Professor Dr Annemarie Schimmel: And Muhammad Is His Messenger — The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety
By Dr Ahmed S. Khan
Chicago, IL

Dr Annemarie Schimmel (April 7,1922 - January 26, 2003) was one of the most acclaimed scholars of the 20 th century — who dedicated more than fifty years of her life— to explain Islam to the West and in the process shattered various myths and stereotypes that were promoted by the colonial era orientalists. She began teaching Persian and Arabic poetry at the University of Marburg in Germany. Later she served as the professor of religious studies at University of Ankara, Turkey (1954-59). During her stay in Turkey her translation of Rumi’s poetry furthered her interest in Iqbal. On the insistence of her Turkish friends, she translated ‘Jawednama’ into Turkish. This led to her first visit to Pakistan in 1958, which opened a new door in her scholarship and inquiry that ultimately took her to Harvard University. During her tenure at Harvard University (1967-1992) as professor emerita of Indo-Muslim culture in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Department, she authored volumes of articles and dozens of books covering a wide spectrum of topics and issues related to Islamic studies, Sufism, Iqbal, and Rumi.

Professor Schimmel's scholarship served as a bridge between the East and West, cultures and religions. She was a multilingual scholar who educated Germans, Europeans, and the world at large, through her writing and lectures in English, German, French, Latin, Arabic, Persian, Danish, Norwegian, Italian, Czech, Turkish, Urdu, Pashtu, Sindhi, and Punjabi.

She authored more than eighty books, on a wide array of topics, which include, Gabriel's Wing: A Study Into the Religious Ideas of Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1963), Islamic Calligraphy (1970), Mystical Dimensions of Islam (1975), The Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalaluddin Rumi (1978), A Dance of Sparks: Imagery of Fire in Ghalib's Poetry (1979), Islam in the Indian Subcontinent (1980), As Through a Veil: Mystical Poetry in Islam (1982), And Muhammad Is His Messenger: The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety (1985), A Two-Colored Brocade: The Imagery of Persian Poetry (1992), Deciphering the Signs of God: A Phenomenological Approach to Islam (1994),My Soul Is a Woman: The Feminine in Islam (1997), I Am Wind, You Are Fire: The Life and Work of Rumi (1997), and The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art, and Culture (2004).

In And Muhammad Is His Messenger — The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety Professor Dr Annemarie Schimmel, using original sources in various Islamic languages, explains the central place of Muhammad (pbuh) in Muslim life, mystical thought, and poetry.

Commenting on the evolution of the book, Dr Schimmel observes: My own experience in Turkey in the 1950s showed me how deeply the Turkish Muslims loved their Prophet…Based on this experience I tried to gather information from poetry and folk traditions wherever I went. Thus, this book is the fruit of some thirty years of work."

Historically, Western scholars have overlooked the importance and significance of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in the lives of Muslims. Dr Schimmel notes that historically, Christians feared Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), however, that they began taking a more sober approach to the Prophet's (pbuh) personality in the eighteenth century, and Western attitudes toward Muhammad (pbuh) changed considerably as his role as a leader and model for social and political conduct became apparent in the last century.

Dr Schimmel explains that in order to understand Muslim piety, it is necessary to consider the long history of the veneration of Muhammad (PBUH), who saw himself as ‘a servant to whom inspiration was granted’— but who soon was seen, as stated in the Qur’an, as the Usiva hasana, the ‘beautiful model’ — for all believers.

Dr Schimmel discusses various aspects of Prophet Muhmmad’s (pbuh) life, birth, marriage, miracles, and heavenly journey — all of which became themes of religious devotions. The evolution of Muhammad (pbuh) as the Perfect Man is revealed in the popular songs and poetry of Muslims globally. Dr Schimmel describes various exquisite folktales that reflect the dedication and devotion of the people in Turkey and Indo-Pakistan and mystical invocations that show how the Sufis of North Africa and Iran have surrounded the Prophet (pbuh) with beautiful names. The author explains that in some mystical circles Muhammad (pbuh) reaches the position of mediator, and large groups of Muslims have found consolation in the thought that he (pbuh) will intercede for them on the day of the judgement. Dr Schimmel observes the veneration of Muhammad (pbuh) as having many similarities in other religions.

It is the first English-language book to deal with all aspects of the veneration of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Professor Schimmel presents — Prophet Muhammad's (pbuh) role in modern Islamic life — in twelve chapters along with a bibliography and numerous informative indices and appendices: 1. Biographical and Biographical Notes, 2. Muhammad the Beautiful Model, 3. Muhammad's Unique Position,  4. Legends and Miracles, 5. Muhammad the Intercessor, and the Blessings upon Him, 6. The Names of the Prophet, 7. The Light of Muhammad and the Mystical Radiation,  8. The Celebration of the Prophet's Birthday, 9. The Prophet's Night Journey and Ascension, 10. Poetry in Honor of the Prophet, 11. The ‘Muhammadan Path’ and the New Interpretation of the Prophet's Life, and 12. The Prophet Muhammad in Muhammad lqbal's Work.

Commenting on the evolution of the book and her interest about Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), in the preface, Dr Schimmel observes: “This book is the fruit of an interest in the figure of the Prophet [pbuh] of Islam that has developed over more than four decades. I was first introduced to and deeply moved by the concept of the ‘mystical Muhammad’ [pbuh] when I was a teenager, busying myself with the study of Arabic under the guidance of Dr Hans Ellenberg. During those formative years, the books of Syed Ameer Ali, The Life and Teachings of Muhammad, or The Spirit of Islam, and Tor Andrae's masterful study Die Person Muhammads in Lehre und Glaube Seiner Gemeinde were among my favorites, and Andrae's book remains a source of inspiration to this day. During my student days at Berlin University, I enjoyed reading Suleyman Chelebi's Mevlud-i- Sherif, a simple, touching poem that tells of the miracles at Muhammad's [pbuh] birth in images very similar to popular Christian Christmas carols, but little did I know then that I would attend many mevlut in the five years I spent in Turkey as professor of Comparative Religion in the Islamic faculty of theology in Ankara. In that period, I learned much about the popular veneration of the Prophet [pbuh] among Turkish Muslims.”

