Prophet Muhammad- the Vessel of Peace

Verily, there has come to You a Messenger (Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him) from amongst
yourselves, it grieves Him that You should receive any injury or difficulty. He is anxious over You (for
your well-being), for the believers (He is) the kindest and compassionate.

(At-Taubah verse 128)

The life of Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim or known as Prophet
Muhammad is a cradle of shining guidance and full of extremely powerful and inspiring life lessons for
Muslim people who are called by the Only God in different places and times. Prophet Muhammad
exemplifies the strong and profound understanding of what peace truly is. He depicts how we can
spread peace over conflicts, chaos, and vengeance of our earthly flesh. The Prophet himself when faced
with persecution chooses to suffer rather than retaliate. He left us the most important things which we
can look at as we are dealing with the different turmoil in our daily lives. He left us his faith in God, his
own life, and the Qur’an itself above all. He further demonstrates and acts the fairness and equality each
human being ought to have with his Creator, his fellow human beings, and the world around him despite
the differences and personalities each being has. On the 3 rd day of October, as I watched the streamed
YouTube video about 5 years ago, depicting the life of Prophet Muhammad, a BBC documentary
presented by Sir Rageh Omaar and is managed by Jo Taylor, not to boast of but I do have given a glimpse
of how challenging and inspiring his life is. The whole video is divided into three episodes namely, 1) The
Seeker, 2) The Holy Wars, and 3) The Holy Peace which clearly explained his journey, his sufferings, and
the way he conquers them all through reconciliation. Additionally, we can find examples of the
Prophet’s life that reinforce the critical values that form the firmness of every Muslim people’s faith
foundation. These values call upon us to be Religiously supple, Inclusive, Philanthropic, Acclimate, and
Progressive. These are values that will manifest every being to be part of the Prophet’s Muslim
Community (Ummah).

I am inspired and amazed at how the Prophet dealt with his enemies as he is preaching the word of
the Almighty One, it’s because he always draws away from his life and his followers from any rumors of
war if he could. How he defines and lives up to the rest of his life with peacefulness was registered in my
veins. Since the beginning of his life, the way I see it, it is painful and is full of sorrows. Imagine yourself
being left alone with your parents, it’s not easy. You have no one to turn to during your ups and downs,
no one will truly understand the burden you’re lifting, no one will lift you when your friends turned their
ways from you. As what is being attested by the historical books, the place where he was born was a
stark, harsh environment of mountain, desert, and searing heat and a place of no peace and little justice.
Arabia at the time of Muhammad’s birth was a cruel place to live. There was no law, no state, and very
little peace. Tribal loyalty and customs are the only means of protection. Justice was harsh, arbitrary,
and it was swift, and the punishments were brutal, and it meant that the daily struggle for survival felt
very little room for compassion. Sebeos gives a surprisingly accurate account of the Prophet’s
background and teachings. The way he was born is not that dramatic, the way Jesus of Christians is,
wherein angels, kings with their gifts, and shepherds worship Him in the manger, but what happens is
that he failed to see his father the time he was able to open his eyes for the first time. After a couple of
years, he was left by his mother, and years after, his paternal father followed. He lives under the
protection of her uncle, Abu Talib- a powerful figure among the Meccan elite, and later married to
Syedna Khadija, a widow who happens to be his boss. His marriage turns to a great humiliation because
it is unusual to marry a woman older than him, but Khadija proves that women are an equal partner of
men in creating a Muslim society, that’s why they don’t deserve to be killed or usually termed as the
‘women infanticide’ which is natural on their day before. Khadija proves that women are truly men’s
half-life because it is her who calmed Muhammad after being confronted by the terrifying and
bewildering experience of revelation brought by the angel. She was the one who reassured him of his
experience, and the first-ever being who accepted Islam. Throughout the twenty-three years of his
mission, the Prophet Muhammad sought the way to spiritual autonomy and liberation. He prayed and
meditated while the world of humans was slumbered, he seeks God while his brothers and sisters
despaired, and he remained persistent and steadfast in the face of adversity and insult while so many
beings turned away from God’s presence.

