Islamic Studies (Grade 11) For O-Level 9786035000635, 0500887341, 0503417156, 0044208539

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214

Abu 'Ubaydah i bn ai-Jarraah 4>

217

'Abdur-Rahmaan ibn 'Awf 4>

215

Ialhah ibn 'Ubaydul laah 4>

217

Sa'd i bn A bee Waqqaa� 4>

219

221

Az-Zubayr ibn ai-'Awwaam 4>

218

7.32

Sa'eed ibn Zayd �

220

7.33

The Prophet's Scribes

7.30 7.3 1

8.1

The Significance of the Muslim Ummah

8.2

The Teachings of Islam Concerning Personal Modesty

8.3

Respect for Others: Adab

8.4

A Word a bout International Law

8.5

Islam and Human Rights

8.6

Women and their Rights- in Islam

8.7

Relations with People of the Book

8.8

Principles of Finance in Islam

9.1

The Meaning of Sharee'ah

9.2

The Qur'an: The first Basic Source of the Sharee'ah

9.3

Tafseer

9.4

The Eng lish Language and Tafseer

9.5

Translations of the Meanings of the Qur'an into English

9.6

The Sunnah of the Prophet�

9.7

The Other Secondary Sources of the Sharee'ah

9.8

Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence)

224

227 229

230

230 231

234 236

241 243

245 246

247

248 249

250

1 .1 . Defin ition of the Qur. 'an The Qur'a n is the Ara bic Speech of Allah

It was revea led i n the Ara bic l a ng uage:

which He revea led to Prophet M uhammad �

'Surely, We have made it in the Arabic language

47:2) through Angel Jibreel �� i n its precise

so that you may be able to understand it:

mea n i n g and exact wording. It is the litera l,

(43:3).

u ncreated Word of Allah. The word 'Qu r'a n' is

It was revea led i n portions, each of which

freq uently mentioned i n the G l orious Book

was written and com mitted to memory as soon

itself (See for insta nce 2:1 85, 1 0:37, 1 0:61 a n d 1 7:1 06).

as it was revea led, and its revelation was spread

The Qu r'a n clearly states to whom, when, i n

d u ri ng which time he was occupied solely with

what lang uage, how and why i t was revea led:

over twenty-th ree yea rs of the Prophet's life, the spread of its message:

It was revea led i n the month of RamaQ.aan

"It is a Qur'an which We have divided [into

(2: 1 85) on the N ig ht of Power or Decree 'Laylat­

parts from time to time] so that you may

ui-Qadr' (97: 1 ): 'We revealed it on a blessed

recite it to the people at intervals; and We

Night: (44:3)

have revealed it by stages." ( 1 7 : 1 06)

1 .2 . The Qur'a n is the Highest Form of Revelation Although the G racious Q u r'an was revealed

The first of these modes is ca l l ed waby, which

piecemeat the entire revelation is one whole.

is used here in its l itera l sense of a/-ishaarah as­

It is the Word of Allah revea led thro u g h the

saree' ah, that is to say, a q u ick suggestio n into

Holy Spi rit, that is, Angel Ji b reel

�1.

Revel ation

the m i n d of man.

ta kes place in th ree forms: 'It is not fitting for

The Q u r'an is uniq ue. It is i n i mita ble and is

any human being that Allah should speak to

protected by Allah from all forms of corruption.

him except by revelation, from behind a veil

The word Qur'a n is a verba l noun which means

or by sending a messenger that reveals -by

'the read ing' or 'recitation:

His permission -whatever Allah wills: (42:5 1 )

1 .3 . The Qu r'a n is Protected by Alla h from Corru ption Previous revelations had been corru pted

i ntact beca use Allah the Almig hty has ta ken it

intentionally, but the Qu r'a n's fi nal message to

u pon H i mself to protect it, as the Qu r'a n says,

man is exactly the sa me in its present form as

'We have sent down the Reminder, and We

it was revea l ed to Prophet M uha mmad � more

will guard it [from corruption]:(Soorat af-Hijr,

than 1 400 yea rs ago.

1 5:9)

Islam teaches us that Allah created the entire u n iverse, the a ngels, the jinn a n d

Harun Yahya writes,

Th e Divine Scriptures that were

t h e n m a n kind i n t h e persons of

revea led befo re Islam lost their

Ada m a n d his wife. The history

orig inal forms over ti me; they

of h u m a n ity began with

a re either i ncom plete or

the disobedience of the

not fu l ly accu rate. I n

first couple and their

the case of the Qu r'an,

expulsion from Pa radise,

h owever, Allah placed

but

n ot

the revelations into

abandon them; rather,

our Prophet's memory.

Allah

did

He prom ised to g u ide

I n addition, after he received each revelation, the Prophet � told his

them by sending them prophets. ��

was the first Prop het. Some of

n u merous compa n ions to write them down,

the prophets brought people Sacred Books

thereby ensuring the Qu r'a n's preservation i n

from Allah: the best known were the Tora h (at­

its orig inal textual form. Ca liph Abu Bakr (632-

Tawraat), which was g iven to Prophet M oosaa

634) had the Qu r'a n com pi led into a single

�\;

copy, a n d Ca l i p h � uthmaan (644-656) had

Ada m

the Psalms (az-Zaboor), which was given �\;

a n d the Gospel (a/­

copies of it sent to im porta nt Islamic cities.

�1.

