Ismatul Anbiya the Prophets & Messengers of Allah are protected by Allah

from falling into any reprehensible behavior

1.
2.

A few Prophets did have a few questionable behaviors, but those were divinely
decreed to teach us a lesson (e.g. Musa (as) getting into a confrontation with a
man who was whipping a slave)
For the most part, the Prophets are dignitaries of Allah & they were protected
from bad behaviors
One day, young Muhammad (saw) was playing with rocks with other boys
around his age
Traditional clothing of those days was in 2 pieces: a lower garment like a lungi
(izaar) that covered your lower body & an upper garment (a shawl type) that
covered your upper body. It was similar to the clothing that the hujjaj wear
1 Very young boys will be given one garment that would be wrapped
around the chest, so that they can run around & play
Some of the boys took off their lower garments & placed a bunch of rocks on it.
They slung the garment full of rocks over their shoulder & carried it as a knapsack
1 As a result, their lower half was uncovered
2 They were kids, so they didnt really see a problem with this
Muhammad didnt feel comfortable taking his cloth off, so he just use his hands
to carry them (the rocks were heavy, painful, sharp)
1 Other boys urge him to follow their method. Come on, itll be just
for a little while. Well move the rocks & then well just put our
clothes back on.
Muhammad was a child & influenced by peer pressure, so he thought, Ok, no
biggie. Ill do that.
1 He started to remove his garment to put the rocks in. All of a
sudden, he felt like he got slapped hard in the back of his head, but
he couldnt see who just smacked his head.
2 Then he heard a voice saying, Put your izaar back on.
3 He was a kid; in that situation what else can you do but say, Yes,
sir.
He put his izaar back on. Then he just carried the rocks in his hands even if they
were heavy & painful; he didnt take his garment off to use as a knapsack
Another similar incident like this is narrated by Muhammads Uncle Al Abbas
Muhammad was a bit older, in his mid-teens. Renovations of Kabah were taking
place. Everyone wanted to get in on it, because Kabah was a special place.
Everyone wanted a piece of that action. High ranking members (Families) of
Quraysh were given first preference to renovate in this case, Banu Hashim,
Muhammads clan
Al-Abbas was there, carrying rocks & bricks to renovate the Kabah. Muhammad
was also one of the first ones to carry rocks & bricks
A display of manhood was to carry a big old rock. The bigger rock you carried, the
bigger man you were
Men were removing their lower clothing & readjusting their upper cloth, but still,

there was chance of being exposed

They wrap up the rocks/bricks in their lower garment to sling over shoulder
Muhammad was struggling to carry the heavy bricks. His uncle Al-Abbas suggests
to his nephew to use the lower garment to carry the rocks
Muhammad started to remove his lower garment
All of sudden, Muhammad collapsed as he was on the verge of removing his cloth
His eyes rolled up to stare into the sky for some time. Then he stood up and said,
Izaari! Izaari! Wheres my izaar? Wheres my izaar? Then put his izaar back on
Abbas asks nephew whats wrong
Muhammad replied, I have been forbidden from walking around, not fully
clothed. Ive been told not to expose my body in public.
Muhammad comes from a very elite clan (Banu Hashim), of a very elite tribe
(Quraysh)
Much of the Quraysh tribe was very elitist. It was not deemed acceptable for
members of Banu Hashim to have some menial task/physical labor for a career,
because the men of Quraysh had the most prestigious career of being
international merchants (going to as-Sham & Yemen)
It was looked down upon to take up a menial job like getting into construction, or
being a deliverer, etc.
Muhammad was too young to be traveling for business, & Abu Talib wasnt
having any of it because of Bhairas encounter. Muhammd wanted to help out
Abu Talib because of his financial difficulties. Muhammd couldnt be a merchant,
& he couldnt do physical labor for honor reasons.
Only one type of work was left available to him shepherding
Shepherding was attributed to good leadership & qualities
So the young Muhammad becomes a shepherd, to help out his family
A shepherd has to be cautious, responsible, patient, alert, & gentle with his flock
Isa (as) said to his disciples: Shepherd well.
1 To lead his people well after hes gone
2 Many of the prophets have been shepherds
Muhammad recalls that he never really had a strong desire to indulge in the
typical things that teenage boys take part in
There were other shepherds around Muhammads age as well. They would all
socialize while on the job when their flocks would get together

These young shepherds would often tell each other of the stories/events of the
night before
Yo, bro, I hit up a crazy party last night.
You look really tired.
Yo, you got no idea what went down!
Theyd ask Muhammad what he did. Nothing. I just went home and slept.
The other boys would invite Muhammd over to a party. They knew that
Muhammad is a very straight-laced & decent guy, so they would tell him, You
dont have to do anything. Just swing by. Just check out the party for a bit.
Peer pressure is a big deal during teenage years, so Muhammd makes

arrangements to have another shepherd cover his shift.

