Muhammad The Prophet of Islam
by Nasir Shamsi
What is
Islam, asked a stranger. To obey Allah
and to love His Creation, replied the
Prophet.
When
another person asked him why he had been
sent as Prophet, he answered: To perfect
human conduct.
Some
orient lists have painted negative image
of Islam in the past. The fear of the
expanding Muslim Empire had haunted the
West. It prevented them from being
objective about the Muslim faith and
they did not refrain from discrediting
Islam as a blasphemous faith and the
Prophet as a pretender. After the
unfortunate tragedy of 9/11, the western
media has found further excuse to paint
the image of Islam as a violent and
fanatical faith.
The
stereotyping of Islam must give way to a
better understanding about the faith as
well as its adherents. Lately there is
an upsurge of books on Islam and
translations of Quran in English and
Spanish are available in any good Book
Store. Yet surprisingly there are not
any significant biographies of the
Prophet available to the general reader.
In order to understand Islam, a person
needs to first understand the spiritual
aspect of the Prophet's life
Who was
Muhammad? Quran gives us a very clear
description of his life before he had
received his prophetic vision at age 40.
"Did He
not find you an orphan and give you
shelter? Did He not find you unable to
see and guide you?
Did He
not find you needy and suffice you?
(al-Zhuha 93:6-8)
Born an
orphan (his father Abdullah bin Abd al-
Muttalib bin Hashim had died a few moths
before his birth), he was only 6 years,
when his mother, Aminah also passed
away. He grand father, Abd-al-Muttalib
took charge of him; he too passed away
after two years. His most beloved uncle,
Abu Talib now took him in his
guardianship. He loved him more than his
own children. He was only 10 when he
accompanied his uncle, Abu Talib on a
business trip to Syria . It was during
this journey when a Christian Monk,
Bahirah, looking at the young boy's
face, exclaimed that he discerned signs
of his future greatness. He cautioned
Abu Talib to be more careful about him
because he was to receive a Divine Call.
The young
Muhammad (s) earned good name in Mecca .
He was called al-Ameen due to his
integrity and great trust he always
inspired in others. At 25, he accepted a
proposal to marry Khadijah, a virtuous
and righteous business-woman who had
engaged him to watch her business
interests in travels to Syria where he
accompanied her trading caravans to sell
things to the local traders. Impressed
by the accounts of his honest and square
dealings and an excellent conduct during
the long travels,
Khadija
offered to seek his companionship for
life. The uncle, Abu Talib recited the
nuptial sermon. Khadija remained his
only wife until her death after 25 years
of married life. She left behind the
only daughter, Fatimah (s), the apple of
her father's eye. He loved her so much
that every time she would enter the
room, he used to stand up as a mark of
respect, some thing unheard of in Mecca
, a male-dominated society with little
or no respect for women. She was wedded
to Ali, the valiant son of Prophet's
loving uncle, Abu Talib. As destiny
would have it, the progeny of the
Prophet, known as Sayyids were to spring
from this noble union.
The grief
and sorrow of Muhammad was compounded by
the fact that just three days before
Khadija's death, his uncle who had been
his great support along with his wife,
had also died. The Prophet used to call
that year, Am al Huzn, the year of grief
because of the loss of his two great
comforters and helpers.
" Read in
the name of thy Lord who
creates--Creates man from a clot, Read
and thy Lord is Most Generous, Who
taught by the Pen, Taught man that he
knew not "--
it was
ten years before the sad demise of
Khadija and Abu Talib that Muhammad (s)
had been revealed this most splendid
message from God through archangel
Gabriel during one of his solitary
meditations in a cave on the Mount Hira
in the precincts of Mecca . He had just
turned 40. He had been asked to admonish
the pagans of Mecca , the idol
worshippers as well as his clan, the
Ishmaelites, who had drifted from the
Abrahamic faith, making it subservient
to the rituals and superstitions.
They
believed in Il-ah, one God but their
belief was shallow. Their practical life
belied their claim. A hodge-podge and
plethora of rituals and sinister
superstitions, essentially stemming from
their convoluted belief that God had
delegated the control and administration
of the universe to others in whom he had
vested all powers, such as healing the
sick, granting children and removing
famine and epidemic. This was the
central idea of their faith, like the
decadent societies of the yore.
They
worshipped ordinary objects of stone and
wood as holy. They would prostrate
before them, and offer meals and sweets
and sacrifices to them. There were also
among them who compounded their
jahiliyya (ignorance) by associating the
evil and good with the stars and that
their destiny and their fortune was
controlled by the movements of the star.
This was no small act for a man coming
from such precarious circumstances as
him that the Prophet Muhammad (s), may
Allah's blessings be on him and his
family, stripped not Mecca alone but the
whole Arabia from such debasing
idolotery and decrepit rituals immersed
in superstition and ignorance, in just
23 years before he passed away at age 63
in Madinah.
The
Prophet of Islam had to face great
difficulties after the passing away of
Khadija and Abu Talib. The Meccans would
chase him, yelling and ridiculing all
the time. But it only strengthened the
belief and conviction of the Prophet
even more and he continued his efforts
unabated to help reform the immoral,
corrupt and iniquitous society around
him. His anguished and sorrowful soul
turned to another place, Taif hoping
people there would listen to him. But
the Taifians pelted stones at him and
forced him, while injured and bleeding,
to leave the town.
