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Imam Ali and A Syrian Old Man
Mohammed bin Ibrahim bin Ishaq related to me from Ahmed bin Mohammed
bin Saeed al-Hamadani from al-Hasan bin al-Qasim from Ali bin Ibrahim bin
al-Mu’alla from Abu Abdullah Mohammed bin Khalid from Abdullah bin Bakr
al-Muradi from Musa bin Ja’far (Imam al-Kadhim) from his father from his
father from Ali bin al-Hussein that his father (a) said:
One day, Amir ul-Mu’minin was mobilizing his companions when an old man,
whose face was pale out of traveling, approached and asked: “Where is Amir
ul-Mu’minin?” “Here he is,” some answered (as they pointed to Imam Ali).
The old man moved toward him, greeted him, and said: “O Amir ul-Mu’minin, I
have come to you from Syria in spite of my old age because I have heard
about you such innumerable virtues. I see you will be assassinated. I wish
you would instruct me with items that Allah has conveyed to you.”
Imam Ali (a) said:
Yes, old man. He whose two days are moderate is wronged. He whose main
concern is the worldly pleasures will suffer great regret for their
departure. He whose day to come is eviler than his present day is surely
deprived. He who does not care for whatever reduces from his world to come
as long as his worldly life will not be influenced is surely perishing. He
who does not pay attention to the defects of his own personality is overcome
by passions. Death is surely better for those who are moving to the abyss.
O Old man, this world is sweet and green. It has its own people. The world
to come is also has its own people whose
selves are too lofty to compete with the people of this world. They neither
contend with each other for gaining the worldly pleasures, nor do they feel
happy for its fertility, nor do they feel sad for its misery.
O Old man, he who anticipates sudden shocks will hardly sleep. Nights and
days are very quick in one’s age. Hence, control your tongue and say nothing
but the good.
O Old man, you should like for people all that which you like for yourself
and treat them in the same way you want them to treat you.
Imam Ali (a) then turned to his companions and said:
O people, do you not see that people in this world encountering a great
variety of conditions whenever they enter into evening or morning? They are
either a victim that writhes (out of pain), a visitor of a sick, a person
that is visited in his ailment, a person that is dying, a person that is not
expected to live any longer, or a (dead) person that is laid out. The
seekers of this world are chased by death, and the negligent are not
ignored. The present ones will surely face the same fate of the past ones.*
Zaid bin Sawhan al-Abdi asked and Amir ul-Mu’minin answered:
– O Amir ul-Mu’minin, what is the most powerful and influential
authority?
– It is death.
– What is the most degrading humility?
– It is care for the worldly pleasures.
– What is the harshest poverty?
– It is apostasy after faith.
– What is the most aberrant advocacy?
– It is the advocacy to the impossible.
– What is the best deed?
– It is God-fearing.
– What is the most successful deed?
– It is to seek for that which is in the possession of Allah, Powerful and Majestic is He.
– Who is the evilest companion?
– The evilest companion is that who encourages you to commit acts of disobedience to Allah.
– Who is the unhappiest of people?
– The unhappiest of people is he who sold his religion with the worldly life of others.
– Who is the most powerful of people?
– The most powerful of people is the self-possessed.
– Who is the stingiest of people?
– The stingiest of people is he who seizes estates unlawfully and spends them unduly.
– Who is the most courteous of people?
– The most courteous of people is he who inclined to the right guidance after he had discriminated it
from the wrong way.
– Who is the most clement of people?
– The clement of people is he who never becomes angry.
– Who is the most resolute?
– The most resolute is he who is not deceived by people in regard to his personality and is not
deceived by this world and its seductive matters.
– Who is the most foolish?
– The most foolish is he who is deceived by this world although he is noticing the changeability of its
conditions.
– Who is the most regretful?
– The most regretful is he who is deprived of this world as well as the world to come. This is surely the
clear loss.
– Who is the blindest?
– The blindest is he who desired for gaining the rewards of Allah through acts that he had practiced for
something other than the cause of Allah.
– What is the best sort of satisfaction?
– It is the satisfaction with that which Allah has given.
– What is the most shattering misfortune?
– It is the misfortune of the religion.
– What is the most favorable deed to Allah?
