What is the place and
position of Muhammad among prophets and in the general
matrix of Islam?
If we were to imagine
ourselves in the world of 1,400 years ago, we would find a
completely different world. The opportunity to exchange
ideas would be scanty, and the means of communication
limited and undeveloped. Darkness would hold sway, and
only a faint glimmer of learning, hardly enough to
illumine the horizon of human knowledge, would be visible.
The people of that time had a narrow outlook, and their
ideas of humanity and things were confined to their
limited surroundings. Steeped in ignorance and
superstition, their unbelief was so strong and widespread
that they refused to consider anything as lofty and
sublime unless it appeared in the garb of the
supernatural. They had developed such an inferiority
complex that they could not imagine any person having a
godly soul or a saintly disposition.
Could you give some
information about the
land where the Prophet
appeared?
The Prophet’s
homeland
In that benighted
era, darkness lay heavier and thicker in one land than in
any other. The neighboring countries of Persia, Byzantium,
and Egypt possessed a glimmer of civilization and a faint
light of learning, but the Arabian peninsula, isolated and
cut off by vast oceans of sand, was culturally and
intellectually one of the world’s most backward areas.
The Hijaz, birthplace of the Prophet, had not passed
through even the limited development of neighboring
regions, and had not experienced any social evolution or
attained any intellectual development of note. Although
their highly developed language could express the finest
shades of meaning, a study of their literature’s
remnants reveals the limited extent of their knowledge.
All of this shows their low cultural and civilization
standards, their deeply superstitious nature, their
barbarous and ferocious customs, and their uncouth and
degraded moral standards and conceptions.
It was a land without
a government, for every tribe claimed sovereignty and
considered itself independent. The only law recognized was
that of the jungle. Robbery, arson, and the murder of
innocent and weak people was the norm. Life, property, and
honor were constantly at risk, and tribes were always at
daggers drawn with each other. A trivial incident could
engulf them in ferocious warfare, which sometimes
developed into a decades-long and country-wide
conflagration. As one scholar writes:
These struggles
destroyed the sense of national unity and
developed an incurable particularism; each tribe deeming
itself self-sufficient and regarding the rest as its
legitimate victims for murder, robbery and plunder.1
Barely able to
discriminate between pure and impure, lawful and unlawful,
their concepts of morals, culture, and civilization were
primitive and uncouth. Their life was wild and their
behavior was barbaric. They reveled in adultery, gambling,
and drinking. They stood naked before each other without
shame, and women circumambulated the Ka‘ba in the nude.
Their prestige called
for female infanticide rather than having someone
“inferior” become their son-in-law and eventual heir.
They married their widowed stepmothers and knew nothing of
the manners associated eating, dressing, and cleanliness.
Worshippers of stones, trees, idols, stars, and spirits,
they had forgotten the earlier Prophets’ teachings. They
had an idea that Abraham and Isma‘il were their
forefathers, but almost all of these forefathers’
religious knowledge and understanding of God had been
lost.
Muhammad’s life
before his Prophethood
This was Prophet
Muhammad’s homeland. His father died before he was born,
and his mother died when he was six years old.
Consequently, he was deprived of whatever training and
upbringing an Arab child of that time received. During his
childhood, he tended flocks of sheep and goats with other
Bedouin boys. As education never touched him, he remained
completely unlettered and unschooled.
The Prophet left the
Arabian peninsula only twice. As a youth, he accompanied
his uncle Abu Talib on a trade mission to al-Sham
(present-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and
Jordan). The other time was when he led another trade
mission to the same region for the widow Khadijah, a
wealthy Makkan merchant 15 years his senior. They got
married when he was 25, and lived happily together until
she died about 20 years later.
Being illiterate, he
read no Jewish or Christian religious texts or had any
appreciable relationship with them. Makka’s ideas and
customs were idolatrous and wholly untouched by Christian
or Jewish religious thought. Even Makka’s hanifs,33 who
rejected idolatry, were not influenced by Judaism or
Christianity. No Jewish or Christian thought is reflected
in these people’s surviving poetic heritage. Had the
Prophet made any effort to become acquainted with their
thought, it would have been noticed.
