Khutbah: Imam Rashied Omar 12 March 2010 Muhammad "Man and Prophet"

In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Dispenser of Grace Jumuah Khutbah Muhammad: Man and Prophet Imam A. Rashied Omar

Al-Quran Sura al-Ahzab (The Confederates) 33:21

You have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct) - a noble example - for any one whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day, and who engages much in the Remembrance and Praise of Allah. We have reached the final jumuah of this blessed month of Rab`i al-Awwal, the month in which we commemorate and celebrate the birth of our leader and guide Prophet Muhammad (May Allahs everlasting peace and blessings be upon him). This coming Wednesday, insha-Allah, we will be entering the fourth month in the lunar calendar, the month of Rabi al-Thani or Rab al-Akhir. For some time now at the Claremont Main Road Masjid we have been advocating the idea of enriching our traditional Mawlid celebrations by annually reading a new book on the sira the life of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) - starting in the month of Rabi alAwwal.

Consonant with this idea during last weeks khutbah we briefly reviewed the new book on the sira Memories of Muhammad - written by the US based scholar, Omid Safi. During this weeks khutbah I would like to briefly review sira book of a UK based Muslim scholar, Adil Salahi, which was first published 15 years ago in 1995. A new revised and updated edition was published by the Islamic Foundation in 2008. Adil Salahis sira book titled Muhammad: Man and Prophet is one of the most extensive and detailed books written in the English language on the life of the Prophet (pbuh). The book is a heavy tome of over 800 pages and tries to live up to its presumptuous subtitle: A Comprehensive Study of the Life of the Prophet of Islam. Unlike the sufi mystical approaches towards the sira of authors such as Omid Safi and Martin Lings, Adil Salahi approaches the sira from the point of view of revivalist Islam or as Tariq Ramadan would label it: a Salafi Reformist approach to Islam. Adil Salahis approach to the sirah is not surprising since he has recently completed the monumental task of translating the entire tafsir of Sayyid Qutb, In the Shade of the Quran into English. The translation consists of 17 volumes and I would highly recommend. It is most certainly one of the best Quranic resources avaliable in the English language. Many of us may have come across the translation of the thirtieth part of the Quran which has been around for a while. In his revised and updated edition of his book on the sira, Adil Salahi has not confined himself to a descriptive style. On the contrary he has adopted an analytical approach which has led him to add two novel and significant dimensions to that of traditional accounts of the sira. First, Salahi challenges the traditional sira narratives on the judgement passed on the Jews of Bani Qurayzah. During the battle of Khandaq the Qurayza Jews had committed treachery by violating the peace treaty of Madina by siding with the enemies of the Muslims. This sedition almost led to the annihilation of the Muslim community of Madina. After his victory the Prophet (pbuh) appointed Sa`ad ibn Mu`adh, the leader of one of the influential Madinan tribes, the Aws tribe, to judge their case. According to the account of one of the earliest sira books, ibn Ishaq, Sa`ad ibn Mu`adh who had been heavily injured

during battle passed a judgement that all of the men of the Qurazah Jews be executed and their women and children be enslaved. Historically, Muslim scholars have tried to justify this verdict by pointing out that even in modern times many states issue such verdicts for the penalty of treason, more especially during times of war. Adil Salahi however refutes this traditional account of the Qurazah Jews. Drawing on the scholarly research done by Professor Walid Arafat published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Great Britain and Ireland in 1976, Salahi proceeds to contest this traditional account. He argues that the traditional account which endorses the idea of collective punishment does not correspond to the Islamic principle of justice and therefore punishing only those actually guilty of the high treason. Salahi also argues that this widespread narrative was not reported by any other early sira authors and is only reported in the sira of ibn Ishaq. Moreover, Muslim jurists have never sought to use this sira narrative as justification for collective punishment. On the contrary, jurists, such as the Hanafi Imam al-Awzai (d.789) have objected very strongly to the idea of collective punishment saying: It is not a rule of God that God should punish the many for the fault of a few, but punish the few for the fault of the many. Salahis novel position should be taken seriously by contemporary Muslims since I believe it will help in curing our souls from any traces of anti-Semitism and hatred of Jews. As we have argued many times before no matter the hardship and bitter suffering Palestinians are suffering at the hands of the Zionist State of Israel, hatred of Jews, conspiracy theories about Jews and all forms of anti-Semitism will not enhance the just cause of Palestinians. On the contrary such blind hatred will render us no better than the enemy. Allah reminds us many times in the Glorious Quran not to let our dislike of people make us swerve from justice. Be just for it is closest thing to piety (5:8). The second, novel and significant contribution that Adil Salahi makes to the literature on the sira is concerning the age of Sayyidatina `Aisha at the time of her marriage to the Prophet (pbuh).

Salahi argues that the common notion that she married the Prophet (pbuh) at the age of nine is wrong. After carefully reviewing the evidence he concludes that Sayyidatina `Aisha was closer to twenty years old when she married the Prophet (pbuh). Salahi is off course not the first Muslim scholar to make such a case. Adil Salahis novel interpretations of the sirah point the way for future scholarship on the sira and indeed on Islam in general. Instead of uncritically accepting so-called consensus judgements that have been passed down from generation to generation it is incumbent upon contemporary Muslim scholars to re-examine the evidences from the Quran and the authentic prophetic traditions/ahadith afresh more especially if the traditional verdict stands in stark opposition to widely accepted Islamic ethical principles such as justice/`adl and reason/`aql. This is an approach to our great heritage that we have embraced at the Claremont Main Road Masjid. Some have in ignorance described our approach as modernist; we however have a right to define and name ourselves as critical traditionalists. Small wonder such people are confused when they discover that we celebrate mawlid in the traditional manner but do not make our Cape mawlid tradition into an unchangeable fetish, but update and enhance it in order to take into account the new the changing context/al-Waq`i. One of these ways in which we propose to enrich and enhance our traditional mawlid celebrations is to commit ourselves to reading a new book on the sira. The more we deepen our knowledge about the sira the more we enable ourselves to follow in his footsteps. In conclusion, I am not suggesting that we only read the sira books I have reviewed during the past two weeks. Feel free to read any book on the sira. We have posted a dozen recommended books on the sira on the masjid website for your interest. We have also included some interesting sirah resources for children.

One of the final orders the Prophet (pbuh) gave before his return to his Creator and Lord and was to appoint a young man in his early teens Usama ibn Zayd as the leader of the Muslim army over and above illustrious companions such as Sayyidina Abubakr and Sayyidina Umar. According to Adil Salahi the choice of Usama as head of the army was a fresh demonstration that under Islam a son of a former slave Zayd ibn Thabit was worthy of being commander of an army in which many people of noble birth were ordinary soldiers. In our view it also demonstrates Prophets legacy of empowering the youth since they are the leaders of the future. One of the great legacies we have from our parents is that they reared us with traditional poetic melodies in honour of the Prophet (pbuh) to instil in us the love for the Prophet (pbuh). I am sure many of us fondly remember our parents putting us to sleep with these mawlud melodies. Let us continue this wonderful tradition. Finally, the best gift we can give our children is to buy them a book on the life of the Prophet (pbuh).

At this time of when we bid farewell to yet the blessed month of Rab`i al-Awwal let us prayer for world peace and bestow salutations and peace upon our beloved leader and exemplar Muhammad (May Allahs peace and blessings be upon him forever):

Allah and His Angels send blessings and salutations on the Prophet: O Believers: Send blessings and salutations on him, and salute him with all respect. (Quran: Surah al-Ahzab, Chapter 33 verse 56)