Gandhi's Inspiration from the Prophet Muhammad

Begin your day with prayer, and make it so soulful that it may remain with you until the evening. Close the day with prayer, so that you may have a peaceful night free from dreams and nightmares. —Mahatma Gandhi

Evening prayer was a great center of attraction in Gandhiji’s ashram in India. The morning prayers, he explained, were too early to attract additional friends, but a gathering of Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Sikhs, and a sprinkling of Europeans attended the evening prayers. They often requested a fifteen minute talk after prayer and before dinner. A question was asked each evening, and Gandhiji replied to it the next evening. One of the Indian participants, a Muslim youth, asked Gandhiji to give his personal testimony on prayer, not a theoretical discourse but a narration of what he had felt and experienced as a result of prayer. Gandhiji liked this question immensely, and poured out his personal testimony from a full heart. "Prayer," he said, "has been the saving of my life…prayer has not been part of my life in the sense that truth has been. Rather, it came out of sheer necessity…I could not possibly be happy without it. And the more my faith in God increased, the more irresistible became the yearning for prayer. Life seemed to be dull and vacant without it.”

The missionary, Charles Freer Andrews, a close friend of Gandhiji, wrote that there was no one at Sabarmati Ashram to whom Gandhiji went more surely for quiet counsel and help in time of prayer than to the Imam, who accompanied him from South Africa. And during his prayer meetings, Gandhiji always included verses from the Qur'an Sharif. In fact, he would not hold prayer meetings without recitations from the Qur’an.

Gandhiji had a profound admiration for the refined character of the Prophet Muhammad as a man of faith and action. He studied the history and rise of Islam and was impressed by the strong faith of the very first followers of the Prophet and the simplicity with which they lived. Their devotion to the poor and their intense belief thoroughly inspired him.

Gandhiji said: "I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today undisputed sway over the hearts of millions...I became more than ever convinced it was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet, the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his selflessness, his absolute trust in God and his own mission. These surmounted every obstacle. Muhammad was a great Prophet. He was brave and feared no one but God. He was never found to say one thing and do another. He acted as he felt. The Prophet was a faqir. He could have commanded wealth if he had so desired. I shed tears when I read of the privations, he, his family and companions suffered voluntarily. How can a truth-seeker like me help but respect one whose mind was constantly fixed on God, who ever walked in God's fear and who had boundless compassion for humanity.” Gandhiji also explained, “I have read Sir Abdullah Suhrawardy's collection of the sayings of the Prophet with much interest. They are among the treasures not only of Muslims, but of all humanity.”

In addition to his interest in the life example of Prophet Muhammad, Gandhiji also studied the Qur'an regularly. He spent a considerable time studying the Qur'an during his intermittent sojourns while imprisoned by the British. He thought there was no difference between the Qur'an and the Upanishads on the issue of the necessity for total self-surrender to God.

In Gandhi's mind, dharma meant firmness in upholding truth. This was similar to his understanding of the Qur'anic imperative in Surah Fatiha to remain on the straight path, and not be led astray. He continuously included Surah Fatiha from the Holy Qur'an as part of his daily prayer service.

In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful.
All praise is for God - Lord of all worlds –
the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,
You alone we worship and You alone we ask for help…
Guide us along the straight path –
the Path of those You have blessed…