The first profession for Rasoolullah sallallahu alaihi wassalam was shepherding. In Sahih Bukhari, Rasoolullah (SAW) says, “Allah has not sent a prophet who is not a shepherd”. His companions then asked “and you?” “Yes I used to herd sheep for compensation from the people of Mekka”.

Its striking that Allah subhanahu wa thaala trained all of His prophets as shepherds especially that of sheep. There are some lessons to be learned from the Anbiya being shepherds specifically that of sheep (or goats).

Responsibility

The most important lesson or training that they learn being shepherd is responsibility. Rasoolullah (SAW) says in the hadith, “You are all shepherds; you are all responsible for your herds”

A shepherd usually takes care of someone else’s flock. They are hired and need to be reported to a higher authority. The shepherd cannot go back to the owner and say, “I am sorry, I lost a sheep today. That sheep happened to be stupid.” It doesn’t matter what the sheep does, how bad the flock goes, how intelligent it is, whether they are united or not, whether they obey or not - the shepherd is held accountable.  The shepherd is responsible for the herd even though the herd is not responsible for itself.

The Anbiya of Allah one day will be accountable to Allah (SWT) for their people.  Similar is the case with anyone who is accountable for their family, group, community, society or nation.

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During the early times of Rasoolullah (SAW), there was a pact called “hilf ul fudhool”. The story behind this is – a man from Zabeel in Yemen came to do business in Mekka. His merchandise was taken away by al-Aas bin Waal who promised to pay him back. Al-Aas bin Waal refused to pay him back after a while. He took advantage of the fact that the man is a foreigner and expected him to walk away. But the man didn’t and stood up for his rights. He went to a public place in Mekka and started calling the people of Quraish. He was telling, “I am oppressed in your land. Are you people who are going to stand up for my rights? Will you allow this oppression to happen in your land?” He said some emotional words that some clans of Quraish decided to meet together to bring about an agreement on protecting the rights of the weak in Mekka. Among the families of Quraish was the family of Rasoolullah (SAW) - his uncles.

Rasoolullah (SAW) was a young boy at that time. He said “my uncles took me with them to the meeting”. The meeting was held in the house of Abdullah bin Jad’aan who was a generous man at that time and someone who would stand up for others rights. It was symbolic to have this meeting at his place. The meeting to concluded, deciding that all of them would stand up together, to protect the rights of the oppressed. This meeting happened before prophethood. It was a pact that occurred between non-believers.

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