Dr. Maleeha Aslam

An interdisciplinary social scientist with MPhil, PhD and Post Doc in Development Studies, Peace and Governance from the University of Cambridge UK and, the United Nations University, Headquarters.

[email protected]

The purpose of sending prophets is to keep creation on -track i.e. on a path that leads them to God. Nature, for example, the sun and moon, do not go against God’s laws but human beings do tend to oppose and exercise free will. The sun cannot refuse to shine but human beings can refuse to abide by God’s command. Prophets were sent to be ‘exemplary’ human beings (though with special divine connections). As per Islamic i.e. original Abrahamic beliefs, prophets cannot be God; He does not beget nor can He be begotten. Life stories of many prophets, including Muhammad (sws), record them as unlettered i.e. ummi. This is a strategic divine arrangement to ensure God’s supremacy and influence over His chosen prophets and to make them speak to other human beings as representatives of God Alone. 

Average western citizens have an illusion that not only their cultural experiences are superior but are also valid. The West due to its sense of superiority always expected Muslim civilizations to learn and communicate in English and not the other way round. Not only this but also Muslims around the world started to follow European and American ways of living as if it is the most valid and authentic representation of ‘modernity’. 

Pakistanis are not different. For example, our state and non-state actors use symbolism and language that is either European and/or American; establishing it as some standard i.e. yardstick on which principles of Islam are tested. We, as individuals and governments try to grant existential and intellectual credibility to ourselves as the Muslim people and systems of governance whose functioning capacity synchronizes with the values and principles of the West.  

The non-Arab South Asian Muslims neglected to learn the language of their own Prophet. This led to a failure to connect; connect with one’s roots and identity. Colonial masters introduced English in the region and today all that we understand and follow originates in the English-speaking world. Postcolonial hangover and high levels of ignorance about Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (sws) has led to a painful loss of identity among modern age Indus-Muslims.

Muhammad Asad in his book, The Road to Makkah, notes that Crusades were first and foremost about intellectual damage i.e. the poisoning of the Western mind against the Muslim world through deliberate misrepresentation of the teachings and ideals of Islam. To a Western mind, Islam was and remains about three things, sensualism, brutal violence, and ritualism. Violence against women is of particular interest to a Western mind and to many secular feminists who were born in the Muslim world. Undoubtedly the local cultures and lack of good governance have made Muslim women highly vulnerable to abuse, and attack. What could be more ironic than this that today western-educated Muslim women feel safer living in Europe, the US, and Canada than in their Muslim lands. Domestic abuse of women is also common in Muslim households. Exceptions exist, such as, King Ibn Saud who divorced his wife after losing his eye to the poison she had added in the incense container brought to him. Ibn Saud pondered over the incident and decided to simply divorce and send her away with camels and heaps of gold as mahr price and additional gifts. More peaceful a settlement than for what Henry VIII would have opted.

Western civilization, as we understand it today starts at the end of the first millennium of the Christian era i.e. the century immediately preceding the Crusades. Almost 925 years ago, in November 1095, Pope Urban II pushed Christians to make war on Muslims. The crusades had a clear objective of creating a Christendom not only through bloodshed and war but through intellectual and cultural destruction of what he labeled as the ‘wicked race’.It was around this time that the Christians started calling Muhammad (sws) ‘Mahound’. Much before neither As-hamah Najashi, Bahira, Warqah Bin Naufal, Nestor, Addas of Tai’f (all Christians) or the Jewish tribes, nor the ancient idol worshippers of Uzza, Laat, Manat in the Arabian Peninsula had ever distorted Rasool Allah’s(sws) name, and in fact, many of them either secretly or openly respected him; calling him Muhammad and Ahmed & Sadiq and Amin. 

We need to remind ourselves that not only Prophet Muhammad (sws) himself but among his forefathers, Hashim was often hosted by the Christian king of Abyssinia during his trade travels and that Christians did not ever condemn Prophet Muhammad (sws) or his followers. In fact during Hashim’s time, on noticing his extraordinary almost divine radiant forehead, Christians and Jews of the Hebrew/Syriac zones thought he’d make an ideal son-in-law and this way the Prophetic light on Hashim’s forehead could be secured for Rome. This is why Heracles of Rome offered Hashim his daughter for marriage.

