By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwi I need to explain to you the difference between a disciple and a companion. A disciple can only do those things that the master has defined and given him explicit permission to do. The disciple cannot make decisions or make adjustments in connection with the master’s teachings, neither in the terminologies used, nor in its implementation in explaining doctrine and practice. The disciple can only alter or amend the habits of his master when and if the master grants him the title ‘master’ after him or in some other place. The range of the teaching…
View More Meaning of CompanionshipCategory: Seerah
The Prophet as a teacher
By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwī The manners and personal preferences, and also the public judgements and policies, of the Prophet, salla l-lahu `alayhiwa-sallam, have been studied and preserved by devout Muslims throughout the millennium and half since the coming of Islam. No other religious leader has had such an enduring influence on so many people after him, shaping both the ideals that they profess to aspire to and the concrete detail of how they conduct their everyday relations and affairs individually and collectively. His precepts and practice have been reverently, conscientiously and continuously applied in the most diverse geographical and…
View More The Prophet as a teacherSirah/Sunnah: history/pattern; convention/tradition
By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwī There is an obligation to love and obey the Prophet. We know this because it is expressed as an imperative in the Qur’an. Obedience is compliance with a command that comes from outside oneself. Love cannot be like that; it must come from within. Between obedience and love, there is consent — being ready and willing to obey, being prompt, graceful, when doing what we are commanded or obliged to do. Obedience with full consent is natural, spontaneous, from the heart. Obedience from the heart is a big part (though it is not all) of…
View More Sirah/Sunnah: history/pattern; convention/traditionWhy study the Sirah?
By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwī Muslims, following the meaning of the word muslim, are those who have surrendered and accepted peace with God. If they have really done that, if they have really accepted the terms of their surrender, Muslims should also be striving to become believers, to become mu’min. And mu’min is used of those men and women who have put their trust in God, who are steadfast in that trust even when the conditions of life frustrate their aspirations and ambitions, indeed even when their basic needs are not met. Believers believe that what God has provided them…
View More Why study the Sirah?