Adjusting Your Voice

If you are a believer and if you were addressing the prophet Muhammad pbuh in person, you would be careful about your words, your voice level and your attitudes in general. You would exhibit the highest standards of respect you could afford. In fact, this is exactly what is told in the Quran, too:

"O you who have believed, do not put [yourselves] before Allah and His Messenger but fear Allah . Indeed, Allah is Hearing and Knowing. O you who have believed, do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet or be loud to him in speech like the loudness of some of you to others, lest your deeds become worthless while you perceive not. Indeed, those who lower their voices before the Messenger of Allah - they are the ones whose hearts Allah has tested for righteousness. For them is forgiveness and great reward." (49/1-3)

But there are a few problems in digesting these verses. First, the prophet passed away about 14 centuries ago, and so, this order of God "seems to be" inapplicable for us who are living today! Given that the Quran has validity until the end of time, why has God placed such an injunction in the Quran? Second, even if you lived in his time, why would you raise your voice to a man who is known to be kind and reasonable? Third, why is lowering your voice so difficult so that it is becoming a test of righteousness?

If you dig into the occasion of revelation of this verse, you see an argument between Abu Bakr and Umar, the first two caliphs. This argument takes place in the presence of the prophet, and it relates to a business that concerns the prophet himself primarily and ultimately. The two friends of the prophet get into an argument on such an issue, and their argument exacerbates, involving high voice speeches.

If we suffice with this explanation, there is practically no lesson for us today, because the prophet is not with us physically. There must be other lessons that are valid even today! To discover one of those, let's make an imaginary time travel to the prophet's time, and develop empathy.

Assume that you and the prophet have diverged on an issue, about which there is no clear revelation from God. And you know for sure, by experience, that the suggestion of the prophet is not the rational choice (examples of this is the artificial fertilization of the date trees or the positioning of the army before the battle of Badr). What are you going to do? Are you going to insist on your opinion and try to prove the prophet's wrong? And if you do so, with what kind of attitude would you do that? Let's say, out of respect, you did not pursue your idea and went with that of the prophet. Later on, it was seen that your opinion was right, and there are losses due to not following it. How would you feel about the situation?

The verses of the Quran given above implies that such things are possible. Furthermore, with the passage of time and change of geographical,cultural,technological conditions, today, we may face situations, about which there are no clear boundaries or criteria in the Quran and the prophet's comments thereof do not corner with our experiences. What to do then?

In such cases, traditional approach is the conservative approach, and it refuses to open up or accept any new avenues of thought. People with such attitude go with what was available 14 centuries ago. If needed to silence objections, they put forward the above verses as evidence that you should stop talking on a matter about which the prophet opined otherwise. However, that is not what the Quran tells!

Quran tells us to keep our respect and lower our voices, but it doesn't tell us to quit the discussion. Let's ponder over what it means to lower our voice in today's context.

You are in a situation where 1- there is no clear prohibition or boundary in the Quran, 2- the comments/suggestions/prohibitions of the prophet, although true of their time, are not reflective of the modern findings on the same issue. Then, of course, as a person of knowledge and thinking, you would like to start a discussion and raise your point rationally. In doing so, the proper manner is not to start loud public discussions, and criticize the prophet for what he did or what he said. Rather, in such cases, contextualizing the acts and words of the prophet to enable empathy and understanding, and then establishing your opinion based on modern information and on principles from Quran and Sunna, and finally stating that this is what you think is pleasing to God seems to be the proper way.

If you ask why this is a challenge of righteousness, there are two main factors: ego and the society. Human ego is vulnerable to exert itself beyond limits especially in cases that give the feeling of victory. The exhilaration may suppress self-control, and you may find yourself at an improper place, well ahead of what you initially intended for. So, an attention to the ego factor is essential in starting discussions of this nature, and that is why lowering your voice is a challenge of righteousness.

Second reason why lowering your voice is a challenge is the society. More often than not, society presents a conservative character in new matters. In fact, cultural biases also lead to improper practices that may also abuse religion as a support. In such cases, when you come forward claiming that the religion actually does not favor the practice of the society or it does not reject a practice that is found outrageous according to traditions, you receive a great backlash, and you feel an urge to raise your voice against the bigotry. But when doing so, unknowingly or inadvertently you may denigrate the prophet himself. That is not the purpose, and should not be the case even if indirectly. But still, you have to fight against the bigotry and explain your view. That is why lowering your voice is a challenge of righteousness.

God knows best...

Oh Allah! Make us a reason of happiness and honor for Your last messenger Muhammad.