Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) - 35 : Finest
Instinctive Social Habits
Islamic Perspectives - Muslim JournalsArab News
& Information - By Adil Salahi
A leading Arab writer of the twentieth century, Abbas
Al-Aqqad, gave a short definition of the signs that
indicate that someone is a messenger of God. He said:
“A messenger of God is someone who has by nature a
factor that controls his behavior in all matters
pertaining to social interactions and transactions,
big or small. The mission of a messenger of God is to
establish a power of restraint that encourages people
to do what is good and to refrain from what is bad or
evil, setting for them clear lines that they must not
transgress. Whoever has such a mission must, as a
matter of absolutely top priority, be able to dispense
with such a power of restraint. He must have no need
for it. He must be able to behave in a way that makes
it unnecessary for anyone to question him or to claim
their rights from him. Muhammad (peace be upon him)
attained this quality in a superior and comprehensive
way. It ran through his nature and colored all his
actions and verbal statements. No one ever questioned
him as he held himself answerable for giving everyone,
young and old, their rights and for protecting the
human sanctity of both the weak and the strong.
“This sign of his status as God’s messenger is the
most accurate and most acceptable. It is a sign that
comes from within his nature. It is not an external
sign that could be removed from a person who acquires
it. Whatever accurate measure the human race has to
apply to Muhammad will certainly show that he deserves
total love and maximum respect. Such a status will be
granted to Muhammad by everyone, whether a believer in
Islam, a believer in another religion and by those who
have no religion whatsoever. The human race has no
fundamental virtue that aims higher than to enshrine
those qualities in which Muhammad gave the best
example in human history.”
This was certainly the case with Muhammad (peace be
upon him) in his dealing with all people and in all
situations. A poor woman used to clean the mosque and
remove any dirt from it. The Prophet missed her for a
few days. On enquiring about the reason for her
absence, he was informed that she had died. He said:
“Why have you not told me. I would have attended her
funeral and prayed for her”. He then went to the
graveyard and offered the janasah prayer [i.e. the
prayer for a deceased person].
Needless to say, this was a poor woman with few
relatives. Had she had any relative of a reasonably
good position in society, she would not have needed to
work as a cleaner. We do not even know her name. She
must have been someone who would not be missed when
absent. Yet the Prophet missed her when a couple of
days passed and he did not see her in the mosque. Her
poverty and lack of status did not prevent the Prophet
from enquiring after her. He was unhappy to learn of
her death so late that he could not attend her funeral
and lead the janasah prayer. He then took the trouble
of visiting her grave and praying for her. He could
have prayed for her soul where he was at the time,
i.e. in the mosque, and his prayer was certainly
answered by God. He, however, wanted to show us a
higher level of social responsibility. This is the
type of holding himself to account in social matters
which Al-Aqqad has admirably spoken of.
©
EsinIslam.Com
Add Comments