In the name of Allah, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful
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In the name of Allah, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful
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No human being has had a more copious
and enduring body of literature written about him than the noble Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him). Numerous biographical works have been produced
about him. Many poems have been composed to praise him. Assembles have gathered
for his remembrance. His greatness has remained a lofty summit that cannot be
surmounted by any doubt.
During his lifetime, he experienced strength and weakness, wealth and poverty,
plenty and scarcity, victory and defeat, being uprooted and being settled,
starvation and contentment, grief and joy. Throughout all of this, he was an
example to follow. Whatever the circumstances, he demonstrated how Allah was
supposed to be worshipped.
He had stayed in Mecca for thirteen
years with only a few people believing in him. He did not grow despondent or
angry. When his Companions came to him complaining about their difficulties and
beseeching him to pray to Allah to relieve them and help them, he made an oath
by Allah that the religion would be victorious and everything would be
fulfilled, but he also chastised them for their hastiness. The future was, in
fact, just as he promised it would be, and this was a sign of his prophethood
and a manifestation of Allah's help. It was a victory given by Allah for the
faith, not for the benefit of certain individuals. This became even clearer when
after delegations came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) from every corner of
Arabia pledging their allegiance and their obedience to him, he did not change
in any way or show the least sign of pride. He did not even seek revenge against
those who had attacked him, abused him, and fought against the religion.
Sufyвn b.al-Harith testified to this in verse when he said:
Upon your life! On the day that I carried the
standard
So that the calvary of al-Lвt could overcome the calvary of Muhammad
Like an uncertain person who sets out at night,
This was the time that I was offered guidance and was guided.
I was guided by someone other than myself;
I was guided to Allah by the very one I had striven so hard to drive away.
No camel has there been who ever bore upon its back
Anyone more righteous or more faithful in his pledge than Muhammad
In this way, he gently dispelled all enmity and
resentment. He reconciled the hearts of the people and restored their
solidarity. His enemy knew for sure that this was prophethood even before his
friends realized it. They could see he was not after personal gain or
aggrandizement, even if some of their soldiers may have had such aspirations.
They were amazed at his leniency and at how he eschewed difficulty in all of his
affairs. They were equally amazed by the way he maintained his composure, good
nature, and balanced perspective no matter how much the circumstances around him
changed and no matter how severe and unexpected the turn of events.
There is scarcely a person on Earth who does not suppress some aspects of his
personality, aspects which inevitably surface in difficult circumstances. When
they do, they lead to partiality towards some at the expense of others and
biases his decisions and taints his conduct.
Not so Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him). He would give his full attention
to anyone who shared his company. He would address each group of people in their
own dialect and speak to them on their own level. He would show everyone the
utmost courtesy, concern, and mercy unless they came forward fighting and
brandishing their weapons in the face of truth and hoping in that way to
extinguish its light and rid the world of its illumination.
Any kind of lawful food was good enough for him. Any bedding offered to him was
good enough to rest upon. Any person who approached him was worthy to sit in his
company. He did not fret over what he did not have, nor did he spurn what was
available. He never criticized the meanest of food, nor eschewed anything
because of its good quality, whether it be food, drink, furniture, or clothing.
He used to love things of good quality but did not find difficulty when such
things were unavailable.
The story of his life is an open book, readily available to both those who love
him and those who hate him. Every detail of his appearance has been meticulously
recorded for us, including the number of gray hairs in his beard and on his
head. Every aspect of his behavior has been preserved for us: how he moved his
hand, how he ate, drank, and sat on his steed. His travels and places of
residence are known to us. We know how he worshipped his Lord. We know what
pleased him and what angered him. We even know how he conducted himself with his
wives, the Mothers of the Believers: how he treated them, divided his time
between them, provided for them, joked with them, and behaved with them when he
was angry. We know how he was when he was serious and when he was joking. Every
detail of his personal life has been recorded.
A person who reads his biography today will know more about the details of the
Prophet's life than he knows about the living people that he is concerned with.
He will know more about him than close friends or even spouses often know about
each other. The Jews and Christians knew less about their Prophets (peace be
upon them) when they were alive than we know about Prophet Muhammad (peace be
upon him) today. This is because his life is an example for humanity to follow
in every aspect of their lives. It is guidance for presidents, managers,
scientists, businessmen, spouses, and parents. It shows how to a person should
behave in wealth and in poverty and in every contingency of life. No one can
ever get to a level in life wherein the Prophet (peace be upon him) will cease
to be the best example of good conduct.
