There are things that we as Muslims practice but that the Prophet in his lifetime, despite the situations provided, never did. And there are other things that we avoid and condemn doing while the Holy Prophet practiced it himself and commanded his followers to do so too. And we as "Better Muslims" take pride in doing all that we do, without considering why the Holy Prophet(peace be upon him) never responded to the same actions in the way we do or why did he not practiced certain things the way we practice them now. However someone very silly recently asked me whether deviation from Sunnah is a matter to be proud of or not?
"I mean deviating from the teachings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him) cannot be a matter of pride for someone who is claiming to be a "good follower" in different ways", said the girl next door once. And this made me to look into my Islamiyat books from my school days, to look for where are we different from our Prophet(peace be upon him). Little did my books say anything about the difference but as I started looking at the passages again and again, here were a few things about the Prophet's way, very clearly different from ours. A few of these are listed down here.
He was never reported to have beaten/hit any woman of his household:
Prophet Muhammad never in his entire lifetime committed any violence, the books prove. He was in the world of patriarchy yet he was never reported to have beaten or hurt any woman of his family or even a man, or anyone be it a slave or even an enemy for that matter.
His modern followers are practicing violence on their women in their houses and on young boys and girls in educational institutes as if it were a matter of pride. And the teachers of Quran in most places even provide different types of tortures that only starts from a gentle beating and exceed to hanging the children down from a tree branch in cold evenings after beating them with bamboo stick, pipe or other such "exciting" things that probably reminds these Teachers of their own childhood.
Valued the all types of education (not particularly the Islamic one):
Reading the after math of the very first battle in Islam's history i.e. battle of Badr, almost everyone comes across how humanely the seventy captives from enemy were treated."Those who could pay, were to pay ransom money and those who were literate, were released on the condition that they would teach at least Ten people. And this was considered as their ransom." Of course we all know about it and this shows how kindhearted the Muslim community was even towards it's own enemy.
But recently a page called The Naked Truth posted a very critical comment on this. Asking a non-Muslim to teach, what they have learnt, to Muslims, it was completely alright with the Holy Prophet unlike with some "today's followers" who are perhaps, i don't know. But we have brothers and sisters who will not learn sciences, (even though they do take all the benefits of the "bad westerns' evil knowledge") and will not learn "Non-Muslim" Languages because they are too "Out" of the circle of the Islamic study we have sketched. And to them, learning such stuff can make you a bad Muslim.
Never Called anyone a "Kaafir":
This one is my favorite, Prophet Muhammad came to the mankind as the last Prophet of the divine religions. Like all other religions, Islam is also starts with a "Laa" that is "No" i.e. the fabrication of all Gods, except One, the Almighty Allah. Obviously with this modern approach of Oneness of a Supreme God, people of all other already existing religions did call Prophet a non-believer (of their religion) and treated him and his followers with harshness. Tortured them to leave the new religion. And this belief in "Toheed" costed them their lives in many cases. The prophet himself had to leave his hometown because of the brutality he was facing in his own land from his own people just because he was preaching a different religion.
But once Islam started to flourish, and the Muslims of first Islamic community in Madinah became a well-established state under the rule of the Prophet, the Holy Prophet had all powers as head of the state. Now to think about humans back then as Super humans is obviously a very irrational and biased approach to history. They were regular human beings, and must have had made many mistakes and must have had done things that could have been against Muslims or Islam. Thinking about stories of the companions like the one who came confessing he committed adultery, and questioning myself Why on earth did the Prophet not call him a Kaafir. Instead he asked the man to "conceal himself in Allah's concealment". And then going back and forth the entire history of Islam thinking about why did the Prophet never ever in his entire life declared anyone a Kaafir. Not only the Prophet Muhammad but also his early followers never did that. But The Prophet could have been an exception. Not even the hypocrites were declared as anything like that. The Holy Prophet Muhammad preached a religion where he never declared his fellow Muslims "Kaafir" may be because he meant it when he said "Actions are based upon intentions"(in terms of punishing or rewarding of a person by the Almighty Allah) And intentions are invisible to humans.
But may be modern day "Good followers" know more, or are a better judge to judge a person and declare their fellow Muslim beings as Kaafir, Muslim or Momin. However, the Prophet never practiced this in his lifetime.
