Seerah of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and relevance of its study to the Modern World

The life and times of the best human being ﷺ who ever lived and walked on the face of this earth is not only worth reading but also worth contemplating upon. Reading the Seerah in a way that we feel we are walking in the past, we are following His ﷺ footsteps and we are travelling along in His ﷺ journey is not only an ecstatic experience but the need of the time as well.

Isn’t it sad that we have sidelined the study of Seerah hence neglecting its benefits. It is embarrassing for us that most of our youth are completely ignorant of the Seerah. They don’t even know the names of His ﷺ children yet they know so much of these worldly celebrities. They have no clue of the real Person ﷺ they should be knowing about. The Companions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ used to teach their children Seerah along with the Quran. The curriculum in early Islam was composed of these two things. They used to teach them the Holy Quran with context from the Seerah. We need to understand that Seerah is not just historical events but the lessons we learn from it are equally applicable on our present and future in this modern world.

Let me share 6 simple reasons of why we should study Seerah and make it a permanent part of our lives:

1. Firstly Allah has put an obligation upon us to know this Man ﷺ. There are so many verses in the Holy Quran that command us to take Prophet ﷺ as an example and follow him. We have in Him ﷺ a perfect example not only as a family man but as a leader as well. Seerah tells us stories of Him ﷺ being a loving husband, a caring father, a charismatic leader, a brave commander, a kind neighbor and a merciful human being. No matter what role He ﷺ played in His ﷺ life, He ﷺ did it in a way that we learn from Him ﷺ and we take pointers from His ﷺ life to implement in ours. As mentioned in Ch 33 (Al-Azhab), Ayat 21, of The Holy Quran,:

                 “Indeed in the Messenger of Allah ﷺ you have a good example to follow
for him whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day, and remembers Allah much.”

2. Studying the Seerah is the most effective and powerful way of increasing our love for Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. And if we truly love Him ﷺ, we will definitely study His ﷺ Seerah. When somebody claims to love Prophet Muhammad ﷺ but he/ she doesn’t study His ﷺ life, the fact that he/she doesn’t study is the sign that he/she doesn’t love. What type of love is this where we claim but we don’t know the facts about the person! The sign of loving someone is to want to know more about that particular person, isn’t it the case! Remember, it is a two-way street. When we study Seerah our love goes up, and in order to increase our love we need to study Seerah.
3. The deep study of the Seerah also helps us to understand the Holy Quran in the best possible way. The Holy Quran is a very profound book and understanding It without context doesn’t help much. When we study the Seerah in detail, we come to know the background and time of occurrence of each Aya of the Quran. We come to know the reasons behind why Allah said something in the Quran. The Quran speaks to us and we understand its speech if we are well versed with the Seerah.
4. The stories of the Seerah gives us optimism and hope in the times where we are living. It increases our Iman just like the stories of previous Prophets were told to our beloved Prophet ﷺ to strengthen His ﷺ We need it the most when today we are facing the heat towards our religion and our Ummah is suffering from the Islamophobic attacks. In today’s world we are struggling with being modest in our societies .Seerah tells us that we don’t need to compromise on what we are, to fit in the mold. Despite all these odds, we need to come together on this single point i.e. to understand the Seerah and how our Prophet ﷺ and His companions faced the times of persecution and difficulties in the earlier years of Makkan life. We need to know our narrative accurately so that nobody can set it for us. We have a voice and we need to use it in the modern world but how will we do it when we are not knowledgeable enough. We don’t need to tone ourselves down in any way by leaving our ways of dressing or praying or greeting etc, rather we need to tell them with surety that what we are doing is correct, from where actually this comes from and the purpose behind all this.
5. If our being Muslim makes somebody feel uncomfortable it means a wrong message is convincingly being conveyed to them. If we want to bring the glory and Izzah back to us, let us study Seerah as Prophet ﷺ literally started from scratch. Let’s take lessons from his first 13 years in Makkah where He ﷺ began from only 4-5 followers and understand how with his manners and sound methodologies within 23 years of Nabuwa, he won the hearts of many. We see a plan of revival in Seerah through His ﷺ patience, simplicity, courage and perseverance and we need to adopt that. It also tells us about the companions of our Prophet ﷺ who were the best generation ever lived on this earth. Allah chose the brightest and purest hearts to be companions of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. They are the role models for us and Seerah introduces their lifestyles, etiquettes, strong faith and immense love of Deen to us.
6. Seerah equips us with the right knowledge to defend the honor of our beloved Prophet ﷺ. When questions are asked about His ﷺ marriages, His ﷺ sayings and His ﷺ manners then how can we explain if we don’t know what happened when and how, what is true and what is not. When we put things in context it becomes easy to explain others about the truth. The honor of our Prophet ﷺ was attacked from the day one by Qurayish calling Him the magician, the poet and the mad man (Nauzubillah). How He ﷺ and the Sahabah responded during the times of Jahaaliya (ignorance) is the perfect example for us to follow in these times and places.

Let us acknowledge today that we need to study Seerah in detail and ponder over it. We need to teach our kids about it and increase their love for Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and explain His ways of doing things and tackling issues.