Renunciation: Prophetic Narrations

This is the fifth in a series of articles on how to live simply and practice renunciation from the On Demand Course: Living Simply or How to Practice Zuhd in Complex Times. 

The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “The truest words said by a poet are the words of Labid: ‘Truly, everything besides Allah is false.’” [Bukhari and Muslim]

Every joy of this world truly is waning. The word false (batil) here is in the sense that it is perishing and if sought in and for itself, it is folly.

Creation or Creator?

Ibn Ata’illah al-Sakandari explained this in his Hikam, “Do not go from one created thing to another created thing lest you be like the donkey around the mill.” Does the donkey get anywhere? No. The place it left is the place that it went to. 

“Rather, journey from creation to the Creator and truly to your Lord is all ending.” Pursue what you pursue in your life, and make the choices that you choose to make in your life based on seeking the pleasure of Allah and seeking the next life. Question, “What is in it for Allah?”

A regular supplication of our Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is found in the following hadith:

“O Allah, make the provision of the folk of Muhammad sufficiency.” [Bukhari and Muslim]

What is enough? What you need to be able to pursue the good of this life in a manner pleasing to Allah and what enables you to pursue the eternal good and your standing with God. That is sufficiency.

Sacrifice

Once, after one of the expeditions, they were distributing the spoils of battle and so on. The Companions were very happy. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) told them to enjoy this. But then he said to them – and this is the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) admonishing the Companions – let alone those who come after:

“By Allah, it isn’t poverty that I fear for you. Rather, I fear for you that this world be expanded for you, as it was expanded for those before you—and then you vie for it as those before you vied for it, and then it busies you as it busied those before you.” [Bukhari and Muslim]

The Companions had been through a lot of difficulty. Consider how much the Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) struggled and sacrificed in Makka. As well as the struggle and sacrifice they had throughout the economic boycott, and its aftermath, the struggle and sacrifice they made in leaving their homes and wealth behind. 

Think about what little they had and coming to Madina. Ponder over the sacrifices the Helpers (Ansar) made. The Aws and Khazraj had been fighting amongst themselves in the years before the coming of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and they had very difficult years before that. Even then, they preferred the migrants to themselves, despite having very little. 

We view history differently from how others view history. Our sense of history is not a history of big civilizations, kings, big buildings and the like. Those are decorations. That is not reality. 

The greatest histories of Islam focused on the lives of the righteous and those who did good. That is what matters. True history is a history of the light of faith, guidance, good and the struggle between faith and materialism.

Frugality

The Prophet’s example exemplifies living simply (Allah bless him and give him peace). The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) was the leader of the community. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) was more beloved to them than anything and anyone else. They would give their everything for the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). 

Our mother Aisha relates that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) never ate even barley bread for three consecutive days. 

In those days, good bread was from wheat. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) did not have refined wheat. They did not yet have refined wheat. The early Muslims said one of the first innovations that came into the nation of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) was that people started eating sifted flour rather than whole grains (that is of course sifted flour, not the modern hyper refined grains that we have).

There is great wisdom in healthy living. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) generally had barley, which is lower grade. It is just less than the higher grade (which is wheat and fine wheat). 

Dates and Water

Our mother Aisha mentioned that sometimes an entire month or more would pass with no fire being lit in any of the houses of the wives of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). The whole month they did not have anything to serve the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) cooked food.

Rather, what would he (Allah bless him and give him peace) have during that time? Dates and water. 

Other wives of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) mentioned that there would be days on end where we had nothing to serve the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) with his bread, even off leftover cheap vinegar. 

There was good vinegar during the time of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), which was made from grapes. There was also a very much rougher vinegar that was made from dates. They had cheap vinegar made from dates, which was much more abundant.

The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) dressed in what was available. So much so that sometimes the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) would have to tug on what he was wearing for his hand to come out of it.

Sometimes he (Allah bless him and give him peace) wore the very best of clothing. He wore, on different occasions, the clothing kings wore because it was gifted to him. 

We see in his dress also his giving away (Allah bless him and give him peace). If someone had a need he would give it away. He would prefer others to himself.

Of the many proofs of his absolute integrity, the Companions entrusted him (Allah bless him and give him peace) with their charity. He did not take anything of it for himself, ever. He never took any of it for his own family.

Simplicity

In his house, his furnishings were exceedingly sparse (Allah bless him and give him peace). For some time, all he had was a reed mat. Several times when the Companions saw him, he had the marks of the reed matting on his noble cheek and his sides. So they said: 

“O Messenger of Allah, let us get you some bedding.” He said, “What do I have to do with the world? I am in the world [dunya] as naught but a rider who sought shade under a tree and after resting left it.” 

You see that simplicity in his habits (Allah bless him and give him peace). There were chairs in Madina but the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) ate on the ground. He ate with his hand, even though the Arabs were familiar with the customs of the Persians, the Romans, and the Abyssinians, and even in Yemen they had some of these external influences. But he sat as a servant sits and he ate as a servant eats.

When the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) passed away, he left no wealth behind. His shield was given as collateral to a Jewish merchant to secure something or the other. He accumulated nothing. That is not what he was seeking in this life. 

Why was this? 

وَلَلْـَٔاخِرَةُ خَيْرٌۭ لَّكَ مِنَ ٱلْأُولَىٰ

“And verily the next world is far better for you than this” [Quran, 93:4; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]