Ramadan Day 19
I can’t believe we have gone almost three weeks into Ramadan and we have not talked about the messenger and Prophet, Muhammad (PBUH). This seems unfathomable, I know. So, let’s delve into it.
Most of my childhood was spent in a residential state run facility. Many blind people during the 1970’s and 1980’s attended state run schools for the blind. There was, most often, a separation of church and state. Certainly, at the school, there were religious services, if one wanted to attend. There was a short prayerful silence before eating, if someone was so inclined to pray. We recited the updated version of the pledge every day and every assembly had an avocation where God was mentioned. However, my parents were barely cultural Christians. Besides going to a Seventh Day Adventist camp for one week in the summer just for blind people and occasionally being dropped off at Sunday school as if it were a free babysitter, I did not have regular contact with religion.
In 1997, I was raising small children as a single parent. I tried conservative religion for about eight to ten years before becoming so disillusioned and frustrated with the hypocrisy, that I social distanced without corona. When I had questions about racism, social justice issues and things that seemed to be contradictory, I was told that God knows more than I do and sometimes we just had to accept those things that we did not understand. When asking questions about the trinity, I was told that God could do anything. I felt guilty continuing to ask questions… guilty and stupid. Surely, those older than me understood more than me. I yielded.
When learning about Islam, I never had qualms about the Prophet, Isa (Jesus) as the Muslims believed him to be. In my mind, Muslims made much more sense. Their depiction of Jesus was much more plausible, to me. Okay, the exception is when he spoke as an infant in the cradle. But, miracles are miracles, after all. If I believed the depiction of Jesus as it appeared in the Quran, I didn’t have to contend with Jesus being white, born in a snowy landscape or rack my brain trying to understand the trinity. Some Muslims that I encountered thought that this alone should qualify me as Muslim. They wrongly assumed that my conversion would be easy. After all, they would not even have to convince me that Jesus wasn’t God or that Worshipping any other than Allah/God was shirk (an unforgiveable sin). How disappointed they were when I would not be a white convert trophy. They had reduced Islam down to the identity of Jesus. My conversion had very little to do with who Jesus was. For various reasons, Muslims and Christians might both gasp and shudder at this statement. It had more to do with who the prophet (pbuh) was. Who Jesus *IS* or *IS NOT* is not the only difference between Christians and Muslims.
I embarked on a journey to read what I could about Prophet Muhammed (PBUH). There are Muslims that seem to worship the Prophet (Peace be upon him) like Christians do Jesus… and have the nerve to say that they aren’t associating partners. There are Christians that portray Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) as a seventh century blood thirsty misogynist. I had to try to find the truth.
I was looking for objective sources. Of course, I did not want to find books by conservative Christians, but I did not want to find books by Muslims who might want to gloss over events or sayings that they found troubling.
Many of the most interesting books have been written by Karen Armstrong. She is quite the religious historian. Many of her books talk about Islam and a couple talk about the Prophet specifically. She wrote a biography of the Prophet.
And this one called Muhammad: a prophet for our time.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8489.Muhammad
The next book that I read was by Martin Lings. It is called Muhammad: his life based on the earliest sources.
Both books are on Book Share (for any print impaired individual) and both authors wrote interesting and seemingly objective accounts of the Prophet (PBUH). You can find reviews on both Amazon and Good reads. Both books have been written quite some time ago and both are revered for their objectivity, research and astute observations by those regardless of religion. You can find both on Amazon and at almost any book store. Armstrong’s can even be found on Audible.
There are a few stories that I really enjoy that have been recounted about the Prophet (PBUH). Of course, those that I like best embody the characteristics that I try to emulate. I like the stories that canvas his humanity and wisdom.
https://player.fm/podcasts/Prophet-Muhammad
I do like Seeker’s hub. But, if we are specifically talking about the prophet, I found the Re-sight Islam podcast quite entertaining and the hosts make it relatable. Okay, they are gamers and reference pop culture a bit too much. I am not that knowledgeable about pop culture and gaming. Yet, I found the podcast thoroughly engaging despite my lack of knowledge. And, bonus points, they have translated the words of Tala Al Badru Alayna into roman Arabic letters so that I can write them down and try to sing the song.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/re-sight-islam/id1416941037.
I do want to say that we actively celebrate both Jesus’ and Muhammad’s birthdays (peace be upon them both). Many poems have been written about the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and sung at gatherings to honor him (Mawlids).
Here are more poems set to music that celebrate Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, just in case you want even more music about the prophet.
When looking for songs that either talked about or praised Prophet Muhammad, I found tons. But, I found less that were in English. I have already previewed some of them on this blog. All of the Tala Al Badru Alayna songs, for example, were about the Prophet entering Mecca. I have also profiled at least two songs that talk about wishing peace and blessings on the Prophet. Here are some more songs about the Prophet (PBUH). By the Way, if you are yearning for more English selections about the Prophet (pbuh), it would be worth your time to check out Islamic cartoons. Almost every Islamic cartoon talks about the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and has at least one song to illustrate their point.
- Don’t talk to me about Muhammad is a song about one of the Prophet’s (PBUH) encounters. He sees a woman on the road who needs help carrying a heavy load. He helps her and her only request is that during their long journey, he not talk to her about Muhammad. She blames Muhammad for her hardships and does not like him at all. After she arrives at her destination, she finds out that the very same man who she thought was causing strife among people was the man who carried her load, even when she said horrible things about him. This is by the story teller, himself, Dawud Wharnsby.
- Another selection by Dawud Wharnsby is simply called the Prophet’s Nasheed. This song talks about the Prophet’s (pbuh) anxiety over the fate of future Muslims.
- Harris J talks about all of the characteristics that make up Muhammad (PBUH) and why he tries to emulate the prophet in the song My Hero.
- Harris J also has a pop style, upbeat song called Rasool’Allah, which means messenger of Allah.
- Maher Zain sings about Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) destiny as The Chosen One. Of course, I chose the vocal version to profile on my blog.
- Zain Bhikha and Native Deen come together to sing Zamilooni which talks about his first revelation. His wife Khadijah comforted him and believed him. This song is as much about his vision, as much as about her belief in her husband.
- The Prophet (PBUH) was also known as the trustworthy one. Pagans, Christians, Jews and Muslims knew that they could entrust him with their things. He was honest and truthful with them. His reputation was one that could be trusted with people’s business and livelihood. Even as a child, he was called Al Amin, which is the name of this next tribute by Irfan Maki.
- The song Al Mu-Allim also refers to the Prophet (PBUH). Sami Yusuf talks about him being a great teacher.
- There are many songs simply called Muhammed. This one is sung by Saif Adam. This is a rockabilly tune with a flute at the beginning.
- Apparently, the Ghazali College Choir is accompanying Hussein Kalla on this piece. Al Ghazali was a Muslim mystic and philosopher born in 1050 in Iran.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/al-Ghazali
He was a proponent of music and was quoted saying
Here is the song by Hussein Kalla and the college choir.
- Khalid Belrhouzi has a song in Arabiccalled Allah’s Messenger. I like Khalid’s voice, so was getting a bit excited. I hoped that it would be in English since the title was in English. I was wrong. Yet, it is a melodic piece. So, I added it here.
- Since I did not know about Belrhhouzi’s version of Tala Al Badru Alayna, thus, did not include it in my post about the moon, I am adding it here. It is slow and melodic. Maybe if I write the words in a kind of Roman Arabic script, I can sing along. It is sung in both English and Arabic.
The melodious journey through Ramadan: 