A monthly letter to incarcerated Muslims
A PDF version can be downloaded here.
Rabi‘ al-Awwal 1445/October 2023
Letter No. 4, Amman, Jordan
Dear Believers: as-Salamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatu Llahi wa barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah Most Merciful and Compassionate: All praise be to Allah Most High, and blessings and peace upon His beloved Prophet Muhammad, a mighty mercy to all worlds of beings.
To commence: Great indeed is Allah who brings forth whom He wills from the night of unbelief, corruption, and evil into the bright daylight of being with the Living One who will never perish, never fail, and never lose. The light Allah has cast into the heart of His Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) guides everyone who follows it through the pitfalls of this world to a life of endless happiness, honor, and triumph. Allah says in verse 33.56 of Surat al- Ahzab:
إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ وَمَلَـٰٓئِكَتَهُۥ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى ٱلنَّبِىِّ ۚ يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ صَلُّوا۟ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا۟ تَسْلِيمًا
Truly Allah and His very angels
ever bless the Prophet with mercy and grace:
O you who believe, invoke blessings upon him,
and pray your utmost he be shown
all pure secure peace.
Now, when a king chooses an emissary to another nation for a crucial mission, he sends the most impressive individual he can find, for such a person can generally accomplish something. The above verse clarifies the Prophet’s high nobility (Allah bless him and give him peace), and why he should be heeded by all people till the end of time who hope to be saved.
The word inna or “truly” that begins the verse is emphatic. The mention of “Allah and His very angels” before the verb makes it a ‘nominal sentence’ (jumla ismiyya) which is more powerful in Arabic than an ordinary verbal sentence, and indicates—especially with the verb yusalluna “ever bless” in the imperfect tense—thubut or ‘unceasingness.’ The ascription of the angels to Allah in the word mala’ikatahu “His very angels” is termed an idafa al-tashrif or ‘ennobling ascription,’ which emphasizes their nobility in Allah’s sight, for they are the greatest of His creatures, but also isti‘ab or the word’s ‘generalizability’ to all of Allah’s angels without exception. All of them, with Allah, “ever bless the Prophet with mercy and grace.” The unceasing nature of these blessings on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) denoted by yusalluna is Allah’s encouragement to all Muslims to also bless him perpetually, all the time. Why? Because, like everything Allah asks us to do in His Sacred Law, it does not benefit Him, but rather us, and benefit us a great deal. The ulema of tafsir or ‘scholars of the Quran’s meaning’ tell us the blessings of Allah upon the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) mean Allah’s incomparable mercy upon him, His praise and glory (thana’) for him, His raising his exalted spiritual stations all the higher, and His supreme good pleasure (ridwan) in him. The blessings of the angels for him are istighfar or ‘asking forgiveness’ for him, and making du‘a or supplication for Allah to bless him. Note also that Allah did not say in the above verse “ever bless you” in a direct address to the Prophet, but uses the word al-Nabiyy or ‘the Prophet,’ which is for ta‘dheem or ‘exalted reverence and respect,’ doubly emphasized by the word’s origin, for in comparison, the word rasul or ‘messenger’ focuses on his purpose and mission, while Nabiyy derives from an-nabw min al-ard or ‘a height on the face of the earth,’ emphasizing his lofty prophetic rank above all mankind, as if Allah were saying, “ever bless the High Prophet with mercy and grace.” Imam Sawi has said, “In this verse is the greatest proof that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is the locus where divine mercies descend, and the best of all mankind from first to last.”
The foregoing part of the verse is but a tamheed which ‘prefaces’ the main point: “O you who believe, invoke blessings upon him, and pray your utmost he be shown all pure secure peace”— meaning, “O you who believe, because Allah ever blesses him, follow His example and do so also: it is not enough for you to merely be with him, but you must also bless him, and pray for him to receive divine mercies, the raising of spiritual degrees, and honors in the sight of Allah—not the least because the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) was the one who saved all of your lives by bringing you the message of Islam, the Quran, and the sunna, without which you would have been lost, and your lives of no value to you at all, so show some gratitude, even though it is impossible to repay him as he should be, so say the blessings on him, so that Allah may repay him for you by giving him those blessings.” The Sahaba (Companions) asked the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), “O Messenger of Allah, we know how to say as-Salamu ‘alaykum, so how should we say the blessings on you,” and he answered: “Say: Allahumma salli ‘ala Muhammadin wa ‘ala aali Muhammadin kama sallayta ‘ala Ibraheema wa ‘ala aali Ibraheema innaka hameedun majeed(un). Allahumma baarik ‘ala Muhammadin wa ‘ala aali Muhammadin kama baarakta ‘ala Ibraheema wa ‘ala aali Ibraheema innaka hameedun majeed(un). ‘O Allah ever bless Muhammad and those of Muhammad with mercy and grace, just as You blessed Ibrahim and those of Ibrahim with mercy and grace; Verily You are the All-laudable of Favor, the Incomparably Magnificent. O Allah ever lavish on Muhammad and those of Muhammad magnificent blessings, just as You lavished on Ibrahim and those of Ibrahim magnificent blessings; Verily You are the All-laudable of Favor, the Incomparably Magnificent’” (Sahih al-Bukhari, 8.95 (6357). S). Shafi‘i said that in prayers (du‘a), such as this, the word Aal (“those of” above) means ‘all the followers of,’ that is, the entire Umma, rather than specifically his descendants, which this word means in other contexts, just as the Quran sometimes uses Aal Fir‘awn to denote ‘all of Pharaoh’s following, his whole nation,’ not merely his family. So it is simultaneously a du‘a for oneself, as a Muslim who is a member of his Umma, as well as a blessing on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). The blessings of Allah upon Ibrahim mentioned here echo those mentioned in Genesis 12:3–4, where Allah tells him: “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; And thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Too, the ulema of fiqh or ‘details of Sacred Law’ mention it is praiseworthy (mustahabb) to add Sayyidinaa or ‘the foremost of us’ before the names of Muhammad and Ibrahim (upon them be blessings and peace) in one’s blessings on either or both. There are a great many forms of blessings on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), and all are tremendous mercy and safety for those who say them.
In the last of the verse, wa sallimu tasliman “and pray your utmost he be shown all pure secure peace” means a prayer to keep him entirely free (saleem) of any shortcomings, troubles, or loss of blessings; while being in perfect security, peace, and pleased serenity. The word tasliman after it, which Arab grammarians term a maf‘ul mutlaq or ‘accusative object,’ energizes this command, and is why I have used the word “utmost” in the translation here, for it denotes takthir al-salam or ‘praying for peace upon him copiously, profusely, frequently, and a great deal’—just as one does with the blessings on him. One is obliged to say both the blessings and peace upon him once in one’s life with the intention (niyya) of performing the obligation (wajib), after which it remains recommended (mandub) to do so, and is rewarded as such by Allah every time one says it. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Whoever blesses me once, Allah blesses ten times over” (Sahih Muslim, 1.306 (408). S). What is the result? Allah tells us the answer in verse 33.43 of Surat al-Ahzab: “It is He who blesses you, and His angels, to bring you forth from the depths of darknesses into perfect light; And verily He was ever all-compassionate to believers.” This is a mighty blessing and priceless piece of knowledge, for most of the miseries in our hearts come from real or imagined darknesses, while the greatest happiness comes from the light Allah creates in them. This is why the ulema of Ihsan often prescribe the prayer on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) for minds that are unbalanced, since the Prophet represents the perfect human balance between jalal or ‘rigor, majesty, and formidableness,’ and jamal or ‘beauty, solicitude, and kindness,’ and the prayer upon him balances emotions, hearts, and minds. The perfect thing for whoever could use more of Allah’s favor, blessings, and mercy in their life.
Question of the Month (in sum): Upon converting to Islam, I gave up my homosexual lifestyle. I thought becoming a Muslim and taking the tariqa would cure me. Since then, I had a spiritual experience that has me now convinced that Allah understands my situation, and that being gay and homosexuality is only truly understood by Allah; thus it may be acceptable. I’ve come to
believe that only Allah truly knows His ruling on my being gay, and so I leave the matter with Allah. Still my question is: should I conceal my true state (being hypocritical instead of being openly honest about who I know myself to be) and remain in the tariqa with my current understanding until Allah miraculously resolves all that which is within me, or should I leave the wird (daily dhikr) and the tariqa?
Answer: The matter of which you speak began long ages ago among seven towns not far from where I write this today. They were the people of Lot (Ar. Lut) and they practiced sodomy. Allah sent them Lot, and when they refused to listen to him, Allah sent angels to tell him to get away by night. Then He sent them a devastating punishment never to be forgotten, turning the entire towns upside down, smashing everything in them to pieces, and annihilating their inhabitants to the man—for their having turned Man’s primordial nature upside down by their crime. Allah mentions these events in a number of verses in His Book, and there is no ambiguity about anything connected with it. All of which is nothing compared to the punishment in the next world: being incinerated in the raging blaze of hell, and all of its other horrors. Disobedient believers who enter the hellfire may undergo any of the punishments mentioned by Allah in the Quran that unbelievers will suffer there, with only one difference: the latter will be punished forever, while the former will eventually leave the flames and torments. In any case, in this world, it is obligatory for all of us to conceal our sins from everyone, except to ask someone who one believes can tell one how to win free from them and stop them. This is what I suggest you do. But do not stop the other good things you are doing, including the wird, for the baraka of these good things may lift you from the ill-things that presently beset you. The experience you mention is a trick of the Devil. To believe something to be halal that even a Muslim child who grew up with Muslims would know is haram is to deny the ma‘lum min al-din bi al-darura, or ‘what is necessarily known to be of our religion,’ and this is kufr, unless one was raised far away from Muslims and doesn’t know it is haram—until one finds out that it is. So you must realize it is a sin, repent, ask Allah forgiveness, and save yourself from indescribable travail, pain, and woe in the next world by omitting it in this. You just have to live out your life without it.
All of which is enough for the moment and till next month, Allah willing; with greetings of peace and felicity to everyone; was-Salamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatu Llahi wa barakatuh.
MMXXIII © NUH HA MIM KELLER
“And all that we relate unto thee of the story of the messengers is in order that thereby we may make firm thy heart” (Qur’an 11: 120)
If God, all-Wise, narrated the stories of other prophets to our beloved Prophet to strengthen his heart, then what about our hearts? What about our need for spiritual strength? What about our need for spiritual strength caught up as we are in our spiritually-suffocating worldly lives? And what’s more; without the Prophet amongst us?
“One doesn’t truly believe until I am more beloved to him than his parents, children, and all of humanity,” we are told by the Prophet (Bukhari, 15). This is the true quintessence and prerequisite of religion and love, correctly conceived. Now, how can this love be actualized and realized, with all due rigor? With regard to the character traits of the Prophet; they are an evident source of infatuation. But how are we supposed to first know and then love the physical description of the Prophet? This article will discuss these questions through an introduction of the Shama’il genre and the physiognomy and characterization of the Prophet.
Firstly, we are faced with contradictory principles when approaching Allah, Majestic in His praise, on the one hand, and the Prophet, Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him, on the other. According to the profound understanding of many scholars, our perception of Allah and our perception of the Prophet, in spite of some similarities and overlap, are opposing. The most essential and, at the same time, most comprehensive knowledge we can acquire of Allah is our realization of our inability to know Him; “Naught is as His likeness” (42:11). Knowledge of Allah is a genuine realization of His “absoluteness”. This is what the following approved theological maxim stresses; “Whatever comes to ones mind, Allah is otherwise”.
Other than our love of Allah, our expression of love for the Prophet is entirely based on his relativity, closeness, and even personal relevance. He is the exemplar to be emulated. He is the person whose life is narrated in a more meticulous, detailed, and comprehensive manner than any other historical figure, but also down to the minutest, most personal feature and detail. In fact, emulating his example, in all these details, even in the most personal practices, is not just a praiseworthy religious practice, Sunna, or a sign of love; it is a wise and illuminated way of living. Look how Ibn `Abas, for example, used to stop his camel while performing the minor pilgrimage (`umra) in the exact same spots where the Prophet did!
Love for and admiration of the Prophet is most touchingly manifested in its extension to anything he owned or touched. Love and seeking grace has always been the way of dealing with the belongings our beloved Prophet; Umm Anas related: “The Prophet came to us in a room with a waterskin filled with water. The Prophet, Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him, drank from it while standing. Umm Salim then cut it off the mouth of the waterskin [i.e. she kept it for herself]” (Bukhari, 5673). In the same vein it is related that after the Prophet passed away, the Companions never stopped the Prophet’s mule from eating and let it graze their land as it pleased. They used to stand up in respect for it.
So who is he whom we love and how can his beauty be conceptualized?
Beauty is ultimately the object of poets. Poets possess a higher authoritative insight and the tools with which to gracefully sculpt the beautiful in verse. The following anecdote illustrates this point: Although the Prophet subtly objected that people should not rise for him the way they used to rise for kings, Hassan ibn Thabit, the celebrated poet, struck by the Messenger’s beauty, rose and recited the following lines:
My rising for the beloved is upon me a mandate,
deserting a mandate is not upright.
I wonder about the one with insight and wit;
who sets eyes on such beauty and rises not!
The many physical descriptions of the Prophet that are related and authenticated, mysteriously and without exception, have two fascinating aspects in common. First, the many reporters who recounted the way the Prophet looked—both the ones that have described him closely and extensively like Hind bin Hilala or Imam `Ali and those who described him only superficially —all suddenly proclaiming in mid-sentence in a baffled manner: “I have never seen anything more beautiful than he is,” as al-Baraa’ bin `Azib says in one account (Bukhari 3591, Muslim 6210). Some of them would suddenly exclaim “…the most beautiful of all people!” or “…like the moon!” (al-Bukhari 3589, Muslim 6212) or “He is for me more beautiful than the moon,” as Jabir ibn Sumra said (Bukhari 3592, Tirmidhi 11), or “pretty, beautifully proportioned!” as Abi al-Tufayl cried when he was the only person left on earth who saw the Prophet alive (Bukhari 3041, Tirmidhi 10); and, finally, the lyrical “beautifully faced, I have never seen anything [like him] before him or after him” as proclaimed by Anas ibn Malik (Muslim 6218).
That the description and infatuation with the physical description of the Prophet is an essential element of Islam is testified by its very scripture. In his eminent al-Khasā’is al-Nabuwia al-Kubra (The Grand Prophetic Attributes) Imam al-Suyuti mentions that many physical features of the Prophet were mentioned in the Qur’an: face (2:144), ears (61:9), eyes (17:53, 18:28, 20:131), tongue (94:3), back (3:94), heart (94:1, 3:159, 26:192-194, 11:120, 25:32, 53:11), hand (48:29, 69:41-45), and chest (94:1).
The inner and outer depiction of the Prophet naturally came to form a genre, pioneered by the celebrated hafidh and author of one of the six canonical Hadith collections, Abu `Isa Muhammed bin Isa al-Tirmidhi (his birth date is not agreed upon, d. 297H.). He was known to be a meticulous Hadith-master, an astute scholar, and an austere mystic who lost his sight from weeping in worship. Al-Hafidh al-Muzii described him as “A superior Hadith-master and imam, through whom Allah benefited all Muslims.” Al-Hakem, another celebrated Hadith master, narrated “…Al-Bukhari died, leaving no one like Abu `Isa in knowledge, memorization, scrupulousness, and asceticism.”
Al-Tirmidhi’s opus Al-Shamai’l al-Muhammadiya (The Muhammadan Attributes), an anthology of 412 traditions, inaugurated this genre and is still considered by many scholars—even the ones who wrote commentaries on it — to be unmatched. “It is the only book in its genre, unique in its arrangement and content, so much so that it is considered divinely gifted and has been disseminated in the East and the West,” asserts Sheikh al-Islam Ibrahim al-Bajuri in his commentary on the work. Other commentators include Sheikh `Abdel Ra’uf al-Manawi, Sheikh `Ali al-Qari, and the celebrated Hadith master, commentator on Sahih al-Bukhari, and scholar Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani.
The work, a straightforward compilation of hadith without any commentary, narrates traditions related to the Prophet following a logical order. It starts with “A section on what is narrated concerning the Physical description of the Prophet, Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him”. The most celebrated of these traditions is ‘number five’ which was related by `Ali ibn Abi Talib, and later came to form the substance of the artistic genre of writing the Hilya, or the ‘description of the Prophet’; a standard practice for Arabic calligraphy masters. A beautiful translation of the tradition is the one by the American calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya in his work the Hilye of the Prophet Mohammed (zakariya.net):
Transmitted from Ali , may God be pleased with him, who, when asked to describe the Prophet, peace be upon him, would say, “He was not too tall nor too short. He was medium sized. His hair was not short and curly, nor was it lank but in between. His face was not narrow, nor was it fully round, but there was a roundness to it. His skin was white. His eyes were black. He had long eyelashes. He was big-boned and had wide shoulders. He had no body hair except in the middle of his chest. He had thick hands and feet. When he walked, he walked inclined, as if descending a slope. When he looked at someone, he looked at them in full face. Between his shoulders was the seal of prophecy, the sign that he was the last of the prophets. He was the most generous-hearted of men, the most truthful of them in speech, the most mild-tempered of them, and the noblest of them in lineage. Whoever saw him unexpectedly was in awe of him. And whoever associated with him familiarly loved him. Anyone who would describe him would say, ‘I never saw, before him or after him, the like of him.’ Peace be upon him.”
A skim through the subdivisions of the work leads from his physical portrayal, dress, belongings, depiction of his mannerisms, habits, diet and speech, to his acts of worship, virtues, graying and passing away. The concluding section of the work reveals the intention of the work and the emotional and, above all, spiritual influence that Imam al-Tirmidhi brilliantly exercises over the reader; “Abu Hurayra said: The Prophet of Allah, Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him said: ‘Whoever sees me in dream has truly seen me, for the Satan doesn’t embody my shape’. A similar hadith, also narrated on the authority of Abu Hurayra in al-Bukhari (7079) and Muslim (6057), is “Whoever sees me in his dream will see me when awake and Satan does not embody my shape.” With this Imam al-Tirmidhi introduced a lasting tradition, as all books that were later written about the Prophet end with the topic of dreaming of him.
The last two traditions related by the work are the following two non-prophetic ones;
411- “`Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak said: ‘If one is tested by destiny, then he should seek the traditions [of the Prophet]’.”
412- “Ibn Sirin said: ‘This Hadith [science] is [of] religion; then see who you take your religion from’.”
Having had the honor of studying the Shama’il with two living classical scholars, I came to the realization that a true understanding of the attributes of the Prophet can only be attained from those who embody them and are his rightful heirs through a perpetual handing down of the sacred sciences.
The first scholar is Sheikh Ibrahim `Abdel Ba`ith al-Kitani, who comes from a al-Kitani family which produced generations of Hadith masters. The second is Sheikh Dr. Yusri Gabr, a Hadith scholar, who was a student of the late eminent Hadith master Sheikh `Abd Allah Siddiq al-Ghumari, and a teacher of Tasawwuf in the halaqat (classic teaching circles) of al-Azhar Mosque. Dr. Gabr asserts that there is a reason why all the people who describes the features of the Prophet are of one of two categories; either people who grew up in his household, such as Imam `Ali, his two sons al-Hasan and al-Hussayn, the Prophet’s step from Seyyida Khadija, Hind ibn Hilala, and his servant Anas ibn Malim, or Companions who saw him during their childhood, such as al-Saib ibn Yazid, Rumaytha, or non-Muslims such as Umm Ma`bad (the owner of the eatery by which the Prophet stopped on his Emigration) before she became a Muslim.
The reason for this, explains Sheikh Yusri, is that these people grew up in the house of the Prophet and saw him before the completed incorporation of the metaphysical reality into their beings by virtue of reaching puberty. What happens at that age is that a believer, when he meets the Prophet in person, will not only encounter his beauty—he will also encounter his majesty—which Imam `Ali described as follows: ” Whoever saw him unexpectedly was in awe of him.” This is also why no description of the Prophet was ever given by his closest and mature Companions. There is a tradition in Sahih Muslim that relates from `Amr ibn al-`As: “I couldn’t bear to take in his image because I considered him too exalted. If I were to be asked to describe him I couldn’t bear it, for my eyes never fully took him in.” It is reported in Al-Shifa that the Companion al-Bara’ ibn `Azib said: “I used to want to ask the Messenger of Allah about a matter and postpone it for years because of his majesty.”
Another understanding of the physical beauty of the Prophet that is related is that he is the most beautiful of all creation; transcending that of Prophet Joseph (Yusuf), who was known to possess half of the all created beauty. Imam al-Qurtubi in his book al-Salah explicates: “The perfection of the beauty of the Prophet, Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, was not manifested to us fully; for, if it would have appeared in its entirety, our eyes wouldn’t have been able to observe him.” To that end, and in relation to Prophet Joseph, Imam al-Busiri in his renowned eulogy of the Prophet, al-Burda (the Cloak), pertinently versifies:
He has no equal in his beauties
The gem of beauty in him is indivisible.
To the same end, the Prophet’s wife `A’isha, is reported to have quoted the following two lines of poetry about the Prophet’s beauty, based on the Qur’anic story of Joseph and the vizier’s wife, Zulaykha, whose friends cut their hands because they were mesmerized by his beauty:
If only the friends of Zulaykha would see his forehead
They would cut their necks rather than their hands
Likewise, taken by the poetic, the Prophet’s closest companion Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, eulogized the Prophetic beauty:
Trustworthy, Elected, for goodness he called
Like moonlight in a cloudless night
After al-Tirmidhi’s al-Shama’il, many early and later scholars followed the endeavor. The person whose name comes only second after Imam al-Tirmidhi’s in the Shama’il genre is the famous Maliki Jurist (al-Qadi) `Iyad al-Yahsabi (d. 544 AH), who also excelled in other Islamic disciplines, most notably Hadith and Qur’anic exegesis. Moreover, he was known for his linguistic and superior literary gifts. Amongst his works are a brilliant commentary on Sahih Muslim and numerous other books on Hadith and jurisprudence. His articulate and scholarly al-Shifa’ bi-Ta`rif Huquq al-Mustafa (The Remedy in Identifying the Rights of the Chosen One) became an unparalleled classic, accepted by all Islamic scholars.
Since at-Tirmidhi ‘the Wise’ the Sham’ail genre has extended both horizontally and vertically, i.e. both thematically and in terms of depth. Many other additions to the descriptions given in al-Shamai’l al-Muhammadiya have flourished. Not only has the number of hadith narrations increased; the mention of the Prophet (saws) in the Qur’an, his miracles, the importance of loving him, visiting his tomb, loving his Family, and rulings on the one who slanders him also became part and parcel of the genre. Also, scholarly examinations related to his rank and exaltation by Allah as well as traditions about the Companions invoking peace and blessings upon him have become part of the Shama’il corpus.
Sheikh Yusri is the first one to commentate on al-Shifa’ in Cairo, home of the respected Jamia al-Azhar, since the past two hundred years.
The book is considered to be so blessed that scholars state, “no house that contains al-Shifa’ can burn down”, due to the grace of its content.
As the jurist `Iyad elucidates in his preamble to al-Shifa’, he wrote it because of persistent requests by others to author a book on the rights of the Prophet:
A discourse about that demands the evaluation of principles, the authoring of [lengthy] chapters, the revelation of mysteries and subtleties from the science of [the realization of higher] realities, regarding that which is due or ascribed to him; or regarding that which is rejected or lawful in relation to him. It also demands knowledge of the Prophet and Messenger; ‘messengership’ and prophethood; [the state(s) of] love, friendship, and the attributes of this sublime rank. Surely the likeness of this [mission] is a vast desert, in which even the sand grouse [bird known for its infallible sense of direction] gets lost and where steps fall short; unexplored territories in which one’s discernment is misguided, unless steered by the banner of knowledge and a penetrating perspective; slippery slopes on which feet slip, unless depending on divine success and support… (p. 5)
In relation to Prophetic features, he brilliantly writes:
Know—may Allah enlighten your heart and multiply your and my love of this noble Prophet—that if you look for the qualities of beauty that are innate, you will find that he [the Prophet]—Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him—acquired them fully, encompassing all aspects of beauty, as has been definitively established in all narrations (p. 58).
One of the later contributors to the genre is Imam al-Hasan al-Ansari. Unfortunately, his Muntaha al-Su’ul fi Madh al-Rasul (Ultimate Inquiries into Commending the Messenger) has not survived the vagaries of time. Likewise, the Azhari Imam Ahmed Shehab ad-Din al-Qastalani (d. 932 AH), after teaching and commenting on the al-Shifa‘ in the al-Maqsura area (between the Prophet’s resting place and the pulpit), returned home to Cairo to write a large tome entitled al-Mawahib al-Ladunia bil-Minah al-Muhammadiya (Mystically Inspired Mohamedan Gifts) which became widely circulated. This work includes chapters on the Divine selection of the Messenger’s prophethood and genealogy in pre-existence, the prophetic biography, the Prophet’s names and titles, a description of his physiognomy and character, his miracles, his Nightly Ascendance, the injunction to love and exalt him, and even his medicine. Finally it discusses his departure.
The accomplished jurist, Hadith master, and poet Imam Yusuf al-Nabhani (1265-1350 AH), became the star in the sky of this genre in our modern times. In his opinion al-Mawahib is a highly beneficial and inclusive work. Still, he judged it too lengthy, because it goes into deeply detailed and protracted theological and jurisprudential discussions, which made it “inaccessible” to many. He thus abridged this work under the brilliant title Al-Anwar al-Muhammadia min al-Mawahib al-Ladunia (Muhammadan Lights [Derived] from Mystical Inspirations).
“Know that it is part of perfecting faith in him [the Prophet] —Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him—that Allah, most-Sublime, has created the Prophet’s body in a way unsurpassed before or after in human creation,” Imam al-Nabahani asserts in Al-Nawar with regard to the Prophet’s exquisiteness (p.194).
He contributed to the genre with many other works, varying from poetry to related compilations of prayers by Muslim saints and scholars. His most famous work is Was’il al-Wusul ila Shamai’l al-Rasul (The Means of Attainment to the Characteristics of the Messenger). Nabhani’s work yet again illustrates the close relationship between Hadith scholarship and the Shama’il genre.
One of the most fascinating aspects of this genre is the way its subject matter has expanded while simultaneously fragmenting. Many works came to specialize in a certain aspect of Shama’il. The most famous of these early works is the lengthy Dala’il al-Nubuwwa (Proofs of Prophethood) by Imam al-Bayhaqi (d. 458AH), a title and a theme which was taken up by numerous other scholars and under which they covered all the narrations related to the miracles and attributes of the Prophet.
The prominent and ultra prolific Hadith master, Imam Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (849-911 AH.), produced many books which deal with certain parts of the genre. Among these is al-Riyad al-Aniqa fi Sharh Asma’ Sayyid al-Khaliqa (The Pretty Meadows of Explaining the Names of the Master of Creation). He also authored the previously mentioned al-Khasa’is al-Nabawiyya al-Kubra, which focuses on the miracles and privileges of the Prophet. This is an excellent commentary on the numerous names, designations, and titles which were attributed to the Prophet. One of his greatest works deals with seeing the Prophet in a dream: Tanwir al-Huluk fi Jawaz Ru’ya al-Nabi’ wa al-Malak (Lightening the Darkness with Regard to Seeing the Prophet and Angels).
A truly interesting aspect of the genre which has attracted much attention and is a further illustration of its increasing fragmentation is the Prophet’s slippers. Works focusing on this theme are Fath al-Mut`al fi Madh al-Ni`al (The Illumination of the Sublime in Praising the Slippers [of the Prophet]) by Shehab al-Din Ahmed al-Muqri and Nayl al-Shifa’ bi Na`l (Attaining to a Cure through the Slippers) by the Deobandi Sheikh Ashraf `Ali al-Tahanawi.
One of the most significant contemporary Shamai’l works is that by the late scholar, Hadith master and jurist, al-Sayyid Muhammad `Alawi al-Maliki’s Muhammad al-Insan al-Kamil (Muhammed, the Perfect Human Being). The work, which is written in very accessible language, is based on the idea that the perfection of Islam necessitates the perfection of its emissary; hence, all aspects of the Prophet are a manifestation of perfection, including his physical shape. Al-Maliki writes, “It has been confirmed that he—Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him—was the epitome of beauty. This beauty is crowned by two matters: First, inspiring majestic awe; second, illuminating radiance. This is why whoever saw him was not stunned by him, unlike those who saw Prophet Joseph—peace be upon him—who, although he possessed only half of created beauty, women exalted him and cut their hands when they saw him, exclaiming: “How perfect is Allah! This is not a human being. This is not other than some gracious angel” (12:31) (p. 17).
One of the most momentous contemporary services to the Shama’il is the compilation and authentication of all sahih Hadith related to the Shama’il by the Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation in an annotated volume titled: Shama’il al-Nabi Sala Allah `Alayhi was Sallam. It is a compendium of 1373 traditions from the six canonical Hadith books in addition to hadith from al-Muwatta’ of Imam Malik, al-Musnad of Imam Ahmed, Al-Musnad of al-Hamidi, al-Sunan of Al-Darimi and al-Sunan al-Daraqutni. The book’s inner beauty is reflected in its exquisite script, design, illumination, and the classical layout of the sectioning and marginalia. It was submitted to the American Institute of Graphic Arts’ prestigious 50/50 best designed books and dust jackets competition for books published in 2005, and was selected as one of the fifty winners. The exhibition of the winning entries was held at the AIGA’s gallery on Fifth Avenue in New York from September to November 2006.
The last two Hadiths in this work read:
On the authority of al-Tafyal bin Abi Ka`b, who narrated from his father said “When two thirds of the night had elapsed, The Messenger of Allah—Allah’s peace and blessing be upon Him—used to rise [for night vigil prayer] and say: ‘O people! Remember Allah! Remember Allah! The Trumpet blast has come, followed by the second! Death has come with what is in it! Death has come with what is in it!’ I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah. I pray for many blessings upon you. How much should I reserve for you in my prayer?’ He said: ‘What you wish.’ I said: ‘A quarter’. He said: ‘If you wish. If you add more it is better for you.’ I said: ‘Half.’ He said: ‘If you wish. If you add more it is better for you.’ I said: ‘Two thirds then.’ He said: ‘If you wish. If you add more it is better for you.’ I said: ‘Should I reserve all of my prayer for you?’ He said: ‘Then you will be spared from your worries and your sins will be forgiven.’”(al-Tirmidhi, 2645).
The very last tradition reads: “Allah has wandering angels that convey to me the prayers of peace invoked by my nation.” (al-Nasa’i, 1290).
Another scholar who contributed with tremendous work to this genre is the late sheikh Abd Allah Siraj al-Din, whose books on demonstrating prophetic virtues and analyzing different elements of prophetic behavior stand unparalleled. The authors of the Shama’il genre were moved by several objectives; informing people about the rank and beauty of the Prophet, reporting his exemplary life, and inspiring closeness to him through creating a spiritual as well emotional link to his person.
Imam al-Nabhani mentions another reason in the preface of Was’il al-Wusul ila Shamai’l al-Rasul with which the author of this article identifies: “…I looked at my lack of knowledge, my feebleness of understanding, the greatness of my sins, and the abundance of my deficiencies, so I restrained myself [from writing about the Prophet] as befits someone who knows his rank and thus restricts himself. I then pondered being a member of the nation of this distinguished Prophet and [his] bounteous generosity. Like a little child advances towards a compassionate, benevolent father, I proceeded [to write] after hearing the words of Allah: “Now there has come to you a Messenger from among yourselves; grievous to him is your suffering; anxious is he over you, gentle to the believers, compassionate” (9:128) (p. 28).
Al-Tirmidhi, Muhammed bin `Isa, Al-Shamail Al-Muhammadiya. Dar Ibn Hazm, Beirut, Lebanon, 1997.
Al-Yahsabi, Abi al-Fadl `Eyad, al-Shifa’ bi-Ta`rif Huquq al-Mustafa. Dar al-Kutub al-`Ilmiya, Beirut, Lebanon, undated .
Al-Nabahani, Yusuf bin Ismail, Al-Anwar al-Muhammadia min al-Mawahib al-Ladunia. Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi, Cairo, Egypt
Al-Nabahani, Yusuf bin Ismail, Was’il al-Wusul ila Shamai’l al-Rasul. Dar al-Minhaj, Beirut, Lebanon, 2004.
Shama’il al-Nabi Sala Allah `Alayh was Sallam. Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation, Cairo, Egypt, Germany, Stuttgart, 2004.
The approach to Makka lies through mountains, sharp, unforgiving angles of granite. The road to Madina passes through great plains of basalt: the harrawastelands which provide dramatic reminders of the region’s volcanic past. Several eruptions are recorded by the Muslim historians, the most fearsome taking place in 1257, when a volcano poured out fast-moving orange streams of lava, which were only deflected to pass to the east of the city by the fervent prayers of its inhabitants.
Desiccated by the merciless desert air, these seas of fire have dried to form black basalt plains, which stretch beyond the horizon. They are God’s defence of the city, whose glassy sharpness kept at bay the idolatrous invaders of Quraish, forcing them to confront the believers at their only point of access, at the Battle of the Trench. The desolation of this landscape of flat blackness, interrupted by dry sarha bushes, and, far away, the shapely profile of extinct volcanoes, gives the impact of arrival an extraordinary dramatic power.
The proximity of the City, on the motorway inevitably dubbed the Hijra Highway, is first announced by the slip-road to Abyar Ali, the Wells of Ali. These are sweetwater sources much frequented by pilgrims, eager to benefit from the medicinal properties of these deep, cold wells once owned by the Blessed Prophet’s son-in-law. Pilgrims from the Subcontinent, in particular, flock here to catch the precious fluid in bottles, to be given to relatives on their return: a gift almost as welcome as the Water of Zamzam itself.
Ten minutes drive, and Quba is reached. Here, the black barrenness of the harrat suddenly gives way to a verdant sea of green. Alfalfa, watermelons, cucumber and tomatoes grow here, between fruit trees and the ancient symbol of Madina, the date palm itself. In this prosperous suburb, now a place of coffee-shops and small parks, can still be found the Zarqa wells from which the Blessed Prophet drank when first he reached the City, and which are the secret of the land’s fertility. Here, too, the Madinan Muslims, and the penniless but radiant refugees from Makkan tyranny, patiently lined the walls and the high places, hoping for a glimpse of God’s Messenger and the faithful Abu Bakr, as they appeared as dots on the shimmering horizon.
The mosque at Quba, the first place of worship founded in Islam, is impressive but sober. The 1986 reconstruction retains the familiar features of Madinese architecture, which are ribbed white domes, and basalt facing over a modest exterior that recalls Madina’s primordial simplicity. The courtyard, screened overhead by day from the scorching heat, is flagged with black, red and white marble. Calligraphy by great Turkish masters soars overhead, proclaiming the uniqueness of this place. Arabesque latticework filters the light of the palm groves outside. Doves coo in the window-niches.
Despite the sense of peace, few linger here. The pull of the Haram, the Sanctuary, is everywhere, and as the sun lowers in the west the pilgrims have thoughts only for the Prophet’s Mosque. At this time, there is only one destination for visitors and city-dwellers alike. In Ramadan, in this city, it would be possible to switch off the traffic lights in the late afternoon. Every road becomes a one-way street, pulling the visitor towards the cool, radiant heart of the city.
Visitors who have not set foot in Madina before are often in tears by now. The blessings of a still, loving Presence can be breathed everywhere, softening hearts, and loosening tongues in dhikr. Shops and buildings pass by, but here the city itself is no more than a blur. Visitors come here for one place, and for one person alone.
The road skirts the Manakha district, and passes the Mosque of Abu Bakr, its Ottoman minaret pointing to the clear, reddening sky. Then, the splendour of the Haram is suddenly revealed. A minaret, and then several more, sparkle in welcome. And then the adhan rises, piercing the warm air with its magnetic summons.
A sea of quiet humanity pours into each of seventy gates. Many have removed their sandals long beforehand, out of respect for the ground, which holds the Messenger in its embrace. Within, there is clear light, carpets, water-barrels, and an extraordinary dynamic which draws the visitor on, and in, until at last the courtyard is reached, and the pilgrim stands in the presence of the Best of Creation.
Hundreds of thousands are being fed. These guests of the Prophet sit, while those honoured with this service circulate, smilingly handing out dates, or small containers of yoghurt. In this palace of the Prophet, no-one, however poor, goes hungry when the time of the fast is ended. Children tumble on the carpets, laughing with delight at the experience of the endless sanctuary. There is a murmur of grateful conversation, and of prayer.
The space is articulated with supreme genius. To one side is the Gate of Gabriel, leading on, and in, to the Rawda, and to the mihrab in which the Messenger himself laid his forehead on the earth in adoration of God. On one side is the dakka, the carved marble platform on which the muezzin and his assistants await the appointed time. On the other rises the gold grille beyond which lies the cool and shaded silence beneath the great dome. The air here is perfumed by the rarest of incense and musk, announcing the presence, beneath the flagstones, of the Best of Creation, and Abu Bakr and Umar, his closest companions.
The modern Egyptian poet al-Fayturi expresses the emotions of millions:
Over the Prophet’s form every speck of dustis a pillar of light
ascending from the dome of his tomb
to the dome of the skies.
And the awe that makes our foreheads bow
draws its own horizon, and higher horizons,
from hands and from lips –
the road of ‘In the name of God.’
The proximity is overwhelming for some pilgrims, whose humility and awe forces them to sit at a respectful distance, perhaps some way down the mosque. Others cannot sit too close. Everywhere, there is worship, bowing and prostration, the mellifluous murmuring of the Qur’an, and wordless contemplation.
A hadith tells us that ‘Prayer in my mosque is a thousand times better than prayer in any other mosque, saving only the Sacred Mosque itself.’ As the iqama sounds, and half a million men and women rise with longing for the prayer, the calculation does not feel like an overstatement.
