According to the Quran, wisdom is of greatest value for a human being. There is a verse in Chapter al-Baqarah which states: “Whoever is granted wisdom has indeed been granted abundant wealth” (2:269). This verse means that wisdom is summum bonum, or the greatest good. Wisdom ensures success, while the lack of it signals failure. I have tried to understand what wisdom is from the Quran and Hadith, that is, what is the concept of wisdom, as defined in the Quran and the prophetic practice.
After deep study, I have come to conclude that the definition of wisdom according to the Quran is the ability to discover the relevant by sorting out the irrelevant. After studying the life of the Prophet of Islam, I have realized that the best title for him is that he was a ‘Prophet of Wisdom’. In 1978 the American author Dr. Michael Hart wrote a book with the title, The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History. In this book he ranked the Prophet Muhammad as the greatest achiever in entire human history. But Dr. Hart does not explain in his book the reason for Prophet’s super achievement. I have discovered through my study that the reason for Prophet’s success was his application of Quranic wisdom to the situations he faced. The Prophet experienced various kinds of situations and in every situation he adopted Quranic wisdom. I will give some examples to illustrate how the Prophet applied this wisdom.
Wisdom according to the Quran is the ability to discover the relevant by sorting out the irrelevant.
The Prophet in Makkah: Ignoring the Problem and Availing the Opportunity
The Prophet began his mission in 610 CE in ancient Makkah. Prophet’s mission was based on tawheed, or monotheism. At the time, the whole of Arabia was polytheistic. The Kabah was built four thousand years ago by Prophet Abraham as a centre of worship of one God. But now polytheism was practised by the different tribes of Arabia. This was a grave situation confronting the prophetic mission.
Here the Prophet applied wisdom. Since the Kabah was used as a place of worship and venerated by the various tribes of Arabia, people from all over the peninsula would gather to pay respects to their tribal gods. As a result, the Kabah had acquired a central position where people would gather on a daily basis. It hence became possible for the Prophet to have an Arab audience present in Makkah, to whom he could preach the teachings of his religion.
We therefore see that the Prophet never travelled in Arabia for the sole reason that Arabs from the surrounding regions would themselves visit Makkah for their worship. The Prophet had access to an audience from all over Arabia. The Prophet would visit the Kabah daily, offer his prayers and then engage in the task of conveying the message of Islam to those gathered there. He would recite verses from the Quran to people (Ibn Hisham). The Prophet used to tell people: “O people, say that there is no god but God and you will find success.” (Ibn Hisham) Similarly, he would recite verses from the portions of the Quran that had been revealed at that time. This was a wise method followed by the Prophet because of which many Makkans embraced Islam, including those who are known as the foremost Companions of the Prophet, for example Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan, Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muadh ibn Jabal and others.
The reason for Prophet’s success was his application of Quranic wisdom to the situations he faced.
Had the Prophet fought with the Makkans or forcibly prevented people from their methods of worship, the prophetic mission would have come to an end in Makkah itself. This is because such action would have initiated a violent confrontation, leading to killings on both sides. Muslims today have been fighting for the past two hundred years and have not been successful. The only reason for this failure is their inability to apply the above prophetic wisdom to the present day situation. Muslims of today are fighting with problems and are unaware of the opportunities that can be availed.
The whole of Prophet’s life can be explained by the single principle of following divine wisdom. God has created this world in such a way that every person here enjoys freedom. No one has the right to abolish the freedom of another. Thus we have to manage other people’s freedom rather than attempt to abolish it. Islamic wisdom is therefore to carry on with your mission while managing the issues that arise on account of other people’s freedom.
Migration: Re-planning of the Prophetic Mission
Prophet’s mission of monotheism did not suit the people of ancient Makkah because the Kabah was an attraction for different polytheistic tribes resulting in the flourishing of trade, serving as a source of income for the people of Makkah and a means to bolster the economy of the city. It therefore did not suit the Makkans to believe in a religion based on monotheism. But because the Prophet could not abolish the Godgiven freedom of people, he adopted a different option of managing the situation. Instead of making an issue out of the worship aspect of the place the Prophet availed the gathering as an audience for his mission. This is an example of wise management.
Opposition to Prophet’s mission increased in intensity. Due to the wisdom adhered to by the Prophet, a number of Makkans had come to accept Islam. This group comprised of some of the best people of the society of Makkah. The best minds of Makkah became followers of the Prophet due to his adoption of the wise strategy explained above. However, Prophet’s opponents still held sway in Makkah and after thirteen years of his mission, they became even more hostile. Now the Prophet had two options before him: he could either continue to stay in Makkah and fight with those opposed to Islam or leave Makkah for another place.
