Muhammad, The Man of All Time Foreword God Almighty created man to attain what he deserves as the flagship of creation, which is "happiness," by completing the phases of perfection based on man’s pure nature and employing common sense and the guidance of His chosen prophets. The Lord of the Worlds chose His apostles from among the best people to be "beacons" and “guides” who can bring people to the pinnacle of humanity, dignity, perfection, and happiness, according to history. Among the messengers of God were blessed beings who were superior in conveying God’s message. That made their names recorded in the world’s history. Noah, for instance, was given a long life and taken to the shore of safety along with his followers to serve as a lesson to people of all ages. In another age and time, God Almighty raised Abraham and made him the route of guidance to mankind. Moses was sent by God Most High at another time and given stunning divine miracles to help humans achieve perfection. Then God Almighty delivered Jesus to the world, with all his magnificent miracles and signs to be the continuation of the path of the truth. PEACE BE UPON THEM ALL The Last Chosen Prophet of God The last Prophet who became the flag bearer of human guidance was Muhammad who was famous among the people for 40 years for his trustworthiness, kindness, morality, chastity, honesty, good mood, chivalry, grace and other decent virtues even before being appointed as God’s messenger. It was just prior to his prophethood that he summoned the people of Quraysh, the elite tribe he belonged to, to the foot of a mountain saying: "Would you believe me if I told you the enemy has set an ambush for you behind this hill?" Everyone, including those who would soon become his enemies, agreed that they would believe him; because Muhammad (PBUH) was known for his honesty and trustworthiness among them even then. Thus he was assigned as a Prophet by God. Muhammad’s heart was larger than his whole being and he received divine revelation through it. Quran was his greatest, ultimate and perpetual divine miracle; in view of the fact that, he was the seal of the prophets and the scope of his invitation was worldwide. He carried out his God-given mission with the help of God Almighty and guided people in the best way by confirming the mission of the prophets and the previous divine chosen ones as commanded by his Lord: “The Apostle and the faithful have faith in what has been sent down to him from his Lord. Each [of them] has faith in Allah, His angels, His scriptures and His apostles. [They declare,] ‘We make no distinction between any of His apostles.’ And they say, ‘We hear and obey. Our Lord, forgive us, and toward You is the return.’” (Quran, 2:285) Like other prophets of God, the important task of the Prophet Muhammad was to invite people to the truth, reality, and a holy struggle in the way of God's call. The holy Prophet (PBUH) never became apprehensive over the dark world of his time. He did not panic, whether on that day when he was alone in Mecca or with a small gathering of Muslims that had surrounded him or when he faced the arrogant Arab leaders, the noble dignitaries of Quraysh, and the stubborn groups with violent conducts and powerful hands, or the general public who had not been granted any comprehension. The first cells of the Islamic nation's body were built by the Prophet's mighty hands during the difficult days of Mecca; fortified pillars on which the Islamic nation's foundation had to be built: the first believers, the first of those who professed faith, and the first who had this knowledge, this bravery, this luminosity by which they were able to understand the Prophet's message and become attached to him. Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was the Beloved of Allah and was the highest manifestation of the Divine attributes. So he did not tolerate the misguidance, imperfection and torment of Allah’s servants. For that he made sacrifices and withstood every pain and suffering in his life to lead everyone. In spite of all the pains and insults, Muhammad’s enticing smile, deep and sonorous voice, frankness, exquisite dignity in his motions, and heartiness drew the admiration of everyone with whom he spoke. Modesty, patience, self-denial, and generosity, pervaded his conduct, and riveted the affections of all around him. The judgment of God’s last Prophet was clear and lucid, his courage was unparalleled, his patience was long-lasting, and his tenacity of purpose was admirable. He was such that His God admired him saying: “Indeed you possess a great character.” (Quran, 68: 4) In short, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was indisputably known to be of sound morals at a time it was rare to find honesty and trustworthiness in people. Friends and foes affirmed that Muhammad’s honesty and trustworthy nature surpassed all others. There are numerous unprecedented points in his personal and social life; however, the scope of this article merely allows for a few particular aspects of his life to be briefly discussed. Muhammad’s Flawless Personal life A practical simplicity ran through Muhammad’s life. His custom was to do everything for himself. He used to help his wives with household chores, patch his clothes, tie up the goats, and even cobble his sandals. His ordinary dress was of plain white cotton fabric, made like those of his neighbors. His appearance and simple life is beautifully described in these lines by the