The Wisdom of the Prophet 

Anger Management

The hostile members of the tribe of Quraysh had given the Prophet the nomenclature of Mudhammam (the condemned one), although his name was Muhammad, meaning “the praised one”. By addressing the Prophet with this derogatory name, the Quraysh used to heap abuses on him. The Prophet said to his companions, “Don’t you wonder how God has saved me from the abuses of the Quraysh? They abuse and condemn a person named Mudhammam, while I am Muhammad.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith no. 3533) We tend to become sensitive when our ego is hurt and respond with similar rebuttal. But what did the Prophet do? He managed the issue of being ridiculed at with wisdom. Often we make a certain issue an instance of our dignity being offended and thus respond with hypersensitivity. However, the Prophet taught us that there is also greater dignity in avoiding and even laughing off such situations. Cultivating the attitude exemplified by the Prophet can help us deal with such situations better.

Positive Thinking: Ignore the Problem,
Avail the Opportunity

The Prophet would carry out his mission of spreading the message of monotheism in Makkah. The pattern that can be observed repeatedly from the method he followed was that he avoided people’s unpleasant behaviour and would steadfastly continue to work to disseminate the teachings of Islam. The Quran is filled with injunctions to the Prophet to avoid the opponents with goodly

Surely, with every hardship there is ease.

The Quran, 94:5-6

patience and focus on his duty. We can say that the Prophet followed the formula: ignore the problem, avail the opportunity. Even in trying situations, he looked for opportunities to spread his message instead of becoming enmeshed in disputes and reactionary behaviour.

We observe such exceptional positivity exhibited by the Prophet even in a very hostile environment. The Prophet would ask his companions to adhere to forbearance and deliberation. In today’s idiom we can say the Prophet did not let people erode his positivity and also raised his companions’ level of positivity. Why such emphasis on positive bent of mind? We can experience in our own lives that our mind has what is called a ‘positivity advantage’, that is your brain at positive performs significantly better than at negative. Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy levels rise. The Prophet, therefore, did not only perform a religious duty but gave us a very significant lesson in how to train our minds to function.

Seeing Stress as a Challenge, not a Threat

One particular aspect of the life of the Prophet Muhammad comes before us in chapter 94 of the Quran: “Surely, with every hardship there is ease.” (94:5-6) The context of this verse is that Prophet’s opponents would try to dissuade every person or tribe from paying attention to him. They would accuse him of being a heretic. This false propaganda became the means of spreading his message far and wide. People from outside Makkah would come enquiring about the person who claimed to receive revelations. So what started as a campaign to smear the image of the Prophet ended up giving him, as the Quran says, “high renown”. (94:4)

This gives us a principle of turning disadvantageous situations to our advantage, and continuing our activities with hope, as the Prophet did, even in times of
great frustration. He saw stress as a challenge instead of as a threat.