Constant Striving, Domestic Leader, Framework for Life
Issue 721 » January 18, 2013 - Rabi al-Awwal 6, 1434
Living The Quran
Constant Striving
Surah al-Qasas (The Stories) Chapter 28: Verses 56
"You [O Muhammad] guide not whom you like but God guides whom He wills. And He knows best those who receive guidance."
Constant striving is an essential feature of delivering the Message, as well as an important element of the Prophetic method. A Prophet is, so to speak, obsessed with how to perform his duty. With that goal always uppermost, he considers all circumstances and does everything permitted. As he is not responsible for the results, he leaves them to God. He knows that he cannot cause anyone to accept the Message, for he is only sent to convey it as effectively as possible.
Many Prophets lived with no one accepting their Message. However, they did not lose heart, weaken, or resort to such improper means as violence, terror, or deception even when faced with relentless hardship and torture. When the Prophet, peace be upon him, was severely wounded at Uhud, some Companions asked him to invoke God's curse on the enemy. Instead, he prayed for them, saying: "O God, forgive my people, because they don't know." He did this while his face was covered with blood.
Compiled From:
"The Messenger of God: Muhammad" - Fethullah Gulen, p. 77
Understanding The Prophet's Life
Domestic Leader
The Prophet's household consisted of several wives and daughters, and had its problems as does any human household. Under the leadership of the great husband, peace was the eminent feature of life and strife the exception. It was the Prophet who said: "The most perfect in faith among the believers are those who possess the best morals, and the best among you are those who are kindest to their wives" (Tirmidhi). This statement is indeed very significant for it gives a profound criterion through which humanity may measure its elevation or its failure.
Women are always treated unjustly during ages of ignorance because of their physical weakness. Yet the Prophet of Islam gives this human touch and makes the criterion of good behaviour the way a man treats his wife.
Compiled From:
Islam: The Way of Revival, "The Way of the Prophet" - Muhammad Qutb, p. 129
Blindspot!
Framework for Life
The only way to live by the Quran is to live life as the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, lived it, for his life was the Quran in practice. His example is the surest guide to its meaning and Message. If you want to 'see' the Quran then look at the Prophet's life.
The best way to understand the Quran and follow its Message is to learn what the Prophet said, spend hours and hours in his company, follow in his footsteps and cast yourself in the mould that he left behind.
The Quran provides the essential framework for human life. But the Prophet and his Sunna proved us with the details of that framework. If you desire to know what type of person the Quran wants you to be and what type of society the Quran wants you to create, you only need to look at the Prophet's life history.
Compiled From:
"In The Early Hours" - Kurram Murad, pp. 85, 86