For a Muslim woman like me, it is really difficult to specify "10 reasons to fall for the Prophet". When I was asked by Reading Islam staff to write down an article that would sum up ten reasons to love Prophet Muhammad, I felt really lost.
I kept thinking and wondering, which ten of the million reasons should I mention? I was lost around his great human-prophetic character. It is really impossible to narrow my love to the great man in ten reasons. He is a man whose love my heart and mind have absorbed since my childhood days, as my skin has absorbed the rays of the Egyptian sun.
Just like any other Muslim, his love penetrates my life, as gentle as you inhale your breaths in and then out. His love became part and parcel of my inner self to the extent that I no longer can put my hand on it clearly. It is just there, always there, in the background of my inner soul.
But, why do I love him that much and in that way? This must be the reader's question now. Is it because all Muslims "should" love him? Or, is it because my parents told me to love him when I was young? But, my parents never told me to love him. They never spoke it. You can never tell anyone to love any other person or any other thing.
Also, on personal basis, I do not always like or appreciate the way many Muslims love Prophet Muhammad. Some of them not all are simply very passionate about a man they hardly know or follow.
Prophet Muhammad was sent to all mankind as a brilliant example and a role model. He was the most patient, the most decent, the most devoted and the most well mannered man of the human history.
Not all Muslims act according to his role model, but they simply say: "we love him the most". Love should be reflected in actions, not in some words muttered.
Well, to do my assignment, I decided to simply mention ten points related to Prophet Muhammad. They are definitely not the only reason I love this great man for, but they are simply ten reasons that have always stopped me in awe and respect.
My ten points are:
1. His Human Self
He was never distant from humanity. He smiled, loved, cried and felt pain. He walked, moved, ate and showered. He was a human prophet, not an angelic prophet, so it is really applicable to follow him as a role model.
When I make a mistake or become a bit lazy about being good, Prophet Muhammad's real model takes me back to the right track. I tell myself: "He was human, to make it easy for us. It was also difficult for him, but he made it. So, I will try again, and I will make it as he did."
2. His Fatherhood
His fatherhood , to Lady Fatimah, has always amazed me. In a society that degraded women and rejected the birth of females to the extent that they would bury them alive, he cherished all his daughters, and specially Lady Fatimah.
She was the closest to his heart. Whenever she would drop in on one of his meetings, he wouldn't ever ask her to leave, because he was busy. But, he would stand up in "cherishing respect" and move to welcome her, so she wouldn't be embarrassed. Then he would kiss her on her forehead and have her seated next to him.
3. His Loyal Love to Lady Khadijah
The way he continued to love and cherish Lady Khadijah after her death has always been an expression of devotion in my eyes. During her life, they lived in a society that accepted multiple marriages for men, which would extend to endless numbers of wives for one man. Though she was much older than him, for 25 years, he never went for another marriage with any another woman.
He respected and loved his wife dearly. He cherished her days dearly after her death and expressed his longing to her days by cherishing her friends. He would sit around with her best friend for long hours chatting about "Khadijah's good old days".
4. His Patience at the Deaths of his Children
His children's deaths have always caused my heart to ache. We might theorize a lot or preach a lot about the patience of prophets, but do we really feel it? I keep on wondering how this lovely tender man tolerated the death of all his children, all except one, in his lifetime. How would any father feel, when he reaches his sixties and finds himself burying a child after the other?
Prophet Muhammad's patience never contradicted his sadness and grief. He grieved and experienced deep sadness. When his babyson Ibrahim died, he grieved deeply. He held him in his arms at his death-bed and cried. He uttered only words that expressed his patience that was mixed with his sadness.
His words reflected that, when he uttered his famous words: "The heart grieves, the eye tears, and for your departure, Ibrahim, we are sad. But the tongue never utters an objection that wouldn't please God." How sad!
5. He Was Such a Tender Grandfather
That has always taken my heart! Whenever I think of how busy and important a man he was, and yet had time space and emotions to spare for his grandchildren. The idea that when he stood on the podium, giving the Friday sermon, he simply interrupted his speech in front of the Muslim nation audience at the time and went down the podium to pick up his grandson, is always startling from my point of view.