Moreover, Muhammad
avoided the locally popular intellectual forms of poetry
and rhetoric even before his Prophethood. History
records no distinction that set him over others, except
for his moral commitment, trustworthiness, honesty,
truthfulness, and integrity. He did not lie, an assertion
proven by the fact that not even his worst enemies ever
called him a liar. He talked politely and never used
obscene or abusive language. His charming personality and
excellent manners captivated the hearts of those who met
him. He always followed the principles of justice,
altruism, and fair play with others, and never deceived
anyone or broke his promise.
Muhammad was engaged
in trade and commerce for years, but never entered into a
dishonest transaction. Those who had business dealings
with him had full confidence in his integrity. Everyone
called him al-Amin (the Truthful and the Trustworthy).
Even his enemies left their precious belongings with him
for safe custody, and he scrupulously fulfilled their
trust. He was the embodiment of modesty in society that
was immodest to the core.
Born and raised among
people who regarded drunkenness and gambling as virtues,
he never drank alcohol or gambled. Surrounded by heartless
people, his own heart overflowed with the milk of human
kindness. He helped orphans, widows, and the poor, and was
hospitable to travelers. Harming no one, he exposed
himself to hardship for their sake. Avoiding tribal feuds,
he was the foremost worker for reconciliation. He never
bowed before any created thing or partook of offerings
made to idols, even when he was a child, for he hated all
worship devoted to that which was not God. In brief, his
towering and radiant personality, when placed in the midst
of such a benighted and dark environment, may be likened
to a beacon of light illumining a pitch-dark night, to a
diamond shining among a heap of stones.
What is Prophet
Muhammad’s basic message?
And what was his
message?
Suddenly a remarkable
change came over him. His heart, illuminated with Divine
Light, now had the power for which he had yearned. He left
the cave’s confinement, went to his people, and
addressed them in the following strain:
The idols that you
worship are mere shams, so stop worshipping them. No
person, star, tree, stone, or spirit deserves your
worship. Do not bow your heads before them in worship. The
entire universe belongs to God Almighty. He alone is the
Creator, Nourisher, Sustainer, and thus the real Sovereign
before Whom all should bow down and Who is worthy of your
prayers and obedience. So worship Him alone and obey His
commands.
The theft and
plunder, murder and rapine, injustice and cruelty, and all
the vices in which you indulge are sins in God’s eyes.
Leave your evil ways. Speak the truth. Be just. Do not
kill anyone, for whoever kills a person unjustly is like
one who has killed all humanity, and whoever saves a
person’s life is like one who has saved all humanity
(5:32). Do not rob anyone, but take your lawful share and
give that which is due to others in a just manner.
Do not set up other
deities with God, or you will be condemned and forsaken.
If one or both of your parents reaches old age and lives
with you, speak to them only with respect and, out of
mercy, be humble with them. Give your relatives their due.
Give to the needy and the traveler, and do not be
wasteful. Do not kill your children because you fear
poverty or for other reasons. Avoid adultery, for it is
indecent and evil. Leave the property of orphans and the
weak intact.
Fulfill the covenant,
because you will be questioned about it. Do not cheat when
you measure and weigh items. Do not pursue that of which
you have no knowledge, for your ears, eyes, and heart will
be questioned about this. Do not walk around arrogantly,
for you will never tear Earth open or attain the mountains
in height. Speak kind words to each other, for Satan uses
strong words to cause strife. Do not turn your cheek in
scorn and anger toward others or walk with impudence in
the land.
God does not love
those who boast, so be modest in bearing and subdue your
voice. Do not make fun of others, for they may be better
than you. Do not find fault with each other or call each
other by offensive nicknames. Avoid most suspicion, for
some suspicion is a sin. Do not spy on or gossip about
each other. Be staunch followers of justice and witnesses
for God, even though it be against yourselves, or your
parents and relatives, regardless if they are rich or
poor. Do not deviate by following caprice. Be steadfast
witnesses for God in equity, and do not let your hatred of
others seduce you to be unjust toward them.
Restrain your rage
and pardon the offenses of others. Good and evil deeds are
not alike, so repel the evil deed with a good one so that
both of you can overcome your enmity and become loyal
friends. The recompense for an intentional evil is a
similar evil; but whoever pardons and amends the evildoer
with kindness and love will be rewarded by God. Avoid
alcohol and games of chance, for God has forbidden them.