Prayer in the Rawda is especially sought after. A hadith affirms that ‘the space between my grave and my pulpit is one of the Meadows of Paradise.’ Here, listening to the awesome gravity of God’s word, the continuity with the blessed past is felt intensely. The greatest saints and scholars of Islam have stood here: after the Companions came countless thousands: the Four Imams worshipped here, as did al-Shaybani, Ibn Jurayj, al-Zuhri, Sibawayh, Ibn Qutaybah, al-Ghazali, al-Nawawi, A’isha al-Ba‘uniyya, Ibn Khaldun: all the great souls of Islam have prayed here, humbled by the Prophetic presence.
After the silent prayers of the day, the worshippers drink the words of the Qur’an thirstily. The greetings of peace are given, and the lines break up as they worship individually. Circles of remembrance form in the Rawda, as turbanned Turks repeat a litany, guided by their teacher, prayer-beads in hand. Nigerians, Uzbeks, Bangladeshis and a whole sea of Indonesians do likewise.
A Baluchi folk-melody, ‘May I see the towers of Madina’, sings,
On the tongues of this Rawda’s nightingales are words of wisdom,More beautifully coloured than all the flowers of Madina!
Among the many Prophetic litanies which the careful ear may hear in this place, the most widely-used is the Dala’il al-Khayrat, the Indications of Blessings, by Imam al-Jazuli, whose tomb in far-off Marrakesh breathes something of the spirit of Madina. This great prayer begins with over two hundred Names of the Prophet, culled from the scriptures, and which may also be read in exquisite Naskh calligraphy above the green tiles on the qibla wall. Hundreds of names recall him: the Messenger of Mercy, the Emissary of Virtue, Reliant, the Beloved of God, Seal of the Prophets …
These pilgrims know that they are in the presence of the most influential man in history. He had found a people divided by the crudest pagan ignorance, and left them united in the purest and most exalted monotheism. Formerly they had denied life after death; twenty-three short years on, they lived with it constantly before their eyes. He had found them unable to rule themselves, torn by age-long vendettas, knowing no law other than the selfish interest of the tribe and the individual’s honour; and he left their hearts so united that they withstood the shock of his death, and went out to liberate the world.
In this place, the Messenger guided his disciples. Here they learnt how to be still before their Lord, how to restrain their anger, to live for others, to show compassion to young and old. This was the crucible of a New World Order: the most effective school ever known.
And presiding over it all, still, is the presence of the Prophet. His mission for the Muslim commonwealth awaits its final consummation, when, at the Resurrection, he shall appear with his name of Intercessor. There is no Muslim alive who does not hope for the honour of resurrection under his green Banner of Praise, and for the rapture of salvation through his pleading before his Lord. Adab, good manners in his presence, is hence passionately cultivated and prayed for. Those who respectfully move forwards, to stand before the gold of the Wajiha to greet him, are moved not only by love and gratitude for what he did, but by fervent hope for his prayers, help and pleading amid the terrors of the Apocalypse.
He said: ‘No Muslim greets me but that Allah restores my spirit to me so that I am able to respond to him.’ Five times a day, worshippers end their prayers by invoking blessings and peace upon his spirit. No human being, since the beginning of time, has been more blessed. And this reciprocal rite of taslim is the culmination of a lifetime of calling down God’s blessings upon him, a cosmic process in which God and the Angels themselves join. In the presence of his spirit, salat and salam come continuously. The entire mosque is filled with prayers for him; and this is the largest building in the world. Here, the existence of humanity finds its justification.
‘Not one of you believes,’ says a hadith, ‘until I am dearer to him than his father, his son, and all mankind.’ The power of this love detains many in the mosque. But the body has its rights, and others slowly leave, to find a place to eat in this crowded city. Restaurants of all kinds abound, and the air around the mosque loses its hint of musk and sandalwood, to become fragrant with the aroma of Turkish kebabs, Lebanese meze, Malaysian satay, Sudanese chicken and beans. In the darkness, street vendors offer the garments of fifty countries: Indonesian batik, Damascus muslin, Egyptian cotton, Moroccan chiffre. Prayer beads of olive pits, amber or ebony dangle from shelves. Women browse through jewellery, heaped high with no fear of thieves.
The cheerful fellowship of the eating-houses is not the profane self-exaltation of the smart Western restaurant. Here, companionship is the main item on the menu. Struggling for words, Muslims of two hundred nationalities speak about their homes, about the troubles of the world, about their hopes for an end to the unbearable shallowness of the modern world, and a return to God.
The air outside is now much cooler. Those who know the city may briefly visit some of its nearer shrines, such as the Mosque of the Two Qiblas, with its resonances of the lost Muslim city of Jerusalem, the Third Holy City. Unlike Madina, Jerusalem has been tragically desacralised in recent decades, with the introduction of night clubs, pornography, and every form of degradation. But Islam’s grasp on Madina is still strong. Such is God’s power in defence of His Messenger that no enemy army has succeeded in capturing it, since the dawn of Islam.
The adhan sounds for isha, and the veins of the city pump back towards the mosque which is its heart. Grateful for God’s gift of food and drink, the pilgrims are eager for the prayer, followed by the Tarawih rite extending almost two hours into the night.
Tarawih in Madina is one of the great spectacles of the world. Perhaps a million men, women and children, stand in neat lines in the mosque, on its roof, and in the marbled spaces nearby. Tarawih in Mecca is an experience of austere majesty; in Madina, it is characterised by delight and by love. To pray in the company of God’s Messenger, who rose through the seven heavens to bring to us the gift of prayer, and who will intercede for tides of humanity, is an almost inexpressible joy. Villagers from Pakistan, shopkeepers from Turkey, Nigerian businessmen, and Bosnian farmers, all stand together, their differences annihilated by the presence of the man whose mission was truly universal.
In the Qur’an, there is nothing of Arab pride. Its original context in history was the Arab people, but it pays little attention to them. It is farsighted, affirming that each previous prophet had been sent only to his own people; but that now, a Prophet had come who was for all mankind. And here is the proof of that mission’s truth and of its success under God: a million human beings, outwardly diverse but of a single heart, basking in the glow of Madina.
After Tarawih, it is tea-time. Midnight, under the arc-lamps of this warm city, is no time for sleep. Sufi fraternities meet in homes, and recall the glories of the Beloved of Madina. Hadith are read, in the sing-song style traditional in the city. Commentaries are given in the delightful Madina dialect, so rich in Syrian and Turkish words.
Tahajjud prayers attract perhaps a quarter of a million, deep in the small hours. Others are sleeping in the streets, or in the hotels, which range from small Egyptian resthouses with doubtful stairs, to the five-star plushness of the Sheraton and the Green Palace. On the roofs of many hotels are small gardens, and here, even at this hour, the Sufi orders are again enjoying their fellowship in the spirit.
The sunna recommends that at least some of the night be spent in sleep. Two hours before dawn, most of the city is silent. And then, the first adhan, more than an hour before the adhan for the prayer, rises into the black sky. The hotels serve a pre-dawn meal, but few linger until the last moment. An hour before the dawn prayer begins, the mosque is already full, the worshippers knowing by experience the value of this time. The Suffa, the small veranda attached to the Prophetic tomb, is crowded with turbaned men, prayer-beads in hand. Here lived the poorest of the Companions, those who were under the most intense spiritual guidance, who hungered, and lived in rags, and prayed.
The final adhan sounds, and then the iqama. The prayer is said, followed by the atmosphere of peace and consummation which ends each prayer. Many remain untilishraq, the individual prayer said after sunrise. Others hail taxis, and visit the outlying shrines.
The most important of these is Mount Uhud. The Blessed Prophet proclaimed it as ‘a mountain which loves us, and which we love’. Its mysterious quality has been reinforced by aerial photographs, which show that the mountain spells the Arabic name of Allah. To walk in its dry valleys is to encounter solitary pilgrims, meditating on the evanescence of life. Occasionally a qalandar is seen, with untidy hair, fingers heavy with brass rings, his eyes disquietingly bright. Some live in this hill throughout their visit, descending to the valley to pray.
Ramadan is a time of renunciation. Although the morning air is still cool, the sense of detachment granted by the fast has sobered the crowds, and focussed their minds. The pilgrims clustered around the iron grille which allows them to view the graves of the Martyrs of Uhud read from prayerbooks, or repeat the words of the muzawwir, the official guide. ‘Peace be upon you, Hamza, the Lion of God, the uncle of God’s Messenger! Peace be upon you, Mus‘ab, hero of the Companions!’ Beside the cemetery, the authorities have constructed a mosque for those who wish to pray in this place.
The great cemetery of Madina, however, is al-Baqi‘. This lies near the Prophet’s tomb, from which it was until recently separated by one of the gates of the walled city, the Bab al-Baqi‘. The cemetery has many names, including Jannat al-Baqi‘ (The Garden of Baqi‘), and Baqi‘ al-Gharqad, a reference to the brambles (gharqad) which covered it when Islam first arrived. In the fifth year of the Hijra, the Companion Uthman ibn Maz‘un died, and was buried here, and on the Blessed Prophet’s instructions the area was cleared of brambles and became the last resting place of the Companions.
Today, Baqi‘ is the most visited graveyard in the world. Until recently rough cement walls surrounded it, but in 1996 the authorities replaced these with fine granite, pierced with large iron and brass grilles, to commemorate and honour this place. Some pilgrims stand by the grilles, but others, particularly in the cool hour after dawn, venture in by the splendid new gates.
To facilitate circulation, the authorities have established cement pathways throughout the cemetery. Guidebooks provide detailed maps of the plots, naming hundreds of the individuals who are buried here. Hence the pilgrims, guided by their muzawwirs, stand, or crouch, before the tombs of the Mothers of the Believers: A‘isha, Hafsa, Umm Habiba and the others. Nearby is the Blessed Prophet’s infant son, the two year old Ibrahim, whose death caused the Prophet such pain. The pilgrims move on to salute Uthman, the third Caliph, and then Imam Malik and his teacher Nafi‘. Al-Abbas, the Prophet’s uncle, is here. So too is Halima al-Sa‘diyya, the nurse whose dry breasts miraculously flowed with milk when the infant Muhammad was set to them. To one side is the grave of Imam Shamyl, the nineteenth-century hero of the Caucasus, visited by Chechen and Daghistani pilgrims to this day.
Al-Baqi‘ is a powerful place. Other cities consider it their pride to host a single saint; but here there are hundreds. All around lie at rest the men and women who heard the Prophet’s summons, and broke the idols of their forefathers, and gave their lives to his cause. To this blessed ambience is added the baraka of Ramadan, and as the days pass, this too gains in power.
The fasting city of Madina has other wonders, although not all are as spectacular as the Haram and al-Baqi‘. There is one mosque no bigger than a prayer-mat, surrounded by two layers of bricks, which marks the spot where the Blessed Prophet once prayed. An elderly man lives nearby, and sweeps the tiny mosque daily, dispensing prayers and teaching-stories to the visitors.
The tribes of Aws and Khazraj, who welcomed the Prophet and his teaching, still live in Madina, retaining their traditions of courtesy and hospitality. The basalt homes in which they once lived: the traditional Madinese bayt al-bi’r, built around a courtyard which was often covered with a net and filled with tropical birds, are now mostly gone. Yet otherwise, not much has changed in fourteen hundred years. Pernicious and cheapening influences from the world outside are successfully excluded.
Madina shows the truth of the hadith that ‘Madina expels impurities as a furnace expels impurities from iron.’ The form of the city has changed, but the heart is immutable. In Ramadan, more than at any other time, the continued strength of Islam is manifest here. The city is well-defended; as a hadith recorded by Imam Muslim states, the Antichrist cannot enter it, but will be driven away on the lava-plains by al-Khidr himself. In this city, and in this month, the Muslims are at home.
Kerim Fenari
Transliterated and translated from the Punjabi with notes by Asif Jehangir Naqshbandi
Introduction
This Punjabi poem in praise of the Prophet Muhammad (upon him be the blessings and peace of God) is, without doubt, the most acclaimed and revered naat in the whole of Punjabi devotional and religious poetry. It is also unique in that its’ author, the venerable scholar, Saint, and Friend of Allah (wali) , Hazrat Pir Sayyid Mihr Ali Shah Golrawi Chishti, had a waking vision of the Prophet whilst he was composing this naat which lead him to write the immortal last two lines which are known to all and sundry in the Subcontinent and in the Punjabi Muslim diaspora. How can they not be immortalised when the Beloved Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) showed himself to the Shaykh to display his approval for this son of his? Allahu Akbar! We can only imagine the beauty of the Prophet which the Shaykh saw! Even as a piece of Punjabi literature its greatness is acknowledged even by the non-religious.
It is the acme of Punjabi poetry and recalls the works of the great Saints of the Punjab of the past such as Baba Farid, Hazrat Sultan Bahu, Baba Waris Shah Sahib and Mian Muhammad Bakhsh to name just a few. Its author, Pir Sayyid Mihr Ali Shah Jilani Golrawi Chishti, can rightfully claim a place amongst such illustrious saints both for his person and his poetry.
The biography of Pir Sayyid Mihr Ali Shah is unique for a shaykh of the twentieth century, and reads like that of one of the Salaf. His miracles [karamat] are legendary (including quickening the dead!) and he was almost solely responsible (along with his contemporary Hazrat Pir Sayyid Jama’at Ali Shah Alipuri Naqshbandi) for defeating the Qadiani heresy in Punjab when he openly challenged Mirza Qadiani to a munazarah. “Let us both jump off the minaret of the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, he said, “and if your claims to prophecy are true you will not be harmed! I am just a slave of the Prophet but I challenge you!” He also challenged him to write a tafsir of the Qur’an with the proviso that none of them would touch their pens! “I will command my pen to write and it will by the grace of Allah!” he said in a famous public challenge. In all cases Mirza ran away from this lion of Ahlus Sunnah and descendent of the Prophet who spent his long life in the worship of his Lord to reach these high spiritual stations of which we can only imagine. His life was simple to the point of austerity and he spent many long nights in prayer on a prayer mat made from stone so much so that eventually it was worn away from his prostrations. The Shaykh was also a very learned alim and author of a number of works on many aspects of Islam including his refutation of the Shia, Tasfiya Ma Bayn Sunni wa Shia, which has become a standard work, used by both his followers and his enemies and his work Sayf e Chishtiyyah which he wrote to refute the many heresies in his day. He also has diwans of poetry from which this most famous work is taken, and a large fatwa collection. Further biographical details can be found at the official website of the Shaykh (in English and Urdu), http://thelightofgolrasharif.com which is kept by his descendents. The Shaykh’s blessed shrine is in Islamabad, in Golra.
The transliteration of the Punjabi original.
Verses from this poem are frequently sung at nearly every event organised by Sunnis of the Subcontinent but the whole poem rarely.
Translation into English verse.
I have attempted to translate this masterpiece—inadequately, of course—into English blank verse, each line having 10 syllables. This heroic metre is common in epic English poetry.
1. Today, the longing for my Beloved
2. Is over-pow’ring; why’s my heart so sad?
3. Desire, like a flame in every vein.
4. Today, why do my eyes weep floods of tears?
5. His radiant face in a vision I saw[vii] .
6. And from his tresses there came a fragrance
7. The sight of such visions caused me to swoon
8. His eyes’ foot-soldiers overpowered me!
9. His face is bright, a moon at its fullest.
10. A light flashes from his brow; his tresses
11. Are jet black, his gaze intoxicating.
12. His wine-filled eyes cause inebriation!
13. His two eye-brows are like an archer’s bow
14. Firing arrows of sharpened eye-lashes!
15. Shall I call his lips red or rubies from
16. Yemen? His white teeth are a string of pearls.
17. Shall I call this face life, or the Essence
18. Of Life, or the life of both the worlds? In
19. Truth, I should call it God’s greatest glory
20. From which He created His creation!
21. This face is really from the Faceless One[viii] ;
22. The Faceless One manifests through this face.
23. The Formless One has been seen through this face
24. Ever since Unity blossomed into
25. Diversity. This face shows the way to the
26. Faceless. Nay, not the way, the Essence too!
27. Yet this secret is not for the common;
28. Just the Elect may discover this pearl!
29. By God! May this face stay before my eyes
30. At the time of Death and on Judgement Day!
31. In my grave and when I’m crossing the Bridge.
32. Then alone shall the fake become pure gold!
33. Your rank is: “Thy Lord shall give thee” and we
34. Place our hopes in, “So thou art well-pleased” [ix].
35. This test we shall pass as the Gracious said:
36. “Intercede and thy intercession shall
37. Be accepted!” Remove thy Yemeni
38. Cloak and grant me a glimpse of your lovely
39. Face, my love! Repeat again those sweet words
40. Which you spake in the valley of Hamra.
41. Come from your cell to the mosque, Beloved!
42. All yearn for your radiant countenance!
43. Both the worlds furnish thy way with their eyes
44. All men, angels, houris, and faerie-folk.
45. For all these yearning and pining ones; for
46. Those dying to sacrifice themselves in your
47 Love; and all those ready to be your thralls
48. May those moments of bliss return again!
49. Praise God! You’re most Beauteous! Exc’llent! Perfect!
50. How dare Mihr Ali gaze at you, sing your hymns!
Acknowledgements, Dedication and Request.
Though the transliteration and translation are solely my own work I did use the literal translation of the poem found at The Light of Golra Sharif website to help me in a few instances. I would like to dedicate this poem to Hazrat Pir Sayyid Mihr Ali Shah Golrawi (may his secret be sanctified!) and pray for his help on the Day of Requital and that of His Illustrious Grandfathers, Our Liegelords Huzoor Ghawth al Azam Sayyid Abd al Qadir Jilani and, above all, Sayyidina wa Mawlana Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam, the Messenger of Allah.
Finally, I would humbly request all those who read this translation to pray that Allah gives me guidance and keeps me on the path of Ahlus Sunnah and allows me to visit His Beloved in Madina and to send salawat on the Habib during my dying moments and with my last breaths. If you read this after I have died please pray for the forgiveness of my sins and that Allah and His Habib accept this little effort and grant me success in the Hereafter. Amin!
This line (20) is a reference to the famous hadith qudsi, “Lawlaka, lawlaka, ma khalaqtul aflaka! (But for thee, but for thee, I wouldn’t have created the Heavens)”.
Lines 21 to 28 are very difficult being the Shaykh’s exposition of Shaykh al Akbar Muhyuddin Ibn Arabi’s concept of Wahdat al Wajood (Unity of Being) into Punjabi poetry whereby the Prophet is described in terms of the Perfect Man and the perfect manifestation of Allah’s Attributes in this world. Shaykh Pir Sayyid Mihr Ali Shah was acknowledged as the foremost expert on Ibn Arabi in his era. Scholars of the calibre of Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal wrote to him about wahdat al wajood. As the Shaykh himself says in line 28, this is not for the simpleton or the common person!
These last two lines (49 and 50) are the most famous of the poem. Line 49 is entirely in Arabic. The Shaykh uses the Arabic tense with the prefix ‘ma’ (used, amongst other things, to denote astonishment) to express his awe and wonderment at the Prophet’s beauty, which he saw in a waking vision.
There are numerous recordings, both in the studio and live, of this naat (nearly always abridged) but my personal favourite is this live version by Muhammad Owais Qadri:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c11xL61mGzk
Have you ever seen the Prophet walking in snow,
Wrapped in a Hibra shawl tight against the cold?
Leaving prints of guidance in the winter of places
The snow kissed heels of Throne gracing temples
I wonder what would happen if the Prophet walked in snow,
Wrapped as Muzammil, and Muddathir as told.
Would the sun shut down; a blown out candle?
Annihilation in preference to the prints from a sandal.
Would street deep snow, change its state into water?
Preferring to morph, or die; then to trouble its master.
Would the cold wind rush to embrace him with warmth?
Seeking Allah’s mercy and protection from wrath.
Would the sound of night silence shout in jubilation?
‘I’ve found my voice; the sweetest in creation!’
Would red breasted robins give up their cares?
To stare in crowds on branches iced bare.
Would snowflakes race to take pride of place?
Attempting to fall first upon the most blessed of face.
Would wonderland winter now be summer or spring?
Bringing life to dead hearts with crystallised blessing
Would the months agree that winter is the season?
For in it once walked …the most generous of all people.
–Sami’s brother
Imam Muhammad Amin Ibn Abidin, agreed upon as the leading reference for fatwa in the Hanafi school, first mentions the scholars who said that it is recommended to do, and then mentioned that none of the hadiths that mention this from the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) are authentic.
Ibn Abidin’s actual text is as follows, from his Radd al-Muhtar (aka al-Hashiya or al-Shami)
“It is recommended to say, after hearing the first Shahada [in the adhan], Salla Allahu `Alayka Ya Rasul Allah (‘May Allah send blessings on you, O Messenger of Allah’), and after the second of them, Qarrat `Ayni Bika Ya Rasul Allah (‘May my eyes rejoice with you, O Messenger of Allah’).
“Then one should say, Allahumma matti`ni bi’s Sam`i wa’l Basar (‘O Allah, keep blessing me with hearing and sight’), after placing the nails of both thumbs on one’s eyes, for the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) will be his guide into Janna [if he does] – as mentioned in Kanz al-`Ibad, via al-Quhustani [in his Jami` al-Rumuz].
“This has also been mentioned in al-Fatawa al-Sufiyya. It has been reported in Kitab al-Firdaws that, “Whoever kisses the nails of both thumbs upon hearing Ashhadu anna Muhammda-r Rasul Allah, I shall be his guide and shall enter him in the ranks of Janna.”
“The details are in the Hawashi al-Bahr of al-Ramli, from al-Maqasid al-Hasana of al-Sakhawi.
“Al-Jirahi mentioned this, too, and gave a lengthy exposition, then said, “None of these narrations has been authentically established (lam yasihh) from the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace).” [Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar, 1: 397-8]
The exact Arabic text may be found in the left margin.
The scholars differed, though, whether it is of the weak hadiths that may be used to establish virtuous actions, because excessively weak hadiths cannot be acted upon even for virtuous actions. Many Hanafis (and scholars of other schools) held that they are. Others differed; it is a question of scholarly difference in ijtihad.
The condition for recommended actions established by weak hadiths or the ijtihad of scholars is that one not have the firm conviction that this is established from the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) himself. However, if one does it because the some scholars have mentioned it to be a virtuous or beneficial action, then there is nothing wrong with it. If one is firmly convinced that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) himself did this or encouraged it, which is not authentically established, then it would be an innovation.
This is a practice that many of the righteous of this Ummah and some of its major scholarly authorities have found to have spiritual benefits, and is also an expression of love for the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), and may be acted upon as a recommended act as such. It is supported by some narrations from Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (Allah be pleased with him), though there is strong difference in their establishment
In short, it is neither something that is a strongly recommended action according to the Shariah nor a baseless innovation. The scholars mention that any time an issue is differed upon among the scholars of the four schools of Sunni Islam, one cannot condemn someone who does something one differs with.
Also, we should not forget that scholarly disagreements are limited to the sphere of scholars, and should not spill over to non-scholars. An example is two pharmacists who spend hours vigorously arguing (and questioning the soundness of each other’s judgment) about which of two medications is the one two use, each of them advocating one of them. They get very harsh with each other… but back in the pharmacy, when someone comes with the medicine they were advocating against, or when someone asks, they don’t make much of the issue…
May Allah guide us to that which is best.
قال خاتمة المحققين سيدي ابن عابدين في ردّ المحتار: (1: 387-398)
تَتِمَّةٌ ] يُسْتَحَبُّ أَنْ يُقَالَ عِنْدَ سَمَاعِ الْأُولَى مِنْ
الشَّهَادَةِ : صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْك يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ , وَعِنْدَ
الثَّانِيَةِ مِنْهَا : قَرَّتْ عَيْنِي بِك يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ , ثُمَّ
يَقُولُ : اللَّهُمَّ مَتِّعْنِي بِالسَّمْعِ وَالْبَصَرِ بَعْدَ وَضْعِ
ظُفْرَيْ الْإِبْهَامَيْنِ عَلَى الْعَيْنَيْنِ فَإِنَّهُ عليه السلام يَكُونُ
قَائِدًا لَهُ إلَى الْجَنَّةِ , كَذَا فِي كَنْزِ الْعِبَادِ . ا هـ .
قُهُسْتَانِيٌّ , وَنَحْوُهُ فِي الْفَتَاوَى الصُّوفِيَّةِ . وَفِي كِتَابِ
الْفِرْدَوْسِ ” { مَنْ قَبَّلَ ظُفْرَيْ إبْهَامِهِ عِنْدَ سَمَاعِ أَشْهَدُ
أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ فِي الْأَذَانِ أَنَا قَائِدُهُ وَمُدْخِلُهُ
فِي صُفُوفِ الْجَنَّةِ } ” وَتَمَامُهُ فِي حَوَاشِي الْبَحْرِ لِلرَّمْلِيِّ
عَنْ الْمَقَاصِدِ الْحَسَنَةِ لِلسَّخَاوِيِّ , وَذَكَرَ ذَلِكَ الْجِرَاحِيُّ
وَأَطَالَ , ثُمَّ قَالَ : وَلَمْ يَصِحَّ فِي الْمَرْفُوعِ مِنْ كُلِّ هَذَا
شَيْءٌ ….
In the name of Allah do I begin.
The Most Merciful, The Most Kind.
For it was Allah, who delivered the Best of Creation,
To the whole of Mankind.
How great is His favour, for us to see.
For Truth has arrived, and falsehood will flee.
May every blessing be upon thee, O sweet and beautiful Madani.
No sweeter man has there ever been.
None more honest and serene.
Your blessed feet have visited the Arsh.
Thou art Allah’s light upon this darkened Farsh.
Your sweat is sweeter than the scent of a rose. [1]
Upon your honour, do I compose this prose. [2]
May every blessing be upon thee, O sweet and beautiful Madani.
Your City is the one with grandeur and Light,
And the Imams knew it all to be true, upon first sight. [3]
O sweet and precious Madani, with your Sunna I pray,
I might live in harmony. [4]
I long to see the blessed green dome,
For there resides my heart’s true home. [5]
They called it al Munawwarra – the Radiant abode.
For it was when you O Madani, blessed it with your presence and made it your home.
Our Iman is not complete, till for you we have true love. [6]
How can this not be, for you are more radiant than the whitest of doves.
May every blessing be upon thee, O sweet and beautiful Madani.
They all flocked to see, from where the light did come,
Upon thy blessed face did they glance, and be overcome.
In jubilation they sang, “The moon rose over us.” [7]
And the reality was there.
“Undoubtedly there has come to you from Allah, a light and a book luminous.” [8]
The Qur’an reminds me, of the moon that rose over us.
For undoubtedly, it is you O sweet Madani, who was that Light. [9] Delivered to the world, to bring consciousness to a new height. [10]
Indeed, it was lady Amina, who also witnessed this light.
So much so that when she was with child, the sky was so bright. [11]
It were the Sahaba who would often recite and set up camp.
And they related to others, your presence overcame both sun and lamp. [12]
Hassan Ibn Thabit, the Ashiq al-Rasul,
Would often declare that your presence even overshadowed the moon. [13]
O sweet Madani, you have turned our darkness into a guiding Light, [14]
So why dear brothers, do we fight and not unite?
For the Sahaba knew best, and did not commit sin.
If only they now saw, the state that we are in. [15]
The Sahaba described well, the light that they saw.
So why do brothers anger when we agree with what went before? [16]
May every blessing be upon thee, O sweet and beautiful Madani.
You helped me to see, that besides Allah, there is No other Divinity, And for you and yours, I have great affinity.
Without your love, O Madani, my heart is lost, and in a muddle.
Every time I cry, and for thee shed a tear:
I long to see thou, O, to be so near!
You have taught me it is Allah I should fear,
But it is only by loving you, O sweet Madani, that we shall draw near. [17]
O Allah! To Thee do I only pray,
And I thank Thee, for showing me the Way.
For I know that when in despair, or I am lost in my way,
I would repeat, what the Pious Predecessors would also say.
‘Abd Allah Ibn ‘Umar and Khalid bin Walid,
Who will dare declare them of any evil deeds?
In numbness and in pain, even after your passing, O sweet Madani.
They cried out “Ya Muhammad !”
So shall it not suffice for a sinner like me? [18]
May every blessing be upon thee, O sweet and beautiful Madani.
May every moment be spent in saying your Darud. [19]
May I never leave sense, of the Madinan Hadud.
I wish that my destiny, be tied with Madina.
For there is the Prophet, and blessed Sakinah.
May I become a pious servant of Madina.
Fill my heart, O Allah, with the love of the Sayyid of Madina. [20]
For with your love, my heart glides like a kite,
Your radiance has provided me, with a guiding light.
I long to see the day, when I can be near your side.
I will stand and recite Darud.
It will be my honour, and my pride. [21]
Upon you, your ashiqs lavish great praise. [22]
To those who do not understand,
they simply dismiss this as a craze.
I swear by Almighty Allah, that I will never stop,
Reciting your Darud, until the day I do drop. [23]
All praise and worship is for Allah,
For bestowing the honour on me.
Of being from the Umma, of the blessed Madani.
Excuse me if I cry, O Sayyid of Madina.
To behold your radiant face, that the Sahaba used to see.
What an honour it will be, for an unworthy one, such as me.
May every blessing be upon thee, O sweet and beautiful Madani.
Some may claim that you are like any one of us,
But who can claim, to have visited the Arsh?
We say bashr, but respect is also due.
For mankind are like rocks, but a pearl are you. [24]
Why cannot they see, the Magnificence of you, O Madani?
The Imam of the Anbiya, and the Leader of Allah’s Community.
You travelled the Seven Heavens, and your eyes did not lie.
For Jibril could not pass, but you, O Madani, glided by. [25]
How can anyone deny Allah’s love for you, O sweet Madani?
Whose name has He raised above, for all to see? [26]
For it is your blessed name, that is besides Allah’s Majesty.
It has been placed there, for the whole of Mankind to see.
The Lord of the World’s called you Rafun and Rahim. [27]
But still yet, some cannot see,
The majesty and honour, that Allah has bestowed upon thee!
May every blessing be upon thee, O sweet and beautiful Madani.
They call us mad – our love declared a Bid’a [28] and that which is Something new.
O! If only they understood, what the majnun of Baghdad, Shaykh Shibli knew! [29]
We say to our brothers, who do not know,
That this is the Islam of the Companions, and to this we can show.
How they went at length to show their love and respect.
When the Companions would rush to catch the blessed water,
There would be chaos, and simply no order. [30]
So you see, the Love of Rasul has an exceptional rule –
Love him more than yourself – until then, we are all just fools! [31]
In sha’ Allah, upon us there will be Allah’s Karam,
And you, O Madani, will be our hearts Mehram.
May I one day again, come to your City,
O sweet and precious Madani.
And have true love, like Uways al Qarani [32]
O! Allah, hear the cries of your Ghulam,
Upon Thy blessed, do I send continuous Salam! [33]
May countless blessing be upon thee,
O sweet and beautiful Madani!
Notes
[1] The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, slept on a rug in the house of Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, and perspired. Anas’s mother brought a long necked bottle into which she put his sweat. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, asked her about this. She said, “We put it in our perfume and it is the most fragrant of scents” [Muslim & Bukhari]. Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “I have not smelled amber, musk or anything more fragrant than the smell of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace” [Muslim and al-Tirmidhi].
[2] The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was happy with good poetry, since it is related in Bukhari’s Morals and Manners and elsewhere that he has said, “There is wisdom in poetry.” Jabir bin Samarah, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “I attended the assemblies of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) more than a hundred times, wherein the Sahaba (may Allah be pleased with them) recited poetry and related the stories of the Jahilliya. The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) silently listened to them [and did not forbid them]. At times he smiled with them.” ‘A’isha, may Allah be pleased with her, said:
The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to put a mimbar in the masjid for Hassan bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him), so that he might stand on it and recite poetry on the praise of, and behalf of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), or (that) he used to defend the Messenger of Allah (in reply to the accusations of the Kuffar). The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to say: ‘may Allah assist Hassan with Ruhul Qudus till he defends or praises, on behalf of the Messenger of Allah.’
[Shama’il al-Tirmidhi, under chapter of poetry]
Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said concerning the verse “And as for the poets, only those who are lost in grievous error would follow them” [26:224]: “These verses were abrogated, and exceptions were made to them in the following verse: “Save those who have faith, and do righteous deeds, and remember Allah unceasingly, and defend themselves only after having being wronged” (26:227) [Bukhari’s Adab al Mufrad, Hadith 874]. Sharid said, “The Prophet of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) asked me to recite the poetry of Umayyah ibn Salt for him, and I did so. Then the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) started saying, “More, more!” I ended up reciting nearly a hundred verses to him. At the end, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, “The man (Umayyah was a pre Islamic poet) was very nearly a Muslim” [Bukhari’s Adab al-Mufrad, Hadith 872].
[3] Imam Malik was asked by the Khalifah, Abu Ja’far al-Mansur, “Shall I face the qibla with my face backwards towards the grave of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) when making du’a?” Imam Malik replied “How could you turn your face away from him, when he is the means [Wasila] of you on the Day of Resurrection? Nay, face him and ask for his intercession so that Allah will grant it to you, as He said, “If they had only, when they were wronging themselves, come unto thee and asked Allah’s forgiveness, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah indeed Oft returning, Most Merciful” (4:64) [Qadi Iyad, op cit.].
Imam Ahmad said to Abu Bakr al-Marzawi, “Let him use the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) as a means of supplication to Allah.” This is found in Imam Ahmad’s Manasik narrated by his student Abu Bakr al-Marzawi. Hafiz al-Iraqi relates in Fath al-Mutual, that: “Imam Ahmad sought blessings from drinking the washing water of Imam al- Shafi’i’s shirt […]”
Ibn Hajar al-Haythami said that:
When Imam al-Shafi’i was in Baghdad, he would visit the grave of Abu Hanifa, pray two rakats nawafil according to the Hanafi Madhab (out of Ta’dhim to Abu Hanifa), give salam to him, and then ask Allah for the fulfillment of his need through his means (yatwassal ilAllah tala bihi fi qada hajatihi). When my teachers went over this Riwayah, they noted that Imam al-Shafi’i would have a question of Fiqh that he could not conceive, and after leaving the grave of Abu Hanifa, his inquiry would be answered.
This is related in Ibn Hajar al-Haythami’s al-Khayrat al-Hisan.
[4] Allah says, “Believe in Allah and His Messenger, the unlettered Prophet who believes in Allah and His words. Follow him, perhaps you will be guided.” (7:157) “No, by your Lord, they will not believe until they ask you to judge between them in what they disagree about and then they shall find in themselves no impediment touching your verdict, but shall surrender in full submission.” (4:64) i.e. obey your judgment. Allah also says, “You have a good model in the Messenger of Allah for one who hopes for Allah and the Last Day.” (33:21) Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Tirmidhi said, “To take the Messenger as a model means to emulate him, follow his Sunna and abandon opposition to him in either word or action.” Several commentators said words to that effect. It is said that this was intended as a criticism of those who fail to follow him. Sahl said that the ayat from the Fatiha (Sura 1), “The path of those whom You have blessed,” means to follow the Sunna. Allah promises His love and forgiveness to those who follow the Prophet and prefer him to their own passions and inclinations.
‘A’isha, may Allah be pleased with her, said, “The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) did something as an example in order to make things easier for people but some people still refrained from doing it. When the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) heard about that, he praised Allah and said: ‘What do you think of people who refrain from anything that I myself do? By Allah, I am the greatest of them in knowledge of Allah and the strongest of them in fear of Allah’” (Muslim and al-Bukhari). It is related that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “The Qur’an is hard and difficult for anyone who hates it. Whoever clings to what I say and understands it and retains it, then it will be like the Qur’an for him. Whoever considers the Qur’an and what I say unimportant and neglects it loses this world and the Next. My community is commanded to take my words and obey my command and follow my Sunna. Whoever is pleased with my words is pleased with the Qur’an. Allah says, ‘Take what the Messenger brings you’” (59:7) (Abu’sh-Shaykh, ad-Daylami and Abu Nu’aym from al-Hakam ibn ‘Umayr). The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Whoever follows me is of me and whoever wants to abandon my Sunna is not of me.”
Al-Hassan ibn al-Hassan said that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Doing a little of something which is a Sunna is better than doing a lot of something which is an innovation”(al-Darimi). The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Allah will bring a man into the Garden by the fact that he clings to my Sunna.” Abu Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, “The one who clings to my Sunna when the community is corrupt will have the reward of a hundred martyrs” (al-Tabarani). The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “The Banu Isra’il split into about seventy-two sects. My community will split into seventy-three. All of them will be in the Fire except for one.” They asked, ‘Who are they, Messenger of Allah?’ He replied, ‘Those who base themselves on what I and my Companions are doing today’” (al-Tirmidhi).
‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, wrote to his governors telling them to learn the Sunna, the shares of inheritance and the dialects, saying, “People will try to argue with you (i.e. by using the Qur’an), so overcome them with the Sunna. The people of the Sunna have the greatest knowledge of the Book of Allah.” When ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, prayed two rak’ats at Dhu’l-Hulayfa, he said, “I do as I saw the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) doing” (Dhu’l-Hulayfa is the miqat for the people of Madina on their way to Hajj.) [Qadi Iyad, op cit., Section 3: The obligation to follow him and obey his Sunna].
[5] Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, related that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said while in prostration: “O Allah, place light in my heart, light in my hearing, light in my sight, light on my right, light on my left, light in front of me, light behind me, light above me, light below me, and make light for me,” or he said: “Make me light.” Salama said: “I met Kurayb and he reported Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) as saying: ‘I was with my mothers sister Maymuna when the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) came there, and then he narrated the rest of the hadith as was narrated by Ghundar and said the words: ‘Make me light’ beyond any doubt.’” Muslim narrates it in his Sahih, book of Salat al-Musafirin. Imam Ahmad in his Musnad also narrates it with a strong chain, but with the reverse order of the first narration cited above, resulting in the wording “[…] and make me light” or he said: “Make light for me.” Ibn Hajr in Fath al-Bari (1989 ed. 11:142) mentions a narration in Ibn Abi `Asim’s Kitab al-du’a which states: “And grant me light upon light” (wa hab li nuran `ala nur).
