Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 474
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 474 of his relationship with his wives was. Looked at from that point of view, he also proved an excellent exemplar. Frithjof Schuon has observed ( Understanding Islam, pp. 88, 89): There was in his life a superhuman grandeur of soul; there were also marriages and through them a deliberate entry into the earthly and social spheres – we do not say into the worldly and profane spheres – and ipso facto an integration of collective human life into the spiritual realm in view of the Prophet’s avataric nature. On the plane of piety attention must be drawn to the love of poverty, the fasting and the vigils; some people will no doubt object that marriage, an d especially polygamy, are opposed to asceticism, but that is to forget, first, that married life does not remove the rigour of poverty, vigils and fasts, nor render them easy and agreeable, and secondly, that in the case of the Prophet marriage had a spiritualised or tantric character, as has indeed everything in the life of such a being because of the metaphysical transparency phenomena they assume. Looked at from outside, most of the Prophet’s marriages had, moreover, a political aspect – polit ics having here a sacred significance connected with the establishing on earth of a reflection of the City of God – and, finally, Muhammad gave enough examples of long abstinences, particularly in his youth, when passion is considered to be most strong, to be exempt from superficial judgments on this account.