Bismillah: In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful.
 
 
Life emulates life. We need principles to guide our thoughts and direct our actions, but we need human beings to provide the examples that interpret those principles into real life actions.
 
God says in the Quran of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh): “There is in the Messenger of God an excellent example for you.” Although the seal of the Prophets and God’s beloved, Muhammad (pbuh) never claimed to be anything but human. Yet he was a man with a noble mission: to teach humanity the way to honest and upright living based on the commands of God.
 
One quality of God is mentioned throughout the Quran, that of Mercy. And in the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) we have the greatest manifestation of God’s Mercy. As God describes him in the Quran: “We have not sent you except as a mercy to the universe.” We catch but a glimpse of Muhammad’s compassion in the hospitality he extended to the man whom he knew had set out to murder him. We see this mercy when the Prophet (pbuh) commanded his companions away from an anthill in concern for God’s little creatures, or when he prevented a man from abusing his wife by teaching him that the “best of men are those who are best to their wives”; or in the amnesty and forgiveness he extended at the time of the bloodless Conquest of Makkah to those who had plotted to kill him and banished him from his place of birth.
 
Muhammad (peace be upon him) defined faith as “good conduct.” He left us a legacy of practical examples of good conduct, not only in the faithful reports from his companions documenting every small action and saying of his, but also in hearts that he molded of his near and dear companions.
 
His successor as Caliph, or leader of the Muslims, was his close friend Abu Bakr (r.a.). When Abu Bakr (r.a.) was appointed to the caliphate, one lady despaired. A widow who had depended on him for the daily milking of her goats, she now feared that the concerns of the state would preoccupy him from helping her. But the day after his appointment when he showed up at her door as usual, her daughter rejoiced with glee: “ The milker of the goats is here, the milker of the goats is here.” For Abu Bakr (r.a.), milking goats for an individual and attending to the interests of the collective were no different, and no task was too humble.
 
Another close companion, Jareer bin Abdullah, once sent his servant to negotiate regarding buying a horse. His servant brought the seller and the horse and informed Jareer that they had agreed on the price of four hundred silver coins. Jareer, on seeing the horse and realising its higher value, asked the owner if he would be willing to sell it for five hundred coins, then continued raising the price until they settled on eight hundred. When asked about his unusual “bargaining” against his own (worldly) interests, Jareer replied that he had promised the Prophet (pbuh) that he would be sincere and a well-wisher for everyone.
 
One of the great losses Muslims suffer is when they view Islam as a set of laws, without understanding the Prophet’s mission to “perfect character.”
He left a legacy of the most refined system of ethics and spirituality known to humanity. Gratitude for that legacy is the first step to reclaiming it.

Umm Zakariyya Gardee

(Courtesy of the Standard Freeholder, July 15, 2006)