THE HOLY PROPHET AND HIS IMPACT ON MY LIFE

Ever since the days of my early childhood, my life has been dominated by a religious outlook. This does not even exclude my adolescence and early youth when, due to my disillusionment with the established Jewish synagogue and Christian churches, I professed atheism for even then, my life was religious in the sense that I was always in search for the absolute Truth which alone gives human life its meaning, direction and purpose. I was not, however, raised in a religious atmosphere. My family and their friends, having been thoroughly integrated into American life, were Jews only nominally. They were thoroughly decent, respectable, intelligent, broad-minded, cultured people who firmly believed in and observed all the basic moral laws yet they denied that ethical behaviour was dependent upon theology; in fact, they could not even understand the relevance between the two. All of them regarded any conception of Divine reward and punishment in life after death as an outmoded superstitious belief of by-gone ages. Any concept of a personal Deity Who directly intervenes into human affairs and would listen to the supplications of His devotees, Divine revelation and Prophethood was also scorned for the same reasons. As soon as I was able to think and comprehend at all, I was repelled by the dominant values of my society, the purpose of which is happiness, pleasure and enjoyment while I longed above all else to achieve something eternally worth2 while.

Since, according to this outlook, there are no answers to the ultimates, one must avoid thinking about them and just enjoy as best one can, the transitory pleasures life has to offer at the moment—good health, tasty food, comfortable living, the love of family, the companionship of congenial friends and the variety of entertainments and amusements which modern America makes available in such abundance. Never ask oneself why we were born, who created us, what is the purpose of our life, why we must die and what will happen to us after death, lest one be afflicted with depression, pessimism and despondancy. Americans are often praised by outsiders because they are not “static” and love, nay, worship—Change. According to these “progressives,” America is synonymous with Progress because it is supposedly the only country unimpeded by “rigid, archaic philosophies, social and religious, and therefore able to nourish creative Change.” I never shared this worship of Change for its own sake. To me, the absence of permanence and stability in anything means the outright denial of its value and makes life frivolous and superficial. My quest was always for absolutes.

Neither Judaism nor Christianity could satisfy me. I was repelled by the narrow, parochial-mindedness of the synagogue and horrified by the atrocities of Zionism against the indigenous Arabs of Palestine. I could never reconcile myself to the complicated, incomprehensible theology of the Christians and the endless compromises of the Church with moral, social, political and economic evils. Both the synagogue and the Church, as I encountered them, were filled with 3 corruption and hypocrisy. In the course of what Jewish training I received, it was but natural for me to be curious about the faith historically most closely akin to Judaism.

I found that I could not learn about the Arabs without also learning about Islam and its civilization and as soon as I discovered that it was not the Arabs who had made Islam great but the other way around, I wanted to know as much about this faith as I could. The superiority of the Quran over the Bible to me lay in its all-embracing universality in contrast to the narrow, rigid nationalism of the Jewish scriptures.

As this universality makes for the superior morality, it has exerted a drastic effect on the historical development of these religions and civilizations shaped by them.

In Islam, my quest for absolute values was satisfied. In Islam I found all that was true, good and beautiful and which gives meaning and direction to human life (and death) while in other religions, the Truth is deformed, distorted, restricted and fragmentary. If anyone chooses to ask me how I came to know this, I can only reply that my personal life experience was sufficient to convince me.

My adherence to the Islamic faith is thus a calm, cool but very intense conviction.

Unlike some other converts, I never saw the Holy Prophet in my dreams during sleep at night; I never experienced any mystical visions and nothing dramatic at the time of my conversion ever happened. Since I have, I believe, always been a Muslim at heart and by temperament, even before I even knew there was such a thing as Islam, my conversion was mainly a formality, involving no radical change in my heart at all but rather only making official what I had been thinking and yearning for many years.

Soon after I began the study of the Quran, I discovered that a proper understanding of it is impossible without some knowledge of the relevant Hadith, for who is better qualified to interpret the Quran than the man to whom it was revealed? The Quran provides us with the general outline of the life ordained by Islam but only the Hadith fill in all the necessary details. To those who deny the validity of this only authoritative interpretation of Quran:

When the Prophet’s wife, Ayesha, was asked to describe the mode of his life and conduct, she replied; “His morals are the Quran.” In other words, his daily life was a true picture of the Quranic teachings. He was an embodiment of all the virtues which have been enunciated by the Quran. The record of his life which sheds light on his conduct as a child, as a father, as a neighbour, as a merchant, as a preacher, as a persecuted fugitive, as a friend, as a warrior, as an army commander, as a conqueror, as a judge, as a law-giver, as a ruler and above all, as a devotee of Allah, was all an exemplification of the Book of Allah.¹

The sincerity and purity of his pious living was clearly revealed in his daily routine.

