The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was once on a journey. These journeys were difficult and involved covering large distances on camels. The Arabs had a way of singing to their camels to make them move faster. They had someone known as a hadi (حادي) whose job it was to sing to the camels. This singing not only moved the camels but made the arduous journey a bit more pleasurable for the travellers. On this particular journey, a young man of Abyssinian origin whose name was Anjashah was assigned to sing to the camels carrying women. With a long caravan of many camels there would likely have been several men singing to different groups of camels. Anjashah had a beautiful voice and his songs filled the air, stirring the camels forward and lifting the spirits of the travellers. In fact, his voice was so sweet that the camels began moving faster than usual. Camels are not easy creatures to ride and when they pick up speed it becomes hard for the rider to stay on safely.
The Prophet smiled and said: “Anjashah, be gentle with these fragile things!”
The word the Prophet used for “fragile things” was “qawarir” which means glass cups. He likened the women on the backs of camels to glass vessels. He told Anjashah to hold back a little bit out of fear that the camels may break their precious and fragile passengers either by shaking them violently or throwing them off entirely. The Prophet took the utmost care of all women, and especially the women in his care. He was very sensitive to their needs. Another possible meaning is that the women’s natural softness could be affected by the beauty of Anjashah’s voice. The Prophet wanted to protect the women from having feelings towards him. Just as the body is fragile, so too is the heart.
It is said that this method of singing to the camels to make them move faster was generally effective. There was one journey, however, when it was not needed. This was when the camels were carrying people to visit the Prophet ﷺ in Madinah. When Madinah was the destination, the camels needed no encouragement, no songs, no carrot and no stick to move across the desert. There are many stories of the Prophet’s interactions with camels and other animals during his life but even after his passing, these creatures still had a sense of the greatness of the one they were visiting.
The concept of the hadi singing is often referred to in poetry that talks about love of God and His Messenger ﷺ. Here the words of the hadi are not directed at animals but rather at human hearts. The munshid or singer is sometimes referred to as a hadi. The path to God sometimes seems long and arduous. But the hadi’s words penetrate the heart, stirring the seeker’s yearning and driving him forward to travel the path.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ understood the power of poetry sung beautifully. He knew the effect it had on the body and the soul. He was very gentle in his treatment of others, especially women. He said that gentleness makes things beautiful and roughness and harshness makes things ugly. In fact, he said this once to Sayyidah Aishah when she was trying to control a stubborn camel. It is no surprise, then, to find him telling Anjashah to be gentle with fragile things.
There are various versions of this hadith in Sahih Bukhari (6209 and 6210) and Sahih Muslim (2323) and in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad