Wa ma nursilul-Mursalina
Illa mubashshirina wa mundhirin.
Faman amana wa aslaha fala khawfun
alayhim
wa la hum yahzanun. [6:48]
And We send [Our] message-bearers
only as heralds of glad tidings and as
warners:
hence, all who believe and live
righteously –
no fear need they have and neither
shall they grieve. [6:48]…
Innal-laha wa Ma-laa ikatahu
yusalluna alan-Nabiyy.
Yaa ayyuhal-ladhina amanu sallualayhi
wa sallimu taslima. [56]
Verily,
God and His angels bless the Prophet:
[hence] O you who have attained to faith, bless him and give yourselves
up [to his guidance] in utter self-surrender! [ 33:56]
Who was this Apostle of God?
More important, who is he for us, today?
Last Saturday I attended a Mawlid, a celebration of the Prophet,
pbuh.
The celebration of Mawlids goes
back to the early days of Islam when some of the successors of the Companions
of the Prophet began to hold sessions to honor the dignity and example of the
Prophet through poetry and songs. Mawlid an-Nabi is now widely celebrated by
Muslims of different sectarian backgrounds in many countries around the world.
The practice of celebrating the
Prophet’s birthday is not universally approved, however. Muslim jurists and
scholars have been debating the practice since its inception. This is why the Mohammed Webb Foundation made
a strategic decision when they held their first Mawlid years ago, not to have
it on the Prophet’s birthday. The debate
continues in Chicagoland between Sufi – inspired Muslims and followers of the
more Orthodox branches of Islam – Salafian, Maududian and Wahhabian groups. Nonetheless, the tradition has taken root in
the Muslim community here – more and more mosques and Islamic groups are
hosting Mawlids. Sufi-inspired
traditions in Islam seem to be more compatible with Western cultural
practice. Mawlids seem to be here to
stay, and in fact, new songs and poetry are being written that blend
traditional qasidas – songs and poems - with western style music. The performer at Webb’s Mawlid, Nader Khan
shared one song adapted from the Shrek song, “Hallelujah,” now titled
“Alhamdulillah,” among others.
Probably the most widely used
traditional qasidas (ghazals in Urdu)
came from, or were inspired by a collection commonly known as The Burda, by
Shaykh al-Busairi, a 13th century Berber Sufi poet. Nader Khan shared several of these songs of praise. They are meant to be participatory – an
exchange back and forth between singer and audience, until the rhythm and tones
create a transcendental experience. And
the words are crafted to evoke transcendental emotion:
From “Aj sik mitraan”
-
Today the yearning for the loved one is great indeed!
Why
is my heart saddened, like a reed (flute)?
The
desire is aflame, running through my veins!
Why
are my adoring eyes today dazzled by the beloved?
His
face is like the full moon, worthy of his regal stature!
A
radiant light shines on his brow
His
tresses are black, his eyes are intoxicating!
Those
dreamy eyes are full of the wine of love!
Hearing these words, and those in the other songs of
supplication to and praise for the Prophet, I found myself transported back to
my experience in Madinah last month, waiting to visit the “Rawdah,” the tomb of Prophet Muhammad, Abu Bakr and Umar. The Rawdah
is located in the Masjid An-Nabawi,
the Prophet’s mosque. This mosque sits
over the site where Prophet Muhammad’s mosque in Madinah once stood, and the
homes of his wives. Those simple mud
huts are only a memory. The common prayer space of the Prophet and his followers
has increased by many mutiples – it looks like several football fields could
fit inside. The site is now an expanse
of marble floors and columns, lights and minarets, carved wood, and decorated
arches and ceilings. And it is now
divided into men’s and women’s sections.
Since the Rawdah is located in
the men’s section of the mosque, men can visit and pray there during most of
the day.
For women, the experience of visiting the Rawdah could be described as calculated
to evoke the suffering of separation, and yearning for reunion with the beloved
Prophet. The women wait for the evening
hours, after Aisha prayer. They assemble
in increasing throngs, pressed closer and closer together, immobilized, the old
and the young with their children and babes in arms, searching each others’
faces for mercy as the minutes drag to hours, the crowd grows to the thousands,
and the press increases. Finally, when the
carved wooden screens are opened to the massive expanse behind their walls,
there is a merciless stampede… a torrent of frenzied anticipation released into
the vacuum created by the pull of the Prophet’s promise. Each and every soul in the horde rushes
toward her salvation, invoking the blessed one who would understand her every
pain and sorrow. They pray before the
Prophet’s bones, asking for forgiveness, expecting love.
