Husn al-Khulq paperwork.

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

This is the work we had submitted to our lecturer.

HUSN AL-KHULUQ

The akhlaq of Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam.

With the ethics of Imam Al-Ghazali and Imam Al-Haddad.

Written by

Amirah Hazwani binti Muhammad Azlan,

Fatin Husna binti Hamka,

Nur Aini binti Mohd Ghazali,

and Inani Najihah binti Mohd Rohim.

Under supervision of Sir Alizaman D. Gamon.

For those, who love Him and His Messenger.

NOTE TO READERS.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

This piece of work started with a question of what we as a group have to write about 'Akhlaq'. The quest of finding an article was easy as there were so many of them, but, the problem lies in the easiness itself. The next question aroused was which article to choose. After deliberation, we had a simple conclusion. Who own the most perfect akhlaq? By that, a member of our group cited: *we forgot to put the verse*

The article chosen was written by S.O.K Ubaidullah for Yaqeen International dated August 7, 1985 entitled “Values as Exemplified by Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahua'laihiwassalam)”. This almost-3-pages article compressed many aspects of Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam. We had divided this piece into three: strengths, weaknesses and recommendations. All three are original writings by this group of young writers while the quotes and passages had been noted in both abbreviation and as foot notes. In the latter, we added the ethics of two of the famous Imam, Al-Imam Hujjatul Islam, Imam Ghazali and Imam Al-Haddad. The reasons of this addition are thoroughly explained in its repective division.

One might find that there are many references and books related to the title of this work. There are rows and rows of books of every thickness and covers by many authors. We had separated our main source for this work and by that, added few more reliable sources. In addition to that, we had not restrict ourselves with Muslims writers only rather we selected also few references from the authors of other religion. All in all, the objective remained the same.

Among our hopes of finishing this work is to produce a comprehensive understanding of the akhlaq of Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam in a very simple English so it can be understood by both English native speakers and non-native English speakers, i.e. Malaysian from the age of those who just started to read to those who doesn't want to read. As Imam al-Ghazali wrote in his advice to one of his students, and the advice is mainly about saying something as simple and straight forward as it should be. He took the example of having a house on fire and we have to warn the people in that particular house¹. There is obviously no point of searching hard vocabulary when we can use simple words such as “There's fire, get out!”

An interesting story was stated in history about children of Amru bin Jamuh. All of them embraces Islam but their father still were not. One day, while their father was sleeping, they went inside to Amru’s room. They took some dust to make the idol dirty. When he woke up the next from sleeping, he cleaned the dirt and asked his idol, “Why you were not protecting yourself?” The same thing happened for the second night. He cleaned the dirt but this time Amru gave his idol a sword and he said, “If someone came again, protect yourself. Kill him.” On the third night, the children threw the idol away. Amru looked up for it when he woke up from sleep. Finally, Amru said, “In the name of Allah, you were not qualified enough to be worship.”After the incident, his faith lies only for Allah. That was the effort of his children to make their father realized that Islam is the only way of life and the true religion.

INTRODUCTION.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

“And you (stand) on an exalted standard of character.” 68:4

“Say: 'If you love Allah, follow me: Allah will love you and forgive your sins: for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful'.” 3:31

“You have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for any whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day, and who engages much in the Praises of Allah.” 33:21

“We sent you (Muhammad) not, but as a Mercy for all creatures.” 21:107

“The Prophet is closer to the Believers than their own selves...” 33:6

His name is Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn 'Abd al Muttalib. He was given the name Muhammad by 'Abd al Muttalib, the name that was known, but not familiar among the Arabs.² It was the Monday, on the 12^th day of Rabiulawal, the third month of the lunar year. 'Abd al Muttalib said when he was asked regarding the name, “I did so with the wish that my grandson would be praised by God in heaven and on Earth by men.”³ During her mothers', Aminah the daughter of Wahb ibn 'Abd Manaf ibn Zuhrah, pregnancy, she said that she hadn't feel any pain nor even tired. It was indeed, one of the signs given only to the Messenger of Allah.

