Friday, June 5, 2009

Prophet Muhammad as a husband

PROPHET Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the epitome of human character. He came to guide us and lead us by example. Allah Almighty in His Book praised him and directed us to take him (peace be upon him) as our role model:

“You have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful example (of conduct) for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day, and remembers Allah much.” (Qur’an, 33:21)

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had a multifaceted personality with different roles to play and various responsibilities to attend to. One such was his role as a husband and his relationship with his wives. He lived and demonstrated how a perfect husband should be. He understood the nature of women. He knew that though women are created beautiful and attractive, they also are volatile and emotional, which husbands will just have to learn to accept in their lives. He knew that patience, wise usage of words, and a control over temper are mandatory qualities a husband must possess while dealing with women. The following narration displays how the Prophet (peace be upon him) beautifully handled his wives’ outbursts:

Narrated Anas Bin Malik: “While the Prophet was in the house of one of his wives, one from among the believers sent a meal in a dish. The wife at whose house the Prophet (peace be upon him) was, struck the hand of the servant, causing the dish to fall and break. The Prophet gathered the broken pieces of the dish and then started collecting on them the food which had been in the dish and said, “Your mother felt jealous.” Then he detained the servant till a (sound) dish was brought from the wife at whose house he was. He gave the good dish to the wife whose dish had been broken, and kept the broken one at the house where it had been broken.” (Al-Bukhari, 7/62, no. 152)

(Notice how the narrator has abstained from mentioning the names of the Mothers of Believers in order to cover their shortcomings.)

Picture this scenario happening in an average house: a woman breaking another’s crockery piece (and we all know how passionately women feel about their crockery), laden with food the latter had freshly cooked. How would you expect an average husband witnessing such an action to react? He may lose his temper and shout angrily, “What have you done? Are you out of your mind?!”


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