[6] Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, said that a man came to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and asked, “When will the Last Hour come, Messenger of Allah?” “What have you prepared for it?” The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, asked. The questioner replied, “I have not prepared a lot of prayer or fasting or charity for it, but I love Allah and His Messenger.” The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “You will be with the one you love”(al-Bukhari).
[7] The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was met with joy and jubilation as he proceeded to enter Madina from the people of Madina. Al-Bara ibn Azib (a Companion) narrated that: [..] “I had never seen the people of Madina so joyful as they were on the arrival of Allah’s Apostle, for even the slave girls were saying, ‘Allah’s Apostle has arrived!’”[..] Bukhari, volume 5, Book 58, Number 262. Muslim narrates that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “I was sent only as (a) mercy. I was not sent as a punishment.” The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was greeted with the following invocation:
Talaa al-badru alayna, min thaniyyat al-wada,
wajaba al-shukru alayna, ma daa ilillahi da
The full moon has risen over us, from the mountains of al-Wada,
We shall ever give thanks for it, As long as there will be callers to Allah.
Anta shamsun anta badrun, anta nurun fawqa nur,
anta iksiru al-wujud, anat misbah al-sudur.
You are a sun, you are a full moon.
You are light upon light, You are the quintessence of existence,
You are the lamp in every breast.
Ashraqa al-badru alayna, fakhtafat minhu al-budur,
Mithla husnik ma raayna, qattu ya wajh al-surur
The full moon has risen over us, eclipsing all other moons.
Such as your beauty we have never seen, No never, O face of delight!
Ya habibi ya Muhammad, ya arus al-khafiqayn,
Ya muayyad ya mumajjad, ya Imam al qiblatayn
O My beloved, O Muhammad, O bridegroom of the East and the West.
The one Allah vindicated and exalted, O Imam of the two directions!
[8] Al-Qur’an: 5:15.
[9] There are some Muslims who absolutely refuse to believe that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was a “light” sent to illuminate the world, and hold that to believe it is not only spurious but has absolutely no place in Islam. Because of a stigma that is attached to those who affirm that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was a ‘light’, many Muslims actually are reluctant to even speak about this. This area often brings up intense heated words and argument, when indeed their need not be any. To those who actually deny any possibility or even reference that the Prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was a light is an actual negation of the fact that Allah Himself refers to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as “light” in His Glorious Book:
· “From Allah has come to you a Light and a Book manifest.” (5:15)
· “O Prophet! Truly We have sent you as a Witness, a Bearer of glad tidings, and a Warner, and as one who invites to Allah by His leave, and as a Lamp spreading Light.” (33:45-46)
This is concurred upon by Imam al-Tabari and Qadi al-Shawkani in their Tafsir’s, who agree that the light was the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti: “It is the Prophet, (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).” (Tafsir al-Jalalayn, 139); Ibn Jarir al-Tabari: “By Light He means Muhammad, (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) through whom Allah has illuminated the truth, manifested Islam, and obliterated polytheism – since he is a light for whoever seeks illumination from him, which makes plain the truth.” (Jami‘ al-Bayan, 6.161); Fakhr al-Din Razi: “There are various positions about it, the first being that the Light is Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and the Book is the Qur’an.” (al-Tafsir al-Kabir, 11:194); al-Baghawi: “It means Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), or, according to a weaker position, Islam” (Ma‘alam al-Tanzil, 2.228); Qurtubi (Ahkam al-Qur’an, 6.118) and Mawardi (al-Nukat wa al-‘Uyun, 2.22) mention that interpreting Nur as “Muhammad” (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was also the position by [the Imam of Arabic grammar Ibrahim ibn Muhammad] al-Zajjaj (d. 311/923). Al-Nasafi in his commentary entitled Tafsir al-Madarik (1:276) and al-Qasimi in his Mahasin al-Ta’wil (6:1921) similarly say: “There has come to you a Light from Allah: this is the light of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) because one is guided by him. Similarly he has been called a lamp (siraj). Imam Ahmad al-Sawi similarly said in his super commentary on Tafsir al-Jalalayn (1:258): “There has come to you a Light from Allah: that Light is the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). He was named a light because he enlightens the sight and guides it to the correct path; and also because he is the root of every light whether material or spiritual.” Allah said: “O Prophet! Truly We have sent you as a Witness, a Bearer of glad tidings, and a Warner, and as one who invites to Allah by His leave, and as a Lamp spreading Light.” (33:45-46) Ibn Kathir states in his Tafsir: “His saying: and a light-giving lamp, that is: your status shows in the truth you have brought just as the sun shows in its rising and illuminating, which none denies except the obdurate.”
Why do we today shrink from saying that the Messenger of Allah is a ‘light” from Allah when this is the interpretation of the earliest Qur’anic commentators?
Ibn Taymiya (in his Majmu ‘at al-fatawa [11:94, 18:366]) argued that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, could not possibly be made of light on the grounds that human beings are created from earth into which the spirit is blown, while angels alone are created from light. To support his view, he cites the hadith from ‘A’isha, may Allah be pleased with her, in Sahih Muslim whereby the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
The angels were created from light, the jinn from smokeless fire, and Adam from what was described to you (i.e. in the Qur’an).
However, to deduce from the above that a human being can never be characterised as a light contradicts the understandings of the majority of scholars as well as the many reports from the Sahaba, may Allah be pleased with them all, who often compared the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to a light or a harbinger of light, particularly a sun and a moon, chief among them his poet, Hassan ibn Thabit, may Allah be pleased with him:
tarahhala ‘an qawmin faddalat `uqulahum
Wa halla `ala qawmin bi nurin mujaddadi
He left a people who preferred their minds over him
And he dawned on a people with a light made new.
mata yabdu fi al-daji al-bahimi jabinuhu
Yaluhu mithla misbahi al-duja al-mutawaqqidi
Whenever his forehead emerged in pitch-black darkness
It would shine like the blazing luminary of dark night.
Bayhaqi narrated the two verses in Dala’il al-Nubuwwa (1:280, 302). The latter verse is also narrated Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr in al-Isti ‘ab (1:341) and al-Zarqani in Sharh al-Mawahib (1:91). Hassan, may Allah be pleased with him, also said:
Nor has Allah created among his creatures
One more faithful to his sojourner or his promise
Than he who was the source of our light.
Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, described the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, thus:
aminun mustafa li al-khayri yad`u ka daw’i al-badri zayalahu al-zalamu
A trustworthy one, chosen, calling to goodness, resembling the light of the full moon set off from darkness.
While ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, would recite the following:
law kunta min shay’in siwa basharin
Kunta al-mudi’a li laylat al-badri
If you were anything other than a human being.
You would be the light in the night of a full moon.
Bayhaqi narrated the above in Dala’il al-Nubuwwa (1:301-302).
Al-Zuhri narrated:
‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib was the most handsome man that had ever been seen among the Quraysh. One day he went out and was seen by an assembly of the women of Quraysh. One of them said: ‘O women of the Quraysh, which among you will marry this youth and catch thereby the light that is between his eyes? For verily there was a light between his eyes.” Thereafter Amina bint Wahb ibn ‘Abd Manaf ibn Zuhra married him, and after he joined her she carried the Messenger of Allah.
Al-Bayhaqi narrated it in Dala’il al-Nubuwwa (1:87). Al-Tabari in his Tarikh (2:243), Ibn al-Jawzi in al-Wafa’’ (p. 82-83, chapter 16 of Abwab bidayati nabiyyina).
There are numerous other instances where the Prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was described as, and referred to, a “light” which can be found scattered throughout these notes. It should be realised that it were the Mu’tazilis who insisted that the Light in verse 5:15 referred only to the Qur’an and not to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. For those wishing to pursue this topic in greater detail, readers are advised to refer to some on-line sources at:
http://www.abc.se/~m9783/nurn_e.html
http://ds.dial.pipex.com/masud/ISLAM/nuh/masudq7.htm and
http://ds.dial.pipex.com/masud/ISLAM/misc/nuremuhammadi.htm
[10] The issue of when the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had existed, has been one that the ‘ulama have had much to discuss about, and of which (specifically) the following hadiths have produced varying opinions:
‘Irbad ibn Sarya relates that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
Verily I was written in Allah’s Presence as the Seal of Prophets while verily Adam was still kneaded in his clay.
(Narrated by Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, and al-Hakim in his Mustadrak)
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, also said: “I was a Prophet while Adam was still between the spirit and the body.” Al-Tirmidhi narrated it and said it hassan sahih, and it is authenticated by al-Hakim 2:609 as sahih, and also narrated by Ibn Abi Shayba in his Musannaf 14:292, and al-Bukhari in his Tarikh 7:374.
Imam Taj al-Din Subki said:
It has been said that Allah created the spirits before the bodies, and the Prophet’s reference to his prophecy in the hadith, “I was a Prophet while Adam was still between the spirit and the body” may be a reference to his blessed spirit and to the Reality of Realities (haqiqat al-haqa’iq). Our minds fall short of knowing such a Reality, but its Creator knows it, and also those to whom He extends a madad of light from Him [man amaddahu bi nurin ilahi]. Allah brings to existence whichever of these realities that He likes in the time that He pleases. As for the reality of the Prophet, (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) it is most likely that it was before the creation of Adam, and Allah gave it its prophetic attribute upon its creation; therefore already at that time, he was the Prophet.
[Quoted by al-Suyuti in Hawi li al-Fatawi, and by Qastallani at the beginning of his Mawahib al-laduniyya 1:31-32.].
Al Hakim narrated on the authority of ‘Umar ibn al Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
When Adam, upon whom be peace, committed the sin he said, “O Lord! I ask You in the name of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) to forgive me.” Allah Almighty said, “How (do) you know him and I did not create him yet?” Adam said, “O Lord! When you created me with Your hands and breathed into me from Your spirit, I looked up and I saw on the Pillars of the Throne had been written There is No God save Allah, Muhammad (is) the Messenger of Allah, therefore I knew you put your name with the name of the Most beloved one of your creatures to you.” Allah said, “O Adam, you said the truth. He (Muhammad) is the most beloved one of the creatures to Me, you asked Me by his name, so I forgive you, because had it not been for Muhammad, I would not (have) created you.
[Imam Abi al-Fidaa Isma’il bin Kathir, Qisaas al-‘Anbiyaa (Adam Publishers & Distributors (Delhi) Revised Edn, 1999) p 21].
The scholars differed regarding the soundness of this report:
Ibn Abd al-Hadi al-Hanbali in his Sarim Almunki and Ibn Taymiya in his fatawa (and his Qaida al-Jaliyya) concluded that there was no evidence to support the authenticity of the above hadith, whereas Imam al-Dhahabi in his Talkhis al-Mustadrak, graded it to be da’if, (weak) due to the weakness of one of the narrators, ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd. However, Imam al-Hakim al-Naysaburi in his Mustadrak and Kitab al-Tarikh, declared the hadith of the Intercession of Adam upon whom be peace, to be Sahih, while many other scholars have not only used it for proof, but explicitly declared it to be Sahih as well, such as, al-Bulqini, Qadi ‘Iyad, al-Suyuti, al-Tabarani, al-Haythami, al-Subki (hassan), Ibn Hajar al-Makki and others. Since Ibn Kathir used the hadith as a part of the make up of his Sirat, it would be erroneous to label those who accept this hadith as committing, kufr, shirk or bid’a, since this was also Ibn Kathir’s view who uses this narration as proof. One note about Ibn Taymiya’s view on this hadith – after acknowledging its weakness, he however states that it is, ‘Salih li istishhad,’ which is a terminology used in ‘ulum al-Hadith meaning that the hadith is supported by other evidences [see Majmu’ at al-Fatawa Ibn Taymiya vol. 2, page 150]. Also, different muhaddithin had different conditions for the acceptance of hadith. So one hadith might be sahih according to the conditions of one Imam, while it might not be so for another Imam.
In the chapter concerning the Prophet’s superiority over all other
Prophets, in his al-Wafa bi Ahwal al-Mustafa’, Ibn al-Jawzi states:
Part of the demonstration of his superiority to other Prophets is the fact that Adam (upon whom be peace) asked his Lord through the sanctity (hurma) of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) that He relent towards him. The most authentic chain for this report is not that of al-Hakim’s narration from ‘Umar through ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam who is weak, but that of the Companion Maysarat al-Fajr who narrates it as follows:
I asked: “O Messenger of Allah, when were you [first] a Prophet?” He replied: “When Allah created the earth [Then turned He to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens] (2:29), and created the Throne, He wrote on the leg of the Throne: “Muhammad the Messenger of Allah is the Seal of Prophets” (Muhammadun Rasulullahi Khâtamu al-Anbiya’). Then Allah created the Garden in which He made Adam and Hawwa’ dwell, and He wrote my name on the gates, its tree-leaves, its domes and tents, at a time when Adam was still between the spirit and the body. When Allah Most High instilled life into him he looked at the Throne and saw my name, whereupon Allah informed him that ‘He [Muhammad] is the master of all your descendants.’ When Iblis deceived them both, they repented and sought intercession to Allah with my name.
[11] Hafiz Ibn Kathir wrote that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “I am the prayer of Ibrahim, (upon whom be peace) the prophecy of ‘Isa (upon whom be peace). When my mother was pregnant, she witnessed so much light from her body, that she could see the palaces of Syria” [Tarikh Ibn Kathir, vol. II. Sirat al-Nabawiyya]. The Messenger of Allah’s uncle, al-‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, composed a poem praising the birth of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in which are found the following words, “When you were born, the earth was shining, and the firmament barely contained your light, and we can pierce through, thanks to that radiance and light, and path of guidance.” The text is found in al-Suyuti’s Husn al-Maqasid, p 5; Ibn Kathir’s Mawlid, p 30, as well as in Ibn Hajar’s Fath al Bari. Ibn Kathir, in his Mawlid, p 19, writes, “The Night of the Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) birth is a magnificent, noble, blessed and a holy night, a night of bliss for the Believers, pure, radiant with lights and of immeasurable price.”
In another narration of the above poem, we read that al-‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said to him:
O Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) I wish to praise you. The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) replied: “Go ahead – may Allah adorn your mouth with silver!” He said a poem that ended with these lines: “And then, when you were born, a light rose over the earth until it illuminated the horizon with its radiance. We are in that illumination and that original light and those paths of guidance – and thanks to them pierce through.”
Ibn Seyyed al-Nas narrated it with his isnad through al-Tabarani and al-Bazzar in Minah al-Madh (p. 192-193), also Ibn Kathir in al-Sira al-Nabawiyya (ed. Mustafa ‘Abd al-Wahid 4:51), and ‘Ali al-Qari in his Sharh al-Shifa’ (1:364) says it is narrated by Abu Bakr al-Shafi’i and al-Tabarani, and cited by Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr in al-Isti’ab and Ibn al-Qayyim in Zad al-ma ‘ad.
‘Irbad ibn Sariya and Abu Imama said that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
I am the supplication of my father Ibrahim, and the good tidings of my brother ‘Isa. The night I was delivered my mother saw a light that lit the castles of Damascus so that she could see them.
It is narrated by al-Hakim in his Mustadrak (2:616-617), Ahmad in his Musnad (4:184), and Bayhaqi in Dala’il al-Nubuwwa (1:110, 2:8). Ibn al-Jawzi cites it in al-Wafa’ (p. 91, ch. 21 of Bidayat Nabiyyina), and Ibn Kathir in his Mawlid and his Tafsir (4:360). Haythami cites it in Majma’ al-Zawa’id (8:221) and said al-Tabarani and Ahmad narrated it, and Ahmad’s chain is fair (hassan).
Shah AbdulRahim (d. 1131/1719), father of Shah Wali Allah Muhaddith Dehlawi (d. 1176/1762), would hold mawlid gatherings annually. On such occasions, he would prepare and distribute meals to the poor (Al-Dur al-Thamin, p 8). This was also the practice of Shah Wali Allah and his son, Shah ‘Abd al-Aziz Muhaddith Dehlawi (d. 1239/1834). On every 12th of Rabi al-Awwal they used to invite the masses to their mawlid gatherings, in which they would speak about the auspicious events related to the Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) birth. At the end of the celebration, they would distribute food and sweetmeats (Al-Dur al-Munazzam, p 89).
Once, Shah Wali Allah attended a mawlid gathering in Makkah, in which he said that he saw manifestations of light cascading down (Fuyuz al-Haramain, page 80-81). Haji Imdad Allah Muhajir Makki (d. 1317/1899), the shaykh of Rashid Ahmed Gangohi (d. 1323/1905), would hold mawlid gatherings each year as a means of obtaining salvation; during those gatherings, while in a standing position he would recite prayers of blessing and peace for the Messenger of Allah [Faysla-i-Haft Mas’ala (with annotation) p 111]. On the 12th of Rabi al-Awwal of each year, the grand Mufti, Shah Mazhar Allah Dehlawi, would hold Mawlid gatherings in great splendour, continuing all night from ‘Isha prayer until the Fajr prayer at dawn. Salawat and Salam would be recited while standing after which food and sweetmeats would be distributed [Tadhkara-i-Mazhar-i-Mas’ud, pp. 176-177]. The importance of invoking blessings and peace for the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace is stated in Holy Qur’an, which is understood as asserting that angels are at all times reciting praise and blessings on the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace [Qur’an, al-Saffat, 37:1]. In Madina at the blessed funeral bed of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the angels, men and women, and even children offered Salawat and Salam in groups, for hours in a standing position [Madarij al-Nabuwwa, volume 2, p 440, and examine Fatawa Ridawiyya volume 4, p 54 Ref: Bayhaqi and al Hakim].
Imam Taqi al-Din al-Subki was in a gathering of learned scholars in which the poetry of Imam Sarsari (d. 656/1258) was being recited. Upon hearing a verse in which the poet fervently urged the audience to stand at the time of the Prophet’s auspicious remembrance, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, all of the scholars stood in reverence [Tabaqat al-Kubra, Egypt, volume I p 208]. Allah the Most High states, “Speak of the bounty of thy Lord!” [Qur’an, al-Duha 93:11], and Imam Bukhari states that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is the greatest bounty of Allah [Bukhari, volume 2, p 566], hence he should become the object of most publicity. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, himself spoke about his blessed birth from the pulpit [al-Tirmidhi, volume 2, p 201]. On his instruction some of the noble companions also described and publicised the Messenger of Allah’s, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, most excellent qualities [Zurqani, volume 1, p 227].
In the year 9AH/630, on the occasion of returning from the battle of Tabuk, al-Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, recited a poem on the birth of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in his presence [Ibn Kathir, Milad-i-Mustafa (Urdu translation) pp 29-30, al-Suyuti, Husn al-Maqasid p 5]. On another occasion, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, himself put the platform (mimbar) on which Hassan bin Thabit, may Allah be pleased with him, stood and sang an ode in his praise [Bukhari volume I, p 65, al-Musnad (Beirut, 1983) volume 6, p 72, al-Dhababi, Siyar al-Alam, al-Nubala (Beirut, 1992) volume 2, pp 513-541) Bukhari, chapter 68, volume I, p 264], for the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace blessed him with a special prayer.
[12] Ibn al Jawzi al-Hanbali, narrates that the light of the Messenger of Allah would overcome the light of both the sun and lamp [Al Wafa, Chapter al Wilada, Ibn al Jawzi]. Abu ‘Ubayda ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Ammar ibn Yasir said: “I said to say to al-Rubayyi’ bint Mu ‘awwadh: ‘Describe for me Allah’s Messenger.’ She replied: ‘If you saw him you would say: The sun is rising.’” Bayhaqi narrates it with his isnad in Dala’il al-Nubuwwa (1:200), and Haythami in Majma’ al-Zawa’id (8:280) says that al-Tabarani narrates it in al-Mu’jam al-kabir and al-Awsat and that its narrators have been declared trustworthy.
[13] Ibn Kathir narrates that Hassan Ibn Thabit, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is the star from which even the moon of the fourteenth night obtains its light” [Tarikh Ibn Kathir, vol. III].
[14] “He will bring you out of the darkness into the light” [5:16]. Ibn Kathir also mentions that Ka’ab Ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, recited a poem in the presence of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace of which consisted the lines […] “We have come to you, and you have transformed our darkness into light, and have removed the barriers of ignorance” [Tarikh, and Sirat al-Nabiwiyya, Ibn Kathir, under the heading of “Miracles”]. ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, would recite the following; “ If you were anything other than a human being You would be the light in the night of a full moon.” Bayhaqi narrated the above in Dala’il al-Nubuwwa (1:301-302) and relates that ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, added after saying the above: “The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was like this, and no one other than he was like this.”
[15] Contemplate over the preceding sayings of the Sahaba and scholars.
[16] As in 33:46, Allah calls the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sirajun munir, “a shining Lamp,” an expression which Hassan Ibn Thabit, may Allah be pleased with him, used to describe the Messenger of Allah as the “light” in [5:15]. Furthermore, in the description of the battle of Badr, he narrated that the Messenger of Allah’s face shone like the full moon of Badr, and in his mournful eulogy for the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, he also mentions also the radiant light that shone at the Prophets birth; “And he who is guided to the blessed light, is well guided” [Hassan Ibn Thabit, Diwan. Edited by Walid N. Arafat. GMS, n.s. 21. 2 Vols. London: Luzac, 1971. See Diwan, no. 34, line 8; no. 9. Line 21; also see no. 131, line 9]. In the last section of his Sira, Ibn Ishaq quotes the poem of Hassan Ibn Thabit, may Allah be pleased with him, which he recited after the loss of the Messenger of Allah:
Tell the poor that plenty has left them With the Prophet who departed from them this morning.
He was the light and the brilliance that we followed.
He was the sight and hearing second only to God […]
He was the source of our light, blessed in his deeds, just, and upright.
O best of men! It was as it were a river without which I have become lonely in my thirst.
[The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s “Sirat Rasul Allah,” Trans. A. Guillaume (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1955) pp. 690 –91]. Ka ‘b ibn Malik said:
I greeted the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and there was lightning in his face. Whenever the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was happy, his face would be illuminated as if it were a piece of the moon.
Bukhari and Muslim narrated it, as well as Ahmad in his Musnad. Bayhaqi in Dala’il al-Nubuwwa (1:301) also relates these descriptions of the Prophet by the Companions and others.
[17] Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah [4:80]. Say: If you love Allah, then follow me and Allah will love you [3:31].
[18] The seemingly sensitive issue of whether or not Muslims can say the words ‘Ya RasulAllah’ needs to be clarified, since this issue divides the Muslim community and causes a great deal of friction among the Muslim communities throughout the world. There are basically two “schools of thought,” over this issue – one contends that stating ‘Ya RasulAllah’ is shirk and that any Muslim proclaiming it in fact goes outside the boundaries of Islam. Contrary to this position, the other School believes that it is indeed permissible to say so, however, they do not insist that one must proclaim this – rather, it is permissible to do so. Unfortunately, the two polar positions have produced two extremities: while one body of Muslims will call shirk to those who profess it, the other body of Muslims will declare those who do not proclaim Ya Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) anything but orthodox. In reality, an absence of the proclamation does not weaken ones Din, while to make the proclamation does not nullify your Din. To blanket condemn everyone who makes this call as being mushriks or people of innovation – reflects ignorance of the accuser. Perhaps these few references will shed some light upon the issue:
Some time after the Messenger of Allah had died, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ‘Abd Allah Ibn ‘Umar’s, may Allah be pleased with him, leg became numb. A man said to him, “Remember the person whom you love the most.” Ibn ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, replied, “Ya Muhammad” [Imam Bukhari’s Adab al-Mufrad – Book of Muslim Morals and Manners, translated by Yusuf Talal Delorenzo, al-Saadawi Publications, Alexandria, Virginia, 1997, hadith Number 967].
Ibn Taymiya wrote that:
in the same way as ‘Abd Allah ibn Umar’s (may Allah be pleased with him) foot became numb and he remembered the one he loves most, ‘Abd Allah Ibn Abbas’s (may Allah be pleased with him) foot also became numb. Someone also said to him to remember the one who he loves the most. ‘Abd Allah Ibn Abbas said Ya Muhammad! and his foot immediately recovered from numbness
[Al-Kalim al-Tayyib chapter on Khadirat Rijluhu, Ibn Taymiya].
Imam Nawawi mentions in his Adhkar both the narrations whereby Ibn ‘Umar and Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, would cry out Ya Muhammad whenever they had a cramp in their leg. The text can be found (amongst other editions) in: 1970 Riyadh edition, p 271; 1988 Ta’if edition, p 383; Makkah edition, p 370; ‘Abd al-Baqi Beirut edition, p 286.
Narrated Abu Hurayra:
I heard the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) say: “By the one in whose hand is Abu al Qasim’s soul, ‘Isa bin Maryam shall descend as a just and wise ruler. He shall destroy the cross, slay the swine, eradicate discord and grudges, and money shall be offered to him but he will not accept it. Then he shall stand by my graveside and say: Ya Muhammad! and I will answer him.
[Abu Ya’la relates this with a sound chain in his Musnad (Dar al Ma’mun edition 1407/1987) 11:462; Ibn Hajar cites it in al-Matalib al-‘Aliya (Kuwait, 1393/1973) 4:23, under the chapter ‘The Prophet’s life in his grave’ and No.4574; Haythami comments in his Majma’ al-Zawa’id (8:5), under the chapter entitled: ‘Isa ibn Maryam’s Descent’ that: Its sub-narrators are the men of sound (sahih) hadith’]
Al-Haytham ibn Hanash [al-Nakha‘i] said:
We were in ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar’s house when he felt a cramp in his leg, whereupon one man said to him: ‘Remember (or mention) the dearest of people to you,” so he said: ‘Ya Muhammad!’ and he seemed relieved of his cramp.
[Narrated by al-Nawawi in al-Adhkar (op. cit.,) Ibn al-Qayyim – without the interjection Ya – in al-Wabil al-Sayyib (1952 ed. p 195) and al-Shawkani’s Tuhfa al-Dhakirin (Cairo ed. pp. 291-292, 1970 Beirut ed. pp. 206-207). This report is narrated by Ibn al-Sunni from Muhammad ibn Khalid al-Bardha‘i who said: Hajib ibn Sulayman [al-Manbiji] narrated to us: Muhammad ibn Mus‘ab narrated to us: Isra’il narrated to us: From Abu Ishaq: From al-Haytham ibn Hanash, as cited by al-Shawkani in the Tuhfa (see below)]
A blind man went to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and said:
Invoke Allah for me that he might help me. The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) replied: “If you wish, I will delay this, and it would be better for you, and if you wish, I will invoke Allah for you.” The blind man replied: “Then invoke Him.” The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said to him: “Go and make wadhu’, offer two rakats of prayer, then say ‘O Allah, I am asking you and turning to you with your Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), the Prophet of mercy: O Muhammad (Ya Muhammad), I am turning with you to my Lord with your intercession concerning the return of my sight [another version has: so that He will fulfil my need. O Allah, allow him to intercede (with You) for me].
This is related by Ahmad (4:138 No. 17246-17247), Tirmidhi; Ibn Majah; Nasai; al-Hakim; Tabarani (in his al-Kabir) and has received the mark of vigorously authenticated by at least fifteen hadith masters, including Ibn Hajar al Asqalani, al-Dhahabi, al-Shawkani and even Ibn Taymiya.
Despite the Messenger of Allah’s absence, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, he still ordered the man to say ‘O Muhammad,’ since the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace did not say: “Go and make wadhu’ and come back to me,” or ‘in front of me.’ For those who will then next say that this was only allowed at the time that the Messenger of Allah was amongst the Sahaba, they need to also realise that the very invocation which the Messenger of Allah gave the blind man, was used after the Prophet’s lifetime, as authenticated as Sahih amongst others: al Bayhaqi, Abu Nu’aym, al-Mundhiri and al-Tabarani in al-Kabir. They relate on the authority of ‘Uthman ibn Hunayf’s nephew, Abu Imama ibn Sahl ibn Hunayf that:
A man would come to ‘Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) for a certain need, but the latter would not pay him any attention nor look at his need, upon which he complained to ‘Uthman ibn Hunayf who told him to ‘go and make wadhu,’ then go to the mosque and pray two rakats, then say this supplication ..’ and he mentioned the invocation of the blind man, ‘then go (to ‘Uthman again).’” The man went, did as he was told, then went to ‘Uthman ibn Affan’s door, to which the door attendant came, took him by the hand and brought him to ‘Uthman ibn Affan who sat with him on top of the carpet and said: ‘Tell me what your need is.’ After this, the man went out and met ‘Uthman ibn Hunayf and said to him: ‘may Allah reward you! Previously he (‘Uthman ibn Affan) would not look into my need nor pay attention to me, until you spoke to him.’ Uthman ibn Hunayf replied, ‘I did not speak with him, but I saw the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) when a blind man came to him complaining of his failing eye-sight.’
Hafiz Ibn Kathir, Imam al-Tabari and Ibn Athir wrote that:
During the caliphate of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) there was a battle against the false prophet Musaylima. When the battle commenced, the Muslims lost their footing, at which Khalid bin Walid (may Allah be pleased with him) and the rest of the Companions called out, “Ya Muhammad!” and proceeded to win the battle.
[Tarikh al-Tabari, Tarikh Ibn Kathir and Tarikh Qamil by Imam Tabari and Hafiz Ibn Kathir, under chapter Musaylima kadab]
Qadi Shawkani wrote:
If one is in trouble or experiencing some difficulty, they should perform two units of nawafil and then supplicate (to Allah) the du`a […]‘Ya Muhammad!’’ […] and Allah will grant them what they want in that their problems or troubles should go away. The scholars of hadith say that this hadith is authentic and it is recorded by Tirmidhi, Hakim, Nas’ai, Ibn Majah and Tabarani.
[Tuhfa al-Dhakirin chapter on Salat al-Hajah, Qadi Shawkani]
Ibn Sa’d wrote:
After Rasul Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) had passed away, Arwa bint Abdul Muttalib (may Allah be pleased with her) recited the following: “Ya Rasul Allah! You were our (place of) hope.
[Tabqat Ibn Sa’ad Chapter: Wafat al-Nabi, Ibn Sa’ad].
Seyyed Mawdudi wrote that:
When Hajaj bin Yusuf levied a new tax on the new Muslims, they left Basra crying with their fuqaha all saying, Ya Muhammad! Ya Muhammad!
[Khilafat wa Malukiyat, Seyyed Mawdudi, p 270 and also recorded in the Tarikh by Ibn Athir]
Some often fail to realise that we are all required to recite the tashahhud during salat – without it the prayer becomes invalid. The part that is of interest is where we recite: as-salamu ‘alayka ayyuha al nabi – wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh. The point here is that the saying of ayyuha al nabi is actually the same as saying ya nabi.
It is significant to note that neither Imam Bukhari, Imam Nawawi nor Qadi Shawkani for that matter ever raised such a notion as to say that calling out Ya Muhammad amounted to shirk. This practice is often condemned by observers who look to people that often misunderstand the context within which the calling occurs. Imam al-Suyuti mentions that if a practice is sound and has basis in the Shari’ah and is being polluted by the mistakes of the people – do you condemn the activity, rather than correcting the people?
[19] “Allah and His angels are praying on the Prophet, Oh believers, pray on him” [33:56]. Anas Ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Gabriel called me and said, ‘whoever prays one prayer on you, Allah prays on him ten times and raises him up by ten degrees’” [Ibn Abi Shayba]. ‘Amir Ibn Rabi’a said that he heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, “The angels will continue to bless anyone who blesses me, as long as he continues to do so, so do a lot, or even a little” [Ibn Majah and al-Tabarani]. Abu Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Whenever anyone greets me with peace, Allah will return my soul to me, so that I can return the greeting” [Abu Dawud and al Bayhaqi]. Ibn Mas’ud, may Allah be pleased with him, said from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “The nearest people to me on the Day of Rising, will be those who have said the most prayers on me” [Al-Tirmidhi]. The Messenger of Allah said, “Dust be upon the face of the man who does not bless me when I am mentioned in his presence” [Muslim, from Abu Hurayra]. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Whoever blesses me in a book or a letter, the angels continue to ask forgiveness for him, as long as my name is on it” [Al-Tabarani].
[20] The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, called himself the Seyyed of all human beings. In addition he called his grandson al-Hassan a Seyyed in absolute terms. (Inna waladi hadha seyyeduna). He also ordered the Ansar, when he saw Sa`d ibn Mu’adh coming, as related by Bukhari in his Sahih: Qumu li seyyedikum or “Stand up for your master.” The implications of that term on the basis of these narrations are that it entails leadership, rank, and respect. The word ‘master’ is used both in the lofty senses mentioned above, as well as in the possibly lowly senses of ‘sahib’ [owner], as in ‘sahib al-bayt,’ ‘sahib al-kalb,’ the owner of the house, of the dog etc. There are further language usages that taint the word ‘master,’ such as the Western/European concept of the word in the context of slavery, where n the words ‘slave’ and ‘master’ infer abuse and injustice but which are absent from ‘abd, mamluk, and sahib, not to say Seyyed. That is partly why the Christians have “lord” instead of ‘master’ in a similar context, but they also use it for “THE Lord,” and so when it comes to Prophets the doctrinal aberration of ascribing divine lordship becomes too glaring, and so Muslims prefer to use ‘master.’
[21] Those who often argue that standing out of respect for anyone is an act that is prohibited by Islam, (or at the very best, makruh) will often quote the following two hadiths in their favour:
1. ‘Abd Allah bin ‘Abd al-Rahman related that Anas said: “No one was dearer to them (the companions) than Allah’s Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) yet when they saw him they did not stand up because they knew of his dislike of that.”
[Related by al Tirmidhi].
2. Mahmud bin Ghaylan related that Mu’awiyya came out (from a place) so ‘Abd Allah bin al-Zubayr and Ibn Safwan stood up when they saw him. Mu’awiyya said: sit down for I heard the Prophet say: Let he who is pleased by people standing before him, await his place in Hell.
[Narrated by Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi]
Al-Tirmidhi cites the first hadith in Kitab al-Adab and asserts that this hadith is hassan sahih gharib min hadha al wajh. This makes us note that this hadith does not relate to ‘aqa’id or ‘ibadat, but to adab. Imam Nawawi comments upon this hadith and points out that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, stood up in respect for some of the Companions and they stood up out of respect for each other in the Prophet’s presence and he did not forbid nor criticised them for it [See Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Fath al-Bari fi sharh al-Bukhari (Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1993), vol. 12, p 322]. Interestingly, various books and commentaries upon hadiths address the issue of standing up in respect to someone. However, books of fiqh rarely discussed the issue, which is an indication that standing up in respect was not perceived to be a subject of legal inquiry.
As for the hadith narrated in Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi through Abu Mijlaz from Mu’awiyya, this again appears in the section of adab. With this hadith, there is a discrepancy that occurs in the various transmissions. Abu Dawud reports that when Mu’awiyya appeared, Ibn ‘Amir stood up and al Zubayr remained sitting. According to Tirmidhi’s version, both Ibn Zubayr and Ibn Safwan stood up, with no mention of Ibn ‘Amir at all. So there is a disagreement as to who exactly stood up and who remained sitting. Also, most of the transmitted versions go back to Abu Mijlaz, of whom not much is known about him as a transmitter. In a different version of this narration, Ibn Baridah reports that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: ‘Whoever likes men to stand before him let him await his place in Hell.’ This version is not accepted by any of the six books of hadiths.
Regarding this hadith, both Imam al-Tabarani and Imam Nawawi explain that the hadith does not actually prohibit standing up or not standing up. Rather, it says that whoever is pleased with people standing up for him is doomed. In other words, the prohibition applies to the person being stood up for, not the person or persons that are standing. The hadith they conclude, calls for the humility of leaders, but says nothing of the followers [Fath al-Bari, op cit., vol. 12, pp 318-322].
If one really wanted to investigate further into this area, one will find that there are in actual fact other hadiths that can be cited as prohibitions of standing:
Abu Dawud narrated that Abu ‘Umamah reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came out to the believers leaning on a cane. Upon seeing him the believers stood up, so the Prophet said: “Do not stand up as the a’jim stand up for each other.” However, Imam al-Tabarani argued that this hadith is weak due to problems in its chain of transmission.
Another hadith is related by Jabir, who relates that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, felt ill during prayer so he sat down, but the believers continued to stand. The Prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saw this and signaled for them to sit down. After the prayer had been completed, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “You were about to do as the Persians and Byzantines do. They stand while their kings sit down. Do not do that!” In another hadith, Anas related that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “Those before you have been ruined by the fact that they have glorified their kings by standing up as their kings sit down.”
It is clear from reading the above hadiths that there is a central theme connecting them all – namely the prohibition of standing. There is some appeal to this argument as it can be identified that from the collective memories of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them all, that they recalled that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, took some issue with them standing up before him. However, in this case, this approach is not reasonable. The problem lies with conflicting evidences which support the contrary. For example:
Usama ibn Sharik narrates:
I went to see the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) while his Companions were with him, and they seemed as still as if birds had alighted on top of their heads. I gave him my Salam and I sat down. [Then the Bedouins came in and asked questions which the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) answered ..] The Prophet then stood up and the people stood up. They began to kiss his hands whereupon I took his hand and placed it on my face. I found it more fragrant and cooler than sweet water.
This was narrated by Abu Dawud in his Sunan, al-Hakim in his Mustadrak, Tirmidhi in his Sunan, Ibn Majah in his Sunan and Ahmad in his Musnad.
