The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), the Man Supreme, who uprooted
tribal pride, eradicated caste feeling and abolished oppression, was
born in the tribe of Quraish, considered to be a noble tribe, in Makkah,
in what is now called Saudi Arabia in 571 Christian era.
The greatest man of Elect to be the solace to the entire mankind for the
rest of the broad stream of human history, lost his father Abdullah
while he was still clinging to his mothers womb, and at the innocent age
of six he lost his mother Aamina He was absolutely orphaned at the very
early stage of his life.
When he was eight, his grand father, Abdul Muthalib, who was dearly
taking care of him died leaving the honest, frank and innocent young lad
to the care of a leading Quraishi merchant, Abu Thalib, the uncle of the
Prophet (peace be upon him).
Orphaned at the very start of life, going through sorrows and
sufferings, the young lad facing his life with undaunted heart and
courage opted to tend herd of sheep under the blitz of the scorching sun
in the vast expanse of the Arabian desert for a meagre wage. Thats how
Gods test of time preceded his glorious events.
The young and immature lad travelled with his Uncle Abu Talib in a
caravan of merchants to Syria. A wealthy noble lady Khadijah (May God be
pleased with her deeds) was attracted by his trustworthiness,
intelligence and undeterred steadfastness. She wanted to marry him. The
Prophet (peace be upon him) married Khadijah who was already three times
widow and many years senior to him.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) at the age of twenty-five was capable of
efficient business transaction. He rose to the rank among notables of
Makkah after the noble marriage. He transacted his business excellently,
and remained a faithful husband to his lady, Khadijah, who was the
understanding helpmate to Muhammad (peace be upon him). He led a simple
life like any other ordinary man; only he will do with more grace and
distinction than other men.
The beautiful relations in the society and marriage may themselves be a
preparation for the highest spiritual destiny that awaited the Messenger
of God. Until his age of forty he did not preach, teach, nor did he
initiate any movement.
After his fortieth year of life, he was designated with the holy mission
to preach and establish the True Universal Religion of God.
We will glance at his missionary life, which is divided into two parts.
One the Makkah life, and the other, the Madinah life.
Having been one among the ordinary men in Makkah for four decades, the
Prophet (peace be upon him) declared to his people that he was the
Messenger of God to convey the Message from One True God. He said,
Worship only One True God. None other and nothing else is worthy of
worship. The Only True God is the Creator and all other things in the
universe are His creations. We should never worship any creation.
In Makkah the Prophet (peace be upon him) proclaimed and declared the
Holy Message as and when it was revealed from God and addressed it to
the entire mankind through pagan Arabs of whom the Qureish were the
noblest tribe to which belonged the Holy Prophet himself. The tribe of
Qureish commanding over all other tribes, was the keeper of Kaba, the
central shrine of Arabia and commanded trade and commerce with
neighbouring countries on all sides- Syria, Persia, Yemen, and Abyssinia
(now part of Ehiopia). They were seasoned travellers across both warm
zones in Yemen and cold zone in Syria. They were skillful merchants and
knowledgeable of the worldly affairs. They had perfected their language
as a fine medium of literary expression. Yet their established order of
things and social system and their perception of spiritual world were
superstitious, autocratic and tribal conscious. They had reached to the
extreme folly of polytheism that they had installed 360 idols around
Kaba, praying to one god a day.
They held their established orders of things and tribal conventions dear
to them. Just imagine the impact of this holy Message on such people.
The concept of One True God and self-surrender to the Only One God
shattered all their follies which they held dear to themselves. They
considered Islam as interference to their business habits, their
licentiousness and their perception about the tribal form of worship.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) preached against the oppression of the
weak by the strong. He propounded that men and women are equal before
God and that a woman is a person in her own right as much as a man is.
He stood up against the traditional exploitation of man by man, usury,
and gambling. He denied any moral legitimacy to tribal feelings and
considerations. He brought religion into politics, while the pagans
considered religion as a personal matter. He advocated that social
practice and institution came very much within the orbit of religion.
All these were so bitter to the pagan in Makkah that they began to
persecute the Prophet and his followers as enemies to the cult of Makkah.
