Lesson from the Seerah : Complete Certainty (1)

The politician continued, "O young man, we have discussed some aspects of the Prophet's (ﷺ) blessed life, and we will see another apects from his life to see what lessons of leadership could be learnt." He paused, and continued, " Principled leadership with a sense of accountability, high integrity and a commitment to social justice is the single biggest and most visible deficiency leading to our present day crisis. We seriously lack principled leadership globally. The world that we live in today and even more the one in the future as we can envisage it, is a world of high complexity. Where information is ever easier to access; power is concentrated in the hands of an elite; the balance of factors that dictate the very survival of our planet is in great danger of being upset – perhaps irretrievably. The society we live in is one that is stratified on lines of economic, racial, national, religious and power divisions. And this divide is growing.
Materially, in terms of gadgets, tools, resources and money, we have more than we have probably ever had before. What we don’t have are criteria for decision making that are based on ethical and moral values, criteria that are inclusive and take into account those who have little and that little is in danger of being eliminated. Criteria that place greater importance on integrity than on accumulating material wealth. Criteria that focus on the long term impact of short term strategies. Criteria where we hold ourselves accountable for our actions, even if nobody else does. Criteria where we stand by our word, live by our creed and act according to our values; concerned about leaving a legacy of honor for those who will come after us.

When we read the biography of the Prophet (ﷺ), we realize that the world that he lived in was uncannily similar to the one we live in today in terms of its trends, focus of attention and problems. This gives us great hope when we look at learning leadership lessons from his life because if the problems were very like our own and they were solved using his methods, then we have reason to believe that those methods will transcend the centuries and come to our aid today when we are reeling under the negative impact of the forces we face. A tried and tested method which works is preferable to a theory that is new and at best experimental. Especially when that method was Divinely inspired and the one implementing it was Divinely guided. Such a method can never fail.

The history of the mankind is sorrowful. Ever since Adam, alayhissalam, and his children descended on earth, as time went by and civilizations flourished and generations rose on the remains of others, humans have been a motley mixture. If one day they are on the right track, they are lost for days soon after, and if they see the light of truth once, then the darkness of falsehood engulfs them many times thereafter. If we were to scrutinize the history of the mankind in the light of belief in Allah and preparation for the Hereafter, we should find the world closely resembling a drunkard whose periods of drunkenness exceed his sobriety, or a sick man who is delirious and does not know what he says. Although in experiences with themselves and their world, there are men’s many deterrents from committing evil and many incentives to do good, but overwhelming passion cannot be subdued by knowledge alone.

Look at the fate of the civilizations of Egypt and Greece, India and China, Persia and Rome. We do not mean their fate from the political point of view, but from the aspect of feelings and reason. Contemptible paganism destroyed them and made them fall into this miserable pit. And the human being, whom Allah appointed as His superior vicegerent in the heavens and on the earth, became a slave subservient to the lowliest thing in these places. What else could there be after cows and calves are hallowed, wood and stones are worshipped? Entire nations became polluted with such perversions. Paganism conies from within the self and not from the environment. Just as sad people apply their feelings to their surroundings and frightened people imagine objects to be ghosts, similarly deformed personalities will apply their stupidity and sterility to their surroundings, and deify the stones and the animals. Material wealth was the primary and only consideration. Its trappings were status symbols. How people dressed, what perfume they wore, how many slaves and servants they had, what kind of transportation they used, were all matters that were discussed and served to fuel the imagination and ambition of those who aspired to be like them. The phrase, ‘If you got it, flaunt it,’ may not have been known then but lifestyles certainly reflected this philosophy. Arrogance was the right of the powerful and their ability to oppress unopposed was a status symbol. Anyone who challenged them tasted their wrath. Selfindulgence was the right of those who had wealth and no law regulated what they could or couldn’t do. Money was the only consideration and once you had it, then the focus was to enjoy it in any way you could think of, with only your ability to get away with whatever you were doing, being the boundary of what you could do. Those who were poor or weak were mercilessly oppressed by the wealthy. Slaves and women were commodities to be used and discarded and this was done without thought or comment.