The fol lowi n g verses explain h ow o u r Prophet

Many additions and deletions had crept i nto

� tried to rem ember the revelations, and how Allah hel ped him do so:

to Prophet Daawood

lnjeel) which was g iven to Prophet � Eesaa

these books, but the Qu r'a n has remained

Do not move your tongue trying to hasten it. Its collection and recitation are Our affair. So when We recite it, follow its recitation. Then its explanation is Our concern. (Soorat ai-Qiyaamah, 75:1 6-19)

As the verses mainta in, our Prophet;i remem bered the Qu r'a n in a unique way, for Allah i m pla nted its verses i n his m i nd. As his Companions wrote it a l l down while he was sti l l a l ive, i n com pl ia n ce with H is prom ise, each of its letters has remai n ed u na ltered since the beg i n n i ng of its revelation over 1 ,400 yea rs ago. Therefore, Alla h's revelation has su rvived i ntact to o u r day. The Qu r'a n's lack of any i nternal contrad iction and d iscrepa n cy a lso shows that it is from Allah and is i m m u ne to change. The Qu r'a n is i nternally consistent a n d in fu l l agreement with historical developments a n d scientific d iscoveries. This attribute is so certa i n and explicit that our Lord stated: Will they not ponder the Qur'an? If it had been from other than Allah, they would have found many inconsistencies in it. (Soorat an-Nisaa', 4:

82)1 1

Harun Yahya,

Allah Promised to Protect the Qur'an,

available at: http:/ I

www.nnseek.comjejaus.religion.islamjallah_promised_to_protect_the_ qur_an_24845933t.html

All the teachings contai ned i n the former

that the reader has no need to have recou rse to

scriptures that were mea nt to be of lasting va lue

other sacred scriptures, which have u ndergone

and im porta n ce a re incl uded in the Q u r'a n . The

all forms of corru ption.

Qur'a n g ives some specific accou nts of what

Al l the essentia l poi nts, i n every respect, a re

the pre-Qu r'a n i c scriptures contai ned. The

given to us i n the Qu r'a n.The MusHms, therefore,

basic message of a l l the prophets of A l lah, a n d

rega rd the Qu r'a n as the Most Sacred object

hence a l l scriptures they b roug ht, was o n e and

on earth - Al lah's Su preme Gift to ma nkind. It

the sa me message from Allah to people:

is a n object of veneration a nd the fou ndation

Indeed,

We

have

sent

forth

among

every community a messenger with the commandment "Worship Allah Alone and shun all false deities and objects of worship!"

( 1 6:36)

of human u nderstanding of the u n iverse a n d ma n's place i n it: If all men and jinn were to collaborate, they could not produce its like. ( 1 7:88)

The Prophet � was authorized to chal lenge

Th us, the Qu r'a n n ot only preserves the

his critics and opponents to prod uce something

essential teachings of the previous revelations

comparable ( 1 0:38). The challenge was ta ken

but a lso sets out once and for all the eternal

u p by more than one styl ist in Ara bic l iterature

truth i n its enti rety. Indeed, it is a book that

- with a predicta ble resu lt. The style of the

contains the essence of the revelations made

Qu r'a n is Alla h's style - this is basica lly what

to the prophets, p reserving them so perfectly

forms the m i raculous character of the Qu r'a n .

1 .4. The Names of the Q ur'an Almig hty Allah refers to the Q u r'a n by a n u m ber

1 .5. The Qur'an: the Final Revelation

of n a mes. These i n cl ude "the Qu r'a n" ( 1 7:88), the Book "a/-Kitaab" (2:2), the Criterion "ai-Furqaan" (25 : 1 ), the

Rem i nder "ad-Ohikr" ( 1 5:9) and the Revelatio n sent down "at- Tanzeel" (26: 1 92). Other references to the Qu r'a n a re by such terms as an-Noor (the Lig ht), Hudaa (G uidance), Rab_mah (Mercy), Majeed (Glorious), Mubaarak (Blessed) and Nadheer (Wa rner), among other names.

1 .6. The Revelation

Beg i n n i n g

of

The revelation of the Qu r'a n began in Laylat­ ui-Qadr (th e N ig ht of Power) of RamaQ_aan (the

twenty-seventh night or one of the odd nights of its third part) after Prophet M uha m mad ii had passed the fortieth yea r of his l ife, d u ring h is secl usion in the cave of H i raa: on a mou ntain near Ma kka h, i n the yea r 6 1 0 CE. The fi rst revelation he received constitutes the fi rst five verses of Soorat a/-'Aiaq (the Clinging Clot): Read in the Name of your Lord, who created; created man from a clinging clot.

Prophet M uham mad :i was the Last M essenger from Allah to manki nd; he brought the fi n a l revelation - the Qu r'a n­ from Allah to man. Therefore, the Qu r'a n is the last of the Holy Scriptu res.

Read! And your Lord is the Most Gracious One; He Who has taught by the pen; He has taught man that which he knew not. (96: 1 -5)

The remainder pa rt of this soorah, which consists of 1 9 verses, was revealed on some other occasion.

1 .7. The Second Revelation The second portion of the G lorious Qu r'a n revealed to Prophet Muha m mad ii was the beg i n n i ng of Soorat AI-Muddath-thir (74: 1 -5). The rest of the soorah was revealed later. This soorah consists of 56 verses.

1 .8. The Last Revelation Many M uslim Scholars a re ag reed that the last revelation was verse 281 of Soorat ai-Baqarah: And fear the day when you shall be brought to Allah. Then each soul shall be paid in full what it has earned and none shall be dealt with unjustly.

The Prophet ;i passed away nine nig hts after the last revelation. Some schola rs, h owever, hold that the fol lowi ng verse was the last verse to be revea led. This day I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. (Soorat a/-Maa'idah, 5 :3)

Th is opi n ion, h owever, is n ot sou n d accord ing to many scholars who a rg u e that this verse was actua l ly revealed d u ri ng the Fa rewel l Pi lg rimage.