They were driven to a pass skirting the town of Makkah where they were
compelled to feed on leaves and grass, by the boycotting attitude of the
hard-hearted pagan Arabs.
His preaching and teaching brought the first opposition from none other
than his own family and tribe. His preaching opened the pages of the
true civilisation, which harboured a self-contained political community,
which rooted out the conventional divisions of tribe and race, and ruled
out nationalism and vested interests. In it there was no room for
church, priesthood and no space for hereditary nobility. Human bodily
urges were given legitimacy and not suppressed, realising the sexual
behaviour of man and woman through proper marriage institution. This
eradicated prostitution and sexual perversion in any form, treating
fornication and adultery and all form of perversion as greatest sins. He
warned the people to keep off from these sins.
The Prophets teachings of Truth liberated man from all the evil frets
linked by man himself and unearthed the ruthless fallacy from the
convention-bound evil men. The pagan Qureish persecuted the Prophet
(peace be upon him) and his followers and massacred some of them. They
even instigated youths to pelt the Prophet and his followers. As a
result of the severity of persecution the followers of the Prophet with
his permission had to migrate towards Abyssinia or Madinah. Or they went
underground. The Prophet learned that the Pagan Arabs, wanting to get
rid of him once for all, had plotted to kill him. Tolerate this too? No
more! The Prophet at the Command of God commenced his holy journey to
Madinah, with his associate, Abu Bakr, forsaking all his immovable
assets and belongings. He took but some gold coins and silver that he
could carry easily.
Ending 13 years of his missionary life at Makkah he headed towards
Madinah where, indeed, a warm welcome was awaiting the Prophet (peace be
upon him).
Some people from Madinah who had heard about the teachings of the
Prophet at Makkah, had visited him in Makkah and accepted Islam and had
left a humane message of great gesture to him, Gentle Prophet! If you
ever have to face any difficulty to live in Makkah you can come down to
Madinah anytime you prefer. We will protect you even at the cost of our
lives. When they returned to Madinah they also preached what the Prophet
taught them on monotheism. They did succeed in making some people
embrace Islam.
This hospitality and large-heartedness of the visiting people of Madinah
encouraged the Prophet in executing the command of God to migrate to
Madinah in particular.
There was a great welcome at Madinah as he expected.
They listened to his teaching and reverted to Islam en masse. They also
selected him as their leader to guide and administer in all aspects. The
foundation stone was laid to build the Universal Brotherhood, which had
been one of the themes of the Islamic ideals and also the constant dream
of the Prophet. People from the surrounding villages heard about the
teachings and ideals of the Prophet and wasted no time in reverting to
Islam en masse.
There was a bond of brotherhood between the inhabitants of Madinah and
the Muslims who had migrated from Makkah.
RULER AND MENTOR
Through out the realm of the history we come across great personalities
working on the expanse of their kingdom, having the material well-being
of theirs and their subjects in their mind. But none in the history
could ever match the Prophet (peace be upon him) who had multiple roles
to perform in the human history of establishing the UniversalSpiritual Truth to the precision.
It took a thousand years for the Moguls and the British to build a vast
land into a country called India; eight hundred years by the Moguls and
two hundred years by the British.
To build an empire of the land extent equal to that of India, Prophet,
the Man Supreme took just ten years. Unlike any other ruler on earth,
the Prophet struck the perfect harmonious balance between the social and
physical needs and the spiritual needs of man.
Besides shouldering the responsibility of a ruler, he had another
significant role to perform. He was destined to be the actual spiritual
head of the True Religion of Islam that God perfected and introduced to
the entire mankind. In a way, the spiritual leadership is mightier than
sovereignty on earth.
When people obey to political leadership they do it due to the fear of
the rulers worldly power. Anyway, their obedience is not whole-hearted
and full-fledged. But when the people abide by the spiritual leadership
they do it in all devotion and piety.
We witness these days that scholars and rulers are down on their knees
in adoration before the spiritual head. Even potentates fall prostrated
to these spiritual heads in total submission. If this is the respect
paid to one among the thousands of spiritual leaders of the religions
founded by unknown men, it will be needless to say or guess what a great
deal of respect people must be paying to the true spiritual leader of
the Religion of God.
