Text Box: بسم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Friday Sermon ON THE HOLY PROPHET MUHAMMAD (PBUH) (SEERAT-UN-NABI) HAZRAT AMIR’UL MOMENEEN MUHYI-UD-DIN AL KHALIFATULLAH Munir Ahmad Azim 26 February 2010 (11 Rabi’ ul Awwal 1431 Hijri) (Summary of Friday Sermon) After having greeted everybody with the Salutations of Peace, the Khalifatullah read the Tashahhud, Taouz and Surah Al Fatiha and then he said: لَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِّمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ وَذَكَرَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا ۝ “Laqad kaana lakum fii Rasuulil-laahi uswatun hasanatul-liman kaana yarjullaaha wal yawmal aakhira wa zakarallaaha kasiiraa.” Certainly you have in the Apostle of Allah an excellent model for him who hopes in Allah and the latter day and remembers Allah much. (Chapter 33 Verse 22) وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ ۝ “Wa maa arsalnaaka illa rahmatal-l-lil ‘aalameen” And We have hot sent you but as a mercy to the worlds. (Chapter 21 Verse 108) All religions teaches that Allah (the Supreme Lord, the Creator) has created us, so that we worship Him, love Him, obey all His commandments, so that we may find happiness, and prosperity in this very life, and in the hereafter. But as our mind is weak and our intelligence is limited, we cannot know by ourselves how Allah wants us to worship, love and obey Him. By His grace and mercy, He has not abandoned us with our desire to know Him; He has shown us what to do to fulfil this desire. He does so by sending from time to time special people, His Messengers who have constant contact with Him through divine revelations. By the means of revelations, Allah sends them His messages, and thus their mission is to give these divine messages to their people, or to the whole world, as Allah wishes. These special people are (like I mentioned) Messengers, and also prophets. As man in his nature is forgetful, Allah by His mercy continues to send His prophets in different eras; different places and they have as mission to make people take conscience of their objective in life, the intention behind their creation. Thus, Allah has established the law that from time to time when people would forget Allah and have turned their backs to His worship, and are not interested to know Him, then He sends such Men of God to make them aware of His existence and the purpose of their creation. In such an era, Allah makes His Messenger become the best of people on earth – we have the examples of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Krishna, Buddha and Muhammad (peace be upon them). In these periods of darkness, these prophets appear as rescuers, to save people from their own destruction and to lead them towards their true (spiritual) development. Their (the prophets) hearts are filled with love for Allah and their people, and each of them enjoys the love of Allah and His help which comes to boost them in the accomplishment of their divine mission, that is, relating to their people or whole of mankind. Muhammad (peace be upon him) was a Messenger. The love which he had for Allah was intense, sublime and the love which he had for humanity was also great. His sacrifice in these two loves was complete – his own ego, his self disappeared completely to let shine pure devotion for the cause of Allah and that of the people (humanity) under his responsibility. To have an idea of it, Allah ordered him to say: قُلْ إِنَّ صَلاَتِي وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَايَ وَمَمَاتِي لِلّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ۝ لاَ شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَبِذَلِكَ أُمِرْتُ وَأَنَاْ أَوَّلُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ ۝ Say: Surely my prayer and my sacrifice and my life and my death are (all) for Allah, the Lord of the worlds; No associate has He; and this am I commanded, and I am the first of those who submit. (Chapter 6 Verses 163-164) According to Islamic traditions, on the Day of Judgement, when everybody will be concerned about their own deeds and consequences, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) will cry out – “My community! My community!” LOVE OF ALLAH The love of Allah for the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) manifested in His words (that is, the words of Allah), and His signs and the love which Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had for Allah was manifested in the loving words of Allah, and also in the loving words of Muhammad (peace be upon him) for his Allah. In all these manifestations of love between the servant and the Lord, there is a lesson for us as to how to obtain the love of Allah. Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) established love for Allah as a principal condition of faith. He said: “Nobody among you can say that he possesses faith if he does not love Allah and His Messenger more than anything.” Allah commanded him (the Prophet) to transmit the following message about the love for the people; Allah loves those who are ever-turned towards Him. He loves those who purifies themselves, those who place their complete trust in Him, the patient ones, the sincere ones, those who have exemplary manners, the grateful, those who constantly fight against their own ego in the path of Allah. Allah does not love those who spread corruption and He does not love corruption (that is, He loves honesty). He does not love the arrogant, the pride ones, the boastful ones (that is, He loves humility). He does not love the unjust ones, those who always exaggerate, those who are infidel, and those who propagate evil by their tongues. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has said: “Allah has said: “Those who approaching Me (that is, Allah), they do so through the work which I like best, that is, they accomplish works which I have commanded them to do. The servant (of Mine) continues to approach Me, this time by doing additional works, till I love him. And when I love him, I become his ear with which he hears, his eyes with which he sees, his hands with which he grips, and his feet with which he walks.” Moreover the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has said on this subject: “Allah loves the sinner who repents. He said: “Love Allah for the favours He has bestowed upon you and love me for Allah loves me.” – “Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty.” Furthermore, he said: “Allah loves that we praise Him.” In these few words, the love of Allah has been explained, and how Allah wants that we love Him also, for He loves us. THE HOLINESS AND MIRACLES OF THE HOLY PROPHET Like I already mentioned earlier (in the Hadith), when love (of Allah) becomes like an ear or an eye for the servant of Allah and so on, in other words, the more the love is intense, the more Allah manifest Himself in the person; and in the case of the prophets, this love becomes so great, that the manifestation of Allah reaches a very high status, and thus through the divine will, and through the divine manifestation upon the body of the prophets, miracles come to be manifested, such extraordinary miracles which are from sheer divine power. These manifestations are witness of the fact that it is Allah alone who is the Ever-Living and All-Powerful. And these miracles and manifestations become signs in support of the words and appeal of the Messenger of Allah, who says that Allah exists, Allah is talking to him, and Allah has given him such and such instructions. In the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), there are thousands of such signs, visions, intuitive knowledge, predictions of future events, and miracles. I will cite some of them to remind you on the holiness of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him). The greatest miracle upon the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the Holy Quran itself. We must be aware that Muhammad (peace be upon him) was illiterate in the sense that he did not possess any academic knowledge; he did not have the faculty to write any book. But his enemies used to say that he himself is the author of the Holy Quran, and not Allah. But it is a fact that they perfectly knew that there was no one in his surroundings who could have dictate him such prophetic words of such nature and import. In the Holy Quran, Allah says: “Never (O Muhammad) have you either read a book before, or written a book with your hand. Had you made either one of these, then the infidels would have got a (serious) doubt.” When we will come to realise the complete knowledge found in the Holy Quran – it is undeniable to say that the author of the Quran is not Muhammad (peace be upon him), but Allah Himself – a true sign and miracle being manifested on an illiterate to bring forward a book like this. Hazrat Ali (May Allah be pleased with him) has given the following testimony – He related that one day when he was with the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), all mountains and trees where they passed said: “Peace be upon you, O Messenger of Allah!” (Muslim, Mishkat) According to the testimony of Hazrat Jabir (May Allah be pleased with him), he related that on the day of Hudaibiyya, the people who accompanied the Prophet were thirsty, and they came to the Holy Prophet to asked him for water. There was only little water left. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) went to do his ablutions, and afterwards came and put his hand in the bowl of water, and miraculously water came our sourcing from his hands. The people were able to quench their thirst and do their ablutions. (Bukhari, Muslim) There was one Abdullah bin Attiq who broke his foot. The Holy Prophet asked him to rest his foot, and then pass his hands over the foot and the injured foot got healed as if it had never been broken before. (Bukhari, Muslim) During the course of a battle, the battle of Khaibar, Hazrat Ali suffered from his eyes. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) called him and put some of his saliva over the swollen eyes and prayed. The eyes got healed miraculously in a surprising way. The companions of the Holy Prophet related countless miraculous healing like this and these examples are just among a few mentioned. Once a Jewish woman invited the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) for a feast. She put poison in the mutton meat destined for the Prophet of Allah. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) tasted just a bit of the meat, and one of his companions also tasted a bit of the meat, whereupon the Prophet of Allah gave orders to stop eating and asked the Jewish woman if she and mixed poison with the meat. The woman replied in the affirmative, and then asked the Prophet as to whom informed him of such matters. The Holy Prophet took the meat in his hands, and said that it was the meat which told him that it was poisoned. Upon this manifestation, the woman told the assembly that she wanted to know if the Prophet was a true one: “If Muhammad (peace be upon him) is a prophet, nothing will happen to him, and if he is not a prophet, we will be rid of him.” After hearing her reason, the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) forgave the woman. (Bukhari) One day, during the battle of trench, there was no food for the Muslims. The Holy Prophet and his companions worked hard, day and night, on an empty stomach. Hazrat Jabir (May Allah be pleased with him) had a lamb (at home). (Upon seeing the condition of the Holy Prophet) He went to kill it and prepare the meat and (made his wife) prepare some bread. Afterwards, Jabir went to invite only the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), but the latter made an announcement to all those who were present (about 3000 people) and invited them to come to Jabir’s house for food. Jabir was embarrassed (for there was not enough food for all these people), but the Holy Prophet reassured him and upon arriving there, he asked Jabir to bring to him the marmite in which the food was being cooked. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) mixed a little of his saliva in the food and prayed, and by the grace of Allah, the food got so blessed that it was sufficient to fill the stomach of everyone present (and some of it even remained!). (Bukhari) Once, the mother of Hazrat Anas (May Allah be pleased with him) prepared a special meal and invited the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The food was only for the limited number of people invited (including the hosts), but when the Holy Prophet came, he had forty people with him. Thus, the food was presented to him for prayers and everyone ate to their fill and some food even remained. Like these examples which I mentioned above, there are similar examples repeated during the lifetime of the Prophets of Allah. Like we say – it is through divine intervention that these manifestations were able to take place. They were signs of the veracity of the existence of God, to recall to the people who have forgot that there is Allah, the Creator; the Ever-Living, the Omniscient, the Omnipresent. These manifestations do not occur to tell us to pray Muhammad (peace be upon him), and make him become God. No! Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) is only a human with human weaknesses. All power is in and with Allah! Now let us see some aspects of the extraordinary knowledge which Allah gives the Prophet, through intuition, visions and revelations. There was someone by the name of Umar bin Wahab who conspired with a certain Safwan to kill the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him). He dipped the sharp edge of his sword in poison and went to Medina where the Prophet (peace be upon him) lived. Upon arriving there, Hazrat Umar (May Allah be pleased with him) saw him and directed him to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The latter told his visitor that he knows about his plan along with Safwan to kill him. Umar was surprised to hear that, for only Safwan and himself were aware of the conspiracy. Thereupon he recognised that Muhammad (peace be upon him) was truly a Prophet of Allah. The king of Persia, Chosroes the second wrote to his governor of Yemen, Badhan, to call Muhammad (peace be upon him) and to bring him before the king. When Badhan reached Medina, the Prophet (peace be upon him) told him: “Allah gave Sherveh, the son of Chosroes power, who has killed his father.” That was exactly what happened afterwards. When the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) decided to march towards Mecca (to conquer it), he told the Muslims to begin preparation for the journey, but that all must remain secret. Someone by the name of Hatib Abi Balta’a, who was a Meccan who immigrated to Medina, and who took part in the battle of Badr, wrote a letter to the Quraish to inform them of the plan of Muhammad (peace be upon him). He gave the letter to a woman, and told her to give the letter to the Quraish in Mecca. But the Voice of the Heaven (Allah) informed the Prophet of this plan. Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) then immediately informed Hazrat Ali and Hazrat Zubair (May Allah be pleased with them) about it and ordered them to follow the woman who had already headed towards Mecca. They succeeded in reaching the woman and took the letter from her. On the night preceding the battle of Badr (with 313 companions of the Prophet against 1000 opponents), all night long the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) prayed fervently to Allah and remained in supplication: “O Allah! If You let this small group of believers die today, there will be no one to worship You.” Allah replied to his prayer, by a revelation on the same night: “We shall deviate the enemy; they will turn their back and retreat (in fear)…” That is what exactly happened. If I have to mention divine manifestations in favour of the veracity of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) there are too many of them (which cannot be related in a single day). There are lots of prayers which have been fulfilled and lots of miracles witnessed. All these as signs and proofs of the truthfulness of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him)! It is through these special signs that people were able to have faith, and become all the more attracted to Allah. And this was the duty of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). An ordinary person, an ordinary priest (from any other religion) cannot manifest such extraordinary signs like this. Insha-Allah, tomorrow we shall continue to talk about our beloved Holy Prophet of Islam Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) in our special function – on the events and aspects of his life. May Allah help us to inculcate into us the good which Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) represents and let us ask Allah to give us of the good which the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) has asked Him to give him, and we ask of Him protection against the evils which Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) has asked Allah to protect him from. Ameen.