Why the Life of the Prophet SAW as the only Model?

Dr. Syed Hasanuddin Ahmad

Peoria, Illinois

Allah SWT says that:

Indeed, for you in the (life of) Messenger of Allah is a good model (Al-Ahzab 33: 21).

This implies that people should follow the teachings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in their lives. Now, why should people follow only him? After all it was Allah Subhana-ho-Wa-Ta’la Himself who had sent all other messengers, and reformers in this world to guide the mankind to the right path. Everybody knows that Noah AS (alai-his-salam), Abraham AS, Isaac AS, Joseph AS, Moses AS, and Jesus AS were of high status prophets. Besides these prophets, there were well known reformers such as Zoroaster, Buddha, and Krishna, etc. All came to lead man to salvation. Why then, should one adopt the model of the last Prophet only? This is a very important question! To answer this, we have to study the life histories of all of them.

The first four prophets, whom we have mentioned above, are Noah AS, Abraham AS, Isaac AS, and Joseph AS. Where do we get their life histories? They are mentioned either in Old Testament or in the Qur’an, but how much? If we collect all these information in one place, they would not fill but only a few pages. Thus, does such a little information suffice to lead us in this life? Peoples of wisdom and understanding will certainly give an answer in negative.

Let us now review a little bit the available biographies of the Israelite prophets and scholars. The real Torah was lost when the enemies of Israelites destroyed Jerusalem six hundred years before the Christ. Since then the original book is unavailable. The Prophet Ezra AS wrote a biography of Moses AS in the year around 500 BC relying entirely on his memory and the sayings of the people. Similarly, the Psalms of David AS were collected five hundred years after his death. Even then, poems of other poets were also included in them. Later on the originals of both these books got lost. Only Greek translations were available.

The Dead Sea scrolls were written two hundred years before Jesus AS. These are nothing but a few parts of whatever Torah was prevalent at that time. Thus these can not throw light on the biographies of either Moses AS or Jesus AS. Moreover, all these books and scrolls were translated in Latin during the second and third centuries after the Christ.

As original books were not available, the sayings and the ideas of the peoples of the time were collected much later in the form of books. For example, Son of Simon compiled a book called ‘Mishnah’ in the third century after the Christ. In the same century, the Jewish scholars of Palestine wrote a commentary, called ‘Halakah’, on Torah. However, in the fifth century after the Christ, the Jewish scholars of Babel wrote ‘Haggada’. Then all these three books were compiled into one called ‘Talmud’. It is, therefore, very clear that all these books were written much later than the times of the prophets, and were based on hearsay and ideas of the people. How, then, can the biographies written in such books be accepted as reliable and authentic, and then used as models for the mankind?

Let us now have a look on the available biography and the messages of Jesus AS. The Prophet Jesus AS always addressed to his disciples orally. He neither gave them any written material nor ever asked them to write those down. Even his disciples communicated his messages and teachings orally to other peoples, and included his actions as well. No writing in his native Assyrian language, either of his time or of many hundred years after him is available. Whatever is available is in the Greek language. Even all these Greek versions were written many hundred years after him. They were later translated in Latin languages. Who translated these, and when? No answer is available. Moreover, even the translations of fourth and fifth centuries differ with each other in hundreds of places in the text. There were about seventy gospels written by different peoples. Later on only four were accepted, and the rest were rejected and banned. Why were the four accepted, and the rest discarded? No reasons were given. Moreover, after so many hundred years of Jesus AS, who got the authority, and how, to decide about these gospels? No answer is available. Now in the light of these facts, the biographies given in these books can never be accepted as reliable and authentic, and hence can not be used as models for the mankind.

Now knowing that the biographies available in unreliable books can themselves not be reliable, let us study the cases of some well-known reformers as well. The age and period of Zoroaster’s birth and life is not known. His book ‘Avasta’ is not in its original language. Even the language is now dead. The first time some parts of it were translated was in the ninth century after the Christ. It does not contain any aspect of the life of Zoroaster. Even, whatever is there has no base or authenticity.

There is no book in Buddhist religion. However, some of his sayings and history were written a hundred years after his death. Even these have no base or authenticity.

Krishna is claimed to be a prophet. His book ‘Bhagwad Geeta’ has probably some traces of divine revelation in its verses. However, the character of Krishna has been very badly tarnished by his followers themselves. He has been termed as a thief of butter from dairy merchants. It is said that he used to chase milkmaids. He is portrayed as having love affairs with a milkmaid Radha. All these show that his biography can not be a model of good deeds as well.

