In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad

(^214) In lhe FootsltfJl 0/ the Prophfl
to God. They are signs. T he Prophet's attitude was a constant reminder of
this: thus, if his ritual prayer to God w.iS disturbed by a baby crying-ill,
infant, in effect, praying to G od by invoking his or her mother-the Mes-
senger would then shorten his adult's prayer as if to respond to the child's
prayer.^6 The Messenger, mo rcm'cr, drew from child ren his sense of play
and innocence; from them he learned [0 look at people and the world
around him with wonder. From watching children experience beauty he
also more fully developed his sense of aesthetics: in front of beauty, he
wept, he was moved, he so metimes so bbed, and he was often filled with
well-being by the poetic musicality of a phrase or by the spiritual call of a
verse offered by the Most Generous, the Infinitely Beautiful.
Freedom and Love
The Prophet came to humankind with a message of faith, ethics, and
hope, in which the One reminds all people of His presence, His require-
ments, and the final Day of Return and Encounter. Though Muhammad
came with mis message, throughout his life he kept listening to women,
children, men, slaves, rich, and poor, as well as outcast$. He listened to,
welcomed, and comforted them. An elec t among the inhabitants of this
earth, he concealed neither his fragllity nor his doubts; in fact, God had,
very early o n, made him doubt himself so that he sho uld never hence-
forth dOubt his own need for Him, and shown him the reality of his fail-
ings so that he should seek His perfect Grace and remain indulgent
toward his fellow human beings. H e was a model not only through his
qualities but also through his doubts, his wounds, and occasio nally, as we
have seen, his ertors of judgment, which either Revelation or his
Companions would point om.
However, absolutdy everything in his life was an instrument of renew-
al and transformation, from the slightest detail co th e g reatest events. TIle
Muslim faimful, believers of any faith, and all who study Muhammad's life
regardless of personal religious belief can deriv," teachings fro m this, mus
reaching toward me essence of the message and me light of faim. The
Prophet prayed, meditated, transformed himself, and transformed th e
world. Guided by his E.ducator, he resisted the worst in himself and
offered me be st in his being because sueh \l,'l1S the meaning of jihad, sueh