If we consider the biography of some other eminent personality, we may find
ourselves amazed at the greatness exhibited by that person, but then we have to
think about how well suited that person is to be a role model and an example for
others. We invariably find that though this person may be a most noble and
exemplary person in and of himself due to his unique characteristics or
psychological makeup, he is not a practical example for others to follow. We
find among our predecessors those whose steadfastness in worship, devotion to
knowledge, or renunciation of the world reached a level that we might feel to be
the utmost humanly possible. Our feelings about this person might reflect the
sentiments of the poet who said:
Do not mention our meager selves along with
them;
For a healthy person who walks cannot be compared with the indigent.
However, when we read the biography of Allah's
Messenger (peace be upon him), we immediately sense how accessible his life is
and how practical it is to follow. When some Companions fell into hardships, he
consoled them with words such as the following:
"I am more humble before Allah than any of you, I fear
Allah more than any of you, I have more knowledge than any of you, for I know
better than anyone else the One who I fear."
"Engage in the works that you are capable of performing."
"This religion is easy. No one becomes harsh and strict in
the religion without it overwhelming him. So fulfill your duties as best you can
and rejoice. Rely upon the efforts of the morning and the evening and a little
at night and you will reach your goal."
This is why the best way for a person to develop his
character is to immerse himself in the study of the Prophet's life and guidance
and draw out the lessons and profound meanings that it provides. He should take
the life of the Prophet (peace be upon him) as a cohesive whole without focusing
exclusively on certain particulars or going off into tangents.
Allah has not given this noble status to anyone besides
Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him). He is the only example for all of
humanity, because he possessed the culmination of the guidance of all those who
came before him who Allah had commanded humanity to follow, plus he had the
singular virtues and qualities that Allah had uniquely blessed him with. Allah
says: "You have
indeed in Allah's Messenger an excellent example for those whose hopes are in
Allah and the Last Day and who remember Allah often."
[Sыrah al-Ahzвb: 21]
The life of Allah's Messenger (peace be upon
him), as well as the lives of the Rightly Guided Caliphs who came after him,
gives the living, practical explanation of the sacred texts. Therefore, it is
necessary to keep this biography in its authentic form without introducing
additions, embellishments, and hyperbole that storytellers are prone to coming
up with and that can turn this noble biography into a bunch of morality tales
emphasizing miraculous and astounding events. This would lessen its appeal to
the people and make them less willing to follow it. They would be content to
read it shaking their heads, shedding tears, and shuddering.
The miraculous signs that came with the Prophets (peace be upon them) were true,
but they were exceptions employed to establish the rule. That rule is the
natural order that we witness every day.
Many Muslims, even some scholars, limit their following of the Prophet (peace be
upon him) to outward acts of worship and behavior. They follow him in matters of
prayer, for he said: "Pray as you have seen me
praying" and in the pilgrimage, for he said: "Take
from me your rites of pilgrimage." They emulate him
in matters of dress, how he entered places and departed from them, and in other
similar matters.
This, however, is only one aspect of what it means to follow him, and it is
surely not more important than other dimensions of his life. The prophetic
guidance is to be followed in our relationship with Allah, in our sincerity and
devotion, and in how we are to be critical of ourselves. We must follow this
guidance in cultivating our inward hopes and fears. These matters have more
right to be emphasized and attended to, even though there are less opportunities
in them for competition among people. People generally compete in matters that
can earn the praise of others. Such matters necessarily need to be conspicuous
so everyone can see them. Subtle matters that only Allah can see rarely ever get
the attention that they deserve. This is why a person often goes overboard in
applying a certain conspicuous quality of the Prophet (peace be upon him)
without ever pondering its implications or thinking about the wisdom behind it
and the effect that it should have on a person's character.
These matters, even those that are pure acts of worship, were only prescribed
for humanity to benefit them in this world and in the Hereafter. The value of
these qualities is not merely in their existence for their own sake. These
matters have value in the effects that result from putting them into practice
when they are witnessed by the one applying them and by others.
It behooves every Muslim to embark upon a program of reading the Prophet's
biography. The following books are recommended:
1. For small children: Batal al-Abtвl by Azzвm.
2. For young adults: al-Shamв'il al-Muhammadiyyah, either the book by
that title written by Ibn Kathоr or the one by al-Tirmidhо. Also recommended
are: al-Fusыl by Ibn Kathоr, al-Rahоq al-Makhtыm (available in English
translation under the title The Sealed Nectar)or the abridged version of Ibn
Hishвm's Sоrah.
3. For scholars: The complete version of Ibn Hishвm's Sоrah or the Sоrah
of Ibn Kathоr.
4. For in depth study: the lengthy tomes Subul al-Hadо wa al-Rahsвd and
Nadrah al-Na`оm.
May Allah increase our love for His Prophet (peace be upon him) and assist us in
following him in both our outward and inward actions. And may Allah gather us
together with those who will receive His blessings - the Prophets, their upright
followers, the martyrs, and the pious - for they are the best of companions.
by Sheikh Salman al-Awdah