THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMPANIONSHIP

General Companionship Here is an example of the general Companionship of the Prophet which was often enjoyed by his Companions in a mosque or in any other assembly. This will show how the Companions of the Prophet would receive food for thought in his company: The Prophet asked his Companion Abu Dhar: “What will happen to you when the rulers after me come? They will assume the government properties for themselves.” He replied, “By God who sent you with Truth, I will put the sword on my shoulder and fight with them with it until I meet you.” The Prophet said, “Shall I not tell you something better than this? Keep patience until you meet me.” The Prophet gave a new insight to his Companions through this saying. It usually happens that when people see the deterioration in their rulers, they start violent confrontations with them in the name of reform politics. The Prophet guided that it is better to be patient with their deterioration than to be martyred by colliding with the rulers in times of disorder, and to keep patience until a person dies. In this Hadith, ‘patience’ does not mean inaction, but it refers to one of the greatest actions. This means abandoning the method of conflict with the rulers and finding and adhering to a non-confrontational approach. The method of political conflict is always the product of impatience. In contrast, it is possible to plan well patiently by avoiding the conflict when a person controls his emotions. This was a great piece of wisdom that the Prophet imparted to his Companions, who in turn understood it and practised it. As a result, in the initial period, the great Islamic revolution was carried out, which could not have happened without patient and non-confrontational approach. There was a deviation in the political rule immediately after the rightly guided Caliphs. The Muslim rulers deviated from the prescribed path of Islam. At that time, if the believers had resorted to violent confrontation with their rulers, the result would have been that all the best people of the first and second generations would have been killed. All those history-makers of the early generation would be buried in the graves. The great history of Islam would have never materialised. For example, the people of the early generation left the front of political conflict and became active in the field of peaceful introduction of the message of the Quran. This resulted into millions of people embracing Islam. They preserved and published the Quran before the