Can we really be like the Prophet?

24Mar07

Question

I recently listened to the story about how the angel came down and cleansed the Prophet sallallahu’alayhi wa salaam’s heart when he was a child.

That got me thinking… he’s perfect and the best of all creation, right? And we’re supposed to try and follow his way and be like him. But, my many shortcomings seem to get in the way.

Is it really possible to be like him, when he had that direct connection (through Jibreel alayhi salam) and his heart was purified? I know we have the Qur’an and Hadith, but we have such serious disadvantages in terms of language and the time we live in and ourselves, no angel contact, etc.

Can we really be more like him? Is it just a matter of dua’ , reading books about him and striving? I’m still just me. That’s the other thing, we all have certain dispositions and temperaments. I guess I’m unclear on what it means to be like him sometimes. Is it just making our actions in accordance to his actions? I just don’t feel satisfied eating red grapes because he ate red grapes. Allah forgive me for minimizing these kinds of actions, but really, I’m concerned with making my opinions and my tastes (no pun intended) and sense of values and my heart in accordance with him. How do I do that? How do I change the way I think or feel about things or how I react to situations?

Answers–

Allah Most High tells us in the Qur’an, ‘I have not created men and jinn except that they should worship Me’, and He says numerous times in the Qur’an that the universe was created for the truth and was not without purpose.

To explain this ‘truth’ and the required ‘worship’ he sent messengers who each brought teachings and guidance for their people. To believe and follow them was to be guided unto the Truth and to disbelieve and reject them was to turn away from one’s own soul as one’s soul was only created to follow the Truth.

The succession of prophets continued until a millennium and a half ago Allah Most High from His eternal wisdom sent to us his final prophet. A prophet who Allah Most High did not send except as a ‘mercy to the worlds’(21:107) and who was adorned with a ‘tremendous character’(68:4).

He was in his own words ‘the foremost of the descendants of Adam’ (Muslim). His tremendous rank with Allah is clearly apparent from his ascension into the heavens beyond the furthest lote tree to where neither angel nor prophet has gone. His unique position is clearly understood from the fact that the previous prophets were informed of him and were enjoined to follow him if he appeared in their respective times (from the Qur’an 3:81). He was therefore the ultimate manifestation of prophethood and the greatest expression of the Truth that is the raison d’etre of every single atom in the universe.

Exemplifying the Prophet is therefore a complete summary of everything that Allah expects of us. ‘Certainly Allah conferred a benefit upon the believers when He raised among them a Messenger from among themselves, reciting to them His communications and purifying them, and teaching them the Book and the wisdom, although before that they were surely in manifest error.’ (3:164)

Allah commanded us to obey him when he commanded us and to refrain from what he forbade us. ‘Whatever the Prophet gives you accept it, and whatever he forbids you refrain from it.’ (59:7) ‘Whoever obeys the Prophet obeys Allah.’ (4:80)

He expected us to emulate the Prophet and said concerning him, ‘Certainly you have in the Messenger of Allah an excellent exemplar for him who hopes in Allah and the latter day and remembers Allah much.’(33:21)

This verse in particular summarises the whole religion with miraculous brevity. It contains by means of subtle indication, in the words of the great Sufi and mujahid, Emir Abdul Qadir al-Jaza’iri, ‘everything that every author has ever recorded from the rulings of the religion or of this-worldly affairs’. He goes on to explain this mentioning that this ‘excellent example’ has four aspects to it.

The first of these is the way Allah dealt with him. Sometimes he was given to, and sometimes withheld from. Sometimes harmed and sometimes benefited. Sometimes he defeated his enemies and sometimes they defeated him. Sometimes his prayers were answered and at other times they were not. At times Allah made it clear that his actions were as if they were Allah’s actions, due to his being Allah’s supreme vice-regent and at times he was told that he was incapable to act. From this aspect of his blessed life (Allah bless him and give him peace) we can gain deeper knowledge about Allah and his sublime attributes, especially Allah’s complete lack of need for His creation and their complete and utter need for Him. We learn about Allah’s wisdom in creation and that the next life is worth much more than this life.

The second aspect is his own dealings with Allah; his being the perfect slave. This was manifested by his extreme expression of neediness of his Lord, his reliance on Him in every matter, his contentment with Allah’s decree and his complete gratitude for Allah’s gifts to him and his patience in the face of tribulation. This aspect of his life summarises the many rulings of the sacred law; the rules of worship and the rules for living one’s life and these are innumerable in detail.

The third aspect is the dealings of other people with him. Some believed in him while others disbelieved. Some hated and some loved. There were those who harmed him in word and deed with every painful matter short of death. He was wounded in battle, his face was struck, his tooth was broken, people who displayed friendship to him betrayed him and all of this did not increase him except in insight and determination. One gains from this aspect of his character an understanding of what previous prophets underwent and what callers to the truth in all times must necessarily undergo and how they should handle it with indifference and earnestness in attaining their goal.

