al-Dathinnah was a companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him) who was taken prisoner in a treacherous attack on a small band of Muslims.
His captors sold him to the Quraysh tribe. The buyer did not want to keep him as a slave, but wanted to kill him in revenge for the death of his own father in a battle with Muslims. He was tied to a pole in an open space and a large group of people came over to witness his killing. Abu Sufyan, the chief of the Quraysh, said to Zayd just before he was about to be killed: "Would you wish that you were now sitting in comfort with your family and Muhammad was here in your place and we would kill him in your stead?" Zayd answered: "I would not wish to be comfortable with my family if Muhammad (peace be upon him) were to have a prick of thorn in his side." Abu Sufyan commented: "I have never known anyone who loves another as Muhammad's companions love him."
Such love was common to all those who knew him. We are not talking here about the love believers have toward the Prophet who guides them to the truth of faith. Such love is common to all believers in all generations. We are talking about the love of friendship. Those companions of the Prophet, men and women, loved him as no one was ever loved by those around him. His friends were of all types of people: some were great individuals, some were ordinary, and others were simple and naive. They were of different characters, temperaments and social positions. Yet he was the dearest of all people to every single one of them.
Thawban was a servant of the Prophet. He looked sad and as time went by, his sadness seemed to remain as strong as ever. The Prophet noticed that Thawban was even losing weight. He asked him what troubled him. He said: "Messenger of God, when I do not see you for a while, I miss you so badly. I remembered the life to come and thought that even if God grants me admission into heaven, I would not see you, because you will be in the highest position with other prophets. How can I bear that?" The Prophet assured him that he would see him in heaven. Thawban was very pleased and his sadness was over.
What this tells us is that a simple person considered a place in heaven insufficient to give him happiness unless he could see the Prophet. Only when he was assured that he would be seeing him that sadness left him.
This is not an individual case. Women showed the same sort of love. A woman would be told that two or three of her closest relatives were killed in a battle. She would express her sorrow and acceptance of God's will, but she inquires first whether the Prophet was safe. When she is assured of his safety, she can bear her personal tragedy well.
In fact, several of the most distinguished companions of the Prophet believed in Islam because they knew Muhammad well and loved him because of his personal qualities, including his truthfulness. When he told them that he received revelations from on high, they had no hesitation in believing him. They immediately declared their belief in God's oneness and in Muhammad's message.
Zayd ibn Al-Dathinnah was a companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him) who was taken prisoner in a treacherous attack on a small band of Muslims.
His captors sold him to the Quraysh tribe. The buyer did not want to keep him as a slave, but wanted to kill him in revenge for the death of his own father in a battle with Muslims. He was tied to a pole in an open space and a large group of people came over to witness his killing. Abu Sufyan, the chief of the Quraysh, said to Zayd just before he was about to be killed: "Would you wish that you were now sitting in comfort with your family and Muhammad was here in your place and we would kill him in your stead?" Zayd answered: "I would not wish to be comfortable with my family if Muhammad (peace be upon him) were to have a prick of thorn in his side." Abu Sufyan commented: "I have never known anyone who loves another as Muhammad's companions love him."
Such love was common to all those who knew him. We are not talking here about the love believers have toward the Prophet who guides them to the truth of faith. Such love is common to all believers in all generations. We are talking about the love of friendship. Those companions of the Prophet, men and women, loved him as no one was ever loved by those around him. His friends were of all types of people: some were great individuals, some were ordinary, and others were simple and naive. They were of different characters, temperaments and social positions. Yet he was the dearest of all people to every single one of them.
Thawban was a servant of the Prophet. He looked sad and as time went by, his sadness seemed to remain as strong as ever. The Prophet noticed that Thawban was even losing weight. He asked him what troubled him. He said: "Messenger of God, when I do not see you for a while, I miss you so badly. I remembered the life to come and thought that even if God grants me admission into heaven, I would not see you, because you will be in the highest position with other prophets. How can I bear that?" The Prophet assured him that he would see him in heaven. Thawban was very pleased and his sadness was over.
What this tells us is that a simple person considered a place in heaven insufficient to give him happiness unless he could see the Prophet. Only when he was assured that he would be seeing him that sadness left him.
This is not an individual case. Women showed the same sort of love. A woman would be told that two or three of her closest relatives were killed in a battle. She would express her sorrow and acceptance of God's will, but she inquires first whether the Prophet was safe. When she is assured of his safety, she can bear her personal tragedy well.
In fact, several of the most distinguished companions of the Prophet believed in Islam because they knew Muhammad well and loved him because of his personal qualities, including his truthfulness. When he told them that he received revelations from on high, they had no hesitation in believing him. They immediately declared their belief in God's oneness and in Muhammad's message.
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