The daily routine of his life was extremely rigorous. After the dawn Salat, he received people so as to educate them. He even settled disputes and administered justice, received envoys and dictated despatches and then the assembly was adjourned. The public function now over, he used to go to one of his 4 wives and do any work she wanted. He even went to the market for shopping. Then another short prayer was performed after which he visited the sick and the poor and called at the houses of his friends and then he went to the mosque for Zuhr Salat. After returning from the mosque, he took his meal, if it was available, and then returned to his private apartment for some rest and then went again to the mosque for the Asr Salat. Afterwards the Holy Prophet would go to his wives and sit with them until children claimed his time. He led the Maghrib Salat and then took his evening meal and then returned to his home for prayers in solitude and rest. He slept for a few hours only and then rose and prayed and meditated and again retired to bed only for a brief time, rising again for the dawn Salat when the day’s work began once more. His energy was extraordinary. He seldom complained of fatigue.²

Now let us see how this pious life affected the activities of his womenfolk:

Hazrat Ali once asked one of his pupils:

Shall I tell you the story of Fatima, the dearest and most loved daughter of Prophet? When the pupil replied in the affirmative, he said: “Fatima used to grind the grain herself which caused callouses on her hands. She carried water for the house in a leather bag which caused scars on her breast. She cleaned the house herself which made her clothes dirty. Once when some war-captives were brought to Medina, I said to her: “Go to the Prophet and request him for a servant to help you in your housework.” She went to him but found many people round him. As she was very modest, she could not be bold enough to request the Prophet in the presence of other people. Next day the Prophet came to our house and said: “Fatima, what made you come to me yesterday?” She felt shy and kept quiet. I said: “O Prophet of Allah, Fatima has developed callouses on her hands and breasts on account of grinding grain and carrying water. She is constantly busy in cleaning the house and in other domestic work, causing her clothes to remain dirty. I informed her about the captives and advised her to go to you and request a servant.” The Prophet replied: “Fatima! Fear Allah! Acquire Taqwa (piety) and when you go to 5 .wives and do any work she wanted. He even went to the market for shopping. Then another short prayer was performed ~r whj~. he visited the sick and the poor and called at the houses bfhis t:riends ahd then he went to the mosque for Zuhr Sa/at. . After retur!ling from the mosque, he took his meal, if it was available, and then returned to his private apartment for some rest and then went again to the mosque for the Asr Salat. Afterwards the Holy Prophet would ‘go to his wives and sitwith them until children claimed his time. He led the Maghrib Salat and then took his evening meal and then returned to his home for prayers in solitude and rest. He slept for a few hours only and then rose and prayed and meditated and again retired to bed only for a brief time, rising again fot:, the dawn Salat when the day’s work began once more. His energy was extraordinary. He seldom complained offatigue.2

Now let us see how this pious life affected the activities of his womenfolk :

Hazrat Ali once asked one of his pupils:

Shall I tell you the story of Fatima, the dearest and most loved daughter of Prophet? When the pupil replied in the affirmative, he said : “Fatima used to grind the grain herself which caused callouses on her hands. She carrjed water for the house in a leather bag which caused scars on her breast. She cleaned the house herself which made her clothes dirty. Once when some war-captives were brought to Medina, I said to her : “Go to

the Prophet and request him for a servant to help -you in your

housework:’ She went to him but found many people round him. As she was very modest, she could not be bold enough to request the Prophet in the presence of other people. · Next day the Prophet came to our house and said : “Fatima, what made you come to me yesterday?” She felt shy and kept quiet. I said : “0 Prophet of Allah, Fatima has developed callouses ,on her hands and breasts on account of grinding grain and

i.’>itl., p. 389.