Defi ne the word 'Qur'a n: What a re the d ifferent na mes of the Q u r'a n ? Ca n you explain h ow the Qu r'an is i n i m ita ble? What a re the three forms of revelation? H ow ca n the Qu r'a n be the hig hest form of revelation? The Qu r'a n is the essence of a l l former revelations. Discuss. How a n d why has the Qu r'a n remai ned unchanged? How ca n you p rove that the Qu r'a n is the fi nal revelation of Allah? How did the revelation of the Qu r'a n beg in? What do you know a bout the fi n a l and last revelations? What do you think is mea nt by "Fa rewe l l Pilgrimage"?

1 .9. Reasons why the Qu r'a n was Revea led i n Stages

1 . 1 0 How was the Q u r'a n Col lected?

The Gracious Qu r'a n was sent down i n stages

AlthoughtheQur'a n was revealed i n portions,

over a period of 23 yea rs, a n d not as a com plete

it did n ot remain long o n that fragmenta ry

book in one single act of revelation. There a re

cond ition. As its very name suggests, it was a

severa l reasons for this, a n d the fol lowi n g a re

book from the fi rst; it cou l d not be complete

the most sign ifica nt:

u ntil its last verse was revealed; it was never

•

To strengthen the h eart of Alla h's Messenger

without some form of a rra n gement. I n fact,

� from time to time and whenever the need for

every single verse, part of a verse or soorah that

g u idance a rose.

was revea led had its own defi n ite pl ace in the

•

Out of consideration for the Messenger of

G racious Book. The a rra ngement of the Qu r'a n

Allah � si n ce revelation was a very d ifficult ' experience for h i m .

was thus a pa rt of d ivine scheme. It has been

To g rad u a l ly i m plement t h e com mands of

down i n its enti rety in the l ifeti me of the

•

•

Allah.

esta bl ished that the Qu r'a n had been written Prophet � but had not been brought together

To make u ndersta ndi n g, tra nslation i nto

i n one single place. However, the orderi ng of

action a n d memorization of the revelation

the Qu r'a n and the a rra ngement of the various

easier for the believers.

soorahs was fixed by the Prophet� hi mself and

•

•

It is esta bl ished that the Qu r'an had been

safeg u a rded through ora l tra nsmission.

memorized in its entirety by the compa n ions of

Whenever a soorah or verses of a soorah

the Prophet � d u ring his l ifetime. This tradition

were revea led to the Prophet � he wou l d ca l l ' one o f his scri bes1 a n d say t o him, 'Write such-

conti n ued after the Prophet's death and later among a l l generations of M uslims that have fol l owed, u ntil today.

1 A scribe i s a person who made copies o f written docu­ ments before printing was invented.

a n d-such a verse i n the soorah w h e re s u c h ­

a n d sti l l rece1v1n g reve lations. H oweve r,

a n d- s u c h verses occu r.' (Abu Daawood)

the entire Q u r'a n was safely p rese rved i n

I n fa ct, if we keep in m i n d the u se that was made of t h e Q u r'a n, we ca n n ot fo r a n

t h e m e m ories o f h i s co m pa n i o n s w h o we re ca l l ed Qurraa; or reciters.

i nsta n t e nterta i n the i d ea that t h e G l o r i o u s

It so h a p p e ned, h oweve r, that m a ny of the

Q u r'an exi sted w i t h o u t a rra n g e m e n t o f its

reciters fel l in the fa m o u s Battl e ofYa m a a m a h

verses a n d soorahs in the l ifet i m e of t h e

d u ri n g i n t h e ca l i p h ate of A b u B a k r a�­

Pro p h et �. I t w a s n ot o n l y rec ited i n t h e

S.i d d eeq �� a n d it was t h e n t h at � u m a r i b n

d a i l y p rayers but a l so c o m m itted to mem ory

A I-Kh atta a b � poi nted o u t to A b u Bakr the

and reg u l a rly recited to keep it fresh i n the

n ecess ity of c o m p i l i n g a sta n d a rd written

m i n d . The refo re, if the a rra n g e m e n t of the

copy so that no port i o n of the Q u r'an wo u l d

verses and soorahs had n ot existed, it wo u l d

b e l ost eve n i f a l l t h e rec iters d i e d . This copy

have been i m poss i b le t o recite it i n t h e d a i ly

was c o m p i led fro m the m a n u scri pts written

p raye rs, con g regati o n a l o r otherwi se, or to

u n d e r the d i rection of t h e P ro p h et � h i m se lf,

com mit it to memory. I f the p rayer leader

a n d t h e a rra n g ement fo l l owed was that of

(imaam) h a p pe n s to m a ke the s l i g htest

the o ra l recitat i o n as fo l l owed in the t i m e of

c h a n g e in the p l a ce of a verse d u ri n g t h e

the Messe n g e r of A l l a h �. Th u s a sta n d a rd

co n g regati o n a l p raye r, h e w i l l i m med iate l y

written copy was p repa red a n d entrusted to

b e corrected by t h ose beh i n d h i m !

t h e ca re of Hafsa h �2;,, wife of the Prophet�

The G l orious Q u r'a n t h u s exi sted i n a

a n d d a u g hter of ' U m a r i b n a i -Kh atta a b. Late r

co m p l ete a n d o rd ered fo rm i n t h e m em o ries

o n , ' U t h m a a n i b n ' Affa a n , the fo u rt h rightly­

of t h e compa n i o n s of t h e P ro p h et � d u ri n g

g u i ded ca l i p h o rd e red copies to be m a d e

h i s l ifeti m e, but n o co m p l ete written copy of

fro m t h i s sta n d a rd co py. These c o p i e s were

it exi sted at the ti me, n o r co u l d s u c h a copy

t h e n sent to d i ffe rent p a rts of t h e Is l a m i c

be m a d e w h i l e t h e Pro p h et� was sti l l a l ive

state.