The fourth aspect is his dealings with other people, which could be summarized by the word ‘compassion’. Allah Most High said to him, ‘Then maybe you will kill yourself with grief, sorrowing after them, if they do not believe in this message.’ He was patient with them. They wronged him and he forgave them. They withheld from him and he gave to them. They were harsh with him and he put up with it. They cut him off but he never cut them off. He said, ‘O Allah forgive my people for they do not know.’ He repaid harshness with kindness emulating thereby the character and merciful attributes of his Lord Most High. One gains from this aspect the completion of noble character and the knowledge of dealing with people (siyasa lit. politics) in a way to attain religious and this-worldly objectives which are the only real way for the world to be run and flourish and the surest path to happiness in this life before the next.

Emir Abdul Qadir concludes, ‘It is therefore incumbent on every seeker…to keep this verse in front of him in every place, and to observe it in every time as the situations that he finds himself in will never exceed these four aforementioned states.’ (al-Mawaqif, 1)

One can conclude from the above that:

- It can be stated that emulating the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is the very purpose of our creation.

- This emulation is not just in matters of law and ritual acts of worship but rather includes character traits, one’s spiritual relationship with Allah as well as knowing how to deal with people intelligently to enable the attainment of this-worldly and other-worldly objectives.

- Allah put us on the earth to test us with a test that would separate between people that follow their lusts, people that try to go straight but keep falling on their faces and people who are whole-heartedly dedicated. The nature of such a test is that it cannot be easy.

Therefore there must be struggle to perfect one’s emulation, a struggle that were one to live for a thousand years one would keep struggling and striving to further improve oneself and thereby draw nearer and nearer to Allah. This is the wisdom behind Allah sending us a prophet who is like us but yet infinitely beyond us in every aspect of perfection; so that we would follow and yet never be satisfied with ourselves especially comparing our own imperfection to his perfection.

- Ultimately having the greatest prophet as our prophet gives us rise to the greatest hope. Being the last nation, the final stronghold and bastion of the Truth, in a time when we are being onset from every direction, hope is the greatest thing that we have. This most beloved of Allah’s creation unceasingly prayed for our protection and guidance so our hope is that Allah will answer his prayers. We should therefore never despair and believe it farfetched for us to be able to follow his noble example. In the next world he is granted the supreme intercession which is for the sinners among the Muslims. Imam al-Busiri says,

Glad tidings to us, the group of Muslims, for surely we have
From the Divine concern an uncollapsable support
When Allah called our caller to him, the ‘best of prophets’
We became the best of nations (Burda, 117-118)

To be like the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), in the above mentioned aspects, one has to make recourse to the teachings which he brought and ultimately one must seek out people who themselves have struggled and strived to emulate the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). Emulating someone that one can see and interact with is infinitely more effective, by complete consensus of the people of knowledge, than reading a book and applying it as theory.

Self trained people are usually susceptible to subtle defects in sincerity and find themselves clinging to nothing more than easily applied aspects of Islamic appearance, such as growing a big beard and using a miswak. Such people without a teacher can often become among the most diseased people in a community who know neither patience nor compassion.

These teachers, the sheikhs of the spiritual path, encourage people to fulfill a number of injunctions which include:

- Constant repentance. They say that this is the fuel that enables one to spiritually progress.
- Constant prayer on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). They mention that this can result in all forms of spiritual attainment and brings one’s heart closer to the Prophet’s heart which eases the following in his footsteps.
- To increase in love for the Prophet as he said, ‘A man is with the one that one loves.’ (Bukhari)
- To study sacred knowledge to know what actually is demanded of us by the sacred law and to apply it so that one’s actions are in accordance with his (Allah bless him and give him peace).
- To constantly pray for guidance.
- To read books which inspire us to improve ourselves. This includes:

o Hadith collections such as Riyad al-Salihin which contain the basic etiquettes of Islam.
o Spiritual treatises such as the Ihya ‘Ulum al-Din of Imam al-Ghazali (of which a number of sections have been translated into English), the books of Imam al-Haddad printed in English by Quilliam press, the Risala of Imam al-Qushayri (translated under the title ‘Principles of Sufism’) and other such books.
o Books that focus on the Prophetic character and greatness such as the Shifa of Qadi Iyad (translated by Aisha Bewley) and the life of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) such as Muhammad by Martin Lings.
- To pray for good company that uplifts and inspires one.

May Allah bless us and enable us to be like our Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) in word and in deed so that whoever sees us it will be as if they see him. Ameen.

Sohail Hanif

from Sunnipath.com

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