Tirmidhi narrates that Abu Kurayyab reported that two Jews kissed the Prophet’s hands and feet. Notably, Abu Dawud, al Bukhari, Muslim and al Bayhaqi narrate through a variety of transmissions, that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah be pleased with him, told the Companions to stand up for Sa’d. According to these reports, after Sa’d’s judgment was accepted by Banu Quraydha (a Jewish tribe), Sa’d returned to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the Companions upon seeing him, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, told the companions to ‘stand up for your master’ (Qumu li seyyedekum) [Shaykh Albani insists that the reason why the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, told the companions to stand up, was so that they could assist Sa’d off his horse saddle. He uses a narration that is not found in neither the Adab al-Mufrad nor Fath al-Bari]. It is also narrated by Abu Dawud that Abu Hurayra reported that when the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would stand up to leave, the companions would also stand up and remain standing until he left the Mosque. Furthermore, in Fath al-Bari, there is a discussion as to whether the Prophet’s standing up to greet Fathima or ‘Ikrimah bin Abi Jahal or the Prophet’s milk brother could also be related to the issue of standing [Fath al-Bari, op cit., vol. 12, p 321].
It is also reported by Tirmidhi and al-Nisa’i that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would stand up when he would see a passing funeral. In one famous incident, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, stood up for a Jewish woman’s funeral. When informed that the deceased was Jewish, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace is reported to have commentated: ‘But isn’t she a soul?’ Nonetheless, the scholars have debated whether this rule on standing up for funerals has been abrogated. Imam Malik, Imam Abu Hanifa and Imam Shaf’i said that the standing has been abrogated, while Imam Ahmad, Ishaq and other Maliki fuqaha have said that it is a matter of personal choice. Imam Nawawi said that standing up for funerals is not preferred. Other Shafi’i scholars (such as Mutwali) said that standing is recommended [Refer to Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, Sharh al-Suyuti ‘ala Sunan al-Nisa’i (Beirut: Dar al Qalam, n p d) vol. 2, pp 43-44].
Returning to the issue of standing, the question then should be, how did the earlier Muslims reconcile the various reports? How did they understand them? The jurists have adopted various positions depending upon how they understood and interpreted the injunctions. Al-‘Ayni, the Hanafi scholar and author of ‘Umdat al-Qari fi Sharh al-Bukhari, said that no set rule was reached by the scholars on the issue of standing because the disagreement over the matter [Badr al Din Ahmad al ‘Ayni, ‘Umdat al-Qari Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari (Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, n p d) vol. 11, p251]. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani agreed with this assessment. He concluded that no final rule was reached because of disagreement [Fath al-Bari, op cit., vol. 12, p 317]. However, al-‘Izz Ibn ‘Abd al-Salam and Ibn Hajar further add that if the failure to stand up will result in insult or create a mafsada (corruption) then it becomes forbidden not to stand up (i.e. that they should stand)[Ibid. p 323]. As mentioned earlier, Imam Nawawi held that the prohibition applies to people who demand and who enjoys people standing in their presence. As to the person who is doing the standing, Imam Nawawi relied on the principle that people should be given their rightful place (bi ‘umumiyati tanzili al nasi manazilahim). This means, according to Imam Nawawi that one should stand up before one’s elders and the wise [Ibid p323]. Imam Nawawi demonstrated at length that standing out of respect for scholars is permissible in al Tarkhis fi al – Ikram bi al-Qiyyam, or, ‘The Permissibility of Honouring, by standing up, those whose who possess excellence and distinction among the people of Islam: In the spirit of piousness, reverence and respect, not in the spirit of display and aggrandisement.’ Imam al-Suyuti mentions in his Tabyid al-Sahifa, that when Imam Abu Hanifa visited Sufyan after the death of the latters’s brother, Sufyan stood up, went to greet him, embraced him, and bade him sit in his place, saying to those who questioned this act: ‘This man holds a high rank in knowledge, and if I did not stand up for his science, I would stand up for his age, and if not for his age, then for his godwariness [wara’], and if not for his god-wariness, then for his jurisprudence [fiqh].’ Al-Hakim narrates in Ma ‘rifat ‘ulum al-hadith [p 104] that when al Dhuhuli went to see Imam Ahmad, the latter stood up for him and the people were astounded. Then he told his son and his companions: ‘Go to Abu ‘Abd Allah [al-Dhuhili] and write his narrations.’ Ibn Hajar, al ‘Ayni and others held that it is recommended that one stand up for the leader, a just Imam, and elder or knowledgeable person. Al-Baghawi, in his Sharh al-Sunna, al-Bayhaqi and al-Ghazali said that standing up out of compassion or respect is permissible [Husayn bin Mas’ud al-Baghawi, Sharh al-Sunna (Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1994) vol. 7 p 213; Fath al-Bari, op cit., vol. 12, pp 320 and 323].
Imam Tabarani held that the standing depended upon the intention. If one stands up to promote arrogance and conceit, then standing is prohibited. If one is merely showing respect, then it is permitted. Ibn Kathir concluded that what was prohibited was the imitating of the Kuffar; but standing up to one who arrives from travel, or to a governor in his place of governorship is permitted [See Shaikh Muhammed bin Jameel Zaynoo, The Methodology of the Saved Sect, Translated by Aboo Naasir ‘Abid bin Basheer (Invitation To Islam: 1999), pp 181-185. The author adheres to the view of Ibn Kathir, while dismissing any other possibility as ‘The Forbidden Standing’ clearly ignoring any possibility of other than his view. He also alludes to the reason why the companions were told to stand for Sa’d, for the reason to ‘…help him down.’ As mentioned earlier, this version of the hadith does not appear in either the Adab al-Mufrad nor Fath al-Bari (See al Albani, Silsilat al-Hadiths al-Da’ifa, vol. 3 p 637; al Albani, Silsilat al-Hadiths al Sahiha (Beirut: al Maktaba al-Islami, 1972) vol. 1, pp 103-106)]. Ibn al-Qayyim and Ibn al-Hajj disagreed and contested that standing up in all circumstances is reprehensible because one can never know whether the one you stand for is truly pious or knowledgeable or not. Ibn Rushd concluded that standing up is of four types:
1. It is prohibited for one to arrogantly and self-conceitedly want others to stand up in his presence
2. It is reprehensible to stand up to one who is not conceited or arrogant but of whom it is feared that he or she will become conceited or arrogant when people stand in his or her presence
3. It is permissible to stand up as a sign of respect before someone who you do not fear will become arrogant
4. It is recommended that one stand up to greet someone who arrives after travelling
[Fath al-Bari, op cit, vol. 12, p 320; Al Albani in his Silsilat al-Hadiths al-Da’ifa, vol. 3, pp 637-8, discusses the authenticity of some of the hadith on standing. Shaykh Albani vehemently attacks those who endorse standing for anyone, yet he strangely endorses Ibn Rushd’s categorisation, but adds that only the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is immune to arrogance or conceit. Thus he implies, standing is not permissible].
[22] Imam al-Ghazali wrote:
Love is the inclination of one’s nature towards the wishes of the beloved. When it is very vehement, it is termed Ishq. There is a steady increase in this so much so, that the Ashiq becomes enslaved of the beloved for no price. They sacrifice their wealth and treasures and resources their beloved. Take the example of Zulayaka, for example, who sacrificed all her beauty and wealth in the love of Yusuf, upon whom be peace.
[23] “Supplications are suspended between heaven and earth, and nothing from it ascends until you send salat on your prophet” [al-Tirmidhi].
[24] Imam al-Busairi says in his Qasida al-Burda: ‘Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is a human being, but not like humankind; he is a ruby, while people are as stones.’
[25] In his Night journey, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, went pass the Lote tree – the furthest boundary, and drew close to Allah [He drew near and hung suspended and was two bows’ lengths away or nearer (53:9)], and a point even where Gabriel could not pass, since he would have been annihilated. [Nor did] “The heart lie about what it saw,” [53:10], and “The eye did not swerve nor sweep away,”[53:16], refers to the immense favour that Allah, Most High, bestowed solely upon the Messenger of Allah – Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
[26] “And [have We not] exalted thy fame?” (94:4) Mujahid said: “Meaning, every time I [Allah] am mentioned, you [Muhammad] are mentioned.” Ibn Kathir mentioned it in his Tafsir. Al-Shafi’i narrated the same explanation from Ibn Abi Najih and so did Ibn `Ata’ as cited by al-Nabahani in al-Anwar al-Muhammadiyya min al-Mawahib al-Laduniyya (p. 379). Al-Baydawi said in his Tafsir: “And what higher elevation than to have his name accompany His Name in the two phrases of witnessing, and to have his obedience equal His obedience?”
[27] Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, means praised, and Ahmad means the greatest of those who give praise and the most sublime of those who are praised. Hassan Ibn Thabit, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “It is taken for him from His [Allah’s] own name in order to exalt him. The One with the Throne is praised [Mahmud] and he is Muhammad.” Two of Allah’s names are the Compassionate, the Merciful [Al-Rauf, Al-Rahim]. They are similar in meaning. He calls them in His Book when He says, “Compassionate, merciful to the believers.” [9:128].
[28] The linguistic approach in support of ‘good’ innovation
The objection to there being a possibility of existence of a good bid’a stems from the misinterpretation of the term Kullu [“every”, or “all”] in the hadith to be all encompassing without exception, whereas in Arabic, it may mean “nearly all” or, “the vast majority.” This is how Imam al- Shafi’i understood it or else he would have never allowed for any innovation whatsoever to be even considered good, and he considered a hujja [proof] that is, reference without peer for questioning regarding the Arabic language. Imam al-Bayhaqi narrated in his Manaqib al-Shafi’i (2:42-46):
Al Hassan related from Mahmud al Misri and he was one gifted with Eloquence – that Mahmud said; I saw ash- Shafi’i when I was little, and I heard Ibn Hisham – and I never set eyes on one from whom I took wisdom Such as Ibn Hisham: I was al- Shafi’i’s sitting companion for a long time, and I never heard him use a word except that if that word were carefully considered, one would not find [in its context] a better word than it in the entire Arabic language.
Mahmud also said; I heard Ibn Hisham say al-Shafi’i ’s discourse, in relation to language, is a proof in itself.” It is also related from al Hassan ibn Muhammad al Za’ farani; A group of the people of pure Arabic [qawmum min ahl al ‘arabiyya] used to frequent al-Shafi’i’s gathering with us and sit in a corner. One day I asked their leader: “You are not interested in scholarship, why do you keep coming here with us?” They said, “We come to hear al-Shafi’i’s language.”
The word Kull, is taken here to mean the part by the whole, what is known as a synecdoche in the English language. This is illustrated by the use of Kull in verse 46:25 of the Qur’an in a selective or partial sense not a universal sense; “Destroying all things by the commandment of its Lord. And morning found them so that naught could be seen save their dwellings.”
Thus, the dwellings were in fact not all destroyed, although “all” things had been destroyed. “All” here means specifically the lives of the unbelievers of ‘Aad and their properties except their houses. The same applies with the hoopee-bird’s expression when Allah says that Balkis has been given in abundance from “everything” in Sura al Naml [27:23], whereas she was not given any power over Sulayman nor any share of his Kingdom. Similarly when Allah says, “Every soul [kullu nafsin] shall taste death,” [3:185] it is understood though that not mentioned, Allah Himself is excluded from the meaning.
There are also other verses in the Qur’an where there are generalisations, such as mentioned in Surat al Najm [53:39], where Allah decrees that “..A man can have nothing, except what he strives for.” Despite this, a Muslim can benefit from his Muslim brethren – such as the prayers of the Angels, the funeral prayer that is read over him, charity given by others in his name, and the prayers of others for him. Again, we are told in Surat al Anbiya [21:98] that, “Verily, you and what you worship apart from Allah are the fuel of hell.” The generalisation here is “what you worship,” because it is well known that ‘Isa, his mother, and angels were all worshipped other than Allah Himself – but will not be the fuel of hell, and so is not meant by this verse. Also, where Allah mentions in Surat al ‘Anam [6:44] regarding the heedlessness of past nations that were sent Messengers, “But when they forgot what they had been reminded of, We opened unto them the doors of everything,” but the doors of Mercy were not opened for them [(Shaykh) Nuh Ha Mim Keller, Bida and Sunnah in The Shari’ah, Qalam International, August 1998, Issue II, vol. I, pp. 5-6].
Hadith evidences alluded to support the existence of ‘good’ innovation
‘Umar bin al Khattab said that his actions of calling the Muslims to congregational Tarawih prayers, in the mosque was an excellent innovation [Sahih al Bukhari, vol. III, ‘Alam al Kutub, Beirut, pp. 97-98]. He did this in spite of the fact that during the time of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the Tarawih prayers were performed in their respective houses, because he [may Allah bless him and grant him peace] was worried that if they were performed in congregation in the Mosque, then they might be given an obligatory status. During the time of Abu Bakr, the Tarawih prayers were also performed in their respective houses.
Abu Amana al-Bahili stated that, “Verily Allah obligates you to perform the Ramadhan fast and did not say [for you] to stay awake at night.” The action of staying awake at night as a pious act towards Allah in the Mosque is a noble innovation on the basis that staying awake at night remembering Allah is a worthy act to perform.
Ibn ‘Umar stated that Duha prayers in congregation at the Mosque is a noble innovation. “The best innovation I did is this innovation” [Ibn Hajar al Asqalani, Fath al-Bari, vol. III, Maktaba al Halabi, Egypt, p 795]. Ibn ‘Umar when questioned by Mujahid on the Duha prayers in the congregation, stated that it was an innovation. He confirmed his innovation as a good innovation when questioned by ‘Ali Shaiba [Sahih Muslim, vol. I (Maktaba al-Misriya: Egypt) p 229].
From the tradition of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, it is understood that innovation from the viewpoint of the Shari’ah can be divided into good and bad [hassana wa sayyi’a]. This is exemplified by the following four points;
The Prophet told Bilal that whoever lives according to his Prophetic practice [Sunna] will be given a good reward commensurate with his performance. Whosoever innovates a deviation will not be accepted by Allah and His Prophet, and will be made responsible in proportion to the deviation brought about [Sunan al-Tirmidhi (al-Jami al-Sahih) vol. IV, Dar al-Fikr, Beirut 1983, pp.150-151]. It is understood that on one hand, innovation in accordance with the tradition of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is good, while on the other, innovation which is contrary to the tradition of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is bad and contemptible.
Jurair bin ‘Abd Allah, reported the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “ Whosoever invents a good regulation then practices it, for him there is a good reward …and whosoever invents a bad regulation and practices it, will be responsible for it ..” [‘Izat ‘Ali ‘Atiyya, al-Bid’a a Thiduha wa al-Islam Minha, p170].
This tradition of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, indicates that innovation exists and that there are two categories, i.e., that which brings about good and that which brings about evil.
The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Whosoever creates his own actions or activities, these will be rejected” [Narrated by Muslim, by ‘A’isha]. Ibn Abbas reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Whosoever creates his own actions or activities based on ideas not found in the Qur’an and the Prophetic practice, then it is left to Allah (i.e., to His judgment)” [Al-Darimi, Sunan al-Darimi, vol. I (Dar al-Fikr: Beirut) p 53]. Here it is shown that whosoever invents anything that is contravention to the Qur’an and the Sunna, is rejected. However, inventions for which there is no detailed basis in the Qur’an and the Sunna but which are not contrary to them, are permissible.
Both Bukhari and Muslim in their Sahih relate from Abu Hurayra that at the dawn prayer, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to Bilal, “Bilal, tell me which of your acts in Islam you are most hopeful about, for I have heard the footfall of your sandals in paradise,” and he replied, “I have done nothing I am more hopeful about than the fact that I do not perform ablution at any time of the night or day without praying with that ablution whatever has been destined for me to pray.” Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani says in his Fath al Bari that the hadith demonstrates the permissibility to use personal reasoning [ijtihad] in choosing times for acts of worship, as Bilal reached this conclusion by himself unaided by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Similarly, is the example in Bukhari about Khubayb who asked to pray two raka’s before being executed by the Mushrikin in Makkah. He was the first to establish the Sunna of two rak’as for those who are steadfast in going to their death.
Both Bukhari and Muslim relate that Rifa’a Ibn Rafi said, “When we were praying behind the Prophet [may Allah bless him and grant him peace] and he raised his head from bowing and said, “Allah hears those who praise Him,” a man behind him said, “Our Lord, Yours is the praise, abundantly, wholesomely, and blessedly therein.” When he rose to leave [after the prayer], the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, asked, “who said it?” and when the man replied that it was he, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “I saw thirty odd angels each striving to be the one to write it.” Ibn Hajar said in his Fath al Bari, that the hadith indicates the permissibility of initiating new expressions of dhikr in the prayer other than the ones related through hadith texts, as long as they do not contradict those conveyed by the hadith.
Bukhari relates from ‘A’isha that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, dispatched a man at the head of a military expedition who recited the Qur’an for his companion at prayer, finishing each recital with al Ikhlas [112]. When they returned, they mentioned this to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who told them, “Ask him why he does this,” and when they asked him, the man replied, “Because it describes the All Merciful, and I love to recite it.” The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to them, “Tell him Allah loves him.” There are no scholars who hold that to do the above is recommended, since the acts of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, are far superior, though his confirming the above demonstrates his acceptance of various forms of obedience and acts of worship, and show that he did not hold them as reprehensible innovations.
What can be easily seen from the preceding three hadiths, is that they all concern the prayer, of which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Pray as you have seen me pray,” despite which he [may Allah bless him and grant him peace] accepted the above examples of personal reasoning, even though they were not acts initiated by himself.
Bukhari relates from Abu Sa’eed al Khudri that a band of the Companions of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, departed on one of their journey’s and approached an encampment of some desert Arabs and asked them to be their hosts, but who refused to have them as their guests. A scorpion stung the leader of the encampment and his followers tried everything to cure him, and when all had failed, one said, “If you would approach the group camped near you, one of them might have something.” So they came to them and said, “O band of men, our leader has been stung and we have tried everything. Do any of you have something for it?” And one of them [amongst the Sahaba] replied, “Yes, by Allah. I recite healing words [ruqya] over people, but by Allah, we asked you to be our hosts and you refused, so I shall not recite anything unless you give us a fee.” They then agreed upon a herd of sheep, so the man went and began spitting and reciting the Fatiha over the victim until he got up and walked as if he were a camel released from its hobble, nothing the matter with him. They then paid the agreed fee, which some of the Companions wanted to divide up, but the man who had done the reciting told them, “Do not do so until we reach the Prophet [may Allah bless him and grant him peace] and tell him what has happened, to see what he may order us to do.” They came to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and told him what had occurred, and he said, “How did you know it was the words that heal? You were right. Divide up the heard and give me a share.”
The hadith is explicit that the Companion had no previous knowledge or example from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that the Fatiha can be recited to heal – but did so anyway by means of personal reasoning. However, since his reasoning did not go against the Shari’ah and not contravene anything that had been legislated, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, confirmed this act even though there was no precedent from himself.
Bukhari relates from Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri that one man heard another reciting al Ikhlas over and over again, so when morning came he went to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and sarcastically mentioned it to him. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “By Him in whose hand is my soul, it equals one third of the Qur’an.” Despite this not being the practice of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, himself (restricting himself to this Sura), the Prophet did not find anything in it that was reprehensible and was in the general parameters of the Sunna.
Ahmad and Ibn Hibban relate from ‘Abd Allah Ibn Burayda that his father said, “I entered the mosque with the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) where a man was at prayer, supplicating, “O Allah, I ask you by the fact that I testify You are Allah, there is no god but You, the One, the Ultimate, who did not beget and was not begotten, and to whom there is no equal,” and the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, “By Him in whose hand is my soul, he has asked Allah by His greatest name, which if He is asked by it, He gives, and if supplicated, He answers.” This supplication was spontaneous and was not taught by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, but who nevertheless confirmed it since it confirmed to the Shari’ah. [(Shaykh) Keller, Ibid, pp. 6-8]
In conclusion we can learn from the aforementioned hadiths that:
The first is that the word “every” is not absolute nor universal, since there are examples in the Qur’an and Sunna where cases of generalisations are qualified by restrictions.
Secondly, the Sunna of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was his way or custom to accept [new] acts that were not initiated by himself but nevertheless were good and did not conflict with established Shari’ah; and to reject those that were in conflict with the Shari’ah.
And finally, the third point is that new matters cannot be rejected simply because they did not exist at the time of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, but must be evaluated according to the Shari’ah.
The Sunna of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is his way of acting, ordering, accepting and rejecting, and the way of the Khalifah Rashidun who also followed his model in acting, ordering, accepting and rejecting. Newly begun practices therefore, must be examined in the Sunna – in the way that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, accepted or rejected newly begun practices. As have been mentioned, many of the Sahaba initiated new practices through their own ijtihad – practices that were not initiated by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, himself. The Sahaba did so due to their belief and conviction that they were acts that were good, and were done in accordance to Allah’s command, “And do the good, that haply you may succeed.” [22:77], and the hadith of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “He who inaugurates a good Sunna in Islam earns the reward of it and all who perform it after him without diminishing their own rewards in the slightest.”
[29] Muhammad bin ‘Umar relates:
I was sitting in the company of Abu Bakr bin Mujahid in Baghdad, when Shaykh Shibili came before them, whereupon Abu Bakr bin Mujahid stood up and hugged him, kissed his forehead and sat him by his side. Muhammad bin ‘Umar said I asked Abu Bakr bin Mujahid, “You are the Shaykh, whilst the whole of Baghdad regards Shibli as Majnun [crazy]. Why have you treated him with so much respect?” To this, Abu Bakr bin Mujahid replied, “I have done nothing strange. I have treated him exactly as I have seen the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, treat him. In my dream, I saw the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) kiss Shibli between his two eyes. I asked the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) “Why did you treat Shibli this way?” To which the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) replied, “I love him because after every Salah, he recites the last verse of Surah Tawba, after which he recites Sallal Laho ‘alaika Ya Muhammad three times.”
[Hafiz Ibn al-Qayyim, Jilal al-Afham, p 80]
[30] Bukhari relates from Mahmud ibn Rabi’ that:
When the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) performed his ablution, the Companions almost fought over the excess water.
[Al-Misri, Ahmed ibn Naqib, Reliance of the Traveller, translated by (Shaykh) Nuh Ha Mim Keller, Sunna Books 1994, p 930].
Bukhari narrates in his sahih in the Book of Clothing, under the chapter entitled ‘What is mentioned about grey hair,’ that ‘Usman ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Mawhab said:
My family sent me to Umm Salama with a cup of water. Umm Salama brought out a silver bottle that contained one of the hairs of the Prophet, and it used to be that if anyone came under the evil eye or ill health they used to send her a cup of water through which she would pass this hair (for drinking). We used to look into the silver bottle: I saw some reddish hairs. Anas said: “When the Prophet shaved his head (after pilgrimage), Abu Talha was the first one to take his hair”
Anas also said:
The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) threw stones at al-Jamra, then sacrificed, then told the barber to shave his head right side first, then began to give the hair away to the people.” He said: “Talha was the one distributing it”
[Muslim, Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud]
He also said:
When the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) shaved his head in Mina, he gave me the hair from the right side and he said: ‘Anas! Take it to Umm Sulaym [his mother].’ When the Companions saw what the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) gave us, they began to compete to take the hair from the left side, and everyone was getting a share from that.
[Ahmad narrated it]
Ibn al-Sakan narrated through Safwan ibn Hubayra from the latter’s father – Thabit al-Bunani said:
Anas ibn Malik said to me (on his death-bed): ‘This is one of the hairs of Allah’s Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). I want you to place it under my tongue.’ Thabit continued: ‘I placed it under his tongue, and he was buried with it under his tongue.’
Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
I saw Khalid [ibn Walid] asking for the Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) forelock and he received it. He used to put it over his eyes and then kiss it.
It is known that he then placed it in his head cover around which the turban is tied and never faced battle again except he won.
[al-Waqidi (Maghazi), Ibn Hajar (Isaba)].
Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani relates that Imam Malik said:
Khalid ibn al-Walid owned a qalansiyya which contained some of the Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) hair, and that is the one he wore the day of the battle of Yarmuk.
Ibn Sirin (one of the tabi ‘in) said:
One hair of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) in my possession is more precious to me than silver and gold and everything that is on the earth and everything that is inside it.
[Bukhari, Bayhaqi (Sunan kubra), and Ahmad].
Hafiz Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Bari, Volume 10, page 353, said:
They used to call the silver bottle in which the hair of the Prophet, (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was kept jiljalan and that bottle was in the home of Umm Salama.
Hafiz al-‘Ayni wrote in ‘Umdat al-Qari, Volume 18, page 79:
Umm Salama had some of the hairs of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) in a silver bottle. When some people became ill, they would go and obtain blessings from these hairs and they would be healed by means of their blessings. If a person were struck by the evil eye or any sickness, he would send his wife to Umm Salama with a mikhdaba or water-pail, and she would pass the hair through that water and then drink the water and he would be healed, after which they would return the hair to the bottle.
Imam Ahmad narrates in his Musnad (4:42) from ‘Abd Allah ibn Zayd ibn ‘Abd Rabbih with a sound (sahih) chain as stated by Haythami in Majma’ al-Zawa’id (3:19) that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, clipped his nails and distributed them among the people.
Narrated Jabir bin ‘Abd Allah:
I fell ill and Allah’s Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and Abu Bakr came to visit me on foot. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) came to me while I was unconscious. Allah’s Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) performed ablution and poured the Remaining water of his ablution over me whereupon I became conscious and said, ‘O Allah’s Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)! How should I spend my wealth? [Or how should I deal with my wealth?]” But the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) did not give me any reply till the Verse of the laws of inheritance was revealed.
[Bukhari volume 9, Book 92, Number 412]
In Bukhari and Muslim:
The Companions would compete for with one another for the water of the Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) ablution in order to wipe it on their faces.
Imam Nawawi in Sharh Sahih Muslim said: “In these narrations is evidence for seeking blessings with the relics of the friends of Allah” (fihi al-tabarruk bi athar al-salihin). The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to heal the sick with his saliva mixed with some earth with the words: “Bismillah, the soil of our earth with the saliva of certain ones among us shall heal our sick with our Lord’s permission” [Bukhari and Muslim].
The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had everyone in Madina then Makkah bring their newborn, upon whom he would read and into whose mouth he would do nafth and tifl (breath mixed with saliva). He would instruct their mothers not to suckle them that day until nightfall. Bukhari, Abu Dawud, Ahmad, Bayhaqi (Dala’il), Waqidi, etc. all narrate this.
‘Utban ibn Malik was one of the Companions of the battle of Badr. After he became blind he said to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:
I would like you to pray in my house so that I can pray where you prayed.” The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) went to his house and asked where exactly he would like him to pray. He indicated a spot to him and the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) prayed there.
[Bukhari and Muslim]
The version in Muslim reads: “I (‘Utman) sent for the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) the message: ‘Come and lay for me a place for worship [khutta li masjidan].’” Imam Nawawi in Sharh Sahih Muslim said: “It means: ‘Mark for me a spot that I can take as a place for worship by obtaining blessing from your having been there [mutabarrikan bi aathaarika]…’ In this hadith is evidence for obtaining blessings through the relics of the Friends of Allah (al-tabarruk bi aathaar al-salihin).”
‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, feared that the taking of the tree of the bay ‘a to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as a place of prayer might lead to a return to idol-worship and he had it cut [Bukhari, Ibn Sa’d (1:73)]. It is known, however, that he derived blessings even from walking in the same spots where the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had walked and praying exactly where he had prayed both at the Ka’ba and on his travels, and that he watered a certain tree under which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had prayed so that it would not die [Bukhari and Bayhaqi (Sunan 5:245)]. Suwayd ibn Ghafalah reported:
I saw ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) kissing the Stone and clinging to it and saying: ‘I saw Allah’s Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), bearing great love for you.’
This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Sufyan with the same chain of transmitters (and the words are):
He (‘Umar) said: ‘I know that you are a stone, nor would I consider you of any worth, except that I saw Abu al-Qasim [that is the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace] bearing great love for you.’ And he did not mention about clinging to it.
[Muslim: 7: 2916]
Qadi ‘Iyad relates in his Shifa’, in the chapter entitled ‘Esteem for the things and places connected with the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)” that Imam Malik would not ride an animal in Madina and used to say: ‘I am too shy before Allah to trample with an animal’s hoof on the earth where Allah’s Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is buried.’ Imam Malik gave a fatwa that whoever said: ‘The soil of Madina is bad’ be given thirty lashes and jailed.
Al-Tabarani in al-Awsat and al-Kabir (4:16), and Imam Ahmad in his Musnad (5:67-68) with a sound chain as stated by al-Haythami in al-Zawa’id (4:211) narrated through Handhalah Ibn Hudhaym that the latter went with his grandfather, Hudhaym, to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Hudhaym said to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace):
I have sons and grandsons, some of whom are pubescent and others still children.” Motioning to the young child next to him, he said: “This is the youngest.” The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) brought this young child whose name was Handhalah next to him, wiped on his head, and told him, “barakallahu fik,” which means: ‘may Allah bless you.’ After that, people started to bring Handhalah a person with a swollen face or a sheep with a swollen udder. Handhalah would place his hand on that part of his head the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) wiped, then touch the swollen part and say Bismillah, and the swelling would be cured.
Ibn Abi Shayba narrated in his Musannaf (4:121), in the chapter entitled: ‘Touching the grave of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,’ with a sahih chain as judged by Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani, and Qadi ‘Iyad in his book al-Shifa’, in the chapter entitled: ‘Concerning the visit to the Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) grave, the excellence of those who visit it and how he should be greeted:
Yazid ibn ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Qusayt and al-‘Utbi narrated that it was the practice of the Companions in the masjid of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) to place their hands on the pommel of the hand rail (rummana) of the pulpit (minbar) where the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to place his hand. There they would face the qibla and supplicate (make du‘a) to Allah hoping He would answer their supplication because they were placing their hands where the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) placed his while making their supplication. Abu Mawduda said: ‘And I saw Yazid ibn ‘Abd al-Malik do the same.’
The Tabi’i, Thabit al-Bunani said he used to go to Anas Ibn Malik, kiss his hands, and say: “These are hands that touched the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)” He would kiss his eyes and say: “These are eyes that saw the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).” Abu Ya`la narrated it in his Musnad (6:211) Ibn Hajar mentions it in his al-Matalib al-‘Aliya (4:111) and al-Haythami declared it sound in Majma’ al-Zawa’id (9:325).
According to Bukhari in his Adab al-Mufrad, ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Razin related that one of the Companions, Salama ibn al-Aku’, raised his hands before a group of people and said: “With these very hands I pledged allegiance (bay’a) to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).” Upon hearing this, all those who were present got up and went to kiss his hand. Another version of this hadith was also related by Ahmad. Abu Malik al-Ashja’i said that he once asked another Companion of the Tree, Ibn Abi Awfa, “Give me the hand that swore bay’a to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) so that I may kiss it.” Ibn al-Muqri related it. Bukhari in al-Adab al-Mufrad also relates that Suhayb saw Seyyedina ‘Ali kiss both the hand and feet of the Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) uncle al-‘Abbas, and that Thabit kissed the hand of Anas because it had touched the Prophet’s hand, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
The first hadith that Imam Ahmad related from Anas ibn Malik in his Musnad is:
The whole Community of the people of Madina used to take the hand of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and rush to obtain their need with it.
‘A’isha the Mother of the Believers said:
The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) when he had a complaint, would recite the last three suras of Qur’an, over himself and blow.” She said, “When his pain was great, I would recite it over him and wipe him with his right hand hoping for its blessing.”
Narrated by Imam Malik in his Muwatta’, Book 50, Number 50, 4:10.
Usama ibn Sharik narrates:
I came to see the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) while his Companions were with him, and they seemed as still as if birds had alighted on top of their heads. I gave him my salutations and I sat down [Then Bedouins came and asked questions which the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) answered] … The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) then stood up and the people stood up. They began to kiss his hand, whereupon I took his hand and placed it on my face. I found it more fragrant than musk and cooler than sweet water.
Narrated by Abu Dawud (Number 3855), Tirimidhi (2038 – hassan sahih), Ibn Majah (3436), al-Hakim (4:399), and Ahmad (4:278). Al-Hafiz Imam Bayhaqi cites it in Branch 15 of his Shu’ab al-Iman entitled: The Fifteenth Branch of Faith, Namely A Chapter On Rendering Honour To The Prophet, Declaring His High Rank, And Revering Him (al-khamis `ashar min shu`ab al-iman wa huwa babun fi ta`zim al-nabi sallallahu `alayhi wa sallama wa ijlalihi wa tawqirih) volume 2, p 200 (number 1528).
From Safwan ibn ‘Asal al-Muradi:
One of two Jews said to his companion: ‘Take us to this Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) so we can ask him about Musa’s ten signs… [the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) replied in full and then] they kissed his hands and feet and said: ‘We witness that you are a Prophet […]
Narrated by Ibn Abi Shayba (Book of Adab, Chapter entitled A Man Kissing Another Man’s Hand When He greets Him), Tirmidhi (Book of Adab) who declared it hassan sahih, al-Nasa’i, Ibn Majah (Book of Adab), and al-Hakim who declared it sahih.
Narrated Usayd ibn Hudayr:
AbdurRahman ibn Abu Layla (quoting Usayd ibn Hudayr, a man of the Ansar) said that while he was given to jesting and was talking to the people and making them laugh, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) poked him under the ribs with a stick. He said: ‘Let me take retaliation.’ The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: ‘Take retaliation.’ Usayd replied: ‘You are wearing a shirt but I am not.’ The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) then raised his shirt and the man embraced him and began to kiss his side. Then Usayd said: ‘This is what I wanted, Apostle of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)!’”
Narrated in Abu Dawud, Book 41, Number 5205.
Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr relates, in his Isti ‘ab fi Ma’rifat al-as-hab (p. 673), that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, after forbidding two or three times the use of khaluq (a kind of perfume mixed with saffron), and finding that Sawad ibn ‘Amr al-Qari al-Ansari was wearing it, nudged him in the mid-section with a palm-tree stalk (jarida) and scratched him. The latter asked for reparation; when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, bared his own stomach to him, he jumped and kissed the Prophet’s stomach, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Ibn Ishaq’s version of a similar account in the Sira, mentions that Sawad was standing in the ranks of the Companions of Badr at the time of this incident. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was arranging the ranks with his miqra‘a and he nudged Sawad’s stomach with it, scratching him inadvertently, with the words: “Align yourself with the others.” Sawad said: “Ya Rasulallah, you hurt me, so give me reparation.” The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, handed him the tree stalk and said: ‘Take reparation.’ Sawad approached him and kissed his belly. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “What made you do that, O Sawad?” He replied, “Ya Rasulallah, the time has come for what you see, and I loved that my last action in this dunya be to touch you.”
Narrated Buhaysah al-Fazariyyah:
My father sought permission from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) then he came near him, lifted his shirt, and began to kiss him and embrace him out of love for him.
Narrated in Abu Dawud, Book 9, Number 1665.
Narrated Abu Burda:
When I came to Madina. I met ’Abd Allah bin Salam. He said, ‘Will you come to me so that I may serve you with Sawiq (i.e. powdered barley) and dates, and let you enter a (blessed) house in which the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) entered?
[Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 58, Number 159].
Bukhari and Tirmidhi narrate from Qatada:
I asked Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) to describe the sandals of Allah’s Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and he replied: ‘Each sandal had two straps’; and from ‘Isa ibn Tahman: Anas took out a pair of shoes and showed them to us. They did not have hair on them.
The remark refers to the Arabian practice of not removing the hair from the leather from which shoes were made.
Bukhari, Malik, and Abu Dawud relate that ‘Ubayd ibn Jarih said to ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar:
I saw you wear tanned sandals. He replied: “I saw the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) wearing sandals with no hair on them and perform ablution in them, and so I like to wear them.”
Al-Qastallani in his Mawahib al-Laduniyya said that Ibn Mas’ud, may Allah be pleased with him, was one of the Prophet’s, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, servants and that he used to bring for the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, his cushion (wisada), his tooth-stick (siwak), his two sandals (na’layn), and the water for his ablution. When the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, rose he would put his sandals on him; when he sat he would carry his sandals in his arms until he rose. Qastallani mentions the following from one of the greatest Tabi’in:
Abu Ishaq (al-Zuhri) said: al-Qasim ibn Muhammad (ibn Abu Bakr al-Siddiq) said: ‘Of the proven blessing of the likeness of the Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) sandal is that whoever has it in his possession for tabarruk, will safeguard him from the sedition of rebels and the mastery of enemies, and will be a barrier against every recreant devil and the evil eye of the envious. If the pregnant woman holds it in her right hand at the time of labour, her delivery will be easier by Allah’s change and His might.
Al-Qastallani also said that Abu al-Yaman ibn ‘Asakir wrote a volume on the image of the Prophet’s sandal, and so did Ibn Hajj al-Andalusi. He relates the account of a pious shaykh by the name of Abu Ja’far Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Majid:
I cut the pattern of this sandal for one of my students. He came to me one day and said: ‘I saw a wonder yesterday from the blessing of this sandal. My wife was suffering from a pain which almost took her life. I placed the sandal on the spot of her pain and said: O Allah, show me the blessing of the owner of this sandal. Allah cured her on the spot.
Al-Munawi and al-Qari mentioned in their commentary on Tirmidhi’s al-Shama’il that Ibn al-‘Arabi said that the sandals are part of the attire of prophets, (upon whom be peace) and the people only left them due to the mud in their lands. He also mentioned that one of the names of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in the ancient books is Sahib al-Na’layn or “The wearer of the two sandals.” Ashraf ‘Ali al-Tahanawi wrote a treatise entitled Nayl al-shifa’ bi na’l al-Mustafa (The attainment of cure through the sandals of the Elect One) found in his book Zad al-Sa’eed (Provision for the fortunate). Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhalwi said in his translation of Tirmidhi’s Shama’il:
Maulana Ashraf ‘Ali Thanwi has written in his kitab Zaadus Sa’eed a detailed treatise on the barakaat and virtues of the shoes of The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Those interested in this should read that kitab (available in English). In short, it may be said that it [the Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) sandal] has countless qualities. The ‘ulama have experienced it many a time. One is blessed by seeing the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace in one’s dreams; one gains safety from oppressors and every heartfelt desire is attained. Every object is fulfilled by its tawassul (means, petition, request). The method of tawassul is also mentioned therein.
