What are the lessons that the Anbiya learned by being shepherds

      The first profession of Rusool Allah (saw) was a shepherd, and Rusool Allah (saw) says, “Allah has not sent a prophet that was not a shepherd of sheeps.” His companions then asked, “And you?” He (saw) said, “Yes, I used to herd sheep, with compensation from the people of Mecca.” Every prophet has been a shepherd. It is striking that Allah (swt) has trained all of his anbiya, by going through this line of work.

What are the lessons that the Anbiya learned by being shepherds of sheeps?

·        The most important lesson that they learned, is responsibility. Rusool Allah (saw) says, “You are all shepherds and you are all responsible for your herds.” For example the imam is responsible for the muslims, the man is responsible for his household, etc. Everyone is responsible for something or the other.

     A shepherd usually works for somebody else, who owns the flock. So they are hired by someone else, meaning that shepherds are answerable to someone else. Now a shepherd, cannot go back to the owner and say, ‘I am sorry I lost one of your sheep.’ It doesn’t matter what the sheep did, the shepherd is responsible, even if it isn’t his fault. Regardless for whether the sheep obey or not, the shepherd is responsible.

     It is a very important lesson for the leader. You are responsible for your herd. The anbiya of Allah will be one day accountable for their people.

·        It teaches them patience. Taking out sheep to graze takes time, the sheep take their own time, they are slow, so the shepherd has to wait. Sometime the sheep might start fighting, or even playing with each other , the shepherd has to be patient. A shepherd can’t really talk to them and say that, ‘we are getting late’, or something similar, the sheeps will take their own sweet time. Shepherds usually leave in the morning, and come back at sunset.

     So the anbiya learnt to be very patient with their people. Look at what Musa (as) had to go through with his people. It was unbearable, but Musa (as) was a shepherd longer than any prophet, he was a shepherd for ten years. When he left Egypt and got married, Shuaibh told Musa (as) to work for him for 8 or 10 years. The ayat in the Quran didn’t not state whether Musa (as) worked for 8 or 10 years, but Rusool Allah (saw) wanted to know. So he (saw) asked Jibrael how longer Musa (as) worked. He said, “He worked the most complete and perfect term.” In other words 10 years.

     Nuh (as) spent 950 years in da’wah and he was still patient with his people. He tried every different way, “I tried publicly, and privately. I tried night and daytime. I tried every way and they were rejecting my message.”

·         Protection: the shepherd protects the flock from various dangers. There are wolves and other beasts, and even diseases. Shepherds continiuously ensure that they are no dangers to the flock

 The anbiya of Allah, tried to protect their people. They protected them from physical and psychological dangers. In Medina at night, there was a commotion suddenly. So some of sahabah immediately picked up their weapons, climbed on their horses and raced towards the source of the sound. They went there and to their amazement they found Rusool Allah (saw) already on his way back telling them that everything was fine. So even though these sahabah were so swift in getting there, Rusool Allah (saw) yet reached before them.  Rusool Allah (saw) has warned us about every danger possible that could afflict us. He even told us of events in the future. E.g. Dajjal.

·        These animals are closer to Earth, and their sight is very limited. Sheep can only see so far, any small obstacle can block their view. But a human standing tall has a much longer view, so the shepherd can detect danger much before the sheeps will. The shepherd can beforehand warn the sheeps.

     That is the same situation of the anbiya with their people. The anbiya warn of dangers much before the danger approach their people. They have the clearest vision and the longest view. The anbiya know what is good for their people. The analogy of prophets and people, is like someone sitting next to a fire at night and all these insects get attracted to the fire thinking it is light. They do not know that they if they go near it, it will burn them.

     So Rusool Allah (saw) says, “The analogy of me and you; I’m like somebody standing next to this fire and you are attracted to it, and you are jumping in it, while I am grabbing you by your clothes and dragging you away and you are releasing yourselves form me jumping into the fire.” The prophet sees the danger and we don’t.

     To protect the sheep the shepherd might hit some of the animals, not because he wants to hurt them, but to save them. So whenever, a messenger of Allah, stands up and gives a staunch warning, it is not because they are rude or insensitive, but it is because they care for their people. When Rusool Allah (saw) stood on the pulpit of masjid and said, “I am warning you hell fire!” “I am warning you hell fire!!” “I am warning you hell fire!!!” His voice went up and up an up, the narrator of the hadith said, “The people in the marketplace could hear Rusool Allah (saw) in the masjid.”

·        Simplicity: A Shepherd lives a very simple life. He cannot have accessories of life in the desert, he cannot take his Mercedes Benz, refrigerator and TV in the desert. Even if he is a rich man, he cannot carry such things out in the desert while he is shepherding. They need to keep themselves light to be able to fully take care of the animals. Shepherd also eats very simple food, and lives in a simple accommodation.

·        It teaches them to get accustomed to different environments; it could be scorching heat, raining, windy, or freezing cold. Shepherd is the last to take cover; he needs to protect the flock first. So Rusool Allah (saw) would travel a lot, due to da’wah and battles, and would have to face different climates.

·             Closeness to the creation of Allah. It pulls you out of the artificial world. You are out in the desert with the creation of Allah, close to nature. The life that we are leading could leave some harmful scars on our hearts and our way of thinking. Living in this concrete world where everything is artificial, where everything is against the natural disposition of our creation. We were created from Earth, we are part of nature. Living in this artificial world is keeping us away from contemplating  on the creation of Allah.

     The Quran refers to so many creations of Allah; the sun, moon, stars, heavens, mountains, rivers, plants, cow, mosquito, clouds, rain etc.. all of this is mentioned in the Quran, but why did Allah mention these? Because His creation is a mirror, of the attributes of Allah. If we want to learn about the attributes of Allah, we should look at his creation.

     A anbiya of Allah were thus given time to contemplate about Allah’s creation.