In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Forming A Leading Generation

Perhaps the greatest single achievement of the Prophet, peace be upon him, is to secure the long and successful continuance of Islam by educating a whole generation of men and women to establish it so firmly. To succeed in this activity of education, he needed the best insight and wisdom, and knowledge of the dispositions and manners of particular individuals. Three important features of the Prophet's teachings are especially worth noting.

Firstly, he placed due emphasis on individual education and did not restrict himself to general, collective guidance. Reform of the individual was the essential foundation for reform of the community: virtue and right guidance spread outward from each virtuous and right-guided individual to influence the community which in its turn offers the best environment for other individuals to realize their potential for virtue and right guidance.

Secondly, the Prophet picked the moment when, as well as the person whom, he would seek to improve. If there is inward readiness for it, acquisition of knowledge is easier, more enduring and more fruitful. In the same way as watering a thirsty land is more profitable than pouring the same water on impermeable rocks, so attention needs to be paid to the Occasions and circumstances in which guidance is presented.

As well as teaching the right person at the right moment to the right degre, the Prophet encouraged consistency and regularity in good acts. A strenuous act of virtue soon disappears as a gesture, whereas a little good done regularly brings greater benefit for longer. That is surely the meaning of the authentic hadith: 'The acts most pleasing to Allah are those which are done regularly, even if they amount to little.' [Bukhari, Muslim] Sustained good deeds have an assured, solid increase - just as drops of water may accumulate into a river or ocean.

Source: "Muhammad: The Perfect Model for Humanity" - Mustafa Ahmad al-Zarqa, pg. 30, 31