Careless Silence

by Ahmed Zaafran

If you have ever been involved or seen an altercation between Egyptians, it happens to be one of the most intense, yet hilarious moments you’ll see.

Here’s the situation: Two Egyptian men are involved in a scuffle about something. One shoves the other, both are screaming, and sandals are in hand. Intense. And then, something quite beautiful happens. Amidst all the chaos, somebody screams out, “Salla `ala Nabi!” which means “pray on the Prophet”! The guy about to swing his dusty slipper stops, people are still trying to hold him back and he starts making prayers on the Prophet and calms down.

Somehow, people in Egypt have figured out that sending prayers and blessings on the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him) when angry, is like pouring ice cold water over a raging flame and immediately extinguishing it.

May God grant him our prayers and salutations.

I did not bring this up to exemplify the Egyptian people for implementing this into their cultural psyche. I brought it up to illustrate the power of the remembrance of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and to analyze the reasons why God commanded Muslims to do so. Through these we can learn the pragmatic reasons why it is solely for our benefit.

In the Qur’an chapter entitled The Confederates, God says,

“Indeed, Allah confers blessing upon the Prophet, and His angels [ask Him to do so]. O you who have believed, ask [Allah to confer] blessing upon him and ask [Allah to grant him] peace.” (Qur’an, 33:56)

On hearing this verse, most Muslims fulfill this commandment, but often do it without the emotion and understanding of why. One of the most disheartening feelings of going to some masajid (mosques) these days is that when the name of Prophet Muhammed ﷺ, peace and blessings upon him, is mentioned, all you hear are mumbles and mechanical utterances. Where is the love?

Sometimes, we forget that one of God’s most profound favors upon us is that He sent us a man as a guide who ate like us, slept like us, married like us, and lived like us. But he was perfect in his demeanor and was clearly a blueprint to which, if sincerely sought after, we could emulate and strive to personify.

Some people, when feeling insecure about their own lives and their perceived shortcomings, often say, “What do expect from me! I’m not the Prophet and I’ll never be anywhere near him.” Well, that might be true but that’s hardly the point of trying.

Look at your own lives for a moment. Better yet, look at the lives of those around you and take a look at some of the hardships that they endure. Some have lost a spouse. Some have lost children, and some are going through terrible financial times. Some have dealt with murder, others with revenge. Have you ever thought that all of these calamities were in fact faced as a singular issue by Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, personally, in his lifetime? Why? God used His beloved Prophet, the only man who could deal with such stresses, as an amorous gift to humanity and an exemplar to how we can live our lives.

May God grant him our prayers and salutations.

In the year 619 AD, the “year of sadness”, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ lost his wife of 25 years, Khadijah (ra). He also lost his uncle Abu Talib, a source of protection and familial strength. Pause for a second. When people lose loved ones, reading about them in texts is hardly a realistic way to relate to them. The Prophet ﷺ was still dealing with the death of the love of his life, the first person to enter Islam wholeheartedly. Khadijah was the one who covered him physically and spiritually when the weightiness of revelation shocked him. And still, revelation never ceased after her demise nor did he have an opportunity to rest for a long period. He had to move forward and endure. He still had to go home to sleep without the warm soul next to him that gave him so much strength and love. He, peace be upon him, did this for you and for me.

That same year, after inviting a neighboring town called Ta’if to Islam, he was met with a violent response. People rejected him and his message and he was chased out of the town to the retched tune of insults and shouts and stones thrown at his face by children. It wasn’t until his arrival at a private orchard that he was able to tether his camel to a palm tree and sit in its shade.

Now, for many of us, we would have used our favor with God to seek revenge or question why on this depth of abuse would be happening to us. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ did not do this. He raised his hands to the sky and prayed,

“O, God, unto You do I complain of my weakness, of my helplessness, and of my lowliness before men. Oh, Most Merciful of the merciful, You are Lord of the weak. And You are my Lord. Into whose hands will You entrust me? Unto some far-off stranger who will ill-treat me? Or to an enemy whom You hast empowered against me? I care not, so You will not be angry with me. But Your favoring help – that were for me the broader way and the wider scope! I take refuge in the Light of Your Countenance whereby all darkness is illuminated and the things of this world and the next are rightly ordered, unless You make Your anger upon me, or unless Your wrath overwhelms me. Yes, it is Yours to reproach until You are well pleased. There is no power and no might except through You.” ((Martin Lings, Muhammad-His Life Based on the Earliest Sources (United Kingdom:Inner Traditions, 2006), 100-101))

When we are maliciously hurt by others, sometimes our inclination is to curse them or reciprocate the harm done unto us. We can clearly see here the merit of keeping your emotions at bay, introspecting over the event that just occurred, and seeking comfort from the One who actually instills comfort. Our reactionary ways are a bottomless pit into our own insecurities. If we follow the Prophet’s example, we learn to control ourselves and place our souls directly in the hands of God; the One who will lift us out of our despair.

In the Qur’an, God says,

“If We had sent down this Qur’an upon a mountain, you would have seen it humbled and coming apart from fear of Allah. And these examples We present to the people that perhaps they will give thought.” (Qur’an, 59:21)

So let’s reflect. No, the Qur’an was not sent down to a gargantuan mountain, not even the most magnificent mountain ever created. It was laid upon the shoulders of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, a human being sturdier than a mountain, a beacon of light to mankind, and the example we must strive to mirror. Take the time and make the effort to reflect on why we say our prayers over him every time his name is mentioned. And the real wisdom lies in the fact that when we pray and greet him with salutations, the blessings transcend directly into our hearts.

May God grant him our prayers and salutations.