6 carrying water. She is constantly busy in cleaning the house and in other domestic work, causing her clothes to remain dirty. I informed her about the captives and advised her to go to you and request a servant.” The Prophet replied: “Fatima! Fear Allah! Acquire Taqwa (piety) and when you go to bed, recite Subhanallah 33 times, Alhamdulillah 33 times and Allahu Akbar 34 times. This you will find more helpful than a servant.” Fatima said: “I am content with Allah and His Prophet.” ³

And how did the Prophet’s wives spend their time? Ayesha said: Maymuna was the most pious and most faithful of her kin among all the Prophet’s wives. She was seen either engaged in Salat or in domestic duties. When she was doing neither, she was busy cleaning her teeth with the miswaq.⁴

This will not appeal to the advocates of the so-called “Women’s Liberation.” The immediate reaction of the modern-minded woman to this is dismay. She will certainly ask me how I as a twentieth-century woman, born and reared in modern America could possibly endorse such an apparently poor and limited life? The answer is that to the Holy Prophet, depth of experience was more important than breadth. The fast pace of modern, mechanized living where to be active and “always on the run” are in themselves regarded as supreme virtues, the experiences of modern men and women may be broad and varied, yet their minds remain superficial, fickle and shallow. I would point out to her the fact that many modern American women are unhappy even

7 though they can do virtually anything they please. They enjoy the highest standard of living in history; they are the best-dressed, best-groomed, best-fed, best-housed women anywhere with the least drudgery; they have the most freedom, the greatest variety of interesting social contacts, are unexcelled in the extent of their secular education and have the widest possible opportunity to enrich their self-indulgence and can do whatever they want, yet despite all these material advantages, too many American women are restless, dissatisfied and even neurotic.

For the Holy Prophet, the purpose of life was achievement—not enjoyment. Pleasure and happiness in Islam are but the natural by-products of emotional satisfaction in one’s duties being conscientiously performed for the pleasure of God to gain salvation in the life to come. In the materialistic world, achievement is equated with the capturing of political or economic power, fulfilment in the arts and sciences and acquiring fame, if one is exceptionally gifted, or enjoying an ample income from business and commerce. In Islam, achievement is rated on accomplishing what is enduring and worthwhile through useful, benevolent and productive work and to refrain from wasting one’s time in empty self-gratification disgraced by sinful deeds.

The Supreme Achievement is to attain, through implicit obedience to Quran and Sunnah, eternal salvation in the world to come.

This was the dominant theme of all the teachings of the Holy Prophet as shown in the following oration which he delivered at the mosque in Medina in the-

8

first year of the Hijra:

O people! Make provision for yourselves in advance. You should know by Allah everyone of you will indeed faint; then he will leave his cattle without a shepherd. Then his Lord will say to him—while there will be neither any guide at hand nor any shelter to hide him—“Did My Messenger not approach you and deliver My revelation to you? I bestowed wealth and favour upon you. What provision did you make for yourself?”

He will certainly look to the right and to the left but he will find nothing to help him. Then he will cast his glance to his front but will see only Hell-fire! So he who is able to save his face from the Fire, though by means only of a bit of date, should certainly do that and he who cannot afford it, then do it by means of a kind word. For the good action will be rewarded and increased from ten to seven hundred times.⁵

And at Tabuk in Syria in 9 A.H. the Holy Prophet proclaimed:

Verily the most veracious discourse is the Book of Allah. The most trustworthy handhold is the word of piety. The best of the religions is the faith of Ibrahim. The best of precedents is the precedent of Muhammad. The noblest speech is the invocation of Allah. The finest narratives is this Quran; the best affairs is that which has been already firmly resolved upon and the worst thing in religion are innovations. The best of the ways is the path of the prophets. The noblest death is the death of martyrdom. The greatest blindness is going astray after guidance. The best of actions is that which benefits. The best guidance is that which is followed in practice. The worst blindness is the blindness of the heart.

9 The little but sufficient is better than the abundant but alluring. The worst apology is that which is made at the point of death. The worst regret is that which will be felt on the Day of Resurrection. ⁶

Thus, the Holy Prophet has revealed to me personally and to all mankind for all times in all places the purpose of human life and what is important and what is not. Unlike Hinduism, Buddhism and classical Christianity, the Holy Prophet repudiated monasticism and self-mortification as the path to the spiritual life.

With his perfect emotional balance, he did not shun the legitimate pleasures of this life. The Holy Prophet was endowed with a fine sense of humor and occasionally even joined children in their games but nevertheless he never ceased to emphasize that the interests of this world must always be subordinated by the Believer to that of the next world. He often told his Companions that “If you had seen what I have seen (of the Life Hereafter), you certainly would have laughed little and wept much.”

The prayers and supplications of the Holy Prophet prove his unmatched devotion to Allah as the supreme end of life above all worldly considerations.

Before going to sleep each night he never failed to plead:

O Allah! Save me from the pangs of the Day of Resurrection! O Allah! In Thy Name do I die and live.⁷