The Excellent Exemplar - Muhammad — Page 87
THE EXCELLENT EXEMPLAR — MUHAMMAD 87 When Ayesha said that the character of the Prophet was the Quran, she meant that the Prophet illustrated in his own person to the highest degree the excellences that the Quran teaches. It was because he had become a living example and illustration of the highest excellences that man is capable of achieving, that God’s testimony affirmed: “Verily, you have in the Messenger of Allah an excellent exemplar, for him who fears Allah and the Last Day, and who remembers Allah much” (33:22). Muhammad’s soul being in travail over the moral and spiritual degradation of his people did strive to approach the Majesty of God, seeking and praying for a remedy. His striving found favor with God, Who, on Muhammad’s approach, drew near to him, and the s piritual communion between the two wrought a unity of purpose. Muhammad’s will and purpose were completely subordinated to those of God, and were, so to speak, fused with them. This spiritual fusion is metaphorically expressed in the Quran as “one chord se rving two bows and even closer still. ” God then revealed to Muhammad that which was needed for the guidance of mankind (53:9 - 11 ). The Prophet has explained this experience very simply. He has said that if a servant of God submits himself wholly to the will of God, and commits the whole direction of his life to it, he gradually achieves a condition in which God becomes the eyes with w hich he sees, the ears with which he hears, the hands with which he labors, and the feet with which he walks. This comes as close to expressing the mystic spiritual reality involved as it is possible to do within the limits of human speech. The Quran expresses the same idea in several contexts. In the battle of Badr, what appeared to be an utter impossibility was