Prophet Muhammad: Religiously resilient, Inclusive, Contributive, Adaptive and Progressive (Part1)

These are values which will guide us to become the Prophet’s ummah that serves as a model community.

To Be Religiously Resilient

Throughout the twenty-three years of his mission, the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) sought the way to spiritual freedom and liberation.

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.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) 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.

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, and dialogue with God, and the Most Gentle’s protection. (pgs. 211-212)

He was beloved by God and an example among humans. He prayed, he contemplated.  He love, he gave. He served, he transformed. The Prophet was the light that leads to Light, and in learning from his life, believers return to the Source of Life and find His light, His warmth, and His love. The

Messenger may have left the human world, but he has taught us never to forget Him, the Supreme Refuge, the Witness, the Most Near.

Bearing witness that there is no god but God is, in effect, stepping toward deep and authentic freedom; recognizing the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as the Messenger is essentially learning to love him in his absence and to love Him in His presence. Loving, and learning to love: God, the Prophet, the creation, and humankind. (pg 216)

To Be Religiously Resilient Through A Profound Relationship with The Creator

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) hated to let his Companions nurture a pointless feeling of guilt. He kept telling them that they must never stop conversing with the One, the Most Kind, the Most Merciful, who welcomes everyone in His grace and benevolence and who loves the sincerity of hearts that regret their misdeeds and return to Him.

This is the profound meaning of at-tawbah, offered to everyone: sincerely returning to God after a slip, a mistake, a sin. God loves that sincere return to Him and He forgives and purifies. The Prophet himself exemplified that in many circumstances. (pg 113)

The Prophet went to the town of Taif and spoke to the leaders of the Thaqif tribe, hoping that they would hear the message of Islam and agree to protect the Muslims from their enemies.

He met with a very cold reception, however, and the chiefs mocked his claim to be a prophet.

Alone, having found no protection among his fellow human beings, he turned toward the

One and prayed:

“O God, to You Alone I complain of my weakness, the meagerness of my resources and my insignificance before men.

O Most Merciful of the Merciful, You are the Lord of the weak and You are my Lord [Rabb, “Educator”]. Into whose hands do You entrust me? To some remote stranger who will ill-treat me? Or to an enemy to whom You have granted authority over my affairs? I harbor no fear so long as You are not angry with me.

Yet Your gracious support would open a broader way and a wider horizon for me! I seek refuge in the light of Your face, by which all darkness is illuminated and the things of this world and the next are set alright, so that I do not incur Your anger and am not touched by Your wrath. Nevertheless, it is Your prerogative to admonish as long as You are not satisfied. There is no power nor strength but in You.” (pgs. 68- 69)

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) remained mindful to the small details of life and of the expectations of those around him, constantly allying rigor and the generosity of fraternity and forgiveness.

His Companions 4 and his wives saw him pray for hours during the night, away from the others, alone with the whispered prayers and invocations that nurtured his dialogue with the One. Aishah, his wife, was impressed and surprised: “Don’t you take on too much [worship] while God has already forgiven all your past and future sins?” The Prophet answered: “How could I but be a thankful servant?”

He did not demand of his Companions the worship, fasting, and meditations that he exacted of himself. (pg 111)

To Be Religiously Resilient Through A Loving Relationship with Others

In order to tighten the bonds between Muslims, and in particular between those Muslims who were from Medina (the Ansar) and those who had emigrated from Mecca (the Muhajirun), the Prophet decided to set up a formal pact of brotherhood (al-muakhah) between the Muslims.

This meant that each Muhajir was bound by a pact to an Ansar, who was to help him settle down, share his belongings with him, and enable him to live in Medina in the best possible circumstances.

This pact was to provide the new Muslim community settled in Medina with particular strength and unity. Extremely deep relationships were created between believers who were later to attest to the intensity of their mutual love in God.

Those bonds constituted the Muslim community’s spiritual and social strength, and in this lay the secret of their success before God and among men: faith in God, love for parents, fraternity among people, and ethics at the service of the universe and of all beings. (Pgs 92-93)

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 peopled of Medina and the Meccans 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.

One of them, al-Aqra ibn Habis, expressed his shock and said: “I have ten children and I have never kissed any one of them!” The Prophet answered: “He who is not generous [loving, benevolent], God is not generous [loving, benevolent] to him.” (Pg 118)

The Messenger (peace be upon him) loved children, with their innocence, gentleness, and ability to be present in the moment. Close to God, close to his own heart, he remained attentive to those who primarily understood the heart’s language. He kissed them, carried them on his shoulders, and played with them, reaching toward their innocence, which is in its essence the expression of a permanent prayer to God.

The Messenger, moreover, drew from children his sense of play and innocence; from them he learned to look at people and the world around him with wonder.

From watching children experience beauty he also more fully developed his sense of aesthetics: in front of beauty, he wept, he was moved, he  sometimes sobbed, and he was often filled with well-being by the poetic musicality of a phrase or by the spiritual call of a verse offered by the Most Generous, the Infinitely Beautiful. (pg 213-214)

(With slight changes: Continued)