1 .1 1 Divisions of the G lorious Qu r'an The Qu r'a n is d ivided i nto 1 1 4 soorahs. The

The Qu r'a n consists of 1 1 4 soorahs of

term soorah (pl. suwar, generally written as

unequal length, the shortest consisti ng of

soorahs here) l itera l ly mea ns an enclosure or

three a n d the longest of 286 verses, or aayaat.

fenci ng, such as the wa l l s a round a city. It is

The Arabic word aayah (pl. aayaat) mea n s

a lso used to denote a n elevated plain. When

s i g n . It is t h e shortest division of t h e Qu r'a n i c

applied to the Qu r'an, it sig n ifies a specific

text, that i s t o say a p h rase or sentence. The

gro u p of verses, a rra nged i n a specific man ner.

Revel ation is Guidance from Allah to mankind.

I n tec h n ical l a n g uage, soorah is the cha pter­

It is, therefore, n ot at a l l s u rprising to discover

wise d ivision of the Qur'a n i c text - a chapter or

that its sma l l divisions a re cal led Signs (Signs of

part set apart from the preced ing a n d fol lowing text.

G u idance). The expression verse is n ot accu rate since the Qu r'a n is not poetry.

Bot

t e arra n gement o t e soora s an

the order of the aayaat with i n each soorah were determi ned by the Prophet � u nder the their names, which serve as a sort of heading.

g u ida nce of Angel Ji breel (Gabriel) �1.

Other D ivisions of the Qur'a n ic Text The Qu r'an is d ivided i nto 30 portions of

which it occurs.

approximately eq ual length for easy recitation

Copies ofthe Qu r'an p rinted in Ara b cou ntries

d u ring the thirty days of a month. Each of these portions is cal led a juz' (pl. ajzaa'). Juz' l iterally

in particular have eachjuz' s u bd ivided i nto fou r aflzaab (si n g u l a r, flizb) i n d icated by the word

means 'pa rt' or 'portion'. Some copies of the

flizb, pri nted in Ara bic. Each flizb is subd ivided

Qu r'a n have the soorahs d ivided i nto ruku '

i nto fou r q ua rters ca l led rub ' .

(sections or para g ra phs). The ruku' is usually

The Q u r'a n i c text i s also d ivided i nto seven

accompan ied by three n u m bers. The top

pa rts of a pproxi mately equal lengths, each of

n u m ber denotes the n u m ber of the ruku' with

which is cal led manzil, so that if a person wishes

respect to that particular soorah, the middle

to complete the recitatio n of the Qu r'a n i n one

n u m ber ind icates the n u m ber of verses i n that

week, he may do so by reciting one manzil a

ruku' and the bottom n u m ber ind icates the

day.

n u m ber of the ruku ' with respect to the juz ' i n

1 . 1 2.

Ma kkan

and

Mad i n a n Soorahs An im porta nt d ivision of the G racious Q u r'an

relates to the

Ma kka n and Mad i n a n soorahs. After having received the first revelation, the Prophet � spent thirteen yea rs i n Ma kka h and then was forced to emigrate to Madeenah, where he spent the last ten yea rs of his l ife. Hence, the soorahs of the Qu r'an have a lso been classified, according to their origin, i nto Ma kka n and Madinan soorahs.

A soorah is said to be of Makka n origin when its beg i n n i ng was revealed in the Ma kka n period even if it contains verses from Madeena h. Li kewise, a soorah is said to be of Mad i n a n ori g i n when its beg i n n i ng was revealed i n the Mad i n a n phase even if it has verses from the Makka n period i n its text. Out of the tota l of 1 1 4 soorahs into which the G l orious Q u r'a n is divided, 85 soorahs a re, according to schola rs, of Ma kka n origin. The Mad i n a n soorahs a re longer than the ma kkan ones and, therefore, com prise a m u ch larger pa rt of the Qu r'a n .

1 .1 3. Coherence i n the Qur'a n : Nadhm Coherence (nadhm) denotes clear logical con nection of ideas, arg u ments and sentences, among other things, so that together they make a whole. Every soorah in the Q u r'an is a perfect u n it with

a centra l theme a round which it revolves. The centra l theme is the u n ifying 'th read' in the soorah. It is true that every soorah is a u n it, but there a lso exists a logical l i n k between a l l the soorahs as they fol l ow one a nother. Between different soorahs there is a lso a logical u n ity a n d coherence. With the exception of a few, a l l soorahs a re fou n d in the Qur'an i n pa i rs that complement each other. The concept of the pa i ri ng of the

1 .1 4. What is the Qu r'an a bout?

soorahs is original to Amin Ahsan lslahi ( 1 904- 1 997). Accord ing to lslahi, the

The Qu r'a n is the word of Allah a n d a book of

Qur'a nic soorahs i n their a rran gement

g u ida nce. A q uestion may a rise here: G u ida nce to

a re, as a rule, paired. That is, just as, o n one

what? The answer is sim ply g u ida n ce to Allah, to His

level, each soorah is an i nteg rated whole

Most Bea utifu l Na mes and Lofty Attributes, His Wi l l

and it is disti n ct from all the others, so o n

a n d the way i n which o n e may cond uct oneself to

another level, a l l soorahs exist i n t h e form

atta in His Good Pleasure.

