TRAINING IN WISDOM

TRAINING IN WISDOM In the Company of the Prophet T HE first ten years or so of a person’s life is called the formative period. In this initial period of life, the major part of a person’s character is formed. From the point of view of training, this phase of a person's life is of great importance. In his lifetime, the Prophet of Islam specially selected two people for this purpose of training. One was Ali and the other was Aisha. He provided both of them the opportunity to be in his company when they were at a young age itself, and thereby they received training and obtained what is called prophetic wisdom in the Quran (2: 129). This objective of training in wisdom can be achieved only at a young age. The method that the Prophet adopted to keep Ali in his company when the latter was still young, was by becoming his guardian. Aisha being a woman, adopting this method was not possible. Therefore, the Prophet married Aisha though she was very young. Some people have tried to provide an interpretation of the issue of Aisha’s age when she got married. But this is an unnecessary effort. This is a question of point of view. These people look at the issue from the point of view of marriage. But the actual matter was the issue of Aisha receiving training from the Prophet in the formative period of her life. The results confirm this analysis and the issue is considered an established fact amongst Islamic scholars. They agree that Ali and Aisha occupied—in terms of insight and understanding of religion—a distinctive stature among the Companions of the Prophet. One way of benefitting from the Prophet was to preserve his sayings and to narrate them to people. In this regard, Abu Hurayrah had the most prominent position among the Prophet’s Companions. Another way was by hearing the Prophet speak or observing him closely, and inferring principles of wisdom through this. This second manner of learning from the Prophet could be obtained only through continuously One way of benefitting from the Prophet was to preserve his sayings and to narrate them to people. Another way was by hearing the Prophet speak or observing him closely, and inferring principles of wisdom.