– It is to expect the Relief.
– Who are the best people in the sight of Allah?
– They are the most careful about Allah, the most observant of God-fearing, and the most abstinent in
the worldly pleasures.
– What is the most favorable utterance in the sight of Allah?
– It is the frequent reference to Him and the reverential supplication to Him.
– What is the most truthful wording?
– It is the confession that there is no god but Allah.
– What is the greatest deed in the sight of Allah?
– It is the submission (to Him) and piety.
– Who is the most truthful of people?
– It is he who resists in battles.
Imam Ali (a) then turned to the old man and said:
O Old man, Allah has created some people and made the worldly affairs
difficult for them. He has also induced them to abstain from the worldly
pleasures and transitory wreckage. They desired from the Abode of Peace to
which Allah has called them, stood the harsh livelihood and the misfortunes,
and longed for the honor that is found with Allah, Powerful and Majestic is
He. They therefore sacrificed themselves for the sake of Allah’s
satisfaction and ended their deeds with martyrdom to meet Allah Who will be
pleased with them. As they recognized that death was inevitable for the past
ones as well as the present ones, they took along provisions, not gold and
silver, for their lives to come, wore tough clothes, advanced charity, and
loved and hated for the sake of Allah. These are surely the lanterns and
people of bliss and peace in the world to come.
The old man commented: “Where should I go and how should I leave Paradise
while I can see it and its people with you, Amir ul-Mu’minin? Equip me with
weapons by which I can fight against your enemy.”
Hence, Imam Ali (a) equipped him with weapons and prepared a horse for him.
He went on fighting in front of Amir ul-Mu’minin so bravely, and the Imam
was highly admired by his fight. As the war attained its climax, the old man
was advancing with his horse until he was killed. One of the companions of
Amir ul-Mu’minin traced him. He found him killed and found his horse and
sword still in his hand.
When the war was over, the horse and sword of the old man was put before
Amir ul-Mu’minin (a) who prayed for his body and said: “This is, by Allah,
the true happy. Seek Allah’s mercy for your
brother
A wonderful reminder of what is really important in life….
A ten minute talk given by a professor named Randy Pausch who has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and only has a few months left to live. His talk is not about death however, it’s about achieving your childhood dreams and how to live your life.
A wonderful reminder of what is really important in life.
Panic Attacks
Causes of Panic Attacks
The short and obvious answer: panic attacks are caused by high anxiety. But, what exactly is anxiety? Understanding how anxiety crops up will help you defeat panic attacks.
One of the biggest myths surrounding anxiety is that it is harmful and can lead to a number of various life-threatening conditions.
Read more……
http://japald.com/causes-of-panic-attacks/?gclid=CPrRlMWMgpMCFQWKMAodQ3mVCA
The 5 Toughest Questions
The questions are:
What are you thinking about?
Do you love me?
Do I look fat?
Do you think she is prettier than me?
What would you do if I died?
What makes these questions so difficult is that every one is guaranteed to explode into a major argument if the man answers incorrectly (i.e tells the truth). Therefore, as a public service, each question is analyzed below, along with possible responses.
*********
Question # 1: What are you thinking about?
The proper answer to this, of course, is: “I’m sorry if I’ve been pensive, dear. I was just reflecting on what a warm, wonderful, thoughtful, caring, intelligent woman you are, and how lucky I am to have met you.” This response obviously bears no resemblance to the true answer, which most likely is one of the following:
Baseball.
Football.
How fat you are.
How much prettier she is than you.
How I would spend the insurance money if you died.
(Perhaps the best response to this question was offered by Al Bundy, who once told Peg, “If I wanted you to know what I was thinking, I would be talking to you!”)
*********
Question # 2: Do you love me?
The proper response is: “YES!” or, if you feel a more detailed answer is in order, “Yes, dear.” Inappropriate responses include:
I suppose so.
Would it make you feel better if I said yes?
That depends on what you mean by love.
Does it matter?
Who, me?
*********
Question # 3: Do I look fat?
The correct answer is an emphatic: “Of course not!” Among the incorrect answers are:
Compared to what?
I wouldn’t call you fat, but you’re not exactly thin.
A little extra weight looks good on you.
I’ve seen fatter.
