Perhaps no historical character has been subjected to vile criticism, false accusations and fabricated assertions by his opponents than Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Yet no one has been the recipient of more profound and genuine love and respect than him. Both love and hostility linger on, and are nurtured despite the fact that 14 centuries have passed since Muhammad had departed this world. Neither feeling would have lingered had Muhammad been an ordinary person, or had his contribution to human life been of temporary nature.
Today we see both feelings surfacing in different ways and shapes, in areas of our world that are wide apart, and among people of different races, cultures, beliefs and life perspectives. Books like Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses, the Danish cartoons, as well as videos and websites dedicated to attack Islam and its Prophet are manifestations of the hostile trend. The large demonstrations that swept the Muslim world against such productions symbolize the deep seated love Muslims feel toward Muhammad, God’s last messenger.
In the name of God, the Lord of Grace, the Ever Merciful
We shall remove this suffering for a while; but you are bound to revert (to your old ways). On that Day We shall deliver a mighty onslaught; We will indeed exact retribution. We did, before their time, try Pharaoh’s people: there came to them a noble messenger, who said to them: ‘Give in to me, you servants of God! For, I am indeed a messenger sent to you, worthy of trust! Do not exalt yourselves against God; for, indeed, I come to you with manifest authority. I seek refuge with my Lord and your Lord lest you hurl stones at me. If you do not believe me, stand away from me.’ He then called out to his Lord, saying: ‘These people are lost in sin’. (Smoke; Al-Dukhan; 44: 15-22)
We are speaking today about one of the most distinguished ladies of Makkah. She belonged to one of the two most distinguished clans of Quraysh, the Abd Shams clan. Her mother was Umm Hakeem al-Bayda’ bint Abd Al-Muttalib, the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) own paternal aunt. In fact Umm Hakeem is said to be the twin sister of Abdullah, the Prophet’s father. Whether this is true or not, there is no doubt that Umm Hakeem was Abdullah’s full sister. Umm Hakeem married Kurayz ibn Rabeeah and gave him four children one of whom was Arwa who later married Affan ibn Abu Al-Aas and gave birth to a daughter named Aminah and a son, who was none other than Uthman, the Prophet’s early companion and the third Caliph.
Habbebah bint Sahl was an Ansari woman who embraced Islam in its early days in Madinah. The Prophet (peace be upon him) had not yet immigrated to Madinah when she and many other men and women declared their belief in him. Many members of her family were also among the early Muslims. When the Prophet arrived in Madinah, Habeebah and her sister Rughaynah were among the women who met the Prophet and pledged their loyalty to him as Muslim women. One report mentioned by Ibn Saad on the authority of Yahya ibn Saeed claims that the Prophet wanted to marry her, but he felt that jealousy was a strong feeling among the Ansar.
When the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) arrived in Madinah, most Muslims there had not seen him. They accepted Islam on the strength of what they learned from their people who met him in Makkah, or from Mus’ab ibn Umair who spent the best part of a year in Madinah teaching its people the Qur’an and the principles of Islam. Therefore, the Muslims in Madinah were keen to give the Prophet their pledges of loyalty, which they did during the first few days of his arrival.
When Islam started most people took a hostile attitude to it, because they realized that it involved a total change of their way of life. People normally dislike radical changes of what they are used to and what they are familiar with. Yet people accept a total change if they are convinced that it will give them something better. The early Muslims felt that they were taking a highly unfamiliar road, but they realized that it led them to real happiness. Some of them had a special introduction to Islam. Among these were Umaimah and her husband Khalid ibn Saeed ibn Al-Aas.
She came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) when he was sitting with a group of his men companions. She said: “Messenger of God, I am sent by a group of Muslim women and we all share the same view and have the same concern. God has sent you to both men and women. We believe in you and follow you. Yet we, women, have to stay at home. We are the object of men’s desire and we bear their children. Nevertheless, men have privileges, such as the obligatory Friday prayer, attending funerals and going on jihad campaigns. When they leave for jihad, we look after their property and we rear their children. Messenger of God, do we have a share of reward for doing so?”
When the Prophet (peace be upon him) started advocating his message in Makkah, only people with vision and clear minds gave him a positive response. This is the case with all new ideas that seek to initiate a fundamental change in human life. When the advocated change touches on the core of people’s way of life, as is the case with all religions and with Islam in particular, the new believers are bound to suffer persecution by those who want to maintain the status quo. This is what happened to the early Muslims in Makkah.
Muhammad Hamidullah, the world famed scholar who knew 24 languages and wrote 170 books in 22 languages, lived in France for about 50 years.
One of the better known companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) was Abdullah ibn Masood, who was a teenager working as a shepherd when he met the Prophet for the first time. The Prophet admired his honesty as Abdullah refused to give him milk because the sheep in his custody were part of his trust.
It was the first encounter with the Prophet (peace be upon him) that made Umm Maabad realize that he was unlike all men. She was a Bedouin woman living well into the desert at a considerable distance from Makkah.
Bringing up children with proper care is the primary duty of Muslim parents. Parents should not distinguish in a discriminatory manner between their male and female children when bringing them up. However, the fact remains that girls in many Muslim communities are the victims of their parents’ bias against them.