Imam al-Dhahabi summarises all of the above as manifestations of the Companion’s intense love for the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He writes concerning the Sahaba’s actions in Mujam al-Shuyukh (1:73) that:
[…] they enjoyed his presence directly, kissed his very hand, nearly fought each other the remnants of his ablution water, shared his purified hair on the day of the greater Pilgrimage, and even if he spat, it would virtually not fall except in someone’s hand so that he could pass it over his face […] Don’t you see the Companions in their intense love for the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, asked him, ‘should we not prostrate to you?’ and he replied no, and if he had allowed them, they would have prostrated to him as a mark of utter veneration and respect, not as a mark of worship, just as the Prophet Joseph’s brothers prostrated to Joseph, upon whom be peace.
[31] ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, told the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “I love you more than anything except my soul which is between my two sides.” The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, replied, “None of you will believe until I am dearer to him than his own soul.” ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “By the One who sent down the Book on you, I love you more than my soul which is between my two sides.” The Prophet said, “’Umar, now you have it!” (al-Bukhari)
[32] Imam Ahmad relates in his Kitab al Zuhud, that the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ordered people that should they meet Uways, to have him ask forgiveness on their behalf: The Messenger of Allah said:
Uways ibn ‘Amir will dawn upon you with the assistance of the people of Yemen from the tribe of Murad and Qaran. He was a leper and was healed except in a tiny spot. He has a mother whose rights he keeps scrupulously. If you are able to let him ask forgiveness for you, do it. Al-Hassan al-Basri also related: “More people will enter Paradise through the intercession of a certain man from my community than there are people in the tribes of Rabi’a and Mudar.” Al-Basri said, “That is Uways al-Qarani.”
[Ahmad, al-Zuhud (Dar al-Kutub al ‘ilmiyya: Beirut 1993) pp 413-16]
The narration concerning ‘Uways is that he embraced Islam in Yemen, and greatly desired to travel to Madina to meet the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. But his old mother wanted him to stay home and take care of her. She gave him permission to go on the condition that as soon as he got to the Prophet’s house, he would turn around and would return without going any where else. As the narration unfolds, we are told that the Prophet happened to be out when he reached there. But Uways was obedient to the promise he’d made to his mother, so he never did get to meet the Prophet. For his love for the Prophet and his filial piety, he was raised to the same station as the Sahabah, the Prophet’s Companions. And Allah knows best.
[33] “Invoke blessings upon me abundantly on Friday because it is a day that is (particularly) witnessed and the angels witness it (abundantly). As soon as a person invokes blessings on me his invocation is shown to me until he ends it.” Abu al-Darda’ said: “Even after (your) death?” The Prophet replied: “Verily, Allah has forbidden the earth to consume the bodies of Prophets.” Related by Ibn Majah with a sound chain through Abu al-Darda’. Also related with a sound chain from Aws ibn Aws al-Thaqafi by Ahmad, Ibn Abi Shayba, Abu Dawud, al-Nasa’i, Ibn Majah, al-Darimi, Ibn Khuzayma, Ibn Hibban, al-Hakim (sahih, confirmed by Dhahabi), Tabarani in his Kabir, and Bayhaqi in many places, some with the initial addition of the following: “The best of your days is Friday, for in it Adam was created, and in it his soul was taken back, and in it is the Blowing of the horn, and in it is the universal Seizure, therefore invoke blessings upon me abundantly on Friday,” etc. [see also Jala al-Afham p 145 by Hafiz Ibn-al-Qayyim].
Imam Nasa’i narrates that there are some angels who visit the earth. Their duty is to go to the person who sends salutations upon the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace and then to take those salutations to the Prophet Muhammad may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
“Salafis” keep reiterating the claim that the Prophet’s (Allah bless him and give him peace) parents died as kafirs and that they were destined to reside eternally in the Hell-fire. One fails to understand the significance of wasting time and energy to keep bringing such an issue to life.
Countless scholars have written on this topic in support of the parent’s survival. The following piece of writing is not intended to outline any such topic. It is only for the purpose of refuting what some “Salafis” allege about Imam Abu Hanifa. They say he was of the opinion that the parents are in Hell. They quote an adulterated version of his theological booklet al-Fiqh al-Akbar, which is an outstanding statement of Sunni doctrine the Imam wrote to clarify the Sunni `Aqida.]
[Source: Dr. `Inayatullah Iblagh al-Afghanistani, Doctorate thesis: al-Imam al-A`zam Abu Hanifa al-Mutakallim (The Greatest Imam: Abu Hanifa, The Theologian),2nd edition, with supervision of Dr. Muhammad Ali Mahjub, Minister of Awqaf and President of the Supreme Council for Religious Affairs, Cairo, 1987.
Regarding the [discrepancies in the] text (matn), we find in some of the manuscripts (nusakh) [of al-Fiqh al-Akbar] some words that differ from what is in other manuscripts. For example, we find in some of them: “… and the two parents of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) died on the innate nature” (mata `ala al-fiTra). In some others, it is: “did not die on disbelief” (ma mata `ala al-kufr). While in other ones, we find: “died on disbelief” (mata `ala al-kufr).
`Allama al-Kawthari noted that the word fitra can be easily altered to kufr in Kufic Arabic calligraphy. Therefore, it is highly probable that the copy with “died on the innate nature” was changed to “died on disbelief”. This [the correct copy: i.e. “died on the innate nature”] implies as if the Greatest Imam wanted to argue with it against whoever iterates the Hadith: “My father and your father are both in the Hell-fire” (Abi wa abuka fi al-nar), reported by `Ali (ra). The way of responding to this [allegation] is that putting the woman [I think the author shifted here to talk about the Prophet’s mother] in the fire cannot be affirmed except by a definite proof (dalil qaT`i) and this is not a practical (`amali, i.e. fiqhi) matter in order for an indefinite proof (dalil Danni) to suffice for it. Consequently, what might be believed [by some], regarding the parents of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) being in the Hell-fire, is not based on a definitive proof.
Moreover, we find more evidence in what was mentioned my al-Hafiz Muhammad Murtada al-Zabidi – the commentater on the Ihya’ and the Qamus – in his booklet (risala) al-Intisar li Walidayy al-Nabi al-Mukhtar (The Support for the Parents of the Chosen Prophet). He said that when the copier (nasikh) saw the repetition in the word ‘ma mata’, he thought that one of them was extra, so he removed it. Then this incorrect copy was destined to become widespread. [He is referring to the repetition of the ‘ma’. The first ‘ma’ is a word meaning ‘did not’. The second ‘ma’ is an integral part of the word ‘mata’, meaning ‘both died’].
Another evidence to this is the way it [the words] is mentioned (siyaq al-khabar), because Abu Talib [the Prophet’s uncle] and his [the Prophet’s] parents, have they been all in one state, he [Abu Hanifa] could have combined them in one sentence, as opposed to two sentences, if there was no difference between them in that verdict. This is a good analysis from al-Hafiz al-Zabidi. Also, `Allama al-Kawthari mentioned that he saw the copy that contains ‘ma mata’ in two manuscripts in Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya. I went back to view them and found them as mentioned by al-Kawthari.
Furthermore, `Allama al-Kawthri mentioned in his editions of the letters (rasa’il) of Abu Hanifa, kept in Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya, number 24205, that “There exists manuscripts of it in Maktabat al-Fatih in the Astana [in the Ottoman Impire/present day Turkey].
Translated by Khalid Williams from ‘Abwab al-Faraj’ by the esteemed Sheikh Muhammad bin Alawi al-Maliki al-Hassani, may Allah forgive and be pleased with him, who died in Makkah in Ramadan, 2004
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Among the greatest means of obtaining ease in times of hardship is invocating blessings and peace upon the Prophet of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace), which the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) himself clarified for us how in a tradition narrated by Ubai bin Ka’ab (may Allah be pleased with him), who said; ‘I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I supplicate often, so how much of my supplication should I devote to you?’ He replied, ‘as you desire’. I said, ‘a quarter of it?’ He said ‘as you desire, but if you were to increase upon this, it would be better for you.’ I said, ‘half of it?’ He said, ‘as you desire, but if you were to increase upon this, it would be better for you.’ I said, ‘two-thirds of it?’ He said again, ‘as you desire, but if you were to increase upon this, it would be better for you.’ Finally I said, ‘and if I dedicate my supplication in its entirety to you?’ He said, ‘then your needs will be satisfied, and your sins forgiven.’[1]
It is clear that he whom Allah satisfies his worldly needs has been truly blessed with Allah’s kindness and mercy. He also has been given security from all that he fears, and has attained the utmost protection from all harm and evils; indeed he is carried aboard the ship of salvation. This means he is secure from all things which create worries and needs, secure from poverty, debt, subjugation, weakness, disease, fear, and all other calamities and disasters; he has guaranteed that his worldly affairs will be upright and good. . And should he obtain, alongside this, forgiveness from the sins and salvation from the perils of the Day of Resurrection, so that he may enter Paradise in peace, he has most certainly guaranteed that his affairs in the Hereafter will be good and upright, too.
What more could the worshipper require besides this? And all of this is obtained through invoking blessings and peace upon the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace); with it lies the key to guaranteeing goodness in the affairs of this life, and in the Hereafter.
We will now give mention to some of the benefits of invocating blessings and peace upon our Master Muhammad (may Allah bless him and give him peace), by way of drawing from the works of the scholars of Islam, namely Sheikh ibn al-Qayyim, and Sheikh ibn Hajar al-Haytami.
1 Responding to the order of Allah, Exalted and Magnificent.[2]
2 Following the lead of Allah, Exalted and Magnificent in the sending of blessings upon His Messenger (may Allah bless him and give him peace), although the blessings (Salawat) differ, being from us supplication and request, and being from Allah exaltation and ennoblement.
3 Following the Angels in invocation of the Messenger (may Allah bless him and give him peace), also.
4 The attainment of ten blessings from Allah for the one who invokes one blessing upon His Messenger (may Allah bless him and give him peace).[3]
5 He who sends blessing upon the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace), Allah raises him by ten degrees.
6 He also has written for him ten good deeds.
7 He also has erased from his record ten bad deeds.[4]
8 The invocation increases the chance of one’s supplication being answered if it follows the supplication, as the invocation of blessings upon the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) lifts those supplications up to the Lord of the Worlds which were stalled between the heavens and the earth. [5]
9 It is a means to receive the intercession of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace), whether or not a specific intercession is sought.
10 It is a means to have one’s sins forgiven.
11 It is a means for Allah to satisfy his bondman’s worldly needs.
12 It is a means to draw near to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) on the Day of Resurrection.[6]
13 It compensates for giving charity for those who are too poor to give it.
14 It is a means of fulfilling one’s needs (Qada’ al-Hawa’ij)
15 It is a means to receive the Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and give him peace) blessings, and the Angels likewise.[7]
16 It is a means of purification for he who invokes it.
17 For one who sends blessings on him (may Allah bless him and give him peace) it is glad tidings in his life that he has been granted his place in Paradise as is mentioned by Al-Hafiz Abu Musa in his book on the matter, for which he brought Hadith as evidence.
18 It is a means of salvation from the horrors of the Day of Resurrection, as also mentioned by Abu Musa with evidence.
19 It is a means for the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) to return the blessings and greeting upon he who invokes it.[8]
20 It is a means of ennobling a meeting or gathering and a means to prevent any ill talk or conduct occurring therein, so that it will not return upon its participants as a hardship on the Day of Resurrection.[9]
21 It is a means to remember something which has been forgotten.
22 It is a safeguard against poverty.
23 It saves one from being branded a miser if one were to omit it upon the Prophet’s name (may Allah bless him and give him peace) being mentioned.[10]
24 It saves one from being cursed and disgraced because the one who omits the blessings and prayers upon hearing the Prophet’s name (may Allah bless him and give him peace) risks receiving Allah’s anger.[11]
25 It keeps the one who invokes it steadfast upon the path to Paradise, and keeps he who neglects it from traveling the path.
26 It safeguards a meeting from turning ill; a meeting without the mention of Allah Exalted and His Messenger (may Allah bless him and give him peace), and without the praise and glorification of Allah and the invocation of blessings on His Messenger (may Allah bless him and give him peace) has no blessing nor benefit.
27 It is a cause for the perfection of any speech which begins with the praise of Allah the Exalted and the blessings of His Messenger (may Allah bless him and give him peace).
28 It is a cause for the bondman to find light cast in abundance in his life to guide him on the Straight Path.
29 It refines the worshipper’s character and manners.
30 It is a means for Allah to preserve those in the heavens and the earth praising and commending he who invokes it.
31 It is a means of the worshipper to obtain blessing for himself in his work, life and provision.
32 It is a means of obtaining the mercy of Allah.
33 It sustains, increases and multiplies love for the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace), which is among the core bases of Faith, without which faith cannot be complete.
34 It earns the Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and give him peace) love for the bondsman.
35 It is a means of the worshipper’s guidance, and a source of vitality for his heart.
36 It causes the worshipper’s name to be shown to the Prophet, and the mention of the worshipper to him (may Allah bless him and give him peace).[12]
37 It is a means for the worshipper to find ease upon crossing the pass over the Hellfire.
38 Invoking blessing and peace upon the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) is an infinitesimal recompense of his right upon us, and of the thanks which we owe for the grace which Allah has bestowed upon us by sending him (may Allah bless him and give him peace), although what he truly deserves is innumerable, either for us to comprehend or to bestow, or even to will. However Allah, because of His Boundless Generosity, is pleased with his bondsmen even with the small amount of thanks they can offer.
39 Invoking blessing and peace upon the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) in itself contains remembrance of Allah the Exalted, and is an expression of thanks to Him and a recognition of His immense favour upon His bondsmen by sending him (may Allah bless him and give him peace).
Appendix
It is narrated[13] that Abu Ja’far, the Commander of the Believers, asked Imam Malik, ‘O Abu Abdullah! Should I face the Qiblah and supplicate, or face the Prophet of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace) and supplicate?’ Malik replied, ‘and why would you turn your face away from him, and he is your intercessor, and the intercessor of your father Adam (may peace be upon him) on the Day of Judgement? Face him, and seek his intercession, for Allah has said: “If they had only, when they were unjust to themselves, come unto you and asked Allah’s forgiveness, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah indeed Oft-Returning, Most Merciful.”’[14]
NOTES
[1] Narrated by Ahmad, Tirmidhi, and Hakim, who declared it to be a rigorously authenticated tradition of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace).
[2] Qur’an 33:56; ‘Verily, Allah and His Angels send blessings on the Prophet: O you who believe! Send blessings on him, and salute him with a worthy salutation.’ (check another translation)
[3] Muslim narrated in his Sahih from Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said ‘he who invokes blessings on me once, Allah sends ten blessings upon him.’
[4] Al-Nisa’i narrated in ‘Invocations of the day and night’, from ‘Umar bin Dinar (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said ‘he of my community who invokes blessings upon me sincerely, Allah will bless him ten fold and raise him ten degrees, and he will have written for him ten good deeds, and erased from his record ten bad deeds.’
[5] Tirmidhi narrated that ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said ‘Verily, supplications are stalled between the heavens and the earth, and are not lifted up until the supplicant invokes blessings upon the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace).’
[6] Tirmidhi related from Abdullah bin Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said ‘the closest people to me on the Day of Resurrection will be those who invoked the most blessings upon me.’
[7] Tirmidhi narrated from ‘Amir bin Rani’ah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said ‘he who invokes blessings upon me, the Angels send blessings upon him equal to that which he invoked, so let the worshipper invoke some, or increase upon that.’
[8] Abu Dawood related in his Sunan from Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said ‘No-one greets me except that Allah returns my soul to me, so that I may return his greeting.’ He also related, as did Al-Nisa’i and ibn Majah, from Aws bin Aws (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said ‘Verily, your best day is Friday, so invoke blessings upon me in abundance on this day, for your invocation is shown to me.’ They said, ‘O Messenger of Allah! How can our invocations be shown to you after your bones have turned to dust? He replied ‘Verily, Allah has forbidden the earth from consuming the bodies of the Messengers.’ Al-Nawawi declared them both rigorously authenticated traditions (in his book ‘Al-Adhkar‘ and elsewhere).
[9] Tirmidhi said that many of the People of Knowledge considered that if a single man invokes blessings on the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) during a meeting, this will be sufficient for the whole meeting (see Al-Adhkar, number 301)
[10] Tirmidhi related from ‘Ali (may Allah beautify his countenance) that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said ‘he who, when I am mentioned before him, fails to invoke blessings upon me is a miser.’
[11] Tirmidhi related from Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said ‘disgraced (Ar. raghima anf) be the man who, when I am mentioned before him, fails to invoke blessings upon me.’
[12] Al-Nisa’i narrated ibn Hibban, al-Dhahabi, al-Hakim, ibn al-Qayyim, and others, all of whom declared it a rigorously authenticated tradition, that ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) related that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said ‘Verily, Allah has angels that roam the earth and convey to me the greeting of my Community.’
[13] In al-Sayyid Mustafa al-Bakri’s commentary of the Salawat of Muhammad ibn Abi al-Hasan al-Bakri.
[14] Qur’an 4:64
The Prophet taught that to find the enemy of peace we must look inwards – not out at others
Article originally appeared in the Independent:
Sunday marks the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, a public holiday in almost every Muslim country. It is celebrated with drums, street parties, sweets for children, poetry competitions, and, in most British mosques, a startlingly incongruous display of tinsel and fairy lights.
Sunday marks the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, a public holiday in almost every Muslim country. It is celebrated with drums, street parties, sweets for children, poetry competitions, and, in most British mosques, a startlingly incongruous display of tinsel and fairy lights.
This is fine, of course. Religion is meant to make people happy. Onlookers may frown, mystified, but believers rejoice. This time, the rejoicing is about nothing less than the healing of the torn human heart. God has sent a prophet to “heal hearts”, as the Koran puts it. From spiritual sickness, the Prophet brings his people into wholeness. The Prophet’s birthday is therefore on an emotional par with the party a cancer patient might throw when given the all-clear. There is a sense of relief and of exuberance, and also of gratitude.
All this sits well with Islam’s generally upbeat optimistic temper. The religion has no doctrine of original sin; sexuality is celebrated, private property is sacrosanct, and God is merciful. The risk, of course, is complacency, even smugness. If one has a delicious religion, and a generous Lord, who has promised that, despite all tribulations, goodness and justice will ultimately be victorious, what privilege could be more secure than Islam?
Yet this state of mind is in crisis. The Prophet taught optimism, but the Muslim world today looks hopeless. An array of shabby tyrants, most of them fortified by unshakeable Western support, watch as Palestine shrinks and Iraq implodes. Thanks to the Islamic virtue of patience, most of us stolidly persevere, hoping for the better times which we are promised. The West will stop interfering, and we will be free.
Such is one consolation of classical piety. As America’s finest trample like tyrannosaurs through ancient Muslim cities, most of us hunker down, and pray in hope. Yet classical piety tells us something less consoling as well. The Prophet brought healing, but the treatment itself was painful. In Turkish mosque decoration, the word “submission” is traditionally written with the Arabic dots painted red. This is, we are told, because submitting to God is so difficult that the believer weeps tears of blood. Religion juxtaposes hope with fear. The hope is in God, and the fear is of the ego. There may be no original sin, but there is certainly human perversity, waywardness, and a kind of gravitational attraction to selfishness.
The Prophet’s birthday announced the crushing of the Arabian ego. For centuries, the peninsula had been locked in tribal strife, fuelled by pride and mutually competing idolatries. In place of this, Islam brought brotherhood and unity. Reiterating the moral genius of Hebrew prophecy, the Koran does not vindicate its own people, but subjects them to a barrage of criticism. The Prophet emerged as an Arabic voice denouncing Arab ways, enduring extreme persecution from his own people. By endangering himself he gave them one of the great monotheistic gifts, the duty of collective self-criticism.
“Speak the truth,” says this voice, “though it be against yourselves.” God will only restore the believers’ fortunes “when they put themselves right”. The principle of divine justice should compel believers to blame themselves for their own misfortunes, rather than looking for external culprits.
Radical Muslim discourse of the type that is currently gaining ground seems to ignore this. Yet the conspiracy theories indulged in by many of our people are a secular intrusion into Muslim thinking. The ego tells us to blame others, when the scriptures insist that we have only ourselves to blame. The secular mind may blame enemies, but monotheism tempers this with the awareness that it is all, finally, our own silly fault.
The new sort of Islam that directs the finger of blame outwards, rather than towards the self, has been with us for only a very short time. Thirty years ago, no one had heard of it. Yet it is a sterile hopeless primal scream of desperation that can do no good to religion or to the world. It compounds Muslim grievances against our neighbours, and can lead to forms of self-destructive terrorism that are historically unprecedented for us.
The targeting of innocent bystanders is clearly a symptom of this. The Koran says: “Be steadfast witnesses for God in justice, and let not a people’s hatred make you swerve from justice.” Luckily, the Prophet was right to be optimistic. Such attitudes are not native to Islam, and cannot endure. The new generation, and teenagers in particular, are sick of the dishonour done to Islam by the zealots, and seem everywhere to be returning to the Koran’s own teaching. “Whatever misfortune descends upon you, comes from yourselves.” They, at least, recognise that the Prophet’s birthday is an invitation to be healed, not a claim that this has already happened.
Abdal Hakim Murad is a Muslim chaplain at Cambridge University
And know that the Messenger of Allah is among you
(The Holy Qur’an 49:7)
They encompass nothing of His knowledge save what He will (2:255)
(He is) the Knower of the Unseen and He reveals unto none His secret,
save unto every Messenger whom He has chosen (72:26-27)
Nor does he withhold grudgingly a knowledge of the Unseen
Hadara hudûran wa hadâratan: diddu ghâba…
wahuwa hâdirun min huddarin wa hudûrin.
“To be present (hadara)… is the opposite of being absent…
said of the attendee (hâdir) among other attendees.”
Al-Fayruzabadi, al-Qamus al-Muhit.
[1]
Ibn Khafif al-Shirazi said in his al-‘Aqida al-Sahiha (§48):
[The Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam,] is knower of what is and what shall be and he gave news of the Unseen (wa [ya‘taqidu] annahu al-‘âlimu bimâ kâna wa mâ yakûnu wa akhbara ‘an ‘ilmi al-ghayb).
Meaning, in the sense of being imparted by Allah whatever He imparted to him. Our teacher the Faqîh Shaykh Adib Kallas said: “Note that Ibn Khafif did not say ‘He knows all that is and all that shall be.’”
Shaykh ‘Abd al-Hadi Kharsa told us:
The Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, possesses knowledge of all that is and knows the created universes in the same way that one knows a room in which one sits. Nothing is hidden from him. There are two verses of the Holy Qur’an that affirm this, [But how (will it be with them) when we bring of every people a witness, and We bring you (O Muhammad) a witness against these] (4:41) and [Thus We have appointed you a middle nation, that you may be witnesses against mankind and that the messenger may be a witness against you] (2:143) nor can the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, be called to witness over what he does not know nor see
The above evidence is confirmed by the authentic Prophetic narration from Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri in the Sahih, Sunan, and Masanid:
The Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, said: “Nuh and his Community shall come and Allah Most High shall say: ‘Did you convey [My Message]?’ He shall say, ‘Yes, indeed! my Lord.’ Then He shall ask his Community, ‘Did he convey [My Message] to you?’ and they shall say, ‘No, no Prophet came to us.’ Then Allah shall ask Nuh, ‘Who is your witness?’ and he shall reply, ‘ Muhammad , sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, and his Community.’ Then we shall bear witness that he conveyed [the Message] indeed, and this is [the meaning of] His saying, [Thus We have appointed you a middle nation (ummatan wasatan), that you may be witnesses against mankind] (2:143), al-wasat meaning ‘the upright’ (al-‘adl).”[2]
Ibn Hajar in his commentary of the above narration in Fath al-Bari said that another same-chained, similar narration in Ahmad and Ibn Majah shows that such witnessing applies to all the Communities and not just that of Nuh,`alayhis salaam:
The Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, said: “One Prophet shall come on the Day of Resurrection with a single man [as his Community]; another Prophet shall come with two men; others, with more. The nation of each Prophet shall be summoned and asked, ‘Did this Prophet convey [the Message] to you?’ They shall reply, no. Then he shall be asked, ‘Did you convey [the Message] to your people?’ and he shall reply, yes. Then he shall be asked, ‘Who is your witness?’ and he shall reply, ‘Muhammad and his Community.’ Whereupon Muhammad and his Community shall be summoned and asked, ‘Did this man convey [the Message] to his people?’ They shall reply, yes. They shall be asked, ‘How do you know?’ They shall reply, ‘Our Prophet came to us and told us that the Messengers have indeed conveyed [the Message].’ This is [the meaning of] His saying, [Thus We have appointed you a middle nation] – He means upright (yaqûlu ‘adlan) – [that you may be witnesses against mankind and that the messenger may be a witness against you] (2:143).”
Al-Qari said in commentary of the narration of Nuh, `alayhis salaam, cited in Mishkat al-Masabih:
“And he shall reply, ‘Muhammad and his Community’” means that his Community are witnesses while he vouches for them, but his mention came first out of reverence (li-t-ta‘zîm). It is possible that he, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, too witnesses for Nuh, since it is a context of help and Allah Most High said [When Allah made (His) convenant with the Prophets] until He said [you shall believe in him and you shall help him] (3:81). In this there is a remarkable warning that the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, is present and witnessing in that Greatest Inspection (wafîhi tanbîhun nabîhun annahu sallallâhu ‘alayhi wa sallama hâdirun nâzirun fî dhâlika al-‘ardi al-akbar), when the Prophets are brought, Nuh being the first, and the latter’s witnesses are brought, namely, this Community.[3]
There are other verses that affirm that the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, hears and sees the deeds of human beings. Allah Most High said: [And know that the Messenger of Allah is among you] (49:7). In the verses [Allah and His Messenger will see your conduct] (9:94) and [Act! Allah will behold your actions, and (so will) His Messenger and the believers] (9:105), the Prophet’s, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, perception is put on a par with that of the Lord of the worlds Who sees and encompasses all on the one hand and, on the other, that of all the living believers.
Shaykh ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Ghumari said:
The saying of Allah Most High [O you who believe! Observe your duty to Allah, and give up what remains (due to you) from usury, if you are (in truth) believers. And if you do not, them be warned of war (against you) from Allah and His Messenger] (2:278-279) indicates that the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, is alive in his noble grave, fighting the usurers with his supplication against them or with whatever suits his isthmus-life. I do not know anyone that inferred this from the verse before me.[4]
The above is further confirmed in the Sunna by the following evidence:
(1) Ibn Mas‘ud’s authentic narration of the Prophet’s, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, witnessing of all the deeds of the Umma from his Barzakh:
The Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, said: “My life is a great good for you, you will relate about me and it will be related to you, and my death is a great good for you, your actions will be exhibited to me, and if I see goodness I will praise Allah, and if I see evil I will ask forgiveness of Him for you.” (Hayâtî khayrun lakum tuhaddithûna wa yuhaddathu lakum wa wafâtî khayrun lakum tu‘radu a‘malukum ‘alayya famâ ra’aytu min khayrin hamidtu Allâha wa mâ ra’aytu min sharrin istaghfartu Allâha lakum.)[5]
(2) The authentic narration of “the Supernal Company” (al-mala’u al-a‘lâ) from Mu‘adh ibn Jabal (RA) and others
The Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, said: “My Lord came to me in the best form” – the narrator said: “I think he said: ‘in my sleep’” – “and asked me over what did the Higher Assembly (al-mala’ al-a‘lâ)[6] vie; I said I did not know, so He put His hand between my shoulders, and I felt its coolness in my innermost, and knowledge of all things between the East and the West came to me.”[7] (3) The staying back of Sayyidina Gibril, `alayhis salaam, at the point the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, went beyond the Lote-Tree of the Farthermost Boundary (sidrat al-muntaha) and heard the screeching of the pens writing the Foreordained Decree then saw his Lord,[8] although Gibril is the closest of all creatures to Allah U and the angels do see Him according to Ahl-al-Sunna.[9]
Al-Qadi ‘Iyad in al-Shifa, in the section titled “Concerning the places where it is desirable to invoke blessings and peace upon him” cited from ‘ Amr ibn Dinar al-Athram (d. 126) the explanation of the verse [when you enter houses salute one another] (24:61): “If there is no-one in the house then say: ‘as-salâmu ‘alâ al-Nabiyyi wa rahmatullâhi wa barakâtuh.’”[10]
Al-Qari said in his commentary on al-Shifa’: “Meaning, because his soul, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, is present in the house of the Muslims (ay li’anna rûhahu ‘alayhi al-salâmu hâdirun fî buyûti al-muslimîn).”[11]
What ‘Iyad cited from al-Athram is only narrated by al-Tabari in his Tafsir from Ibn Jurayj, from ‘Ata’ al-Khurasani (d. 135):
Hajjaj narrated to me from Ibn Jurayj: I said to ‘Ata’: “What if there is no-one in the house?” He said: “Give salâm! Say, al-salâmu ‘alâ al-Nabiyyi wa rahmatullâhi wa barakâtuh, al-salâmu ‘alaynâ wa ‘alâ ‘ibâdillah al-sâlihîn, al-salâmu ‘alâ ahli al-bayti wa rahmatullâh.” I said: “This statement you just said about my entering the house in which there is no-one, from whom did you receive it?” He replied: “I heard it without receiving it from anyone in particular.”[12]
‘Ata’ was a pious muhaddith, mufti, and wâ‘iz from whom Yazid ibn Samura heard the statement: “The gatherings of dhikr are the gatherings of [teaching] the halâl and the harâm.”[13] His trustworthiness and/or memory were contested by al-Bukhari, Abu Zur‘a, Ibn Hibban, Shu‘ba, al-Bayhaqi, al-‘Uqayli, and Ibn Hajar, but he was nevertheless declared thiqa by Ibn Ma‘in, Abu Hatim, al-Daraqutni, al-Thawri, Malik, al-Awza‘i, Ahmad, Ibn al-Madini, Ya‘qub ibn Shayba, Ibn Sa‘d, al-‘Ijli, al-Tabarani, and al-Tirmidhi, while Ibn Rajab concludes he is “thiqa thiqa.”[14]
A Deobandi’s False Assertion against Mullah Ali al-Qari
Recently, a Deobandi writer forwarded the strange claim that al-Qari’s text in Sharh al-Shifa’ actually stated, “NOT THAT his soul, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, is present in the houses of the Muslims” (lâ anna rûhahu hâdiratun fî buyûti al-muslimîn) that is, the diametrical opposite of what al-Qari actually said!:
He [al-Qari] discussed the issue in the Sharh of Shifa, that lâ anna rûhahu hâdiratun fî buyûti al-muslimîn i.e. this notion is incorrect that the soul of our Master Hazrat Mohammed, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, is present in the homes of the Muslims. In some copies the word lâ has been dropped and has without any reason created confusion for some individuals, including Mufti Ahmed Yar Khan sahib (see Jaa al-Haqq p. 142). … In all his explicit quotes Hazrat Mulla Ali al-Qari himself negates the belief of hâdir wa nâzir. Those who have relied on his brief, indistinct quotes (out of context) are absolutely and definitely wrong.[15]
That one can actually dare to make the above claim is only because of ignorance of the Arabic language since al-Qari prefaces the statement with the word “meaning (ay),” which would be grammatically incorrect if it were followed by a disclaimer such as “not that his soul is present in the houses of the Muslims.” The truth is that no such word as lâ has been dropped because there was no such word there in the first place, and the claim that there was is nothing short of tampering (tahrîf). Furthermore, the word al-Qari used for “present” is hâdir in the masculine, not hâdiratun in the feminine, as rûh can have either gender but the masculine is more appropriate here to refer to the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam.
A Deobandi’s Denial of Prophetic Attributes
Another one of those of the same School considered by some to be knowledgeable objected to attributing the characteristics of hâdir nâzir to the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, because, he claimed, these attributes belong to Allah U. Even if the latter premise were true, the reasoning is spurious and is like saying that because al-Ra’ûf and al-Rahîm are Divine Attributes, they cannot be also Prophetic Attributes. This sophistry was refuted by al-Qadi ‘Iyad in al-Shifa where he said:
Know that Allah has bestowed a mark of honor on many of the Prophets by investing them with some of His names: for example He calls Ishaq and Isma‘il “knowing” (‘alîm) and “forbearing” (halîm), Ibrahim “forbearing” (halîm), Nuh “thankful” (shakûr), Musa “noble” (karîm) and “strong” (qawî), Yusuf “a knowing guardian” (hafîz, ‘alîm), Ayyub “patient” (sabûr), ‘Isa and Yahya “devoted” (barr), and Isma‘il “truthful to the promise” (sâdiq al-wa‘d)… Yet He has preferred our Prophet Muhammad, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, since He has adorned him with a wealth of His names in His Mighty Book and on the tongue of His Prophets.[16]
The above evidence establishes beyond doubt that there is no impediment to the possibility of hâdir nâzir to be Attributes shared by Allah Most High with some of His servants if such two Names should be established to be His. In fact, it is known that the two angel-scribes, the qarîn, the angel of death, and Shaytan, are also present, seeing, hearing, and fully witnessing the deeds of human beings at any given time.
Furthermore, are Hâdir and Nâzir among the Divine Names and Attributes? Imam Ahmad al-Sirhindi was quoted to say: “Allah Most High is aware of each and every minor and major condition and is Hâdir and Nâzir. One should feel shame before Him.”[17]
However, the Divine Attributes are ordained and non-inferable.[18] Logic, reasoning, analogy, and other forms of interpretation are not used to infer an attribute but only Divine disclosure through the primary two sources of the Shari‘a i.e. Qur’an and Sunna. This is an elementary point of doctrine that is present in most if not all books of ‘aqîda, including the Maturidi classics. So we cannot speak of al-Hâdir, while al-Nâzir is the same as al-Shahîd where the divine Sight means His Knowledge. Imam al-Bayhaqi said:
The meaning of “The Witness” (al-Shahîd) is He Who is well aware of all that creatures can know only by way of witnessing while being present. . . because a human being who is far away is subject to the limitation and shortcomings of his sensory organs, while Allah Most High is not endowed with sensory organs nor subject to the limitations of those who possess them.[19] (Shâhid is also a Prophetic Name in the Qur’an.)
As for al-Hâdir it is precluded, because Hâdir in Arabic has the sense of a being physically present at a location, i.e. attributes of the created that are absolutely precluded from the Creator. Therefore Hâdir in relation to Allah Most High, like the attribute of omnipresence, may only be applied figuratively to mean that He is All-Knowledgeable, but neither “Omnipresent” nor Hâdir have actually been reported or mentioned among the Divine Attributes in the Qur’an, the Sunna, and the texts of the early Imams. Allah knows best.
When some of these rebuttals were presented to the above-mentioned objector, he replied verbatim, that “By Haazir and Naazir, we mean Allah’s knowledge is complete and comprehensive. Nothing is hidden from the absolute knowledge of Allah. In other words, he is Aleem and this quality of Allah is repeatedly mentioned in the Qur’aan.” By thus replying he has acknowledged that:
1. He used the Attributes Hâdir and Nâzir figuratively, to mean ‘Alîm.
2. He has done so on the basis of his own interpretation of the former two terms as meaning the latter term, neither (a) on linguistic bases nor (b) according to a Law-based stipulation (nass shar‘î).
To return to the statement of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi – Allah sanctify his soul – that “[He] is Hâdir and Nâzir,” there are also caveats:
1. Isolated statements cannot be used to invalidate a basic rule of Ahl al-Sunna in the Divine Names and Attributes, namely that spelled above as found in the doctrine of the Salaf and Khalaf on al-Asmâ’ wa al-Sifât.
2. In practical terms, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi was careful to frame his statement within an affirmation of the sincere murîd’s consciousness of the all-encompassing nature of Divine Knowledge within the ladder of spiritual process in the Naqshbandi Tarîqa, just as the Shuyukh of the Shadhili Tarîqa teach their murîds to say, “Allâhu hâdirî, Allâhu nâziri, Allâhu ma‘î.” These expressions are meant to induce scrupulous Godwariness and in fact all refer to the attributes of Divine Knowledge without any resemblance whatsoever to the hudûr or nazâr of created beings other than in name.
3. In doctrinal terms, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi means something other than what those who use hâdir in the Arabic language and in relation to the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, mean. Namely, he means hâdir not in the normal creatural sense of “present” but in the non-creatural sense of “Divine Knowledge of Things in their Essence” (al-‘ilm al-hudûrî). This is explained by him at length in his epistle 48 of Volume Three to the Prince, Zadah Khwaja Muhammad Sa‘id, titled “The Secret of His Nearness and the Self-Disclosure of His Essence.” This is a highly peculiar, specialized sense that should be treated thus unless one is interested in making Shaykh Sirhindi say other than what he means.
4. Some of our contemporaries – who are known by the title of Mufti – innovatively use the same phrase in terms of a stipulation of ‘Aqîda, giving rise to legitimate doubt as to what they mean by their use of the phrase, a doubt fortified by their adding made-up provisions or conditions such as “Hâdir and Nâzir cannot be applied to anyone besides Allah.” By saying this they have invalidated the sine qua non pre-requisites of the judge for receiving witnesses to any and all cases that require witnesses. Rather, they mean to say, “cannot be applied to anyone besides Allah in the sense they are applied to Allah” while they can be applied to others besides Allah in the sense that applies to creatures.
5. Those who use Hâdir and Nâzir in relation to the Best of Creatures, our Master Muhammad, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, , mean it in the creatural sense of his noble soul or noble essence being physically and spiritually present wherever Allah Most High wishes. One who denies that the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, can be present in that sense, has left Islam.
6. None of what the opponents bring up as supposed proofs actually invalidates the use of Hâdir and Nâzir for the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, among other shared Names as we have already demonstrated. For example, Allah Most High is Ra’ûf and Rahîm, and He is Nûr, and He is al-Shâhid – the Witness – and al-Shahîd – the Giver of testimony – all five attributes being also given by Him in His Own Pre-Eternal Speech – the Qur’an – to the Prophet himself, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam.