world-known French writer and poet, Victor Hugo: He had a high forehead, an imperial cheek, The bald eyebrow, the deep and diligent eye, The neck like the neck of a silver amphora, The air of a Noah who knows the secret of the flood. If men came to consult him, this judge Letting one affirm, the other laugh and deny, Listened in silence and spoke last. His mouth was still praying; He ate little, clutching a stone on his stomach; He busied himself milking his sheep; He sat on the floor and sewed his clothes. He fasted longer than others on fasting days, Although he lost his strength and was no longer young Regarding Muhammad’s married life, it is worth mentioning that he saw and introduced marriage a civil contract in accordance with the teachings of the Holy Quran; hence, it can be finalized only between persons who are intellectually and physically mature enough to understand and fulfill the responsibilities of such a contract. This can be further understood from the Quranic verse: “And test the orphans until they reach the age of marriage, and if you find in them rushed (maturity of intellect) release their property to them.” (4:6). It is quite clear here that the Quran knows intellectual maturity (which always falls beyond the age of puberty) as the basic indicative of arriving at the age of marriage. This brings up the rumors about the Prophet’s wife, Aisha's age. Aisha was the 17th and her sister Asma, the 19th individuals who converted to Islam during the first three years of Muhammad’s Prophetic mission. The most prominent argument is that Aisha married Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the first or second year of the Hijrah while her sister Asma was 27 or 28 years old, and since Aisha was 10 years younger than her, she must have been a 17 or 18-year-old girl when she married the Prophet. Here it is worth mentioning that, as for Muhammad’s recurrent marriages, following the Battle of Uhud (625), in which scores of male combatants died leaving unprotected widows and children, the Holy Quran had decreed Muhammad to protect the orphans of such families. It said men should never enter into multiple marriages unless they can treat wives equally. It is only then that men might take up to four wives. Despite that, Muhammad’s first marriage was to a lady named Khadija during his youth. Khadija was his one and only wife and was 15 years older than him and as long as she was alive in in spite of the fact that he lived in a society where polygamy was the norm and divorce was relatively easy. He remained faithful to her for twenty-five years, showing his loyalty and love for her, and proving that he was a man of faith and commitment. Muhammad only married another lady after her demise. He was fifty years old then. From then on, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) married each of his other wives. First of all, let us note that the usual supposition in the generally speaking modern monogamous world is that Islam institutionally encourages lustful arrangements, is rejected by Muslims themselves as an ill- informed stereotype. At the same time, Muslim feminists point out that in various cultures at different economic strata the laws of polygamy have frequently operated to the clear detriment of women. So polygamy is an uncommon occurrence in the modern Muslim world. According to the Islamic teachings, men and women are equal before God. Islam grants women divinely sanctioned inheritance, property, social, and marriage rights, including the right to reject the terms of a proposal and to initiate divorce. The American middle-class trend to include a prenuptial agreement in the marriage contract is completely acceptable in Islamic law. In Islam's early period, women were professionals and property owners, as many are today. Muhammad himself frequently counseled Muslim men to treat their wives and daughters well. "You have rights over your women," he is reported to have said, and “your women have rights over you.” Muhammad (PBUH) was working to establish a new community. At times, his marriages occurred to cement political ties, according to the custom of the day. Or else, the marriage provided physical and economic shelter to the widows of Muslims who had died or had been killed in a battle, or to the wife of a fallen foe. Spreading the message by uniting different clans through marriage and increasing credibility and sources for conveying his private family life were also among the reasons behind his marriages. If he only had one wife, then it would have been a tremendous responsibility on her to convey Muhammad's unique private acts of worship and family life, and people would try to discredit her to destroy the credibility of these practices. However, with multiple wives, there were a lot more sources to the knowledge, making it more difficult to discredit it. Therefore, his marriages gave more women the opportunity to learn and teach the matters of his private life. The Prophet’s Topmost Social Life As pointed out earlier, Muhammad’s religious and social conduct were totally in keeping with the Quranic teachings and verses like this: “Lo! The noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct.” (49:13) Therefore, Black and white, Poor and rich, West and East, were all the same in his eye, since he was mercy, not only for mankind and not only at a particular time; but mercy for the world. Even for those who breathe in centuries to come! “We did not send you but as a mercy to all