The politician said, "O young man, for a leader, the most critical thing is to differentiate from the rest on the basis of his message. If the leader compromises his message for the sake of popularity, material gain, followership or anything else, the uniqueness of the message will be lost and it will lose its value as a clear standard on which to model all actions. This is naturally not easy to do, as there are a lot of societal and other pressures to conform to existing norms, values and customs. To stand out as different, especially when this means to go directly against the existing system is not easy. But it is an essential criterion that distinguishes the leader.
When Quraysh thought that the various methods of scorn and ridicule which they employed would demoralize the Muslims so much that they would hide for shame of their faith and soon return to the religion of their forefathers, their hopes were doomed to disappointment, however. Not a single Muslim forsook the truth with which Allah had blessed him; in fact the Muslims were on the increase. The methods of ridicule did not succeed in blocking anyone from Allah's path or in distorting its features; they only strengthened the feeling of the Muslims that paganism contained nothing but disgrace and ignominy and that it ought to be rooted out from the society. What could the ridicule of an ignoramus do to a learned man? Allah says,
"And he constructed the ship, and whenever an assembly of the eminent of his people passed by him, they ridiculed him. He said, 'If you ridicule us, then we will ridicule you just as you ridicule. And you are going to know who will get a punishment that will disgrace him [on earth] and upon whom will descend an enduring punishment [in the Hereafter]'." - [QS.11:38-39]The Quraish sought to employ another strategy, which contained both allurement and threat, They sent to the Prophet (ﷺ) offering him any worldly thing that he desired, and they sent to his uncle, who was protecting him, warning him of the consequences of maintaining such protection and urging him to silence the Prophet (ﷺ) so as not to cause any harm to himself and his family. The Quraish sent 'Ulbah ibn Rabi‘ah, who was a calm and composed man, He went to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said, “0 nephew, you know the position which you hold among us because of your ancestry. However, you have brought a serious matter to your people and have broken up their community with it. So listen to me and 1 shall offer you some alternatives; perhaps you may accept one. If by this affair you wish to gain wealth, we shall collect all we can for you from ourselves so that you will become the richest of us. if you desire status, we shalt make you our leader and shall never decide any affair wilhout consulting you. if you desire to be a king, we shall make you king over us. And if that thing which visits you is an evil spirit which you cannot eradicate, wo shall look for the best doctor and spend all we possess to have you cured "
When he had finished, the Prophet (ﷺ) recited to him the opening verses of Surah Al-Fussilat,
"Ha, Meem. [This is] a revelation from the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful - A Book whose verses have been detailed, an Arabic Qur'an for a people who know, as a giver of good tidings and a warner; but most of them turn away, so they do not hear. And they say, "Our hearts are within coverings from that to which you invite us, and in our ears is deafness, and between us and you is a partition, so work; indeed, we are working." Say, O [Muhammad], "I am only a man like you to whom it has been revealed that your god is but one God; so take a straight course to Him and seek His forgiveness." And woe to those who associate others with Allah - Those who do not give zakah, and in the Hereafter they are disbelievers." - [QS.[41:1-7]He recited until he reached ayah 13, which says,
"But if they turn away, then say, "I have warned you of a thunderbolt like the thunderbolt [that struck] 'Aad and Thamud."The Prophet (ﷺ) chose those verses from the blessed Revelation so that his interlocutor might know the reality of the message and the messenger. The Prophet (ﷺ) brought a Book from the Creator to His creation, which guided it away from error and saved it from destruction. He before all others was responsible for believing in it, acting upon it and submitting to all its dictates. Thus, when Allah demanded of His servants that they should tread the right path towards Him and seek His forgiveness it was the Prophet (ﷺ) who applied himself more than alt the mankind to being upright and seeking forgiveness, without looking for kingship, wealth or status. Allah had already placed all of these things before him and he had turned away from them, disdaining to touch them. Instead, he gave away freely all the good-things that came his way. He spent a mountain of wealth in the path of Allah and when he left this earthly life he had not a dirham to bequeath to his progeny.