7. If it comes to scholarly quotations, they should accept that the attributes of Hâdir and Nâzir are applied to the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, by the Ulema of Ahl al-Sunna such as Mulla Ali al-Qari as cited above, and countless others such as the Friends of Allah known to keep company with the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, day and night, among them Shaykh Abu al-‘Abbas al-Mursi, Shaykh Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili, and Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Dabbagh, probably also Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi himself – may Allah sanctify their secrets.
Ibn al-Qayyim said in al-Ruh:
This is a subject about which men are troubled. There are those who say, “The sciences, all of them, are latent in the soul, and only its occupation with the world of sensation prevents its examination of them; so, if it is detached in sleep, it see some of them in accordance with its preparation; and when its detachment by death is more perfect, its sciences and its experiential knowledges there are more perfect.” This statement has in it both what is right and what is groundless; not all of it is to be rejected and not all of it is to be accepted. For the detachment of the soul informs it of the sciences and experiential knowledges which are not received without detachment. But if it should be detached altogether, it would not be informed of the knowledge of Allah with which His Messenger was sent, and of the details of what He told by past messengers and peoples that are gone; and details of the Return and regulations of the Hour and details of command and prohibition, and Divine Names and Attributes and Acts, etc., that are not known except by Revelation; although the detachment of the soul is an aid to it for knowledge of that, and the drawing of it from its source is easier and nearer and greater than what is given to the soul engaged in the labors of the body.[20]
Another objection was raised and disseminated on a website titled, “The Belief that the Prophet Comes to the Milad Meeting” with the following text:
Some people also believe that Rasulullah, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, comes to this function and due to this belief, they stand up in respect and veneration. This is absolutely untrue. Rasulullah, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, does not arrive at any “Eid-e-Milad-un Nabee,” function. He is in his Rawdha-e-Mubarak (grave) at Madinah Munawwarah and will emerge from it at the onset of Yawmul-Qiyaamah, or the Day of Judgement. … The following Ayat and Hadith testify to this fact: The Qur’an, addressing Rasulullah, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, announces explicitly: [Lo! Thou wilt die, and Lo! They will die. Then Lo! On the day of resurrection, before your sustainer, you will dispute]. [Az-Zumar 39:30-31] At another place, Rasulullah, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, is addressed together with the rest of mankind: – [Then Lo! After that you surely die, then Lo! On the day of resurrection you are raised (again)] [Al-Muminun 23:16] Rasulullah, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, himself has said in a Hadith: – “My grave will be the first to be opened on the day of Qiyamah and I shall be the first person to intercede and the first person whose intercession shall be accepted.” These Ayat and Hadith as well (and there are others) prove that all of mankind will be raised from their graves on the day of Qiyamah, with Rasulullah, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, being no exception. On this, there is consensus of the entire Ummah.[21]
The Reply of Ahl as-Sunna wal-Jama`at
The reply is: Does this Mufti have knowledge of the unseen and the gift of ubiquity? For he positively affirms that the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, (1) is not present at a given Mawlid function and (2) is not possibly present at any place other than in Madina, in his grave! So then, he allows that the other Prophets can be in Bayt al-Maqdis praying, and in Makka making tawâf, and in the Seven Heavens, but he insists that our Prophet – upon him and them blessings and peace – is confined to his Noble Grave?
Yet testimonies from the great Awliyâ’ and Sâlihîn of this Umma have flown uninterruptedly for a thousand years to the effect that the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, was and continues to be seen by countless pure eyes in countless different locations. Read the fatwa to that effect in Shaykh al-Islam al-Haytami’s Fatawa Hadithiyya (p. 297), entitled: “Question: Can the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, be seen in a wakeful state?” The answer is yes, and if he is seen, then he is present. There is no need to ask “how”. Sayyid Ahmad Zayni Dahlan said in his book al-Usul li al-Wusul ila Ma‘rifat Allah wa al-Rasul, that when the walî is said to see the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, “in a waking state” (yaqazatan), “it means that he sees only the spiritual form (rûhaniyya) of the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, , not his physical form.” But our Shaykh, Sidi Mustafa al-Basir commented on this: “Is there any impediment to seeing him in his physical form, or to his coming to a place in his physical form?” and Shah Waliyyullah al-Dihlawi said in his book Fuyud al-Rahman (p. 116-118) that the presence of the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, in the office of imam at every prayer “is a fact” and that “the noble Rûh of the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, is similar to a physical body.” Many valuable pages were recorded from the disclosures of Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Dabbagh on this issue by his student `Ali ibn al-Mubarak in al-Ibriz
Yes, we do know with positive knowledge that he is in al-Madina al-Munawwara – but in the state of Barzakh. That state, by the decree of Allah Most High, is governed by laws other than phenomenal laws of time and place. Imam Malik said in the Muwatta’: “It has reached me [i.e. from the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, with an authentic chain as is well-known concerning Malik’s balâghât] that the souls [of the dead] are free to come and go as they please.” Further readings about this can be found in Sayyid Muhammad ‘Alawi al-Maliki’s Manhaj al-Salaf,[22] Kitab al-Ruh by Ibn al-Qayyim, or al-Tadhkira by al-Qurtubi.
Furthermore, there is an Islamic rule of law (qâ‘ ida) that says, al-ithbâtu muqaddamun ‘ala al-nafy meaning: “Affirmation takes precedence over denial”; and another one that states, man ‘alima hujjatun ‘alâ man lam ya‘lam, meaning: “The one who knows is a conclusive proof against the one who does not know.” Even in the matter of a simple hadith narration there are things we know and things we do not know, as that Mufti is eminently aware.
As for the verses and hadith quoted by the objector to the effect that the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, will die and be raised, the quoter himself concludes, “These Ayat and Hadith as well (and there are others) prove that all of mankind will be raised from their graves on the day of Qiyamah, with Rasulullah, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, being no exception. On this, there is consensus of the entire Ummah.” This is like the Arabic saying, “I spoke to him in the East and he answered me in the West.” There is no question about the fundamental tenet of Resurrection in Islam, and such evidence is irrelevant to the specific matters of (1) seeing the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, present in a wakeful state or (2) his presence in the gatherings of the Sâlihîn in Dunyâ and Âkhira nor should it have been brought up in this fatwa. So this purported evidence is true, and so is the rest of the evidence that we have adduced in affirmation of the Prophet’s, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, presence with the Umma and full awareness of their states, including the saying of Allah Most High: [And know that the Messenger of Allah is among you] (49:7). Meaning, according to the majority of the commentaries: Do not lie.
NOTES
[1] This Appendix complements the material adduced in the section titled “The Prophet’s Knowledge of the Unseen” in the third volume of Shaykh Hisham Kabbani’s Encyclopedia of Islamic Doctrine.
[2] Narrated by al-Bukhari with three chains, al-Tirmidhi (hasan sahîh), and Ahmad.
[3] Al-Qari, al-Mirqat (Dar al-Fikr 1994 ed. 9:493=Imdadiyya Maltan (Pakistan) ed. 10:263-264=Cairo 1892 ed. 5:245).
[4] ‘Abd Allah al-Ghumari, Khawatir Diniyya (1:19 ).
[5] Narrated from Ibn Mas‘ud by al-Bazzar in his Musnad (1:397) with a sound chain as stated by al-Suyuti in Manahil al-Safa (p. 31 #8) and al-Khasa’is al-Kubra (2:281), al-Haythami (9:24 #91), and al-‘Iraqi in Tarh al-Tathrib (3:297) – his last book, as opposed to al-Mughni‘an Haml al-Asfar (4:148) where he questions the trustworthy rank of one of the narrators in al-Bazzar’s chain. Shaykh ‘Abd Allah al-Talidi said in his Tahdhib al-Khasa’is al-Kubra (p. 458-459 #694) that this chain is sound according to Muslim’s criterion, and Shaykh Mahmud Mamduh in Raf‘al-Minara (p. 156-169) discusses it at length and declares it sound. Their shaykh, al-Sayyid ‘ Abd Allah ibn al-Siddiq al-Ghumari (d. 1413/1993) declared it sound in his monograph Nihaya al-Amal fi Sharh wa Tashih Hadith ‘Ard al-A‘mal. Opposing these six or more judgments al-Albani declares it weak in his notes on al-Qadi Isma‘il’s Fadl al-Salat (p. 37 n. 1). It is also narrated with weak chains from Anas and – with two sound mursal chains missing the Companion-link – from the Successor Bakr ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Muzani by Isma‘il al-Qadi (d. 282) in his Fadl al-Salat ‘ala al-Nabi (SAWS) (p. 36-39 #25-26). The latter chain was declared sound by al-Qari in Sharh al-Shifa’ (1:102), Shaykh al-Islam al-Taqi al-Subki in Shifa’ al-Siqam, his critic Ibn ‘Abd al-Hadi in al-Sarim al-Munki (p. 217), and al-Albani in his Silsila Da‘ifa (2:405). A third, weak chain is related from Bakr al-Muzani by al-Harith ibn Abi Usama (d. 282) in his Musnad (2:884) as per Ibn Hajar in al-Matalib al-‘Aliya (4:23) and Ibn Sa‘d in his Tabaqat as per al-Munawi in Fayd al-Qadir (3:401 #3771). Al-Qadi ‘Iyad cites it in al-Shifa (p. 58 #6) and al-Sakhawi in al-Qawl al-Badi‘. Al-Albani declared the hadith weak on the grounds that some authorities questioned the memorization of the Murji’ hadith master ‘Abd al-Majid ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Abi Rawwad. However, he was retained by Muslim in his Sahih and declared thiqa by Yahya ibn Ma‘in, Ahmad, Abu Dawud, al-Nasa’i, Ibn Shahin, al-Khalili, and al-Daraqutni, while al-Dhahabi listed him in Man Tukullima Fihi Wa Huwa Muwaththaq (p. 124) as stated by Mamduh in Raf‘ al-Minara (p. 163, 167). Al-Arna’ut and Ma‘ruf declare him thiqa in Tahrir al-Taqrib (2:379 #4160) as well as Dr. Nur al-Din ‘Itr in his edition of al-Dhahabi’s Mughni (1:571 #3793) and Dr. Khaldun al-Ahdab in Zawa’id Tarikh Baghdad (10:464). Even if al-Albani’s grading were hypothetically accepted, then the weak musnad narration in conjunction with the sound mursal one – graded sahîh by al-Albani – would yield a final grading of hasan or sahîh, not da‘îf. In addition to this, Mamduh quoted al-Albani’s own words in the latter’s attempted refutation of Shaykh Isma‘il al-Ansari entitled Kitab al-Shaybani (1:134-135) whereby “The sound mursal hadith is a proof in all Four Schools and other than them among the Imams of the principles of hadith and fiqh, therefore it is apparent to every fair-minded person that the position whereby such a hadith does not form a proof only because it is mursal, is untenable.” This is one of many examples in which al-Albani not only contradicts, but soundly refutes himself.
Shaykh Hasanayn Muhammad Makhluf wrote in his Fatawa Shar‘iyya (1:91-92): “The hadith means that the Prophet (SAWS) is a great good for his Community during his life, because Allah the Exalted has preserved the Community, through the secret of the Prophet’s (SAWS) presence, from misguidance, confusion, and disagreement, and He has guided the people through the Prophet (SAWS) to the manifest truth; and that after Allah took back the Prophet (SAWS), our connection to the latter’s goodness continues uncut and the extension of his goodness endures, overshadowing us. The deeds of the Community are shown to him every day, and he glorifies Allah for the goodness that he finds, while he asks for His forgiveness for the small sins, and the alleviation of His punishment for the grave ones: and this is a tremendous good for us. There is therefore ‘goodness for the Community in his life, and in his death, goodness for the Community.’ Moreover, as has been established in the hadith, the Prophet (SAWS) is alive in his grave with a special ‘isthmus-life’ stronger than the lives of the martyrs which the Qur’an spoke of in more than one verse. The nature of these two kinds of life cannot be known except by their Bestower, the Glorious, the Exalted. He is able to do all things. His showing the Community’s deeds to the Prophet (SAWS) as an honorific gift for him and his Community is entirely possible rationally and documented in the reports. There is no leeway for its denial; and Allah guides to His light whomever He pleases; and Allah knows best.”
[6] I.e. “the angels brought near” according to Ibn al-Athir in al-Nihaya and others.
[7] Narrated by al-Tirmidhi with three chains: two from Ibn ‘Abbas – in the first of which he said “the knowledge of all things in the heaven and the earth” while he graded the second hasan gharîb – and one chain from Mu‘adh (hasan sahîh) which explicitly mentions that this took place in the Prophet’s (SAWS) sleep. Al-Bukhari declared the latter chain hasan sahîh as reported by al-Tirmidhi in both his Sunan and ‘Ilal, and it towers over all other chains, according to Ibn Hajar in al-Isaba (2:397), in the facts that there is no discrepancy over it among the hadith scholars and its text is undisputed (cf. Asma’ Hashidi ed. 2:78). Also narrated by Ahmad with four sound chains according to the typically lax grading of Shakir and al-Zayn: one from Ibn ‘Abbas with the words “I think he said: ‘in my sleep’” (Shakir ed. 3:458 #3484=al-Arna’ut ed. 5:437-442 #3483 isnâduhu da‘îf); one from Mu‘adh which Ahmad explicitly declared sahîh as narrated by Ibn ‘Adi in al-Kamil (6:2244), with the words: “I woke up and lo! I was with my Lord” (al-Zayn ed. 16:200 #22008); and two from unnamed Companions in which no mention is made of the Prophet’s (SAWS) sleep or wakefulness (al-Zayn ed. 13:93-94 #16574=al-Arna’ut ed. 27:171-174 #16621 isnâduhu da‘îf mudtarib; al-Zayn ed. 16:556 #23103). Al-Haythami declared the latter sound as well as other chains cited by al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (20:109 #216, 20:141 #290) and al-Bazzar in his Musnad, and he declared fair the chain narrated from Abu Umama by al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (8:290 #8117). See Majma‘ al-Zawa’id (7:176-179). Shaykhs ‘Abd al-Qadir and Shu‘ayb al-Arna’ut both declared sahîh the seven narrations of al-Tirmidhi and Ahmad in their edition of Ibn al-Qayyim’s Zad al-Ma‘ad (3:33 -34 n. 4). Also narrated from Jabir ibn Samura by Ibn Abi ‘Asim in al-Sunna (p. 203 #465) with a fair chain according to al-Albani. Also narrated from ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘ A’ish by al-Darimi in his Musnad (2:170 #2149) and al-Tabarani through two chains in al-Ahad wa al-Mathani (5:48 -50 #2585-2586) and another in Musnad al-Shamiyyin (1:339 #597), and from Umm al-Tufayl by al-Tabarani in al-Ahad (6:158 #3385). The latter chain actually states: “I saw my Lord in the best form of a beardless young man” and was rejected by al-Dhahabi in Tahdhib al-Mawdu‘at (p. 22 #22). Also narrated from the Companion Abu Rafi‘ [al-Isaba 7:134 #9875] by al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (1:317 #938). Also narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas by Abu Ya‘la in his Musnad (4:475 #2608). Some fair narrations of this hadith – such as al-Tabarani’s from ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Ayyash and al-Khatib’s from Abu ‘Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah in Tarikh Baghdad (8:151) – have the words: “I saw my Lord” instead of “My Lord came to me,” hence Ibn Kathir’s conclusion previously cited. Al-Ahdab in Zawa’id Tarikh Baghdad (6:251-253) and al-Haytami also cited Abu ‘Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, Ibn ‘Umar, Abu Hurayra, Anas, Thawban, and Abu Umama which brings to at least eleven (without Umm al-Tufayl) the number of Companions who narrated this hadith. The various chains and narrations of this hadith were collated and discussed by Ibn Rajab in his monograph Ikhtiyar al-Awla fi Sharh Hadith Ikhtisam al-Mala’ al-A‘la, ed. Jasim al-Dawsari (Kuwait: Dar al-Aqsa, 1406). See also: Ibn Athir, Jami ‘ al-Usul (9:548-550). Among those that considered this hadith as falling below the grade of sahîh are al-Bayhaqi in al-Asma’ wa al-Sifat (Kawthari ed. p. 300, Hashidi ed. 2:72-79), Ibn al-Jawzi in al-‘Ilal al-Mutanahiya (1:34), Ibn Khuzayma in al-Tawhid (p. 214-221) and al-Daraqutni in his ‘Ilal (6:56). Al-Saqqaf went so far as to suggest that it was forged in Aqwal al-Huffaz al-Manthura li Bayan Wad‘ Hadith Ra’aytu Rabbi fi Ahsani Sura, appended to his edition of Ibn al-Jawzi’s Daf‘ Shubah al-Tashbih.
[8] “Farafadanî Gibrîl ” in Ibn Abi Hatim and Ibn Kathir’s Tafsirs, while al-Salihi in Subul al-Huda (3:129) has “Fata’akhkhara Gibrîl” – both meaning “he left me and stayed back.” Cf. al-Maliki, Wa Huwa bil-Ufuqi al-A‘la (p. 73, 279) and al-Anwar al-Bahiyya (p. 75-77).
[9] See Abu al-Shaykh, al-‘Azama and al-Suyuti, al-Haba’ik. This leads to the issue of the precedence and preferability of the Prophet (SAWS) over all creation and his title Afdalu al-Khalq which is documented elsewhere.
[10] Al-Qadi ‘Iyad, al-Shifa (p. 555-556=Ithaf Ahl al-Wafa p. 369).
[11] Al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa’ (2:117).
[12] 1Al-Tabari, Tafsir (18:173 #19894).
[13] Narrated by al-Dhahabi in the Siyar (6:360).
[14] Ibn Rajab , Sharh ‘Ilal al-Tirmidhi (2:780-781). Cf. al-Dhahabi’s Mizan (3:73) and al-Mughni (1:614-615 #4122) with the notes of Dr. Nur al-Din ‘Itr, and al-Arna’ut and Ma‘ruf’s Tahrir Taqrib al-Tahdhib (3:16-17 #4600) although the latter misattributes tawthîq to al-Bukhari while ‘Itr misattributes tad‘îf to Ahmad!
[15] Sarfaraz Safdar , Aakho(n) KiT (d)andak (p. 167-168).
[16] Al-Qadi ‘Iyad, al-Shifa’ as translated by ‘A’isha A. Bewley, Muhammad Messenger of Allah: al-Shifa’ of Qadi ‘Iyad (Granada: Madinah Press, 1992) p. 126.
[17] Maktubat-e-Imam Rabbani, Volume 1, Letter 78 addressed to Jabbari Khan.
[18] See Appendix titled “The Divine Names and Attributes are Tawqîfiyya: Ordained and Non-Inferable” in our translation of Imam Ibn ‘Abd al-Salam’s The Belief of the People of Truth.
[19] Al-Bayhaqi, al-Asma’ wa al-Sifat (Kawthari ed. p. 46-47; Hashidi ed. 1:126-127).
[20] Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Ruh (1975 ed. p. 30).
[21] Mufti Ebrahim Desai FATWA DEPT. Jamiat Ulema Islam. South Africa http://www.albalagh.net/qa/milad_qa2.shtml.
[22] See our translated volume titled The Prophets in Barzakh available at As-Sunna Foundation of America Publications.
Article reproduced courtesy from: www.mawlid.net
Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim One of the names by which the Prophet Muhammad is known – upon him blessings and peace – is Khayru-l-Khalq or “Best of Creation.” Other similar names of his with identical meaning are Khayru-l-Bariyya, Khayru Khalqillah, Khayru-l-`Alamina Turra, Khayru-n-Nas, Khayru Hadhihi-l-Umma, and Khîratullah. These titles refers to his high status over all human Prophets and Messengers as well as over the Jinn and angels – upon them peace. The Consensus of Muslims past and present – i.e. Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama`a – over the matter was indicated in Shaykh Ibrahim al-Laqqani’s (d. 1041) words, “steer clear of dissent” in his famous poem Jawharat al-Tawhid (“The Gem of Monotheism”):
65. wa afdalu al-khalqi `ala al-itlâqi
Nabiyyunâ fa mil `ani al-shiqâqi.
Meaning:
And the best of creatures in absolute terms
is our Prophet, so steer clear of dissent.
Al-Bajuri (d. 1276), Sharh Jawharat al-Tawhid (1971 ed. p. 290):
“I.e. among jinn, humankind, and angels, in the world and the hereafter, in all the attributes of goodness.”
Al-Sawi (d. 1241), Sharh Jawharat al-Tawhid (1999 ed. p. 295):
“This assertion-of-superiority (tafdîl) is by Consensus (ijmâ`) of the Muslims, both Sunnis and Mu`tazila, except al-Zamakhshari [in al-Kashshaf (4:712), Surat al-Takwir] who violated the Consensus.”
`Abd al-Salam ibn Ibrahim al-Laqqani (d. 1078), Sharh Jawharat al-Tawhid (1990 ed. p. 186):
“It is obligatory (wâjib) on every legally responsible person to believe that he (SAWS) is the best of all, and one who denies it commits a sin, is guilty of innovation, and deserves to be taught a lesson.”
66. wal-anbiyâ yalûnahu fil-fadli wa
ba`dahum malâ’ikah dhil-fadli
Meaning:
And the Prophets follow him in preferability
and after them the noble angels,
Al-Bajuri (p. 293):
“Al-Qadi Abu `Abd Allah al-Halimi [see on him the introduction to our translation of al-Bayhaqi’s al-Asma’ wa al-Sifat] together with others, such as the Mu`tazila, considered that the angels are better than the Prophets except our Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu `alayhi wa Alihi wa Sallam. Al-Sa`d [al-Taftazani] said [in Sharh al-`Aqa’id al-Nasafiyya]: ‘There is nothing decisive in these issues.’ Taj al-Din [ibn] al-Subki said [in Tabaqat al-Shafi`iyya al-Kubra]: ‘Safety lies in refraining from speech on this question and to enter it in detail without decisive evidence is to enter into great peril, a ruling over something over which we are incapable of ruling.'”
67. hâdhâ wa qawmun fassalû idh faddalû
wa ba`du kullin ba`dahu qad yafdulu
Meaning:
This said, some [i.e. the Maturidis] narrowed its terms
in preferring some [of the angels and Prophets]
respectively over others [of the angels and Prophets]
Al-Bajuri (p. 295):
“And this is surely the more correct position (wa hâdhihi hiya al-tariqa al-râjiha).” Note that he prefers the Maturidi position here over that of the Jumhûr of the Ash`aris although he is Ash`ari, while the author’s son, Shaykh `Abd al-Salam al-Laqqani, said all angels were preferable to all human beings other than Prophets – may Allah have mercy on them and on all Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama`a.
Al-Laqqani (p. 186-187):
“It is obligatory to believe the preferability of the better (afdaliyyatu al-afdal) exactly according to whatever ruling was transmitted (`ala tabqi mâ warada al-hukmu bihi): if in detail then in detail, if in general then in general (tafsîlan fil-tafsîli wa ijmâlan fil-ijmâli). And it is not allowed to hasten to specific designation (al-hujûm `alâ al-ta`yîn) of something which was not divinely ordained (lam yarid fîhi tawqîf)…. Qadi Taj al-Din ibn al-Subki said: ‘The preferability of human beings over the angels is not among the matters one is obliged to believe nor harm those who ignore them. If one meets Allah without the least idea about the matter in its entirety, he would not have committed any sin. For people were not tasked to know it. And safety lies in refraining from speech on this question, etc.'””
Al-Sawi (p. 297-298), al-Bajuri (p. 296):
“Its conclusion being that our Prophet (SAWS) is the best of creation in absolute terms, then Ibrahim, then Musa, then `Isa, then Nuh – upon them peace – then the rest of the Messengers, then the non-Messenger Prophets – some of them being superior to others, but Allah alone knows in what detail, then Gibril, then Israfil, then Mika’il, then `Izra’il, then ‘common human beings’ (`awamm al-bashar) such as Abu Bakr, `Umar, `Uthman, and `Ali, then the mass of the angels.”
A dear Muslim brother sent the following query: “some brothers even question that the Messenger of Allah was the Best of Creation. Do you have something handy that I can allude to as ‘evidence’ in this regard?”
“They swear by Allah to you (Muslims) to please you [all], but Allah, with His messenger, hath more right that they should please H/him if they are believers” (9:62).
Do they know any other Prophet or angel-brought-near with whom Allah Most High shared as many of His own Names in the Qur’an as He did with the Prophet (SAWS)? See the end of this post on this.
With respect to his foremost name – Muhammad – sallallahu `alayhi wa Alihi wa Sallam, consider the poetic verse of Hassan ibn Thabit (RA):
wa shaqqa lahu min ismihi liyujillahu
fa dhul-`arshi Mahmûdun wa hâdhâ Muhammadu
Meaning:
And He drew out for him [a name]
from His own Name so as to dignify him greatly:
The Owner of the Throne is the Glorious [Mahmûd],
and this is the Praiseworthy [Muhammad]!
Do they know any other Prophet or angel whom Allah addressed directly and by whose life He swore? “By thy life (O Muhammad)!” (15:72);
“And who is better in his discourse than he who calls unto Allah and does good and says: I am one of the Muslims?” (41:33) i.e. who is better in speech than the Prophet (SAWS)? “
Lo! those who believe and do good works are the best of created beings” (98:7) i.e. the Prophet (SAWS) is the best of created beings;
“Lo! the noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct” (49:13) i.e. the Prophet (SAWS) is the noblest of those to whom the Qur’an is addressed in the sight of Allah;
“And lo! thou (Muhammad) art [I swear] of a tremendous nature” (68:4). The reality of this compliment – khuluqin `azim – can be fathomed only by the Speaker Himself and whoever He wills;
“Of those messengers, some of whom We have caused to excel others, and of whom there are some unto whom Allah spake, while _some of them He exalted (above others) in degree_” (2:253) i.e. the Prophet (SAWS).
“And we preferred some of the Prophets above others” (17:55) then He said: “It may be that thy Lord will raise thee to a praised estate” (17:79), a Station which the Prophet (SAWS) said none but he would receive. And this is the Station of Intercession at the right of the Glorious Throne as we described at length in the posting “The Seating of the Prophet (SAWS) on the Throne.”
“And [have We not] exalted thy fame?” (94:4) Mujahid said: “Meaning, every time I [Allah] am mentioned, you [Muhammad] are mentioned.” Ibn Kathir mentioned it in his Tafsir. Al-Shafi`i narrated the same explanation from Ibn Abi Najih and so did Ibn `Ata’ as cited by al-Nabahani in al-Anwar al-Muhammadiyya min al-Mawahib al-Laduniyya (p. 379).
Al-Baydawi said in his Tafsir: “And what higher elevation than to have his name accompany His Name in the two phrases of witnessing, and to have his obedience equal His obedience??”
“And My Mercy embraceth all things, therefore I shall ordain It for those who ward off (evil) and pay the poor due, and those who believe Our revelations” (7:156); and He said “truly the Mercy of Allah is near those who do good”: “Inna rahmat Allahi qaribun min al-muhsinin” (7:56) without putting qaribun in the feminine (qaribatun) although rahma is feminine, because in reality that rahma is the Prophet (SAWS), as explicited in the verse: “wa ma arsalnaka illa rahmatan lil-`alamin”: “And We did not send you (Muhammad) except as a Mercy to the worlds” (21:107);
“Say: In the bounty of Allah and in His mercy: therein [alone] let them rejoice. It is better than what they hoard” (10:58). Ibn `Abbas said: “The bounty of Allah is Knowledge [of Tawhid], and His mercy is the Prophet (SAWS).” Abu al-Shaykh narrated it as stated by al-Suyuti in al-Durr al-Manthur (4:367). Al-Alusi in Ruh al-Ma`ani (10:141) and Abu al-Su`ud in his Tafsir (4:156) said that the bounty is general while the mercy is specific and therefore emphasized. Al-Razi in al-Tafsir al-Kabir (17:123) said the command is emphatically restrictive, meaning that a human being should not rejoice in anything else than the mercy.
“Truly, Allah and His angels send praise and blessings [forever] upon the Prophet. O ye who believe! Praise and bless the Prophet with utmost laud and blessing” (33:56);
“That ye (mankind) may believe in Allah and His messenger, and may honor h/Him, and may revere h/Him, and may glorify h/Him at early dawn and at the close of day” (48:9). Al-Nawawi said that the scholars of Qur’anic commentary have given this verse two lines of explanation, one group giving the three personal pronouns “HIM” a single referent, namely, either Allah (“Him”) or the Prophet (“him”); the other group distinguishing between two referents, namely, the Prophet (SAWS) for the first two (“honor and revere him”), and Allah for the last (“glorify Him”). Those of the first group that said the pronouns all refer to the Prophet (SAWS) explained “glorify him” (tusabbihuhu) here to mean: “declare him devoid of inappropriate attributes and pray for him.”
“And Allah sufficeth as a witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah” (48:28-29).
There are, in fact, 6,666 Qur’anic proofs that the Messenger of Allah – Sallallahu `alayhi wa Alihi wa Sallam – is (not “was”) without doubt the Best of creation, namely, the verses of the Holy Qur’an, since it is the greatest of all revealed Books and their Seal, the only Book that Allah guaranteed to preserve, and the universal Revelation for all creation (including angels, cf. al-Haytami, Fatawa Hadithiyya p. 69, 151-154) as opposed to previous Revelations which were only for the people among whom they were revealed. And this Book was revealed to the heart of the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS): “And lo! it is a revelation of the Lord of the Worlds which the True Spirit hath brought down upon thy heart” (26:192-194).
They might be confused by the narrations forbidding the Companions from boasting the merits of one Prophet over the others, or preferring him over Musa, or preferring him over Yunus, Allah bless and greet our Prophet and them. However, these narrations denote humbleness on the part of the Seal of Prophets (SAWS). That is what all the Ulema said in reply to the superficial contradiction between the latter narrations and the verses and narrations that firmly establish his superior status.
Ibn `Abbas (RA) said: “Allah has preferred (faddala) Muhammad over all Prophets and over the dwellers of the heavens (= the angels).” They said: “O Ibn `Abbas, how did He prefer him to the dwellers of the heavens?” He replied: “Allah Most High said: ‘And one of them [the angels] who should say: Lo! I am a God beside Him, that one We should repay with hell” (21:29) but He said: ‘Lo! We have given thee (O Muhammad) a signal victory That Allah may forgive thee of thy sin that which is past and that which is to come, and may perfect His favor unto thee, and may guide thee on a right path’ (48:1-2).” They said: “And how did He prefer him over the Prophets?” He replied: “Allah Most High says: ‘And We never sent a messenger save with the language of his folk’(14:4) but He said: ‘And We have not sent thee (O Muhammad) save unto all mankind’ (34:28).”[1]
There are many other more or less direct textual proofs to that effect, among them the fact that Allah ordered the angels to learn the names of things from Adam, but He ordered the universes to learn about Allah Himself from the Prophet (SAWS): “The Beneficent! Ask any one informed concerning Him” (25:59); the fact that the Prophet (SAWS) is to witness not only over his own Community but over all others (2:143 and 4:41); the fact that the Prophet (SAWS) alone, of all humankind, jinn, and angels, has been given the Maqam al-Mahmud (17:79) i.e. the Glorious Station (of intercession with Allah Most High) and, in the Sunna, the fact that Allah did not give His intimate friendship to any angel, but He gave it to the Messenger of Allah (SAWS) as well as to Sayyidina Ibrahim (AS), and He made the Messenger of Allah the Imam of all Prophets and Messengers when he prayed among them in Masjid al-Aqsa, the intercessor for all the Communities (in the hadith “People shall surge like waves…”), and the Master of Humankind (Sayyidu al-Nas) together with the fact that he was known in the Divine presence as a Prophet while Adam (AS) was still being created, and that the latter sought his intercession because he saw his name written on the Throne.
In the chapter concerning the Prophet’s superiority over all other Prophets in his great book titled al-Wafa bi Ahwal al-Mustafa’, Ibn al-Jawzi states: “Part of the demonstration of his superiority to other Prophets is the fact that Adam (AS) asked his Lord through the sanctity (hurma) of Muhammad (SAWS) that He relent towards him.” The most authentic chain for this report is not that of al-Hakim’s narration from `Umar through `Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam who is weak (da`îf), but that of the Companion Maysarat al-Fajr who narrates it as follows:
I asked: “O Messenger of Allah, when were you [first] a Prophet?” He replied: “When Allah created the earth ‘Then turned He to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens’(2:29), and created the Throne, He wrote on the leg of the Throne: “Muhammad the Messenger of Allah is the Seal of Prophets” (Muhammadun Rasûlullâhi Khâtamu al-Anbiyâ’). Then Allah created the Garden in which He made Adam and Hawwa’ dwell, and He wrote my name on the gates, its tree-leaves, its domes and tents, at a time when Adam was still between the spirit and the body. When Allah Most High instilled life into him he looked at the Throne and saw my name, whereupon Allah informed him that ‘He [Muhammad SAWS] is the liege-lord of all your descendants.’ When Satan deceived them both, they repented and sought intercession to Allah with my name.”[2]
Another great proof that the Messenger of Allah is the Best of Creation is the Consensus of the Imams and Ulema of Ahl al-Sunna, violating which are three scholars on record: the Zahiri Ibn Hazm; the Mu`tazili al-Zamakhshari; and the Mujassim Ibn Abi al-`Izz who was imprisoned for it as related by Ibn Hajar in his Inba’ al-Ghumr (1:258-260). Shaykh `Abd Allah al-Talidi said in his Tahdhib al-Shifa’ (p. 162): “The dissent of Ibn Hazm and al-Zamakhshari carries no weight.”
Sayyid Abu al-Fadl `Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Siddiq al-Ghumari al-Hasani wrote a book titled, Dilalat al-Qur’ani al-Mubin `ala anna al-Nabiyya Afdalu al-`Alamin (“The Indication of the Manifest Qur’an that the Prophet is the Best of the Universes”), in which he listed the verses to that effect Sura by Sura and in the introduction of which he mentioned the following story:
“Al-Sha`rani in Tabaqat al-Awliya’ narrated from [his Shaykh] the Knower of Allah Abu al-Mawahib al-Shadhili that the latter said: ‘A dispute took place between me and a certain person in the Mosque of al-Azhar over the statement of the author of al-Burda [Imam al-Busiri]:
Famablaghu al-`ilmi fîhi annahu basharun
wa annahu khayru khalqillâhi kullihimi
Meaning:
The apex of knowledge concerning him is that he is a human being
and that he is the best of all the creation of Allah.
Whereupon that person said: He has no proof for this. I said to him: Consensus (ijma`) has formed over this. He did not change his view. Later I saw the Prophet – Sallallahu `alayhi wa Alihi wa Sallam – and with him were Abu Bakr and `Umar, Allah be well-pleased with them, sitting at the pulpit of the Azhar Mosque. He said to me: Marhaban bihabibi – Welcome to my dear beloved! Then he said to his friends: Do you know what happened today? They said No, O Messenger of Allah. He said: So-and-so the Wretch (Fulan al-Ta`is) believes that the angels are better than me!… What is wrong with him, disbelieving in the Consensus?'”
Following is a list of works containing proofs from the Qur’an and Sunna of the superiority of the Prophet (SAWS) over all creation:
1. Al-Qadi `Iyad, al-Shifa’ fi Ma`rifati Huquq al-Mustafa (SAWS)
2. Abu Nu`aym, Dala’il al-Nubuwwa
3. Al-Bayhaqi, Dala’il al-Nubuwwa
4. Al-Faryabi, Dala’il al-Nubuwwa
5. Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Wafa bi Ahwal al-Mustafa (SAWS)
6. Ibn `Abd al-Salam, Bidayat al-Sul fi Tafdil al-Rasul
7. Ibn Dihya, al-Mustawfa li Asma’ al-Mustafa (SAWS)
8. Al-`Azafi, Sharh Asma’ al-Nabi (SAWS)
9. Ibn al-`Arabi’s Chapter on the Prophetic Names in `Aridat al-Ahwadhi
10. Al-Bayhaqi’s Chapter on the Prophetic Names in Shu`ab al-Iman
11. Al-Busiri, al-Burda
12. Al-Busiri, al-Hamziyya
13. Al-Busiri, al-Muhammadiyya
14. Al-Suyuti, al-Khasa’is al-Kubra
15. Al-Suyuti, al-Bahja al-Bahiyya fil-Asma’ al-Nabawiyya
16. Al-Suyuti, al-Riyad al-Aniqa fi Sharh Asma’ Khayr al-Khaliqa
17. Al-Jazuli, Dala’il al-Khayrat
18. Al-Fasi, Sharh Dala’il al-Khayrat
19. Al-Sakhawi, al-Qawl al-Badi` fi al-Salat `ala al-Nabi al-Shafi`
20. Al-Qastallani, al-Mawahib al-Laduniyya
21. Al-Zurqani, Sharh al-Mawahib
22. Al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa’
23. Al-Qari, Sharh al-Shama’il al-Nabawiyya li al-Tirmidhi
24. Al-Munawi, Sharh al-Shama’il al-Nabawiyya li al-Tirmidhi
25. Al-Baghawi, Sharh al-Shama’il al-Nabawiyya li al-Tirmidhi
26. Al-Nabahani, al-Asma fima li Sayyidina Muhammad min al-Asma
27. Al-Nabahani, Wasa’il al-Wusul ila Shama’il al-Rasul
28. Al-Nabahani, Shawahid al-Haqq
29. Al-Nabahani, Nujum al-Muhtadin wa Rujum al-Mu`tadin
30. Al-Nabahani, Jawahir al-Bihar fi Fada’il al-Nabi al-Mukhtar
31. Al-Lahji, Muntaha al-Sul Sharh Wasa’il al-Wusul li al-Nabahani
32. Al-Jamal, Hashiyat al-Hamziyya
33. Al-Haytami, Hashiyat al-Hamziyya
34. Al-Dabbagh, al-Ibriz min Kalam Sayyidi `Abd al-`Aziz
35. `Abd Allah al-Ghumari, Dilalat al-Qur’ani al-Mubin `ala anna al-Nabiyya Afdalu al-`Alamin
36. Al-Maliki, Muhammad (SAWS) al-Insanu al-Kamil (esp. p. 181-213, 4th ed.)
37. Sirajuddin, Sayyiduna Muhammad (SAWS)
Al-Qadi `Iyad said in al-Shifa’, in the section entitled: “On Allah honoring the Prophet (SAWS) with some of His own Beautiful Names and describing him with some of His own sublime qualities”: Know that Allah has bestowed a mark of honor on many of the Prophets by investing them with some of His names, for instance, when He calls Ishaq and Isma`il “knowing” (`alim) and “forbearing” (halim), Ibrahim “forbearing”, Nuh “thankful” (shakur), `Isa and Yahya “devoted” (barr), Musa “noble” (karim) and “strong” (qawi), Yusuf “a knowing guardian” (hafiz, `alim), Ayyub “patient” (sabur), and Isma`il “truthful to the promise” (sadiq al-wa`d)… Yet He has preferred our Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, since He has adorned him with a wealth of His names in His Mighty Book and on the tongue of His Prophets. We have gathered them together after reflecting on the subject and putting our memory to work since we were unable to locate anyone who had compiled more than two names nor anyone who had dealt with it to any great extent before. We have recorded some of these names… There about thirty of them. [He then proceeds to list and explain them. They are: Ahmad, al-Ra’uf, al-Rahim, al-Haqq, al-Nur, al-Shahid, al-Karim, al-`Azim, al-Jabbar, al-Khabir, al-Fattah, al-Shakur, al-`Alim, al-`Allam, al-Awwal, al-Akhir, al-Qawi, al-Sadiq, al-Wali, al-Mawla, `Afw, al-Hadi, al-Mu’min, al-Quddus/Muqaddas, al-`Aziz, al-Bashir, al-Nadhir, Ta Ha, Ya Seen.]