If parents have any right to be biased, it should be in favor of girls. Almighty Allah mentioned girls first before mentioning boys while referring to His sovereign control over the universe and creation of human beings in the chapter Al-Shura (Poets).
Muslim women have been the unfair victims of many brutal cultural practices. Honor killings are seen as the most gruesome of these. Islam has clear laws regulating sexual conduct and killing a girl in such a manner is against the fundamental principles of Islam.
Among the most important values Islam implants in the minds of its followers are those that formulate the Islamic perception of our present life. Islam makes clear that this life is a test. If we pass this test, then we are ushered into a life of pure happiness in the hereafter.
Hamnah belonged to a Makkan family with many members who were among the early companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Her mother was Umaymah bint Abd Al-Muttalib, the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) aunt, and her sister Zaynab was his wife whom he married by God’s order. Hamnah was married to Mus'ab ibn Umair, one of the most devoted companions of the Prophet. His mother, Khunas bint Malik, was rich and she gave him a luxurious life.
Perhaps nothing was contrary to the nature of the Arabs at the time of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) more than travel by sea. The Arabs were largely desert people. Even for those of them who lived in cities like Makkah and Madinah, their cities were urban areas in the middle of the desert. Hence, when we hear of a woman traveling by sea at that time, we would like to know more about the circumstances that led her to take such a risky adventure.
The Hadith: “The best among you are those best to their families (wife and children), and I am the best of you to my family,” underlines the importance of kind treatment toward women.
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) elevated women to a dignified level unheard of in the world nearly 1.5 millennium ago. The Prophet wiped off all stigma attached to women by virtue of her gender and willed in his last sermon that women be treated with respect and kindness.
That was the Muslim society in its pristine form.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to highlight the nature of faith and its effects on people, their characters and behavior. He would not, however, group these together and explain them in total so as to give a clear and complete picture of faith and what having faith means in practice. He preferred to give short statements, explaining one point at a time in precise terms. He would only say what fits the occasion. In this way, he impressed on his audience the importance of what he said. In one of these statements, the Prophet is quoted by Abu Hurayrah as saying: “Faith has sixty-odd qualities. Shyness is one of its qualities.”
Sheikh Abbas Magadmi is ranked one of the best Saudi reciters of the Holy Qur’an of the previous generation. Magadmi was the first to recite the Holy Qur’an on Saudi and Indian radio stations. His recitation was marked by a sweet sound and beautiful tone, accompanied by a unique intonation.
She is universally known as Umm Sulaym, but scholars differ with regard to her name and her title. She belonged to the Ansar, the Muslims of Madinah, but she accepted Islam well before the immigration of the Prophet (peace be upon him) there.
A view of Muslims praying at the main Mosque in Grozny, Chechnya. (AP)
An Egyptian girl plays with her brother as men pray in the background before Iftar during the holy month of Ramadan inside the Al-Azhar mosque, near the Khan el-Khalili market, in Cairo on Thursday. (AP)
Muslims pray inside the Ottoman-era Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul. (AP)
Mahya master Suleyman Kok takes part in the installation of Mahya at the top of one of the Yeni (New) mosque's minarets in Istanbul on Wednesday. Mahya, where dangling lights suspended between minarets spell out devotional messages in huge letters, are intended to reward and inspire the faithful who have spent the daylight hours fasting. The tradition is unique to Turkey. (Reuters/Murad Sezer )
Men pray in the national mosque during the Shab-e-Barat festival in Dhaka, Bangladesh on July 17, 2011. The festival is celebrated by seeking forgiveness and repenting. (Reuters)
The landmark Putra Mosque in Putrajaya, Malaysia, at night. (Reuters)
Pahang State Mosque in Malaysia
A beautiful mosque in Kazakhstan.
Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.
A beautiful mosque in Turkmenistan.
A view of the courtyard of the 8th-century Omayyad Mosque in Damascus. (AP)
People walk outside a mosque in east London. (AP)
Crystal mosque in Malaysia
Filipino Muslims offer Friday prayers at a mosque in Manila, Philippines. (AP)
A view of the Al-Saleh Mosque in Sanaa. (AP)
Dibba Mosque in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.
The faithful circumambulate the Kaaba.
The Golden Dome Mosque in West Java, Indonesia.
An outer view of the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. (AP)
People attend Friday prayers during Ramadan at al-Shikh Muhialdin mosque in Damascus, Syria, on August 27, 2010. (Reuters)
Pilgrims throng to pray at the Namirah Mosque in Mina on Nov. 17, 2010. (AN photo)
A view of the Dome of the Rock in Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Muslims pray outside Baiturrahman Mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.
Minarets of a mosque in Riyadh during sunset. (AP)
A general view of Merkez Mosque in Duisburg, Germany. (Reuters)
A general view of the historical Umayyad Mosque in old Damascus. (Reuters)
The Fanar-Qatar Islamic Cultural Center in Doha. (Reuters)
The faithful offer prayers at the Grand Mosque in Makkah. (AN photo by Arshad Javaid)
The Jama Masjid (Grand Mosque) in the old quarters of Delhi.
