Balaghal Ula Bi Kamalihi-Kashafad Duja Bi Jamalihi
Hasunat Jameeu Khisalihi-Sallo Alaihi Wa aalihi
(He reached the highest place through his perfection, He drove out the darkness through his beauty, Beautified were all his characteristics, Our hearts and lives are occupied by thoughts of him)
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was not only the Messenger but as the final and last Prophet, divinely inspired man of truth and wisdom who saw light in his heart and mind at a time when forces of evil and falsehood had darkened the horizon. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was sent by the creator and sustainer of this universe to guide the people towards the right path that leads to paradise.
He was very merciful to his Ummah. He would preach the people to embrace Islam and abandon idol worship. Some people embraced Islam and some resented him as he was against their idols that they considered as gods. Prophet was subjected to persecution. Some unbelievers stoned and teased him. In fact he had too many difficulties in the task of spreading the message of Islam.
But Allah’s grace was always with him; so he could illuminate the candle of Islam and fill the environs with the light of faith. The Holy Qur’an mentions in his reverence: “Wama Arsalnaka illa Rehmat al lil Alamin” (Oh Prophet Muhammad (SAW) we sent you for the world as blessing) it makes evidently clear the Prophet (SAW) we sent to the world as a blessing.
When the Arab turned against him and unbelievers of Taif threw stones at him, he bled from head to feet, and there came an angel to seek his permission to strike the mountains on the opposite sites of the valley against each other so that the wicked people would be crushed to death. But see the mercy of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the embodiment of peace; he did not let the angel to do so and said, “I have been bestowed with the title of “rehmat-ul-alamin” so it won’t be right on my part to let you crush them, may be their coming generations embraced Islam”.
The Prophet showed utmost empathy towards believers as Qur’an describes: “There has certainly come to you a Messenger from among yourselves.
Grievous to him is what you suffer; (he is) concerned over you (i:e., your Guidance) and to the believers is kind and merciful” (9:128). The Prophet’s blessing to humanity is that he stimulated human consciousness and made humans to understand the ultimate truth, the oneness of Allah and transformed this understanding into faith. He impressed upon the people that Allah is one, who is most exalted, most commendable, most benevolent, and most powerful.
This truth revolutionized the life of the people. Muhammad (SAW) is the model of beautiful moral character, Uswa-e-Hasana;(33:21). Even non-believers acknowledge this, as Thomas Carlyle says: “It is a great shame for anyone to listen to the accusation that Islam is a lie and that Muhammad (SAW) was a fabricator and a deceiver.
We saw that he remained steadfast upon his principles, with firm determination; kind and generous, compassionate, pious, virtuous, with real manhood, hardworking and sincere. Besides all these qualities, he was lenient with others, tolerant, kind, cheerful and praiseworthy. He was just, truthful, smart, pure, magnanimous and present-minded; his face radiant as if he had lights within him to illuminate the darkest of nights; he was a great man by nature who was not educated in a school nor nurtured by a teacher as he was not in need of any of this.” Likewise Karen Armstrong says: “If we are to avoid catastrophe, the Muslim and Western worlds must learn not merely to tolerate but to appreciate one another.
A good place to start is with the figure of Muhammad: a complex man, who resists facile, ideologically-driven categorization, who sometimes did things that were difficult or impossible for us to accept, but who had profound genius and founded a religion and cultural tradition that was not based on the sword but whose name—“Islam”—signified peace and reconciliation.” This shows that Prophet as an all-inclusive truthful social reformer who saved Arabia and all humanity from the clutches of evil.
If we preview the life and character of the Prophet (SAW), we come to know that his life and character is Qur’an itself as has been mentioned by Hazrat Aisha (RA) when she was asked about his character. He was of an exalted character ‘Khuluq-e-Azeem’ who would lead forth those who believe and do righteous deeds, from darkness to light. The Qur’an exemplifies the character and life which Muhammad (SAW) lived. He taught us how we should live and behave with others, with our neighbors, friends, elders, teachers etc.
He liberated slaves, orphans and women, the poor and weak. His inspired word became a standard for distinguishing right from wrong, true from false and good from evil. His mission was same as that of the other Prophets before him; supremacy of truth, human equality and brotherhood. He is the revolutionary of the modern age because he clearly saw that the eternal strife between good and evil is actually, in its social and economic form, a class struggle, a fight between oppressed and oppressors, slaves and masters, exploited and exploiters, serfs and lords, the weak and powerful. As a revolutionary he armed himself and his followers after his migration from the citadel of corruption from evil. He liberated the oppressed from the ruthless oppression and slavery of the usurer merchant hoarders, slave-owners, lords and priests in the pre-feudal tribal and pastoral society of the Hijaz, of the early seventh century. He discovered truth and expressed reality in a new language under new circumstances. It is evident that his mission and his success bear witness to this fact. Even non-believers and many western scholars have shown Prophet as an all-inclusive truthful social reformer who saved Arab society and all humanity from the clutches of evil.
The universal degeneration in the Muslim world is because we have shun the path of Allah and his beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW). All the Muslims in this world claim that they have the intense love for Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in their hearts. Our claim cannot be fulfilled by mere observing the Milad Majalis, but by following him.
The first and foremost condition for the true love is to follow the beloved (SAW). Following the commands and Sunnah of Prophet. Second is to remember him all the time with intense affection. Third is to yearn for being close to him and the intense desire to see him. Fourth is to respect and revere him above all.
Iqbal beautifully portrayed the reverence and love to Prophet in these verses:
Wo Danae Subl, Khatm-e-Rusl, Maula-e-Kul Jis Ne,
Gubra-e-Rah Ko Bakhsha Firoghe Wada-e-Sina,
Nigah-e-Masti Me Wahi Awal, Wahi Aakhir,
Wahi Qur’an, Wahi Furqan, Wahi Yasin, Wahi Taha”.
Hadrat Abu Huraira (R.A) and Hadrat Anas (R.A) both have narrated this Hadith that Muhammad (pbuh) said” “No one among you will become a believer until he or she will love me more than his parents, children and all other people”. Fifth is to love all whom Prophet loved and who were the beloved of Prophet and those are his companions or Suhaba, his family or Ahli Bayat, his nation and language which is Arab and Arabic etc. Sixth, is to hate the enemies of truth. Seventh is to make the mission of our lives the very mission of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and to care intensely for the Ummah or community of Prophet without the barriers of caste, color, race etc. And the most important condition for the truthfulness of our love with our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is to consider him completely infallible.
While concluding, it can be said that Muslims world over, rather humanity in general, must introspect and follow his teachings in letter and spirit. Muslims are in dire need to reflect on it.
Iqbal puts it beautifully:
“Ki Muhammad Se Wafa Tu Ne To Hum Tere Hai
Ye Jaha Cheese Kya Lahu Wa Kalam Tere Hai”
Author teaches at Department of Islamic Studies, Govt. College for Women, Nawakadal.