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Prophet Muhammad Different Levels Of Aspiration

The Muslim society the Prophet (peace be upon him) established was a model society to the standards of which all subsequent Muslim generations aspired.

The Prophet’s companions were keenly aware of the change that occurred in their lives as a result of their adoption of Islam and implementing it. The gulf that separated their lives before and after Islam was great indeed. Hence they appreciated the meaning of a quality the Prophet indicated of true believers: that they should hate to relapse into disbelief as much as they would hate to be thrown into the fire.

However, the community that lived in that society was a community of ordinary human beings, with diverse characters and divergent interests. They experienced all the feelings and desires that motivate ordinary people. If they were prepared to work hard and go to war in support of their faith, they would certainly have preferred a comfortable and easy life. They withstood much hardship, leading a life of poverty for many years. This, however, did not change the fact that, like every one of us, they would have preferred a better standard of living. When the Battle of Hunayn was over, the Muslims gained great wealth. According to the rules Allah states in the Qur’an, one-fifth of all spoils of war go to the state. The others are equally divided among the soldiers, according to well-defined criteria. The Prophet gave a number of notables from Makkah very large gifts that made them truly rich. Until very recently, these were fighting hard to suppress Islam. Now, they were new Muslims, and indeed one or two of them were still unbelievers. Since these commanded positions of authority among their people, the Prophet wanted to purge their old hatred of Islam and to ensure that they were now committed to it

The Prophet did not give any such gifts to anyone of the Ansar, the people who never faltered in their commitment to Islam, enduring much hardship in the process. It was natural that they should feel that with such prizes available to the Prophet, they would receive their fair share. Therefore, when they realized that there was nothing coming their way, apart from their rightful shares, they complained. Their spokesman made their feelings clear to the Prophet, showing all due respect.

The Prophet spoke to the Ansar and reminded them of the great change Islam brought into their lives. They acknowledged this and expressed their gratitude to Allah and to the Prophet. He then started his own indebtedness to them, acknowledging that they gave him shelter when his own people were plotting to kill him, and they supported him against all enemies.

The Prophet then stated the situation that gave rise to their complaint, and he made the issues underlining it very clear. Those gifts went to people who knew very little about Islam so that they would feel that they would lose nothing of their material world when they accepted Islam. On the other hand, the Ansar were keenly aware of what Islam meant to them. He said: “People of the Ansar, are you aggrieved over a trifle of this world which I have given out to certain people in order to win their hearts over to Islam and left you to rely on your faith? Are you not satisfied, people of the Ansar, that other people should go to their quarters with sheep and camels while you go back to your own quarters with Allah’s Messenger? By Him who holds Muhammad’s soul in His hand, had it not been for my emigration I would have been one of the Ansar. If all people went one way and the Ansar went another way, I would take the way of the Ansar. My Lord, shower your mercy on the Ansar, and the Ansar’s children and the children of their children.”

– By NAUSHAD SHAMIM AL-HAQ

Hadith Affecting The Emotions

Sahih Bukhari Hadith

1. Health and leisure

Hadith 8.421 Narrated by Ibn Abbas (Radhiallah hu Taala anhu)
The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “There are two blessings which many people lose: (They are) health and free time for doing good.”

Hadith 8.422 Narrated by Anas (Radhiallah hu Taala anhu)
The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “O Allah! There is no life worth living except the life of the Hereafter, so (please) make righteous the Ansar and the Emigrants.”

Hadith 8.423 Narrated by Sahl bin Sad As Saidi (Radhiallah hu Taala anhu)
We were in the company of Allah’s Apostle in (the battle of) Al-Khandaq, and he was digging the trench while we were carrying the earth away. He looked at us and said, “O Allah! There is no life worth living except the life of the Hereafter, so (please) forgive the Ansar and the Emigrants.”

2. This world in contrast with the Hereafter

Hadith 8.424 Narrated by Sahl (Radhiallah hu Taala anhu)
I heard the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) saying, “A (small) place equal to an area occupied by a whip in Paradise is better than the (whole) world and whatever is in it; and an undertaking (journey) in the forenoon or in the afternoon for Allah’s Cause, is better than the whole world and whatever is in it.”