‘Utbah on behalf of the Quraish wanted the Prophet (ﷺ) to give up calling towards Allah and establishing justice among the mankind. What would become of life if a piece of rock detached itself from the earth and flew through the strata of space to ask the sun or any other star to stop giving light and heat to the universe? What a strange request it was! How well it would be for the person who makes such a request to return home and stay there. In fact, after hearing these Quranic ayat 'Utbah’s dormant thoughts began to stir He listened to the threat and he was moved. ‘Utbah put his hands to his side and got up as if the thunderbolt were going to strike him. He returned speedily to the Quraish and urged them to leave Mthe Prophet (ﷺ) alone.
As for the Quraish's delegation to Abu Talib, they told him, “0 Abu Talib, your nephew has cursed our gods and criticized our religion; he has belittled our ideals and accused our forefathers of having gone astray. Either you keep him away ftom us let us deal with him; you are one of us, for you disagree with his views.” Abu Talib spoke nicely to them and rejected their proposal in a gentie manner. So they went away, and the Prophet (ﷺ) continued his da'wah. Soon relations between him and them reached such a low level that he became the center of all the Quraysh's talk and plots. Once more they went to Abu Talib and said, “Abu Talib, we respect you because of your age and nobility among us. We had requested you to restrain your nephew but you did not. By Allah, we shall not show tolerance to this cursing of our gods and forefathers and belittling of our customs. So either you restrain him from criticizing us or we shall fight him and you over this matter until one side perishes.” Then they left him.
Abu Talib felt very worried at the thought of separating from his people and at their show of enmity toward him. Nevertheless, he did not feel comfortable at handing over the Prophet (ﷺ) to them. So he sent message the Prphet (ﷺ), informing what the Quraysh had said, and he urged, "Look after yourself and me, and do not burden me with more than I can bear." The Prophet (ﷺ) thought that his uncle had changed his mind, withdrawn his protection from him and was helpless to defend him. So he said: “O uncle, by Allah, if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left so that I might give up this matter until Allah causes it to prevail or I die in the process, I should not give it up.”
The Prophet (ﷺ) then wept and stood up. However, his uncle called him back and said, "Go, nephew of mine, and say whatever you wish. By Allah shall never hand you over for anything.” He also recited this couplet of poetry, "By Allah, they will never reach you with all their numbers until I am buried and sealed in the earth.” Thus did allurements and threats fail to stop the da‘wah.
The Quraish realized that their target was far beyond their reach, so they went back to their old ways, pouring their anger upon the believers and expending their utmost energy to torture them and turn them away from their faith. The Prophet (ﷺ) became very sad at the misfortunes that befell his Companions while he was unable to stop them. He intimated to those who had little support and were fearful of remaining in Makkah that they should migrate to Abyssinia. This was in the fifth year after his ministry, or two years after he openly proclaimed his message.
References :Now, let us look at some of the options that were available to the Prophet (ﷺ) when he started preaching his message. First, he could have accepted the kingship of Quraysh and then made changes. Second, he could have compromised and then tried to gradually make changes. Third, he could have addressed social evils and become a social reformer first to get some local support then he could have presented his theological message.
But, he didn’t choose any of these options. Instead, he did what all prophets have always done – he proclaimed his message, directly, in so many words. This is one of the many proofs of Divine guidance and the best example of Tawakkul on Allah because who other than the one who is being directed by Allah can do what he did?
This unwillingness to compromise is the theme in his entire life. He didn’t accept the Islam of Banu Thaqeef of Ta’aif when they came with the condition that they would accept his Risala and pray but wouldn’t pay Zakat – even though he needed support very badly at that time. Some people advised him to soften his stance and said that he should accept the Islam of the Banu Thaqeef and that they would perhaps pay Zakat in due course. However, the Prophet (ﷺ) refused to change his stance and said that the one who separates Salah from Zakat was not a Muslim. It was based on this ruling that Abu Bakr Siddique, radhiyallahu 'anhu, declared war on those who refused to pay Zakat after the Prophet (ﷺ) passed away. When he was asked how he could declare war on Muslims, he quoted the ruling of the Prophet (ﷺ) who said that the one who refused to pay Zakat was not a Muslim.