You are human beings,
and all human beings are equal in God’s eyes. No one is
born with the slur of shame on his or her face or the
mantle of honor around his or her neck. The only high and
honored people are the God-conscious and pious, true in
words and deeds. Distinctions of birth and glory of race
are no criteria of greatness and honor.
On a day after you
die, you will appear before a Supreme Court and account
for all your deeds, none of which can be hidden. Your
life’s record shall be an open book to God. Your fate
shall be determined by your good or bad actions. In the
court of the True Judge—the Omniscient God—there
can be no unfair recommendation and favoritism. You cannot
bribe Him, and your pedigree or parentage will be ignored.
True faith and good deeds alone will benefit you at that
time. Those who have done them fully shall reside in the
Heaven of eternal happiness, while those who did not shall
reside in the fire of Hell.
What aspects
of Muhammad’s life during his Prophethood draw
our attention the most?
Muhammad’s life
during his Prophethood
For 40 years,
Muhammad lived as an ordinary man among his people. He was
not known as a statesman, preacher, or orator. No one had
heard him impart wisdom and knowledge, or discuss
principles of metaphysics, ethics, law, politics, economy,
or sociology. He had no reputation as a soldier, not to
mention of being a great general. He had said nothing
about God, angels, revealed Books, early Prophets, bygone
nations, the Day of Judgment, life after death, or Heaven
and Hell. No doubt he had an excellent character and
charming manners and was well-behaved, yet nothing marked
him out as one who would accomplish something great and
revolutionary. His acquaintances knew him as a sober,
calm, gentle, and trustworthy citizen of good nature. But
when he left Hira cave with a new message, he was
completely transformed.
When he began
preaching, his people stood in awe and wonder, bedazzled
by his wonderful eloquence and oratory. It was so
impressive and captivating that his worst enemies were
afraid to listen to it, lest it penetrate their hearts or
very being and make them abandon their traditional
religion and culture. It was so beyond compare that no
Arab poet, preacher, or orator, no matter how good, could
equal its beautiful language and splendid diction when he
challenged them to do so. Although they put their heads
together, they could not produce even one line like the
ones he recited.
Facing immediate and
severe opposition, he confronted his opponents with a
smile and remained undeterred by their criticism and
coercion. When the people realized that their threats did
not frighten this noble man and that the severest
tribulations directed toward him and his followers had no
effect, they played another trick—but that too was
destined to fail.
A deputation of the
leading members of the Quraysh (his tribe) offered him a
bribe to abandon his mission: If you want wealth, we will
amass for you as much as you wish; if you aspire honor and
power, we are prepared to swear allegiance to you as our
overlord and king; if you have a fancy for beauty, you
shall have the hand of the most beautiful maiden of your
choice.
The terms were
extremely tempting for any ordinary person, but they had
no significance in the Prophet’s eyes. His reply fell
like a bomb upon the deputation, who thought they had
played their trump card:
I want neither
wealth nor power. God has commissioned me to warn
humanity. I deliver His message to you. If you accept
it, you shall have felicity and joy in this life and
eternal bliss in the life hereafter. If you reject it,
God will decide between you and me.
On another occasion
he said to his uncle, who was being pressured by the
tribal leaders to persuade him to abandon his mission:
O uncle! Should
they place the sun in my right hand and the moon in my
left so as to make me renounce this mission, I shall not
do so. I will never give it up. Either it will please
God to make it triumph or I shall perish in the attempt.
The faith,
perseverance, and resolution with which he conducted his
mission to ultimate success is an eloquent proof of the
supreme truth of his cause. Had there been the slightest
doubt or uncertainty in his heart, he would never have
been able to brave the storm that continued in all its
fury for 23 long years.
The unlettered
Prophet spoke with a learning and wisdom that no one had
displayed before and none could show after him. He
expounded the intricate problems of metaphysics and
theology; delivered speeches on why nations and empires
rise and fall and supported his thesis with historical
examples; taught ethical canons and principles of culture;
and formulated such laws of social culture, economic
organization, group conduct, and international relations
that even eminent thinkers and scholars could grasp their
true wisdom only after life-long research and vast
experience. Their beauties, indeed, unfold themselves
progressively as humanity advances in theoretical
knowledge and practical experience.
