Tag: mercy and kindness

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His Character New Muslims

Why Prophet Muhammad Exists in My Life

 

sun rays

No leader won his enemies to his cause through his noble character and magnanimity like he did.

The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) has touched my heart like no other personality or hero in the world. I have had life long association with his life, his words, actions and behaviour; yet no day in my life passes without my love for the Prophet increasing. Let me explain the reasons:

1- The Prophet is my source of inspiration for my connection with Allah. I find myself closer to Allah as I awake to his words, “thank you Allah for your gift of life; health, and remembrance.”

He keeps me company, prodding me to take God’s name as I do my daily chores, bathroom rituals, ablutions, sneezing, yawning; as I take my breakfast, and as I chat with my family; and when I step out of my home; as I enter the mosque, and wait for prayer; and as I converse with people; he keeps reminding me how to be conscious of Allah; to smile; to be gentle; to show mercy to the young; to respect the old; to greet everyone; to walk humbly; to render tender care to all God’s creatures, big and small.

2- As I accomplish my tasks, and cherish the satisfaction of my achievement, I am reminded never to allow myself to slip into a feeling of vainglory, for the Prophet’s utter humility in his peak moment of victory as Makkah fell to his hands can never be forgotten.

3- How can I ever forget his hundreds of Companions, upon whom he had impressed the deepest love – so that their source of joy at the final moment of their life was they would have the chance to be reunited with their beloved.

How can the spectacle of Bilal’s death be out of my mind as he comforts his wife who cried to see her husband was dying, “honey, it is time to rejoice, for I will soon be reunited with my beloved Muhammad and his company.”

4- I wonder what charisma he possessed as the hundreds of men and women would only refer to him as the beloved, and they all give the impression that no matter how eloquent they were, their words cannot fully describe his magnanimity, his nobility of character, and benevolence.

5- To those who simply call him a conqueror or warrior, I can only point to the casualties of his wars. History does not record a warrior who won so many battles with so little bloodshed as he did. To those who say otherwise, listen well to his admonition to his soldiers before battle, “stay away from the habitat of animals”; “God admonished a prophet saying, “Because an ant stung you, are you to burn down an entire community that glorifies God?”

6- I find no leader who won his enemies to his cause through his noble character and magnanimity like he did. Their number and affiliations vary: chiefs of tribes, kings, commanders, orators, men and women of all types and ages: their enmity turned into passionate love for him and his cause – as if through a miracle.

7- The Prophet’s spiritual retreats, and his solitary moments of prayers and meditations as he slipped out of his bed at night, to be alone with the Alone, and then when distracted by his wife, saying to her, “let me be alone with my Lord”; the spectacle of his tears often soaking the blanket can never be erased from my mind. His constancy in celebrating God’s remembrance led his beloved wife to remark, “the Prophet was always celebrating the remembrance of Allah”.

8- To those who deify the Prophet and thus try to dilute his monotheistic faith, making it no different from a pagan cult, I can only remind them of his relentless efforts to remind men and women, young and old, of his mortal nature; his repeated assertions to the people that he was merely a simple slave of God; his rejection of their attributing knowledge of the unseen realities or what tomorrow will bring.

9- In spite of all these, when I hear people refer to him as a worldly leader, I find myself asking, which worldly leader had no cooking fire kindled for days at home, due to chosen poverty? Which worldly leader survived on dates, water and occasional cups of milk, preferring to part with everything he had, in order to provide for the poor? Wasn’t he the one who prayed, “Lord, let me live poor; die poor and be resurrected in the company of the poor?”

10- As I deal with the humblest creatures of God, I cannot take out of my mind his constant reminders to Muslims, “you are only fed and given water by God because of the weak among you”, and, “the best Muslim home is where an orphan is cared for”; and, “be conscious of Allah in the way you treat these mute creatures of Allah”.

Didn’t he teach his followers that God forgave a prostitute for giving water to a thirsty dog, thereby making constancy in mercy a trait of every person of faith?