Significance Of The Sunnah

There are numerous examples set by the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) that show how emphatically they abided by the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to the extent of severing their relations with their kith and kin once they discovered someone going against the Sunnah. Let us have some examples from the lives of the great Caliphs of Islam followed by many other Companions:

Just after the death of the Prophet (peace be upon him) three major issues confronted the Muslim community. They could have left it apart and disunited, had it not been for the wise guidance of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) who settled them amicably in the light of the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The first issue was related to the appointment of the khalifah (leader of the Muslims, caliph). Assembled in Saqifat Bani Sa’idah, a great number of Muhajirun (those who emigrated from Makkah to Madina) and Ansar (those who helped the emigrants from Makkah) originally had been busy arguing this issue. The Ansar proposed that the leader should be appointed from both of the above communities. The Noble Companion Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) cited the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him ): “Leaders (imams) should be from Quraysh (the tribe of Prophet Muhammad) as long as they have the understanding (of the religion).” The Ansar conceded to this quietly. The great Companion Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) proposed the name of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) as the khalifah, which was accepted unanimously by those present there and later followed by all the inhabitants of Madina through the oath of allegiance.

The second issue was related to the place where the Prophet (peace be upon him) should be buried. Again the Companion Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) cited the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him ): “A Prophet is to be buried where he breathes his last.” Accordingly, his burial took place in the apartment of his wife, the Mother of the Faithful Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her), in which he died.

The third issue was related to the inheritance of the Prophet (peace be upon him) as raised by his daughter Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) who came to the Caliph Abu Bakr asking for her share. Abu Bakr replied by reminding her of the saying of the Prophet: “We, the community of the prophets, are not inherited from; whatever we leave behind us is a charity.” Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) did not argue further, but retired quietly.

Caliph Uthman (Allah be pleased with him) once agreed to buy a piece of land from a person. On the completion of the verbal agreement, he asked the man to collect the money the following day. But the man turned up after a few days, only to renounce the agreement. He had changed his mind because his friends had blamed him for selling the land at a low price. Uthman could have been adamant about the sale, particularly when it had been agreed upon completely. But he remembered the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him), which admired a person who treated the people easily and wholeheartedly in his sales deals. So, Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) preferred to concede to the man’s wish without raising any objection.

In one of his journeys, Ali (Allah be pleased with him) found a merchant hoarding a stock of grain in the hope of a good price. Ali reminded him of the saying of the Prophet “The hoarder is cursed,” and instructed his people to set the stock on fire as a punishment.

This is how the four Rightly-Guided Caliphs (may Allah be pleased with them) adhered to the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Let us have some more examples from the lives of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them all).

Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) heard a man saying after a sneeze , “Al-hamdu lillah wa as-salatu wa as-salamu ala Rasuli Allah.” Ibn Mas’ud said to him, “Whatever you have said is true, but that is not the way that the Prophet has taught us. He instructed us to say simply Al-hamdulillah‚ after sneezing.”

It would be appropriate to remind all Muslims about this Sunnah, which is commonly abandoned by a great number of them. Say “Al-hamdu lillah” whenever you sneeze. If you hear someone saying this after sneezing, say to him “yarhamukumu Allah” (may Allah have mercy upon you). The sneezer should pray for you as well by saying “Yahdikum Allah wa yuslihu balakum” (may Allah guide you and set your affairs right). There are plenty of occasions when you should say “As-salatu wa as-salamu ala Rasuli Allah.” You should say it, for example, whenever you hear the name of our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) or whenever you enter a mosque or step out of it, adding these words respectively: “Allahumma iftah li abwaba rahmatik” (O Allah, open for me the doors of Your mercy) and “Allahumma inni as’aluka min fadlika” (O Allah, I ask You for Your bounty).

Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) used to address a gathering of Muslims on Friday eve. Once, before beginning his sermon, he said to the people , “Whoever has cut off from any of his relations should leave this place.” No one stood up. On repeating these words thrice, a young man left the place and went to his aunt whom he had deserted a long time before, and reconciled with her. Abu Hurairah said this is because he knew that all actions are presented to Allah on each Friday eve. He didn’t like his assembly of the devout to be smeared by a person who had committed the sin of deserting his relatives. By doing so, he saved a person from a major sin.

This is how the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) conducted their lives – setting sublime examples of adherence to the Sunnah.

