The Messenger of God (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) was the mildest of men, but also the bravest and most just of men. He was the most restrained of people; never touching the hand of a woman with whom he did not have direct familial ties. He was the most generous of men, so that never did a gold or silver coin spend the night in his house. If something remained at the end of the day, because he had not found someone to give it to, and night descended, he would go out, and not return home until he had given it to someone in need. From what God gave him [...] he would take only the simplest and easiest foods: dates and barley, giving anything else away in the path of God. Never did he refuse a gift for which he was asked to accept. He used to mend his own sandals, and patch his own clothes, and serve his family, and help them to cut meat. He was the shyest of men, so that his gaze would never remain long in the face of anyone else. He would accept anyone's invitation, and accept a gift, even if it were no more than a gulp of milk, or a small piece of meat, and he would offer something in return. He never consumed anything given in charity (sadaqah). He was not too proud to reply to even a pauper in rags.
He used to bind a stone around his waist out of hunger. He would eat what was brought, and would not refuse any permissible food. If there were dates without bread, he would eat, if there was roast meat, he would eat; if there was rough barley bread, he would eat it; if there was honey or something sweet, he would eat it; if there was only yogurt without even bread, he would be quite satisfied with that. He never allowed himself to be sated, even with barley-bread, for three consecutive days, until the day he met his Lord, this was not because of poverty, but because he always preferred others over himself.
He would attend weddings, visit the sick, and attend funerals, and would often walk among his enemies without a guard. He was the most humble of men, and the most serene, without arrogance. He was the most eloquent of men, without ever speaking for too long. He was the most cheerful of men. He was afraid of nothing in this worldly life (dunya). He would wear a rough Yemeni cloak, or a woolen tunic; whatever was lawful and was to hand, that he would wear. He would ride whatever was available: sometimes a horse, sometimes a camel, sometimes a mule, sometimes a donkey. And at times he would walk barefoot, without a turban or a cap. He would visit the sick even if they were in the furthest part of the city. He loved perfumes, and disliked foul smells.
He maintained affectionate and loyal ties with his relatives, but without preferring them to anyone who was superior to them. He never snubbed anyone. He accepted the excuse of anyone who made an excuse. He would joke, but would never say anything that was not true. He would laugh, but not uproariously. He would watch permissible games and sports, and would not criticize them. He ran races with his wife Ayesha. Voices would be raised around him, and he would be patient. He kept a sheep, from which he would draw milk for his family. He would walk in the fields of his companions. He never despised any pauper for his poverty or illness; neither did he hold any king in awe simply because he was a king. He would call rich and poor to God, without distinction.
In him, God combined all noble traits of character; although he neither read nor wrote, having grown up in a land of ignorance and deserts in poverty, as a shepherd, and as an orphan with neither father nor mother. But God Himself taught him all the excellent qualities of character and praiseworthy ways. He informed him of the stories of the early and later prophets and showed him the way to salvation and triumph in the Hereafter. He lead him to joy and detachment in this worldly life and detailed to him how to hold fast to duty and to avoid the unnecessary. May God's peace and blessings be upon him.
This moving portrait, closely based on the writings of Imam al-Ghazali, depicts our role model, and simultaneously our ideal of humanity lived in the form of absolute beauty. His was a life lived in fullness. There was no aspect of human perfection that he did not know and manifest.
In under 23 years he became undisputed ruler of Arabia. Through his genius and charisma, and the attractive force of his personality, he united the Arabian tribes for the first time in their history. He took his people from the depths of idolatry into the purest form of monotheism. He gave them a law for the first time. He laid down, in his mosque in Madina, a system of worship, self-restraint and spiritual fruitfulness that provided the inspiration and the precedent for countless generations of later worshippers and people of piety. In affirming the Ka'bah (the House of God in Mecca), he affirmed beauty; so that all else that he did was beautiful.
And in all this, he attributed his success only to God. He was, as Imam al-Ghazali records, the most humble of men. He was forbearing, polite, courteous, and mild. He paid no attention to people's outward form, but assessed and responded to their spirits. He forgave constantly. He was indulgent with the simple Bedouin of Central Arabia, the roughest people on earth. When one of them who wanted money pulled his cloak so violently that it left a mark, he merely smiled, and ordered that the man be given what he wanted.
All of this came about through his detachment. The veil of self and distraction was gone: he saw by the Truth. He knew his own prophetic status, but was not made proud by this. He said: 'I am the first around whom the earth shall split open at the Resurrection - and I do not boast'. He knew his worth, but because he knew his Lord, he was not proud.
His way (his sunnah) entailed living in the world, not running away from it. After the overwhelming experience of revelation on Mount Hira, facing the Ka'bah, he went down again into Meccan society. He had his solitary times with his Lord, in the long watches of the night, forms of tahajjud (night worship) so long and exacting that he forbade his companions to imitate him. He fasted in rigorous ways that he would not allow to others. He was detached, and yet in his world, and, in the end, commanding his world. He was truly the khalifa: the one who has no ego, and hence speaks, and acts, and rules, by and for God alone.
|
|