Book "Memories of Muhammad": What would Muhammad do?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Omid Safi's book Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters digs back into memories of Muhammad in order to revive the larger message of socially conscious action, the traditions constructed around it, and the call to embrace Islam through refined character.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2010\/02\/what_would_muhammad_do\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book "Memories of Muhammad": What would Muhammad do?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Omid Safi's book Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters digs back into memories of Muhammad in order to revive the larger message of socially 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More than a delivery man<\/div>\n

<\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Omid Safi is best known to many of us as being at the forefront of the Progressive Muslims movement, a movement that finds in Islamic spirituality a powerful voice for social justice and pluralism. In his latest book, Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters<\/a> (Harper Collins), Safi explores the origins of that spirituality: the character and being of the Prophet Muhammad.<\/p>\n

For Muslims, the book is a refreshing call to return to our spiritual roots, an element of faith that these days seems to be lost in the constant social commentary we are forced to engage in about Islam. For non-Muslims, Safi\u2019s explanation of Muhammad as the bridge between humanity and the Divine, insofar as emulating him brings one closer to Him, helps explain the connection Muslims have to their Prophet. It helps others feel<\/i> as devout Muslims feel. In a time when the Prophet is so deeply misunderstood, such an emotional bond can go a long way in healing interreligious wounds.<\/p>\n

What makes Safi\u2019s prose ingenious \u2013 indeed, what makes it especially relevant \u2013 is the way it moves back and forth between biographical details of the Prophet to the ways these historical points have been interpreted and emulated by Muslims. For instance, the Prophet\u2019s horizontal journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and his proceeding vertical movement from Jerusalem to the Heavens to meet his Maker, in the famed isra<\/i> and mi\u2019raj<\/i>, signify first his connection to Jesus\u2019 and Moses\u2019 message and then his ultimate communion with the Divine.<\/p>\n

The horizontal isra<\/i>, along with the Prophet\u2019s meeting with Adam, Jesus, John the Baptist, Joseph, Enoch, Aaron, Moses and Abraham during the mi\u2019raj<\/i>, underscores the commonality of the Abrahamic faiths and the sanctity of each. Some Muslims reject this reading of Scripture, choosing instead to believe that the Qur\u2019an supersedes rather than affirms previous revelations. (195) While it may be true that there are theological details that the three monotheistic faiths cannot ever agree on, there is ample Qur\u2019anic proof of the essential connection among Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and a wide scope of spiritual traditions.<\/p>\n

The Qur\u2019an refers to the Prophet as a messenger to all of humanity and emphasizes time and again that each prophet brings the same message and one should not be favored over the other. The Prophet\u2019s message at its core is about spiritual submission to the Divine, designating as \u201cmuslim\u201d anyone who adheres to such principles. While there are parts of the Qur\u2019an that delineate factors for what makes one a Muslim with a capital \u201cM\u201d, \u201cin the Qur\u2019anic worldview, \u2018Islam\u2019 is not so much the name of a new religious tradition as it is the quality of submitting oneself to God wholeheartedly\u2026 Islam is a path that leads one to Truth, but it is not the Truth itself.\u201d (200-1)<\/p>\n

Refocusing one\u2019s conception of religion as a means to the Truth as opposed to the Truth itself not only allows for pluralistic interpretations of scripture, but also makes proper behavior central to one\u2019s religiosity. Being a Muslim ceases to be an identity; instead, it is a way of being and doing. The search for Truth becomes a process that requires effort \u2013 a process that is rooted in submitting to God by, among other things, working for social justice.<\/p>\n

Safi\u2019s biography of the Prophet serves to do precisely that \u2013 to refocus the reader\u2019s attention on the person through whom the Qur\u2019an was revealed. As Safi says, quite rightly, the modernist Muslim understanding of the Prophet\u2019s role is little more than that of a \u201cUPS delivery man, dropping off the divine revelation of the Qur\u2019an at the doorstep of humanity, maybe pausing long enough to obtain a signature to ensure that the item has been received, and then departing, never to be seen again.\u201d (265) Lost on these modernists is the \u201ctradition of Islamic piety, learning, and spiritual practice\u201d that developed around memories of Muhammad. Lost also is the fact that spiritual purification can happen only through implementing the Prophet\u2019s larger message of socially conscious action. Safi\u2019s book digs back into these memories of Muhammad in order to revive them, the traditions constructed around them, and their call to embrace Islam through refined character.<\/p>\n

The concluding chapter of Safi\u2019s book thus appropriately focuses on the question, What Would Muhammad Do? (WWMD). It is a question that brings the Prophet into the present, making his memory a living one. As Safi notes, in the modern landscape, many Muslims find themselves fighting stereotypes and misconceptions by defining what Islam and its Prophet are not. (301) WWMD is about digging into the Prophet\u2019s core message of mercy to discover what Islam is, has been, can be, and should<\/i> be.<\/p>\n

Asma Uddin is Associate Editor of altmuslim.com and Editor-in-Chief of Altmuslimah. This article was previously published in Newsweek\/Washington Post\u2019s On Faith<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"