Muhammad peace be upon him
Heredity
Muhammad belongs to a noble tribe called Bani Hashim. This tribe was the guardians of the Ka'aba, the holy place to which all Arabs made pilgrimage, and it was a source of great prestige and profit to their city, Mecca. His grandfather, Abdul Mutalib and his uncle Abu Talib were the chief head of Mecca at that time. In short, this unique trait served as a podium for him to gain respect and credibility from his own people.
Environment
Muhammad lost his father and mother during his early childhood. Thus he spent most of the time with his grandfather, Abdul Mutalib and later with his uncle, Abu Talib. Some scholars perceive this period served as training for him to be strong, independent and skillful in leadership because:
1) To loss both father and mother was a disastrous thing to the upbringing of a young kid. Some of the notorious leader such as Hitler and Stalin were known to suffer some physical and mental abuse from their parent. Thus it proved that it was not a common thing to have a good leader that has such a bad shape during childhood.
2) Psychologists believe that our trait in leadership is highly influenced by our parent. Therefore we can conclude that Muhammad was building up his own way of leadership which mostly acquired from his own experience in life.
3) Heavy task such as shepherd and merchant during his childhood helped him to develop skill in management and dealing with group.
Basically Arabia at this time was in a state of religious chaos and political corruption. The whole population of Arab worshipped idols, stars and stones. The morality of the people was at the lowest level where prostitution and killing young baby were common among them. The Arabs were stepped in ignorance since most of them were illiterate and perpetually at war with one another. As a result of that there were an increased number of slaves which came from the people who lost or surrendered in battle. Interestingly, Arab was not under any power at that time. It was not under the rule of any great empire although it rested between two great empires, the Byzantine and Roman Empire. It might not benefit to both empires to conquer the land since it would cause huge confrontation between them. Thus the land of Arab was not claimed by any of them. The combination of endless war between tribes, declination in morality and the ‘buffer’ zone in Arabic Peninsular set up a great opportunity for any leader to rise up without any military resistance from preexisting power. It also helped the leader to gain support from people especially the slave who badly subjugated by that bad system existed at that time. It was almost similar with what happened during Civil War in United States where the main reason behind it was to liberate the slave and to have humane system instill in the society.
Personality and Presidency
A) Openness in Experience
When he was young his grandfather Abdul Mutalib used to bring him to the meeting counsel of Mecca. He used to say that although later on the people of Mecca became his enemy, if they would invite him for that meeting, he would absolutely go there. His experience in trading also helped him so much in his leadership. He knew how to deal with people, learn how to promote him and also learn to communicate with people. In short this basic skill helped him to ‘trade’ his religion to the people.
B) Conscientiousness
When he received the revelation from God, the first group he preached was from his family. Then he moved to the slave and some of the high class person of Mecca. Historian said that there were three stages of his propagation. The first stage was for his family and the slave but in secret. The second stage was for the middle class people and the third stage was for everyone but in public. The first stage was considered as crucial stage. In order to gain support he needed man to propagate his mission. The best way was to approach the slave and the influenced people in Mecca. However he was very careful with the person he deals with. For example when he talked to highly intellectual person he will asked them to ponder about the creation of God which suited their reasoning. If he met slaves he will help them doing some of the task. For every person he knew how to deal with.
C) Neuroticism and Negative Emotion
Muhammad was known for his outstanding composure towards others. There were plenty of examples that elucidated how calm he was when dealing with problem. For example one day there was a Bedouin released himself in front of the mosque. The people around there were totally angry with him and started to beat him. But Muhammad asked them to stop and let the Bedouin finished his business. Had they started chasing that guy, it would make thing worse because if the guy run away, the urination will spread all over the place. This was just a simple example but to act as such required a profound logical thinking as well as self-control.
Value
A) Trustworthy
When he was 35 years old the people of Mecca used to call him Al-Amin which means a trustworthy person. In fact his enemies trusted their wealth to be kept with him. When he was about to leave the Mecca for migration, he asked Ali, his cousin, to sleep in his bed so that when the people of Mecca who at that time wanted to kill him came, he could give back the wealth to them.
B) Honest
There was time where his wife Aisyah was accused for having a scandal with one of the respected companion of him. It was a huge trial for him and to the Muslim because people would start questioning his credibility as a prophet. In fact we know that nowadays scandal that involved a wife of a leader turn out to be disastrous to him. Aisyah who was totally outraged with the rumor asked his husband to clear her name. But unfortunately he said that there was no revelation from God regarding this matter. This huge tension and uncertainty among the Muslim lasted only after one month where God revealed an ayah (word of God) that refuted the scandal. For Muhammad it was not up to him to fabricate or make up an ayah to justify himself. His message was clear that the Quran was not a man-made. Thing would turn out much easier if Muhammad wrote down the word saying that his wife Aisyah was not guilty in first place. Nevertheless he was honest in what he said and what he did.
C) Optimistic
He was truly optimistic in his ambition to propagate Islam to the entire world. During the battle of Khandaq (battle of Trench), when Muhammad was helping them digging the trench, they encountered a huge rock. They complained to Muhammad and later on he came with his stick on his hand. It was recorded that when he hit the rock, it crashed and turned to dust and then he said “Our lord had given us the authority in Rom, the throne Persian and white castle Iraq,” During the battle of Khandaq the Muslim had to face 10000 people that came from all over the place. The chance for the Muslim to win was so slim that they had to build a trench to be in defensive side. But despite of all of this concern and worry, Muhammad was so optimistic with the victory of Muslim. The saying also served as a psychological motivation to the Muslim at that time. It was said that when Umar, one of Muhammad companion, conquered Iraq and Rom, he was also so optimistic with the conquest because he was also there listening to those words.
D) Flexibility and Balance in life
Even though Muhammad holds many position such as supreme judge and military leader, he still had some time for his family and also to the people. He was also a teacher that thought them matter pertaining to Islam. If there was no big thing happened, he would mostly found in the mosque. It was recorded that one day a small young girl wanted to ask him about something. He immediately sits near her and listened to her attentively. He also liked to visit the grave and also an orphan child. He was also good to his family. Sometimes he helped them washed the dishes and clean up the house. His servant once said that there was never once occasion Muhammad said “Why you don’t do this” if she done a mistake during her time serving him.
Conclusion
Being a man that initiated 18 dynasties which lasted for 800 years, the one who responsible to make Islam as second largest religion in the world and being the most influential person in history are something worth to think about. As said by Mahatma Ghandi which published in 'Young India,'1924. I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today an undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind.... I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle. When I closed the second volume (of the Prophet's biography), I was sorry there was not more for me to read of that great life.
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