The greatest damage to a cause is done by those who, perhaps in a well-meaning way, soften stances regarding principles. When that happens the clarity of differentiation is lost and the message loses significance.
This stance of complete integrity stands out in the Da’awa of the Prophet (ﷺ) in that he was not willing to compromise his message, water it down or dilute it in any way to please anyone. This is one of the many proofs of the Divine nature of the message which naturally the Prophet (ﷺ) being the bearer of the message felt and knew that he had no authority to change. There was huge moral and psychological pressure on him to accept at least in part, the religion of his polytheistic family and tribesmen and to go easy on them and their traditions and customs. He refused.
They tried every means of persuasion. As I’ve mentioned, they offered him gold, women, power and authority. They offered to make him their king. They threatened him with death. They even told him that they would be willing to worship his god one day if he would agree to worship their gods on the other day. They told him that they would accept his Message of monotheism if he would stop saying that polytheism and idol worship was wrong. Finally when his uncle Abu Talib who had given him his protection asked him directly, he replied, ‚My Uncle, even if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left hand, I will not give up this message that I have been charged with.
Let us reflect on what we do today in the name of all sorts of apologetic stances in Islam where we are willing to bend over backwards, water down the message, allow all sorts of innovations into it and do anything but speak clearly and directly. Just ask yourself, ‘If the Prophet (ﷺ) were alive today and took the stance he took in Makkah, how many of us would be willing to stand by him? Today we are even afraid to follow his Sunnah and to be recognized as his followers. What a shame! May Allah help us.
A flag is after all, only a piece of cloth and if it is washed and is drying on a clothesline it has no special status. But when that same piece of cloth is raised on the flag pole and is unfurled and flaps in the breeze, people salute it. The flag has not changed its nature, but it has now differentiated on the basis of its nature. As long as it was one of the clothes on the line, it had no status. But once it stands out alone, clearly visible, a symbol of the identity of the state that it represents, it acquires respect and honor and is saluted.
For people to follow the leader, his identity, the goal he is leading towards and what the followers will gain as a result of following him, must all be clear, unambiguous and inspiring. A flag is a symbol but only when it is flying high.
When those who oppose Islam see that they can’t stop the Da’aee from preaching, they try to force him to water down the message to make it more ‘palatable’ to those who have the disease of hypocrisy in their hearts. People who have no intention of subjugating their desires to the orders of Allah but who don’t mind pretending piety and agreeing to support the Messenger as long as he is willing to change or alter the message to suit their lifestyles and desires. This attitude of Fatwa shopping is visible today in the Muslims themselves where they go in search of those who are willing to twist the rules of the religion to permit them to indulge in their false desires. Such ‘Ulama’ are appreciated and rewarded. But those who have the integrity to admonish them and to speak the truth and forbid evil are maligned, persecuted and oppressed."
The politician concluede, "O young man, it is easy to torture a man who can't defend himself, and it is easy to kill a man, who is helpless. Yo can kill a dreamer, but can't kill his dream, and you can kill a man, but can't kill an idea. So, it is critical for the leader not to be seduced with the promise of followership and never to change, dilute or modify the message to suit anyone in the desire to get converts. The message distinguishes the leader. If he compromises that message then he has lost everything.
This is the biggest argument in favor of differentiation and against assimilation and losing one’s identity that I can place before you. Someone who does not have the confidence to differentiate and is content with being one sheep in a flock is completely unfit to be a leader. For people to follow the leader, his identity, what he stands for, the goal he is leading towards and what the followers will gain as a result of following him, must all be clear, unambiguous and inspiring. Being a leader means to take hard decisions and getting used to being lonely sometimes. Sheep has many friends, but is easily torn to pieces by a tiger who walks alone."
"Say, 'This is my way; I invite to Allah with insight, I and those who follow me. And exalted is Allah ; and I am not of those who associate others with Him'." - [QS.12:108]
- Muhammad Al-Ghazali, Fiqh-us-Seerah, IIFSO
- Mirza Yawar Baig, Leadership Lesson from the Life of Rasoolullah (ﷺ), Standard Bearer Academy.