Never accused anyone of blasphemy or took action against those who tried:
Remember the story of an old lady that used to throw trash on They Holy Prophet? She wasn't accused of blasphemy. Instead, once when she did not show up in sometime, It worried the Prophet so much that he went to check on her. Finding her ill, the Prophet treated her with kindness and looked after her. We all know what happened next. She embraced Islam. And the people of Mecca when were calling the prophet names and were hurting him emotionally so much, he was still not reported to have taken any action that would have hurt anyone of them. Instead when Muslims took over Mecca down the line, the Prophet forgave all those people who had cause so much trouble and pain to him.And the story of the first visit to Taif, the people threw stones at him and his companion and did not even listen to what he said. Instead they tried to humiliate him to the extend that Angle Gabriel came down to ask if the Prophet wanted to teach these people a lesson. But Prophet prayed for them and their generations instead saying they didn't know what they were doing.
The Prophet in his lifetime never tried anyone blaming him/her for committing blasphemy, may be because he knew that for a man so noble like him actions of a person, who doesn't understand his dignity and his importance, would not cause any sort of insult. He treated them all with kindness and care and prayed for them. He never thought of anything that he was going through in the path of Allah as an insult.
Perhaps some of the modern day "good followers" probably have a better understanding and may be also better idea of what is an insult to the religion and it's people and what is not. So some of these "better followers" are in love with accusing people every now and then of blasphemy and putting them through court trials where in some cases the suspects are ridiculously found guilty and given the punishment. But in most cases the court gets to know after it's job is being taken care of by the
'good muslims". But recalculating all of this, i am amazed at the love these "true followers" have for the Prophet. Once their love is provoked, they loose all the rational ties holding their strength and emotions back and they unleash all their love for the Prophet over anyone who is accused of blasphemy.
Forgave those who murdered his family members:
Very interestingly, the Holy Prophet forgave everyone who has ever hurt him or his family members. He did that even when he came back to his homeland after years, as an invader, he forgave all those who stood up against him all this time. He forgave the person who murdered his beloved uncle Hamza. And not only this, Abu Sufiyan and his wife( who chewed Hazrat Hamza's liver) were forgiven and welcomed when they embraced Islam
This one example is enough to show us what the Prophet used to do to his enemies, that too when he had power and authority over them. He treated them with the respect that most of the people fail to give to their friends. But the "better followers" hardly forgive anyone. May be because the situations are more challenging now or whatever the reason is. But some of the "better followers" believe in not-holding-back type of reactions when there is any animosity between them and other inferior ones. This is interesting because it puts too many question marks on otherwise understood convictions of today's follower of Islam, including some perspectives of the modern idea of Jihad.
Believed in democracy or consultations:
The events of the famous Battle of Trench or Ghazwa e Khandaq starts from the messenger coming to the Holy Prophet and giving him a warning about a battle conspired against Muslims by the people of Makkah and the Jewish tribes. By then the Muslims had fought battles of Badr and Uhad under the command of the Holy Prophet, both the battles showed that obeying the commands of the Holy Prophet would lead to victory and any deviation could cause a serious loss. Yet they all give their own suggestions about how to deal with the situation and there was even a conflict of views between few companions. Some wanted to stay in the city and defend the city while others wanted to go and meet the enemy in open. And this suggestion giving and small little disagreement about how to fight the war was completely fine. Reason? Because the Holy Prophet himself had asked for their point of views about the strategy that was to be taken. This should mean that monarchy and dictatorship was not something the Holy Prophet stood for. He was the messenger of God and that did make him the most authentic source and teacher of Muslims in all walks of life. But when it came to the political scenario, he consulted other companions. And whatever the majority supported, was followed accordingly.
However, many of Prophet's followers from this modern era consider the system of Islam as some dictatorship or monarchy. Many see the Saudi system of government as the Islamic one. But then again they're "better followers" so they must have good reasons for supporting their point. Some of these love the idea of a "strong" dictator and others call democracy "Kufr", that is, an action outside the circle of Islam(Something that will make you Kaafir). But everyone is not the same, it's a vast topic and i may not be able to sum up their goodness in one go but the point is they have modified and improved the ways of Islam even in giving us further guidance on which type of government should be supported by a better Muslim.