the nations.” (Quran, 21: 107) But do you know why Muhammad is described in Allah’s words as “mercy to all”? Let us present a brief review of the situation and the two issues of concern then and even today, i.e., slavery and dealing with opponents. As was pointed out before, at the beginning of his invitation in Mecca, Muhammad (PBUH) suffered many hardships, persecutions and insults. For instance, he was prevented from offering his prayers, he allowed himself to be spat upon, to have dust thrown upon him, and to be dragged out of Kaaba by his own turban fastened to his neck. The Prophet bore all this with utmost patience and without any retaliation as he was convinced of the truth of his message. He spoke the truth, repeated it, explained it, clarified it, and tolerated insults, until he was able to convert a large number of people to Islam. He did not start any wars with any groups of people. Still, the pressure of his opponents on his companions and him increased until some of them lost their lives due to intense harassment and torture. They even boycotted the prophet and his family and a few members of his tribe for three years in a very difficult situation. Besides all the pressures, they attempted to assassinate the prophet and made the situation so intolerable for Muslims. If ‘the conflict between Quraysh and the Muslims’ rests on history, it is initiated by Quraysh. However, during all these periods, the prophet aimed to resolve the conflicts through communication and minimalist warfare. The Prophet always sincerely tried to promote communication and constructive efforts with the Quraysh leaders even though they did not stop their animosity with the Prophet and the teachings of Islam. That made the Prophet and his companions migrate to Medina to save their lives. Medina, the city Muhammad (PBUH) migrated to, had a population of 10,000 people in the pre-Islamic period, including rural regions. Pagan Arabs and Arabic-speaking Jews were among them, and the two groups had a history of hostility toward each other. Medina was not a city-state and tribal life was common. One of the Arab tribes, Banu Khazraj, had selected their chief, Abdullah ibn Ubay, as the ruler of Medina. Ibn Ubay saw the arrival of the Prophet of Muhammad as a threat and became the enemy of Muslims but in order not to draw any public reaction, he acted like a Muslim. Notorious for his repeated conflicts, Ibn Ubay was labelled as "the leader of munafiqin" (the hypocrites). Prophet Muhammad was the prophet of mercy and kindness. the evidence shows that he always took steps towards resolving conflicts. According to Affan & Thohir, “there were at least eleven principles of conflict resolution of the Prophet Muhammad which included nonviolence, love, justice, trustworthiness, benefit, brotherhood, patience, peace, forgiveness, freedom, and impartiality.” (Affan & Thohir, 2018) With the coming of Prophet Muhammad, who established the foundations for one of the most powerful nations, the lawless climate came to an end. Following his arrival in Medina, a 47-article agreement known as "the Constitution of Medina" was signed between Muslims, non-Muslim Arabs and Jews. This constitution holds a special position in legal history as the first written constitution. It is also the first constitution to be based on social welfare rather than religion or ethnicity. By incorporating universal ideas, the Medina Constitution was even more advanced than some modern constitutions, as its authors represented a diverse range of ethnic groupings. Thus, 14 centuries ago, Muhammad (PBUH) declared the world's oldest written constitution. The constitution of Medina was remained in force only for a while due to rapidly changing historical and political conditions. In the fourth year after Prophet’s arrival, it was violated by a group of Jews who secretly conspired against Muslims with Ibn Ubay. They were expelled from the city due to their treason and breach of the constitution. The group settled in the Khaybar area aside from other Jewish tribes; however, they did not stop their treacherous activities against Muslims and continuously encouraged other Arab tribes to attack them. As mentioned above, Muhammad (PBUH) did not want to start a war. Even the words inscribed on his sword depicted this. However, the total activities of Jewish tribes of Khaybar, such as Banu Nadir and Banu Qurayza, against Muslims of Medina during those years, compelled him to react to them in the different stages. As for slavery, it is worth noting that it was not an institution invented by Christianity or Islam. It had been there long before these religions came into being. In Persia, the palace of the Emperor had twelve thousand women slaves. When the Byzantine Emperor sat on the throne, thousands of slaves remained in attendance with full attention and hundreds of them bowed when he bent to put on his shoes. In Greece, the number of slaves was far greater than the number of free men, although the Greeks had great advocates of humanity and justice among themselves. Muhammad's war against slavery aimed at changing the attitude and mentality of the whole society, so that after being set free, slaves would become society’s full-fledged members, without any need of protests, strikes, civil disobedience and racial riots. Muhammad (PBUH) achieved this seemingly impossible objective without any war. In fact, he fought a war in which neither sword was resorted to, nor blood was spilled. He aimed