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THE
PROPHETS PRACTICED WHAT THEY PREACHED
If a
preacher desires his preaching to be effective on people,
he should practice what he preaches. One who says what he
does not do can hardly expect to succeed in his mission.
Actions speak louder than words. The Qur’an is very
explicit in this matter:
O
you who believe! Why do you say that which you do
not do? Most hateful it is in the sight of God that
you say what you do not do (al-Saff, 61.2
-3).
God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, was the living
embodiment of his mission. He was the foremost in
practising Islam, in devotion to God, in servanthood to
Him. It usually happened that one who saw him did not feel
the need to see any other proofs to believe in his
Prophethood. For example, ‘Adbullah ibn Salam, the
renowned scholar of the Jewish community in Madina,
believed in him at first sight of him, saying:
There
can be no lie in this face; the one who has such a
face can only be a Messenger of God.23
‘Adbullah
ibn Rawaha, a famous poet of the time, expressed this fact
in a couplet whose meaning is:
Even
if he had not come with manifest signs,
A
single look at him suffices to inspire belief in
him.24
Those
who believed in him in his time were not foolish or
unreasonable people. Among them were men who, like the
first four caliphs, namely Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman
and ‘Ali, may God be pleased with them all, administered
a very great state. They were also so profound in
spirituality and so deep in belief that ‘Ali, for
example, once said:
If
the veil (between this material world and the
immaterial world) were to be lifted up, my certainty
(of the Unseen) would not increase.25
One
of the reasons why the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace
and blessings, is still loved deeply by hundreds of
millions despite the concerted, hostile efforts of
propaganda to remove him from the hearts of his people and
why, by contrast, he gains each day thousands of new
converts all over the world, is that he practised what he
advised others to do. For example, he invited people to
worship God sincerely and he himself set the best example
in this respect. He would spend more than half of the
night standing in prayer before God in tears, and utmost
humility, and when asked why he gave himself so great a
trouble as it caused his feet to swell, and did so even
though he was sinless, he would answer:
Should
I not be a thankful slave of God?26
As
narrated by ‘A’isha, his wife, one night he asked her
permission to get up and pray - he was so sensitive to the
rights of his wives as to request, while with them, their
permission to perform supererogatory prayer. He prayed
until daybreak and shed tears. He frequently recited the
following verses,
In
the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in
the alternation of day and night, there are signs
for men of understanding. Those that remember God
standing, sitting, and lying down, and meditate upon
the creation of the heavens and the earth. ‘Our
Lord! You have not created this in vain. Glory be to
You! Protect us from the punishment of the Fire. Our
Lord! Those whom You will admit to the Fire, You
have abased them; for wrong-doers there are no
helpers. Our Lord! We have heard a caller calling to
faith: “Believe you in your Lord”! So we
believed. Our Lord! Therefore forgive us our sins
and remit from us our evil deeds, and take our souls
in death in the company of the righteous! Our Lord!
And grant us what You did promise to us through Your
Messengers, and do not abase us on the Day of
Resurrection. You never break the promise! (Al
‘Imran, 3.190-4)27
Again,
‘A’isha reports:
I
woke up one night and I could not see God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, beside
me. I was jealous lest he had gone to another of his
wives. As I just got up from bed, my hand touched
his feet. I noticed that he was prostrate, praying: O
God! I seek refuge in Your pleasure from Your wrath,
and in Your forgiveness from Your punishment; I also
seek refuge in Yourself from You. I cannot praise
You as You praise Yourself.28
His
life was so simple that once ‘Umar, on seeing him, said:
O
Messenger of God! While kings sleep in soft, feather
beds, you are lying on a rough mat. You are the
Messenger of God and thereby deserve more than any
other people to live an easy life. God’s Messenger
answered him: Do you not agree that the luxuries
of the world should be theirs but those of the
Hereafter ours?29
God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, lived for
others. Indeed, he desired his nation to live a
comfortable life without, however, being deluded by its
luxuries, but he himself lived a very simple life.
23.
I. Hisham, Sira, 163-4.
24.
Sa’id al-Hawwa, al-Rasul, 1.9; For a different
version, see, I. Hajar, al-Isaba, 2.307.
25.
‘Ali al-Qari, al-Asrar al-Marfu’a, 286.
26. Bukhari,
Tahajjud, 6; Muslim, Munafiqin, 81.
27.
Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, 2.164.
28. Muslim,
Salat, 221-2; Abu Dawud, Salat, 148; Witr, 5
29. Bukhari,
Tafsir, 287; Muslim, Talaq, 31.
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