God has created this world in such a way that every person here enjoys freedom. No one has the right to abolish the freedom of another.
The Prophet again applied wisdom. Ancient Makkah had become a controversial spot for the Islamic mission. When a place becomes controversial for one’s work, it is difficult to remain there and work normally. Thus the Prophet gathered information about other places and found that Madinah, which was then called Yathrib, was free of all such controversies. The Prophet hence decided to migrate to Madinah. Therefore, migration means re-planning of one’s mission. Migration was not merely leaving of one place for another, rather it involved a re-planning of prophetic mission. At the time of his migration, the Prophet made a very historical statement: “I was ordered to migrate to a town which will swallow all other towns. People call it Yathrib and it is Madinah” (Sahih Bukhari). The Prophet had predicted that his re-planning would give new success to Islam. In this way, as part of a great vision, the Prophet decided to leave Makkah and migrate to Madinah.
Avoiding Confrontation
Makkans became angry with Muslims’ having found a peaceful centre for their mission, causing them to initiate wars out of revenge. The Prophet was carrying out his mission in Madinah in a non-provocative way, but the Muslims’ success did not go down well with the Makkans, who thus launched attacks. But it was due to Prophet’s wisdom that he reduced into skirmishes the wars waged by the Makkans. A full-fledged war lasts at least for six days. There is no such war in the life of the Prophet. On this basis we can say that there was no war during the lifetime of the Prophet. Other people tried to engage him in war, but using his wisdom he turned every such war into a mere skirmish. With God’s special succour Muslims emerged victorious at the Battle of Badr (624 CE) while the Makkans suffered losses. It is human nature to thirst for revenge after facing defeat at the hands of their opponents. This is why after their defeat, every time the Makkans tried to enmesh the Muslims in confrontation.
Muslims today are engaged in fighting, wielding guns and committing suicide bombing. They do not know that in every situation there are relevant aspects alongside irrelevant aspects. Success comes with sorting out the two.
Another event from the early history of the Prophet is known as the Battle of the Trench (627 CE). No battle, however, took place. Traditions have it that a 12,000 strong confederation advanced on Madinah for attack. The Prophet realized that there would be no use of fighting as many would die.
Before this, two years ago, seventy of the Companions had died at the Battle of Uhud. The Prophet did not want this to be repeated. Thus he adopted a unique strategy—he had a trench dug between the Muslims and the attackers. This trench served as a buffer between the two sides. This wise strategy, which prevented confrontation, was unknown to the Arabs of the time. Due to this those who had come for attack were compelled to leave without fighting.
The Peace Treaty of Hudaibiya
The Prophet wanted peace to prevail in Arabia so that the work of dawah, or conveying the message of God to people, could be performed without any obstruction. Dawah cannot happen in the absence of a peaceful atmosphere. Peace brings normalcy. The task of dawah involves addressing the mind of those to whom the message of God is to be conveyed. This is possible only in a normal situation.
So, under a great planning, the Prophet decided to go to Makkah with his Companions to perform the umrah, or the lesser pilgrimage. In 628 CE, the Prophet left Madinah for Makkah with a number of his Companions. This was not acceptable to the Makkans. When they learnt that Muslims were approaching their city, they went forward and stopped the Muslim advance at a place called Hudaibiya, about ten miles from Makkah. This was followed by two weeks of negotiations for peace. The Makkan opponents were bent on their conditions being accepted for peace to be concluded between the two sides. Their conditions were unilateral and did not take into consideration Muslims’ interests. The Prophet accepted all of the conditions of the Makkans. After this the Prophet began to dictate the terms of the agreement to Ali to write on paper. He said: “O Ali write: ‘This is what has been concluded between Muhammad the Messenger of God and…” At this, Suhayl ibn Amr, the representative of the Makkans, immediately said: “We do not believe that you are a messenger. You will have to remove the words ‘Messenger of God’ and write instead ‘Muhammad, son of Abdullah.” It is very astonishing that the Prophet did not waste even a second and said to Ali: “O Ali write: ‘This is what has been concluded between Muhammad, son of Abdullah…’” Ali was not prepared to erase the words ‘Messenger of God’, thus the Prophet asked where these words had been written and erased them himself. In this way, the peaceful agreement, known as the Hudaibiya Treaty was signed.
The greatest practice of the Prophet that we need to revive today is to discover prophetic wisdom and apply it to our present circumstances.
