After the publication of indignant cartoons of Prophet Mohammad (Pbuh) in an obscure Danish newspaper the Muslim world is gripped in a continued state of terror and violence. Ironically the agitations are more prominent in countries with authoritarian rulers like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Syria and Nigeria to name a few. Conspiracy theorist explain this phenomena that these agitations are politically motivated by the rulers to convince West they need continued support for their authoritarian rule to keep the religious fundamentalist at bay. Anthropologist on the other hand suggests that these agitations are a demonstration of the frustration of the population oppressed by authoritarian rule and reeling under never ending poverty. The instrument used in these agitations are the clergy who are always in look out for a way to show their control of the masses to further their orthodox religious agenda. Let us take a look at the life of Prophet Mohammad (Pbuh) from the eyes of a common man to see how correct these clergy are in prophesying their understanding of the religion and true message of the Prophet.
From all books written about Prophet Mohammad whether Muslim or non-Muslim everyone agrees that He is one of the greatest people to inhabit this world. His message of Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. A message must have some appeal in it to attract large number of converts every year. As a person he was raised by his uncle Abu Talib who was one of the tribal leader in the boduin society of the time. At an early age he was hired by a widowed woman Hazrat Khadija (RATA) to take care of her trading business. This means that he must have enjoyed good reputation in the city as well as shown good business acumen. This also means that he must be conversant with the business practices related to accounting, merchandising, sales negotiations and settlement. This also means that to gain spiritual elevation a person has to be involved in a gainful employment besides spending time on spreading the spiritual message.
If we look at the lives of our current day clergy and religious leaders only a handful of them are involved in gainful employment. Most of them make their livelihood from the mosque. This economical interest from the mosque creates a conflict of interest in the promotion of true message of islam. In order for an Imam to be successful he has to make his mosque a success which in other word means to attract large number of people to the mosque by playing on their emotional psyche related to the religion. They also play on people’s fear of an after life for their sins of life on earth. This is a departure from the sunnat (life example of the prophet) to use religion as a means of livelihood.
As a young man Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) was not comfortable with the pagan religions. He would go to a nearby mountain and spend parts of nights there to meditate and find true meaning of life. We must try to emulate the state of mind of a young person who has no formal education. We have to understand the psychological development he must have gone through while sitting alone in a cave reflecting on life and its meaning. We see similar experiences in the lives of other great people of human history like Buddha, Moses, Jesus who spent countless years developing their spiritual self before announcing to the world. It was a journey through the depths of the soul that our current band of religious is totally incapable of. How many of our religious leaders do we know of who have meditated for even few years to find spiritual enlightenment? This is another departure from the Sunna of the Prophet.
When Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) announced his message to the world no one doubted that he is true but he struck at the heart of their faith, which is not an easily digestible idea. Socrates drank the bowl of poison just for that. While Aristotle flee from Athens for 7 years to save his life. As he kept preaching his message he made enemies who became bloodthirsty creating a huge risk for his life. As a practical realist as soon as the Prophet realized his life could be in danger, it also meant a danger for his message. He decided to migrate to Medina who were already inviting him to come and explain his message to them. This shows that despite being a Prophet with powers at his command he decided to lead life of a common person and handle the situation in a realistic manner. If we look at the attitude and speeches of our clergy after the publishing of the cartoons we can easily see that they once again abandoned the Sunnah of the Prophet for their own personal political and religious views. These religious leaders exploited a situation that could have been handled peacefully into a violent agitation costing human lives and property.
In Medina Prophet Mohammad quickly gained a large number of followers. But even with this fast growing group of Muslims he felt that he needed to act swiftly to ensure the safety of Medina from the aggression of Meccan’s who were still pursuing to capture and kill newly converted Muslims. Prophet Mohammad’s one of the first acts was to sign a peace and mutual defense agreement with Jewish tribes in the region. This was one of the most brilliant political moves by the Prophet who in a stroke of pen gained strengths against much stronger Meccan aggression. This also shows that Prophet Mohammad (Pbuh) was not averse to signing pacts and agreements with non-believers. This also shows that he understood well that there will always be non-believers in the world but mutual co-existence is important for the well being of mankind. In today’s Muslim societies non-believers feel pressured and discriminated. This is another departure from the Sunnah of the Prophet. Throughout 1000 years of Muslim domination of the world Muslim countries were open societies with equal opportunity for all, low tariff and excellent educational institutes.
After the victory at Mecca Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) gracefully pardoned all those who conspired against him. He is said to be home sick in Medina, as he loved Mecca deeply, but he still decided to return to Medina to be with people who accepted him when everyone in Arabia rejected him. This shows that a person should be dedicated and since to his adopted homeland regardless of where he was born. To follow Sunnah we have to protect our adopted homeland of USA but at the same time continue our efforts to improve relations between US & Pakistan as well as improve image of Muslims.
It is understood that the Muslims around the world are deeply wounded by the publication of Cartoons in the Danish paper. But adopting violent means of agitation burning and damaging public property, killing other muslims is a departure from the Sunnah of the Prophet whose message we all follow. If we really want to agitate we need to pursue education, economic independence and social reforms in our societies.
