The Life of Mohammad Part 29

Ever since that day, the twelfth of the month of Rabi'u'l-Awwal, Year XII of the Hegira, (June 8th, A.D. 632), this extraordinary man, who was, to say the least, the equal of the greatest of all Prophets; monarch, general theologian, legislator and philosopher, and whose religion counts at the present time three hundred millions of disciples, rests in this spot where his n.o.ble soul was carried aloft.

A sumptuous Mosque, erected over the room where he died, has taken the place of the humble temple of raw bricks and palm-trunks that he built up with his own hand. A visit to his tomb is not one of the pillars of Islamic pratical religion, but nevertheless there are few pilgrims who, after the severe trials endured during their journey to Makkah, hesitate to undertake the twelve days' caravan travel, so distressing and dangerous, between Mohammad's birthplace and Al-Madinah, in order to salute the Prophet's grave piously and enthusiastically....

Even the learned men of Europe are beginning to forget secular prejudices and do justice to the founder of Islam. 'If a man's value is to be estimated by the grandeur of his works,' declares Dr. G. Le Bon, 'we can say that Mohammad was one of the greatest men known in history.'

[Ill.u.s.tration (Calligraphy) _Mohammad is no more than an apostle; other apostles have already pa.s.sed away before him; if then he die, or be slain, will ye turn upon your heels?_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Imam leading the Prayers._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: (Calligraphy) _O my supreme Master, lavish thy Blessings and thy Favours for ever and ever on Thy Friend (Mohammad), the best of all created beings._]

THE PROPHET'S PORTRAIT

According to his son-in-law, Ali, the Prophet was of middle height and st.u.r.dy build. His head was large, his complexion healthy; with smooth cheeks, a thick beard, and wavy hair. When he was vexed, a vein swelled out on his forehead, from the top of his aquiline nose between his eyebrows which were well arched and meeting.

His big eyes, framed by long lashes, were of a deep black, lit up at times by a few red gleams, and his glance was extraordinarily keen.

His mouth was large, well suited to eloquence. His teeth, as white as hailstones, were slightly separated in front. The palms of his hands, of which the fingers were long and slender, were broad and soft to the touch like fine silk.

The Seal of Prophecy--which the monk Bahira discovered--was just below the nape of the neck, between Mohammad's shoulder-blades. It resembled the scar left by the bite of a leech, and was of a reddish hue, surrounded by a few hairs.

The Prophet's gait was slow, solemn and majestic. In all circ.u.mstances, he never lost his presence of mind and was quick-witted. When he turned round, the whole of his body moved, unlike frivolous folks twisting their necks and rolling their heads about. If he held out an object to show it, he made use of the whole of his hand and not two or three fingers. When surprised, he glorified Allah, turning the palms of his hands to heaven, nodding his head and biting his lips.

When he made an affirmation, he struck his widely-open left hand with his right thumb to lay stress on his declaration. If angry, his face flushed; he stroked his beard and pa.s.sed his hand over his face, taking a deep breath and exclaiming: 'I leave it to Allah, the best proxy!'

He was a man of few words; but each had many different meanings, some plain and others hidden. As for the charm of his elocution, it was supernatural, going straight to the heart. None could resist it. The Prophet's merriment never went beyond a smile, but if he was overcome by an excess of gaiety, he covered his mouth with his hand.

His disposition was even, without self-sufficiency or obstinacy.

Whenever any of his companions called him, he replied immediately: 'Here I am!' He liked to play with their children and would press them to his n.o.ble breast. He used to make the sons of his uncle Abbas stand in a row and, promising to reward the child who got first to him, they would all run into his arms and jump on his knees.

He interested himself in the doings of all, whether slaves or n.o.bles, and followed the funeral of the most humble Believer. He flew one day into a most violent pa.s.sion because, through negligence, he had not been apprised of the death of a poor negro who swept out the Mosque.

He insisted on being told where the grave was situated and went to pray over it.

When an applicant tried to get close to the Prophet's ear so as not to be overheard, he would bend his head until the man had finished speaking. When a visitor took the hand of Mohammad, he was never the first to withdraw it, but waited until the other chose to relax his grasp. The Prophet often said: 'To be a good Mussulman, we must wish for others that which we wish for ourselves.'

Never did he let his blessed hand fall on a woman, nor on one of his slaves. Quoth Anas, who was seven years in his service: "'He never scolded me; he never even asked me: 'Hast done this?' or: 'Why didst thou not do that'" Abu Dharr heard the Prophet declare: 'These servants are your brothers, placed under your authority by Allah.