of pairs, each of which is com posed of

The entire Qu r'a n, so to say, is the expositio n of

two closely matched soorahs and distinct

the Names and Attributes of Allah the Almig hty. I n

from other pairs. For a detai led a n d

other word s, g u iding the creation to understanding

i nteresti n g discussion o f t h i s a pproach

Alla h's Oneness (tawb_eed) is the overriding objective

which is based a n d evolved a round the

of the Qu r'a n . Th us, one of the major objectives

concept of order and coherence in the

of the Qu r'a n is to teach the creation a bout Allah.

contents of the Qu r'an, you may refer to

The Qur'anic teachings about Alla h's Na mes and

Coherence in the Qur'an by M ustansir M i r,

Attributes a re extremely essentia l for the strength

America n Trust Publ ications, I ndianapolis,

and health of one's fa ith.

USA, and a l so to Pondering over the Qur'an

If one has knowl edge and correct u nderstanding

by M u h a mmad Sa leem Kaya n i, a i-Kita b Publ ications, London, U K.

of Alla h's Na mes a n d Attrib utes, then one wou l d never t u r n t o a nyone else or d i rect a n y form of

worship to anyone other than to A l l a h . I t is

Mercy. Nevertheless, this l i g ht is only beneficial

wo rth mentioning here that all that is i n the

for those who fol low it.

Sunnah of the Prophet � is a I so the exposition of

The Qu r'a n spea ks a bout the past, the

the Qu r'a n. This g u ida nce to Allah, knowledge

present and the futu re. It also spea ks a bout

of His Na mes of Attributes and His Wi l l and

the u nseen. The verses of the Qu r'a n may be

g u ida n ce to right conduct, ca n n ot be obtained

classified into three categories:

by any means other than the Qu r'a n a n d its

those related to the stories of the prophets

com plementa ry, the Sunnah: the sayi ngs and

and earlier com m u n ities, those related to

the excell ent practices of the Messenger of

com mands and prohi bition s, and those related

Allah �.

to Allah and His Beautifu l Na mes a n d Lofty

Th � Qu r'a n g u ides to the stra ight path that

Attributes.

leads·to Alla h's pleasure a n d Pa radise. It g ives

The Qu r'a n is Alla h's speech. It is d i rectly

truth-seekers the proper concept of the truth as

related to His noble attri butes of g reatness,

wel l as the will power a nd the mora l cou rage to

mercy, fo rg iveness and knowledge. When we

produce a l iving model of that concept i n rea l

l ive our life accord i n g to the teachings of the

)

l ife. I t h e l p s t h e m overcome

Qur'an, we actua l ly l ive it

the obstacles they might

i n a way that is pleasing to

encou nter from within or

Allah - our Creator. Life i n

without. Thus the Qu r'a n

the shade of the Qu r'an is,

is a book that is squarely

i n rea lity, a life that bri ngs

ai med at man. I ndeed, it

one

is 'g uida n ce for m a n ki nd'

Allah. Thus, there can be

(2: 1 85), as Almig hty Allah

no doubt then that one of

says a bout it.

the major objectives of the

It is in fact g u ida nce for

closer to Alm ig hty

Qu r'a n is to teac h people

a l l the needs a n d benefits

a bout Al l a h - thei r Creator.

of the l ife of this world and

The Qu r'an g u ides us in

that of the hereafter. I t is

every as pect of o u r l ives.

fi rst and foremost a Book of

It is u ndoubted ly one of

G u idance.

the g reatest blessi ngs that Allah has g iven us.

Allah a l so descri bes the Qu r'a n as light 'noor'

Among the most sign ificant aspects to which

(42:52). Lig ht shows us the path in front of u s.

the Qu r'a n g u ides mankind is good character

I n fact, it is through light that we ca n avoid

and proper conduct. Spea king a bout the

the ha rmfu l things in our way and fol low the

pu rpose for which he has been sent, Alla h's

safe path. However, this light is different from the l ig ht one senses in the physical world. It

Messenger� once said, 'I have o n ly been sent to perfect good mora ls: (ai-Haa kim, g raded

is a spi ritua l l i g ht whereby we recog n ize and

sab_eeb_ by Sheikh ai-Aibaa nee)

u ndersta nd what is of rea l benefit to us i n this

When 'Aai'shah � was asked a bo ut the

world and i n the world to come. This l ig ht leads

character of the Messenger of Allah � she ' repl ied, 'His character was the Qu r'a n : (Muslim)

to the Straight Path and to Alla h's G race and

Th u s, the Q u r'an is n ot s i m ply a book that ma kes peo p l e g row m o ra l ly a n d s p i ritual l y. I t i s not j u st a bout i m part i n g

human

k n owl edge o f w h at i s rig ht a n d co rrect. I t a l so i n sti l s i n peo ple's h ea rts a n d m i n d s t h e fee l i n g o f h eedfu l n ess, fea r, l ove a n d accou nta b i l ity t o Al l a h t h a t w i l l m a ke t h e m do w h at i s p roper a n d co rrect. The Q u r'a n, t h erefo re, vividly d escribes w h at wi l l h a ppen o n t h e Day of J u d g m ent to both those who a re rig hteo u s and h eedfu l of A l l a h and those who a re evi l . Th u s, o n ce w e rea l ize t h i s Q u r'a n i c o bjective a n d s i n cerely strive h a rd to a c h i eve it t h ro u g h rea d i n g a n d stu d y i n g t h e Q u r'a n, A l l a h wi l l certa i n l y g ra nt u s knowl edge a n d fi l l o u r hea rts with heedfu l n ess (taqwaa) . I n t h i s way, w e w i l l beco me u sefu l i n o u r society as we l l as in t h e wo rld at l a rg e. O u r cond uct and acti o n s w i l l c h a n g e fo r the bette r, a n d we wi l l ca l l people to t h e way of A l l a h - t h e way of peace i n t h e wo rld. Ce rta i n ly, o n e of t h e o bjectives of t h e Q u r'an is to s h ow t h e believers h ow to p rotect

1 . 1 5. Scientific M i racles i n the Qur'a n

t h e m se lves fro m a l l the fo rces of evi l that a re t ryi n g to d i sta n ce them fro m t h e i r C reator.