This silent and
peace-loving trader who had never handled a sword, who had
no military training, and who had participated in only one
battle (as a spectator!), suddenly turned into such a
brave soldier that he never retreated in the fiercest
battles, and became such a great general that he conquered
Arabia in 9 years at a time of primitive weaponry and very
poor means of communication. His military acumen and
efficiency developed the military spirit to such a high
pitch that he infused a motley crowd of Arabs with the
training and discipline necessary to overthrow the two
superpowers of his day: Sassanid Persia and the Eastern
Roman Empire. These Arabs became the masters of the
greater part of the then-known world within a few decades.
This reserved and
quiet man who, for 40 years, had given no indication of
political interest or activity, suddenly appeared on the
world stage as such a great statesman that, without the
aid of modern media or telecommunications, he united the
scattered inhabitants of a 1.2 million square mile
desert—a people who were warlike, ignorant, unruly,
uncultured, and plunged in internecine tribal
warfare—under one banner, law, religion, culture,
civilization, and form of government. Sir William Muir, no
friend of Islam, admits:
The first
peculiarity, then, which attracts our attention is the
subdivision of the Arabs into innumerable bodies... each
independent of the others: restless and often at war
amongst themselves; and even when united by blood or by
interest, ever ready on some significant cause to
separate and give way to an implacable hostility. Thus
at the era of Islam the retrospect of Arabian history
exhibits, as in the kaleidoscope, an ever-varying state
of combination and repulsion, such as had hitherto
rendered abortive any attempt at a general union... The
problem had yet to be solved, by what force these tribes
could be subdued or drawn to one common center; and it
was solved by Muhammad. 2
He changed people’s
modes of thought, habits, and morals. He turned the
uncouth into the cultured, the barbarous into the
civilized, the evildoers and bad characters into pious,
God-conscious, and righteous persons. Their unruly and
stiff-necked natures were transformed into models of
obedience and submission to law and order. A nation that
had produced no great figure worth the name for centuries
gave birth, under his influence and guidance, to thousands
of noble souls who went to far-off lands to preach and
teach the principles of religion, morals, and
civilization.
In the cavalcade of
world history, this sublime figure towers high above all
the great people and heroes of all nations. None of them
possessed the degree of genius that would allow them to
make a deep impression on more than one or two aspects of
human life. Some are exponents of theories and ideas but
deficient in practical action, people of action who
suffered from paucity of knowledge, or renowned only as
statesmen; others were masters of strategy and
maneuvering, totally focused on one aspect of social life
so that others were overlooked, devoted their energies to
ethical and spiritual verities but ignored economics and
politics, or took to economics and politics but neglected
morals and spirituality.
In short, one comes
across heroes who are adepts and experts in one walk of
life only. Prophet Muhammad is the only person in which
all excellences are blended into one personality. He is a
man of wisdom, a seer, and a living embodiment of his own
teachings; a great statesman as well as a military genius;
a legislator and a teacher of morals; and a spiritual
luminary as well as a religious guide.
His vision penetrates
every aspect of life, and he adorns whatever he touches.
His orders and commandments cover a vast field, from
regulating international relations to such daily habits as
eating, drinking, and cleanliness. On the foundations of
his teaching, he established a civilization and a culture
and produced such a fine equilibrium among life’s
conflicting aspects that no flaw, deficiency, or
incompleteness can be found therein. Can anyone point to
another example of such a perfect personality?
He ruled his country,
but was so selfless and modest that he remained very
simple and sparing in his habits. He continued to live
poorly in his humble thatch-and-mud cottage, sleeping on a
mattress, wearing coarse clothes, eating the simplest food
of the poor, and sometimes experiencing the pangs of
hunger. He spent whole nights standing in prayer before
his Lord, helped the destitute and penniless, and worked
like a laborer when necessary, never considering it
beneath his dignity.