11- I can only conclude this by saying: O Messenger of Allah, you are indeed my role model, for you taught me to find meaning and purpose in my life. My only prayer to God is to make me a worthy follower of yours – even as my parents chose your name for me. May Allah shower upon you, O Messenger of mercy, choicest blessings, and give us the honor of joining your noble company in the hereafter. Ameen.

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Source: askthescholar.com

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His Life New Muslims

Prophet Muhammad: A Gentle Father and a Merciful Human

dawn light

The first Muslims’ generosity and open-handedness were plain for all to see.

The Prophet’s daughter Zaynab had been married to Abu Al-`Aas, who had not accepted Islam. She had initially stayed with him in Makkah, until the Prophet asked her to join him in Medinah with her small daughter Umamah. Zaynab deeply loved her husband, but their different life choices had eventually caused them to part. However, neither of them had remarried.

A few months after the Battle of the Trench, the Prophet sent an expedition to stop a rich Quraysh caravan coming from the north. Zayd, who commanded the Muslim horsemen, seized the caravan’s goods and captured most of the men, while others managed to get away. Among the latter was Abu Al-`Aas, who decided on his journey back to Makkah to stop at Madinah and pay a secret visit to his wife and daughter.

This in itself was madness, but his desire to see his wife and child was stronger than his awareness of the risks incurred. He knocked on his wife’s door in the dead of night, and Zaynab let him in. He stayed with her, and when dawn drew near, she went to the mosque for prayer as she usually did. She entered the mosque and stood in the first line of women, just behind the men. Then the Prophet said the formula announcing the beginning of prayer, she took advantage of the short pause to exclaim in a very loud voice: “0 you people! I grant my protection to Abu Al-`Aas, son of Rabi`!”

Gentleness & Respect

When prayer was over, the Prophet, who had had no prior knowledge of what had happened between his daughter and her husband, had the audience confirm that they had heard the proclamation as well. He insisted that the protection granted- whether by his daughter or by any other ordinary Muslim- must be respected.

He then went to his daughter, who told him about the situation facing Abu Al-`Aas, whose goods had all been taken during the recent expedition in the north and who was therefore in debt, for the said goods had been entrusted to him by people in Makkah.

Prophet Muhammad suggested that the people who had those goads in their possession might give them back to Abu Al-`Aas if they wished to, and all of them complied. Some Companions advised Abu Al-`Aas to convert to Islam and keep those belongings for himself. He refused, saying that becoming a Muslim and beginning by betraying people’s trust would not have been suitable. He took all the goods, went back to Makkah, and gave each owner his due. He then came back to Madinah, converted to Islam, and was reunited with Zaynab and their daughter Umamah.

nature gentleness

There was always gentleness and dignity in his behavior toward women, whom he listened to, and whose rights he acknowledged, protected, and promoted.

Status of Women

Thus, the first Muslims’ generosity and open-handedness were plain for all to see. like the Prophet, they had required nothing of Abu Al-`Aas: he was not a Muslim, he belonged to an enemy clan, and he refused to convert, but they let him go anyway, allowing him the freedom to choose and the time needed for his spiritual development- he even received at a critical time in inter-clan relations- the Muslim community‘s protection and it was a woman who spoke out publicly and forcefully on his behalf.

Zaynah often went to the mosque, which was a space open to both men and women, and nobody objected to her making a statement there, among men; in fact, it was not at all uncommon for Muslim women to speak up publicly in such a manner.

Later, in one such instance that is particularly famous in Muslim history, a woman would address `Umar ibn Al-Khattab, who had become the Muslims’ caliph, and point out an error of judgment that he immediately acknowledged.

Inside the mosque, the women would line up behind the men’s ranks, as the postures of prayer, in its various stages, require an arrangement that preserves modesty, decency, and respect. Women prayed, studied, and expressed themselves in that space. Moreover, they found in the Prophet’s attitude the epitome of courtesy and regard: he demanded that men remain seated in order to let women leave first and without inconvenience.