On his birth, the custom of sending children to the desert on the eight day of their birth were being practised. Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam was given by his mother to Thuwaybah, servant of the Prophet Sallallahua'laihiwassalam uncle, Abu Lahab. She nursed him no longer than a few days. Then, he was nursed by Halimah, daughter of Abu Dhu'ayb. Once again, the signs of prophethood were visible. Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam stayed with Halimah in the desert and during this period the famous story of his chest been opened occured.

Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam lost his mother on their way back to Makkah from Madinah, at the village of Abwa'. The one who took him back to Makkah was his late father servant, Umm Ayman. When he was six, 'Abd al Muttalib took the responsibility of taking care of him. Eventhough his grandfather is the Chief of Makkah, but he did not lived up to his actual standard could have offered because he performed services to the guests of Kaabah. When he was eight, 'Abd al Muttalib passed away. After that, his uncle, Abu Thalib, took care of him. He became a herdsman during this time. It was said that being a herdsman would increase the patience of man. Prophet Moses a.s was a herdsman so does Prophet David a.s. Having to deal with animals in large number required patience and stability.

Abu Thalib was a noble man and respected among the Qurasyh. He brought Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam to al Sham for one of his trade trips. It was during the time of the journey, Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam encountered with Buhaira, a Christian priest. He asked several questions. Buhaira said, ”O Muhammad, for the sake of Latta and Uzza, I want to ask you questions”. The Prophet Sallallahua'laihiwassalam replied, ”Sorry priest. Don’t ask me with the name of Latta and Uzza, there’s nothing that I hated except Latta an Uzza.” Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam never prostate or worship to Latta and Uzza. Buhaira said,”Okay, I ask you questions in the name of Allah.” Muhammad replied, ”Yes, asks me with the name of Allah”. Allah take care of His prophet.

Allah protected him from worshiping Latta and Uzza. Allah also protected him from attending dancing and singing ceremony. Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam never compete for food with the sons of Abu Thalib. Sometimes the food was not enough.Because he didn’t want to compete with their cousins to get the food, he preferred to sleep with hungry stomach. Abu Thalib realized thus he constantly saved him a portion of the food.

Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam never lied and spoke nothing but the truth. He was given the title al-Amin. His life, from being a bachelor, turning to a married man started when he was hired for the numeration of four young camels for a trade trip to al Sham. It was Khadijah, daughter of Khuwaylid who hired him. It was after he came back from the trip that the news about he and his manners were told to Khadijah. Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam became her husband, with 'Umar bin Asad as the representative to gave her away. Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam was twenty-five and his wife was fourty.

By marriage, Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam had completed his example of the best character. He had shown the akhlaq of how to be a son, a nephew, a grandson, a youth and finally a husband and father among many of the elses.

STRENGTHS.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

The virtues and the good deeds embodied by our beloved Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam are proclaimed beautifully in this article literally. The exemplary virtues have been conveyed in simple yet concise lines, for which the standard is moderate enough to spread the messages of the beautiful manners of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam to the urban public. The publication of this article by S. O. K. Ubaidullah bears a remarkable language commands, which promote its own knack to win the readers attention, as well as in capturing their interest to lay each and every sights on the very lines. For instance :

“He created a brotherhood for which there is no parallel in the world. He put an end to centuries old difference of caste, tribe, race and colour.”

In this line, the writer implied his best descriptive words when it comes to narrating the histories and real lives of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam, where the praiseworthy virtues portrayed by him are put forth in the best description, fair enough to be understood by all and to ponder on the virtuous deeds of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam.