Slavery was rampant. Women were property to be bought, sold and inherited and disposed of at will. The society, the only criterion of success in which was the accumulation of wealth and power. Moral values were prominent by their absence. Prostitution was rampant and accepted. Women had no rights and were treated as chattels, lived to grow up to become the playthings of men at best or property to be used at will, at worst. Money was power and those who had little, who were weak, were the object of raw oppression and lived at the mercy of the ruling elite.
If we look at the social and economic factors described you can easily see how closely that society mirrored our modern capitalistic society. We may not have slaves in the same sense at that time, but our slavery is even more powerful because it is ideological in nature, has global reach, is enforced by an education system which promotes its values, an economic system which locks people into it and an executive which ensures that it is not threatened by misplaced ideals of freedom and equality.

The greatest catastrophe which befell the religions on account of the pagan attack on them was the terrible changes affecting the religion of Isa, son of Maryam. They turned its day into darkness and its peace into distress; they turned unity into idolatry, degraded the human race and hung its upliftment on a sacrifice. The myth of the Trinity and redemption was revived after early paganism succeeded in thrusting it upon the new Christianity, In this way it gained two victories: it strengthened itself and it led others astray. Thus when the sixth century of the Christian era arrived, the Eights of guidance throughout the world had gone out and Satan was traversing the vast expanses of land, admiring the thorns he had planted and seeing how sturdy they had grown.
Magianism in Persia was stubborn vanguard of the widespread idolatry in China, India, the Arab countries and all parts of the ignorant globe. Christianity, which vehemently opposed it, borrowed most prominent characteristics feature the myths of the ancient Indians and Egyptians. It ascribed a wife and a child to Allah and seduced its followers in Rome, Egypt and Constantinople with a kind of polytheism more advanced than that of the fire-worshippers and the idolworshippers: a polytheism mixed with monotheism and fighting pure polytheism..

Internationally, the two super powers of the day were the Byzantine (Roman) Empire and the Persian Empire which were engaged in ongoing wars in which sometimes one side had the upper hand and sometimes the other. Neither of them cared to rule Arabia which was mostly dry, uncultivable and inhospitable desert populated by nomadic tribes with occasional oasis towns and the two trade centers of Makkah and Ta’aif. Not the best environment to levy taxes or get soldiers and supplies from or to conduct campaigns to subdue the tribes if need be. The Romans and Persians looked down on and ignored the Arabs of this area who were consequently left alone and were not subjugated by either empire.
The Arabs lived by their own tribal laws, were ruled by their own clan chiefs and jealously guarded their independence. An important point to note is that they were a people who had never been subjugated and so did not have the common characteristics of people who understand being enslaved. In all their apparent unruliness and internal strife, their fierce independence was a factor that stood out clearly. They had never bowed to anyone and were very proud of this. Eventually when they bowed their heads to Allah they did it with the same sense of high self-worth that ensured that they never bowed before anyone else and preserved the essence of Tawheed in every sense of the term. It was only when Islam came to the lands of kings and empires that Muslims started taking to the ways of others and started to imbibe cultural trappings and philosophical arguments which had nothing to do with the pure, clean and simple doctrine that Muhammad brought which was as clean and pure as the desert air in which it was revealed to him by the Creator of the Universe.
It is very important to keep this characteristic in mind to understand both the nature of Arabian tribal society as well as the nature of opposition to the message of Islam which was seen as something that sought to take away this independence from them and rearrange their hierarchy and power base.

From this brief sketch of the nature of the world society at the time of the Prophet (ﷺ), it must be clear how closely it matches the nature of the dominant global culture today. The focus on money power, objectification of women (although it is sold today in the name of freedom) for pleasure and profit, widespread promiscuity and license, breakdown of moral and social values, race for material wealth, society stratified on economic and race/caste lines and any attempt to bring in justice, moral responsibility and accountability – which is what religion seeks to do – is seen as unnecessary and undesirable and so is opposed vehemently. Once again the poor and the weak have no voice, power or even identity and the rich are focused on getting richer with little or no concern for what happens to the rest of the world as a consequence of their shortsighted pursuit of personal power. The world is groaning under the yoke of oppression with no solution in sight.
It was in this world society that the Prophet (ﷺ) was born and grew up and in which he preached his message – a message that sought to create a revolutionary change aimed at ensuring justice for all irrespective of race, caste, gender or economic status. A message of dignity for the individual, respect for human rights and compassion for the weak. Freedom from slavery to men and bowing to the rule of the Creator of men, with rules of life that ensure peace, harmony and safety for all concerned. What else do we need today more than this message?