Referring to the use of poetical and mystical sources of India and Pakistan, the author notes: “A deepening interest in the poetical and mystical literature of the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent then led me to realize how much love of the Prophet [pbuh] had colored the work of Muhammad Iqbal, the poet-philosopher of this century. The study of Sindhi folk literature added new facets to the picture. My fascination with the development of the veneration of the Prophet [pbuh] and its reflection in literature, especially poetry, resulted in a number of articles pertaining to prophetology as perceived by Iqbal, reflected in Sindhi poetry, and theoreticized by a reformist Muslim mystic like Mir Dard in eighteenth-century Delhi, and other topics.”

Dr Schimmel, acknowledging many people who contributed indirectly towards the evolution of the book, states: “Many people have had their share in the growth of this book: qawwals in India and Pakistan who sang the praise of the Prophet [pbuh] in unforgettable tunes; theologians who sometimes objected to the ‘mystical’ interpretation of the person of the Messenger [pbuh] of God; old women in the villages of Turkey and Pakistan, whose whole life was permeated by a deep, trusting love of the Beloved of God; and students both in the Islamic countries and in the United States, who asked questions and tried to learn more about a phenomenon that is so little known in the West…Cambridge, Massachusetts Spring 1984.”

One of the special features of the book is the inclusion of Allama Dr Muhammad Iqbal’s work on Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Discussing various aspects of the veneration of the Prophet [pbuh] in Iqbal’s work, the author notes: “Iqbal's work is a fascinating web of diverse strands that range from Islamic fundamentalism to the most recent scientific theories of the West, from mystical flights into the Divine presence to rational analyses of spiritual phenomena. This multifariousness is evident in his major English prose work, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam…and in some English articles; but it is also, and indeed predominantly, expressed in Urdu and Persian verse. Old images, with which Muslim readers have been familiar for centuries, are taken up in this poetry and given new content. The Prophet [pbuh] of Islam appears in Iqbal's work as in that of thousands of earlier poets and thinkers as the central figure of Muslim spiritual life, a figure who reveals himself in constantly changing facets and whose description by Iqbal culminates in the daring remark in the Jaividnama…”

Dr Schimmel cites a couplet from Ramuz-i-Bekhudi that represents Iqbal’s profound love for prophet (pbuh):

From Prophethood is our foundation in the world

From Prophethood has our religion its ritual,

From Prophethood are hundreds of thousands of us one,

Part from part cannot be separated.

From Prophethood we all have the same melody,

The same breath, the same aim.

Expounding on the main theme of Iqbal’s poetic love for the prophet (pbuh), Dr Schimmel notes: “When one recognizes the central position that the Prophet [pbuh] occupies in Iqbal's thought and poetry, many of his metaphors, images, and symbols appear in a new light. Thus, the word ‘love’ in his verse often denotes love of the Prophet [pbuh] or love inspired by him because he is the true embodiment of Divine Love, as Iqbal sings in the succession of Rumi and other mystics: the great ode ‘The Mosque of Cordoba,’ like numerous other verses in the collection of his most mature Urdu poems, Bal-i-Jibril, repeatedly equates ‘Love’ with ‘Mustafa.’ Likewise, Iqbal's constant allusions to Arabia, to the Najd and Hijaz, gain their real value in the light of his deep veneration of the ‘Arabian friend,’ as he loved to call the Prophet [pbuh], following the example of many Indian poets before him. A key to Iqbal's way of thinking in this context is the final verse of his Tarana-i-Milli, the ‘National Song,’ composed in the early years of this century: The caravan leader for us is the prince of Hijaz, By his name our soul acquires peace! This line is followed by the revealing words: Iqbal's song is as it were the sound of the caravan bell!”

Dr Schimmel summarizes Iqbal’s work on the Prophet (pbuh) by observing: “Iqbal's work comprises theological and political, mystical and sociological interpretations of the Prophet [pbuh]. But toward the end of his life, he turned once more to the Prophet [pbuh] as the faithful, loving, and consoling friend and sang in simple words, almost like one of the folk poets of his native Punjab, of his longing for the last resting place of the Prophet [pbuh]: Just like a bird who, in the desert night, spreads out his wings when thinking of his nest. And in an unforgettable image lqbal sums up what millions and millions of pious Muslims have felt over the centuries and still feel about the Prophet [pbuh]:

Love of the Prophet [pbuh] runs like blood in the veins of his community. "

Dr Schimmel’s scholarly work reveals that Islam offers highly interesting examples of loving devotion to the Prophet [pbuh]. She observes that, indeed, the personality of Muhammad [pbuh] is, besides the Qur’an, the center of the Muslims' life; the Prophet [pbuh] is the one who forever remains the ‘beautiful model’ (Qur’an, Sura 33:21) for the life of all those who acknowledge in the profession of faith that he is truly ‘the messenger of God.’

And Muhammad Is His Messenger — The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety is a very special example of professor Dr Annemarie Schimmel’s scholarship on glowing love for the Prophet — a source for peace and harmony — exhibited by individuals, communities and nations around the globe. The book is a must read for all who want to gain insights into the radiating love Muslims exhibit for Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

 

Dr Ahmed S. Khan ( dr.a.s.khan@ieee.org ) is a Fulbright Specialist Scholar.

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