Wisdom Behind Prophets Being Shepherds Of Sheep/Goat

[Al Baitel 'ateeq]

1 Teaching responsibility. The shepherd is responsible for his herd and usually looks after the flock of another, that is ,they are hired and must report to who has hired them.

They hold responsiblity in this regard and the responsiblity of looking after the flock, even if the flock is at fault of its own actions, be it intelligent or otherwise. The shepherd holds full responsiblity and accountability over the herd.

Anwar Al-Awlaki Lecture

[Al Baitel 'ateeq]

2 Teaching patience. Taking sheep out to graze is a slow process, as sheep are quite slow and they take thier time and one must wait until the sheep are done. The sheep may fight with one another, they may play with one another, the shepherd must wait and be patient, as he is unable to communicate with them, eg, they must get a move on and stop what they are doing. The shepherd must simply wait for the sheep and continue being patient.

Day in and day out the shepherd would leave in the morning and allow the sheep to graze and simply wait for them until they were done. This teaches patience and the Prophets [peace be upon them] required much patience during da'wah and conveying the message of tawheed and al-Islam.

Musa [3alayhis salaam] was a shepherd for 10 yrs when he worked for the old man in Madyan and married one of his daughters.

Anwar Al-Awlaki Lecture

[Al Baitel 'ateeq]

3 Teaching protection. The shepherd protects the herd. There are various seen or unseen dangers, wolves, other beasts, diseases, etc, all of which the shepherd must consistently make sure do not endanger the herd.

The Prophets of Allah Ta'aala are very protective of their people, and they try to protect their followers from physical and psychological dangers. An example of this protection - in Madinah, at night, suddently a commotion was heard and some of the sahaabah immediately picked up their weapons and raced to the source of the sound. To their amazement, when they arrived, they found the Prophet sallallahu 3alayhi wa sallam was already on his way back, telling them that everything was fine. Eventhough the sahaabah were quick and swift in arriving at the source of the commotion, rasool Allah sallallahu 3alayhi wa sallam was already there before them to protect someone from his ummah.

Muhammad sallallahu 3alayhi wa sallam has not left any danger that would inflict us without warning us about it as a means of protecting us.

Anwar Al-Awlaki Lecture

[Al Baitel 'ateeq]

4 Teaching detection of danger. Sheep/Goat have limited sight and can only see so far. A human who stands tall has a longer view and can see danger as it is approaching, as the herd cannot. The first to notice danger is the shepherd who can give an advanced warning to the herd.

The Prophets sense and detect dangers before they approach us. They have the clearest vision and the longest view, and a vantage point that none of us have. The Prophets know what is good for us, and the Prophet sallallahu 3alayhi wa sallam said, the analogy of me and you is like someone sitting next to a fire at night and you are attracted to it and jumping in it, while i am grabbing/pulling you from it, and you are trying to jump in.

The Prophet sallallahu 3alayhi wa sallam sees the danger, yet we do not. The Prophet sallallahu 3alayhi wa sallam knows it is fire, yet we do not. The Prophet sallallahu 3alayhi wa sallam is inviting the people to Jannah, yet they are forcing themselves toward the Hell-Fire.

The shepherd sees the danger and warns the herd, just as the Prophets see the danger and warn their followers. At times the shepherd may hit the sheep in order to give a clear and quick warning and ward off its current path away from the danger. There is no time for a nice and slow convincing manner to this approach when the danger is so near.

Similarly, the Prophets at times would appear harsh in their words, as they cared about their followers and wanted to move them away from the ever close dangers.

Anwar Al-Awlaki Lecture

[Al Baitel 'ateeq]

5 Teaching simplicity. A shepherd is living a very simple life and cannot take all of his accessories with him to the desert. A shepherd can only carry with him some basic needs in the desert whilst doing his job, no matter how rich the shepherd may be. A shepherd will eat very simple food and have quite simple and basic accommodation.

A shepherd will also become accustomed to the different environments encountered when feeding the animals, such as the cold or heat of the weather, rain, wind, etc. A shepherd must be deal with all of these situations and will be the last to take cover, after taking care of the herd.

Rasool Allah sallallahu 3alayhi wa sallam would go out in battle and travel from one place to another and was able to get used to all this frequent change because of his experience as a shepherd.

Anwar Al-Awlaki Lecture

[LovinMyDeen]

Subhan'ALLAH what GREAT points!

Jazakullah kheir ukhti...may Allah swt reward you for your efforts.

Peace

[Al Baitel 'ateeq]

Aameen and wa iyyaakum sis *smilez*

6 Teaching closeness to the creation of Allah Ta'aala. Shepherding pulls you out of the artificial world and brings you close to nature. Living in an artificial world goes against our natural disposition, as we were created from this earth and are a part of nature.

Being too far from nature results in less contemplation of the creation of Allah Ta'aala. The Quran makes many references to the creation of Allah Ta'aala such as the sun, moon, stars, heavens, mountains, rivers, oceans and plants etc. Allah Ta'aala draws our attention to His creation, as they mirror His abilities and attributes.

To learn about the greatness, knowledge, wisdom and abilities of Allah Ta'aala, one only needs to look around at what He has created.

A shepherd spends much of his time close to nature, which gives him an opportunity to contemplate about nature, and the Prophets of Allah Ta'aala took advantage of this time to think and reflect about the creation around them.