Although the birth of Prophet Muhammad (sws) was predicted and much waited one can state that racial discrimination and prejudice against Arabs not being owners of any book (Psalms, Torah, and Bible) led groups of People of the Book (ahl-e kita’ab) go into denial. They could not accept the birth of a Prophet among non-Israelites. As for the idol-worshippers of Hijaz and surrounding areas, they were market-oriented, and returning Ka’aba to its Abrahamic origin was a nightmare. This, and not Muhammad the individual, is what made few local tribes go against him. 

As for the early Christians who had read their scriptures well, they held the Prophet Muhammad (sws) in high esteem and showed respect to him as much as they did to Jesus. They never denied Prophet Muhammad (sws) as the Prophet of Allah. Bahira, the monk near Basra and, later Nestor (Nastura) the monk, both noticed Muhammad (sws) as that special person who was Godsend. Bahira, in an unusual move, stepped out of his monastery to greet the Hijaz caravan. He had been having visions of nature bowing down to the approaching caravan. He closely observed each face and then noticed the twelve-year-old boy, Muhammad (sws). Bahira did not take time in ascertaining the boy as the Prophet through the seal of Prophet-hood between his shoulders. Bahira stopped Abu Talib from taking Prophet Muhammad (sws) towards Rome where he might be killed. The monk also prevented a murder plot when a group of seven Romans arrived at his monastery asking about an Arab boy who would claim to be Prophet. Bahira asked them whether they could prevent from happening that which God had decided? When Prophet Muhammad (sws) was in his twenties Abu Bakr (ra) and he traveled to Syria. On the way, Nestor, another monk, approached them and testified to Muhammad’s (sws) Prophet-hood. To him, Prophet Muhammad (sws) was the mysterious Shiloh he had read about.

When Prophet Muhammad (sws) was around twenty-five he transported Khadija-bint Khwaylid’s trading goods along with her slave, Maysera. Later, Maysera confirmed to Khadija (ra) that during travel a cloud constantly provided a cool shadow over Prophet Muhammad (sws). When Prophet Muhammad (sws) returned with the caravan, Khadija (ra) and her friends occupied the upper terrace of their house to see the arrival and all of them noticed the same phenomenon, sunlight all around, and a protecting shadow over where Prophet Muhammad (sws) was marching on.

Prophet Muhammad (sws) was around forty and had been married to Khadija (ra) was almost 15 years when Archangel Gabriel descended on him with the first divine revelation in a cave in Mount Hira. On his return home Prophet Muhammad (sws) shared his experience with Khadija (ra). She comforted him and later took him to her paternal cousin Warqah (at times noted as Waraqah), a Christian monk, who had grown very old and was almost blind. 

Warqah (ra) had spent a lifetime learning the Torah and the Injeel. He could understand Hebrew, Aramaic/ Syriac. Khadija (ra) asked Prophet Muhammad (sws) to narrate everything to Warqah (ra) who immediately confirmed that the heavenly creature that descended on Prophet Muhammad (sws) was the one that had visited Moses and Jesus before him– the Archangel Gabriel. Warqah (ra) testified to Muhammad’s prophet-hood and warned that like other Prophets, Muhammad (sws) too will be forced into exile by his people but that ultimately he will be successful. Islamic scholars view Warqah (ra) as a Muslim as he supported the Prophet but Warqah (ra) did not live to see Islam establish in Makkah. He passed away a few days after meeting the Prophet.

Many know about Jaffar (ra) speech in the court of As-hamah Najashi (Negus), the King of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia and Eritrea). The king received early Muslim emigrants and granted them a safe place to live in. The Prophet Muhammad (sws) has offered only one funeral prayer in absentia (ghayabana-salatul jana’iz), and that is of As-hamah Najashi, the Christian king. So many of Muhammad’s (sws) companions died or were martyred during his lifetime but the Prophet never offered anyone’s funeral in absentia. It is believed that the Prophet received a divine indication when Najashi (ra) passed away. At present, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reminds one of similar interfaith ethic and regard for principles; the humanity and dignified grace with which she defends the rights of the followers of Prophet Muhammad (sws) is amazing. Ardern is a young mother and not some elderly monk or king like Bahira, Nestor, Warqah (ra), and Najashi (ra) but her similar sense of human rights principles gives hope to global peace.

Postscript:

Muhammad Asad, Martin Lings, Annemarie Schimmel, Idrees Kandhalwi, Khaleel Shawqi and Umar F Abdullah’s work on Islam is acknowledged here.