Uswa Hasana: Difference between revisions

Modern historians tend to approach the study of particular historical periods, governments and personages from a perspective of historical and cultural relativism. So when in the course of study it comes to light that for instance Julius Caesar sold the women and children of the Gaules he defeated into slavery and paraded his enemy, the Gualish king/warlord Vercingetorix, like an animal through Rome before executing him (likely by strangulation), although not necessarily endorsing these actions historians will tend to offer context such as explaining that such actions were not at all unusual for other people at the time. On the other hand, when a leader such as Adolf Hitler ordered his soldiers and security forces entering the Soviet Union to specifically ignore international treaties on the treatment of prisoners of war in order to brutalize and murder as many "sub-humans" as possible or to set up industrial killing camps with the objective of physically annihilating entire ethnic groups, an idea new to the entire history of mankind, historians tend to pass judgement on these actions as being worse for breaking the contemporary norms of the times these leaders lived in, exceeding even their contemporaries' expectations of human cruelty and viciousness.  

It must, however, be noted that the the Islamic concept of "Uswa Hasana" stands in direct contradiction to this modern historical methodology. When Muhammad married Aisha at 6 and consumated the marriage when she was 9, this was not simply the action of a man living in a pre-modern culture where woman married and bore children very young to assist in their survival, this was the perfect conduct of the perfect man which is an example for all men of all time to follow. When Muhammad ordered the ancient pagan statues of Mecca smashed and all pagans across the Arabian peninsula given the choice of Islam or the sword, this was the proper and right conduct to be followed by all Muslims and their governments in regard to pagan "mushrikuun" of all times and all of their idols, including [[Islamic Law#Music and Art|the ancient Buddha statues of Afghanistan which were dynamited]] by the Taliban, and as certain Salafi groups in Egypt argue today even including the ultra-ancient pyramids and temples of the ancient Egyptian pagans.  

Orthodox Muslims today are encouraged by the ulemaa' to emulate Muhammad and his 7<Sup>th</Sup> century actions (as remembered by scholars writing in the 8<Sup>th</Sup>, 9<Sup>th</Sup>, 10<Sup>th</Sup>, 11<Sup>th</Sup>, 12<Sup>th</Sup> and 13<Sup>th</Sup> centuries, when Islamic doctrine and supremacy was unquestioned and unchallenged in its own lands) as closely as they can, as a form of devotion to Allah. Due to this, the actions and ideas endorsed by orthodox Islamic scholars often stand in stark contrast to modern ideas of human rights, women's rights, minority rights, freedom of expression, and freedom of religion inter alia. Some examples include:

Muhammad and the murdered hundreds of prisoners of war:

Islamic Extremist groups have used such actions of the prophet as a pretext for murdering captured enemy soldiers, civilians, and minorities, even creating a genre of prisoner execution videos.  

To this day, homosexuality remains illegal in most Muslim countries, homosexual marriage equality is not even a discussed issue the popular discourse of most Muslim countries, and some Muslim governments and extremist groups make a point of executing people (mostly men) who engage in homosexual relationships.  

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'' زلات "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.