How would the Prophet (Pbuh) feel today? After th…
March 17, 2006 at 7:28 pm · Filed under Political Commentary
How would the Prophet (Pbuh) feel today?
After the publication of indignant cartoons of Prophet Mohammad (Pbuh) in an obscure Danish newspaper the Muslim world is gripped in a continued state of terror and violence. Ironically the agitations are more prominent in countries with authoritarian rulers like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Syria and Nigeria to name a few. Conspiracy theorist explain this phenomena that these agitations are politically motivated by the rulers to convince West they need continued support for their authoritarian rule to keep the religious fundamentalist at bay. Anthropologist on the other hand suggests that these agitations are a demonstration of the frustration of the population oppressed by authoritarian rule and reeling under never ending poverty. The instrument used in these agitations are the clergy who are always in look out for a way to show their control of the masses to further their orthodox religious agenda. Let us take a look at the life of Prophet Mohammad (Pbuh) from the eyes of a common man to see how correct these clergy are in prophesying their understanding of the religion and true message of the Prophet.
From all books written about Prophet Mohammad whether Muslim or non-Muslim everyone agrees that He is one of the greatest people to inhabit this world. His message of Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. A message must have some appeal in it to attract large number of converts every year. As a person he was raised by his uncle Abu Talib who was one of the tribal leader in the boduin society of the time. At an early age he was hired by a widowed woman Hazrat Khadija (RATA) to take care of her trading business. This means that he must have enjoyed good reputation in the city as well as shown good business acumen. This also means that he must be conversant with the business practices related to accounting, merchandising, sales negotiations and settlement. This also means that to gain spiritual elevation a person has to be involved in a gainful employment besides spending time on spreading the spiritual message.
If we look at the lives of our current day clergy and religious leaders only a handful of them are involved in gainful employment. Most of them make their livelihood from the mosque. This economical interest from the mosque creates a conflict of interest in the promotion of true message of islam. In order for an Imam to be successful he has to make his mosque a success which in other word means to attract large number of people to the mosque by playing on their emotional psyche related to the religion. They also play on people’s fear of an after life for their sins of life on earth. This is a departure from the sunnat (life example of the prophet) to use religion as a means of livelihood.
As a young man Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) was not comfortable with the pagan religions. He would go to a nearby mountain and spend parts of nights there to meditate and find true meaning of life. We must try to emulate the state of mind of a young person who has no formal education. We have to understand the psychological development he must have gone through while sitting alone in a cave reflecting on life and its meaning. We see similar experiences in the lives of other great people of human history like Buddha, Moses, Jesus who spent countless years developing their spiritual self before announcing to the world. It was a journey through the depths of the soul that our current band of religious is totally incapable of. How many of our religious leaders do we know of who have meditated for even few years to find spiritual enlightenment? This is another departure from the Sunna of the Prophet.
When Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) announced his message to the world no one doubted that he is true but he struck at the heart of their faith, which is not an easily digestible idea. Socrates drank the bowl of poison just for that. While Aristotle flee from Athens for 7 years to save his life. As he kept preaching his message he made enemies who became bloodthirsty creating a huge risk for his life. As a practical realist as soon as the Prophet realized his life could be in danger, it also meant a danger for his message. He decided to migrate to Medina who were already inviting him to come and explain his message to them. This shows that despite being a Prophet with powers at his command he decided to lead life of a common person and handle the situation in a realistic manner. If we look at the attitude and speeches of our clergy after the publishing of the cartoons we can easily see that they once again abandoned the Sunnah of the Prophet for their own personal political and religious views. These religious leaders exploited a situation that could have been handled peacefully into a violent agitation costing human lives and property.
In Medina Prophet Mohammad quickly gained a large number of followers. But even with this fast growing group of Muslims he felt that he needed to act swiftly to ensure the safety of Medina from the aggression of Meccan’s who were still pursuing to capture and kill newly converted Muslims. Prophet Mohammad’s one of the first acts was to sign a peace and mutual defense agreement with Jewish tribes in the region. This was one of the most brilliant political moves by the Prophet who in a stroke of pen gained strengths against much stronger Meccan aggression. This also shows that Prophet Mohammad (Pbuh) was not averse to signing pacts and agreements with non-believers. This also shows that he understood well that there will always be non-believers in the world but mutual co-existence is important for the well being of mankind. In today’s Muslim societies non-believers feel pressured and discriminated. This is another departure from the Sunnah of the Prophet. Throughout 1000 years of Muslim domination of the world Muslim countries were open societies with equal opportunity for all, low tariff and excellent educational institutes.
After the victory at Mecca Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) gracefully pardoned all those who conspired against him. He is said to be home sick in Medina, as he loved Mecca deeply, but he still decided to return to Medina to be with people who accepted him when everyone in Arabia rejected him. This shows that a person should be dedicated and since to his adopted homeland regardless of where he was born. To follow Sunnah we have to protect our adopted homeland of USA but at the same time continue our efforts to improve relations between US & Pakistan as well as improve image of Muslims.
It is understood that the Muslims around the world are deeply wounded by the publication of Cartoons in the Danish paper. But adopting violent means of agitation burning and damaging public property, killing other muslims is a departure from the Sunnah of the Prophet whose message we all follow. If we really want to agitate we need to pursue education, economic independence and social reforms in our societies.
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