Anwar Al-Awlaki Lecture

[aussiemu]

assalamu alaikum,

jazakallah khair sis. That was very interesting masha'Allah. Is there more points?

wassalamu alaikum

[Al Baitel 'ateeq]

Wa Alaikum Assalaam and wa iyyaakum.

The next points i believe are about why they were shepherds of sheep specifically. I'll start on that tomorrow insha-Allah.

The above points were merely some of the lessons to be learned about the wisdom of the Prophets being shepherds, 3alayhum as-salaat was-salaam.

[Al Baitel 'ateeq]

Now insha-Allah we go on to why the animals herded were specifically sheep.

One might say that in the time and geographic location of Rasool Allah sallallahu 3alayhi wa sallam, that is was not the custom to raise cows or other similar strong animals. However, the people did raise camels and the Prophet sallallahu 3alayhi wa sallam did not raise camels, he raised sheep. Other Prophets who lived in other areas also herded sheep [or goat] and not other animals.

1 Sheep are weak animals, and much weaker than cows and camels and need more protection and care. Due to this weakness, they can easily fall prey, and when Rasool Allah sallallahu 3alayhi wa sallam wanted to warn us from Shaitan, he would bring in his experience and he would say; Narrated AbudDarda': I heard the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) say: If there are three men in a village or in the desert among whom prayer is not offered (in congregation), the devil has got the mastery over them. So observe (prayer) in congregation), for the wolf eats only the straggling animal. Sa'ib said: By the word Jama'ah he meant saying prayer in company or in congregation. (Sunan Abu Dawood, Book #2, Hadith #0547)

Rasool Allah sallallahu 3alayhi wa sallam learned, that if one sheep goes astray, that will be the target of the wolf. The wolf will not target the herd, but the animal which is alone. As humans, we are weak as these sheep when it comes to the temptation and attack of shaitan.

Anwar Al-Awlaki Lecture

[compLicated]

o my Allah !!
Subhanallah!! what amazing points.. waiting for more sis iA

[Abu Ayesha]

I had heard them and was impressed. Somewhere in my mind, i was like i need to write them down. They are so clear and beautiful. But never wrote them

and here .. jazakallah that is so nice of u ukhti

[Al Baitel 'ateeq]

Wa Iyyaakum Kheir. To continue insha-Allah ...

2 We are affected by our surrounding environment and it leaves a lasting effect on our personality. Shepherds of sheep are different than shepherds of cows and camels. Shepherds are different than cowboys and cowboys differ from shepherds of camel. This is due to their raising of different animals which has an effect on their personality.

Sheep are very compassionate, merciful and weak, so the shepherd learns to become kind and merciful toward them as they are fragile animals and one cannot be too harsh toward them.

The Prophets of Allah Ta'aala learned how to become compassionate toward their followers. Camels on the other hand are very arrogant animals, and one cannot be soft with a camel as it will take advantage of you. The arrogance of the camel must be met with strength as opposed to kindness and compassion. Shepherds of camel are therefore very rough, tough and may be rude, which is learned via their environment.

Similarly, teachers have a different personality than doctors. Doctors tend to have a different personality than engineers. Engineers have a different personality than skilled workers, etc.

For example, being a teacher for many years, may tend to make one into a fatherly figure, as they constantly giving advice to the children they are teaching etc. This may tend to make them behave around and treat their peers in a similar fashion, eventhough they are outside the working environment, due to their constant work environment and therefore fashioning of their personality.

Politicians who are constantly lying and deceptive due to their work, tend to behave in this manner outside of their working environment.

The Prophets, therefore, had their personality and behaviour fashioned through their environment of herding sheep, thus reflecting this personality and behaviour toward their followers.

Anwar Al-Awlaki Lecture

[Al Baitel 'ateeq]

3 Ibn Hajar is a classical scholar who wrote the most prominent commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari. Ibn Hajar was a scholar in the field of hadith, fiqh and aqidah.

Ibn Hajar states, "The wisdom behind having the Prophets as shepherds before prophethood is that they may become skilled in herding a flock, as they will be responsible for their respective nations in the future. In herding, one attains forbearance and mercy, and endures patience, for when a shepherd is obliged to gather his flock and herd it from one area to another at once, knowing the traits of all, and all the while protecting from predators, he has thus attained the skills necessary to lead the nation and protect it from its enemies, both within and abroad."

"Thus the Prophets learn patience when leading their people and attained an understanding of the different natures of people. They learned to show kindness to the weak, and resolve with the dominant. The reasons for which Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala chose the sheeps for the Prophets as opposed to the communal cows or camels, is that they are animals which are weak and need extra guidance and attention. Sheep are more difficult to maintain as a flock because of their propensity to go astray and wander away."

"This is akin to human traits within a society and it is the divine wisdom of Allah to train these Prophets accordingly. The Prophet's sallallahu 3alayhi wa sallam mentioning of this humble trait shared by all Prophets attests to his humility to Allah."

Anwar Al-Awlaki Lecture.

p.s. That was the final point....

[Al Baitel 'ateeq]

Bump.

[Curiously_Undercover]

im in lovee with this thread

[Al Baitel 'ateeq]

im in lovee with this thread

hehehe, the thread loves you back