Could you repeat the question? I was just thinking about how I would spend the insurance money if you died.
*********
Question # 4: Do you think she’s prettier than me?
Once again, the proper response is an emphatic: “Of course not!” Incorrect responses include:
Yes, but you have a better personality
Not prettier, but definitely thinner
Not as pretty as you, when you were her age
Define ‘pretty’
Could you repeat the question? I was just thinking about how I would spend the insurance money if you died.
*********
Question #5: What would you do if I died?
A definite no-win question. (The real answer, or course, is “Buy a Corvette.”)
No matter how you answer this, be prepared for at least an hour of follow-up questions, usually along the these lines:
*********
She….Would you get married again?
He…..Definitely not!
She….Why not – don’t you like being married?
He…..Of course I do.
She….Then why wouldn’t you remarry?
He…..Okay, I’d get married again.
She….You would? (With a hurtful look on her face)
He…..Yes, I would.
She….Would you sleep with her in our bed?
He…..Where else would we sleep?
She….Would you put away my pictures, and replace them with pictures of her?
He…..That would seem like the proper thing to do.
She….And would you let her use my golf clubs?
He…..She can’t use them; she’s left-handed.
The Thing I Value Most…..
—————————————————————————————–
A young man learns what’s most important in life from the guy next door.
It had been some time since Jack had seen the old man. College, girls, career, and life itself got in the way.
In fact, Jack moved clear across the country in pursuit of his dreams. There, in the rush of his busy life,
Jack had little time to think about the past and often no time to spend with his wife and son. He was
working on his future, and nothing could stop him.
Over the phone, his mother told him, ‘Mr.. Belser died last night. The funeral is Wednesday.’ Memories flashed
through his mind like an old newsreel as he sat quietly remembering his childhood days.
‘Jack, did you hear me?’
‘Oh, sorry, Mom. Yes, I heard you. It’s been so long since I thought of him. I’m sorry, but I honestly thought he died years ago,’ Jack said.
‘Well, he didn’t forget you. Every time I saw him he’d ask how you were doing. He’d reminisce about the many days you spent over ‘his side of the fence’ as he put it,’ Mom told him.
‘I loved that old house he lived in,’ Jack said.
‘You know, Jack, after your father died, Mr. Belser stepped in to make sure you had a man’s influence in your life,’
she said ‘He’s the one who taught me carpentry’ … ‘I wouldn’t be in this business if it weren’t for him. He spent a lot of time teaching me things he thought were important…Mom, I’ll be there for the funeral,’ Jack said.
As busy as he was, he kept his word. Jack caught the next flight to his hometown. Mr. Belser’s funeral was small and uneventful. He had no children of his own, and most of his relatives had passed away.
The night before he had to return home, Jack and his Mom stopped by to see the old house next door one more time.
Standing in the doorway, Jack paused for a moment. It was like crossing over into another dimension, a leap through space and time The house was exactly as he remembered. Every step held memories. Every picture, every piece of
furniture….Jack stopped suddenly.
‘What’s wrong, Jack?’ his Mom asked.
‘The box is gone,’ he said
‘What box?’ Mom asked.
‘There was a small gold box that he kept locked on top of his desk. I must have asked him a thousand times what was inside. All he’d ever tell me was the thing I value most,’ Jack said.
It was gone. Everything about the house was exactly how Jack remembered it, except for the box. He figured someone from the Belser family had taken it.
‘Now I’ll never know what was so valuable to him,’ Jack said. ‘I better get some sleep. I have an early flight, Mom.’
It had been about two weeks since Mr. Belser died Returning home from work one day Jack discovered a note in his mailbox. ‘Signature required on a package. No one at home. Please stop by the main post office within the next
three days,’ the note read.
Early the next day Jack retrieved the package. The small box was old and looked like it had been mailed a hundred years ago. The handwriting was difficult to read, but the return address caught his attention. ‘Mr. Harold Belser’
it read. Jack took the box out to his car and ripped open the package. There inside was the gold box and an envelope. Jack’s hands shook as he read the note inside.