Whoso is master over his brother must give him the same food as he eateth and the same apparel as he weareth.'

An Arab who bore arms at the battle of Hunain, tells the following story: "My feet were shod with heavy sandals and in the thick of the fight, I accidentally trod on the Prophet's foot. He struck me with the whip he held in his hand and cried out: 'By Allah! thou hast hurt me!' And all night long, I reproached myself for having inflicted pain on Allah's Messenger. Next day, early in the morning, he sent for me.

I went into his presence. I was trembling with fright. 'Thou art the man,' said he, 'who crushed my foot yesterday under thy thick sole and whom I lashed with my whip? Well then, here are eighty lambs. I give them to thee. Take them away.' And ever since that incident, the Prophet's patience got the best of his anger."

Of a loving disposition, he suffered at having been deprived at an early age of maternal affection, which led him always to busy himself about the way mothers and children got on together. His ideas in this connection were summed up in this sentence: 'A son gains Paradise at his mother's feet.' While saying prayers, if he heard a child cry, he would hasten to conclude, so as to allow the mother to go and console her offspring, for he knew how mothers suffer when they hear their children cry.

His marvellous insight into mortals' souls and the depths of all things, causing him to be the most prodigious psychologist ever known, did not prevent him from consulting his companions for the least thing. Ayishah tells us: 'I never knew anybody ask for advice and listen to different opinions so carefully as the Prophet.'

If feelings of kindly dignity prevented Mohammad from resorting to vulgar mockery or making use of cutting remarks, his mood was nevertheless playful. He was fond of joking, which is not reproved by Allah, if the sally contains a grain of truth. One day, for amus.e.m.e.nt, he told Safiyah, his aunt on his father's side, that 'old women were not allowed to enter Paradise.' The n.o.ble dame, well advanced in years, burst into tears. So he went on: 'But all women will be resuscitated with the aspect of females thirty-three years of age, just as if they had all been born on the same day.'

The three things he loved best in this world were prayer, perfumes, and women.

He was so fond of praying that his feet used to swell in consequence of standing for too long a time whilst at his devotions; but he considered that the right to pray so often was one of the prerogatives of his position as a Prophet. Still he would not admit that his example should be followed. This he proved when upraiding Abdullah ibn Amir: 'Have I heard aright when they tell me thou dost pa.s.s the night in prayer, upstanding; and then fast next day? If thou shouldst keep on at this, thou wilt endanger thy sight and wear out thy body. Thy duty, that thou owest to thyself and thy people, is to fast and break thy fast; to rise in the night and also to sleep.'

Next to prayer, Mohammad preferred women, for which his detractors have blamed him severely. He was certainly an ardent lover; a male, in every respect, morally and physically, but endowed with that chast.i.ty which fits in well with healthy voluptuousness. Following his example, even nowadays, the Arabs are remarkable for their extreme decency, although devoid of all affectation and having nothing in common with the hypocritical mock-modesty of Puritans.

Mohammad had twenty-three wives, but he only had intercourse with twelve of them; his other marriages taking place for political reasons. All the tribes were eager to be allied to him through one of their daughters and he was beseiged by matrimonial offers. One of these women, Azza, sister to Dihya al-Kalbi, died of joy when she heard that the Prophet accepted her as spouse.

His love of women caused him to be brimful of kindness to them, and he sought to better their lot whenever he could. To begin with, he abolished the monstrous custom of burying girls alive, "Wa'du'l-Binat," of which we have already spoken. He then regulated polygamy, limiting the number of legitimate helpmates to four, which did not prevent him from urging the Faithful to give heed to this verse of the Qur'an: "_If ye fear that ye shall not act equitably, then marry but one woman only._" (IV, 3.)

Then, after declaring that: 'among all things which are licit, divorce is the most displeasing to Allah,' he allowed a wife to ask for release if the husband neglected the duties of marriage.

Finally, thanks to his ruling, a virgin could no longer be taken in marriage against her will; the dower, formerly given by the husband to the father of the affianced maiden, was ordered to be handed over to her. Such is the wise custom of the dower which the enemies of Islam call the purchase of a wife. Doubtless, they know nothing about the terrible retort of Moslems when they notice that in certain Western countries the dowry is paid to the bridegroom by the bride's father!

Over and above the dower, the Mussulman husband has to defray household expenses without touching his wife's fortune to which he has no right.

The Prophet also ordained that a wife is always ent.i.tled to some part of an inheritance. If it is only half a share, that is because the compensation found by the spouse in the dowry and the household upkeep is taken into account.

