JAbir b. �Abdullah draws for us a pen-portrait of Muhammad delivering a sermon. He reports: �When Allah�s Messenger delivered the sermon, his eyes became red, his voice rose, and his anger increased so that he was like one giving a warning against the enemy and saying: �The enemy has made a morning attack on you and in the evening too.� He would also say: �The Last Hour and I have been sent like these two,� and he would join his forefinger and middle finger Gust as there is no other finger between these two, similarly there will be no new Prophet between Muhammad and the Day of Resurrection) and would further say: �The best of the speech is embodied in the Book of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance given by Muhammad. And the most evil affairs are their innovations; and every innovation is error� � (1885).
There are other eyewitness accounts of Muhammad�s sermons. One report says: �Allah�s Messenger stood up [to pray] and we heard him say: �I seek refuge in Allah from thee,� Then said: �I curse thee with Allah�s curse three times,� then he stretched out his hand as though he was taking hold of something.� When asked to throw fight on this unusual behavior, he replied: �Allah�s enemy IblIs came with a flame of fire to put it in my face.� But even though cursed, he did not retreat. �Thereafter, I meant to seize him. I swear by Allah that had it not been for the supplication of my brother SulaimAn he would have been bound, and made an object of sport for the children of Medina� (1106).
Friday is a special day. �On it Adam was created, on it he was made to enter Paradise, on it he was expelled from heaven� (1856).
Every ummah was given the Book before the Muslims. But though Muslims �are the last,� they �shall be the first on the Day of Resurrection.� While the Jews and the Christians observe Saturday and Sunday as their respective days, Muslims were fortunate to have Friday as their day, the day prescribed by Allah Himself for them. �We were guided aright to Friday, but Allah diverted those who were before us from it� (1863).
An interesting story is reported in this connection. One Friday, when the Prophet was delivering a sermon, a caravan with merchandise from Syria arrived. People left the Prophet and flocked toward the caravan. Then this verse was revealed: �And when they see merchandise or sport, they break away to it and leave you standing� (1877; QurAn 62:11).
According to Muslim jurists, there are different forms of prayer for sixteen specific dangerous situations. For example, during a war, one group prays while the other one fights (1824-1831).
This rule may seem to lack piety but in some ways it is realistic. The believer is told to prefer supper to prayer. �When the supper is brought and prayer begins, one should first take food,� says Muhammad (1134). First things first.
It is meritorious to build a mosque, for �he who builds a mosque for Allah, Allah would build for him a house in Paradise� (1034). But it is forbidden to build mosques on graves and to decorate them with pictures. �Aisha reports that when the Prophet �was about to breathe his last . . . he uncovered his face and said in this very state: �Let there be curse upon the Jews and the Christians that they have taken the graves of their Apostles as places of worship� � (1082).
There are many dos and don�ts. For example, to wear shoes while praying is permissible (1129-1130), but clothes having designs and markings on them are distracting and should be avoided (1131-1133). The Prophet commanded the believer that while praying �he should not spit in front of him, for Allah is in front of him when he is engaged in prayer� (1116). According to another tradition, he �forbade spitting on the right side or in front, but it is permissible to spit on the left side or under the left foot� (1118).
To eat onion or garlic is not harAm (forbidden), but Muhammad found their odors �repugnant� (1149) and therefore forbade coming to the mosque after eating them, �for the angels are harmed by the same things as men� (1145).
Women can go to the mosque but they �should not apply perfume� (893), a privilege not denied to men who can afford it. They were also told not to precede men in lifting their heads from prostration. The translator explains that this hadIsrelates to a period when the Companions were very poor and could not afford proper clothing. The instruction was meant to give them time to adjust their clothing before the women lifted their heads (hadIs 883 and note 665).
Muhammad commanded the believers to �take out unmarried women and purdah-observing ladies for �Id prayers, and he commanded the menstruating women to remain away from the place of worship of the Muslims� (1932). But in a footnote explaining the standpoint of the Islamic sharI�ah with regard to women joining men in prayer, the translator says: �The fact is that the Holy Prophet deemed it preferable for women to say their prayers within the four walls of their houses or in the nearest mosque� (note 668).
While giving his opinion of the first mosques, Muhammad makes some interesting disclosures. He does not deny that the Jews and the Christians also had their prophets but adds: �I have been given superiority over the other prophets in six respects: I have been given words which are concise but comprehensive in meaning; I have been helped by terror (in the hearts of the enemies); spoils have been made lawful to me . . . ; I have been sent to all mankind; and the line of prophets is closed with me� (1062). The whole earth is also made a �mosque� for him and given to him as a legitimate place of prayer for him and his (1058). This is the idea of the world as a �mandated territory� bestowed on the believers by Allah.
We see here that European imperialism with all its rationalizations and pretensions was anticipated by Islamic imperialism by a thousand years. In Islam we find all the ideological ingredients of imperialism in any age: a divine or moral sanction for the exploitation of the barbarians or heathens or polytheists; their land considered as a lebensraum or held as a mandate; they themselves regarded as the wards and special responsibility (zimma) of the civilizing masters.
Another hadIs mentions Muhammad�s power of �intercession� on the Day of Judgment, which other prophets lack (1058). Other ahAdIs mention other points. �I have been helped by terror. . . . . and while I was asleep I was brought the keys of the treasures of the earth,� says Muhammad. This wealth the followers of the Apostle �are now busy in getting them,� adds AbU Huraira, the narrator of this hadIs (1063).
Somebody asked Muhammad which was the mosque �first set up on the earth.� He answered that it was the Ka�ba. The second one was the great mosque in Jerusalem (1056, 1057).
In the beginning, when Muhammad was trying to cultivate the Jews, he prayed facing their temple in Jerusalem. But later on, the direction (qibla) was changed to Mecca. One tradition says: �We prayed with the Messenger of Allah towards Bait-ul-Maqdis for sixteen months or seventeen months. Then we were made to change our direction towards the Ka�ba� (1072). The followers had no difficulty and adjusted to the new change with alacrity. Some people were praying their dawn prayer and had recited one rak�ah. Someone told them that the qibla had been changed. �They turned towards the new qibla in that very state� (1075).
The translator assures us that �this was a change of far-reaching importance. . . . It strengthened the loyalty of the Muslims to Islam and the Prophet� (note 732). It must have made a strong appeal to Arab nationalism.
Muslim prayer is mostly group prayer. It should be led by an imAm. Muhammad enjoins that �when there are three persons, one of them should lead them� (1417).
Muhammad exhorts his followers to follow their imAm. �When he prostrates, you should also prostrate; when-he rises up, you should also rise up,� he tells them (817). He also forbids them to bow and prostrate themselves ahead of the imAm: �Does the man who lifts his head before the imAm not fear that Allah may change his face into that of an ass?� (860). Also, those who are being led in prayer are required to keep pace with the imAm and are forbidden to recite so loudly as to compete with him. When someone once did this, Muhammad told him: �I felt as if [you were] disputing with me . . . and taking out from my tongue what I was reciting� (783). The imAm is authorized to appoint anyone as his deputy, when there is a valid reason for doing so, just as Muhammad appointed AbU Bakr during his last illness (832-844).