References in the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad – God’s blessings
and peace be upon him - speak of him as the Apostle of God, inspired with
Revelation, who does not know what is beyond human perception, who follows only
that which is revealed to him, who is only a messenger and a herald of glad
tidings and a warner, who is not responsible for the conduct of his people, nor
can he determine their fate, who is a human being, a mortal, like all the other
prophets. He was instructed to call
people with wisdom and kindness, and not to grieve over the rejection of his
message. He was a blessing from God to
all mankind, devoted to prayer, full of compassion and mercy.
The Prophet was instructed by revelation to say these things
to his followers:
Surah 6: Al-An’am
Say [O Prophet]: ‘I do not say
unto you, ‘God’s treasures are with me’; nor [do I say,] ‘I know the things
that are beyond the reach of human perception’; nor do I say unto you, ‘Behold,
I am an angel’: I but follow what is
revealed to me.”
Say: “Can the blind and the seeing
be deemed equal?” Will you not, then,
take thought?” [50]
Surah 7: Al-A’raf
Say [O Prophet}: “It is not within
my power to bring benefit to, or avert harm from, myself, except as God may
please. And if I knew that which is
beyond the reach of human perception, abundant good fortune would surely have
fallen to my lot, and no evil would ever have touched me. I am nothing but a warner, and a herald of
glad tidings unto people who will believe.”
[188]
Surah 38: Sad
Say [O Prophet]: “No reward
whatever do I ask of you for this [message]; and I am not one of those who
claim to be what they are not. [86] this [divine writ], behold, is no less than a
reminder to all the worlds [87] – and you will most certainly grasp its purport
after a lapse of time!” [88]
It is easy to see why the orthodox followers of Islam do not
approve of the Mawlid, or any excessive expressions of love for the
Prophet. The Prophet was not our
Savior. He was a messenger. He may well have been “more beautiful than
two moons could ever hope to be.” We would
expect a messenger of God to be beautiful, but he was a vehicle. The Prophet was not meant to be the object of
our fantasies, even if in our humanness we compensate for the disappointments
in our lives by fantasizing. We must
forgive ourselves, and each other for doing so.
Revelation enjoined the Muslims to follow “the middle way.”
And thus have We willed you to be a community of the middle way, so that
[with your lives] you might bear witness to the truth before all mankind, and
that the Apostle might bear witness to it before you…. [2:143]
This passage, in Surat Al-Baqarah, follows an injunction to Ahl al-Kitab – those in Madinah who blindly
followed the rigid rules of their ancestors, and could not see the truth that
the Prophet was sharing with them. This
was when the Prophet was instructed to change the direction of prayer from
Jerusalem to Makkah. The middle way here
means the path between orthodox rigidity on the one hand, and disbelief on the
other (as demonstrated in the Prophet’s time by the kuffar). When we think today
about how to relate to the Prophet, we might do well to remember this
passage... and shy away from the rigidity of orthodox interpretations that
reject any celebration of the Prophet’s life on the one hand, and excessive
emotionalism and fantasies on the other.
I was given a different perspective on the Prophet when I was
in Madinah. A vision came to me in my
room beside the Prophet’s mosque, before I went to visit the Rawdah.
I was in that state between wake and sleep, where you are sure your dreams
are real. I was flying, in complete
control of where I went. A glorious
feeling – the ability to swoop and soar over the land, bank and turn, control
my altitude. I flew over the landscape,
and then I was flying up the minaret of a mosque. I was
not alone. I found myself with a boy,
about seven or eight years old. He was
riding on my back. And he was bursting
with wonder and delight and excited anticipation of the adventure that lay
before us. We flew above the stairs of
the minaret, round and round, until we came out the top and into a brilliant
light. We were flying toward the
Kaaba. It’s sides were separating from
each other, and rays of uncountable colors were shimmering through the seams
from within, irridescent. We flew right
over the Kaaba, toward an even more brilliant horizon dancing in the distance,
indescribably beautiful. As I woke up I
realized who he was. He was the Prophet. And since then I have carried the memory of
his shared wonder and joy. Whenever I
feel discouraged or confused, all I need is to remember that feeling. Al
Hamdulillah, God gave me exactly what I needed. May He grant such peace to all who so desire.
Laqad kana lakum fi Rasulil-lahi
uswatun hasanatul-liman-kana
yarjul-laha wal-Yawmal- Akhira
wa dhakaral-laha kathira. [33:21]
Verily in the Apostle of God you have
a good example for everyone who looks forward [with hope and awe]
to God and the Last Day
and remembers God unceasingly. [33:21]
Rabbana la tuzigh qulubana ba’da idh
hadaitana wa hab lana min ladun-ka rahma, innaka antal wahhab. [3:8]
Our Lord! Let not our hearts swerve from the truth after You have
guided us and bestow on us the gift of Thy grace: Verily, Thou art the [true] Giver of
Gifts. [3:8]
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