Religion is no one’s particular property and therefore everyone is free to express his/her opinion regarding it. Moreover, only s/he who opines about religion will be held accountable before God. Hence, no one is supposed to outlaw speaking about religion, their beliefs and the sacred. In other words, only the clergy are not allowed to wax eloquent about religion and raise their eyebrows when hearing a simple person like me, who walks in the street, discuss religious issues. Anyhow, it was just mentioned as a prelude to the main subject.
One will be stuck in dilemma to go for the definition of a Muslim. Since Holy Quran does not necessarily belong to a particular group with particular branch of knowledge, such as philosophers, lawyers, mystics, etc, it has avoided offering structural definition about Muslim. But Holy Quran adopted to choose role model for Muslims to suit the needs of the entire nation or group. If Quran philosophized about an issue and introduced multitude of theories regarding it, only the philosophers were able to use the theories and the rest would neither know nor showed tendency towards this Sacred Book. So, it is the best way chosen by Quran to satiate the spiritual thirst of all the branches of a society.
Undeniably, if one asked the Holy Prophet about the definition of Muslim, he would introduce himself as a role model for it. This is what Holy Quran does. “Ye have indeed in the Apostle of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day and who engages much in the praise of Allah.” Al-Qur’an (33: 21)
The leaders and the heroes played crucial roles in the history through adopting role models. Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) established a civilization. This civilization was nurtured by the character of the Holy Prophet. The Prophet initiated establishing this civilization since he was practicing mysticism and self-purification in the cave of Hera. The Islamic civilization, which was established through the tireless persistence of the Holy Prophet, was based on the Prophet’s personality. In other words, the Prophet’s characters were extended in the frame of civilization. Thus, the Holy Prophet was a unique role model for Muslim-hood.
Indeed, if we examine what fruits the tree of Islamic civilization bore, we can make the following observations: The polytheist Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula had many despicable habits that were ingrained in their culture. For instance, they used to bury their daughters in order to be saved from the embarrassments these girls might bring on the family when they grew up. Usury, adultery, racism, oppression of the weak, the worshipping of idols, oppression of women and the elderly, rampant drinking, and tribal feuds were the norm of this era. In place of these habits, Prophet Muhammad established virtues, such as charity (to the needy and the relatives), strong family bonds, universal brotherhood of humankind, truthfulness, kindness to the elderly and especially to one’s parents, caring for orphans, the observation of freedom of choice in religion, respect for animal rights, among others. His success in eliminating the vices of racism from his people’s consciences was noted by the famous British historian Arnold Toynbee:
“The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the outstanding achievements of Islam, and in the temporary world there is, as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue.”
Thomas Carlyle was amazed as to “how one man single handedly, could weld warring tribes and wandering bedouins into a most powerful and civilized nation in less than two decades.” He further commented: “The lies, which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Muhammad), are disgraceful to ourselves only.”
One will conclude that the objective of Islamic training is to make a personality based on the Prophet’s personality. The same is the case with Christianity. The Jesus Christ also established a civilization based on his character. If you ask a priest the objective of the Christian’s training, the answer will be to approach the Christ’s personality.
The Holy Prophet was a particular person in one sense and a common one in the other sense. We are unable to emulate his particularities but can follow his commonalities. So, we are supposed to segregate between these two characters of him.
Unlike us, infallibility was one of the Prophet’s particularities. Moreover, he was a leader in personal and social aspects of life. The heroes and the leaders are mostly limited within some restrictions. For instance, our Prophet was not allowed to recite poetry so as to avoid being accused of fancifulness, augury, being in contact with genies or fairies, etc. Poem and oracle are as similar as magic and miracle. So, if the Prophet recited poems, the accusation of magic made against him would be more acceptable.
The masculinity and gender of the Prophet will be one of the particularities for females. Males have some particularly physical and spiritual characteristics which are unlike females. So, there may a question arises that how can females follow the Prophet. Hence, we have to put aside such particularities. Of course, the Prophet was male and also Arab, however we are supposed not to seek Prophet’s personalities within such characteristics. Then, in such a case, we can adopt the Prophet as a role model for Muslim Ummah.
Considering the Prophet as a super-human or vice versa is one of the major challenges in our traditional society. If we think of the Prophet as a celestial creature whose potentialities and characters were all beyond the abilities of a human, we would not imagine following his practices. Moreover, if we descend his position below the position of a God’s messenger, then he would be completely a simple person and might not be considered as a role model.
We will have to segregate between the Holy Prophet’s particularities and commonalities. His nationality, gender and location should be left aside and consider those characteristics of him which made him a role model and worthy of following.