The Prophet has had such great followers that they adapt his gait,
gesture and attire without even the slightest touch of modification.
Although he possessed the unchallenged spiritual leadership and
unshakeable political power, we wonder at the way he conducted himself
in all aspects. He did not behave in the way the brass heads and the
others, ambitious for power and positions conducted themselves.
Did the Prophet in possession of such great influence and power ever
make use of this privilege to accumulate wealth and acquire properties?
Did he bother to make a better living condition for him?
Did he get involved in the mirth, play and pleasantries of a royal palace?
People who have attained leadership in politics and spirituality made
full use of their power and their positions to their advantage. Suppose
the Head of a nation has lost his power within a few months after he was
sworn in. Would this former ruler as well as his family members still
own exactly the same amount of property and wealth that they all owned
just before this man became the ruler? No. Surely he would have gained a
great deal of money, wealth, and properties thousand times what he owned
before swearing in as the Head of the state. At the wake of the present
sophisticated political structure, it is not even necessary to be the
Head of a State to make such fast money. Less powerful regents live the
life of a king, and they make money, wealth and property in their name
and in their family name. This is a common scene these days.
There are occasions where parliamentarians and legislators,
commissioners and councillors, chieftains and officials less powerful
than the ministers or senators, misuse their power to make fast money
and acquire enormous amount of wealth. The magnitude of the wealth thus
swindled is in multiplication of thousands of times what they possessed
before taking on charge.
We need not have deep knowledge on history or authenticity to realize
this fact. Some of the contemporary leaders living right before our eyes
serve the best witness to us.
No leader directly says, I am not corrupt, to counter any corruption
charges against him. He is rather ironical and counters, Tell me if you
have never been corrupt? Who is not corrupt these days? This is the case
when we have courts and legislative bodies to punish the corrupt leaders
and rulers in power, powerful media to expose them and opponent parties
to challenge them. Now, just imagine how liberally the rulers of the
past would have conducted their life in the absence of all these
instruments in their time.
History is full of evidences. The lavish palaces, sybaritic citadels and
posh apartments for fun and pleasantries, and also their grandeur and
extravaganza stand witness to this day.
Rulers who made their thrones out of gold and raised opulent marble
tombs for their darling lovers are inscribed as prominent ones in history!
Prophet Muhammad, the Man Supreme ruled in an era when such follies were
the order of the day. Around his nation ruled great kings like Hiracleus
of Roman Empire and Quisra of Persia. No one could have raised a finger
against the Prophet even if he had conducted his reign just like these
kings or even better than that.
Did he live the life of a king?
Did he enjoy the splendours and grandeur of a palace?
Did he accumulate wealth and luxurious articles?
Did he build lofty towers and gorgeous buildings and acquire towns to
add to his property list?
Did he leave a huge amount of wealth behind him to his inheritors?
One can say one has not done any of the above feats during ones reign,
only when he has not made wealth by exploiting his power and position.
Any length of deep search in history only says a sweet No to all the
above questions as far as the Prophet is concerned.
Mans first need is food. Man earns more and more to have delicacy in his
plate. This Epicurean attitude eventually makes the man live to eat
rather than just eat to live. Let us see what the Prophet ate for his
sustenance. The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to eat the humblest
food while he was enjoying the highest positions of both a ruler and a
spiritual head.
He never even cared to look at the rich delicacies that the great rulers
used to enjoy. He was not even used to eating the food of an average
man. History provides sufficient citation to this fact:
Aisha (May God be pleased with her deeds) said to me, O my nephew! We
used to see the crescent, and then the crescent, and then the crescent;
in this way we saw three crescents in two months and no fire (for
cooking) used to be made in the houses of Gods Apostle. I said, O my
aunt! Then what used to sustain you? Aisha said, The two black things:
dates and water, our neighbours from Ansar (Muslims of Madinah) used to
present Gods Apostle some of their milk and he used to make us drink.
Narrated by Urva (May God be pleased with his deeds)
Buhari 3.741
tribal pride, eradicated caste feeling and abolished oppression, was
born in the tribe of Quraish, considered to be a noble tribe, in Makkah,
in what is now called Saudi Arabia in 571 Christian era.
The greatest man of Elect to be the solace to the entire mankind for the
rest of the broad stream of human history, lost his father Abdullah
while he was still clinging to his mothers womb, and at the innocent age
of six he lost his mother Aamina He was absolutely orphaned at the very
early stage of his life.
When he was eight, his grand father, Abdul Muthalib, who was dearly
taking care of him died leaving the honest, frank and innocent young lad
to the care of a leading Quraishi merchant, Abu Thalib, the uncle of the
Prophet (peace be upon him).
Orphaned at the very start of life, going through sorrows and
sufferings, the young lad facing his life with undaunted heart and
courage opted to tend herd of sheep under the blitz of the scorching sun
in the vast expanse of the Arabian desert for a meagre wage. Thats how
Gods test of time preceded his glorious events.
The young and immature lad travelled with his Uncle Abu Talib in a
caravan of merchants to Syria. A wealthy noble lady Khadijah (May God be
pleased with her deeds) was attracted by his trustworthiness,
intelligence and undeterred steadfastness. She wanted to marry him. The
Prophet (peace be upon him) married Khadijah who was already three times
widow and many years senior to him.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) at the age of twenty-five was capable of
efficient business transaction. He rose to the rank among notables of
Makkah after the noble marriage. He transacted his business excellently,
and remained a faithful husband to his lady, Khadijah, who was the
understanding helpmate to Muhammad (peace be upon him). He led a simple
life like any other ordinary man; only he will do with more grace and
distinction than other men.
The beautiful relations in the society and marriage may themselves be a
preparation for the highest spiritual destiny that awaited the Messenger
of God. Until his age of forty he did not preach, teach, nor did he
initiate any movement.
After his fortieth year of life, he was designated with the holy mission
to preach and establish the True Universal Religion of God.
We will glance at his missionary life, which is divided into two parts.
One the Makkah life, and the other, the Madinah life.
Having been one among the ordinary men in Makkah for four decades, the
Prophet (peace be upon him) declared to his people that he was the
Messenger of God to convey the Message from One True God. He said,
Worship only One True God. None other and nothing else is worthy of
worship. The Only True God is the Creator and all other things in the
universe are His creations. We should never worship any creation.
In Makkah the Prophet (peace be upon him) proclaimed and declared the
Holy Message as and when it was revealed from God and addressed it to
the entire mankind through pagan Arabs of whom the Qureish were the
noblest tribe to which belonged the Holy Prophet himself. The tribe of
Qureish commanding over all other tribes, was the keeper of Kaba, the
central shrine of Arabia and commanded trade and commerce with
neighbouring countries on all sides- Syria, Persia, Yemen, and Abyssinia
(now part of Ehiopia). They were seasoned travellers across both warm
zones in Yemen and cold zone in Syria. They were skillful merchants and
knowledgeable of the worldly affairs. They had perfected their language
as a fine medium of literary expression. Yet their established order of
things and social system and their perception of spiritual world were
superstitious, autocratic and tribal conscious. They had reached to the
extreme folly of polytheism that they had installed 360 idols around
Kaba, praying to one god a day.
They held their established orders of things and tribal conventions dear
to them. Just imagine the impact of this holy Message on such people.
The concept of One True God and self-surrender to the Only One God
shattered all their follies which they held dear to themselves. They
considered Islam as interference to their business habits, their
licentiousness and their perception about the tribal form of worship.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) preached against the oppression of the
weak by the strong. He propounded that men and women are equal before
God and that a woman is a person in her own right as much as a man is.
He stood up against the traditional exploitation of man by man, usury,
and gambling. He denied any moral legitimacy to tribal feelings and
considerations. He brought religion into politics, while the pagans
considered religion as a personal matter. He advocated that social
practice and institution came very much within the orbit of religion.
All these were so bitter to the pagan in Makkah that they began to
persecute the Prophet and his followers as enemies to the cult of Makkah.
They were driven to a pass skirting the town of Makkah where they were
compelled to feed on leaves and grass, by the boycotting attitude of the
hard-hearted pagan Arabs.
His preaching and teaching brought the first opposition from none other
than his own family and tribe. His preaching opened the pages of the
true civilisation, which harboured a self-contained political community,
which rooted out the conventional divisions of tribe and race, and ruled
out nationalism and vested interests. In it there was no room for
church, priesthood and no space for hereditary nobility. Human bodily
urges were given legitimacy and not suppressed, realising the sexual
behaviour of man and woman through proper marriage institution. This
eradicated prostitution and sexual perversion in any form, treating
fornication and adultery and all form of perversion as greatest sins. He
warned the people to keep off from these sins.
The Prophets teachings of Truth liberated man from all the evil frets
linked by man himself and unearthed the ruthless fallacy from the
convention-bound evil men. The pagan Qureish persecuted the Prophet
(peace be upon him) and his followers and massacred some of them. They
even instigated youths to pelt the Prophet and his followers. As a
result of the severity of persecution the followers of the Prophet with
his permission had to migrate towards Abyssinia or Madinah. Or they went
underground. The Prophet learned that the Pagan Arabs, wanting to get
rid of him once for all, had plotted to kill him. Tolerate this too? No
more! The Prophet at the Command of God commenced his holy journey to
Madinah, with his associate, Abu Bakr, forsaking all his immovable
assets and belongings. He took but some gold coins and silver that he
could carry easily.
Ending 13 years of his missionary life at Makkah he headed towards
Madinah where, indeed, a warm welcome was awaiting the Prophet (peace be
upon him).
Some people from Madinah who had heard about the teachings of the
Prophet at Makkah, had visited him in Makkah and accepted Islam and had
left a humane message of great gesture to him, Gentle Prophet! If you
ever have to face any difficulty to live in Makkah you can come down to
Madinah anytime you prefer. We will protect you even at the cost of our
lives. When they returned to Madinah they also preached what the Prophet
taught them on monotheism. They did succeed in making some people
embrace Islam.
This hospitality and large-heartedness of the visiting people of Madinah
encouraged the Prophet in executing the command of God to migrate to
Madinah in particular.
There was a great welcome at Madinah as he expected.
They listened to his teaching and reverted to Islam en masse. They also
selected him as their leader to guide and administer in all aspects. The
foundation stone was laid to build the Universal Brotherhood, which had
been one of the themes of the Islamic ideals and also the constant dream
of the Prophet. People from the surrounding villages heard about the
teachings and ideals of the Prophet and wasted no time in reverting to
Islam en masse.
There was a bond of brotherhood between the inhabitants of Madinah and
the Muslims who had migrated from Makkah.
RULER AND MENTOR
Through out the realm of the history we come across great personalities
working on the expanse of their kingdom, having the material well-being
of theirs and their subjects in their mind. But none in the history
could ever match the Prophet (peace be upon him) who had multiple roles
to perform in the human history of establishing the UniversalSpiritual Truth to the precision.
It took a thousand years for the Moguls and the British to build a vast
land into a country called India; eight hundred years by the Moguls and
two hundred years by the British.
To build an empire of the land extent equal to that of India, Prophet,
the Man Supreme took just ten years. Unlike any other ruler on earth,
the Prophet struck the perfect harmonious balance between the social and
physical needs and the spiritual needs of man.
Besides shouldering the responsibility of a ruler, he had another
significant role to perform. He was destined to be the actual spiritual
head of the True Religion of Islam that God perfected and introduced to
the entire mankind. In a way, the spiritual leadership is mightier than
sovereignty on earth.
When people obey to political leadership they do it due to the fear of
the rulers worldly power. Anyway, their obedience is not whole-hearted
and full-fledged. But when the people abide by the spiritual leadership
they do it in all devotion and piety.
We witness these days that scholars and rulers are down on their knees
in adoration before the spiritual head. Even potentates fall prostrated
to these spiritual heads in total submission. If this is the respect
paid to one among the thousands of spiritual leaders of the religions
founded by unknown men, it will be needless to say or guess what a great
deal of respect people must be paying to the true spiritual leader of
the Religion of God.