Likewise, the writer also provided a number of scenes in the real life of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam to strengthen the messages of his virtuous deeds. The exemplary that have been bring forward to the readers includes of all stages of human's life, comprises of the youth, the role as a father, husband, servant, merchant, soldier, general, peacemaker, judge and a sovereign. These examples of phases and stages of life set a complete idea, which gives credit to this article, in preserving the record of the chronicles of the Prophets' Sallallahua'laihiwassalam virtuous life and how he served as the greatest role model of the humankind.

As stated in the article, the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam had created a brotherhood regardless of the skin colour, mother-tongue language, races, castes and tribes. In addition, he also showed great virtues towards the prisoners of war, where he simply violated the custom by treating them with the utmost hospitality. The scene bears a resemblance when it comes to conducting the most repugnant presecution from his enemies in Mecca. He endured them with dignity and patience instead of striking back violently. Even in battles, he hardly laid his hands or weapons on the bodies of the others in the battlefield. And when he migrated to Medina, he created the brotherhood ambience which had never been called before for centuries. So it is clear that he was extremely promoting the justification of human beings, where none of them are being judged merely by their outer shells. Each and every Muslim is a brother of the others, and they united within one tawheed, which is Lailaahaillallah wa Muhammadur Rasulullah. The Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam morally trained his companion and the people to be just to others, environment and themselves and to preserve their rights. In Surah an-Nisaa, Allah decreed :

“Worship God, and join not any partners with Him. And do good to parents, relatives, the orphans, the needy, neighbours who are your relatives and neighbours who are not your relatives, fellow travellers, the way-farers you meet, and the slaves.” (4 : 36)

The Commandment is also mentioned right next after Tawheed, :

“ Worship none but God, treat with kindness your parents and relatives, and orphans and the needy, and speak kindly to people.” (2 : 83)

It was, in fact, Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam who led humanity out of the servitude of its fellow men and brought it face to face with its Creator.⁴

For numerous times, the writer mentioned in the article about how the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam led his austere life with moderation. For example, the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam ate only when he was hungry and stopped before he was full. He performed the most trivial tasks on his own. Even when he had a servant, he treated them with equity to his kins. The modesty portrayed here tells us that the greatest man ever created had lived his life with honour in moderation instead of leading a lavishly life, for the niggardly conduct of life will be disastrous. The Quranic ayah promotes the modesty, where Allah says :

“Successful indeed are the believers who are humble in their prayer, and who avoid vain talk, who are active in deeds of charity, and who guard their modesty…except from their wives or the slaves that their right hands possess, for in that case they are free from blame.” (23 : 1-6)

The same mean of modesty is also being stressed in this ayah :

“Satan threatens you with poverty and prompts you to adopt a shameless niggardly conduct.”

(2 : 268)

The summed up message of modesty and moderation comprises of the expenses in daily life, the eating, dressing, worshipping and all behaviour in the life of a human. Muslims are not, in totality, prohibited from indulging themselves with the worldly matters as long as they are not fully engrossed with them and eventually forget their vicegerency on this Earth. As such, Muslims are also not encouraged to submit themselves in worshipping God and fully separate themselves from the worldly matters, as God has commanded human to be just between the two and keep the balance upright. For the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam led a normal life as an ordinary human being in moderation, where he conducted his life in myriad positions and situations, he is the best role model of all.

God praises those who stay in moderation and keep the balance of themselves as the Ibadur Rahman

“Who are neither niggardly nor miserly in their spending, but keep a just balance between the two extremes.” (25 : 67)

WEAKNESSES.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Eventhough there are not many to mention, hardly serious at all, there are few weaknesses in the article “Values as Exemplified by Prophet Muhammad.” by S.O.K Ubaidullah. First and foremost that it could have been stated after the name Prophet Muhammad, praises to him such as p.b.u.h or SAW or Sallallahua'laihiwassalam. This is because it will prompt the reader to always remember to praises him everytime they could.

