The one most important aspect of Prophet Muhammad’s (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) life, which ironically is most discussed yet less practised even by the Muslims, is simplicity and austerity. In fact, this is the basic philosophy of the Prophetic mission and all the Prophets even before him espoused this cause.
However, in this age of crass-consumerism it is not only the common men and women, who are swept off the ground, but various Islamic-minded people, often in good faith, who get carried away by this storm. The essence of the words ‘simplicity’ and ‘austerity’ have got lost somewhere.
It is not that market force was not present during the age of the Prophet. Every period has its own quota of material gods and goddesses worshipped and followed in their own way. Yet Prophet Muhammad’s (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) teachings hit hard on this camouflaged Satan of materialism.
Disguised as an angel, this Satan has wreaked havoc in, accept it or not, the Islamic society – not to speak of others – yet day in and day out we extol the virtue of simplicity. There is no dearth of religious leaders quoting scriptures and lecturing on the Prophet’s simple lifestyle, ironically from the pulpits of the mosques built a la Taj Mahal. They perhaps fail to fathom that the only mosque built by the Prophet in Madinah was the simplest of all the structures, even by the seventh century C.E. standard – just made of thatched roof.
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) stood for the equal rights and status to the most exploited and downtrodden section of the society. That is why a large number of have-nots embraced Islam. Most of the rich tribal leaders stiffly opposed him. While they stood for ostentation, materialism, racial and tribal superiority Qur’ānic verses and Tradition of the Prophet repeatedly condemned these practices. Exhibition of wealth in any form, even for the religious purpose, has been denounced and those who indulged in extravaganza are equated with the brother of Satan.
Yet if today one champions the cause of austerity and simplicity with full force there is fear of being dubbed by the society as a backward looking doomsayer. Such is the influence of capitalism. Scientific discoveries for the sake of humanity is one thing, but building Burj (the tallest high-rise of the world) and underground railway in the sparsely populated Dubai, which has just a few lakh original inhabitants and hardly any need for such structures for its own people, is just an extravaganza and blind imitation of the West. It is just a cruel joke on millions of starving Muslims all over the world.
But the irony today is that we have in this world now the competition of beautiful mosques – not to speak of skyscrapers. You can even get the list of 10 most beautiful mosques of the world available on the internet. Can a mosque be beautiful or ugly? Can anything be more un-Islamic than this? Making ‘grand’ mosques was the favourite pastime of many corrupt, over-indulging and tyrant emperors of the past. They did it to befool the simple mass and keep them confined to the mosques so that they may not challenge their authority. We have not come out from that phenomenon and inadvertently committing the same mistake.
In coastal Morocco a mosque has been built deep inside the ocean. The entire floor of the mosque is made of mirror. The argument is fantastic. Those offering Salat would see the gift of Allah (water) while prostrating. Spending billions of dollars on such structures is nothing short of un-Islamic practice and that too in the kingdom, which cannot afford to provide job to the people – a lot of whom go across the Strait of Gibraltor to Spain for it. Yet there is hardly anyone to question it.
Till four decades back most mosques in Saudi Arabia lacked pomp and show with just mat laid all over the floor. But the petro-dollar changed them into a sort of five-star mosques.
Now come to poor countries like India. A couple of years back a very small mosque, which could accommodate only 400 people came up in a small town somewhere in the country – the name has not been disclosed consciously. Those involved in its construction said that they spent Rs 35 lakh on this such a small structure – minus the land which was a piece of donation. Yet what they said is more surprising. We did not make general collection but built it from a few well off relatives and friends, living in India and abroad. And those involved were not laymen, but highly educated people with ‘good’ understanding of Islam.
They were amazed when suggested that such a small mosque could have been built in just Rs five or maximum 10 lakh and the rest money should have been spent on building small houses for homeless and starving people, mostly Muslims, living not far away from that place. But after all they have seen centrally air-conditioned mosques outside their country and cannot expect that a mosque can be simple.
Do we have any moral right to ridicule followers of any other religion for building temples studded with gold all over?
Yes, hundreds of years of monarchy have made our mind so stereotyped and insensitive to the real issues raised by Islam that even good-intentioned people fail to appreciate the true spirit of the Prophet’s mission.
Take the case of Haj, the largest congregation of the Muslims, which the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) performed only once. While the Prophet’s Tradition clearly talks about simplicity and asks pilgrims to carry old and simple clothes with them, Hajis of today are the first to become the victim of the Satan cloaked in the form of market force. Not only are they attired in everything brand new, he or she is now armed with mobile set(s) of best quality and keeps narrating everything back home almost daily. That may be forgiven by Allah. But what about the craze of many people to make film of the entire Haj with the help of cameras in the mobile set. Till sometimes back Ulama would criticise the practice of video recording of marriage as wasteful expenditure. But none comes out and speaks against this ever-increasing practice of non-stop photography during Haj. Once, a couple of years back, a Haji died in a freak accident while shooting from his mobile phone. What is more strange is that the well off among us think that it is a good practice to perform Haj more than once, even when the Prophet, being so close to Ka’aba performed only once. The Prophet knew well in advance that this would cause a great disequilibrium in the society.
The month-long exercise of simplicity, self-sacrifice, austerity and self-control during the month of Ramadhan too has been greatly affected by the market force. In the name of offering Iftar we throw lavish parties. A famous restaurant in Pakistan offered an Iftar dish of Rs 695 – yes just one day. Perhaps more than India, it is in the Middle Eastern countries and the west that Muslims throw away the leftover Iftar and dinner – as if Islam has never prevented us from doing so.
Instead of learning to live a frugal life, we end up spending more. We have misunderstood extravaganza for generosity.