In The Name
Of Allah
Dated:
September 6, 2013
Sirrat of
Prophet Muhammed (PBUH)
The Lesson's main points:
1- The prophet's relation
with the message and the people whom he should deliver this message. (The end
of the introduction)
2-Arab before Islam (according
to their religions, traditions and their geography)
1- By the relation between
the prophet (PBUH) and the message, the author means the prophet's role. Is he
like a leader of a country or a tribe? Did he control it only according to his
orders? Was his relation with the people who believed in the oneness of Allah
and believed in him as the last prophet separated or it continued on the right
path? Can he like any Pope give or grant forgiveness and mercy?
The answer of all these
questions is: No, of course not. That's because when Allah sent the prophet
(PBUH) He only sent him to open the doors for the open-minded and intelligent
people to understand what was and what would be. And that's why He sent the
Quran to help him to guide people to goodness and inspire them with
uprightness. The prophet (PBUH) is not a leader of a country or a tribe to
connect people around him they go away and give up going on his message. He
(PBUH) represented a stage in the evolution of mankind. Thus whether Muhammad (PBUH)
remained or went away. This will not affect the real message. His prophecy's
end is not to collect people around him and then they will either lose their
conscious after his death, or lose their faith. So people who recognize the
true faith in their lives, have definitely acknowledged Muhammad (PBUH), have
taken shelter under his banner, even if they have never seen nor lived with
their guide.
In the Name of Allah, The
Most Merciful, The Most Gracious:
(O Mankind! Verily there has
come to you a convincing proof [Prophet Muhammad] from your Rabb, we sent down
to you a manifest light [This Quran]. So as for those who believed in Allah and
held fast to Him, He will admit them to His Mercy and Grace [i.e. Paradise], and guide them to Himself by the Straight
Path) (Quran 4:174-175)
(يا
أيها الناس قد جاءكم برهان من ربكم و أنزلنا إليكم نورا مبينا. فأما الذين أمنوا
بالله و اعتصموا به فسيدخلهم فى رحمة منه و فضل و يهديهم إليه صراطا
مستقيما.)(النساء )
The author then gives a good
example about the people who seek the proximity to the prophet's grave and want
to spend their lives beside it. They make their relation with the prophet of
Islam (PBUH) weaker than the web of a spider. What do they gain from being
beside his grave?
Those who understand the
message and live it beyond the sands and the seas know the secret of the
prophet (PBUH) better than those who prefer being beside his grave. It is a
spiritual and mental proximity not a materialistic one that forms a strong bond
between the prophet (PBUH) and his followers. This explains the difference
between the Muslims who understand the message well and those who do not take
from the message except its external cloth and not its internal core. That's
why we say that you never love for Allah's sake unless you first know Allah.
The natural sequence is that before anything else you should know who your Rabb
is and what is your faith. This consequently will help you to reach to the true
faith, evaluate the level of this faith increases or decreases according to the
strong base you know, and appreciate the kindness of the one who conveyed the
message of Allah and this is the meaning of Hadith:"Love Allah for the
bounties He provides you with and love me for the love of Allah"
And also the meaning of the
Quran verse:
(Say [o Muhammad to mankind]:
If you really love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you and forgive you
of your sins. Allah often is oft-Forgiving, All-Merciful) (Quran 3:31)
"قل
إن كنتم تحبون الله فاتبعونى يحببكم الله و يغفر لكم ذنوبكم و الله غفور
رحيم"(أل عمران)
Thus and from that we can
conclude that the prophet's role is not a gateway to mercy and not to drag you
to paradise with a rope, his task is only to implant insight into your heart
and open your eyes on the right path and his means to do this is the book which
is easy to remember and safe from deviation, Quran, that falsehood can never
approach either from in front or behind.
So if the message of prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) is an eternal, general and global message, the people who
follow this message should know quite well the difference between someone who
guides you and give you a chance to think end take decision and the one who
force you or convince you that mercy in only in is hand and you cannot reach to
your Rabb gate without his help. And there is also a great difference between
the one who loves Allah and the Prophet by applying this love practically and
tried to be like the prophet in our life and the one who only say the word of
love without changing his love to a practical one.