In a
state of utter helplessness, the Prophet
turned to His Creator. As if to comfort
His messenger in this moment of deep
sorrow, an amazing thing happened. God
called him as His own guest in the
Celestial regions of the Heavens. This
event is called Mera'j
Mera'j,
the ascention of the Prophet Muhammad to
the Celestial regions, the union of the
Lover with the Beloved, is one of the
most significant events of the last
prophet's life. It has fascinated the
minds and hearts of the believers,
including mystics and poets , over the
last fourteen hundred years.
Notwithstanding a small minority of
believers who look at the Meraj of the
Prophet as a spiritual, not physical
experience, most Muslims--all Shias and
majority of Sunnis--believe it was
Prophet's actual and physical
experience. Mera' j also has a special
meaning and significance in the life of
a Sufi. To him it is a real experience,
the highest ' maqam ' a person could
achieve in ' Salook ', a final meeting
with the ' Mahbub ' , the Beloved; a
Lover-Beloved union indeed ! Rumi, like
other contemporary scholars believed in
the actual physical transportation of
the Prophet to the ' Sidratul Munta'h'aa
', the Highest Point.
" Glory
be to Him who carried His servant by
night from the sacred mosque (of Mecca )
to the Distant Mosque, whose
surroundings
We have
blessed, so that We show him some of our
Signs. He alone hears all and observes
all. " ( Quran 17:1 )
The
venerable poet-philosopher Iqbal , also
a true ' Arif ' of Quran and a great
admorer of Rumi , further confirms the
generally held belief of most Muslims as
well as Rumi, in this verse:
Mila hey
nukta yehy Meraj-e Mustafa se mujhey
Keh alam-e
bashriyat ki zad mein hai gardo'n
( The ascension of Mustafa has revealed
to me that the heavens are within man's
reach )
In
another of his poems, Iqbal says,
sitaron
se a'age jahan aur bhi nein
abhi ishq ke imtehan aur bhi hain
( there are other universes beyond the
Stars there are other trials of ishq
(Love) ahead ! )
The
traditions reveal that the Prophet
narrated the accounts of his
supernatural travel through the space
onto the celestial regions unknown to
man, as his personal experience, not as
a vision or dream. This is quite evident
from the shocking reaction of the
Meccans, including some of his
companions who, according to the
Egyptian biographer of the Prophet,
Mohammad Husain Haykal, turned apostate
on hearing accounts of the Prophet's
Celestial travel. Accustomed to the
routine and the ordinary, they were
unable to fathom the esoteric nature of
the Divine grace. For a Sufi, it is not
difficult to comprehend the mira' j
because he knows that the norms are for
the ordinary man. The love-journey is
the journey to the extra-ordinary.
Prophets are no ordinary men. They are
breakers of norm-- the norm of the
ordinary. Prophet Muhammad was no
ordinary person. According to Quran ,
.he was the Seal of the Prophethood.
Being the Last Prophet, his prophet-hood
was not confined to a certain people,
certain place or certain time. God
called him the ' Rahmatul lil A'alimeen
' ---- the Blessing for the Universes;
the jurisdiction of this
' Rehma '
extends to the galaxies, the farthest
parts of the universe. That explains
Iqbal's proverbial verse, " Sitaron se
a'age jahan aur bhi hein ".
So no
wonder, Muhammad was made to ascend into
the space with a lightning speed unknown
to his contemporaries and a continuing
challenge for the future man. Indeed an
eternal Miracle of the Prophet of the
Universe ( Rasulal Thaqlain) ! A miracle
that will never be equaled or humbled.
The Almighty made his servant (abd)
ascend into the Space, beyond the
earthly hemisphere, farther than the
galactic clusters of the yet unknown
stars, deep into the Seventh Heaven,
closest to the Ultimate Love (ishq-e
haqiqi), ' at a distance of two bows
length or yet nearer still '.
" Hence
he (Muhammad) took an overviewing
position while he was in the highest
horizon. Then he drew nearer, and became
pending. Thus was he at a distance of
two bows-length or yet nearer still.
Then He revealed onto His servant......"
The
cosmic transcendence of the Prophet in
timelessness puts him in a unique
position in the universe; it also also
points to the widening horizon of human
knowledge of the universe. His bodily
ascension to an infinitismaly distant
destination (maqam) where " he was in
the uppermost horizon (ufqul a'ala
53:7)., yet his return to his earthly
home , all within a night , perhaps
without any loss of time , points to
possibilities, so far unfulfilled, of
transcending time.
" For you
(God) subjected all that is in the
heavens and on the earth, all from Him.
Behold ! in that are the Signs for
people who reflect. "
( Quran 45:13 )
This
humble tribute to my Prophet (s) on his
Birth Day is concluded with the opening
lines of Syed Ameer Ali's , "The Spirit
of Islam ", a book I deeply cherish and
is highly recommended to all readers,
especially the Muslim Youth growing up
in the West:
" At the
dawn of the seventh century of the
Christian era, in the streets of Mecca,
might often be seen a quiet thoughtful
man , past the meridian of life, his
Arab mantle thrown across his shoulders,
his tailasan (scarf) drawn low over his
face; sometimes gently sauntering,
sometimes hurrying along, heedless of
the passer-by, heedless of the gay
scenes around him, deeply absorbed in
his own thoughts--yet withal never
forgetful to return the salutation of
the lowliest, or to speak kindly word to
the children who loved to throng around
him. This is al-Ameen, the Trustee. " He
has so honorably and industriously
walked through life, that he has won for
himself from his compatriots the noble
designation of the true and trustee. But
now, owing to his strange preaching, his
fellow-townsmen are beginning to look
suspiciously upon him as wild visionary;
a crazed revolutionist, desirous of
leveling the old hallmarks of society,
of doing away with their ancient
privileges, of making them abandon their
old creeds and customs. " |