Exemplary Conduct

EXEMPLARY CONDUCT said. “He outshines everyone in nobility, gentility, eminence and wisdom. By God, he has a great future and will reach a very high station.” Abu Talib did not utter these words in the sense that later events proved them true. Instead, he meant them in a worldly sense. Nature had endowed his nephew with a magnetic and versatile personality. His people would surely appreciate his qualities and raise him to a high position. Abu Talib envisaged a future of worldly success and accomplishment for his nephew, the “great future” he referred to in his sermon. Without a doubt, the Prophet had every opportunity for worldly advancement. He was born into a noble family in Makkah, and his virtues guaranteed his success in life. True, he had inherited just one camel and one servant from his father, but his inborn high qualities had impressed the wealthiest woman in Makkah, Khadijah, a forty-year-old widow from a merchant family. When the Prophet was twenty-five, she offered herself to him in marriage. Not only did marriage with Khadijah provide the Prophet with wealth and property, but it also opened a vast field of business to him in Arabia and beyond. The Prophet had every opportunity to lead a successful and comfortable life. But he forsook all these things and chose something entirely different for himself. Quite intentionally, he took a road that could lead only to worldly ruin. Before his marriage, the Prophet had earned his living in different ways. Now he relinquished all such activity and dedicated himself to his lifelong vocation—the pursuit of truth. He used to sit for