The Prophet has had such great followers that they adapt his gait,
gesture and attire without even the slightest touch of modification.
Although he possessed the unchallenged spiritual leadership and
unshakeable political power, we wonder at the way he conducted himself
in all aspects. He did not behave in the way the brass heads and the
others, ambitious for power and positions conducted themselves.
Did the Prophet in possession of such great influence and power ever
make use of this privilege to accumulate wealth and acquire properties?
Did he bother to make a better living condition for him?
Did he get involved in the mirth, play and pleasantries of a royal palace?
People who have attained leadership in politics and spirituality made
full use of their power and their positions to their advantage. Suppose
the Head of a nation has lost his power within a few months after he was
sworn in. Would this former ruler as well as his family members still
own exactly the same amount of property and wealth that they all owned
just before this man became the ruler? No. Surely he would have gained a
great deal of money, wealth, and properties thousand times what he owned
before swearing in as the Head of the state. At the wake of the present
sophisticated political structure, it is not even necessary to be the
Head of a State to make such fast money. Less powerful regents live the
life of a king, and they make money, wealth and property in their name
and in their family name. This is a common scene these days.
There are occasions where parliamentarians and legislators,
commissioners and councillors, chieftains and officials less powerful
than the ministers or senators, misuse their power to make fast money
and acquire enormous amount of wealth. The magnitude of the wealth thus
swindled is in multiplication of thousands of times what they possessed
before taking on charge.
We need not have deep knowledge on history or authenticity to realize
this fact. Some of the contemporary leaders living right before our eyes
serve the best witness to us.
No leader directly says, I am not corrupt, to counter any corruption
charges against him. He is rather ironical and counters, Tell me if you
have never been corrupt? Who is not corrupt these days? This is the case
when we have courts and legislative bodies to punish the corrupt leaders
and rulers in power, powerful media to expose them and opponent parties
to challenge them. Now, just imagine how liberally the rulers of the
past would have conducted their life in the absence of all these
instruments in their time.
History is full of evidences. The lavish palaces, sybaritic citadels and
posh apartments for fun and pleasantries, and also their grandeur and
extravaganza stand witness to this day.
Rulers who made their thrones out of gold and raised opulent marble
tombs for their darling lovers are inscribed as prominent ones in history!
Prophet Muhammad, the Man Supreme ruled in an era when such follies were
the order of the day. Around his nation ruled great kings like Hiracleus
of Roman Empire and Quisra of Persia. No one could have raised a finger
against the Prophet even if he had conducted his reign just like these
kings or even better than that.
Did he live the life of a king?
Did he enjoy the splendours and grandeur of a palace?
Did he accumulate wealth and luxurious articles?
Did he build lofty towers and gorgeous buildings and acquire towns to
add to his property list?
Did he leave a huge amount of wealth behind him to his inheritors?
One can say one has not done any of the above feats during ones reign,
only when he has not made wealth by exploiting his power and position.
Any length of deep search in history only says a sweet No to all the
above questions as far as the Prophet is concerned.
Mans first need is food. Man earns more and more to have delicacy in his
plate. This Epicurean attitude eventually makes the man live to eat
rather than just eat to live. Let us see what the Prophet ate for his
sustenance. The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to eat the humblest
food while he was enjoying the highest positions of both a ruler and a
spiritual head.
He never even cared to look at the rich delicacies that the great rulers
used to enjoy. He was not even used to eating the food of an average
man. History provides sufficient citation to this fact:
Aisha (May God be pleased with her deeds) said to me, O my nephew! We
used to see the crescent, and then the crescent, and then the crescent;
in this way we saw three crescents in two months and no fire (for
cooking) used to be made in the houses of Gods Apostle. I said, O my
aunt! Then what used to sustain you? Aisha said, The two black things:
dates and water, our neighbours from Ansar (Muslims of Madinah) used to
present Gods Apostle some of their milk and he used to make us drink.
Narrated by Urva (May God be pleased with his deeds)
Buhari 3.741
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