What admires me of him is his innate peacefulness which driven his enemy towards reconciliation.
That even if he’s on the verge of winning, he still chooses to show love for his fellow which reflects the
personality of the Almighty. In today’s world, such being with the same perspective and personality as
the prophet has throughout been rare. From what we can observe, our world of today has almost no
more room for forgiveness and understanding. The various chaotic scenario is transparent even in little
one’s eyes. Wars, debates, rally, protest, rebellion is always there. Even the government that is expected
to be a role model, is acting like if they are not, they are acting as if they were not a catalyst for
everyone’s change. Our church leaders instead of leading us unto the righteous path shows negative
characteristics which is opposite to what their titles defined. I’m not judging anyone, but that’s the
reality that I’ve seen in my 18 years of existence, and I’ve witnessed such barbaric and inhumane acts
with my own eyes. I felt like we’re now leaving in a new yet totally wicked world. If only each one of us
despite the tribes we belong to, will try to follow Muhammad’s footprints, then world peace is not
impossible. Do not think that because you came from different tribes means that you are obliged to
follow others’ dictations! You wake up! You have your mind to understand and weigh things. We’re
dealing and are dreaming for peace, and the way I see it, I find it in the life of the prophet. If we are
going to put our shoe onto the prophet’s shoe before, what would be our reaction towards the cruel
society who is running after his life over and over again? Think about how shall we respond? Can we still
think of forgiveness over the burning desire to have an act of revenge? Can we still act calmly and
conquer our heart’s beat for vengeance? Let us set aside our cultures and try to look at the best thing
we are supposedly doing at first. Let us be flexible and open our hearts. Let’s not fix our eyes on the
hearsays we’ve heard but let us try to dig deeper into what the prophet is teaching. Because in the very
first place, its very essence is to have a sense of peace, peace or harmony with ourselves, harmony with
the others, harmony with our environment, and most of all harmony with God. That’s one of the things
that count in the end. At first, I cling to what my parent’s beliefs are. I followed on their life’s print. Not
until I was given a chance to open my heart to the teaching of Islam, thanks to my outside-the-country
internet friend. I’ve read some of the Qur’an’s Sura, and slowly I understand what Islam is teaching, it
was opposite to what I thought at first, and with what I’ve heard before. They are not teaching violence
and terrorism, but it is peace they are emphasizing, it is the life of the prophet that they want to live
with up to. Judging our fellowmen without knowing their story is jeopardizing, I’ve given a grasp on how
effective it is if we are aiming for a wave of true peace. I’m proven guilty of what my judgments are
before. I’m not trying to brainwash anyone’s belief; I’m just sharing my personal experience here. I’m
not a Muslim, I’m a Christian but I’m in favor of the teaching of the prophet. We have to backup
ourselves to the journey to Sharia, the way to the watering hole to drink water. It is something that we
need to drink all the time. It must be refreshed, rethought, and formulated from epoch to epoch. As we
all know, partly 70-80 percent of our body composition is made up of water, that’s how important water
is for us to survive. The same way for the importance of drinking from that hole. It will refuel, replenish,
and recharge our faith so we will be able to withstand life’s persecution in any means. If we are living
here in this face of the Earth, storms and any other negative things will sue us, but it will provide new
energy that will manifest us to stick to the pure faith we’re clinging in.

Another thing I do agree with is “you can’t judge the seriousness of someone’s faith and belief by
what they wear”. We cannot see others’ hearts. We don’t have any idea on how strong or weak their
relationship with God is, just by judging on the way they look and appear in public. But my point is, let us
also dress in the way we want to get addressed. Let’s dress modestly as a sign of respecting ourselves.
We just can’t storm out in our house with a two-piece suit, or any non-modest garments. We are free
though on what we want to wear, but also, we should know where to put ourselves in public. Women
usually blame men for judging on how they look, not realizing that they are the ones who are setting
themselves on fire, because of their unacceptable garments in righteous people’s eyes. We should learn
the art of being a conservative individuals.

Lastly, indeed, Jihad doesn’t mean fighting against non-Muslim just to force them to be Muslims. It is
unacceptable to kill innocent people which is seen as an obstacle from the implementation of the call to
Sharia and for the call to Islam to spread across the world. The intention is good because we are carrying
God’s name but the way it Is implemented is not good, everyone will see it as a harsh type of
implementing something on a place. Muhammad in the first place chooses reconciliation than killing his
enemies who keeps on aiming for his life for a lot of years. How much more of killing people who are not
our enemy? In that scenario, we’re putting a dark spot into the Name of the Lord. How can we teach
them peace if we’re doing it wrong, if we are killing them? We failed to teach peace but violence. As one
of the professors in the video tells, don’t start with punishment, start with dignity and rights. Not with
punishment, because punishment is the way you instrumentalize religion just to make yourself eligible
while you are not. War and violence are not the proper way to teach peace, it is striving for each one of
us to improve in God’s eyes. It is living every inch of the seconds we have by pleasing God, by reflecting
His teaching in our lives.

Like what the prophet did, he established his relationships in the name of trust and the respect of
principles, and not exclusively based on corresponding religious affiliation. My point is, let us not only
spread love and peace to the people who are the same as what we believe. Let us break the barrier in
between and do not hesitate to expound solid ties with non-Muslims in the name of kinship or
friendship euphorically, hanging on mutual respect and trust, even in a perilous echelon. In the sense
that this is one of the effective ways to show to everyone else that the God whom we serve is a God of
Fairness or Equalness, He is Just, Righteous, and all. That’s one of the ways to editorialize the prophet’s
personality in our lives because that’s what He did before. He attuned and settled any broken
relationships and conflicts of the Jews without discriminating them with their faith, he showed the
utmost respect toward individuals and their beliefs instead. Muhammad always retained very strong ties
with the constituents of different clans and to those who had not abide by the teaching of Islam.

The essence of the Qur’an’s message professes the existence of the Almighty One. The life of
Muhammad shows the way to the everlasting paradise. He shows how to live to harmonize with
God’s will. He is meek and has a peacefulness whatever He encounters in His life as a Messenger
of God. And finally, in his farewell sermon, Muhammad left us with the most important lesson or
a true legacy of all, that we are all equal, Arab and non-Arab, Muslim and non-Muslim. This is a
universal message that is as relevant today as it is apropos before. Our ultimate victory must be
through peace, not war, conflict, and violence. “Spread peace ‘salam’, furnish the hungry, honor and
recognize kinship ties, pray while people slumber, you shall enter paradise in peace” as what is being
thought by the prophet in the Qur’an.