We have seen that the biographies of all these prophets and reformers are not reliable. Moreover, there are no such means available by which one can now get their true and reliable biographies as well. On the other hand, a detailed and true picture of the life of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) has reached us by reliable, safe and authentic means. Let us look into the reliability and authenticity of his life details.

The Qur’an and the ahadith both shed lights in details on his life. Both of these sources of knowledge are reliable, safe and authentic. There is nothing in the Qur’an and ahadith which do not appeal to common sense, and wisdom of a man. We shall first study the reliability and authenticity of the Qur’an, and then the ahadith.

Allah SWT has himself said in the Qur’an that

“We have sent down the Remembrance, and indeed We are its Guard” (Al-Hijr 15: 9).

Let us now see how the Qur’an was safe- guarded. Whenever a verse was revealed to the Prophet (peace be upon him), he would dictate it to his scribe to write it down. He would also tell him the place of insertion in the Qur’an. He would then ask the scribe to read it to him. He would thus confirm that the verse had been correctly written, and also in the right place. Moreover, he would ask his companions to memorize them in order to recite them in salats. Thus along with the writing, the verses were saved in the memories of his companions as well. During a battle, a lot of those companions, who had memorized the Qur’an, were martyred. A danger was then felt that the Qur’an might get lost due to martyrdom or deaths of a large number of people who had memorized the Qur’an. It was also feared that in future differences of opinions on the text and its order might develop. Thus on the proposal of Hazrat Umar RA (Razi Allaho ta’la unho), Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq RA, who was the Caliph, asked Hazrat Zaid Bin Sabit to collect different parts of the Qur’an and compile them in order in a book. A committee, under his chairmanship, then collected all the available parts. Two witnesses were taken on every verse and its order in the text to authenticate it. Thus an authenticated book was prepared, and then presented to the Caliph, who at the time of his death gave it to the second Caliph Hazrat Umar RA. The second Caliph then at the time of his assassination entrusted his daughter Hazrat Hafsa RA, a mother of the believers, to preserve this book. Later on, during his reign, the third Caliph Hazrat Usman RA got its copies made and authenticated. He then distributed those copies to different provinces of the Islamic State. One of his copies is still preserved in the Topkapi Museum of Istanbul, Turkey. Our copies of the Qur’an are exactly the same, word by word and in the same order, as the one in the museum. Any other version, either found from old pieces or written in future will never be accepted as the Qur’an. Moreover, its language is very much alive. There are hundreds of millions of people in this world who speak its language.

Let us now look into the reliability and authenticity of sayings and deeds of the Prophet (peace be upon him). The Prophet (peace be upon him) himself got some of his commands and letters to different peoples written down He gave several written directives and advices to his generals and governors. It is said that at least six companions wrote about him, read to him and got his approval. Even after him, there were at least fifty companions who wrote about him. These included such famous and reliable peoples as Hazrat Umar RA, Hazrat Ali RA, Hazrat Abdullah Bin Masud RA, Hazrat Abdullah Bin Abbas RA, Hazrat Abdullah Bin Umar RA, Hazrat Abu Hurairah RA, etc. The number of those who narrated orally goes up to a hundred thousand. Every narrator had to tell the people his source of information. In order to accept an information, the narrators chain must connect to the Prophet (peace be upon him). If in the chain a narrator was found weak in memory, or character, or unreliable, the information was rejected as unreliable. This investigation in the character and qualities of narrators gave rise to a new art of literature i. e. the Biography.

The Qur’an and the biography of the Prophet (peace be upon him), which have reached to us by the reliable and authentic means, have shed lights on every aspect of his life. Thus, through these two reliable, safe and authentic sources, we fully know what he said and did on every aspect of his life- may that be relatives or neighbors; training or dawah; patience or penalty; good treatments to family or friends; military expeditions or governmental affairs; sales or purchase; gifts or guests; food, worship or amusement; travelling or resting; etc. There is nothing hidden, or non-human in his life. His life was like a lamp, spreading light all around. Even his most critical non-Muslim opponents, such as Hart and Hart, have admitted that he was the greatest of all men ever born on this earth in every respect. Indeed, the life of the greatest man ever born on this planet can be the only good model for the entire mankind. May Allah help us in leading our lives on the model of the Prophet SAW! Amen!