Muhammad was on duty that evening with the flock. He asked one of the other
young men to cover his shift so he can check out the party.
Yeah, man, I got your back. You need to party, replied the other
Later in the evening, Muhammad makes his way to the party. As he gets near
the house where the party is held, he can hear loud party noises & obviously
drunk rowdy boys. He could also hear women singing. Many times there were
entertainment slave girls who would be rented out for these types of occasions.

Muhammad hears all of this as hes just outside the house; before he could take
another step, he literally just passed out
Muhammad recalls, I didnt wake up until I felt the sun on my face
Partys over
The next day Muhammad goes to work with the other shepherds, who inquire
about his absence at the party
Muhammad said, I tried to come, and I just fell asleep.
Man, youre so lame. The boys put more pressure on Muhammad to come to
the party. Tonight, you GOT to come to this party.
Muhammad replied, Im working tonight.
Dont worry, that guy will cover your shift.
With another shepherd covering his shift, Muhammad starts making his way to
the party again that nigh. Hes outside the party casa again, & he can hear the
loud obnoxious rowdiness of the other party-goers.
Before he can take another step forward, Muhammad passes out again & woke up
only when the sun was shining on his face
Muhammad goes to work that morning. The other boys say, Where were you?!
You didnt show up again.
Muhammad says later on, I swear by Allah, I had never had desire to go back to
something like that.
Muhammad has been protected from such events, but not sheltered. He was
cognisant of what was going around him, but he remained pristine by divine
decree.
When the time of Prophethood comes and he starts spreading his message,
Muhammad has a general idea of whats going on in his society, about the parties,
the alcohol, etc. He has the ability to say, I know exactly what you guys are up
to.
This knowledge was relevant to the Prophets method of preaching. He was
exposed to things even though he never partook in them due to divine
intervention
Even before receiving his Prophethood, Muhammad used to do tawaaf around
the Kabah; he wouldnt worship the idols there, but just do tawaaf. He
sometimes took his adopted son Zayd bin Haditha to do tawaaf around the
Baytullah

In the Haram, there was an idol (named either Isaaf or Nailath) made of copper,
1 As the mushrikoon would do tawaaf, they would rub their hand on
the idol everytime they passed by it. That was their way of
acknowledging their god
As Muhammad & Zayd walked by the idol during their regular tawaaf, Zayd
stretches out to rub his hand on the idol
1 Lata masohu, dont touch the idol, says Muhammad as he pulled
Zaids hand away from the idol
Zayd was a very young boy. He sees everybody else pass the idol & reach their
hand toward it, so hes imitating them.
1 As Zayd & Muhammad pass that idol again during tawaaf, Zayd
stretches his hand out again to touch the idol
2 Then Muhammad again pulls Zayds hand away, saying, Dont
touch the idol. Didnt I tell you not to do this?
From early on, Allah had instilled within Muhammad this natural hesitation
for shirk or other inappropriate activities
When youre talking with another Arab/Muslim, & they something surprising,
you say, Say wallahi
Similarly, in the early days, people would say, Aksim billati al uzza. Swear by
Allat and Al Uzza, which were the two most prominent idols of that time
Whenever people would say this to the young Muhammad, hed always tell them,
If you want me to take an oath to prove to you what Im saying, dont ask me to
swear by Allaat and Al Uzza. Theres nothing I dislike more than those two
things.
Then Muhammad would distance himself from that conversation
Muhammad grew up to become the most dignified & examplary man in his
community. He had to most excellent character & the most excellent company
(Khadijah, Zayd bin Haditha, Bilal, Abu Bakr, Ali, etc.)
He was known by his entire society as Al-Amin. Even people who didnt know
his name knew him as Al-Amin, because of his well-known reputation of his great
character