“Allah and His Angels send blessings on the Prophet: O you that believe! Send you blessings on him and salute him with all respect.” (33:56)

It also happened that the writer hadn't mention any hadith or Quran verses as many as he could. People nowadays prefer to have proofs so that they could refer back to it. Moreover, if a non Muslim would happened to read it, the article with Quran verses would have shown that the Quran stated nothing but the truth and it was sent from The Creator to His last Prohet, Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam.

Should he had mention any, he could choose from books such as Syamail Muhammad⁵, Sirah Nabawiyyah⁶ and many others by known Muslim scholars or even non Muslim scholars. The importance of this is so that people might reflect on how a single man can effect the life of others, even after thousand of years after.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

The recommendations serves the purpose of giving out ideas on how to complete the article in the way that eventhough it is not perfect, it will still be better, insyaAllah.

It could have been added to the article, the way of life some of Muslim scholars and sufis that lives their lives according to the Quran and Sunnah. They had exemplified the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam in their lives so that the later generation would see the effects of having Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam in everyday life. By that, it should mean of keeping his Sunnah as much as possible.

The keen exemplary portrayed by the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam can be enlightened with a deeper explanation upon the justification of which he was fighting for.

There are five elements that make up the culture of people that are Conception of Life, Goal of Life, Building of Human Character, Nature of Man It Prepares and Nature of Human Relations.⁷ These elements had been representated by Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam. What Islam had been made for, had been exemplified by him as a whole.

Should it be compare to others, there are Eight Theories of Ethics in the book by Gordon Graham.⁸ The theories are Egoism, Hedonism, Naturalism and Virtue Theory, Existentialism, Kantianism, Utilitarianism, Contractualism and Religion. The terms itselves are hard to comprehend and yet the Religion part wasn't missed. This indicates that eventhough people trying to think as far as possible outside the box, they are trapping themselves in one, by not concentrating on what is the truth and what is not.

That should be the main point why Al-Ghazali is a good example of a person who understands ethics and how to relate it. He wrote such a book of Bidayatul Hidayah that explains what a person should do once he get up of the bed until he sleeps again. He mentioned words that are still being read and referred to in his Ihya' Ulumuddin.

Muhammad Abul Quasem wrote:

“An important feature of Al-Ghazali moral theory is its composite nature. This can be shown by an investigation into the sources of his ideas. Such an investigation can by no means be exhaustive, yet his own statements about these sources, and also the study of his thought, enable one to see clearly the composite character of his theory.”⁹

The other respected sufi among many would be Al Imam Al Habib Abdullah bin Alawi Al Haddad. He was the one who compiled Ratib al-Haddad and Wird al Latif (The Kinder Wird), wrote the book Mutual Reminding and Good Manners.¹⁰ It was known that Al-Imam Al-Haddad had practised all the Sunnah of the Prophet with the last one being keeping his hair long until it touches his shoulder. Shall not one had shown his love for the Prophet Sallallahua'laihiwassalam other than following what had he did.

To end this article review, we would very much please to use the tenth powerful phrase¹¹, insyaAllah, with all our hearts beating toegether in every seconds of our short life, we are very much in love with our Prophet Muhammad Sallallahua'laihiwassalam.

Wallahua'lam.

1Al-Ghazali, Ayyuhal Walad, page 71.

2Muhammad Husayn Haykal, The Life Of Muhammad, page 47.

3Muhammad Husayn Haykal, The Life Of Muhammad, page 48.

4Afzalur Rahman, Muhammad The Educator of Mankind, page 14.

5Written by Al Hafiz Muhammad Ibn Isa Saurah Al Tirmizi.

6Written by Al Imam Al Hafiz Abdur Rahman Ibn Al Da'iba Al Syaibani

7Afzalur Rahman, Muhammad The Educator of Mankind, page 67-69.

8Eight Theories Of Ethics, First Published.

9The Ethics Of Ghazali, page 29.

10Both are published by Starlatch Press and translated by Mostafa Al Badawi.

11Rich DeVos, Ten Powerful Phrases.