There was always gentleness and dignity in his behavior toward women, whom he listened to, and whose right to express themselves and set forth their opinions and arguments he acknowledged, protected, and promoted.

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The article is an excerpt from Dr. Tariq Ramadan’s book “In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad, Oxford University Press (2007).

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His Character New Muslims

Spirituality and Productivity: The Prophet’s Recipe

nature-spirituality

Belonging to God, he was nobody’s possession; he simply offered his love to all.

Throughout the twenty-three years of his mission, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) sought the way to spiritual freedom and liberation. He received revelation, step by step, in the midst of the circumstances of life, as if the Most High was conversing with him in history, for eternity.

The Prophet listened to Him, spoke to Him, and contemplated His signs day and night, in the warm company of his Companions or in the solitude of the Arabian desert. He prayed while the world of humans was asleep, he invoked God while his brothers and sisters despaired, and he remained patient and steadfast in the face of adversity and insult while so many beings turned away.

His deep spirituality had freed him from the prison of the self, and he kept seeing and recalling the signs of the Most Near, whether in a flying bird, a standing tree, falling darkness, or a shining star.

Love & Unity

Muhammad was able to express love and spread it around him. His wives were gratified by his presence, tenderness, and affection, and his Companions loved him with an intense, profound, and extraordinarily generous love. He gave and offered his presence, his smiles, his being, and if a slave happened to address him or wanted to take him to the other end of the city)’, he went, he listened, he loved.

Belonging to God, he was nobody’s possession; he simply offered his love to all. When he gave someone his hand, he was never the first to draw it back, and he knew what light and peace can surge in the heart of a being who is offered a tender word, an affection ate name, comfort. Freed from his own self, he neglected nobody’s self. His presence was a refuge; he was the Messenger.

He loved, he forgave. Every day he begged God to forgive his own failings and oversights, and when a woman or a man came to him burdened with a mistake, however serious, he received that soul and showed her or him the way to forgiveness, solace, dialogue with God, and the Most Gentle’s protection. He covered other people’s mistakes from the sight of others, while teaching everyone the need for personal rigor and discipline.

Positiveness

When laziness moved anyone to ask him for minimal practice, he always answered positively and invited them to use their intelligence and their qualities to understand, improve, and free themselves from their own contradictions while accepting their own fragility. He taught responsibility without guilt and adherence to ethics as the conditions for freedom.

Justice is a condition for peace, and the Prophet kept insisting that one cannot experience the taste of equity if one is unable to respect the dignity of individuals. He set slaves free and recommended that Muslims pledge to do so constantly: the faith community of believers had to be a community of free beings.

Revelation showed him the way’, and, as we have often seen, he never ceased to give particular attention to slaves, the poor, and the lowly in society. He invited them to assert their dignity, to demand their rights. and to get rid of any feeling of inferiority; the message was a call for religious, social, and political liberation.

At the close of his mission, in the plain lying at the foot of the Mount of Mercy (Jabal Ar-Rahmah), men and women of all races, cultures, and colors, rich and poor, were present and listened to this message, which stressed that the best among people are so through their hearts, which are determined neither by class nor by color or culture.

“The best among you is the best toward people,” he had once said. (At-Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud)

In the name of human brotherhood- addressing not just Muslims but all people (an-nas), as he did during me farewell sermon, he taught each conscience to transcend the appearances that might hinder its progress toward the Just (Al-`Adl). In the presence of God, nothing could justify discrimination, social injustice, or racism.

In the Muslim community, a black man called the believers to prayer, and a slave’s son commanded the army; faith had freed the believers from judgments based on deceptive appearances (linked to origin and social status) that stimulate unwise passions and dehumanize them.

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The article is an excerpt from the author’s book “In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad, Oxford University Press (2007).

