From his birth in 510 until his death in 632, the Prophet of Islam never ceased to work to perfect his character and that of all humanity for which he was sent. Through the narrated hadiths and by Al-bukhârî in “Al-adab Al-mufrad” (273) and Ahmad Ibn Hanbal in Musnad (2/381), the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) declared that: “I have been sent to perfect the nobility of behavior”.
From Indonesia to Senegal, passing through the most remote corners of the world, the shadow of man hovers in the hearts of Muslims and non-Muslims alike, the mere invocation of his name arouses sublime love and reverential respect on a dose of a great emotional charge that escapes all human understanding. And even dead, the man continues until today to undergo the most acerbic invectives, the most vile calumnies for having simply preached the articles of faith and the exclusive adoration of God. Having well understood that the message for which he was sent to humanity lies in spiritual elevation, in forgiveness and surpassing oneself for spiritual height, the Prophet never toiled to spread divine mercy on Earth’s surface. Thus, throughout his prophetic mission, he maintained with Muslims, Christians and Jews human relationships of humility based on divine mercy.
What message for Senegal
These words above are far from summarizing the enormity and complexity of both human and spiritual dimensions of the Prophet of Islam. On the other hand, it is a question of learning a lesson from it for Senegal, which seemed to be sailing well against the actions and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (PSL) whose celebration of his birth this Saturday, October 8, 2022 seems to give this event the paces of a smoke screen which badly hides the clouds of a capitalist and hypocritical society whose assets and power, more than faith, influence human relations in our Senegalese society.
Not being able to exhaust the bliss of the characters of the Prophet of Islam, we will take two to measure the general state of spiritual thermometer degradation on the eve of this Mawloud 2022.
What message of mercy?
The frantic race for money has brought about profound spiritual changes in the psyche of some Senegalese over the past thirty years and even beyond. Money, this illusory concrete, destroys parental relations, hides marriages sealed on the altar of the love of material comfort and distorts the friendly relations built in the labyrinths of childhood and the upheavals of adolescent life. . Frail minds, often under the yoke of Satan and his armies lurking under the shadow of networks (Tictoc, Instergram, Facebook etc.), think that what defines the Human is the material, and no matter how unorthodox to acquire it. Let us be clear here, it is not forbidden to possess but to take possessions as ends and not as means would contribute in a destructive way to slowing down the march of Man towards this path of perfection and plenitude. (Al-Isan Al-Kamil).
Whoever is in this category does not understand the message of the Prophet (PSL). The latter has never ceased to refer Humanity to the numerous Koranic verses which attest that our possessions are only “adornments of life”; means whose ultimate purpose happens to be inscribed in the praxes of supporting the poor and helping the needy. Peace of heart is what we should aim for. Why do some Senegalese live in the luxury of cars, endless buildings, well-filled bank accounts, well-built houses when they never manage to have inner peace? The answer is simple and falls like a cleaver: it lies in the fact that we always think we have a body to maintain but we forget that we also have a soul to enter/maintain. And if we knew the Happiness that comes from the peaceful soul, we would tell ourselves little in this earthly life like these emblematic figures in particular Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba Ba, Elhadji Malick, Cheikh Ibrahima Niasse who knew how to turn their backs very early on. to the baits of earthly life.
What message of humility for Senegal?
Throughout his prophetic life, the Prophet Muhammad (PSL) has never ceased to be called to order to practice humility in the face of the most deprived, the most vulnerable and the marginalized of the society. From Taïf, faced with the prayer jet of a disoriented youth, through the war of UHud with the questioning of his horizontal authority in the positioning of his troops, to the blind man he had neglected on behalf of he other rich people of the region, the question of humility occupies an important place in many Koranic verses. To study the notion of humility well and to understand it well in the Senegalese context, it seems to us that Senegal has a long way to go on the voice of humility. Like an Attila, a certain type of Senegalese passes, a piece of humility passes away.
First of all, this humility passes away at the top of the state apparatus with dilatory speeches that weave the President of the Republic’s laurels all day long on television sets while the President himself knows that he is only doing the work for which he is elected to do. Imagine for a moment an American (or a Canadian) weaving the laurels to his President or Prime Minister for his work under the spotlight, the reaction would be firm and quick: “I am simply doing my job »
-This humility also passes away in some Senegalese university circles where some teachers exercise intellectual terrorism on some students following a geocentric vision of education where the student is an empty vase to be filled with knowledge. But knowledge only becomes knowledge when it is deconstructed and shredded in an equal partnership where the student can test his hypotheses of acquired knowledge against those of his master without being forced into silence.
-This humility passes away in some schools and high schools where some teachers terrorize their students and push them to engage in content memorization exercises producing students who repeat like parrots and imitate like monkeys to borrow the famous fire words, Professor Ahmadou Aly Dieng.
-It passes away in a Senegalese National Assembly where certain deputies who, often galvanized by their political affiliations, express themselves and legislate arrogantly, on the spot, on subjects of which they have no expertise.
-Finally, this humility also passes away in certain religious brotherhoods, some of whose leaders substitute themselves for divine power to predict the future and say enormities when they know they know nothing about the divine decree. Worse still, some brotherhood leaders betray the prophetic message and cut the spiritual cord binding them disciplines for money and/or power. Let’s not talk about the charlatans who invest social networks to decide the death and life of some of our fellow citizens…to name them is to give them importance…we pass…!
In short, if the celebration of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (PSL) is a reality beyond any consideration of innovation, it must be a great opportunity for all of us to look in the mirror of the prophetic message with the sincere hope to reform us internally, to realize his subversive message through the words reported by Bukhari in his Sahih n°13 and Muslim in his Sahih n°45: “None of you will be a believer until he loves for his brother (1) what he likes for himself (2).”
Words to the wise!!
Dr. Moustapha Fall