A message that we desperately need today because it has in it, the solutions that the world is desperately seeking. So, The first thing that stands out about the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) is the total certainty that he had in the truth of his message; his faith in Allah and in the fact that he himself was Allah’s Messenger and had been sent to convey that message to all of mankind.
Picture the scene for yourself. The prophet (ﷺ) climbed on the hill of As-Safa and called out, ‘Wa Subaha!’ People came rushing to him from the Haram and the market surrounding it, not only because this was the alarm call demanding that people leave everything else and attend to the emergency but also because it was Muhammad (ﷺ), AsSadiq-ul-Ameen (The Truthful and Trustworthy – the title that the Quraysh gave to their favorite son) who was calling them. So if he called out, ‘Wa Subaha!’ it must be important. So they gathered around him at the base of AsSafa. Today when we go for Umrah and after completing Tawâf when we go to As-Safa for Sayii we need to stop and reflect on what this hill has seen. That this was the place where the Prophet (ﷺ) stood and announced to the world for the first time since Prophet Ibrahim, عليه السلام, the message of Tawheed.
The prophet (ﷺ) said to them, “O people, if I told you that there is an army behind this hill would you believe me?” They said, “You have never lied to us and we will believe you.” He (ﷺ) said, “I have come to warn you of a severe punishment (in the Hereafter, if you don’t leave polytheism and worship Allah).”

Abu Lahab the closest relative of the Prophet (ﷺ), his father’s brother, spoke for many of them when he said, “May evil befall you for the rest of this day; is this why you gathered us here?" According to Abu Lahab talking about the Aakhira was a waste of time and he considered being called out of his shop a loss. Such people don’t mind spending time to talk about anything in the Duniya but not about salvation or the Aakhira. To this day, if you say that you are going to speak about how to make a million dollars, people will take time out and even pay money to listen to you. But if you say that you want to tell them how to escape the Fire and enter Paradise, they will accuse you of wasting their time.
Abu Lahab considered talking about the Akhirah a waste of time and he considered being called out of his shop a loss so he cursed his nephew. But his nephew was the Messenger of Allah and Allah doesn’t like those who curse His Messengers. So Allah said,

"May the hands of Abu Lahab be ruined, and ruined is he. His wealth will not avail him or that which he gained. He will [enter to] burn in a Fire of [blazing] flame." - [QS.111:1-3]

This Sura is one of the many proofs of the Divine origin of the Qur’an, for those who need proof, because it predicted that Abu Lahab would die without Islam.
All that Abu Lahab had to do to ‘prove’ the Qur’an wrong was to simply even pretend to accept Islam and thereby the prediction would have been proved wrong. But he didn’t and many years later he died without Islam of a horrible disease where his corpse was left rotting because people didn’t want to touch it to bury him. Eventually after three days, his sons using long poles, pushed his corpse into a pit and threw stones to fill the pit. So Abu Lahab was stoned by his own sons and will be in the Fire of Jahannam as Allah promised.

The first leadership lesson we learn is that it is essential for the leader to have complete faith in himself; in his own vision, his strategy, his method and in the belief that anyone following him would certainly benefit from doing so. If the leader demonstrates the slightest doubt in his message, the power of his leadership will be seriously compromised. People follow leaders for many reasons – Some because they believe in the message, others because the leader is powerful, still others because of various affiliations with the leader.
If the leader remains firm on his path, then gradually his followership increases and the trickle becomes a flood. Remaining firm and unwavering is the single most important condition for this.