Even when he lay
dying, he showed not the slightest taint of royal pomp or
hauteur so enjoyed by the rich. Like an ordinary man, he
sat and walked with people and shared their joys and
sorrows. He mixed and mingled with crowds so easily and
naturally that a stranger or an outsider found it hard to
recognize him as his nation’s leader and ruler. Once a
Bedouin came and asked for Muhammad while he was serving
his Companions. His answer enshrines an eternal principle:
“The master of the nation is the one who serves it.”
This is the tribute
of Lamartine, the French historian to the person of the
Holy Prophet of Islam:
Never a man set
himself, voluntarily or involuntarily, a more sublime
aim, since this aim was superhuman: to subvert
superstitions which had been interposed between man and
his Creator, to render God unto man and man unto God; to
restore the rational and sacred idea of divinity amidst
the chaos of the material and disfigured gods of
idolatry then existing. Never has a man undertaken a
work so far beyond human power with so feeble means, for
he had in the conception as well as in the execution of
such a great design no other instrument than himself,
and no other aid, except a handful of men living in a
corner of desert. Finally, never has a man accomplished
such a huge and lasting revolution in the world, because
in less than two centuries after its appearance, Islam,
in faith and arms, reigned over the whole of Arabia, and
conquered in God’s name Persia, Khorasan, Western
India, Syria, Abyssinia, all the known continent of
Northern Africa, numerous islands of the Mediterranean,
Spain, and a part of Gaul.
If greatness of
purpose, smallness of means, and astounding results are
the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to
compare any great men to Muhammad? The most famous men
created arms, laws, and empires only. They founded, if
anything at all, no more than material powers which
often crumbled away before their eyes. This man moved
not only armies, legislation, empires, peoples, and
dynasties, but millions of men [and women] in one-third
of the then inhabited world; and more than that, he
moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas,
the beliefs and the souls. On the basis of a Book, every
letter of which has become law, he created a spiritual
nationality which has blended together peoples of every
tongue and of every race. He has left to us as the
indelible characteristic of this Muslim nationality, the
hatred of false gods and the passion for the One and
immaterial God. This avenging patriotism against
the profanation of Heaven formed the virtue of the
followers of Muhammad: the conquest of one-third of the
earth to his creed was his miracle. The idea of the
unity of God proclaimed amidst the exhaustion of
fabulous theogenies, was in itself such a miracle that
upon its utterance from his lips it destroyed all the
ancient temples of idols and set on fire one-third of
the world. His life, his meditations, his heroic
revilings against the superstitions of his country, and
his boldness in defying the furies of idolatry; his
firmness in enduring them for thirteen years at Mecca,
his acceptance of the role of public scorn and almost of
being a victim of his fellow-countrymen: all these and,
finally his incessant preaching, his wars against odds,
his faith in his success and his superhuman security in
misfortune, his forbearance in victory, his ambition
which was entirely devoted to one idea and in no manner
striving for an empire; his endless prayer, his mystic
conversations with God, his death and his triumph after
death; all these attest not to an imposture but to a
firm conviction. It was his conviction which gave him
the power to restore a creed. This creed was two-fold,
the unity of God and the immateriality of God; the
former telling what God is; the latter telling what God
is not. Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator,
warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational
dogmas, of a cult without images; the founder of twenty
terrestrial states and of one spiritual state, that is
Muhammad. As regards all standards by which human
greatness may be measured, we may well ask: Is there any
man greater than he?3
In spite of his
greatness, the Prophet behaved as an ordinary man with all
people. He sought no reward or profit to compensate him
for his life-long struggles and endeavors, and left no
property for his heirs, for he lived to serve his nation.
He did not ask that anything be set aside for him or his
descendants, and forbade his progeny from receiving zakat
so that future Muslims would not give all of their zakat
to them.4
How deeply he was
loved by his Companions
He was deeply loved
by his Companions, as evidenced by this historical
episode: A group from the Adal and al-Qarah tribes, who
were apparently from the same ancestral stock as the
Quraysh and who lived near Makka, came to the Prophet
during the third year of the Islamic era and said: “Some
of us have chosen Islam, so send a group of Muslims to
instruct us what Islam means, teach us the Qur’an, and
inform us of Islam’s principles and laws.”