Holy Prophet had been a husband to business woman without having a problem with that:
The Holy Prophet's first wife was a business woman. She had people working for her, in fact the Holy Prophet was kind of an employee when Hazrat Khadeejah decided to marry him. Also, Hazrat Bibi Aisha was reported to have been attending meetings which means she too was involved in other activities along with looking after the house. Hazrat Khadeejah was very supportive to the prophet and she was independent in her resources but she was a good wife to the Prophet. The Holy Prophet was husband of a business woman and he loved her.
And so was the case of Bibi Aisha, she was a friend, a companion and a wife. The liberty and independence she had at her hand even once lead to some problems as some people among the Muslims started doubting her piety but their conspiracies were put to an end when complete support to Hazrat Aisha was getting by Prophet Muhammad. So the Prophet had married women who were independent.
But some of his followers probably consider themselves "better husbands" when they know how and when to 'pull the strings' of their women, wives and sisters particularly. Better fathers among them do not allow their daughters to be exposed to the evil that is taught in the schools even at the primary level, if she knows how to write her name, she might also know how to put a question-mark at the end of a question. Better husbands will not marry women who have their own business, in fact, in most cases they will not consider such a woman a pious one. Also most of the better men in certain good parts of the world tend to like women who cannot take care of their own selves and who need men beside all the time. The more she cannot do things on her own, the pious and modest she's considered. But I do see a point there, after all "good men" must be needed, wanted, admired, praised and also worshiped a little.
Prophet accepted a proposal very unusual:
We have been reading about how the Holy Prophet got married for the first time. Hazrat Khadeejah had sent him a proposal through her friend and maid Nafeesa. And we had been quite indifferent to the fact that the Holy Prophet accepted the proposal. This lady who later became an important companion of the Holy Prophet in early years of Islam was also a widow at the time she proposed the Prophet. She was also few years older than the Prophet was.
This very common knowledge too, i saw on a facebook page analysed very briefly and critically. And i felt it very normal to understand their simple point now when i was going through my old books. Their point was that the student of Islamic Study in Pakistan are not given deeper understanding of such events.
But that's not the point here, because "better Muslims" have a deeper understanding. And to them, this would be a mortification thinking about accepting a proposal sent by a girl through her friend or worker of the house and not the family. Also marrying an older woman especially when it's the woman who initiates showing interest in the relationship is socially not acceptable and sometimes, unspeakable.
But the lesser ones may wonder how is this then possible that the Holy Prophet not only accepted the proposal but he never regretted and Hazrat Khadeejah was honored as the first Muslim woman of Islam. Allah has given her highest status among the followers of the Prophet for she became the first among "Mothers of the believers" May be back then in the days of the Holy Prophet it was alright in Islam to consider a proposals that had genuine and sincere intentions and sentiments. It is no doubt a matter only scholars can deal with.
Prophet Never Harmed Public Property:
The Holy Prophet never harmed any public property and also suggested not to harm anything of the public properties or private property of the inhabitants of place Muslims took over in his lifetime. He advised his companions on the occasion of the Conquest of Makkah not to harm any human except to defend any advancement from the other side. His directions were clear, not harm any one among women, children and elderly citizens, and it was the same for any trees or plants in the city. Muslims who had entered the city of Makkah in complete control over the place were told not to harm anything but to clean up the Ka'aba from idols and make it a place of worship of One Allah, just how it once used to be.
But may be today's "better Muslims" are more passionate than history has ever seen. That is why anything that strikes them as something new or as an insult or a threat, even if it happens somewhere on the other side of the globe, they must show their protest against it. And while protesting, they show their disapproval by burning tires and flags on the roads of their city, throwing stones at buildings of their cities and destroying cars of their neighbors, breaking and damaging public property and rendering other such services in their own place that shows their ultimate love and devotion for the teachings of the Prophet and the religion he preached.
Whatever i have said in this very short blog is only my opinion and just a few things of "better Muslims" of my age that i have noticed around me, activities and practices that are at least a little different if not completely contradictory with how it used to be for the Prophet and for others in his lifetime. But again they're better and they must have better answers and better reasons for whatever they're doing. And I'm sure they are determined to make this world a better place blessed with their better existence.