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Khadijah: The Faithful Wife & Companion

Lady Khadijah, the Prophet’s wife, played a very critical role throughout the first years of revelation which were ridden with events, some extraordinary and others deeply painful.

Prophet’s wife Khadijah

Khadijah was a sign sent by the One to manifest His presence and His support to His Prophet.

She was the one who had first noticed and then chosen Muhammad for his honesty, his fairness, and the nobleness of his character.

Widely courted in Makkah because of her wealth, Lady Khadijah had been able to measure the disinterested and reserved attitude of that young man, who was nonetheless so enterprising and efficient.

And against usual practice, she had the courage to propose marriage to him through her friend Nufaysah.

Their union was to bring them their lot of happiness, sorrow, and grief: they lost their two sons, Qasim and `Abdullah, in infancy and only their four daughters survived. (They, daughters, all died when Muhammad was still alive, except for Fatimah, who died six months after him.)

Faithful Khadijah

This family destiny was difficult enough, but among the Arabs, the birth of a daughter was considered shameful; tradition reports how much, on the contrary, Muhammad and his wife surrounded their daughters with deep love and constant care, which they never hesitated to express in public.

When at the age of forty, Muhammad received the first Revelation, it was to his wife he immediately turned, and she was the first to stand by him and comfort him. During all the previous years, Lady Khadijah observed a man whose nobleness of character was a distinctive feature.

When he came back to her from the cave of Hira’, troubled and assailed with deep doubt as to what he was and what was happening to him, she wrapped him in her love, reminded him of his qualities, and restored his self-confidence.

The first Revelations were both an extraordinary gift and a terrible trial for a man who no longer knew whether he was possessed or the prey of devilish delirium. He was alone and confused: he turned to his wife, who immediately lent him comfort and support.

A Gift from God

From that moment on, there were two of them facing the trial, trying to understand its meaning and then, after the silence of Revelation had ended, answering God’s call and following the path of spiritual initiation.

In this respect, Khadijah is a sign of God’s presence at the heart of Muhammad’s trial; she is to the Prophet Muhammad’s spiritual experience what Ishmael and Hagar were to Abraham’s trial. Both women and the son were the signs sent by the One to manifest His presence and His support in their trial, so that they should never doubt Him.

Khadijah was to be the first to accept Islam, and throughout the first ten years of Muhammad’s mission, she was to remain at his side, an unfailingly faithful companion.

This woman’s role in the Prophet’s life was tremendous. She was, for twenty-five years, his only wife, whose presence alone protected the Prophet but who also underwent with him rejection by his kin, persecution, and isolation. She was the mother of all his children, except for Ibrahim, whom Muhammad had with the Copt Mariyah and who also died in infancy.

The Prophet’s Love for Khadijah

He loved her so much. This was so obvious that, many years after Khadijah’s death, `A’ishah -who later married the Prophet-was to say that Khadijah was the only woman of whom she had ever been jealous.

Khadijah received the good news of his election by God; she was a woman, independent, dignified, and respected, then a wife, strong, attentive, faithful, and confident; she was a pious Muslim, sincere, determined, and enduring.

Muhammad, the Last Prophet of the One, was not alone, and one of the dearest signs of God’s bounty and love for him was a woman in his life, his wife.

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The article is an excerpt from the author’s book In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad, Oxford University Press,2007.

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Prophet Muhammad: The Father of Fatimah

Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) was all the way a message of true love and compassion. He taught and spread this love in all ways. His relationship with Fatimah, who also was a model of piety, generosity, and love, was a unique one. Learn how was the Prophet as a father…

father

The Prophet taught his people good manners, kindness, gentleness, respect for children, and regard for women.

The Father: Model of Modesty

The Prophet lived very modestly: his dwelling was particularly bare, and he often had nothing but a few dates left to eat. Yet he kept helping the destitute around him, especially Ahl As-Suffah (the people of the bench, who lived near his home).

