Applying Respect to my Life
by Ayah Sabil
Prophet Muhammad was the perfect person. He was the perfect leader, husband, and friend to those around him. In the sunnah of our prophet it is clearly recorded how he treated everyone with respect and we can definitely learn a lot from the Sunnah. We can bing a new layer of peace onto our daily lives by applying the teachings of Prophet Muhammad.
In the hadiths we can see how Prophet Muhammad would sit down in any open spot with his companions. He did not always affirm himself at the head of the table or any other honorable position. This is because he gave everyone around him the utmost respect. I use this principle in my own life at the lunch table at school. I have seen other girls throw a fit if someone takes their spot, and then proceed to degrade the girl who took their seat. I, on the other hand, handle the situation with the Sunnah of our prophet in mind. I am fine with taking a different seat at the table because I respect the rights of other students to also sit at the table.
Another example from the Sunnah is how the Prophet would look at issues of race. While we do not like to acknowledge it racism is completely prevalent in our modern day Islamic community. At the mosque people find themselves in social clusters defined by nationality. Prophet Muhammad says in many hadiths how the color of your skin is irrelevant and I believe this wholeheartedly. I try to be conscience of this bias and make sure to always view each situation in the absence of race or nationality when there is a dispute in the masjid or at school. Instead we must apply value to people in categories like character and morality. By doing so we can bring peace and stop the hardships that many have to go through because of race.
Both of these examples are pieces of wisdom that I get from the life of Prophet Muhammad and how I apply them to my life. While it is not easy trying to replicate the perfection that our prophet displayed, holding his ideals will surely set us on the correct path.