In his entire life of Prophethood of 23 years, there is not a single instance even in the worst of hardship that it could be said that the faith and certainty of the Prophet (ﷺ) in his message and responsibility wavered in the slightest. That in itself is a miracle and a proof of the Divine mission that he had been entrusted with. This faith, combined with the fact that the Prophet (ﷺ) was a man with noble qualities, widely known to be completely truthful and trustworthy, having beautiful manners, a flawless character, great wisdom, excellent judgment and great kindness made him highly credible. Many believed to begin with, not because they believed in the message but because they believed the Prophet (ﷺ) and believed that if he said it, then it must be the truth. The importance of the personal character of the Messenger is clear from this and cannot be overemphasized and can seriously support or compromise his message.
In today’s world where Islamic Da’awa organizations use all sorts of methodologies, some good, some bad in the name of inviting to Islam, it is good to remind ourselves of the Da’awa of the Anbiya and its special characteristics; that they did it for the pleasure of Allah alone and didn’t seek any reward from the people, directly or indirectly.
Allah said about His Anbiya,

"Those are the ones whom Allah has guided, so from their guidance take an example. Say, "I ask of you for this message no payment. It is not but a reminder for the worlds." - [QS.6:90]

The Anbiya came to be followed and their way is the only way which is certified by Allah and which Allah taught them. The Da’awa of the Anbiya is characterized by, first, direct and clear, no compromise; second, no convoluted complex philosophies; third, conscious of the power of Allah; fourth, reliance only on Allah; fifth, seeking no reward from the people; sixth, working only for Allah’s pleasure."

The young wayfarer asked, "So, what was the message?" The politician said, "More than 1400 years ago, a window opened in the heavens and Allah spoke to man. Jibreel, alayhissalam, came to Muhammad (ﷺ) hugged him and commanded, ‘Iqra’ (read). The Prohet (ﷺ) replied, ‘I can’t read.’ This happened 3 times. Then Jibreel delivered the message that he had been sent with and recited the first Ayaat of Sura Al-Alaq; the very first set of Ayat of the Qur’an to be revealed.

"Recite in the name of your Lord who created - Created man from a clinging substance. Recite, and your Lord is the most Generous - Who taught by the pen - Taught man that which he knew not." - [QS.96:1-5]

This was the first communication between the Creator of the Universe and His Messenger (ﷺ); sent with His other Messenger Jibreel. It was a meeting of two different forms of creation from different dimensions. It was the first time that the Prophet (ﷺ) had experienced such a meeting and so naturally he was terrified.

The Prophet (ﷺ) went home to his wife Khadija, radhiyallahu 'anha, in a high state of fear, shivering and said, ‘Zammilooni, Zammilooni’. (cover me with something). He was afraid that the one who he saw may have been a Jinn because he hated anything to do with Jinn or sorcerers. He explained to her what had happened to him and his fear that it would destroy him, but she said, ‘Allah will not forsake you because you support the needy, you help the poor and you are generous towards guests.'
It is interesting that all the qualities she named were to do with treatment of people, with manners and kindness. This is something that we seem to have relegated to the back burner in our lives and that is the reason for our sad situation globally. We were sent to give to the world. The world loves those who give, those who are considerate and generous and hates those who are grasping, scheming and seeking to take from others. Need I go further for us to be able to look in the mirror to see what fits our image today? The Prophet (ﷺ) and the Sahaba set an example which is conspicuous by the fact that those who claim to follow them don’t practice their ways. So what is the meaning of ‘following’? We need to ask ourselves and correct our lives before it is too late and we are left standing alone before our Rabb with the Sahaba as witness against us.

When we look at great leaders in all times and especially at the Prophet (ﷺ), we see that the basic qualities of goodness, kindness, compassion, willingness to forgive transgressions against themselves, concern for others and the willingness to help, truthfulness, trustworthiness, generosity and the willingness to stand up for the weak and helpless; were all in the leader from the very beginning; long before he started to preach his message. It was these qualities that endeared him to people, inspired their respect and love and enhanced his credibility with them. From this it would be safe to say that these qualities are the basis of inspiring leadership.
These are the qualities which make the leader worthy of respect and of being followed. It is logical to say that people are not likely to follow someone they neither like nor respect. Anyone aspiring to lead must seriously examine his own character and assess where he or she stands with respect to these qualities and make every effort to bridge any gap because these qualities will decide his success or failure as a leader.
The Prophet (ﷺ) not only had these qualities at a level of excellence but he was iconic and seen as a role model in them. People gave him the title of As Sadiq-ul-Ameen (The Truthful and the Trustworthy). This was a very big honor for a young man in a tribal society where being trusted was a measure of his eminence. The Prophet (ﷺ) was trusted in full measure which gave him access to the councils of his elders and people looked up to him for advice.