‘Upon my death, please forward this box and its contents to Jack Bennett. It’s the thing I valued most in my life.’ A small key was taped to the letter. His heart racing, as tears filling his eyes, Jack carefully unlocked the box. There inside he found a beautiful gold pocket watch. Running his fingers slowly over the finely etched casing, he unlatched the cover. Inside he found these words engraved:
‘Jack, Thanks for your time! -Harold Belser.’
‘The thing he valued most was……………………………my time’
Jack held the watch for a few minutes, then called his office and cleared his appointments for the next two days.
‘Why?’ Janet, his assistant asked.
‘I need some time to spend with my son,’ he said.
‘Oh, by the way, Janet, thanks for your time!’
Think about this. You may not realize it, but it’s 100% true.
1. At least 2 people in this world love you so much they would die for you.
2. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.
3 . A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don’t like you.
4. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.
5. You mean the world to someone.
6. If not for you, someone may not be living.
7. You are special and unique.
8. When you think you have no chance of getting what you want, you probably won’t get it, but if you trust God
to do what’s best, and wait on His time, sooner or later, you will get it or something better.
9. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good can still come from it.
10. When you think the world has turned its back on you, take a look: you most likely turned your back on the world.
11. Someone that you don’t even know exists loves you.
12. Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.
13. Always tell someone how you feel about them; you will feel much better when they know and you’ll both be happy.
14. If you have a great friend, take the time to let them know that they are great.
Send this to all the people you care about, if you do so, you will certainly brighten someone’s day and might change their perspective on life…for the better.
To everyone who reads this: ‘Thanks for your time’
The Apple Tree and the boy……
A long time ago, there was a huge apple tree.
في قديم الزمان … كان هناك شجرة تفاح ضخمة ..
A little boy loved to come and play around it every day.
و كان هناك طفل صغير يلعب حول هذه الشجرة كل يوم . .
He climbed to the treetop, ate the apples, took a nap under the shadow…
كان يتسلق أغصان الشجرة ويأكل من ثمارها … ثم يغفو قليلا لينام في ظلها ..
He loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him.
كان يحب الشجرة وكانت الشجرة تحب أن تلعب معه . .
Time went by…the little boy had grown up,
مر الزمن… وكبر الطفل…
And he no longer played around the tree every day.
وأصبح لا يلعب حول الشجرة كل يوم …
One day, the boy came back to the tree and he looked sad.
في يوم من الأيام … رجع الصبي وكان حزينا …!
‘Come and play with me,’ the tree asked the boy.
فقالت له الشجرة: تعال والعب معي …
‘I am no longer a kid, I do not play around trees anymore’
The boy replied.
فأجابها الولد: لم أعد صغيرا لألعب حولك …
‘I want toys. I need money to buy them.’
أنا أريد بعض اللعب وأحتاج بعض النقود لشرائها …
‘Sorry, but I do not have money…
فأجابته الشجرة: أنا لا يوجد معي نقود !!!
But you can pick all my apples and sell them.
So, you will have money.
ولكن يمكنك أن تأخذ كل التفاح الذي لدي لتبيعه ثم تحصل على النقود التي تريدها …
‘ The boy was so excited.
الولد كان سعيدا للغاية…
He grabbed all the apples on the tree and left happily.
فتسلق الشجرة وجمع كل ثمار التفاح التي عليها وغادر سعيدا . ..
The boy never came back after he picked the apples.
لم يعد الولد بعدها ..
The tree was sad.
فأصبحت الشجرة حزينة …
One day, the boy who now turned into a man returned
وذات يوم عاد الولد ولكنه أصبح رجلا …!!!
And the tree was excited ‘Come and play with me’ the tree said.
كانت الشجرة في منتهى السعادة لعودته وقالت له: تعال والعب معي …
‘I do not have time to play. I have to work for my family.
ولكنه أجابها:
لا يوجد وقت لدي للعب .. فقد أصبحت رجلا مسئولا عن عائلة …
We need a house for shelter.
ونحتاج لبيت يؤوينا…
Can you help me?
هل يمكنك مساعدتي ؟
‘ Sorry’,
آسفة!!!
I do not have any house. But you can chop off my branches
To build your house.
فأنا ليس عندي بيت ولكن يمكنك أن تأخذ جميع أغصاني لتبني بها بيتا لك …
‘ So the man cut all the branches of the tree and left happily.