The Messenger
selected six Companions to go with them. Upon reaching the
Hudhayl tribe’s land, the group halted and the
Companions settled down to rest. Suddenly, a group of
Hudhayli tribesmen fell upon them like a thunderbolt with
their swords drawn. Clearly, the mission either had been a
ruse from the beginning or its members had changed their
minds en route. At any rate, they sided with the attackers
and sought to seize the six Muslims. As soon as the
Companions were aware of what was happening, they grabbed
their arms and got ready to defend themselves. Three were
martyred, and the rest were tied up and taken to Makka,
where they were to be delivered to the Quraysh.
Near Makka,
‘Abdullah ibn Tariq managed to free his hand and reach
for his sword. However, his captors saw what he was doing
and stoned him to death. Zayd and Hubayb were carried to
Makka, where they were exchanged for two Hudhayli
captives. Safwan Ibn Umayya al-Qurayshi bought Zayd from
the person to whom he had been sold so that he could
avenge the blood of his father, who had been killed during
the Battle of Badr. He took him outside Makka to kill him,
and the Quraysh assembled to see what would happen.
Zayd came forward
with a courageous gait and did not even tremble. Abu
Sufyan, a spectator who wanted to use this chance to
extract a statement of contrition and remorse or an avowal
of hatred of the Prophet, stepped forward and said: “I
adjure you by God, Zayd, don’t you wish that Muhammad
was with us now in your place so that we might cut off his
head, and that you were with your family?” “By God,”
said Zayd, “let alone wishing that, I do not wish that
even a thorn should hurt his foot.” Abu Sufyan,
astonished, turned to those present and said: “By God, I
swear I have never seen a man so loved by his followers as
Muhammad.”
After a while, Hubayb
ibn Adiy was taken outside Makka for execution. Requesting
the assembled people to let him perform two rak‘a of
prayer, to which they agreed, he did so in all humility,
respect, and absorption. Then he spoke to them: “I swear
by God that if I did not think that you might think that I
was trying to delay my death out of fear, I would have
prolonged my prayer.”
After condemning
Hubayb to crucifixion, his sweet voice was heard, with a
perfect spirituality that held everyone in its spell,
entreating God with these words: “O God! We have
delivered the message of Your Messenger, so inform him of
what has been done to us, and tell him my wish of peace
and blessings upon him.” Meanwhile, God’s Messenger
was returning his peace, saying: “Upon you be God’s
peace and blessings, O Hubayb!”
The difference
between a Prophet and a philosopher
The following account
shows the indelible mark that God’s Messenger has
imprinted on people of every age:
One of Ibn Sina’s
students told Ibn Sina that his extraordinary
understanding and intelligence would cause people to
gather around him if he claimed prophethood.38 Ibn Sina
said nothing. When they were travelling together during
winter, Ibn Sina woke up one morning at dawn, woke his
student, and asked him to fetch some water because he was
thirsty. The student procrastinated and made excuses.
However much Ibn Sina persisted, the student would not
leave his warm bed. At that moment, the cry of the muezzin
(caller to prayer) called out from the minaret: “God is
the greatest. I bear witness that Muhammad is the
Messenger of God.”
Ibn Sina considered
this a good opportunity to answer his student, so he said:
You, who averred
that people would believe in me if I claimed to be a
prophet, look now and see how the command I just gave
you, who have been my student for years and have
benefited from my lessons, has not had the effect of
making you leave your warm bed to fetch me some water.
But this muezzin strictly obeys the 400-year-old command
of the Prophet. He got up from his warm bed, as he does
every morning together with hundreds of thousands of
others, climbed up to this great height, and bore
witness to God’s Unity and His Prophet. Look and see
how great the difference is!
The Prophet’s name
has been pronounced five times a day together with that of
God for 1,400 years all over the world.
Annotations
1.
Joseph Hell, The Arab Civilization, 10.
2.
Sir William Muir, Life of Muhammad (Osnabrück:
Biblio, 1988).
3.
Lamartine, Historie de la Turquie, 2:26-27.
4.
Zakat: A religious obligation on every Muslim whose wealth
reaches a certain limit to give a certain percentage of
that wealth to specific categories of deserving
individuals (e.g., orphans and widows, students,
travelers, the poor).
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