I n fact, the Qu r'a n is n ot a book of science

A l l a h cautions t h e m c o n cern i n g t h e i r own

or tech nology. It is a book of g uidance which

l ower self (an-nafs, or s o u l ) - an e n emy

principa l ly aims at g u i d i n g people to the

concern i n g w h i c h m ost people wo u l d n ot

true God - Allah, helps them establish

be awa re were n ot fo r t h e reve lation of A l l a h

rig hteousness a n d create a virtuous society.

a n d H i s g u i d a n ce i n t h i s reg a rd. Perh a ps t h e

The Qu r'a n is the Word of Allah. Its match less

clearest exa m p l e o f t h i s c l a s s o f tea c h i n g s i n

style a n d profound wisdom constitute some of

t h e Q u r'a n dea l s w i t h t h e devil, o r S ata n . Th e

its defi n ite proofs. Furthermore, its m i raculous

Q u r'an vividly descri bes t h e ways a n d mea n s

attributes fu rther p rove that it is a revelation

o f t h e devi l . O n e s u c h way i s h i s a p peari n g

from Allah. One of these attri butes is the fact

a s a s i n ce re a dvisor a n d we l l -w i s h e r, as was

that a n u m ber of scientific facts that have been

the case in w h i c h he a p p roached Ada m a n d

discovered in recent yea rs with the help of

Eve a lt h o u g h A l l a h h a d warned t h e m a bo u t

modern tech nology were stated in the Qu r'a n

h i m, as H e wa rns t h e believers a bout i n t h e

over 1 400 yea rs ago. These facts could not

G ra c i o u s Q u r'a n . ( 7 : 20-22)

have been known at the time of the Qu r'an's

revelation . Th is concl usively provides further evidence that the Qu r'a n is the Word of Allah and categorica l ly poi nts to Isla m's genuineness. In fact, many Western scientists have embraced Islam o nce they fo und out a bout some of these scientific facts i n the Q u r'a n .

T h e Prophet � was n ot fa m i l iar with s u c h scientific facts w h i c h were d iscovered only in recent decades. I n fact, he was ill iterate, which proves beyond doubt that only God m ust have revea led them to h i m . These scientific miracles relate to a n u mber of matters i ncluding the fol lowi ng: •

Embryology and human creation

•

Sensation of pain in the skin

•

Recent scientific discoveries concern ing the i ntesti nes

•

The sig n ifica n ce of the sense of hea ri n g as compared with that of sight

•

The origin of creation

•

The m i raculous nature of fi ngerpri nts

•

The m i raculous h ea l i n g honey p rovides

•

The detri menta l effects of carrion, blood a n d pork

•

Health benefits of a b l ution, prayer a n d fastin g

•

The Q u r'a n, a hea l i n g a n d mercy Dr. Sharif Kaf a i-Ghaza l discusses these and many other scientific m i racles

i n his b ri l l iantly written book Medical Miracles of the Qur'an, which has been publ ished by the Islamic Foundation, Leicester, U K.

The Qu r'a n was revea led in stages. What, do you th i n k, is Allah's wisdom i n revea l i n g it i n this way? The Qu r'a n had some form of a rra ngement i n the l ifetime of the Prophet ii. Explain. Why did � u ma r � feel the need to compile a sta ndard written copy? There is no Engl ish equ iva lent for the terms 'Sunnah' a n d 'aayah: Discuss. Discuss, prefera bly with the help of a diagram, the va riou s d ivisions i n the Q u r'a n . Also n ote the wisdom beh i n d these d ivisions. Explain the term 'nadhm: Discuss i n detai l the pu rpose of the Qu r'a n . M ention someth ing a bout Alla h's wisdom i n i ncluding med ical a n d other scientific m i racles in the Qu r'a n although it is pri m a rily a book of g u ida nce.

For Further Rea d i n g 1.

A h mad

Von

Denffer,

' Uloom

ai-Qur'aan,

Islamic

Fou ndation, Leicester, U K, 2009. 2.

Abu �Am mar Yasir Qad h i, An in troduction to the Sciences of the Qur'an, AI H idaaya h Publ i shers

&

Distributors, U K,

1 999. 3.

�Abd u r-Rahman I. Doi, � Ulum ai-Qur'an - The Sciences of the Qur'an: A Study in Method and Approach . Erasmia: AI­

Madinah Pu blishers, South Africa, 2000. 4.

Mahmood i bn Ahmad i bn .S.aa l i h ad-Dusa ree, The Magnificence of the Qur'an, Darussalam Publishers and

Distri butors, Riyadh, Saudi Ara bia, 2006. 5.

M. M. a l-A 'zmi, The History of the Qur'anic Text from Revelation to Compilation, U K Islamic Academy: Leicester,

U K, 2003. 6.

M uham mad Ali AI bar, Human Development as Revealed in the Qur'an and Hadeeth, Saudi Publishing

&

Distri buting

House, Saudi Ara bia, 2002. 7.