at striking at the roots of its foe and created allies by arousing the finer instincts of his followers. Muhammad’s Islam, in contrast to all previous customs, declared that any slave woman who bore a child by her master could not be sold and, on her master's death, she became automatically a free woman. Moreover, Islam ordained that the child born to a slave woman by her master should follow the status of the father. He gave slaves a right to ransom themselves either on payment of an agreed sum or on completion of service for an agreed period. Islam was the first and the only religion which prescribed liberating the slaves as a virtue and a condition of genuine faith in God. Muhammad (PBUH) also commenced an active campaign to free the slaves. Setting the slaves free, was declared to be the compensation for a number of sins. What is painful is that modern slavery is all around us today, but often just out of sight. Terms as ownership, freedom, and exploitation are part of our lexicon and come in gray shades. They exist on spectrums. Serfdom, master/servant relationship, debt servitude, forced labor and sex trafficking are considered modern forms of slavery. From the outside, it can look like a normal job. But people are being controlled – they can face violence or threats, be forced into inescapable debt, or their passport may be taken away and be threatened with deportation. Many have fallen into this oppressive trap simply because they were trying to escape poverty or insecurity, improve their lives and support their families. The Closing Remarks Put in a nutshell, the last chosen Prophet of God, Muhammad’s guidance, teaching, training, even his mosque, his house, his waging wars, his going to alleys and markets, his family interaction and his existence–wherever he was–was a lesson. He prepared and opened hearts to Divine wisdom 14 centuries ago. The Divine instructions illuminated minds day by day, in an atmosphere that all values were only of the pagan ignorance, prejudices, zeal for false pride, atrocities, wretchedness, oppressions, and lustfulness had intermixed put pressure on people’s lives and engulfed them. The lush seeds sprouted from among these granite and impenetrable rocks. It was then that many concepts such as equity, brotherhood, justice, and democracy, became sacred for humanity in centuries thereafter all under the influence of his teaching. How fortunate the world is to have a prophet like you and what a blessing there is in such a life! O Muhammad! O endless love! Today's man and the world in which he finds himself are once again suffering from worries, fanaticism, injustice, denial of spirituality, the reign of materialism and the beliefs based on it, racism, the fall of moral values and lack a role model to remind him of true human values. He is anxiously looking forward to the quick reappearance of the Promised Savior, Mahdi from your generation to lead him on the path of God and the divine way of life so that he can resume his covenant with you as the Holy Prophet of God. References Engineer, A. (2011). The Prophet of Non-Violence: Spirit of Peace, Compassion & Universality in Islam. Juan Cole, Muhammad, prophet of peace amid the clash of empires. Karen Armstrong, Muhammad A Prophet for Our Time Affan, M., Thohir, A. (2018). Conflict Resolution in the Mecca-Medina War: Sirah Nabawiyah Study, Al-Tahrir, Vol. 18, No. 2 November 2018: 323-346 Sayyed Ali Khamenei, The Two Hundred and Fifty-Year-Old Man, 2018 Ash-Shallabi, A. M. (2017). Peperangan Rasulullah SAW, trans. Arbi, Nila Noer Fajariyah (Jakarta: Ummul Qura), 579. Misbakhul Khaer, “Etika Dan Hukum Perang pada Masa Peperangan Nabi Muhammad SAW,” Jurnal Qolamuna 2, no. 1 (2016): 1–18. 5 Mitiche, Z. A. (2018). Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires by Cole, J. The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 36:2 Nomani (1979), vol. II, pg. 156 Veccia Vaglieri, L. "Khaybar", Encyclopaedia of Islam https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/hazrat-aisha-was-19-not-9/story G4kaBHqM0VXoBhLR0eI2oO.html https://bit.ly/3AUeNln https://bit.ly/3DSPnGz https://tinyurl.com/dpt63a2u http://antizandiq.blog.ir/post/4 https://pedclerk.bsd.uchicago.edu/sites/pedclerk.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maturity_(psychological) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/241864.stm https://icrjournal.org/index.php/icr/article/view/303 https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/219517?journalCode=ajs http://www.units.miamioh.edu/eduleadership/courses/334/334_what_is_teenager.html https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/society/sex/sex-spouses.php http://dl.lilibook.ir/2017/02/Stalin-Edvard-Radzinsky.pdf, p.44. https://tinyurl.com/nt7mre6h https://www.medievaltimes.com/education/medieval-era/marriage Slavery from Islamic and Christian Perspectives, Al-Islam.org https://yaqeeninstitute.org/read/paper/slavery-and-islam-what-is-slavery al-'Amili, Hurr, Wasa'ilu 'sh-Shi'ah, vol.16, Tehran, 1983 Lamartine a French historian: History of Turkey, p. 276. Historie de la Turqu,, Vol. 2, page 76-77 An apology for Mohammed and the Koran, John Daven port, P:11 https://bit.ly/3ivcy1k Ma’ani al-Akhbar: 83, al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah of Ibn Kathir 2:601, 1:246, al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah of Irshad al-Qulub: 115 The message, at-Taj, vol. Ill, page 184
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