THE BEST MODEL
I do have extraordinary reverence for Islam and I want to pen down my impressions about this great religion, with a hope that readers too would ponder over them.
These days the pioneers of religions are, generally, taken as conservative and dogmatic, but my own study led me to the conclusion that they were revolutionary leaders of their times. They voiced their dislike for the evil customs of their age.
The Shankaracharya who took up the task of reforming the Hindu or the Vedic religion was a revolutionary. In the world where one meaning of ‘Veda’ was ‘to conceal’, Ramanujan, who gave the call ‘Veda for all’ was also a revolutionary. Christ was also a revolutionary who raised his voice against the heathen customs and belief of the age. Thus, the history of religion provides ample proof that the leading religious personalities were no conservatives but revolutionaries in their own right.
I can fearlessly proclaim that the greatest of all of these revolutionaries was Muhammad (Peace be upon him). The revolutionaries, other than Muhammad (PBUH), acquired knowledge and wisdom in someone’s company, through their parents or in family environment, but in the case of Muhammad (PBUH) we come across a totally different situation. His father, Abdullah, died before his birth. He lost his mother when he was only six. She died while on a journey, along with her only son, to the tomb of her dead husband. The young boy, who did not see the face of his father, lost his mother at such an early age. As if it was not enough, two years later he lost his guardian grandfather too, when only eight. Deprivations followed him. Father, mother and grandfather passed away in quick succession. Muhammad (PBUH) stood alone.
The man who was going to bring humanity close to the benignity of Allah stood alone bereft of all mundane support. At this stage his only supporter was his uncle, Abu Talib, who was himself a man of modest means. The deprivations of such a child can be truly gauged only by those who have experienced the misfortune of losing their parents at such an early stage.
And it was through this deprived orphan that the world was to receive the bonanza of Islam. It is an astonishing reality that the message of that orphan spread like wild-fire, from Spain to China- from one corner of the earth to the other. The only driving force behind it was the personality of the Prophet, pious to the extreme and free of all blemishes.
We can, then, justly conclude that Muhammad (PBUH) is the finest model for humanity.
Muhammad’s life (PBUH) is the finest example for the entire humankind from beginning to end. The early life of many leaders and clerics was blemished but the life of the Prophet remained clean and spotless from the very beginning.
After the death of his grandfather he was under the guardianship of his uncle, Abu Talib. Financially, Abu Talib was not sound. So, to ease his uncle’s financial strain he worked as goat-herd to earn some wages.
Muhammad (PBUH)
- My Prophet, my guide.
- The man sent by Allah to show mankind the right path.
- The man who brought wisdom and good sense to the Arabs.
- The man who defeated the super power of Rum.
- The great leader who sacrifices his all for Islam and its followers.
- The king of kings.
Worked as a goat-herd! What hardships he faced! Our eyes brim with tears when we think of the sufferings he underwent.
Muslims are definitely fortunate to have as their leader such a man of immense qualities. He who in his childhood worked as a goat-herd to earn his livelihood. He who accompanied his uncle on distant trade tours at the tender age of twelve.
His family was not the only beneficiary of his trade tours. He took with himself goods of other poor and weak women also to earn some profit for them. He was always mindful of and helpful to the weak and the oppressed. “I am going to market, can I bring anything for you,” he was in the habit of saying this to his needy neighbours. He brought for them their requirements form the market.
He actively participated in the treaty of Hilful Fazool meant for the help of the oppressed people.
His life was an example of truth. He always kept his promises. Once a person asked him to wait at a certain place and went with the promise to return shortly. He forgot what he said, but Muhammad stayed there for three consecutive days. The man, by chance, passed that way and found him waiting there. Fully ashamed he asked : “Are you waiting here for the last three days?”
Muhammad softly said: “You told me to wait here.”
That is how he was nicknamed Sadiq and Ameen(truthful and Trustworthy).
And this man of highest human qualities Lady Khadeeja selected as her life partner. Khadeeja was surely very fortunate. She had twice borne the burden of widowhood befo re marrying Muhammad(PBUH). She was fifteen years older to him. Khadeeja gave birth to Qasim, Abdullah (Tahir), Zainab, Roqaiya, Umme Kulsum and Fatima. The two sons Qasim and Abdullah died in infancy.