M u sta n.s_i r M i r, Coherence in the Qur'an, America n Trust Publications, Plai nfield, I ndiana, 1 987.

8.

M . A. Draz, Introduction to the Qur'an, I . B. Ta u ris

&

Company Lim ited, London, 200 1 . 9.

M . A. Draz, The Qur'an: An Eternal Challenge, Isla m ic Foundation, Leicester, U K, 2007.

1 0.

Khu rram

11.

Fou ndation, Leicester, U K, 1 992. Sayyid Abu i-Hasa n Ali Nadwi, Studying the Glorious

M u rad,

Way to the Qur'an, the

Islamic

Qur'an, Principles and Methodology, Islamic Academy, U K, 2003. 1 2.

Jamaalud-Deen

Zarabozo,

How to Approach

and

Understand the Qur'an, Al-Basheer Publ ications and

Tra ns lations, Denver, U SA, 1 999.

Attributes of Allah

2 . 1 . Aayat-ul Kursee 2:255)

(Soorat ai-Baqarah,

Tra n slation o f the Mea n i ng s o f t h i s Verse Allah, there is no god except H i m, the Ever-Living, the Ever-Lasting Sustainer. Neither slum ber, nor sleep overta kes H i m . To Him belongs whatever is i n the heavens and whatever is in the earth. Who is he that ca n i ntercede with H i m except with H i s permission? He knows what happens to them (i.e. creatu res) [i n this world] and what will happen to them [i n the hereafter]; a n d they will n ever encompass a nyth i n g of His knowl edge except that which He wil ls. His Th rone extends over the h eavens and the earth, and He feels no fatig u e i n g u a rd i n g and p reserving them. And He is the Most H ig h, the Most G reat.

1 We have named this unit Readings from the Glorious Qur ' an because we

believe it woul d not be appropriate to call it ' Se l ections from the Glorious

Q ur ' a n ' , as the expression ' selections' gives the impression that what has not been chosen is in some way or the other not adequate, whi l e the Qur ' an is wholly beautiful, complete and sublime.

Explanatory Notes This verse is known as the Th rone Verse, a n d there a re a n u m ber of ab_aadeeth (sing. b_adeeth) which prove that it is the m ost excel lent verse i n the Q u r'a n. U bayy ibn Ka � b � na rrated that the Prophet ;i asked him a bo ut the g reatest aayah i n the Book of Allah and h e repl ied, 'Al l a h and H i s Messenger know best: W h e n t h e Prophet � repeated t h e q uestio n severa l ti mes, U bayy � said, 'It i s Aayat-ui-Kursee:The Prophet ;i exclaimed, 'Congratulations! You possess true knowledge. B y H i m i n

whose Hand m y sou l is, t h i s verse h a s a ton g u e a n d two l i ps with which i t pra ises t h e Ki n g (i.e. Allah) at the foot of the Throne: (Ahmad: q u oted i n Tafseer Ibn Katheer, Engl ish Tran slation, vol. 2, p. 2 1 ) ,_

The Word AI-Qayyoom AI-Qayyoom is a n intensive form wh ich mea n s the One

Who exists by H i mself and supports, sustains a n d provides mea n s of subsistence for a l l His creations. AI-Hayy or the Ever- Livi ng' is one of the Most Bea utiful Na mes of Allah. Allah, the Ever-Livi ng, is the source of a l l l ife. His Life is not derived from a nywhere el se, while everyone el se's l ife is from Him and is dependent upon Him. It is He Who made others l ive, and they are a l ive only as long as He wants them to l ive. Allah was and wi l l always be living. H is Life, H is being ai-Hayy, is of very different High Order - n ot com parable

with the l ife of His creatu res. What is true of a/-Hayy is true of other similar Bea utifu l Na mes of A l l a h .

The

Phrase

Sinatun wa Laa Nawm Sinatun mea ns a doze

or n a p, while nawm mea n s sleep. The n egation o f these two negates both the i n itial and fu l l-fl edged state of sl eep. This means that Allah is a bsol utely free of a ny trace or effect of negligence or h eedlessness.

The General Structure of

Aayah 2: 255 It i s n ot difficult to see h ow va riou s themes a re organ ized within t h i s aayah. The fi rst sentence states the basic theme, which is elaborated in the fol lowi ng statements. Allah, the O n ly God, is the sou rce of all l ife. It is He Who controls the whole u n iverse - everything depends upon Him and every event fol lows from Him. He is n ot u n m i ndfu l of His creation, even for a single moment. He never sleeps or s l u m bers. He is the Master of a l l beings. Each and everyone belong to Him. In rea l ity, no one wou ld even dare to speak as an i ntercessor for a nyone on the Day of J udg ment u n less He H i mself perm its it. He knows everything; therefore, He does not need any recommendation of any sort, wh ich is usua l ly req u i red i n human affa i rs. He alone is the Ruler. Everything else is responsible to Him. If a ny person fa ils to do

his or her duty, and thereby deserves H is p u n ish ment, no i ntercession ca n help that person. He knows everyth ing, and no one else knows anything without His giving h i m the knowledge of it. He

ru les the

whole

u n iverse,

everything is u nder His control at a l l ti mes. It is He Who ta kes consta nt care of the whole u n iverse and this is not a b u rden upon Him at a l l . To H i m belongs a l l supremacy a n d a l l majesty. I n the end, we q uote a fladeeth a bout the Prophet's i ntercession. Alla h's M essenger :i is reported as havi n g said, '[on the Day

of Judgment] I will sta nd u nder the Throne and fa l l i n prostration, and Allah will a l low me to rema i n i n that position as m u ch as He wi l ls. I wi l l thereafter be told, "Raise you r head, spea k a n d you w i l l b e heard, i nterced e and you r intercession will be accepted:"The Prophet � then said, 'He will a l low me a proportion whom I will enter i nto Pa rad ise: (M uslim)