We have become used to living in impersonal urban societies where our personal qualities at best affect our personal circle of friends and relatives. But in tribal societies a man’s success or failure was dependent on his reputation for being trustworthy. A man’s word was his honor and to be dishonored was a sentence of death. That is why to be called a liar was a killing matter because people dealt with you only if they saw you as being trustworthy. Business transactions often involving large sums of money were sealed between parties by word of mouth, only on each other’s promise to honor the deal.
There was no question of anyone reneging on the deal except the lowest of the low who would break a promise. Lying, cheating and breaking a promise were all serious crimes. Even before Islam the Arabs of Al-Hijaz lived by these noble rules even though as we have mentioned, their lives were immoral and cruel. It may sound strange to say that a man would not lie but wouldn’t hesitate to kill another man or to behave immorally but such dichotomy existed among the Native Americans and the people who first opened the American West for example, for the same reasons.
The Prophet (ﷺ) had all the noble qualities of his people without their weaknesses which enhanced his honorable status in their eyes. It is human nature to recognize your own weakness and to respect someone who does not have it. That is why the people of Makkah looked up to and loved the Prophet (ﷺ) very much and that is what his wife Khadija, radhiyallahu 'anhu, referred to in order to comfort him.

Khadija took him to her cousin, a Christian scholar and monk called Waraqa bin Naufal and he asked the Prophet (ﷺ) to explain what had happened. When he heard the story of the encounter – an encounter between two different beings in creation,between two different worlds across boundaries of time and space, he responded and said, “That was Al-Namoos-al-Akbar – Greatest Angel – who descended on Musa. I wish I was young (so that I could help you) when your people drive you out of your land.”
The Prophet (ﷺ) was astonished and questioned the statement of Al-Waraqa bin Naufal and asked, “Will they drive me out of my land?” He was surprised because he was the most beloved of people and from the most noble family and lived in a culture where it was impossible to drive anyone out of their tribe especially not someone like him with his lineage and ancestry. Yet here was Waraqa who was predicting that the same people who loved him more than anyone else would not only oppose him but would actually do the unimaginable in tribal Arab society, drive him out of his motherland. Waraqa said, ‘Anyone who presented the people with something similar to this was always driven from his land.’ This was the advantage of knowledge of history and the study of the scholar that he had perspective and could see the results of the action.

This is because the conflict of Da’awa is the conflict between truth and falsehood, between good and evil, between the Anbiya and Shaytaan. It is the original primordial conflict which will remain until the Last Day when Allah will establish the Judgment and all debts will be paid. But in this life this struggle continues.
To this day we see the truth of these words, for nobody opposes the Muslim if he simply wants to practice his religion quietly. But the moment he brings it into the public space, either in the form of his dress (clothes, beard, turban, hijab) or in the form of Da’awa, opposition is swift and severe. Strange to see if one realizes that all that a person who is presenting Islam is doing, is to speak about an alternate way of being; one which will save the practitioner from the Hellfire and give him entry to Jannah.

The Muslim only wants the best for those he presents Islam to, not just best in this world but the best that is everlasting. If someone gives a hungry person a single meal he is considered a good person. But if someone wants to save him from everlasting suffering, he is opposed, maligned and attacked. All this happened to every prophet before the Prophet (ﷺ) and all this happened to the Prophet (ﷺ) at the hands of his own people. And in some measure or the other, this is what anyone who wants to present Islam to the world must be prepared to face. Shaytaan fights tooth and nail those who seek to protect others from Hellfire and does everything in his power to oppose them.
Public space today is filled with people advertising and promoting all sorts of alternate ways of doing things, be they alternative medicine, architecture, diets, education or therapy. All of these are accepted and welcomed and the right of their proponents to propagate their ways, no matter how bizarre, is fiercely defended. But the minute you talk about an alternate way of being called Islam, this defense flips sides and the person propagating it is attacked. This attack is actually the most reliable indicator that the propagating of Islam is a fight against the Shaytaan. These words of Waraqa were an early warning for the Prophet (ﷺ) that his work would not be easy.

[Part 2]

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