Not with standing the fact
that Arabia was a pit of iniquity and the bastion of
idolatry and polytheism, Muhammed himself was free from
all vice and sin, and he never bowed before any idol.
Even before he formally declared that he came to
establish the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, his own conduct
and character were a reflection of Quran Majid - the Book
of Allah and the Manifesto of Islam. Even his enemies
have not been able to point out any divergence between
his conduct and the precepts of Quran - at any time -
after or before the Proclamation of his mission as the
Messenger of Allah. After the Proclamation of his mission
as Allah's messenger, he placed pagan practices and
customs under proscription. But there is no evidence that
before doing so, he himself ever committed a pagan act,
or indeed any act repugnant to Quran.
It appears that Quran Majid was etched on the heart of
Muhammed from beginning to end, and it also appears that
he "preached" Islam even before the
Proclamation but only through his deeds and not with his
words. His deeds were just as eloquent as his speeches,
and they proclaimed to the world what manner of man he
was. After all, it were the pagans who called him Sadiq
(=Truthful) and Amin (=Trustworthy), and they were the
same people who, in later years, persecuted him, hunted
him, banished him, and set a price on his head.
Muhammed's demeanor preached a silent sermon!
Depraved and wanton as the pagan Arabs were, even they
admired truthfulness, and they admired it even in an
enemy. They admired Muhammed for his truthfulness yet
their admiration did not inhibit them from conspiring to
kill him when he denounced
their idolatry and polytheism. They loved nothing more
than to kill him ever since he invited them to Islam but
they never questioned his integrity and trustworthiness.
On this point there cannot be a testimony more
unimpeachable than theirs.
The citizens of Makka admired not only Muhammed's
integrity but also his judgment. At one time, the Quraysh
were rebuilding the Kaaba, and in one of the walls they
had to fit the Black Stone. Someone had to bring the
Black Stone to the site of construction, lift it from the
ground, and put it in its place in the wall. Who was
going to do it?
Each clan claimed the honor for itself but other clans
were not willing to defer to anyone in this matter. The
disagreement led to violent speeches, and it was not long
before the swords were drawn. The sword was going to
decide who would place the Black Stone in the wall.
At that moment an old Arab intervened, and suggested that
instead of fighting against, and killing each other, the
chiefs of the clans ought to wait and see who would be
the first man to enter the precincts of the Kaaba on the
following morning, and then submit the case for
adjudication to him.
It was a wise suggestion, and the chiefs wisely accepted
it. Next morning when the gate of Kaaba was opened, they
noticed that it was the man thev called Sadiq and Amin
who was entering through it. They were all glad that it
was he, and they all agreed to refer their dispute to
him, and to abide by his decision.
Muhammed ordered a sheet of cloth to be brought and to be
spread on the ground. He then placed the Stone on it, and
asked each chief to lift one of its corners, and to carry
it to the foot of the wall of Kaaba. When it was done, he
himself lifted the Stone and placed it in position.
Muhammed's decision satisfied everyone. By his wisdom, he
had saved faces and he had obviated bloodshed. The
incident also proved that in moments of crisis, the Arabs
deferred to his opinion. They knew that he had all the
virtues held high in their scale of values.
Muhammed was an inspired leader of men.
Sir William Muir
The circumstances which
gave occasion for the decision of Mohammed (when Kaaba
was being rebuilt and he put the Black Stone in place)
strikingly illustrate the absence of any paramount
authority in Mecca.
(The Life of Mohammed, London, 1877)
Muhammed at this time was
35 years old. His temples were faintly silvered. He was a
man much devoted to his family, and had a great fondness
for children. His sons, Qasim and Abdullah, had died in
their infancy. After their death, he and Khadija adopted
Ali as their son. Ali was the youngest son of Muhammed's
uncle and guardian, Abu Talib. He was five years old when
he came into their house, and filled a void in their
life. They brought him up and educated him. He grew up
surrounded with their love.
In the years to come, Ali showed himself a most splendid
product of the upbringing and education that Muhammed and
Khadija gave him. He was destined to be the most
versatile young man in the entire entourage of Muhammed,
the Messenger of God.
Sir William Muir
Shortly after the
rebuilding of the Kaaba, Mohammed comforted himself for
the loss of his infant son Casim by
adopting Ali, the child of his friend and former
guardian, Abu Talib.
Ali, at this time not above five or six years of age,
remained ever after with Mohammed, and they exhibited
towards each other the mutual attachment of parent and
child.
(The Life of Mohammed, London. 1877)
As noted before, Muhammed
was endowed with a contemplative cast of mind. As the
years passed, he became more and more absorbed in
contemplation. He had discovered a cave called Hira,
three miles in the hills to the north-east of Makka. To
be free from extraneous distractions, and from any
possible interference in his reflections, he left the
city, went to the hills, and spent the long summer days
in Hira.
Sometimes Muhammed Mustafa
went to Hira alone, but quite often he took Khadija and
the little boy, Ali, with him. The three of them spent
the day together on top of the hill, and returned home in
the evening.
From the cliffs of Hira, Muhammed could survey the
immensity of heaven and the earth, and in silent wonder
he contemplated the line where they met. How could one
comprehend the greatness of the Creator Who created such
vastness and Who regulates it all? What was so wonderful
as the stars glittering in a tranquil sky or as
intriguing as the Destiny of Man? And could anyone fathom
the mystery of the two great abstractions which cradled
the universe - Space (=Makan) and Time (=Zaman)? Muhammed
sought answers to questions that embody perennial
mysteries of human existence. For him, all creation was
veiled in mystery. He spent hours reflecting on the
awesome Intelligence and the constancy of Creation.
But as mysterious as the universe was, it was obvious to
Muhammed that it was governed by immutable laws. He could
almost "see" an organization and a system at
work; without such organization and system there would
only be chaos in both the celestial and the terrestrial
spheres of creation.
(A few years later when Muhammed told the Arabs that God
had sent him among them as His messenger, they challenged
him to show them a "miracle." n A miMcle?"
asked Muhammed. To see a miracle, all that they had to do
was to open their eyes and to look around. Wasn't the
whole universe full of miracles? What miracles were more
wonderful than the rising and setting of the sun, the
full moon sailing across the sky, the stars in their
revolutions, the incandescent heaven, the change of the
seasons, the upheaving bosom of the ocean, and the love
of a mother for her child?)
If the immensity and majesty of Creation filled
Muhammed's mind with wonder, they also filled his heart
with humility. It might have occurred to him that if
intellect could not apprehend the Creator and His mighty
works, perhaps love could. He, therefore, let intellect
defer to love - the love of his Creator.
Muhammed also reflected on the state of the Arabs - their
idolatry, their lust for blood and practice of
infanticide, and the emptiness, meaninglessness,
aimlessness and dreariness of their lives.
But for Muhammed, the long years of "spiritual
apprenticeship" and his solitary explorations in the
domain of the soul, were coming to an end. He might have
sensed that the time to turn his back upon a life of
contemplation and meditation had come, and that he had
soon to plunge into a life of action and conflict.
