Islam has been facing a determined onslaught for a long time; but the onslaught has been gathering momentum and becoming fiercer, employing more wicked tactics, as Muslims try to shake off the weakness that has plagued their life for the last couple of centuries. Nowadays, with a great variety of media and communication technology, Islam is attacked from every corner. There are openly hostile forces that would like to see Islam and Muslims removed from the face of the earth. And there are others who oppose Islam out of fear for their own interests or ignorance of what it stands for. All these try to justify their stand by painting a terrible image of Islam and Muslims.
On the other hand, there are Muslims who give Islam a bad image. The worst example of these are those who take a very strict view and try to impose it on all humanity, including other Muslims. Such people want to change the world by force. They despise any understanding of Islam other than their own, look at non-Muslims as enemies, and resort to any tactics that seem to serve their cause, even though such tactics violate express Islamic orders or established Islamic values. The worst example of these are the ones who carry out operations knowing that they will inevitably result in the killing of innocent bystanders. These do Islam far greater damage than some of its enemies.
There are others, particularly in Muslim countries, who are fascinated with other creeds or ideas, or with secularist society in which no value other than permissive liberalism is of any importance. These look at Islam with a mixture of fear and contempt. Hence, they attack the advocates of Islam giving them a false image, and through them attack Islamic principles, values and beliefs. While they claim to defend freedom of expression, they actually demand that the advocates of Islam should not be given the freedom to air their views or advocate their message.
All these groups often present a false image of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Those who are openly hostile invent some falsehood about his character, or behaviour, or actions and attack him on such basis. Those who admit to having religious beliefs try to show Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a false prophet. Some take a more moderate stand, saying that he was a great social reformer, but deny that he was a prophet and a messenger of God. Extremist Muslims give him a different but equally false image when they try to show him in any capacity other than a guide who wishes only to make people aware of God’s message so that they could worship God alone in the way He wants to be worshipped. The third group betrays a degree of ignorance that disqualifies them to even having an opinion about the Prophet. Yet they make the fiercest attacks, allowing themselves to be used and exploited by those who are truly hostile to Arabs and Muslims alike.
Yet the Prophet’s character and behaviour are without blemish. At no time did he engage in any reprehensible behaviour, not even in his youth or early adulthood. God preserved him from such behaviour even at the time when he knew nothing of prophethood or that he would be given God’s final message to mankind. After he started to have divine revelations, he was the model to be followed by all believers in all generations. Hence, God gave him the guidance to make his behaviour and personality provide such a model, which is devoid of rancour, grudge, lust, worldly or carnal desires, and seeks no personal gain of wealth or power.
Indeed, his actions form part of his teachings. We are required to follow his teachings when he indicates an obligation. If he suggests something, then this is part of his Sunnah, which means that what he suggests is recommended. When we do it, we earn a reward from God. If we fail to do it we forfeit that reward but we incur no sin. The same applies to his actions that have a religious aspect. But what he does in the normal course of life, indicating personal choice or preference, does not fall in this category. We can give here the example of wearing certain types of clothes, or cutting his hair short or leaving it long, or preferring certain types of food. Such matters do not fall within what we call as Sunnah, unless he gives verbal advice recommending something or another.
This article is part of a series in which we will concentrate on the Prophet’s personality. We will try to show him as he was known to his family, companions and community. We will concentrate on the period of his life that followed the start of his revelations, because it is his behaviour as a Prophet and God’s Messenger that we need to follow. Nevertheless, we will cite some examples of his attitude and behaviour in the earlier period where such examples are necessary or useful.
Normally, a historic character is seen through the momentous events in which the person was a major player. But we are not going to draw the Prophet’s character or show his personality through such events. Many years ago we carried a series on the Prophet’s history, discussing all such events. Those articles were later made the basis of a complete biography of the Prophet with the title Muhammad: Man and Prophet published by the Islamic Foundation, Ratby Lane, Markfield, Leicestershire, England, LE67 9SY. The present series will concentrate on small events that happen in daily life, but show the real person as they reflect his natural reactions in situations that give pleasure or cause anger. Fortunately, we have a record of these that has been verified according to the best research methodology the world has ever known. The record is included in a variety of Hadith anthologies and history books. Our research aims to put these together so as to show the Prophet’s personality as he was and as he lived, at home and in society. We will see that the more we know about the Prophet, the clearer his personality will come out. We promise that this will be a series of articles that Muslims will find very educative, bringing them closer to the man who delivered God’s final message to man. We hope that our non-Muslim readers will find it useful in understanding the Prophet’s character and why Muslims love him so dearly. We will begin next week, God willing.