May Allah send blessings and peace on the Prophet, his Family, and all his Companions. Even the Christians and Jews of old knew that the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) is the best of creation, as evidenced by some of his names and attributes reportedly found in the Bible, such as “Ikleel = Crown [of creation]” and “Parakletos = Spirit of Holiness.” WAllahu a`lam. Wa SallAllahu wa Sallam `ala Sayyidina Muhammad. Wal-Hamdu lillahi Rabbi al-`Alamin.
[1] Narrated from `Ikrima by al-Darimi in the Muqaddima to his Musnad with a sound chain according to Shaykh `Abd Allah al-Talidi (Tahdhib al-Shifa’ p. 167), al-Bayhaqi in Dala’il al-Nubuwwa, `Abd ibn Humayd in his Musnad, Abu Ya`la in his Musnad, Ibn Abi Hatim in his Tafsir, al-Tabarani in al-Mu`jam al-Kabir (11:240) with a chain of highly trustworthy narrators according to al-Haythami in Majma` al-Zawa’id (8:254), al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak (2:350 = 1990 ed. 2:381) where he declared it sahih and al-Dhahabi concurred, Ibn Marduyah in his Tafsir, al-Qadi `Iyad in al-Shifa’ within the “Sahih and Famous Reports on His Tremendous Status and Rank Before His Lord” (Part I ch. 3), and Ibn Kathir in his Tafsir.
[2] Shaykh `Abd Allah al-Ghumari cited it in Murshid al-Ha’ir li Bayan Wad` Hadith Jabir and said, “its chain is good and strong” while in al-Radd al-Muhkam al-Matin (p. 138-139) he adds: “It is the strongest Companion-corroboration (shâhid) I saw for the hadith of `Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd” as quoted also by Shaykh Mahmud Mamduh in Raf` al-Minara (p. 248).
Numbers appearing in Brackets [] are references and are included below.
The impulse for writing this article came from a conversation with a colleague who told me that while sitting with other colleagues, he had heard one of them repeat the statement that the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, was an ordinary human being like the rest of us, except that Allah had given him the Qur’ān. My friend knew very well that this kind of statement had been deliberately circulated among Muslims to detach them from their Prophet, thus cutting them off from the mercy of Allah that descends upon them through their love for him and close adherence to his teachings. This is part of an overall plan to destroy Islam from within, a plan that, we regret to say, is carried out by ignorant Muslims, misled by crude suggestions of the Devil that to love the Prophet and revere him is to worship him beside Allah. My friend told me he became quite angry and challenged our colleagues to take anything of the Prophet at random and compare it with themselves. He found himself saying, “Take his hand for instance!” Then he started discoursing about the special distinctions of the Prophet’s hand, talking for about twenty minutes, all the time aware that he had never spoken like that before. His colleagues listened silently, then when he was finished, begged him to carry on. These were educated people who already had much of this knowledge in their minds, but who had been too busy with worldly things to assemble and envisage their knowledge from that angle before, or to make the necessary effort in understanding how and why they had previously been misinformed.
It is for people like these, people whose hearts contain much love for Allah and His Prophet and who are honest enough to recognize the truth when they see it, that this article is written. My hope is that it will encourage them to find out more about their leader, teacher, good example, and intercessor. It is certainly not written for the narrow minded followers of the believers in a limited God, a God which they situate in space, located exclusively above the Throne. For such people, the absolute difference between Creator and created is blurred, for they mentally impose limits upon that which is beyond limits. This puts them in the false position of having to belittle the Best of Creation in order to keep Allah in His place as God.
We, the vast majority of Muslims, the Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jamā‘a, know that it is impossible for a Muslim to confuse the Creator with the created, however great the latter may be. We are therefore quite comfortable in our love for the Prophet and our extreme respect and veneration for him.
The Prophet himself has repeatedly said that those who do not love him more than their fathers, mothers, children, wealth, and their own selves, their faith is defective and their works in danger of being rejected by Allah.[1]
It is deceitful to claim to love the Prophet but seek to deprive him of the sublime attributes that Allah bestowed upon him, prior to making him the Master of all Creation.
It is to be hoped that those who read this article will be spurred on to increase and complete their knowledge of our beloved Prophet from the sources, for such knowledge is an obligation upon each Muslim capable of acquiring it.
To begin, Allah, Exalted is He, says: “Those who swear allegiance to you are but swearing allegiance to Allah. The hand of Allah is over their hands.” [48:10]
Were those who insist on accepting nothing but the literal meaning of the Qur’ān and refuse all figurative interpretation to take this verse at face value, it would have to mean that the hand that gave allegiance to the Companions was that of Allah not that of the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him. Those endowed with reason, however, will readily understand that because the Prophet is Allah’s representative on earth, swearing allegiance to him is in reality swearing allegiance to Allah, and the Prophet’s hand represents Allah’s Hand, just as the Black Stone represents it, but, in the Prophet’s case, eminently more deservedly.
The result of taking the Prophet’s hand and swearing allegiance to him–for they swore it to him–was that Allah was satisfied with them: “Allah was satisfied with the believers when they swore allegiance to you under the tree.” [48:18]
Allah’s satisfaction is in seeing that His slaves are obeying His injunctions, avoiding what He has forbidden them, and being satisfied with His decrees. This was the state of the Companions surrounding the Prophet under the tree in Hudaybiya. Their satisfaction with Allah’s decisions, their extinction of their individual wills in the Divine will made them as Allah says: “Allah was satisfied with them and they were satisfied with Him.” [58:22] It was to the Prophet’s everlasting honour and glory that his hand represented Allah’s on this and all other such occasions.
Another such occasion was recounted by Abdal-Rahmān ibn ‘Awf, “We were at the Messenger of Allah’s; nine, eight, or seven of us. He said, ‘Will you not swear allegiance?’ We had sworn allegiance only recently, so we said, ‘We have sworn allegiance to you, O Messenger of Allah!’ He said, ‘Will you not swear allegiance to the Messenger of Allah?’ So we extended our hands saying, ‘To what shall we swear allegiance to you?’ He said, ‘To worship Allah and associate nothing with Him, perform the five prayers, obey,’ then he said something we did not hear, then continued, ‘and ask nothing of others!’ [2]
Physically, the hands of the Prophet, may Allah’s blessing and peace be upon him, were as beautiful and pleasing to gaze upon as everything else about him. They were white and fleshy, with slightly tapering fingers. His boy-servant, Anas ibn Mālik, said on more than one occasion, “I have never touched any silk or brocade that is softer than the palm of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, nor have I ever smelled musk or scent more fragrant than the fragrance of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him.”[3]
Wā’il ibn Hajar said, “Whenever I shook hands with the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, or my skin touched his skin, I smelled the scent of musk on my hand for three days.” [4]
Another Companion, ‘Umayra daughter of Sahl, also a child at the time, recounted how her father once took her to the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, asking him to touch her head and pray for both of them for baraka, since she was his only child. “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, placed his hands on my head. I swear by Allah that I could feel the coolness of the hand of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, in my liver!” [5]
Jābir ibn Samura said, “I prayed with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, the first prayer, then he went out and I went out with him. He was met by some children and rubbed their cheeks one by one. As for myself, he rubbed my cheek and I found that his hand was cool and fragrant, as if he had just taken it out of a perfume vendor’s bag.”[6]
The Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, used his right hand for his ritual purification, food, and beverage, and his left hand for less clean things.[7] “He never touched the hand of a woman,” said the lady ‘Ā’isha, “when he accepted their allegiance, he accepted it verbally.”[8]
In these hands of the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, were placed the keys of the treasuries of the earth. Abū Hurayra said that he had heard the Messenger of Allah say, “I was sent with comprehensive speech,[9] I was supported with terror,[10] and, while I was asleep, I was brought the keys to the treasuries of the earth and they were placed in my hand.”[11]
Having given him the keys, Allah left it to him to divide things among the people as he pleased. This is why he said, “Allah gives and I am the Divider!”[12]
Allah had said to Sulaymān, may peace be upon him: “This is Our gift, so bestow or withhold without reckoning!” [38:39] And if Sulaymān had freedom to give or withhold at will, then how much more freedom did the Master of all Prophets have?
The baraka of the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, radiated powerfully from his hand, so that when he placed it on the sick and the injured they were cured, when he touched food it increased manifold, when he placed it on someone’s chest he removed doubts and disbelief, when he gave his Companions dry, wooden sticks they turned into swords, when he threw gravel or dust at the face of the enemy, it separated into guided missiles striking their targets in the eyes.
When Qatāda ibn al-Nu‘mān was wounded in the eye by an arrow on the day of Uhud, his eyeball was dislodged and hung on his cheek. His companions wanted to cut it off, but decided to consult the Prophet first. He said, “No!” then ordered Qatāda brought to him, pushed his eyeball back into place with his hand, blowing some of his spittle on it then said, “O Allah, give him beauty!” It became Qatāda’s best eye and when the other eye suffered from infection, that one never did.[13]
Abayd ibn Hammāl suffered from an illness that ate at his face. The Prophet passed his hand over his face and it disappeared without leaving a trace.[14]
Shurahbīl al-Ju‘fī said, “I came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, with a swelling on my palm and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah! This swelling has tormented me and it prevents me form holding my sword or the reins of my mount!’ He blew on my palm, then put his palm on the swelling and went on grinding it until it disappeared.”[15]
‘Abdallah ibn ‘Atīk went to Khaybar to kill the infamous Jew, Abū Rāfi‘, in the latter’s house. As he was leaving the house he fell and broke his ankle. He bandaged it and hobbled to his companions, then they rode back together to Madina. The Prophet said, “Stretch your leg!” He passed his hand over the broken bones and they mended there and then. [16]
‘Alī ibn al-Hakam jumped his horse over a ditch during an expedition with the Prophet. The horse failed to cross the trench and ‘Alī’s leg was crushed between the horse and the side of the trench. He went to the Prophet who said, “In the Name of Allah!” and passed his hand over it, curing it.[17]
‘Abdallah ibn Rawāha went to the Prophet saying, “O Messenger of Allah, I suffer from a molar tooth that pains me greatly!” The Prophet put his hand on his cheek saying, “O Allah, remove from him the pain he suffers and the distress, by the prayer of Your Blessed Prophet, whose rank is high with You!” He repeated this prayer seven times. Ibn Rawāha left the Prophet’s presence completely cured.[18]
Asmā’, daughter of Abū Bakr, complained one day that her head and face were swollen. The Prophet put his hand on her head then her face, above her veil, repeating three times, “In the Name of Allah! Remove from her the pain she suffers and the distress, by the prayer of Your Blessed Prophet,[19] whose rank is high with You!” The swelling subsided.[20]
‘Amr ibn Hurayth said, “My mother took me to the Messenger of Allah, he passed his hand over my head and prayed for me to remain [well] provisioned.”[21]
‘Amr ibn Tha‘laba said, “I met the Messenger of Allah at Sāla and became a Muslim. He passed his hand over my head.” Ibn Tha‘laba lived to be a hundred years old but the place that the Prophet had touched never turned grey.[22]
Al-Sā’ib ibn Yazīd was asked by his servant, ‘Atā, why his beard and part of his head were white. The latter replied, “Shall I tell you my son?” “Indeed!” he replied. “I was playing with other boys,” he said, “When the Messenger of Allah passed by. I walked up to him and greeted him, he returned my salām then said, ‘Who are you?’ I said, ‘I am al-Sā’ib ibn Yazīd, son of al-Nimr ibn Qāsit’s sister.’ The Messenger of Allah passed his hand over my head saying, ‘May Allah bless you!’ By Allah! It will never go white and will remain like this perpetually!” [23]
Muhammad ibn Fudāla al-Zafarī said, “The Messenger of Allah came when I was two weeks old. I was brought to him, he passed his hand over my head saying, ‘Call him by my name, but do not call him by my kunya!’[24] I was taken along to perform the Farewell Pilgrimage with him when I was ten years old.” Muhammad ibn Fudāla’s life was long, his hair turned white, but not where the hand of the Prophet had touched it.[25]
Mālik ibn ‘Umayr was present at the conquest of Macca, then at the campaigns of Hunayn and Tā’if. He was a poet. He asked the Messenger of Allah about poetry and was told, “For you to be filled with pus from your throat to your pubis is better than to be filled by poetry!” He said, “O Messenger of Allah, pass your hand over my head!” He did and Mālik never said a verse after this. He lived long, his head and beard turned white, except the place touched by the Prophet. [26]
Bashīr ibn ‘Aqraba al-Juhanī said, “‘Aqraba went to the Messenger of Allah, may God’s blessings and peace be upon him, who said, ‘Who is this with you O ‘Aqraba?’ ‘My son Bahīr,’ he replied. He said, ‘Come nearer!’ I did and sat on his right. He passed his hand over my head. ‘What is your name?’ he asked. ‘Bahīr O Messenger of Allah,’ I replied. He said, ‘No, but your name is Bashīr!’ My tongue was tied, the Prophet blew into my mouth and it was undone. All my hair turned white except where he had put his hand, this part remained black.”[27]
The Prophet also passed his hand over ‘Ubada ibn Sa‘d al-Zurqī’s head and prayed for him. He lived to be eighty, but his hair remained black.[28]
Abū Zayd al-Ansārī said, “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, passed his hand over my head, saying, ‘O Allah, make him fair looking and preserve the fairness!’” He lived until he was well over a hundred years old without any grey hairs appearing in his beard. His face remained smooth until he died.[29]
Al-Wāzi‘ took a son of his who had become mad to the Prophet who passed his hand over his face and prayed for him. Thereafter none was more rational than he.[30]
Jābir ibn ‘Abdallāh said, “The Messenger of Allah, may blessings and peace be upon him, visited me in Banī Salima and found me semi conscious. He asked for water, made his wudū’ then sprinkled some of the water over me and I came to.”[31]
The Prophet used to pat children on the head, pray for them, joke with them, and sometimes wind a turban round their heads.
‘Abdallāh ibn Bisr said, “My mother sent me to the Prophet with a bunch of grapes. I ate some of them before reaching him. He passed his hand over my head saying, ‘Traitor!’”[32] Later on Ibn Bisr used to show them a mark on his forelocks, saying, “This is where the Messenger of Allah put his hand when he said, ‘He will reach the century!”[33]
Hanzala ibn Juzaym al-Tamīmī was brought to the Prophet by his father. The latter said, “O Messenger of Allah, I have sons with beards, this is the youngest, pray Allah for him!” The Prophet passed his hand over his head, then said, “May Allah bless you!” Thereafter whenever a sick man with a swollen face or an animal with a swollen udder were brought to Hanzala, he blew in his hands, saying, “In the Name of Allah!” then placed his hand on his own head where the Prophet’s palm had touched it,saying, ” Where the hand of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, was placed,” then rubbed the swelling and cured it.[34]
As for Abū Mahdhūra, he had allowed his forelock to grow so long that when he sat down it reached the ground. When they asked him, “Will you not cut it?” He replied, “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, passed his hand over it, I am not one to cut it till I die!”[35]
‘Abdallāh ibn Hilāl al-Ansārī said, “My father took me to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, saying, ‘O Messenger of Allah, pray Allah for him!’ I have not forgotten, the Messenger of Allah placed his hand over my head until I felt its coolness, then he prayed for me and blessed me!” ‘Abdallāh lived long, both his head and his beard turned white, he could hardly comb them because of his age, yet he still fasted by day and prayed all night. [36]
Abū Attiya al-Bakrī was taken by his parents to the Prophet. He was a young man at the time. The Prophet passed his hand over his head. When he was a hundred years old his head and beard were still black.[37]
Al-‘Ā’idh ibn ‘Amr al-Muznī said, “An arrow struck my face as I was fighting before the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, on the day of Hunayn. Blood flowed over my face, beard, and chest. The Prophet wiped off the blood from my face and chest down to my breast with his hand and prayed for me.” When ‘Ā’idh died, those who had heard this from him looked at his chest and found the trace of the Prophet’s hand on it. They likened it to the white blaze on a horse’s forehead.[38]
‘Ā’idh’s wife also said that he had once gone to the Prophet to ask him to pass his hand over his face and pray for him for baraka. She added that the Prophet did and since then she saw her husband wake up from sleep [fresh] as if he had rubbed his face with oil. She also remarked that he needed no more than a few dates to sustain him.[39]
Abul ‘Alā’ ibn ‘Umayr said, “I was visiting Qatāda ibn Milhān when he was ill. A man passed by the far end of the house and I saw him reflected in Qatāda’s face [so shiny it was], for the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, had passed his hand over his face. Whenever I saw him it was as if he had rubbed his face with oil.”[40]
Usayd ibn Abī Unās was one of those whose life the Prophet had declared could be taken with impunity, after the conquest of Macca, when he had accorded immunity to all the Maccans. Usayd came to the Prophet, asking whether he would accept Usayd should he come to him as a Muslim? The Prophet having answered affirmatively, Usayd took his hand saying, “This is my hand in yours, I testify that you are the Messenger of Allah, and I testify that there is no God other than Allah!” The Prophet immediately ordered a crier to announce that Usayd had accepted Islam and was henceforth immune. Then he passed his hand over his face, then placed it on his chest. From then on, whenever Usayd entered a dark house the light radiating from him illuminated it.[41]
‘Utba ibn Farqad had four wives who competed with each other, each seeking to smell better than her companions. One of them said that ‘Utba always smelled better than they, even though he never used perfume. Furthermore, people always remarked on his fragrance, so much so that his wives asked him how this had come to be. He replied, “I suffered from an ailment in the days of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him. I complained to him about it. He told me to remove my clothes, which I did, sitting before him with my clothes covering my private parts. He blew into his hand then placed it on my back and belly. This fragrance has been there since.”[42]
Two tribesmen brought their sons to the Prophet, asking him to bless them by passing his hand over their faces, which he did. The white mark where he had touched them remained on their faces till the end of their lives.[43]
The mosque of the Prophet in Madina had been built with palm trunks. The Prophet used to stand before or lean on one particular trunk when delivering the Friday sermon. When they made the pulpit for him and he climbed on it, the palm trunk whimpered like a pregnant she-camel. All the Companions in the mosque heard it. The Prophet came down from the pulpit and placed his hand on it, or as related in another version, put his arms around it and it calmed down and stopped crying.[44]
Many years earlier, when the elders of Quraysh realized that they were reaching the limits of what was possible to prevent the Prophet from conveying his Lord’s message, they sat in council and Satan himself joined them in the form of an old Najdi man. Each suggestion they put forward he rejected, until Abū Jahl suggested that if they wanted to murder Muhammad, but were worried about the revenge sure to be exacted by his clan and their allies, then they should choose forty men, one from each clan, to attack him as one man, so that his clan and their allies would find it impossible to exact revenge from all of them and their allies banded together. This proposition was strongly supported by Satan and adopted unanimously by the elders.
Gabriel came to the Prophet, saying, “Sleep not tonight in the bed in which you usually sleep!”
When the night grew dark the assassins gathered before his house, waiting for the Prophet to sleep so that they could rush him. The Prophet saw them and said to ‘Alī, “Sleep on my bed and cover yourself with this, my green Hadrami cloak. Sleep in it, nothing unpleasant will reach you from them!” The Prophet gave ‘Alī the cloak he usually wrapped himself in when he slept.
At the door Abū Jahl was saying, “Muhammad claims that if you follow him you will become the kings of both Arabs and non-Arabs, then you will be resurrected after you die, and gardens will be yours like the gardens of Jordan. But if you do not, he will [one day] cut your throats, then you will be resurrected after your death, then yours will be a fire in which you will burn!” The Prophet came out, took a handful of dust in his blessed hand and said, “Yes I say this! You are one of them!” Allah took away their eyesight so they did not see him. He sprinkled dust over their heads reciting these verses from sūra Yā-Sīn: “Yā-Sīn, and the Wise Qur’ān, you are truly one of the Messengers, on a straight path, a sending down from the August, the Wise…” till “…and We have covered them so that they do not see.” [36:9] By the time the Prophet had recited these verses, every one of them had dust upon his head, then he departed. A man arrived and seeing them standing there asked, “What are you waiting here for?” “Muhammad!” they replied. “May Allah make you fail! By Allah, Muhammad has gone out and he left no man among you but he put dust on his head, then he walked away to his purpose, can you not see what has happened to you?” Each of them put his hand on his head only to find it covered with dust.[45]
As for the effects of the Prophet placing his noble hand on someone’s chest, many traditions describe them.
‘Alī, may Allah ennoble his countenance, said, “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, sent me to Yemen. I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, you send me, while I am still young, to judge amongst them, and I know not how to judge!’ He struck my chest with his hand saying, ‘O Allah! Guide his heart and strengthen his tongue!’ By He Who split the grain! Thereafter I never doubted how to judge between two people!”[46]
Abū Hurayra said, “I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I often hear you speak but I forget!’ He said, ‘Spread out your garment!’ I spread it out, he [made as if he] scooped [something] with his hand and poured it in it, then he said, ‘fold it up!’ I did and thereafter forgot nothing he ever said.”[47]
‘Uthmān ibn Abul-‘Ās said, “I used to forget the Qur’ān, so I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I forget the Qur’ān!’ He struck my chest [with his hand] then said, ‘Come out O Shaytān from the chest of ‘Uthmān!’ Following that I never forgot anything I wished to remember!”
‘Uthmān son of Abul-‘Ās also said, “The Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, told me to lead my people in prayer. I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I find in myself something!’ [meaning there were things in his heart which prevented him from doing so] He said, ‘Come near!’ He made me sit before him, placed his hand on my chest, then said, ‘Turn around!’ then he placed it on my back between my two shoulders, then he said, ‘Lead your people in prayer! He who leads people in prayer should lighten [the prayer] for among them will be the elderly, the sick, the weak, and he who has something to attend to. But it one of you is praying alone, let him pray as he wishes.’”[48]
After the conquest of Macca, the Prophet was circumambulating the house when Fudāla ibn ‘Umayr decided to kill him. He drew near to him. The Prophet said, “Fudāla?” He replied, “Yes! Fudāla, O Messenger of Allah!” He said, “What were you saying to yourself?” “Nothing!” He said, “I was invoking Allah!” The Prophet laughed then said, “Ask Allah for forgiveness!” Then he placed his hand on his chest and there was peace in his heart. Fudāla used to say later on, “By Allah! By the time he took his hand off my chest, none of Allah’s creation was dearer to me than him! As I was returning to my family I passed by a woman I used to converse[49] with, she said, “Come over!” I said, “No, Allah will not allow it, nor Islam!”[50]
During the battle of Hunayn two further incidents happened. ‘Uthmān ibn Shayba, whose father, uncle, and cousin had been killed in Badr, recounted the first of these thus: “When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, was in Hunayn, I remembered my father and my uncle, and how ‘Alī and Hamza had killed them, and I thought, ‘Today I will avenge myself from Muhammad!’ I approached him from behind till all that remained for me to do was to strike him with the sword, when a flash of fire shot like lighting between me and him, I stepped back, he turned around saying, ‘O ‘Uthmān, come nearer!’ Then he placed his hand on my chest, Allah removed the devil from my heart, I looked up at him and he was dearer to me than my hearing and eyesight!”[51]
Shayba ibn ‘Uthmān al-Hajbī recounted the second incident thus: “I went out with the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, on the day of Hunayn. By Allah! I had not gone out for Islam, but to prevent Hawāzin from gaining the upper hand on Quraysh! By Allah! As I was standing with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, I said, ‘O Prophet of Allah, I see piebald horses!’ He said, ‘O Shayba, only a disbeliever can see them!’ Then he struck my chest with his hand saying, ‘O Allah, guide Shayba!’ This he repeated twice more. No sooner had he taken his hand off my chest the third time that none in Allah’s creation was dearer to me than him!”[52]
Jābir ibn ‘Abdallāh said, “As the trench was being dug I noticed that the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, suffered from severe hunger. I returned to my wife saying, ‘Do you have anything, for I have noticed that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, suffers severe hunger.’ She brought out a bag with some barley in it and we had a small sheep in the house. We slaughtered the animal and ground the barley, then I returned to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, and spoke to him secretly, ‘O Messenger of Allah, we have slaughtered an animal we had and have ground a measure of barley. Please come with a few people!’ The Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, raised his voice saying, ‘O People of the Trench! Jābir has prepared some food, you are all welcome!’ Then he said, ‘Do not take the pot off the fire and do not bake your dough until I come!’ When he arrived he proceeded to break the bread, and put the meat on it. He took some food out of the pot and served his Companions, keeping both the pot and the oven covered. He went on breaking the bread, putting the meat on top of it and serving his Companions until they were all satiated, then he said, ‘Eat and give to other people for they have suffered hunger!’”[53]
Wāthila ibn al-Asqa‘ said that he had been one of Ahl al-Suffa. They were hungry and delegated him to go to the Prophet and inform him about it. This he did and the Prophet turned to ‘Ā’isha, “Do you have anything?” he asked. She replied, “O Messenger of Allah, I have nothing but a few crumbs of bread.” “Bring them!” he said. He emptied the crumbs into a plate and went on arranging them with his hand while they increased until the plate was full. “O Wāthila!” he said, “Go and fetch ten of my Companions, you being the tenth!” Wāthila called his companions. The Prophet said, “Sit and eat in the Name of Allah. Take from the edges and do not take from the top, for baraka descends on the top!” They ate to satiety, then rose leaving the plate as full as when they sat down. The Prophet kept on handling the food then said, “O Wāthila, go and fetch another ten of your companions!” After these ten ate to satiety the whole sequence was repeated once more, after which the Prophet asked, “Anyone left?” “Yes, ten more,” replied Wāthila. “Go fetch them!” he said. When these were finished, the plate was still as full as at the beginning, and the Prophet said, “O Wāthila, take this to ‘Ā’isha!”[54]
Abū Talha said, “I once entered the mosque and recognized hunger in the face of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him. I left and went to Umm Salīm, Anas ibn Mālik’s mother, and said, ‘O Umm Salīm, I have recognized hunger in the face of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him. Do you have anything?’ ‘I have something,’ she said, showing her palm [meaning that it was only a little]. ‘Prepare it and do it well!’ I said. Then I sent Anas to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, saying, ‘Speak secretly into his ear and invite him!’ As soon as Anas arrived the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, said, ‘My son, your father has sent you to invite us!’ Then he said to his Companions, ‘Come in the Name of Allah!’ Anas hastened back to Abū Talha saying, ‘Here comes the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, with the people!’ I came out and met the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, at the door, on the landing, and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what have you done to us? It is but that I recognized hunger in your face so we prepared something for you to eat!’ He said, ‘Go in and be of good cheer!’ The Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, took whatever was there, he gathered it in the plate with his hand, arranged it, then asked, ‘Is there any?’ meaning fat. We brought him our container, where there may or may not have been something, [meaning that even if there had been something in it, it was insignificant] the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, squeezed it with his hand then poured fat from it saying, ‘Send in ten after ten!’ They all ate to satiety, then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, said about what remained, ‘Eat together with your children!’ So we ate and were satiated.’”[55]
Safiyya, the Prophet’s wife, said, “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, came one day and asked, ‘O Daughter of Huyay, do you have anything, for I am hungry.’ I said, ‘No by Allah, O Messenger of Allah, save two measures of flour.’ ‘Cook it!’ he said. I put it in the pot, cooked it, then said, ‘It is cooked O Messenger of Allah!’ He said, ‘Do you know if there is anything in the fat container of the daughter of Abū bakr?’ I said, ‘I know not O Messenger of Allah!’ He went himself to her house and said, ‘Anything in your fat container O daughter of Abū Bakr?’ ‘Nothing but a little,’ she said. He brought it back, squeezed it into the pot until I saw something coming out. He put his hand [on it] saying, ‘In the Name of Allah, invite your sisters for I know they feel as I do!’ I invited them and we ate until satiated. Then Abū Bakr came and entered, then ‘Umar came and entered, then a man came. They all ate to satiety and some still remained.”[56]
Abū Hurayra said, “One night I missed supper with the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, and also missed being invited by one of our companions. I prayed ‘Ishā’ then tried to sleep but could not. Then I tried to pray, but could not. There was a man standing near the apartment of the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him. I walked up to him and it was the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, praying. He prayed, then, leaning against the palm trunk he had been praying toward, said, ‘Who is this? Abū Hurayra?’ I said, ‘Yes!’ He said, ‘You missed supper with us tonight?’ I said, ‘Yes!’ He said, ‘Go to the house and say: Bring the food you have!’ [I did and] they gave me a plate in which was a paste made with dates. I took it to the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, and placed it before him. He said, ‘Call those in the mosque!’ I said to myself, ‘Woe to me, for I can see the food is so little, and woe to me from disobedience!’ I came to men asleep and awakened them saying, ‘Respond!’ and I came to men praying and said, ‘Respond!’ until they all gathered near the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him. He thrust his fingers into it and pressed around the edge, then said, ‘Eat in the Name of Allah!’ They ate to satiety and I ate to satiety. Then he said, ‘Take it Abū Hurayra and return it to the family of Muhammad, for there is no food with the family of Muhammad that one possessed of a liver [meaning a living being] can eat but this. It was offered to us by one of the Helpers.’ I took the plate and lifted it up, and it was as it had been when I had placed it there, except for the marks of the fingers of the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him.”[57]
Ziyād ibn al-Hārith recounted how, as they were travelling with the Prophet, morning found them without water. “Any water?” the Prophet asked him. “Only a little that will not suffice you, O Messenger of Allah!” he replied. “Put it in a vessel and bring it!” he said. He put his hand in the water and they saw water gushing from between two of his fingers. He said, “Call my Companions, whoever needs water!” He called them and they came and each took what he needed. [Seeing this] they said, “O Messenger of Allah, we have a well that suffices us with water during the winter, and we gather around it. But in the summer the water becomes scarce and we have to scatter to the surroundings wells. However. Now that we are Muslims, everyone around us is an enemy. So pray Allah for our well so that its water may suffice us, so that we remain gathered around it.” The Prophet asked for seven pebbles, rubbed them between his fingers, prayed to Allah, then said, “Go with these pebbles, when you reach the well throw them in one by one, invoking the Name of Allah!” They did and the well remained so full of water that they never saw its bottom again.[58]
Anas ibn Mālik said, “I once saw the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, when it was time for ‘Asr prayer and people looked for water for their ablutions and found none. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, was brought some water, he put his hand in the vessel and told the people to make their ablutions from it. I watched the water gushing from under his fingers while people made their ablutions, till the last one of them had done!”
And in another version of the same incident he said, “I reckoned between sixty and eighty [men], I watched water gushing from between his fingers.”[59]
Anas recounted another similar incident thus, “Once when the Prophet of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, and his Companions were at al-Zawrā’, and al-Zawrā’ is in Madina near the market and the mosque, he called for a cup partly filled with water, put his hand in it and water started gushing from between his fingers so that all his Companions made their ablutions.” “How many were they, O Abū Hamza?” he was asked. “They were about three hundred,” he replied.[60]
Mu’ādh ibn Jabal said, “We went out with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, the year of the Tabūk expedition. He joined his prayers so that he prayed Zuhr and ‘Asr together and Maghrib and ‘Ishā’ together. One day when he had thus delayed the prayer he came out, prayed Zuhr and ‘Asr together, then went in, then came out again, prayed Maghrib and ‘Ishā together, then said, ‘Tomorrow, Allah willing, you will come upon the spring of Tabūk. You will reach it only by mid-morning. He who reaches it let him not touch any of its water until I arrive.’ When we reached it two men were already there and in the spring there was little water. The Messenger of Allah asked them, ‘Have you touched any of its water?’ ‘Yes!’ they said. He rebuked them and spoke to them as Allah willed him to speak, then we scooped out little water by little in our palms until some was collected in something [a vessel or a cup] then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, washed his hands and face in it, then returned it into the spring, at which it gushed forth with profuse water, so that the people all took their fill. ‘O Mu‘ādh,’ he said, ‘if your life be prolonged, you will see this place full of gardens!’[61]
Ibn ‘Abbās said, “Morning came upon the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, and there was no water. ‘Is there any water?’ he asked. They said, ‘No!’ ‘Is there a waterskin?’ he asked, so they brought one and placed if before the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him. He placed both hands on it, then spread his fingers and water gushed, as with Moses’ staff, from the fingers of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him. He said, ‘O Bilāl! Call the people to their ablutions!’ They came and did their ablutions from between the fingers of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, except ibn Mas‘ūd who was more intent on drinking.[62] Having made their ablutions, they prayed Subh, then he sat for the people and said, ‘O people, whose faith is the most wondrous?’ ‘The angels,’ they replied. ‘How can the angels not believe, when they can witness the matter?’ he said. ‘The Prophets, O Messenger of Allah!’ they said. ‘How can the Prophets not believe,’ he said, ‘when revelation alights upon them from heaven?’ ‘Your Companions then, O Messenger of Allah!’ ‘How can my Companions not believe,’ he said, ‘when they are witnessing what they are witnessing? But the most wondrous in faith are people who will come after me, who have faith in me even though they have not seen me, who believe me even though they have not seen me. They are my brothers!’”[63]
Al-Barā’ ibn ‘Āzib said, “We were on an expedition with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him. We came upon a well where the water was scarce. Six of us descended into it. A bucket was sent down to us, while the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, stood at the rim of the well. We filled half or two thirds of it, then it was pulled up to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him. He put his hand into it saying whatever Allah willed him to say, then the bucket was sent back to us with the water in it. [They poured the water in the well and the water began rising.] I saw the last one of us being dragged out in a hurry for fear of him drowning. Then it flowed [over the ground like] a river.”[64]
Anas ibn Mālik said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, sent a force against the pagans which included Abū Bakr, ‘Umar and many other people. He said to them, “March diligently, for between you and the pagans is water, if they outstrip you to this water people will suffer hardship, you will be severely thirsty and so will your animals.” The Messenger of Allah, together with eight men, remained behind. He said to his Companions, “Shall we sleep part of the night then rejoin the people?” “Yes, O Messenger of Allah!” they replied. They laid down and were awakened only by the heat of the Sun. He said to them, “Rise and attend to your needs!” When they returned he said, “Does any of you have water?” One of them said, “A small skin with a little water O Messenger of Allah.” “Bring it!” He said. He brought it and the Prophet passed both his palms over it, prayed for baraka, then said to his Companions, “Come here and make your ablutions!” He poured water for them until they had done, then one of them gave the Ādhān, then the Iqāma, and the Prophet led them in prayer. Then he said to the owner of the skin, “Look after your skin, it will be of consequence!” He climbed on his mount then said, “How do you think they have fared?” “Allah and His Messenger know best,” they replied, “but they have Abū Bakr and ‘Umar with them and they will counsel them.” The pagans, however, reached the water before the Muslims and the latter became extremely thirsty, so did their animals. When the Prophet arrived he said, “Where is the owner of the skin?” “Here he is O Messenger of Allah!” they replied. He took the skin in which a little water had remained and said, “Come here and drink!” He went on pouring water for them until they all drank, gave their animals, and filled every skin and cup they had.[65]
The baraka of the Prophet’s hand also showed in the animals and plants he touched.