Women Companions Of Prophet Umm Al-Dahdah: Islamic Values In Action

Among the most important values Islam implants in the minds of its followers are those that formulate the Islamic perception of our present life. Islam makes clear that this life is a test. If we pass this test, then we are ushered into a life of pure happiness in the hereafter.

Those of us who fail the test sink into perpetual misery. While Islam wants us to work hard in order to build a high standard of life worthy of man, the creature, God has placed in charge of earth, it also aims to give us the right perspective, viewing this life and all that it offers as transitory. Hence, all possessions and life itself can be sacrificed for a higher goal.

Umm Al-Dahdah and her husband and family were among the early Muslims from Madinah. After Islam began to establish itself in Madinah, the Prophet (peace be upon him) sent his companion, Musab ibn Umair, to teach the new Muslim converts there the Qur’an and how to lead an Islamic life. Among the first people to convert to Islam at the time was Thabit ibn Al-Dahdah, his wife Umm Al-Dahdah and their entire family.

When the Prophet immigrated to Madinah with his companions from Makkah, the process of learning about Islam among the Ansar took a much faster pace. The people there tried to catch up with their brethren from Makkah in understanding Islamic principles and putting them into effect.

Thabit read the Qur’anic verse that says: “Who will offer God a generous loan, which He will repay in multiples and will generously reward him?” (57: 11) He said to the Prophet: “How come God asks us for a loan when He is in no need for anyone?” The Prophet said: “He wants it so that He will admit you to heaven in return.”

Thabit said: “If I give a loan to my Lord, will He guarantee me heaven as well as to my children?” The Prophet said that it was so. Thabit said: “Give me your hand. I have two orchards: one in the highland and one in the lowland. I have no other possession. I am making them both a loan to God.”

The Prophet said: “Make one of them for God and hold on to the other for your family’s living.” Thabit said: “Then be my witness that I am making the better one for God. It is an orchard that contains 600 date trees.” The Prophet said: “Then God will reward you for it with admission into heaven.”

What Thabit did was exceptional by any standard. Yet what was his wife’s attitude? We can imagine any woman’s reaction when her husband tells her that he donated half his property to a noble cause. She would naturally think of the effect of such donation on her children’s lives. Yet Umm Al-Dahdah said to her husband: “You have done a profitable deal.”

She immediately gathered her children who were in that orchard, emptied their pockets of any dates they had gathered, and even took whatever was in their hands. She told them that that orchard no longer belonged to them.

In the Battle of Uhud, when Muslims were in chaos, Thabit was one of the few who remained steadfast. He gathered a group of the Ansar fighters around him and fought hard to repel the unbelievers’ attack. They were heavily outnumbered by enemy forces.

He was one of the Muslim martyrs. When the news of his death was broken to his wife, she did not lament, because she knew that a martyr remains alive in heaven. She was keen to know that the Prophet was safe. When she saw him, she said: “Any tragedy is light, as long as you are safe.”

We see her attitude toward sacrificing life and property. In both cases she was exemplary, demonstrating that Islamic values were deeply rooted in her heart.

Recognizing People’s Qualities

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) valued all his companions recognizing that they were people of honesty, integrity and good judgment. Had they been otherwise, they would not have defied the world around them by accepting Islam. They were the ones who stood by his side, supporting him in all situations. Those who joined his call in its early days earned an even higher position of distinction. The Prophet was very loyal to all his companions, but those who were quick to respond to his call claimed a greater share of his love. One of these was Zayd ibn Harithah.

When he was still a child, Zayd was kidnapped from his tribe’s quarters by some attacking group, and sold as a young slave. He was sold by one master after another, until he was taken by an uncle of Khadeejah, who was to become the Prophet’s first wife. This took place long before he started to receive God’s revelations. Khadeejah was given Zayd as a gift by her uncle, and she gifted him again to her husband, Muhammad, after she married him. Zayd’s father learned of his son’s whereabouts and came to Makkah to buy him back. When he offered this to Muhammad, the Prophet made a counteroffer of giving him Zayd back for free, if Zayd wished to go back with him. But when offered the choice, Zayd opted for staying with his master, Muhammad. His father was amazed, but he told him that he had seen certain qualities of Muhammad that made him unwilling to change his situation with him for any other. Impressed, the Prophet announced his adoption of Zayd as his own son. Zayd’s real father was happy with this arrangement and left Makkah to go back home. Zayd was a favorite of the Prophet, and reciprocated his feelings. Later, when Islamic revelations started, he was, according to some authentic reports, the first man to embrace Islam. He continued to be called as Zayd ibn Muhammad until the prohibition of adoption, at which point he reverted to his original name.