As he gained economic self sufficiency after marriage, Muhammad’s (PBUH) only concern was reformation of the humanity.
He discharged his household responsibilities and simultaneously called upon the people to Islam and virtuous life and was the only Prophet who fulfilled all his responsibilities so competently.
- Goutam Buddha turned ascetic.
- Shankaracharya did not marry.
- Christ was also unmarried.
- a lot of other religious leaders were unmarried, ascetic and Brahmacharys.
But we see the last Prophet accomplishing his duties with amazing success; at home and in the society, carrying all the burden of his movement for the establishment of Islam. His family and social life was equally exemplary.
The people of Makka called him truthful and trustworthy but vehemently opposed him when he called them towards Islam.
No one in the history of religion was so vehemently opposed for disseminating his message. This raises a question: What was in his message?
What Muhammad (PBUH) said was not spoken by any other revolutionary ever. He prohibited idols, statues and pictures. This was his teaching fourteen hundreds years ago. He did not do just verbal service, but actually eliminated idol-worship in the true iconoclastic manner.
Here in Tamil Nadu we consider EVR (E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker) a true revolutinary because he not only condemned idol-worship but he really broke idols. Muhammad (PBUH) did it centuries ago. Reciting the Quranic verse:
Truth has arrived and
Falsehood perished; for Falsehood
Is (by its nature) bound to perish (17:81),
he removed the idols form Ka’aba.
Id-ul Azha is one of the two biggest festivals of Muslims all over the world. What is the significance of this festival? It is celebrated in memory of the sacrifice of Ismail by his father Abraham, in the way of Allah. Idols of Abraham and Ismail were also in Ka’aba. Muhammad (PBUH) ordered to celebrate the occasion of that great sacrifice and thus immortalised it, but along with other idols he removed the idols of Abraham and Ismail also. Can we imagine of a greater revolutionary step? Moreover, such a step was taken in a country which was sunk in ignorance and indulged heavily in idol-worship. Communism rule over Russia and atheism officially prevails, but no one dares to remove the idols of gods and goddesses there.
Here in Tamil Nadu poets have hoped for the dawn when all idols would be demolished. But we see that all the nooks and corners are full of idols and statues. A courageous step to remove the idols form Ka’aba was taken fourteen hundred years ago.
To stand up in one’s own land against the idols worshipped by one’s own people and their forefathers was an exceptionally daring step. Such a revolutionary task, in history, was performed by Muhammad (PBUH). Today people make tall claims about their progressive thinking and present atheism in support of their progressivism, but are still captivated by portraits, statues, and sculptures. It is sheer irony that these progressive people negate idols of gods and goddesses but make statues and portraits of their leaders and bow their heads before them. They remove pictures and idols of gods but replace them by statues and busts of persons of their own choice. Be it a statue, bust or portrait, all symbolise man’s weakness. The only man who warned and saved human beings from this weakness was Muhammad (PBUH), who performed this feat fourteen hundred years ago.
Today, the only movement without pictures and statues is the movement of Islam which, in fact, is based on knowledge, and faith and conviction.
Some people argue that sculpture-making promotes man’s aesthetic sense and without which aesthetic sense would die. But Muslims who practically negated idol-worship gave the world the gift of the most beautiful building. Here are the details of the grant performance of Muslims after they freed the imagination from the shackles of pictures and sculptures.
1. The present digits in arithmetic.
2. Algebra formulated and developed.
3. Architectural excellence achieved in constructing beautiful mosques and buildings.
4. Un-matched caligraphy.
5. Producing silver nitrate and Sulphuric acid in the field of chemistry.
6. In medical science:
(i) Book on surgery by Farabi.
(ii) Al-Qanun by Ibn-e-sina(Avicenna).
(iii) Kitab-al-Maalki by Ali ibn Abbas.
In poetry flows an ocean of rare lofty and beautiful ideas form Mutabanna (an Arab poet) to Iqbal. And in literature we have a lasting treasure of stories like Alaf-Laila and Laila-Majnoon.
Had any other nation performed such a grand task?
‘Not to that extent’ is the only answer.
Moreover, one distinguishing feature is that the followers of these revolutionary teachings rose from a barren desert and still gave to the world such a sublime aesthetic taste.
Yes, all this was done by the teachings of an unlettered man who took humanity to the heights of greatness.