فأخذ الرجل كل الأغصان وغادر وهو سعيد …
The tree was glad to see him happy but the man never came back since then.
كانت الشجرة مسرورة لرؤيته سعيدا … لكن الرجل لم يعد إليها ..
The tree was again lonely and sad.
فأصبحت الشجرة وحيدة و حزينة مرة أخرى …
One hot summer day,
وفي يوم حار من ايام الصيف…
The man returned and the tree was delighted.
عاد الرجل .. وكانت الشجرة في منتهى السعادة ….
‘Come and play with me!’ the tree said.
فقالت له الشجرة: تعال والعب معي …
‘I am getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself.
فقال لها الرجل لقد تقدمت في السن… وأريد أن أبحر لأي مكان لأرتاح …
‘Can you give me a boat?’
‘Said the man’.
فقال لها الرجل: هل يمكنك إعطائي مركبا …
‘Use my trunk to build your boat.
You can sail far away and be happy.
فأجابته: خذ جذعي لبناء مركب… وبعدها يمكنك أن تبحر به بعيدا … وتكون سعيدا …
‘ So the man cut the tree trunk to make a boat.
فقطع الرجل جذع الشجرة وصنع مركبا !!!
He went sailing and never showed up for a long time.
فسافر مبحرا ولم يعد لمدة طويلة ……………………
Finally, the man returned after many years.
أخيرا عاد الرجل بعد غياب طويل ……..
‘Sorry, my boy. But I do not have anything for you anymore.
ولكن الشجرة قالت له : آسفة يا بني .. لم يعد عندي أي شئ أعطيه لك …
No more apples for you…
‘ The tree said’.
وقالت له:لا يوجد تفاح…
‘No problem, I do not have any teeth to bite
‘ The man replied.
قال لها: لا عليك لم يعد عندي أي أسنان لأقضمها بها …
‘No more trunk for you to climb on’
لم يعد عندي جذع لتتسلقه . ..
‘I am too old for that now’ the man said.
فأجابها الرجل لقد أصبحت عجوزا ولا أستطيع القيام بذلك !!!
‘I really cannot give you anything…
قالت: أنا فعلا لا يوجد لدي ما أعطيه لك …
The only thing left is my dying root,’
The tree said with tears.
قالت وهي تبكي .. كل ما تبقى لدي جذور ميتة …
‘I do not need much now, just a place to rest.
فأجابها: كل ما أحتاجه الآن هو مكان لأستريح فيه …
I am tired after all these years’ the man replied.
فأنا متعب بعد كل هذه السنين…
‘Good! Old tree roots are the best place to lean on and rest,
فأجابته: جذور الشجرة العجوز هي أنسب مكان لك للراحة …
Come, come sit down with me and rest.
تعال .. تعال واجلس معي لتستريح …
‘ The man sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears…
جلس الرجل إليها … كانت الشجرة سعيدة … تبسمت والدموع تملأ عينيها …
This is you and the tree is your parent. !!!!!
هل تعرف من هي هذه الشجرة؟
إنها أبويك!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please enlighten all your friends and your families
رجاء أن تقص هذه القصة على أصدقائك وأقاربك ….
By telling them this story,
‘Love your Parents’
‘ أحبَ والديك ‘
YouTube, Gmail accounts compromised
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/517422-youtube-gmail-accounts-compromised
YouTube users in the UAE are currently able to access the account pages and personal information of other people in what appears to be a data storage error, ArabianBusiness.com can reveal.
When signed in on their own accounts, UAE users are able to view the ‘My videos’, ‘Contacts’, ‘Favourites’ and other menus belonging to other users.
UAE users can also see personal profiles and messages, and if account holders have linked their YouTube account to their Gmail account then UAE users can access this as well.
The issue only appears to be present with the Etisalat internet service, while users of the UAE’s second internet service provider (ISP) Du, remain unaffected.
The issue has been replicated by the editorial teams of both itp.net and Windows Arabic magazine. As of Wednesday the problem had not been fixed.
In both tests the user accounts that were visible to UAE users were accounts that had been logged into only a few hours previously, suggesting that the index pages have been cached by Etisalat, and were somehow being accessed in error through the cache.
