Very few would deny the great effect that the Prophet Mohamed (peace be upon him) had on the world through the religion that was divinely revealed to him. His religious mission started with a few thousand people from the Bedouin tribes inhabiting Mecca and Madina in today's Saudi Arabia, but expanded to cover all of the Arabian Peninsula, and the Islamic call has spread to most countries of the old world, bringing about a great civilisation that enriched the world for centuries. Many unbiased non-Muslim thinkers have admitted the Prophet Mohamed's universal impact, and how Islamic civilisation influenced the world and brought light to Europe during its Dark Ages. Many Western scientists have likewise acknowledged the contributions of Muslim scientists and philosophers to the human heritage with their great works. It is only when the Muslims began to distance themselves from Mohamed's Sunna (the Prophet's example in deeds and sayings) and Islamic teachings, that Muslim civilisation began to suffer a decline. Today, despite the spread of some observable aspects of Islam in most Muslim societies, such as Islamic dress and an increase in the number of mosques, Muslims seem not to be honestly applying Islamic principles to their daily lives. It is therefore quite ordinary to see an employee taking a bribe to do his work and then heading to the mosque to pray, or see someone fighting with his family or neighbours while fasting during Ramadan. This inconsistency between a person's behaviour and observing the basic duties of prayer and fasting is the result of Muslims' lack of commitment to the actual teachings of their religion. That is one reason to review the Prophet's biography, to benefit from the lessons of his life and conduct. One of these examples that the Prophet set for us was his unblemished honesty, even with the infidels of the Quraish. First of all, it should be affirmed that Mohamed's honesty formed a fundamental part of his personality even before the revelation of the Qur'an, and he was known among his people as Al-Amin (the honest and trustworthy person). For this reason, the merchants of Mecca were accustomed to depositing their precious possessions and funds with him for safekeeping, when they were travelling to Al-Sham (now the levantine region) and Yemen. They continued to do this even after he announced himself to be the Prophet of Allah and called upon them to abandon their worship of idols and believe in One God. Amazingly, those unbelievers continued to fight against Mohamed's calling, torturing his followers and sometimes harming the Prophet himself and accusing him of insanity. However, they never claimed that he was dishonest. So they continued storing their treasures with him whenever they left on their trade trips that could last for long months. This reflects a clear hypocrisy on part of the infidels of Mecca. Although they trusted the man to protect their assets in their absence, they accused him of lying when they heard about his prophethood. Mohamed received the first revelation when he had reached the age of 40, so had lived most of his life among the people of Mecca. Therefore, they should have known enough about his good character to follow him and abandon the worship of idols. Mohamed himself tested his good repetition among the people when he started to call them to Islam. He gathered them and began to speak, asking them: “What would you say if I told you about the coming of a big caravan to Mecca?” They responded that they would definitely believe it, as they did not know him to be a liar. He then informed them about the revelation he had received, and that he was the messenger of Allah calling them to the worship of One God and to abandon their worship of idols. However, they turned their backs on him, fighting him as well as those who chose to follow him. This resistance to the Islamic call continued in Mecca for 13 years, and the early Muslims were forced to emigrate from their homeland, moving first to Habasha (now Ethiopia), then to Yathrib (Madina) to flee the torture to which they were exposed by the Quraish tribe. Some of them managed to flee without being noticed, while others were detained and forced to abandon all their funds and possessions before leaving their town. When all the Muslim community fled to Madina on the advice of their Prophet, the Quraish started to sense a real threat from the growth this movement, and they were confident that Mohamed would soon depart to join his followers in Madina. The leaders of Quraish gathered to take a decision regarding what to do with Mohamed. After long debate, they reached the decision that he should be murdered at the hands of a number of strong men drawn from all the tribes living in Mecca. This way, Mohamed's family would not be able to retaliate for his death by fighting every tribe of Mecca and would have to accept blood money in compensation. Naturally, Allah informed his messenger of the plot of the infidels, ordering him to flee to Madina on the same night that the Quraish meant to take his life. Mohamed left his house for that of his closest friend Abu Bakr, who had prepared camels and a guide for their trip. Actually it was only Abu Bakr's family and that of Mohamed that remained of the Muslim community in Mecca. However, the Prophet took the risk of leaving his cousin Ali bin Abu Taleb behind, so that he could return the treasures and funds of the Meccan merchants to their owners after Mohamed's departure. This was the extent of the Prophet's honesty, so much that he was determined to return the funds and treasures entrusted to him to their owners, despite knowing of their plots against his life. He never even considered taking them to help the Muslim community to start their new life in Madina. He did not give himself the excuse of retaliating for their bad behaviour, or of taking these things entrusted to him as compensation for the funds and possessions that had been looted from his Muslim followers on their way out of Mecca. Mohamed taught his followers and all of mankind a valuable lesson: that of upholding principle under any circumstances, even in cases of clear injustice. Is this what Muslims do today? One finds employees showing laxity at work with the justification of their low salary. Others receive bribes or even embezzle public funds, with the excuse of seeing the boss or even senior officials doing the same. Strangely, we find most if not all of these same people showing a great commitment to the five daily prayers, and fasting during Ramadan, and when they become wealthy they pay the zakat (alms) and even travel to Mecca to make the pilgrimage. Can these people claim, however, to be correctly following the Sunna (example in deeds and words) of the Prophet? Can we claim that by simply performing the basic duties of Islam, that we are good Muslims and honestly fulfilling the Islamic mission? The answer is a big “No”, because Islam, as the last divinely revealed religion, has not come to force new duties on its believers, but rather to bring about the proper relationship between human beings and between humans and their creator. That is why Islam considers the material and spiritual needs of people and neglecting either of these two aspects results in backwardness and deviation from the actual teachings and goals of this great religion.