The fact that he would keep carrying this grandson throughout his speech is again startling. I mean, he was the spiritual, social and political leader of the nation! What would any of our grandfathers have done if we simply burst into any of their meetings? I wonder.
I kept thinking and wondering, which ten of the million reasons should I mention? I was lost around his great human-prophetic character. It is really impossible to narrow my love to the great man in ten reasons. He is a man whose love my heart and mind have absorbed since my childhood days, as my skin has absorbed the rays of the Egyptian sun.
Just like any other Muslim, his love penetrates my life, as gentle as you inhale your breaths in and then out. His love became part and parcel of my inner self to the extent that I no longer can put my hand on it clearly. It is just there, always there, in the background of my inner soul.
But, why do I love him that much and in that way? This must be the reader's question now. Is it because all Muslims "should" love him? Or, is it because my parents told me to love him when I was young? But, my parents never told me to love him. They never spoke it. You can never tell anyone to love any other person or any other thing.
Also, on personal basis, I do not always like or appreciate the way many Muslims love Prophet Muhammad. Some of them not all are simply very passionate about a man they hardly know or follow.
Prophet Muhammad was sent to all mankind as a brilliant example and a role model. He was the most patient, the most decent, the most devoted and the most well mannered man of the human history.
Not all Muslims act according to his role model, but they simply say: "we love him the most". Love should be reflected in actions, not in some words muttered.
Well, to do my assignment, I decided to simply mention ten points related to Prophet Muhammad. They are definitely not the only reason I love this great man for, but they are simply ten reasons that have always stopped me in awe and respect.
My ten points are:
1. His Human Self
He was never distant from humanity. He smiled, loved, cried and felt pain. He walked, moved, ate and showered. He was a human prophet, not an angelic prophet, so it is really applicable to follow him as a role model.
When I make a mistake or become a bit lazy about being good, Prophet Muhammad's real model takes me back to the right track. I tell myself: "He was human, to make it easy for us. It was also difficult for him, but he made it. So, I will try again, and I will make it as he did."
2. His Fatherhood
His fatherhood , to Lady Fatimah, has always amazed me. In a society that degraded women and rejected the birth of females to the extent that they would bury them alive, he cherished all his daughters, and specially Lady Fatimah.
She was the closest to his heart. Whenever she would drop in on one of his meetings, he wouldn't ever ask her to leave, because he was busy. But, he would stand up in "cherishing respect" and move to welcome her, so she wouldn't be embarrassed. Then he would kiss her on her forehead and have her seated next to him.
3. His Loyal Love to Lady Khadijah
The way he continued to love and cherish Lady Khadijah after her death has always been an expression of devotion in my eyes. During her life, they lived in a society that accepted multiple marriages for men, which would extend to endless numbers of wives for one man. Though she was much older than him, for 25 years, he never went for another marriage with any another woman.
He respected and loved his wife dearly. He cherished her days dearly after her death and expressed his longing to her days by cherishing her friends. He would sit around with her best friend for long hours chatting about "Khadijah's good old days".
4. His Patience at the Deaths of his Children
His children's deaths have always caused my heart to ache. We might theorize a lot or preach a lot about the patience of prophets, but do we really feel it? I keep on wondering how this lovely tender man tolerated the death of all his children, all except one, in his lifetime. How would any father feel, when he reaches his sixties and finds himself burying a child after the other?
Prophet Muhammad's patience never contradicted his sadness and grief. He grieved and experienced deep sadness. When his babyson Ibrahim died, he grieved deeply. He held him in his arms at his death-bed and cried. He uttered only words that expressed his patience that was mixed with his sadness.
His words reflected that, when he uttered his famous words: "The heart grieves, the eye tears, and for your departure, Ibrahim, we are sad. But the tongue never utters an objection that wouldn't please God." How sad!
5. He Was Such a Tender Grandfather
That has always taken my heart! Whenever I think of how busy and important a man he was, and yet had time space and emotions to spare for his grandchildren. The idea that when he stood on the podium, giving the Friday sermon, he simply interrupted his speech in front of the Muslim nation audience at the time and went down the podium to pick up his grandson, is always startling from my point of view.
The fact that he would keep carrying this grandson throughout his speech is again startling. I mean, he was the spiritual, social and political leader of the nation! What would any of our grandfathers have done if we simply burst into any of their meetings? I wonder.
