In Hi.ffory,jor Eternity 215was the meaning o f the injunction commanding believers to "pro mo te
good and prevent evil."? His life was the embodiment of that teaching.
ivluhammad's life journey offered at every stage an existence devoted
to the worship of God. The heart cannot but commune with such a being
as he follows the path to freedom: freedom nOt only to think or act, for
which Muhammad fought with dignity, but also the freedom of a being
who had liberated himself from his attachments to superficial emotions,
destructive passions, or alienating dependence. Everybody loved, cher-
ished, and respected him because his demanding spirituality enabled him
to transcend his ego, to give himself, and, in turn, to love without
bondage. D ivine love was free from human dependence. He submitted,
and he was free: he submitted in the peace of the divine, and he was free
from the illusions of the human. He had once told one of his
Companions the secret o f real love: "Keep away from [do not envy] what
men love, and men will love you."s God had inspired him to follow the
path to the Love that continues this love: "My servant keeps getting clos-
er to Me through freely chosen devotions until 1 love him; and when 1
love him, I am the hearing through which he hears, the sight through
which he sees, the hand through which he holds, and the foot through
which he walks.,,9 G od's love offers the gift of proximity to the divine and
transcendence of the self. God's Love is a Love without dependence, a
Love that liberates and elevates. In the experience of this closeness one
perceives the presence of the Being, of the divine.
.r ... Iuhamm ad had followed a path that entailed a number of different
stages: the call of faith, exile, return, and finally departure to the first rest-
ing place, the last refuge. All along the way, beginning with his initiation,
God had accompanied the Messenger with His Jove, and He caused
human beings to accompany him with their love as well. T he Prophet car-
ried a univetsal message, both in the experience of love present throughout
his life and in his reminders to people of the need to adhere to a univer-
sal ethics that transcends divisions, affiliations, and rigid identities. T his
was a true freedom-the freedom o f a being who loves with justice and
does not allow himself to be entrapped by passions springing from his
race, nation, or identity. His love illuminating his ethical sense made him
good; his ethical sense guiding his love made him fret:. Profoundly good
among men and extraordinarily free from them-such were the two qual-
ities that all Companions recogni7;ed in the last Prophet.