‏وما أرسلناك إلا رحمة للعالمين

            “And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds.”

(Surat Al-Anbiya, Verse 107)

(Translation from Sahih International)

Last month, we began a short new series that still falls under the theme of Quranic Reflections, as Prophetic Qualities. These prophetic qualities can be seen and pulled not only from the Sunnah and hadith, but from the Quran itself as well. When thinking about a prophetic quality to choose from for this month’s theme, I remembered that this is a special month. We have an important remembrance that is taking place this month. It is the Mawlid Al-Nabawi, otherwise known as the birthday of our beloved Messenger ﷺ. It is a gray area and a subject of “Ikhtilaf” (differences of opinion) about whether it is permissible to celebrate the birthday of our Prophetﷺ.  However, there is nothing wrong with utilizing this day as a form of Thikr and remembrance of Allah (ﷻ) through learning from the many life lessons that the Seerah (life of the Prophet ﷺ) has taught us. Probably the most notable quality or characteristic that our beloved Prophet ﷺ embodied is mercy and compassion.

The Messenger ﷺ showed mercy and compassion to everyone and everything that he came across. He was compassionate towards children, adults, the elderly, his neighbors, and even animals. There is a very famous hadith of our Messenger ﷺ, narrated by Abdullah Ibn Amr Ibn Al- ‘As, that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Be merciful to those on the earth, and the One in the heavens will have mercy upon you.” In another hadith, our mother Aisha said, “His character was the Quran. He practiced everything he preached.” So let us remember some of these beautiful moments from the Seerah and learn from them.

First, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was always compassionate towards children. There was an interaction between Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and a bedouin named Al-Aqra’ Bin Haabis. Al-Aqra once saw the Messenger ﷺ showing a very elaborate display of affection towards his grandchildren, as he saw him kiss his grandchild. As a bedouin in those times, elaborate displays of affection were contrary to masculinity, and it was uncommon. It was almost seen as a weakness from the perspective of a bedouin. They were generally very tough people by nature. Al-Aqra’ then approached the Messenger ﷺ and said to him, “You kiss your boys? I have ten sons and have never kissed any one of them.” The Prophet ﷺ responded, “And what do I possess [to help you] if Allah has plucked mercy from your heart?” In another narration, it was said that the Prophet ﷺ would shorten the salah if he heard a child crying. This is also a reason why a mother should stop her salah and attend to her child’s needs if they cry during her salah.

Our beloved Messenger ﷺ was also merciful towards the elderly. It was narrated that when the Prophet ﷺ would see an elderly person carrying items, such as items purchased from the market, he would immediately go to assist them in bringing these items to their house. The Prophet ﷺ was so compassionate towards the elderly that he said in an authentic hadith, “Make Salah light, as there are elderly, weak, and ill people.” We see the same mercy towards both young children and the elderly as well. This was the character that our beloved role model embodied. In present days, it is very easy and very common for people to feel burdened by the elderly, as they require much assistance. This can especially be the case with elderly parents. However, our job is to take care of them in their old age just as they took care of us in our infancy when we were also weak and vulnerable.

One of the most overlooked traits of a true Muslim is goodness towards our neighbors. We live in a very different world now, especially with the emergence and advancement of technology. It may be very easy to forget that we even have neighbors. The reality is that we must be beacons of kindness and good morals for our neighbors, even if they are not Muslims. It was narrated that one of the neighbors of our Messenger ﷺ would collect as much trash as she can and wait for him to walk past her house each day. When he would pass her home, she would dump all the trash on his head from an elevated part of her home. Yet, he still never cursed her or wished any bad upon her. One day, the Prophet ﷺ noticed that she did not do her same action and he became worried for her. SubhanAllah! Look at the compassion and mercy that he had! He went to her home to check on her and found her lying ill. He tended to her needs and took care of her while she was ill, despite the terrible acts she committed against him daily. Our role as Muslim neighbors is to always be kind to our neighbors even if they are the opposite with us.

There are still many more moments from the Seerah that Prophet Muhammad ﷺ demonstrated mercy and compassion towards anything and everything. We will continue to cover this series of Prophetic qualities next month as well.

We ask Allah ﷻ to make us amongst those that follow in the footsteps of our beloved Messenger ﷺ. We ask Allah ﷻ to make us among the merciful and compassionate ones so that He will have mercy upon us. We ask Allah ﷻ to forgive us for our shortcomings and unite us with our Prophet ﷺ in the highest level of paradise. Allahumma Ameen.

By Ahmad Salah