Cache is a temporary storage area where frequently accessed data can be stored for rapid access.
Neither Google, owner of YouTube, nor Etisalat were immediately available for comment.
The issue appears to be very similar to a problem which was reported by users of Kuwaiti ISP FASTtelco, who said that they were able to see other users’ Gmail accounts and other personal details, although this was later denied by the ISP.
Thought of the week
The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The doors of Heaven to mercy will be opened in four situations: when it rains, when a child looks kindly at his parent’s face, when the door of the Ka’bah is opened, and when marriage (occurs).”
“The one who sees a wrong action done should prohibit it by his deed, if he is capable, and
if he cannot do that, he should prohibit it by his tongue, but if he is not able to do even that,
he may forbid it by his heart.”
(Holy Prophet s.a.w.)
It is narrated that the Prophet (saw) has said:
Do not allow the fear of people to prevent any of you from speaking out the truth when you witness it, for speaking out neither hastens death not decreases the livelihood.
Tabligh 40 Hadith -Hadith number 27 –
We Muslims are busy bickering over whether to fold or unfold our hands during namaz, while the enemy is devising ways of cutting them off. “Roohullah Khomeni”
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.
“Great minds have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” – Albert Einstein
“There are laws to protect the freedom of the press’s speech, but none that are worth anything to protect the people from the press”: Mark Twain
“Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.” : Mark Twain. The Mysterious Stranger 1916.
“If in other lands the press and books and literature of all kinds are censored, we must redouble our efforts here to keep them free”: Franklin D. Roosevelt
“For those who stubbornly seek freedom, there can be no more urgent task than to come to understand the mechanisms and practices of indoctrination. These are easy to perceive in the totalitarian societies, much less so in the system of ‘brainwashing under freedom’ to which we are subjected and in which all too often we serve as unwilling instruments.” Noam Chomsky
“Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience. Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running and robbing the country. That’s our problem.”: Howard Zinn, from ‘Failure to Quit’
http://tinyurl.com/2vf8j
Thought of the week
“Throughout every Thursday night, Allah (swt) orders an angel to call on behalf of the Almighty:
Is there any believer who calls Me for this world and the Hereafter so that I grant his exigency?
Is there any believer who repents of his sins before the sunrise, so that I forgive him?
Is there any believer who asks for the abundance of his sustenance, which I have made scanty, before the sunrise, so that I will expand it?
Is there any sick believer who asks me to heal him before the sunrise so that I make him well?
Is there any jailed believer who asks me to free him before the sunrise, so that I grant him his demand? Is there any oppressed believer who asks me to take revenge from the oppressor, so that I restore his rights? He will keep saying so until dawn.”
(Imam al-Baqir, as)
Source: Bihar al Anwar: 86/282, chapter 2, radition 27
A messiah for our time…..by Khushwant Singh
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080216/jsp/opinion/story_8909500.jsp
Prejudice is like poison. Unless purged out of one’s mind in early stages, it can spread like cancer and make one incapable of differentiating between right and wrong. Of the many kinds of prejudice, the worst is to believe that one’s own religion is superior to all others, which may be tolerated but never taken seriously or accepted as equally valid as one’s own. The most misunderstood of the major religions today is Islam, which, after Christianity, is the second most widely practised religion in the world. It also gains more converts than any of the other religions. Prejudice against Islam was spread in Christendom from the time Muslims gained dominance in the Middle East, North Africa and Spain. Christian crusaders failed in their missions to crush Islam in its homeland but continued to vilify its founder, Mohammed. The emergence of militant Islamic groups like al-Qaida and taliban gave them reasons to do so. The attack on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington on September 11, 2001 provided fresh ammunition to vilifiers of Islam. Since then Islamophobia has been deliberately spread throughout the non-Muslim world. The two principle contentions of the anti-Islamists are that Islam was spread by the sword and that its founder-prophet was not the paragon of virtue that Muslims make him out to be. It can be proved by historical evidence that Islam was not forced upon the people; it was readily accepted by millions because it offered them new values, principally equality of mankind and rights to women that were unheard of in those times. In countries like Indonesia and Malayasia, Islam was not forced on the population by Muslim invaders but by Muslim missionaries.
