Izzy Mo’s Blog

kuficmuhammadOriginally uploaded by Izzy Mo.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the character and virtues of the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu alayhi wa salaam).  What has spurned this recent preoccupation was something that happened a few months ago.  I had another Muslim call me out on my behavior.  Apparently in this person’s eyes, I wasn’t being the good Muslim I should be.  The accusation wasn’t without its flaws because I know this person is an open fornicator.  Still, the impact of being told that I wasn’t the best Muslim I could be was a tad bit jarring.  After getting over the initial shock and anger, something or should I say Someone, prompted me to learn more about the beautiful and impeccable character of the Prophet (sallalahu alayhi wa salaam). 

These last months few months in Jackson have been a challenge because I was constantly faced with difficult situations and I couldn’t easily find a response to them.  As with the situation described above, I didn’t know how to act in a manner befitting a believer.  So, my ignorance led to a non-reaction or avoidance.  I didn’t want to confront the situation at all for fear of doing or saying something that I would regret.  All this motivated me to do a little reading.  I finally pulled out my book, The Content of Character, translated by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf.  It’s a collection of various hadith complied by a renowned African scholar named Shaykh Al-Amin Ali Mazrui (may God Most High bless him).  Sister Umm Zaid has already introduced the beauty of his work on her blog. It’s a deceptively small book.  It’s less than 80 pages but the information inside can not be easily read.  You must take the translator’s advice by reading one or two sayings of the Messenger (sallalahu alayhi wa salaam) and meditating on its meaning. 

I must admit that when confronted with his excellent example, I can’t help but feel very low.  I try to avoid feeling so low that I won’t even try to cultivate his example within myself.  After a reading a few hadith, I realized that there is still so much that I need to work on.  Had I really comtemplated the following sayings?  “Abandon your desire for this world and God will love you.  Abandon your desire for others’ goods, and people will love you.”  (Ibn Majah) “Keep God in mind wherever you are; follow a wrong with a right that offsets it; and treat people courteously.”  (At-Tirmidhi) Have I really been improving my character or simply perfecting the externals of my practice?

With the coming of Rabi al-Awwal and another recent challenge to my faith, the life and example of the Best of Creation (sallalahu alayhi wa salaam) became even more important.  As Muslims who follow different sects and interpretations, there are some of us who take part in mawlid celebrations and those who don’t.  Many of us, especially those of us who come from the Christian tradition, may fear that talking about him or reserving a day or month for salawat is veering dangerously close to shirk.  I’ll give my opinion briefly on this topic.    Everyone is free to follow their own heart and the advice of trusted scholars.  But nothing endears the believer’s heart to God’s Beloved more than reflecting on him and sending him peace and blessings.  We shouldn’t fear talking about him too much.  Think about all of the nonsense that flows from our mouths each day.  Wouldn’t you rather have the angels record your salawat than your opinions on the latest episode of American Idol?  Isn’t it better to shed tears over the description of his life and words than over anything else?  Muhammad ibn Abdullah (alayhi salatu wa salaam) was a flesh and blood man who faced every challenge with excellent behavior.  He was a man who ate, slept, laughed, wept, made love, married and raised children, suffered  his enemies’ slander, dealt with stress and sadness, held down a job and did all of the things that we as human beings do—only he achieved supreme and absolute God consciousness and humility before His Lord.  And our Messenger (may He receive the highest station in paradise) taught us how to achieve the same thing. 

His sunnah is eating and drinking in a certain way but it is also in the way we raise our children or how we deal with those who try our patience.  Just yesterday, I had a visitor in the museum tell me that I was going to hell because I didn’t believe in God.  I didn’t want to pick her brain to see how she came to such a ludicrous conclusion.  My first reaction was bewilderment because her friends were so nice to me and they asked me so many sincere questions about the exhibit.  I just told her, in my nice tour guide voice, that I was sorry she felt that way.  She went on to say Islam is all a cult (she really must look that word up sometime).  Keep in mind she paid money to enter our museum.  Apparently, disbelief makes a person rude and somewhat nonsensical.  Now maybe my next reaction was evidence that my character is getting better or it could have been that annoying tour guide persona I have where nothing can rattle me and I just continue to pour the sugar on you.  I asked her, very nicely, “Well, um, why did you come?”  “Well, I’m leaving.  I’m leaving now because this is a cult.”  (She paid to enter a cult’s museum, y’all!)  I just sorta shrugged and said, “Well, I’m sorry.  I’ll pray for you.”  (Yes, I still have some salt in me).  And I’m sure she’s praying for me, too.  It took her a good five to ten minutes before she left.  I guess the desert tent scene and the pictures of West Africa irked her.  Subhan’Allah, her friends, who probably didn’t know the incident took place until they left the museum, smiled and said to my co-worker, “Oh, yeah, we loved the show.  And she was a great tour guide!” 

There was a time when something like that would have made me cry hot steaming tears before exploding into a self righteous anger.  I would have bitten her head off and chopped her up verbally with Biblical scripture.  There was even a time when I would have said nothing but stood there in angry silence while some stranger condemns me to hell because I don’t share her intolerant interpretation of Christianity.  I can only hope that my latest reaction is proof that I’m getting better.  Maybe I’m chipping away at the crust around my heart.  Insha’Allah, I can cultivate enough of the Prophet’s practice (may God bless him, his family, his companions, and his followers) so that it can save me from my greatest enemy—myself.  Maybe, on the Day of Judgment, when everything is cast asunder and I’m standing before the Supreme Judge, hopefully my feeble efforts to live with Muhammadan virtue will earn me the gift of Paradise and seeing our Messenger’s noble face.  May the peace of God Most High be upon him.