Preferring A Life Of Poverty: Material Affluence Counted
For Little - The Prophet
Islamic Perspectives - Muslim JournalsArab News
& Information - By Adil Salahi
Some prophets, such as David and Solomon, combined
kingdom with prophethood. They enjoyed the benefits of
kingdom with the great privilege of being the
recipients of divine revelations. In the case of
David, he was given the Psalms, constituting one of
the major divine books. Solomon, on the other hand,
was granted what he prayed for: a dominion that would
not be granted to anyone else. Hence, God made the
wind subservient to his command, and granted him
mastery over the jinn. Other prophets were given
special privileges.
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was God’s final
messenger. It should be remembered that prophets were
of two types: some were only prophets endorsing
messages given before their times, and others were
given their own messages, making them God’s
messengers. Muhammad was of the latter, elite type,
but as the last messenger, his message was addressed
to all mankind, and guaranteed by God to remain intact
for the rest of time.
What effect did this have on his family life? Prophet
Muhammad established a state in Madinah, thus
combining the two roles of prophethood and head of
state. The Muslim community was under siege for the
first few years, with the enemies combining their
forces to try to crush the Muslim state. However,
after the great victory against the allied forces of
the Arab unbelievers and the Jews, the situation
brightened up for the Muslims and their fortunes
vastly improved. The Prophet could lead a life of
riches, had he so wished. He, however, preferred a
life of poverty. He did not wish to change his life
style in any way.
Although jealousy among his wives often surfaced, with
two groups emerging among them, they were treated
equally by him. No one was ever as fair as the Prophet
was in his treatment of his wives. They, however, felt
that they should not continue to endure a life of
poverty. Therefore, they requested him to give them a
better standard of living. They all joined in making
this request, feeling that by grouping together they
might be able to persuade the Prophet to change his
mind.
Again we see here a perfectly ordinary family
situation. A woman asks her husband for better
provisions after having endured poverty for a length
of time. What makes the request more significant,
however, is that it was made by several wives at the
same time. They all endured the same standard of
living. Aishah once said that: “We might go through a
month without a fire being lit up for cooking in any
of the Prophet’s homes.”
When things were hard, those noble wives of the
Prophet endured this type of life with exemplary
patience. However, when the situation changed and the
Muslim state was no longer poor, they felt that the
newly found affluence should be reflected in their
standard of living. This was a perfectly
understandable request.
Yet the Prophet realized that material affluence
counted for little. His mission placed him on a
totally different level. Therefore, he was unwilling
to change his life style. The request could not be
granted.
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