Muslims are extremely sensitive to criticism of their Prophet. A popular adage in Persian is: ba khuda diwaana basho, ba Mohammed hoshiar! — “say what you like about God, but beware of what you say about Mohammed.” They regard him as the most perfect man who ever trod upon the earth, a successor of Adam, Moses, Noah, Abraham and Christ. He was the last of the prophets. If you honestly want to know how Muslims see him, you ought to take a good look at his life and teachings, which he claimed had been revealed to him by God. It would be as wrong to judge him by the doings of al-Qaida and taliban or by the fatwas periodically pronounced by Ayatollahs and half-baked mullahs. You do not judge Hinduism of the Vedas and Upanishads by the doings of Hindus who, in the name of Hindutva, destroy mosques, murder missionaries and nuns, vandalize libraries and works of art. You do not judge the teachings of the Sikh gurus by the utterances of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and by the murder of innocents by his hooligans. Likewise, judge Mohammed by what he taught and stood for and not by what his so-called followers do in his name.
Mohammed was born in Mecca in 570 AD. He lost both his parents while still a child and was brought up by his grandfather and uncle. He managed the business of a widow, whom he later married. She bore him six children. He took no other wife until she died. He was 40 years old when he started having revelations while in trance. They proclaimed Mohammed as the new messiah. Such revelation kept coming at random, sometimes dealing with problems at hand, at other times with matters spiritual. They were memorized or written down by his admirers and became the Quran, which means recitation. It should be kept in mind that Mohammed was not preaching ideas of his own but only reiterating most of what was already in the Judaic creed. Allah was the Arabic name for God before him. Similarly, Islam was ‘surrender’ and salman was ‘peace’. Mecca was the main market city of the Bedouin tribes. They gathered at the Kaaba, the huge courtyard with the black meteorite embedded in it during two pilgrimages — the bigger Haj and the lesser Umrah. Mohammed accepted Judaic traditions regarding food which is halaal (lawful) or haraam (forbidden, such as pig meat), names of the five daily prayers and circumcision of male children. Mohammed only asserted the oneness of God that did not accept of any equal such as the stone goddesses worshiped by different tribes. Mohammed never forced people to accept his faith and indeed quoted Allah’s message of freedom of faith. “There must be no coercion in matters of faith — la ikra f’il deen.” Further: “And if God had so willed, He would have made you all one single command; but He willed otherwise in order to test you by means of what He has vouchsafed unto you. Vie, then with one another in doing good works!”
As might have been expected, Mohammed’s mission roused fierce hostility. Many attempts were made to assassinate him but he had miraculously escaped. Ultimately, in 622 AD he was advised to flee from Mecca to Medina. This is know as the Hijra (emigration) and recognized as the beginning of the Muslim calendar. Meccans made a few attempts to capture Medina but were ousted. Muslim armies led by Mohammed triumphed and returned to Mecca as conquerors. By the time Mohammed died in Medina in 632 AD, the Arabian peninsula was united as a confederacy of different tribes under the banner of Islam.
Most of the ill-founded criticism against Mohammed is directed towards the number of women he married after the death of his first wife, Khadijah. This has to be seen in the perspective of Arabian society of the time. Tribes lived by warring against each other and looting caravans. There were heavy casualties of men, creating serious gender imbalance. Widows and orphans of men killed had to be provided with homes and sustenance. Otherwise they took to prostitution or begging. So they were given protection by being taken in marriages. Also, matrimonial alliances were a good way of creating bonds between different tribes. Mohammed did nothing not acceptable to his people. He went further: he was the first teacher to proclaim that the best union was a monogamous marriage and fixed the maximum limit to four, provided a man could keep all of his wives equally happy — which was most unlikely. The pertinent verse in the Quran reads: “And if you have reason to fear you might not act equitably towards orphans, then marry from among other women who are lawful to you, even two or three or four; but if you have reason to fear you might not be able to treat them with equal fairness, then only one.” Bear in mind that at that time polygamy was the norm in patriarchal societies all over the world.
To make a beginning in clearing your mind of anti-Muslim prejudices, I suggest you read Karen Armstrong’s Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time. Armstrong is the leading writer on comparative religions today. She is not Muslim.
Provoking Thoughts 