Uswa Hasana: Difference between revisions

 

In contemporary discourse modern Muslims who wish to live and practice their faith in accordance with modern norms of behaviour often condemn such actions as barbaric, and often seek to invoke Muhammad's culture context to explain them. The doctrine of Uswa Hasana, howver, makes this argument exceedingly difficult, especially when the argument is between Muslims who wish to follow modern mores and traditionalist Muslims who wish to hew to the classical understanding of the canonical Islamic sources. To take one example, Muhammad himself is claimed to have said: “A man will not be asked as to why he beat his wife.”<ref>Narrated Umar ibn al-Khattab - {{Abu Dawud|11|2142}}</ref>

An often mentioned counterpoint to Uswa Hasana is that the prophet himself appears to be rebuked in surah 80 and told to repent, thus proving the Muhammad was not perfect. Muhammad is rebuked in the Qur'an for turning away from a blind man, but this has not traditionally been taken as proof against the doctrine of Uswa Hasana. In Islam, prophets are ''ma'asoom'' معصوم (infallible/sinless/innocent). They may err (''Zallat'' ظلات "slips"), but this is not the same as committing a sin. Sin in Islam has traditionally been seen as doing something against Allah's prescribed teachings. Muhammad did not sin because the incident involving the blind man occurred prior to Allah admonishing him. An act thus only becomes a sin only after Allah ordains it as such. For example, Muhammad and the early Muslims drank [[alcohol]], but this allowance was abrogated by a later Qur'anic revelation, and the scholars have not traditionally held that Muhammad committed a sin here.