Page 37 - Spirit of Islam-May'17

being in his company. For this second purpose, Ali and Aisha were
chosen, at a young age.

Consider, for instance, this saying of Ali: 'The value of a person lies in
what he excels in.' This point is not found in these same words in any
Hadith of the Prophet. This is a piece of wisdom that Ali derived as a
result of being in the company of the Prophet. This wisdom can be
expressed as follows: ‘The value of a person lies in his excellence.’
The same thing was true of Aisha. Aisha’s inferences from the life of the
Prophet are very famous. All her inferences offer great wisdom. She
extracted these principles of wisdom by being in the company of the
Prophet. Consider, for instance, this wise saying of Aisha: ‘Whenever
the Prophet had to choose between two options, he always opted for
the easier of the two.’ (Sahih al-Bukhari).

Words of the Prophet that others heard him say are called Hadith. The
distinction of Ali and Aisha is that they not only related sayings of the
Prophet, rather they observed the Prophet closely and then deduced
principles through this observation. By living in the company of the
Prophet they grasped his wisdom and insight, and then expressed them
in their own language. This company greatly boosted their capacity to
grasp matters. At a young age, the two of them benefitted a great deal
from the Prophet’s company. And they were able to share this wisdom
with others for many years after the Prophet. o

Ego Versus Conscience

Psychological studies show that every
human being is born with an ego and a
conscience. If you follow the tit-for-tat
policy, it arouses the ego of the other
person, whereas if you follow the policy
of forgiveness, it will activate the other
person's conscience. And it is a fact that,
in controversial matters, the conscience
always plays a positive role.

Spirit of Islam Issue 53 May 2017 35