My Prophet Muhammad

I woke up a little late today. It was Eid Milad un Nabi (birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad), a gazetted holiday in India. My WhatsApp message was filled with the greetings on the occasion from my friends, students and colleagues. With a cup of tea in my hand, I started browsing the newspaper. The frontpage headline caught my attention, ‘Days after Beheading of School Teacher Three killed in French church; Islamist terror attack: Macron’. A sense of shame, guilt and embarrassment crippled me and it became really difficult to reply to those messages or to greet others on the pious occasion of the Eid-milad un Nabi. I was thinking, how can anyone kill people for ‘blasphemy’, in the name of the Prophet who is known as rahmat-ul lil ‘aalamin (mercy/kindness for the world). Since my childhood I have been listening to a rawayet (tradition) that, ‘when the Prophet was in Mecca, Abu Jahal (an uncle and an enemy of the Prophet and his Din) on seeing the Prophet started cussing him then another sahabi (companion of the Prophet) passed by and began praising him. People enquired the Prophet, ‘why was Abu Jahal cursing and the other man praising him?, the Prophet replied, ‘I am a mirror, people see their own faces in me’. After the bloodless conquest of Mecca, what did the Prophet do to those who had chewed the heart and liver of his favourite uncle? He had forgiven one and all, without any discrimination. Those who consider themselves to be his followers should always keep in mind that their actions somehow are associated with him.

Bilal ibn Rabah calling for prayer, Islamic miniature from Siyer-i Nebi,
Ottoman Empire , 1500s, blackpast.org

The expression, ‘my Prophet Muhammad’ here signifies the Prophet, I have known from my childhood. A historical or divine personality is what we know from the information we are fed from our childhood. The stories we listen to shape our minds, create biases for or against. Unfortunately, Islam has always been studied as either theology or history. Nobody thinks of the mythology when it comes to Islam. But communities are shaped not by the theologies nor by the histories. It is shaped by the myths and the stories around it. Muslim theologians, obviously reject these myths and stories as bidat (innovations). But they do not realise that these myths and stories have created the community itself. Many stories are taken from the ahadis (traditions of the prophet) and other rawayet (traditions/sometimes unverified ones). Some of these stories are told on a regular basis as a pious act. Stories like, Bibi Syeda ki Kahani (story of Bibi Syeda), Dus Bibiyon ki Kahani (story of the ten ladies) and Lakadhare ki kahani (story of the wood-cutter) are told and listened to piously on one occasion or the other. The stories are read from a booklet and, generally women and children listen to it as an act of piety. After the completion of the stories, sweets/sugar are distributed among the listeners. The stories themselves remind the listeners about the merits of the pious act of telling and listening to them.  

One such versified story is told and listened to on Thursday night every week. The compendium comprising Noornama, ahadnama and aahunama is about Prophet Muhammad. I have grown up listening to the compendium, commonly known as Noornama.  The story is about the creation of the noor of the Prophet before the Creation. It tells us that the noor (the light) was created from the Creator himself. After thousands of years, the Creator created a tree with thousands of branches. The noor of the Prophet then was made into a shape of a peacock and the peacock was asked to live on the branches of that tree. After sometime, the Creator created a similar peacock, which was a mirror and God asked the peacock to look into the mirror peacock. The peacock (the noor of the Prophet) looked into the mirror and broke into a sweat. The beads of sweat started falling, the one lakh twenty four thousand drops from the mouth created the prophets, and the droplets from the forehead were three hundred thirteen, which became mursaleen (the prophets with books). Lakhs of droplets thus fell became the malayek (the angels). The drops which fell from the face became the animal kingdom. The four droplets fell from the eyes and became the great four angels (Angels Gabriel, Mikhael, Israel and Israfel). The two droplets which fell from the shoulders, became the sun and the moon. The four droplets from the cheeks became the skies--the sky, the throne, the slate and the pencil (arsh, kursi and loh o qalam). The two droplets fell from the nose and became heaven and hell. The story basically introduces us to the concept of whadat ul wajud of Ibn al Arabi, that the Creator created everything from his own self. According to the story of the Noornama the noor of the Prophet, then was asked to choose the material from which he is to be created. The noor was asked to visit each of them, the fire, the wind, the water and the earth. The noor visited each of them and asked what they will do when sent in the world; all of them except the earth replied that they will do whatever they liked. When the noor asked the earth/dust what she would do in the world, the earth replied that she is nothing but dust and the Almighty has all the power, who has created all, she will do whatever the Creator wanted her to do. The noor of the Prophet liked her humility and servitude to the Creator and chose it to be the material from which he was to be created. The noor of the Prophet hugged her with affection and thus the Creator created the prophet in the form of a man with the dust! I always loved the way the Prophet chose humility on pride of fire, wind and water. 

In the same compendium, the story about a deer was my favourite, and it always brought tears into my eyes. The story was that, once the Prophet was going somewhere and found a deer tied with a rope. The deer seeing the Prophet asked for help. The Prophet went near her. She told him that a hunter had caught and tied her. She could not feed her small kids who must have been looking for their mother. She told the Prophet that she just wanted a few moments to feed her kids and tell them that God is the only Provider and Protector after she was gone. She further promised that she will come back to her captor after feeding her children. The Prophet released her. The hunter appeared on the scene and started shouting on the Prophet. The Prophet told him that the deer will come back after feeding her children as she had promised. The hunter was not convinced and kept cursing the Prophet. Soon the deer came back with her children, seeing that the hunter was astonished and fell at the feet of the Prophet and freed the deer. 

Apart from these tales of piety, we used to read stories in our maktab (primary Muslim schools) about the Prophet, I remember one such story: 

The story begins with a header: ‘One should honor his guest whether he is a Muslim or not’

    

Prophet Mohammad always emphasized on giving respects to visiting guests. Once a group of Jews visited the Prophet, since the number of guests was large and he had limited resources, he asked his sahabi (companions) to distribute one person each among themselves and honor them in befitting manners. One of them was known for his mischievous activities, therefore none from among the companions of the Prophet agreed to host him and he stayed with the Prophet himself. The Prophet prepared all kinds of good food for the guest. A well-known mischief like him ate all the food and did not think of other people whose guest he was! The prophet did not say anything to him and made his bed for his comfortable stay.  After such an over-eating, he fell ill with an upset stomach. By dawn, he even soiled the bed and left home without informing anyone, when the Prophet came looking for him, he did not find his guest. He enquired about the guest but no one had any clue about him. The companions of the Prophet could not bear the insult inflicted on the Prophet of Allah and started fuming at the Jew, the Prophet of Allah said, ‘do not say anything to the man, he was my guest and it is my duty to be respectful to him’. The Prophet then started washing the bed-sheet with his own hand. In the meantime, the Jew came back to take his jewel studded sword, which he had left in the room and he saw that Prophet Muhammad is washing his clothes which he had soiled with his feces. Seeing this he felt ashamed and offered his apologies to the Prophet.

Now the narrator of the story says, dear children! Be alert! Always take care of your guest by offering him good food, with your gentle smile and good behavior, it doesn’t matter if he is a non-Muslim, he is equally honorable and your duties towards your guests are the same.

These and other such stories made ‘my Prophet Muhammad’ who is compassionate, who likes humility, compassion and human values. The Prophet knew how to ignore those who cursed him and forget and forgive those who gave him pain. Those who are killing in his name are committing crime against my Prophet. No one except rightfully constituted state, has any right to ‘punish’ anyone. Also, there should be no punishment for reading, writing, speaking or expressing anything. Unqualified freedom of speech and expression should be the goal of all humankind.