The Prophet was fond of perfumes; for they completed the process of purification by ablutions. The man who has a sweet smell will be worthier and better able to safeguard his honour than he whose bodily odour is disgusting. Mohammad scented himself with musk and he liked sandal-wood, camphor and ambergris to be burnt. He used pomade for his hair, and four plaits hung down over his ears, two on each side. He clipped beard and moustache with scissors, keeping all in order by means of an ivory, or tortoise-sh.e.l.l comb. He blackened his eyelids with "Kuhl," which brightens the eye and strengthens the lashes. He took care of his teeth by rubbing them often with the "Miswak,"

(fragment of soft "Araq" wood), of which the fibre, when the end is chewed, has the same effect as a brush.

His apparel consisted generally of a tunic of cotton cloth, short-sleeved, and not too long; together with a cloak, four cubits long and two wide, woven in the Uman region. He also had a Yamanite mantle, six cubits long and three wide, which he wore on Fridays and holydays. Then, last of all, came his green mantle, inherited by the Caliphs; and a turban known as "As-Sahab," bequeathed to his son-in-law, Ali.

The Prophet took the greatest care of his personal appearance and reached as far as simple, although very refined elegance. He was wont to look at himself in a mirror, or if that was lacking, in a jar full of water, to comb his hair, or adjust the folds of his turban, letting one end hang down behind his back. He used to say: 'By attending to our exterior, we please Him of whom we are the servants.'

To make amends, he severely condemned extravagance in clothing; particularly the use of silk, which for rich people furnishes an opportunity for a display of pride belittling the needy; but he permitted it for those to whom it was necessary for reasons of bodily health.

His love of justice and charity extended to animals. It was he who told how "a man saw a dog so thirsty that it lapped up mud. Taking off one of his slippers, the man filled it with water which he offered to the dog; keeping on in the same way until the animal had quenched its thirst. Allah was pleased at what the man did and welcomed him to Paradise."

This kindness and the mysterious radiation emanating from Mohammad's personality made an impression on animals; and even on inanimate objects, as well as on human beings. When he went up the steps of a pulpit newly constructed in the Mosque of Al-Madinah, the humble palm-tree trunk on which he habitually stood when preaching, began to groan and was only quieted when he laid his blessed fingers on it.

The Prophet worked with his own hands. He milked his ewes, cobbled his shoes, mended his clothes, fed his camels, pitched his tent, etc., without accepting the a.s.sistance of anyone. He carried home his own purchases from the market, and replied to one of the Faithful who wished to do so for him: 'It is inc.u.mbent on the buyer to take away what he buyeth.' Thus, by his example, he condemned the practice of wealthy people who bought largely, and without troubling about the weight of their purchases, forced their servants to carry the goods.

His disdain for the riches of this world reached to the highest pitch.

According to Ayishah, this is what he said on this head:

"Allah offered to change all the pebbles round Makkah, into pure gold for me and I answered: 'O Allah! all I ask is to be hungry one day and satisfied the next. The day I am hungry, I will implore Thee and the day I am satisfied, I will thank Thee.' What have I to do with worldly wealth? I am like the traveller who lieth down in the shade of a tree; the sun, as it turneth, beateth down upon him and he goeth away from that tree never to return. O Allah! let me die poor and resuscitate me in the ranks of the poor!"

The Prophet's sobriety was extreme; he never would have several kinds of food served at the same repast. If he ate meat, he went without dates; and if he ate dates, he deprived himself of meat. He showed a predilection for milk which appeases thirst and hunger at one and the same time.

Many months often pa.s.sed without a fire being kindled in any of the Prophet's houses for baking bread or preparing other kinds of food.

All this time, he and his family lived on dried dates only and his sole beverage was plain water. When hunger-pains gnawed his entrails too cruelly, he placed a stone on his belly and bound it there with a girdle. He departed this life without having a surfeit of any sort of victuals, not even of barley cake.

He never troubled about his body, so far as comfort went, although he kept it in a state of perfect purity by dint of continual ablutions.

He frequently slept on a rugged mat, the rough bristles deeply marking his flesh. His pillow was made of palm-fibre and his bed was a mantle folded in two. One night, when Ayishah had folded it in four, the Prophet lost his temper, found his couch too soft and ordered it to be restored to its usual state.

Before dying, he freed all his slaves and distributed the small amount of property he still possessed. He deemed it unseemly to appear before the Lord with gold in his possession. In his dwelling, but thirty measures of barley were found; and to buy them, he had been forced to leave his breastplate at a usurer's as security for a loan.

[Ill.u.s.tration: (Calligraphy) _There is no G.o.d but Allah, and Mohammad is the Prophet of Allah._]