When was the last time we sat down as a community and learned in detail about the full life of our beloved Prophet Muhammed?
When was the last time we sat down as a community and learned in detail about the full life of our beloved Prophet Muhammed?
The most popular term referring to the biography of the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) is called ‘Seerah’. In this article, I will briefly explain why we should study about the life and time of the most virtuous man that ever walked on the face of the earth. I will also shed some light on the correct approach to study it.
The reasons for studying the seerah are many. Ibnul Qayyim (died on 1350 CE) said, “to become a successful person in this world and the hereafter, there is no alternative of following the footsteps of the Prophets”. Studying the seerah can strengthen our faith, trigger the inchoate virtues, remove various diseases of hearts and give a deeper understanding of the religion and purpose of life.
If we study the lives of the most successful people of all time, we will understand that each person has excelled in a specific sphere of life. One can be a great philosopher, but that very person may not perform well as a military general. Similarly, a great military general may not be the most honest one. A state leader may not be a great husband. In contrast, the character of Rasulullah (ﷺ) comprises all the good qualities which are considered as excellent virtues by the greatest thinkers and philosophers.
Allah says “And indeed, you (Muhammad) are of a great moral character” [Al Qalam 68:4].
The entire life of our Prophet is like a miracle. Ibn Hazm (died on 1064 CE) said, even if the Prophet (ﷺ) would not have given any miracle other than the seerah, it would have been sufficient. How did a man who was born an orphan in 570 CE Arabia change the course of history?
By just studying the life of Rasulullah (ﷺ), many people have embraced Islam. There is famous quote of Mohammad Iqbal (died on 1938 CE) which says, “Sure you can deny God, but can you deny Muhammad?”
As we start reading the seerah, we will come across with various excellent virtues of Rasullulah (ﷺ) like humility, steadfastness, manners and etiquettes, leadership qualities, duties as husband or father etc.
The most fascinating part about the personality of our Prophet (ﷺ) is how he acted in the most perfect way under difficult situations. Let me share some instances from the Seerah.
We all heard about the courage and strength of Ali ibn Abi Talib (died on 40 Hijri). Ali participated in many dual fights before commencement of major battles and always defeated his counterpart. Now Ali himself narrated, “when the battle became fierce on the day of Badr, we took refuge behind Rasulullah (ﷺ). He was the fiercest attacker among us on that day and he was the closest to the polytheists” [Musnad e Ahmad 1045].
Now think about the valor of Rasulullah (ﷺ) as a warrior. On the other hand, Safiyyah binte Huwai (died on 50 Hijri) said, “I have never seen any person having better character than the Messenger of Allah”. [Fathul Bari, 575/6, Ibn Majah considers the Hadith as Hasan]. Ayesha (died on 58 Hijri) narrated, “I had a race with Messenger of Allah and I outstripped him on my feet. When I became fleshy, (again) I had a race with him (the Prophet) and he outstripped me. He said: This is for that outstripping” [Sunan Abi Dawood 2578].
Now we can see how caring, lively and humorous our Prophet (ﷺ) was. A fierce fighter in the battlefield is also the most caring husband. This is simply amazing.
Let me share another instance radiating his enormous sincerity about his mission of teaching the true religion. Ibn Tabari narrated that when Prophet’s son Ibrahim died in Madinah at the age of 21 months he was deeply saddened, and he cried holding Ibrahim in his hands. On that very day the sun eclipsed, and the people started to say that the sun had eclipsed because of the death of Ibrahim. When the news reached Rasullulah (ﷺ) he decided to clear up the misconception.
Immediately he summoned everyone to the Mashjeed and led the people in prayer. After the prayer he gave a Khutbah and said, “The sun and the moon do not eclipse because of the death or life (i.e. birth) of someone. When you see the eclipse, pray and invoke Allah.” [Al Bukhari Volume 2, Book 18, Number 153 and 154]. SubhanaAllah. The tremendous anguish of losing a baby son could not deviate our Prophet (ﷺ) from his mission for a single day.
We have so many things to learn from all such incidents illuminating his excellent character and manners.
This is a part of a test from Allah that groups of misguided people always say vile things about the Prophet (ﷺ). In this modern age of time, such attacks against our Prophet (ﷺ) are widespread. Many liberalists, feminists, atheists, agnostics are attacking our Prophet with accusations like he was a false Prophet, a blood-thirsty warmonger, subjugating woman, slaves and people of other faiths etc. We need to study the seerah to understand all the facts with perspective so that we can defend the honour of Rasulullah (ﷺ).
Many orientalists even defended our Prophet. One of them was the famous Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle (died on 1881 CE) who said, “it is a great shame for anyone to listen to the accusation that Islam is a lie and that Muhammad was a fabricator and a deceiver. We saw that he remained steadfast upon his principles, with firm determination; he was kind and generous, compassionate, pious, virtuous, with real manhood, hardworking and sincere. Besides all of these qualities, he was lenient with others, tolerant, kind, cheerful and praiseworthy and perhaps he would joke and tease his companions. He was just, truthful, smart, pure, magnanimous and present-minded.”
Now let me shed some lights as how we should embark on our journey to study the seerah. First and foremost, we need to fix our intention. As a believer we should not approach the seerah with the intention to learn history only. We must keep in mind that by studying the seerah we will in fact comply with the command of Allah.
In multiple verses of Al Quran Allah ordered the believers to follow, love and obey the Messenger (ﷺ). Allah says “Indeed, in the Messenger of Allah you have an excellent example for whoever has hope in Allah and the Last Day, and remembers Allah often” [Al Ahzab 33:21].
In an authentic Hadith our Prophet (ﷺ) said “whoever loves Allah and his Messenger more than everything else shall taste the sweetness of Emaan” [Sahih Al Bukhari, Vol 1, Book 2, Hadith No. 16]. Therefore, as a believer it is our duty to love the Messenger of Allah and there is no alternative to develop the love for our Prophet (ﷺ) without acquiring knowledge about his life and time.
Secondly, we need to fix our perception about the Prophet (ﷺ). He was a human like us and he had ordinary human instincts and emotions. However, Allah made him exceptional with the knowledge of divine revelation. He was not like an ordinary leader or philosopher. Whatever he said, taught and preached is nothing but divine revelation.
Allah says in the Quran, “Nor does he speak out of desire. It is nothing but revelation that is revealed.” [An-Najm 53:3-4]. That is why it is not recommended to study Seerah from the books written by Orientalists as they simply lack divine connection.
There are ample amounts of authentic resources in Arabic, Bengali and English written by Muslim scholars. However, we have to keep in mind that reading a seerah book once will not be sufficient. We need take the study of seerah seriously like our pious predecessors.
Ali ibn Hussain ibn Ali (died 713 CE) narrated that we used to be taught seerah the way we were taught Al Quran. We need to learn seerah constantly as we grow up. Every school, college and Mashjeed must take steps to teach the entire seerah at great details. We need to discuss and learn the seerah at home, office or places of work.
If we can make the seerah part and parcel of our journey of life then we can shape our characters and morals in the footsteps of our beloved Prophet (ﷺ).