Aishah, the Prophet’s wife, reports: “Zayd ibn Harithah arrived back in Madinah when the Prophet was in my home. He came over and knocked. The Prophet immediately got up to open, putting on his robes, as he was undressed. By God, I never saw him undressed before or after this incident. He embraced Zayd and kissed him.” (Related by al-Tirmidhi and al-Baghawi.)

What Was So Special About Him

Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We were sitting in the presence of Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) one day, and he said, “A person is about to arrive from this mountain path who is from the people of Paradise.”

So a person from the Ansar arrived, his beard dripping with water from wudhu and his left hand carrying his sandals. He greeted us with salaams.

The second and the third day too the Prophet (peace be upon him) said similar words and the
same man appeared in the same condition.

Abdullah Bin Amr Bin Al-Aas followed the man sought his permission to stay with him for three days .

So Abdullah spent three nights with this person. But he did not see him stand up for the night prayer at all! All he did was, mention Allah and make takbeer when he turned sides on his bed. He would do this till he stood up for the Fajr prayer.

However, Abdullah said, “I never heard him speak anything except good.”

So when the three days were over, Abdullah told the man, “O, servant of Allah! I heard Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) saying on three occasions, ‘A person is about to arrive who is from the people of Paradise,’ and you arrived on those three occasions.

But I have not seen you perform a great deal of deeds, so what is it that made the Prophet (peace be upon him) say that about you?” He replied, “I do not harbor disloyalty to any of the Muslims within me, and neither do I feel jealous for the wealth that Allah has bestowed upon them.”

Abdullah said, “This is what has (made you special) and it’s something we cannot endure.” (Musnad Ahmad – Hasan)

His Longtime Servant

In Makkah the home life of the Prophet (peace be upon him) was generally comfortable, because his wife ensured that he had all what he wanted. She was rich and conducted her own trade, sending her merchandise with the traditional trade caravans the Quraysh used to send in summer and winter to Syria and Yemen. When he emigrated to Madinah, he was not accompanied by any servant. Khadeejah had died three years earlier, and the Prophet traveled with only his close companion, Abu Bakr. For the first few months after arriving in Madinah, the Prophet stayed in Abu Ayyub’s home, where he was served by people around him. He never asked any of them for anything.

One of the Ansars, the Prophet’s companion from Madinah, felt that the Prophet needed a personal servant. He took his stepson, Anas ibn Malik, to the Prophet and told him: “Messenger of God! Anas is an intelligent lad. Let him serve you.” The Prophet accepted. This was the beginning of a 10-year association for Anas, who was then only 10 or 12 years of age. Anas accompanied the Prophet to the last day of his blessed life, realizing that he could not have hoped for a better position. The Prophet’s household was such that no servant was at the receiving end of any abuse, physical or verbal.

As a young lad, Anas could be excused if at times he was negligent of what was assigned to him. The Prophet once sent him on an errand, but on the way, he saw some of his friends playing. Joining them was so attractive, and the boy could not resist. He forgot his errand and was fully engaged in the play. Sometime later, he felt someone pulling him by his robe. Turning back, he saw the Prophet beaming with a smile. He told him endearingly: ‘Unays! (This is a short form of Anas) Go where I sent you.’ That was all the rebuke Anas received on this occasion. We can imagine how masters react if they see a servant playing in the street instead of attending to the business they are told to do. Yet the Prophet just smiled and told Anas to do what he was told.

This was the Prophet’s attitude throughout his life, with all those who served him. Anas reports: “I served the Prophet (peace be upon him) for ten years, on his journeys and at home. He never said to me as much as ‘Ugh!’ He never said about something I did, why I did so, nor did he ever say anything I left undone, why I did not do it. Never did he say to me that I did something badly, nor did he ever criticize anything I did. If I slackened in doing what he ordered, he never reproached me. If anyone of his family criticized me, he would tell them: ‘Leave him alone. Had it been possible for that thing to happen, it would have happened.'” (Related by Al-Bukhari and Muslim).