There were many among the Companions of the Prophet who thought that the treaty was a humiliation. But the Prophet remained firm on the agreement he had entered into with the Makkans and returned from Hudaibiya. He had not yet reached Madinah when the Chapter alFath was revealed in the Quran. The first verse of this chapter declares:
“Truly, We have granted you a clear victory” (48:1). What everybody had considered to be a unilateral defeat and humiliation was declared by the Quran to be a clear victory. What was this clear victory? The Prophet ignored the irrelevant aspect and focused on the relevant aspect. The irrelevant aspect was to temporarily have ‘Muhammad, son of Abdullah’ written on a piece of paper instead of the words ‘Muhammad, Messenger of God’. This would have not changed the course of history. The Prophet knew that changing words on paper would not change the course of history. Here we have an example of focusing on the relevant aspect and ignoring the irrelevant aspect. As a result, after the Hudaibiya Treaty was signed peace prevailed in Arabia.
Before this, there had been a situation of war between the Makkans and the Muslims, both sides anticipating war to break out any time. When it became known all over Arabia that the two groups had mutually agreed on peace and would not fight for a period of ten years, movement of people from both sides became common. Shihab al-Zuhri (d. 741 CE), an early authority on Islam, has explained why people embraced Islam in large numbers after the Hudaibiya Treaty. The reason for this was the greatly increased interaction between the Muslims and the Makkans. Before the treaty, there had been no interaction at all between the two groups, however, the Hudaibiya Treaty broke the barrier between the two sides, leading to more and more interaction between people. This interaction led to exchange of thoughts and ideas and thus made people knowledgeable about Islam. Hence the numbers of Muslims rose rapidly.
The Hijrath or migration was not merely leaving of one place for another, rather it involved a re-planning of the prophetic mission.
In this way, in his twenty-three year prophetic mission the Prophet always separated the relevant from the irrelevant in the situations he was faced with. In the present times, Muslims are totally unaware of this wisdom. Muslims today are engaged in fighting, wielding guns and committing suicide bombing. They do not know that in every situation there are relevant aspects alongside irrelevant aspects. Success comes with sorting out the two. For example, Muslims today have complaints against the West. Whether the complaint is right or wrong, it must be acknowledged that the West has made many positive contributions—freedom, openness, print and electronic media, means of communication and so on. If there are certain complaints against the West, they should be taken as irrelevant. The relevant fact is that in today’s age, there has been an opportunity explosion. Modern civilization has opened up an age of opportunities. Since Muslims are engaged in confrontation, they cannot recognize these opportunities
The Supporting Role of Modern Civilization
I have discovered after a study of Prophet’s life that wisdom is the ability to sort out the relevant from the irrelevant. Due to lack of prophetic wisdom, Muslims have been making numerous sacrifices but have not been able to make any positive achievement. If Muslims were to adopt this wisdom, they would realize that the entire modern civilization is an example of this tradition of the Prophet: “God will certainly make secular people support this religion” (Sahih Bukhari). The modern civilization is a supporter of Islam and not an enemy of Islam. Because Muslims are too engrossed with irrelevant aspects, they could not discover the modern civilization as a supporter of Islam. If they sort out the irrelevant aspects, they would realize that in reality this civilization provides support to the religion of Islam.
The greatest practice of the Prophet that we need to revive today is to discover prophetic wisdom and apply it to our present circumstances. God has ushered in a new age in which the equation between people has changed. At the time of the Prophet, some people had been enemies of Islam while others were its friends. In the present age, this equation has come to an end. Today if there are Muslims on one side of the equation, there are supporters on the other side. The entire world has become a supporter of Islam. A new revolution has been brought about in the world, which has given us communication, religious freedom, openness, all of which are supportive for the cause of Islam. There was a process which started at the time of the Prophet and this has culminated as modern civilization today. According to a tradition of the Prophet: “A time will come when you will advance to a place where there will be a fort with closed doors. You will not use swords or lances. Rather you will just say La ilaha illallah and the doors will be opened up” (Sahih Muslim). Right now, I am speaking at a place and my voice is potentially reaching the entire world. Thus this tradition means that an age of communication will dawn in the future which would open up all doors for Islam.
It was due to Prophet’s wisdom that he reduced into skirmishes the wars waged by the Makkans. A fullfledged war lasts at least for six days. There is no such war in the life of the Prophet.
Muslims of the present day should revise and reassess their actions and plans. I pray to God to guide us and accept us for Paradise in the Hereafter.
(Transcript of the lecture delivered through Skype by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan at the ‘Selected Members Camp’ of the Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO), Headquarters of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, New Delhi, 19 July 2016.)