When he received presents, he had them given out, and he immediately freed the slaves who were sometimes sent to him as gifts: he did so with the slave Abu Rafi, whom his uncle Al-`Abbas had sent him when he had returned to Makkah after his release.

In spite of his increasingly important role in Madinah society and of his many responsibilities, he kept this simplicity in his life and in the way he allowed the members of his community to approach him. He owned nothing, and he let himself be accosted by women, children, slaves, and the poorest people. He lived among them; he was one of them.

 The Daughter

His daughter Fatimah (may God be pleased with her) was very close to her father. Married to `Ali ibn Abi TaIib (the Prophet’s cousin, may Allah be pleased with him), she had eventually moved near her father’s dwelling and she was most devoted to the cause of the poor, including Ahl As-Suffah.

When the Prophet was at home or in public and his daughter came to him or entered the room, he would stand up and greet her, publicly showing her great respect and tenderness. Both the people of Madinah and the Makkans were surprised at this behavior toward a daughter, who in their respective customs did not usually receive such treatment.

The Prophet would kiss his daughter, talk to her, confide in her, and have her sit by his side, without paying attention to the remarks or even the criticisms that his behavior could give rise to.

Once he kissed his grandson, Al-Hassan, Fatimah’s son, in front of a group of Bedouins, who were startled. One of them, Al-Aqra’ ibn Habis, expressed his shock and said: ”I have ten children and I have never kissed any of them!”

The Prophet answered: ”He who is not generous (loving, benevolent), God is not generous (loving, benevolent) to him.” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

In the light of his silent example and his remarks, the Prophet taught his people good manners, kindness, gentleness, respect for children, and regard for and attentiveness toward women. He was later to say: “I have only been sent to perfect noble manners.” (Al-Bukhari)

Fatimah: The Wife 

Fatimah received that love and the teachings of faith and tenderness from her father and spread them around her through her activities with the poor.

One day, however, she told her husband about her difficulties: like her father, they owned nothing, and she felt it increasingly difficult to manage her daily life, her family, and her children. Her husband advised her to go to her father and ask for his help; perhaps he might supply her with one of the slaves he had received as gifts. She went to see him, but she dared not express her request, so deep was her respect for her father.

father, fatimah

Fatimah lived in the light of her father’s spiritual teachings; getting by on little, asking everything of the One, and giving everything of herself to others.

When she came back, silent and empty-handed, `Ali decided to go with her and ask for the Prophet’s help himself.

The Prophet listened to them and informed them that he could do nothing for them, that their situation was far better than that of the Ahl As-suffah, who urgently needed his help. They had to endure and be patient. They left, sad and disappointed, although they were the Prophet’s daughter and cousin, they could not claim any social privilege.

Late in the evening, the Prophet came to their door. They wanted to get up to receive him, but Muhammad entered and sat at their bedside. He whispered: ”Shall I offer you something better than what you asked me for?” They assented, and the Prophet told them: ”They are words Gabriel has taught me, and that you should repeat ten times after each prayer:

“Suban Allah (Glory to God)!”, then “Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God)”, then “Allahu Akbar (God is the Greatest). Before going to bed, you should repeat each of those phrases thirty-three times.” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

True Love & Help

Sitting at his daughter’s bedside late at night, deeply attentive to her needs, he answered his daughter’s material request by granting her the privilege of a confidence from the divine: a spiritual teaching that has come down to us through the ages and each Muslim now adopts as his own at the heart of his daily life.

Fatimah, like her husband, `Ali, was a model of piety, generosity, and love. She lived in the light of her father’s spiritual teachings; getting by on little, asking everything of the One, and giving everything of herself to others.

Years later, by her dying father’s side, she was to weep intensely when he whispered in her ear that God was going to call him back to Him, that it was time for him to depart. She smiled happily when, a few minutes later, he told her in confidence – as loving confidence seems to reveal the essence of this father daughter relationship – that she was to be the first in her family to join him.

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The article is an excerpt from the author’s book In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad, Oxford University Press (2007).

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