Arabs at
the advent of Islam
1-The Arabian
Peninsula:
It is enclosed by the Red
Sea from the west and Sinai, the Arabian Gulf in the east, in the south by the
Arabian Sea; the extension of the Indian Ocean, and in the north by old Syria
and part of Iraq. It is about a million and a quarter square miles.
This geographical position
has a great importance according to its internal setting; it is mostly deserts
and sandy places. Some people may say what's the importance of such a sandy
place with no water and settled people, but tribes that depended more on
immigration from a place to another searching for water and fields? But it is a
very important place to be the home of a prophet and a messenger not just that
it is a place where there is Kabba and it should be safe from invaders and
foreigners. This environment allowed its people to live in independence and
liberty through the ages, despite the presence of two great neighboring empires.
On the other hand it had become the centre of trade, culture, religion and art
because of its external setting with seas and most nations at times which makes
this deserted place a strategic one.
2-Tribes who lived in Mecca before Islam:
Over the years Ishmael's
children (PBUH); the son of Ibrahim; father of prophets (PBUH), had children.
His descendants increased and formed tribes which spread out all over Arabia. One of these tribes was called Qurayesh. Its
people never moved away from Mecca
and always lived near the Kabba. One of the duties of the leader of Qurayesh
was to look after those who came on pilgrimage to the Kabba. The Pilgrims would
come from all over Arabia and it was a great
honor to provide them with food and water.
As time passed however, the
Arab stopped worshipping Allah directly and started bringing idols with them
from the different countries the visited. These idols were placed at
Kabba;which was no longer regarded as wholly and sanctuary of Allah, as Ibrahim
(PBUH) had intended it. It was, however, respected by Arabs. Around this time
the well of Zamzam disappeared beneath the sand. Qusayy was one of the leaders
of Mecca at
that time and he was responsible of taking care of Kabba and the pilgrims.
After his death, his son Abdu Manaf who was famous during his father's life
took over the leadership of Quraysh. After him came his son Hashim who was the
first to begin the two great journeys or caravans of Quraysh, one to Syria and
the north in the summer and another one to Yemen and the south in the winter.
As result Mecca
grew rich and became an important centre of trade.
One summer Hashim went north
to buy goods to sell in Yemen.
On his way he stopped in Yathrib and there he saw a beautiful woman. She was
Salma, the daughter of Amr Ibn Zeid,who was from a much respected family. He
proposed to her and was accepted because he was an honorable man.
In time, Salma gave birth to
a beautiful son and as some of his hair was white they called him shaybah,which
in Arabic means grey-haired.
They stayed in the cooler,
healthier climate of Yathrib, while Hashim returned to Mecca, but he would visit them from time to
time with his caravans to the north. During one of these journeys, Hashim
became ill and died. However, Shaybah, a handsome son grew up in his uncle's
house and he was proud of being the son of Hashim Ibn Abdi Manaf, the head of
Quraysh, guardian of Kabba and protector of the pilgrims.
After Hashim's death his
brother Al Muttalib took over his duties. He traveled to Yathrib to see his
nephew,Shaybah, and decided that as the boy would one day inherit his father 's
place, the time come for him to live in Mecca.
It was hard for his mother, to let him go with his uncle but she finally
realized that it was for his best.Al Muttalib returned to Mecca, entering the city at noon on his camel
with Shaybah behind him. When people saw the boy they thought he was a slave
and pointing at him saying Abd-ul Muttalib as "abd" in Arabic means
slave.
Al Muttalib told them that
he is his nephew and not a slave and from that time on they called him Abd-ul
Muttalib. On the death of Al Muttalib, Abd-ul Muttalib took his place. He
became the most respected member of his family admired by all people. He was,
however, unlike those Arabs who had given up the teachings of Ibrahim (PBUH).
Summary of the lesson:
1- The bond that ties Allah,
Prophet (PBUH), the message and the people who believe in Islam.
2-The geographical features
of the Arabian Peninsula.
3- The tribes lived in Mecca especially the one
from which the prophet(PBUH) descended.
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