After the Prophet left Macca for Madina in the company of Abū Bakr, the latter’s servant, ‘Āmir ibn Fuhayr, and their guide, ‘Abdallah ibn Urayqit, they passed by the two tents of Umm Ma‘bad of Khuzā‘a. She was a tough, elderly woman who sat before her tent giving people food and drink. They asked her to sell them meat and dates but she had none. The Prophet noticed an ewe near the corner of the tent, “What is this ewe, O Umm Ma‘bad?” he asked.” An ewe that is so weak it was left behind by the sheep,” she replied. “Does she have any milk?” he asked. “She is too weak for that!” she replied. “Will you allow me to milk her?” he asked. “If you see that she can be milked then milk her!” she said. The Prophet passed his hand over the ewe’s udder, uttered the Name of Allah, prayed for her, then asked for a large vessel. He milked her and milk came out in profusion. He gave Umm Ma‘bad to drink first, until she was full, then his companions, leaving himself for last. Then he milked the ewe again until the vessel was full and left it with her.[66]
Umm Ma‘bad later said that the ewe the Prophet had touched with his hand remained with them till the “year of the famine” in the days of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb. They milked her mornings and evenings even though nothing at all grew from the earth. Meaning that she produced milk although there was nothing for her to eat.[67]
Abū Qursāfa recounted that as an orphan he was raised by his mother and her sister and was more attached to his aunt. She had a few sheep which he looked after for her and she often told him about the Prophet, “My son, do not pass by this man, for he will deceive you and lead you astray!” But Abū Qursāfa, leaving his sheep to graze, spent his time listening to the Prophet, then took his sheep home lean, with dry udders. “Why does your herd have dry udders?” his aunt asked. “I do not know!” he replied. He went on listening to the Prophet until he accepted Islam, took his hand, and gave him allegiance. Then he told the Prophet about the state of his sheep. “Bring the ewes here!” the Prophet said, then passed his hand over their backs and udders, and prayed for them to have baraka. The animals swelled with meat and milk. When Abū Qursāfa took them back to his aunt she said, “My son, this is how to graze your animals!” “Aunt, I grazed them at the same place as previously,” he replied, “but I will tell you the story.” His mother and aunt listened to him then asked to be taken to the Prophet. They accepted Islam, gave him allegiance and took his hand.[68]
Salmān the Persian was a slave owned by the Jews. He made an agreement with them for his freedom to plant three hundred palm trees and give them a certain amount of gold. As soon as the palms produced their first dates, he was to be free. He went to the Prophet, asking for his help. The Prophet planted the three hundred trees with his blessed hands. All three hundred grew and produced dates by the end of the year.[69]
The baraka of the Prophet’s hand also showed its effect in many of the inanimate objects that he touched.
Suwayd ibn Zayd recounted how he once saw Abū Dharr sitting on his own in the mosque and thought it a good opportunity to ask him about ‘Uthmān. Abū Dharr said, “I shall never say anything about ‘Uthmān but good, because of something I saw with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him. I used to watch for the time when the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, was all alone so that I could learn from him. One day I went and found that he had gone out. I followed him. He sat somewhere and I sat with him. ‘What has brought you, O Abū Dharr?’ he said, ‘Allah and His Messenger!’ I replied. Then Abū Bakr came, gave salām and sat to the right of the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him. He said, ‘What has brought you Abū Bakr?’ ‘Allah and His Messenger!’ he replied. Then ‘Umar came and sat to Abū Bakr’s right. ‘O ‘Umar,’ he said, ‘What has brought you?’ ‘Allah and His Messenger!’ he replied. Then ‘Uthmān came and sat to ‘Umar’s right. He said ‘O ‘Uthmān, what has brought you?’ ‘Allah and His Messenger!’ he replied. The Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, picked up seven or nine pebbles. They glorified [Allah] in his hand, till I heard them buzz like bees buzz. He put them down and they became silent. He put them in Abū Bakr’s hand and they glorified till I heard them buzz like the bees buzz, then he put them down and they were silent. He picked them up and put them in ‘Uthman’s hand and they glorified till I heard them buzz as bees buzz. Then he put them down and they were silent.”[70]
The baraka of the hand of the Prophet was also seen clearly in many battles and during the conquest of Macca, again with inanimate objects.
During the battle of Badr three of the Companions broke their swords. ‘Ukāsha ibn Mihsan was given a palm branch by the Prophet. As soon as he brandished it it turned into a fine sword which he made good use of till the end of the battle, and then carried on using, calling it “Al-Qawiy” (the Strong) until he was martyred in Najd during the wars against the apostates.[71]
Salama ibn al-Harish also broke his sword and was given a palm branch by the Prophet who said, “Fight with it!” It turned into a sword which he used until many years later he was martyred on the bridge of Abū ‘Ubayd during the conquest of Iraq.[72]
‘Abdallah ibn Jahsh was the third to be given a palm branch to fight with. It became a sword which they named “Al-‘Urjūn” (the Palm Branch). He died a martyr on the day of Uhud, but the sword remained with his heirs until they sold it.[73]
During the Battle of Badr, but also before that in Macca and after that at Hunayn, the Prophet threw gravel or pebbles at the pagans, hitting them individually in eyes. Allah addresses him thus in the Qur’ān: “You threw not when you threw, but Allah threw,” [8:17] for it is humanly impossible to achieve such a feat.
On the first occasion, in Macca, the elders of Quraysh met in the Hijr and swore to each other by Lāt, ‘Uzzā, Manāt, Nā’ila, and Isāf that as soon as they saw Muhamamd they would rise to him as one man and part not from him until they had killed him. Fātima overheard this, she hastened home weeping, and entered upon the Prophet saying, “There were the elders of your people promising each other that as soon as they saw you they would rise as one man to your blood!” “My child,” he said, “bring me some water for my ablutions!” He performed his ablutions then headed towards the mosque. When they saw him they said, “Here he is! Here he is!” but they lowered their gazes, hung their chins on their chests, did not look at him, nor did any of them rise toward him. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, approached till he stood over them. He took a handful of dust and saying, “Befouled be the faces!” threw it at them. Not one of those who were hit by it on that day escaped being killed at Badr.[74]
On the day of Badr he took a handful of pebbles and threw it at the pagans saying, “Befouled be the faces!” Allah caused these to hit most of the pagans in the eyes, with a sound as if pebbles were falling into a pan. This is when their defeat began.[75]
As for the day of Hunayn, when the Mulims were taken by surprise by the enemy and some chaos ensued, the Prophet found himself on his own on his mule. Salama ibn al-Akwa‘ recounted how he saw the Prophet climb down from his mule, pick up a handful of dust, then throw it in the pagan’s faces saying, “Befouled be the faces!” Their eyes were filled with dust and they retreated in disarray.[76]
Before the siege of Madina, the Battle of the Trench, as the Muslims were digging the trench, they met a rock they could not break. They tried hard but it only broke their picks. They reported this to the Prophet who took the pick from Salman and struck the rock. A light flashed, illuminating Madina from one lava tract to the other, as if it was a lamp lit in a dark night. The Prophet said, “Allahu Akbar!” He struck it again, another flash shot forth, he said, “Allāhu Akbar!” Then he struck it a third time. Again a flash of light shot forth, and again he said, “Allāhu Akbar!” The rock was shattered by the third blow. They asked him about the three flashes of light, and he said, “The first one lit up for me the palaces of Hīra and the cities of Khosroes, as if they were dogs’ teeth, and Gabriel informed me that my nation is to overcome them. The second one lit up for me the red palaces of the land of the Byzantines, as if they were dogs’ teeth, and Gabriel informed me that my nation is to overcome them. The third lit up for me the palaces of Sana‘ā, as if they were dogs’ teeth, and Gabriel told me that my nation is to overcome them!”[77]
When he entered the Sacred Mosque after the conquest of Macca, the Prophet went round the Ka‘ba pointing at the idols with his stick or his bow. There were three hundred and sixty idols on and around the Ka‘ba, their feet fixed with lead, in addition to Isāf and Nā’ila where the pagans slaughtered their offerings. As the Prophet passed by each of the idols, he pointed at it, reciting: “Say: The truth has come and falsehood has vanished; falsehood is ever vanishing.” [17:81] When he pointed at them the idols fell on their faces one by one.[78]
The Companions knew well the baraka in the hand of the Prophet; they also knew about its being the symbol of Divine generosity and power. They loved to touch and kiss it, they competed for the water he had dipped it in, and, after his death, those who never saw him were eager to touch and kiss those hands that had touched him.
Both the Jews and the Christians who recognized the Prophet as a Divine envoy also showed their love and respect for him by kissing both his hands and his feet.
Once, after the Prophet’s emigration to Madina, a Jew said to a friend of his, “Let us go to this Prophet!” his friend said, “Say not Prophet! Were he to hear you he would have four eyes!” They came to the Prophet and asked him about nine things which he answered. They kissed his hands and feet, saying, “We testify that you are a Prophet!” “What prevents you from following me?” he asked. “David prayed that there should always be a Prophet from his progeny. We fear, were we to follow you, that the Jews would kill us!”[79]
When the Prophet went to Tā’if to call its people to Islam they mistreated him and wounded both his feet by throwing stones at him. He repaired to a garden belonging to two Qurayshi noblemen, ‘Utba and Shayba, sons of Rabī‘a. They happened to have come down from Macca and to have seen what had happened to him. As they were related to him sufficiently closely in tribal terms to allow themselves to feel some sympathy, they called a Christian slave of theirs named ‘Addās and told him, “Take some of these grapes, put them in this plate, then take them to this man and tell him to eat!” When ‘Addās placed the plate before him and said “Eat!” the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, extending his hand, said, “In the name of Allah!” then began to eat. ‘Addās looked at his face, then said, “By Allah! These words are not what the people of this land say!” “From which land do you hail ‘Addās?” he was asked, “and what is your religion?” He replied, “I am a Christian, a man from Nineveh.” “From the town of the virtuous man Jonah the son of Matthew?” asked the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him. “How do you know who Jonah the son of Matthew is?” asked ‘Addās. “He is my brother,” he was told, “he was a Prophet and I am a Prophet!” At this ‘Addās rushed to him, kissing his head, hands and feet.
One of the sons of Rabī‘a said to the other, “He has spoiled your slave for you!” Then, when ‘Addās returned to them, they said to him, “Woe to you, O ‘Addās! Why do you kiss this man’s head, hands, and feet?” He replied, “Master, there is no one on earth better than this man, he has just informed me of a thing that only a Prophet knows!” They said, “Woe to you, O ‘Addās! Let him not divert you from your religion, for your religion is better than his!”[80]
Those upon whose heads the hands of the Prophet wound a turban were thereby forever honoured.
Qurayt ibn Abī Ramtha al-Tamīmī, who, in the Caliphate of ‘Umar, conquered Aqaba, was taken along by his father when he emigrated to the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him. The Prophet took him on his lap, prayed for him to have baraka, and wound a black turban around his head.[81]
The Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, decided to send an expedition of seven hundred men to Dūmat al-Jandal, under the command of ‘Abal-Rahmān ibn ‘Awf. On the morning they were to set out, ‘Abal-Rahmān appeared wearing a turban dyed black. The Prophet took it off with his hand and wound it again, leaving four fingers’ length hanging from the back.[82] When the time came for ‘Abdal-Rahman ibn ‘Awf to decide who was to become caliph, ‘Uthmān or ‘Alī, he came out wearing the same turban the Prophet had wound on his head.[83]
Anas said, “Once the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, prayed the morning prayer, the servants of the people of Madina brought him their vessels full of water, he dipped his hand in them, even on cold mornings.”[84]
Abū Juhayfa said, “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, came out in mid-morning. Water for ablution was brought to him and he performed his ablution, then the people took what remained and rubbed it on themselves. Those who could not reach any took the water that dripped from their companions’ hands.”[85]
Abū Juhayfa also said that when the Prophet was in Macca and had finished his ablutions, the people crowded around him, taking his hands and rubbing them on their faces. “I took his hand,” he said, “and placed it on my face and it was cooler than snow and better smelling than musk!”[86]
Abū Ayyūb said, “We used to prepare supper and send it to him, when it was brought back to us, I and Umm Ayyūb used to look for the mark of his hand and eat from there, hoping for the baraka. One night we sent his supper to him, having put onions or garlic in it, but the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, returned it untouched, I saw no trace of his hand in it. I rushed to him in distress, saying, ‘O Messenger of Allah, my father and mother be the ransom! You have returned your supper and I saw no trace of your hand, whereas before, whenever you returned it, I and Umm Ayyūb sought the trace of your hand, seeking the Baraka!’ He said, ‘I found the smell of that plant in it and I am a man who converses, [with Gabriel, as another version adds] as for you, you may eat it!’ So we ate it but never used that plant again!”[87]
When the Prophet fell ill, ‘Ā’isha, in the knowledge that he used to recite the Mu‘awwidhāt, blow in his hands, and rub his body, recited them herself, then took his hand and rubbed him with it, for no palm was as blessed as his.[88]
‘Ā’isha said that whenever the Prophet entered Fātima’s house she rose to meet him and kissed his hand.[89]
Once when Ibn ‘Umar was in a raiding party they retreated before the enemy. They said to each other, “What shall we do now that we have run away from the fight and come under [Allah’s] wrath?” “Let us go to Madina and spend the night,” they said, then, “Let us show ourselves to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, it may be that our repentance will be accepted, or else we shall depart.” They came to him before the morning prayer. “Who are the people?” he asked, “We are the deserters!” they replied. “No!” he said, “But you are the fighters, and I am your host and every Muslim’s host.”[90] Then they approached him and kissed his hand. Then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, recited this verse: “or withdrawing to a host,” [8:16][91]
When the delegation of ‘Abdal Qays reached Madina, [they had such longing for the Prophet that] they jumped off their camels and rushed to him, kissing his hands and feet.[92]
Ibn ‘Umar used to kiss the Prophet’s hand.[93]
Ka‘b ibn Mālik, one of the three Companions that failed to join the Tabuk expedition, kissed the Prophet’s hand when Allah relented towards the three.[94]
Once Salama ibn al-Akwa‘ said to his companions, “I gave allegiance to the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, with this hand of mine!” They kissed it and he never objected to this.[95]
The famous Follower, Thābit al-Bunānī, Anas ibn Mālik’s student, said, “Whenever I visited Anas, they told him I was there, he came to me, and I took both his hands and kissed them saying, “My father be the ransom of these hands that have touched the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him!” and I kissed his eyes saying, “My father be the ransom of these eyes which have seen the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him!”[96]
And whenever Thābit came to visit him, Anas called his servant saying, “Bring me some perfume that I may perfume my hands, for Thābit will not rest content until he has kissed my hand!”[97]
Burayda said, “A Bedouin came to the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, saying, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I have accepted Islam, so show me something that will increase me in certitude!’ He asked him, ‘What do you want?’ He replied, ‘Call this tree, let it come to you!’ ‘Go to her and call her!’ He told him. The Bedouin went to the tree saying, ‘Answer the Messenger of Allah!’ The tree leaned to one side, pulling her roots out, then to the other, pulling her roots out then she went to the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, saying, ‘Peace be upon you O Messenger of Allah!’ The Bedouin exclaimed, ‘This is sufficient for me! This is sufficient for me!’ The Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, said, ‘Go back!’ so it returned to its place and struck its roots again. The Bedouin said, ‘Permit me, O Messenger of Allah, to kiss your hands and feet!’ He did [kiss his hands and feet], then said, ‘Permit me to prostate myself before you!’ ‘No man should prostate himself before another man!’ he replied.”[98]
The wooden pulpit of the Prophet had a knob on which the Prophet rested his hand as he spoke. After the Prophet’s death Abū Hurayra used to stand beside the pulpit and place his hand on the pommel, before the caliph came out to deliver the Friday sermon. Thus standing he would recite a few of the hadiths he had learnt from the Prophet.[99]
As for the other Companions, they used to wait until those in the mosque became few, then rise to the pommel, rub it, and make du‘ā’. So did the Followers and those who came after them.[100] Upon learning of this, ‘Abdallāh, son of Imām Ahmad ibn Hanbal, asked his father what he thought of this and of touching the Prophet’s chamber. The Imām answered that he saw nothing wrong there. And the famous compiler of hadith, Imām ibn ‘Asākir, who witnessed the fire that burned part of the Prophet’s mosque, said, “The remaining parts of the pulpit of the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, were burnt. Now visitors can no longer touch the pulpit’s pommel, on which the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, placed his noble hand, nor the place where he used to sit, nor the place of his noble feet, for their great baraka.”[101]
The Prophet informed us that Allah, Exalted and Majestic is He says, “He who shows hostility to a Walī of Mine, on him I declare war. My slave draws nearer to Me with nothing that I love more than what I have made obligatory on him. And My slave ceases not to draw nearer to Me with supererogatory devotions until I love him. When I love him I become his eye with which he sees, his ear with which he hears, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot on which he walks. When he asks of Me I give him and when he seeks My protection I protect him.”[102]
The Prophet, by virtue of being the most perfect of Allah’s slaves, is he in whom the gifts mentioned in this Hadīth Qudsī manifest in the most perfect from. Thus, because he saw and heard by Allah’s power and ability, he was able to see and hear through the earth, down to the seventh nether earth, and through the heavens up to and beyond the Throne. He saw through people’s intentions and heard the whisperings in their breasts. His hand manifested the powers we have spoken about and much more that is known only to Allah. His feet walked the seven heavens and the Throne, and took him into the Divine Presence.
The same attributes, according to this Hadith Qudsī, manifest in the more spiritually gifted among the Prophet’s community, for he must have heirs amongst the Muslims, in each of their generations till the end of time. Only he who knows the saints is able to catch a glimpse of the unassailable rank of Prophethood. Only he who accepts that Allah’s treasury of gifts is infinite and that He gives according to His generosity will begin to understand. Only he who overcomes his skepticism and thinks well of the virtuous servants of Allah will be allowed to witness some of these gifts.
NOTES
Numbers appearing in Brackets [] are references and are included below.
“Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth . . . “[1] The Light is one of the ninety-nine Beautiful Names of Allah. Light is that by which things become known. Things may exist in the dark, but they cannot be seen. Light may be physical, such as the light of the sun or the moon, or intelligible, like the light of the intellect. The latter is that which illuminates the darkness of ignorance with the light of knowledge. Total darkness is non-existence, thus light is that which brings created beings out of non-existence into existence. It is the creative act of Allah and this is one of the meanings of “Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth . . . ” The other meaning is that every light in the universe is but a reflection of His mercy, every knowledge a reflection of His knowledge and so on. “Allah created His creation in darkness,” said the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, “then He sprayed them with His light. Those whom this light reached became rightly guided, while those it did not went astray.”[2] And he also said, as recorded by Muslim, “Allah, August and Majestic is He, wrote the destinies of creation fifty thousand years before He created the Heavens and the earth. His throne was on the water. Among what He wrote in the Remembrance, which is the Mother of the Book, was: Muhammad is the Seal of the Prophets.”
The Mother of the Book is the source of all knowledge, including the Divine Scriptures. It is the essential knowledge of Allah before He created creation. This is why it is said to have been written fifty thousand years before the creation of the cosmos, a symbolic number, since without stars and planets there cannot be days and years as we understand them. Allah conceived His creation in the darkness of non-existence, then with the light of His creative act brought them out into existence. Thus the First Light was created, a being appearing against the dark background of non-existence. “The first thing that Allah created was the Intellect,”[3] said the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him. He also said, “The first thing that Allah created was the Pen,” which amounts to the same thing, since the first intellect is the primordial light in its passive aspect as recipient of the knowledge of what is to be, while the Pen is the primordial light in its active aspect of writing this knowledge on the Guarded Tablet at Allah’s command. “The first thing that Allah created was the Pen and He said to it: Write! So it wrote what is to be forever.”[4] From this First light all of creation, with all its varied forms and meanings till the end of time unfolds.
This primordial light is what is called the Light of the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, since he is the created being who received the major share of it.
This light was also the origin of the lights of all other Divine Messengers, of the angels, then of all other beings. This is how the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, could say, “I was a Prophet when Adam was still between spirit and body.”[5] The power of this light made the Prophet’s radiation so powerful, once he appeared on earth, that Allah calls him in the Qur’ān “an illuminating lamp.” Allah describes the sun and the moon in the Qur’ān in like manner explaining what He means when He says that He made the Prophet “an illuminating lamp”. He says, Exalted is He:
“Have you not seen how Allah created seven heavens, one upon another, and set the moon therein for a light and the sun for a lamp?”[6] Here he calls the sun a lamp, since its light is self generating, but He calls the moon a light, since it but reflects the light of the sun. He also says: ” . . . and We appointed a blazing lamp . . . “[7] The sun’s light being extremely hot, and, “Blessed is He who has set in the sky constellations and has set among them a lamp and an illuminating moon,”[8] emphasizing that the moon’s light is light with little heat. When He says to His Prophet: ” O Prophet! We have sent you as a witness, a bearer of good tidings and of warning, as a caller to Allah by His leave and as an illuminating lamp,”[9] we are to understand that He made the Prophet’s light powerful like the sun’s, yet cool and gentle like the moon’s.
Some of the Prophet’s Companions were given to see this light as even brighter than both the sun and moon, for when they walked with him they noticed that he cast no shadow on the ground.[10] Those who saw him in the full moon noticed that his blessed face was brighter than the moon,[11] and one of his Companions, the Lady Rubayyi‘, when asked to describe him, said, “My son, had you seen him, you would have seen the sun shining.”[12]
The light of the Prophet shone at all levels, it filled the material, intermediary, and spiritual worlds, dispelled the darkness of ignorance and disbelief, and is destined to shine across the ages till the end of time.
That this light was physical as well as spiritual was borne witness to most amply by those who saw him. The Lady ‘A‘isha related how she saw the whole room fill with light one night, then it disappeared, while the Prophet continued to call upon his Lord. Then the room was filled with a more powerful light which disappeared after a while. She asked, “What is this light I saw?” he said, “Did you see it. O ‘A‘isha?” “Yes!” she replied. He said, “I asked my Lord to grant me my nation, so He gave me one third of them, so I praised and thanked Him. Then I asked him for the rest, so He gave me the second third, so I praised and thanked Him. Then I asked Him for the third third, so He gave it to me, so I praised and thanked Him.” She said that had she wished to pick up mustard seeds from the floor by this light she could have.[13] In the famous description of Hind ibn Abi Hala, the Prophet’s stepson from the Lady Khadija, “He was dignified and awe inspiring, radiant like the radiance of the moon on the night it is full…”[14] Ibn ‘Abbas described how he saw light shining from between his front teeth.[15] Abu Qursafa, as a boy, went to swear allegiance to the Prophet, together with his mother and her sister. When they returned home they told him, ” My son, we have never seen the like of this man, nor anyone better looking, cleaner dressed, or gentler in his speech; and we saw as if light came out of his mouth.” [16]
The Companion, Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, described how, when the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, first entered Madina, everything in Madina became illuminated, then how, when he died and was buried in ‘A’isha’s house, the light disappeared. The phenomenon was so sudden that the Companions were taken aback and began to doubt whether they had really seen it at all.[17] This was only the light that radiated from his blessed body, for Madina itself remained the city of Light. Abū Hurayra related how they were once praying the night prayer of ‘isha’ with the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, and how the Prophet’s two grandsons, Hasan and Husayn climbed onto his back when he went into prostration. When he was done, he placed one of them on his right and the other on his left. Abu Hurayra asked him, “Shall I take them to their mother?” he replied, “No”. Then a flashing light appeared from the sky, at which he said, “go to your mother.” The light remained until they reached their house.[18] On another occasion, Anas said that, he accompanied the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, into the mosque where they saw a group of people with their hands raised, calling upon Allah. “Do you see in their hands what I see?” the Prophet asked. “What is in their hands?” Anas replied. “There is light in their hands,” replied the Prophet. “Ask Allah the Exalted to show it to me,” said Anas. At the Prophet’s request, Allah showed it to him.[19] Another Companion, ‘Amr al-Aslami, said that once they were with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, on a very dark night and lost sight of each other. Suddenly ‘Amr’s fingers shone forth with light so that they were able to round up their mounts and gather again. The light did not subside until they had finished gathering.[20] As for Abu ‘Abs, he used to pray all the ritual prayers with the Prophet, then walk back to his dwelling, at Bani Haritha, a few miles from the mosque. One dark rainy night, as he left the mosque, his staff was made to shine forth with light, so that he was able to walk safely back home.[21] On another occasion, two of the Prophet’s well known Companions, Usayd ibn Hudayr and ‘Abbad ibn Bishr, left the Prophet’s house late on a dark night. The tip of the staff of one of them lit up like a lamp and they were able to walk. When they came to the place where they usually separated, the tip of the other staff lit up as well.[22] Another Companion, al-Tufayl ibn ‘Amr al-Dawsi, related how, after his first visit to the Prophet, when he accepted Islam and was about to return to his tribe, he asked the Prophet for a sign to show to his tribesmen, at which a light shone forth from his forehead. He exclaimed, “Not here, O Messenger of Allah, they will think it a curse!” So the Prophet moved the light to the tip of al- Tufayl’s whip. He returned to his tribe with this sign and most of them accepted Islam.[23]
Ka‘b ibn Zuhayr was a man from Muzayna, a highly talented poet who used his talent against the Prophet and his companions. Once Macca had been conquered, Ka`b became a fugitive, aware that the Prophet had ordered him executed. His brother, Bujayr, was a Muslim. He sent Ka`b a message that he could only save his life if he came to the Prophet repentant. Eventually Ka‘b agreed to this and came to Madina. The Prophet forgave him, accepted his allegiance, and gave him permission to recite the poem Ka`b had composed in his praise. When he came to the passage,
The Messenger is a light that illuminates
An Indian blade, a sword of Allah, drawn
the Prophet took his mantle, his burda, off his shoulders and put it on Ka‘b’s, signalling his approval. The best swords of the time were Indian and the connection between the sword and light is that the Arabs signalled the way by standing on a rise and brandishing their swords in the sun so that they flashed like mirrors.[24]
The light of the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, manifested itself in his parents before and during his birth. His biographers have recorded that his father’s forehead shone with a light that a certain women from Quraysh noticed. She knew that the appearance of the Prophet of the End of Time was imminent and felt that ‘Abdallah’s forehead signalled his being the father. She offered herself to him, but he refused. Soon `Abdallah married Amina and, once she became pregnant with the Prophet, the light vanished from his forehead. He met the same woman again and, noticing she no longer wanted him, asked her why. She replied that he no longer carried that light on his forehead.[25] As for the Lady Amina, when she became pregnant, she saw in a dream-vision that a light came out of her that lit the land as far north as Syria.[26] She was also told in her dream that she was pregnant with the master of this nation and the sign of that would be that when she gave birth to him she would see a light coming out with him that would shine over Bosra in Syria. “When this happens”, she was told, “call him Muhammad!”[27] “I conceived him, ” she said, “and suffered no pain until delivery. When he came out of me, a light came out with him that illuminated everything from East to West…”[28] She also said, “I saw the night I gave birth to him a light that illuminated the palaces of Syria so that I saw them.”[29] The Prophet later confirmed this, saying, “My mother saw, when she gave birth to me, a light that illuminated the palaces of Bosra.”[30] This event is also a very clear indication of the spiritual rank of the Lady Amina, for to see the palaces of Bosra in Syria from Macca demands the spiritual vision of sanctity. Later, the Prophet’s uncle, ‘Abbas, praised him with a poem, on his return from the Tabuk expedition, saying:
You, when you were born, the earth was lit
And with your light so was the sky
When his wet-nurse, Halima al-Sa‘dia, first saw him, she laid her hand on him and he smiled. “When he smiled,” she said, “a light appeared from his mouth that rose to the sky.”[32]
Some of the hadiths we have quoted here have strong chains of transmission, others have weaker ones. However, we must remember that even the chain considered weakest by Muslim traditionists, is quite acceptable as historical proof to any professional historian on this planet, being far stronger and better authenticated than other ancient sources he works with. It is also well known that weak traditions strengthen each other so as to become acceptable. This is why those we have quoted here have been accepted by leading scholars such as Ibn Kathir, Suyutiī, Qadi ‘Iyad, Bayhaqi, and others.
Commenting on the verse of Qur’an,”There has come to you a light from Allah and a clear Book,”[33] the well-known scholar al-Alusi says that the light in question is no other than the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him. He quotes the Follower, Qatada, as an authoritative source for this opinion, as well as other well known scholars, pointing out that this is the most logical interpretation of the construction of the verse, Then he also quotes those whose opinion differs from his in that they believe that both the light and the Book refer to the Qur’an. This he does because real Muslim scholars, as opposed to pretenders and impostors, always quote, along with their own opinions, the contrary opinions of other reputable scholars, so weighing both in the most objective manner. Qadi ‘Iyad, the famous author of al-Shifa’, is of the same opinion as al-Alusi, an opinion, an opinion shared by other famous commentators such as Tabari and Qurtubi.
Although the Prophet’s light is the most powerful in the universe, since he is the nearest created being to Allah, it is not the only one. Angels are made of light, the Qur’an is light, the spirits of human beings are light, faith is light, knowledge is light, the sun, the moon, and the stars are also lights. The light of each human being depends upon his faith, knowledge, and virtue. Thus the most powerful lights are those of Divine Messengers, then those of Prophets, saints, virtuous believers, and finally those of sinful believers. This is the hierarchy of human beings. Both the first and the last are human, all have lights, and all are slaves of Allah, but the distance between the top of the pyramid and its bottom is so great that those at the bottom, in Paradise, will see those at the top as distant as, in this world, we see the stars at night.[34]
NOTES
1. Qur’an (24:35).
2. Tirmidhi.
3. Tirmidhi.
4. Tabarani and Abu Nu’aym.
5. Tirmidhi, Ahmad, Hakim and Bukhari in Tarikh.
6. Qur’an (71:16)
7. Qur’an (78:13)
8. Qur’an (25:61)
9. Qur’an (33:45 – 46)
10. al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi
11. Tirmidhi
12. Tirmidhi
13. Abu Nu’aym in Hilia.
14. Tirmidhi in Shama’il, Bayhaqi, Tabarani, and ibn Sa’d.
15. Tirmidhi in Shama’il, Darimi, Bayhaqi, Tabarani, and ibn Asakir.
16. Tabarani.
17. Ahmad and ibn Majah.
18. Ahmad, Hakim, and Bazar.
19. Bukhari in Tarikh, Bayhaqi and Abu Nu’aym.
20. Bukhari in Tarikh, Bayhaqi and Tabarani.
21. Bayhaqi.
22. Bukhari
23. Ibn Hisham.
24. Ibn Ishaq.
25. Ibn Hisham.
26. Hakim, Ahmad, Bazzar, Tabarani, Bayhaqi and Abu Nu’aym.
27. Ibn Ishaq.
28. Ibn Sa’d, Tabarani, Bayhaqi, Abu Nu’aym, Abu Ya’la, Ibn Ishaq.
29. Abu Nu’aym.
30. Ibn Sa’d, Ahmad, Bazzar, Tabarani, Abu Nu’aym, and ibn Asakir.
31. Hakim and Tabarani.
32. Bayhaqi, Abu Nu’aym, ibn Ishaq and Abu Ya’la.
33. Qur’an (5:15)
34. Tirmidhi.
© Nuh Ha Mim Keller 1995
Question 7
Many Pakistanis and people of the Naqshbandi tariqa (and maybe of others) consider the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) to be Nur Allah, the ‘Light of Allah’, and find it offensive that we call the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)bashar, a ‘human being’, even though the Qur’an states him to be so. I have also been made aware of a hadith in Tirmidhi that states that the prophets (upon whom be peace) were created from the Nur of Allah and the first amongst them was the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace). Do you have any knowledge about this matter?
Answer
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is the Light of Allah, something a believer can say because the Qur’an affirms it in the verse
“There has come to you a Light from Allah, and a Manifest Book” (Qur’an 5:15).
in which the word Light has been explained by a number of classic Qur’anic exegetes as follows:
(Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti:) “It is the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)” (Tafsir al-Jalalayn, 139).
(Ibn Jarir al-Tabari:) “By Light He means Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace), through whom Allah has illuminated the truth, manifested Islam, and obliterated polytheism; since he is a light for whoever seeks illumination from him, which makes plain the truth” (Jami‘ al-bayan, 6.161).
(Fakhr al-Razi:) “There are various positions about it, the first being that the Light is Muhammad, and the Book is the Qur’an ” (al-Tafsir al-kabir, 11:194).
(al-Baghawi:) “It means Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace), or, according to a weaker position, Islam” (Ma‘alam al-Tanzil, 2.228).
And Qurtubi (Ahkam al-Qur’an , 6.118) and Mawardi (al-Nukat wa al-‘uyun, 2.22) mention that interpreting Nur as “Muhammad” (Allah bless him and give him peace) was also the position by [the Imam of Arabic grammar Ibrahim ibn Muhammad] al-Zajjaj (d. 311/923).
All of which shows that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), is a light from Allah, according to the Qur’an . This is the interpretation of the earliest exegetes, for al-Tabari was the sheikh of the salaf (early Muslims) in tafsir; while explaining Nur as “Islam” is an interpretation that came later.
As for the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) being a bashar or ‘human being’, there is no doubt of this, because it is Qur’an and ‘aqida. Yet the Qur’an does not simply state that he is a human being, but rather says,
“Say: I am but a man like you who is divinely inspired that your god is but One God” (Qur’an 18:110)
The important qualificatory phrase in this verse shows us that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) was a completely different sort of human being from anyone else, then or now. For none of us can say he is divinely inspired as the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) was. Rather, as is said in a poetic ode to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) which is often sung at gatherings after singing the Qasida al-Burda [Ode of the Prophetic Mantle] by al-Busayri:
Muhammad is a human being, but not like humankind;
He is a ruby, while people are as stones.
Though the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is the Light of Allah, he is of course a created light. Someone who believes otherwise has made the mistake of the Christians with Jesus (upon whom be peace), or the Hindus with their Avatars. We saw in the discussion at the end of question (5) above that an ascriptive (idafa) construction like Nur Allah does not show that this Nur or ‘Light’ is an attribute of Allah. Rather, the ascriptive construction in this case is a kind called idafa tashrif, or an ‘ascription of ennoblement’, like the title Bayt Allah ‘The House of Allah’ for the Kaaba in Mecca, named this for its nobility, not that Allah lives inside, much less that it is divine attribute. Or like the she-camel that was sent to Thamud, which was called in the Qur’an Naqat Allah ‘The She-Camel of Allah’ as an ascription of ennoblement; namely, because of its inviolability in the Shari‘a of that time—not that it was ridden by Allah, or was a divine attribute.
As for the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) being the first of creation, among the Islamic scholars who have compiled works on his characteristics is the hadith master (hafiz) Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti with his two-volume hadith work al-Khasa’is al-kubra [The greater compendium of unique attributes], of which the first chapter is entitled “The Uniqueness of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) in Being the First of the Prophets to Be Created, the Priority of His Prophethood, and the Taking of the Covenant with Him.” The chapter’s first hadith was reported by Ibn Abi Hatim in his Tafsir [Qur’anic exegesis] , and by Abu Nu‘aym in Dala’il al-nabuwwa [Proofs of prophethood], from numerous chains of transmission, from Qatada, who related it from Hasan [al-Basri], from Abu Hurayra (Allah be well pleased with him), that of the Qur’anic verse
“And lo, We took from the prophets their covenant, and from you, and Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus son of Mary; and We took from them a momentous covenant” (Qur’an 33:7)
that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “I was the first of the Prophets to be created and the last of them to be sent.” Suyuti records nine other hadiths indicating that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) was the first of the prophets to be created; among them the hadith reported by Bukhari in his Tarikh [History], and by Ahmad, Tabarani, Hakim, and Bayhaqi, that Maysara al-Fajr (Allah be well pleased with him) said, “I asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace), when were you a Prophet?’ and he said, ‘While Adam was between soul and body’” (al-Khasa’is al-kubra, 3-4).
As for “a hadith in Tirmidhi that states that the prophets (upon whom be peace) were created from the Nur of Allah and the first amongst them was the prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace),” I find it hard to imagine that it is in Tirmidhi or elsewhere with an acceptable channel of transmission, for Suyuti would hardly have failed to mention it in his Khasa’is, since this is the sort of thing the book is about, and Suyuti is a hadith master (hafiz), yet it is not there. In any case, the Qur’an is sufficient about the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) being a light from Allah.
Finally, in the metaphysic of the Sufis, or at least those whom I have met, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is both the ‘Light of Allah’ and ‘a human being’, and the inability to join between the two aspects is a lack of understanding of the greatness of al-Haqiqa al-Muhammadiyya, the ‘Muhammadan Reality’.
To gain an idea of their point of departure, we may note that the entire universe has been created by Allah in order that His names and attributes might be manifest, that is, in order that He might be known, for He says,
“Nor did I create jinn and men, except to worship Me” (Qur’an 51:56).
(al-Baghawi:) Mujahid [ibn Jabr al-Makki (d. 104/722)], said this means ‘except to know Me’ which is a sound interpretation, since if He had not created them, they would not have known His existence and His oneness (Ma‘alam al-tanzil, 5.230).
Now, the divine names, such as, al-Rahman ‘the All-merciful’, al-Karim ‘the Most Generous’, al-Rafi‘ ‘He-Who-Raises’, al-Khafid ‘He-Who-Lowers’,al-Sabur ‘the Most Patient’ al-Muntaqim ‘the Avenger’, and the others, entail and comprise the existence of the entire spectrum of human conditions—but particularly, ultimately, eternally, and at their fullest manifestation—the outcomes of paradise and hell.
These outcomes in their turn entail a logos or determining order that governs them, an illuminatory law that renders them and the states of their inhabitants transparent and intelligible, an ultimate standard. This is what we call the Shari‘ia or ‘Sacred Law’, inseparable in principle from its divine origin, for it is one with Allah’s speech, the Qur’an , and the sunna, His act of inspiration to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). Part of the Law is that “none of you shall enter paradise by his works” (rather through Allah’s mercy), but the levels within it do correspond to works whose qualities and conditions are given in the revelation.
From the point of view of manifesting the divine attributes and names—their ultimate outcomes consisting in the destinies of human beings, without which they would remain unmanifest—the appearance of the Islamic Shari‘a, in its final and perfected form at the end of human history, is the raison d’être, or ‘reason for being’, of the whole created universe; and ontologically prior to it in the timelessly preeternal knowledge of Allah Most High.
And the focal point of this light of lights, the head of the whole matter of its appearance, and the site of its manifestation—in a sense the résumé of all created being and occasion for its appearance—is the al-Haqiqa al-Muhammadiyya, or ‘Muhammadan Reality’ the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), whose consciousness was identical with this Shari‘a.
We cannot ever claim to know all of the Prophet’s perfections (Allah bless him and give him peace), only that Allah describes him in His book as ‘light’; while at the same time, he had to be a human being, in order that the Sacred Law could be manifest, and the imperative of obeying it be binding on every human being. And Allah knows best.