What is the wisdom of using the term 'readings' as compared to 'selections' as a title to this chapter? What do the attributes a/-Hayy and a/-Qayyoom mean? What is the mea n i n g of the term Aayat-ui-Kursee? Mention the excel lence of the aayah accord i n g to a fladeeth?

and

2.2. A Clea r Concept of the Creator: Soorat ai­

An� aam, 6:1 0 1 - 1 03

Translation of the Mea n i ngs of these Verses 1 0 1 . [He is] the Orig inator of the heavens and the ea rth. H ow could He

have a son when He does n ot have a female com pa n ion? Rather, He created everything and has fu l l knowledge of a l l things. 1 02. Such is Allah, You r Lord; there is no god other than Him, the Creator

of everything. So wors h i p H i m a lone, and he is Disposer of a l l things. 1 03 . No vision can g rasp Him, but H is g rasp is over a l l vision. He is a bove

a l l com prehension, yet is acquai nted with a l l thi ngs.

Explan atory Notes

the earth. In fact, the One who orig i n ates the whole u n iverse out of n othing is in no n eed of a son. Offspring a re needed by morta l s.

Verse 1 0 1

They a re needed by the wea k who want h e l p. M oreover, a nyon e who desires offspring m u st

The word Badee' , as applied to Almig hty

have a mate o r a female consort from his

Allah, means the one who prod uces someth i n g

own species. How, then, ca n Allah have a son

without a n earlier exa mple; hence, t h e word

when He has n ever had a mate, and when He

bid'ah wh ich means a new practice that is

is One a n d u n iq u e a n d n othing a n d no one is

introd uced in rel igion.

com pa rable to H i m? H ow ca n a ny offspri n g be

He is the Orig i n ator of the heavens and

born without a mate?

Verse 1 02 Allah is the Creator of a l l Allah i s the Creator of everythi ng. A s H e i s the Creator of a l l, He a lso provides s ustenance to

What does the term Badee� and Lateef

a l l using resou rces i n which He has no pa rtners.

mean?

Whatever a l l creatu res eat a n d whatever they

Why is it i nsa ne to say or assu me that

enjoy i n this l ife is part of what is the sole

Allah has a son?

p roperty of Allah. He is the Lord of the u n iverse. He controls everything. His is the authority to which everything submits, a n d He operates the system by which He ta kes care of His creation. So He is the only one who deserves to be worshi pped i n the fu l l sense of the word, wh ich denotes tota l obed ience and submission. He controls not only h u m a n beings but a lso everything else, si nce He is the sole Creator of everything.

Verse 1 03 Visions can not sight H i m i n this world. I n the hereafte r, the true be lievers will see H i m, but they w i l l n ot be a ble to en co m pass H i m fu l ly. A l l a h has spoken o f H i s vision being g ra nted to the bel ievers in severa l other pa rts of the Q u r'a n . ( Fo r i n sta nce, 75 :22-3; 83 : 1 5 )

2.3. Allah's Signs wh ich the Eyes

Can not

M iss

Seeing:

Soorat Fussilat, 4 1 : 37-39

Alla h's Messenger � once said, 'Indeed, A l l a h does n o t sleep a n d i t does n ot befit His Majesty that He should sleep. He lowers the sca le and rai ses it. The deeds of the day a re ascended to H i m before the nig ht, and the deeds of the n i g ht before the day. His Veil is Lig ht, and if He removes it the Light of His Face will burn every created thing that His Sight reaches: (Muslim) The term Lateef denotes somet h i n g that

Tra n slation of the Mea n i ng s of these Verses

is extremely subtle in q u a l ity a nd, therefore,

37. And of His signs are the night and the day

i nta n g i b l e a n d u nfathoma ble. It impl ies that

and the s u n a n d the moon. Do n ot prostrate

H e is u n i q u e and a bsol ute.

you rselves to the sun or to the moon, but

prostrate you rselves to Allah who created them

so that by the va riations i n their movements

if it is Him whom you wors h i p.

people may know the stages of night and

38. But if they a re too proud, then those who

day, of weeks, months, yea rs and time periods

a re near you r Lord glorify H i m n i g ht and day,

related to acts of wors h i p.

and they never feel tired.

It is u nfortu nate that as one of the most

39. And of His signs is that you see the land sti l l

promi nent a n d powerfu l objects i n the physical

and l ifeless. Then, w h e n We send down u po n

world, the sun has attracted the attention

i t water, i t sti rs a n d swells with life. I ndeed, t h e

and obta ined the homage of many races a n d

O n e w h o gives i t l ife c a n most surely g ive life to

nations w h o have person ified and worshi pped

the dead. I ndeed, He is Powerfu l over a l l things.

it as a god. The Gracious Qur'a n categ orica l ly rejects th is. Allah is the sole cause a n d sou rce of

Explanatory Notes

a l l that exists a n d whatever exists is but a won d rous sign of His creative power. Hence, it is blasphemy to ascri be rea l power to a nyth ing created, whether it is a concrete phenomenon or a n a bstract force of natu re, or even an idea .

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•

Verse 3 7 Here Allah rem i nds H i s creation of H i s power and states that He is the One who has n o eq ual

It

is

not

Prostrate

Permissi ble before

to

Anyone

except Allah

and that He is able to do all thi ngs. 'And of His signs a re the n i g ht and the day and the s u n and t h e moon:This mea n s He created t h e night

'Do n ot prostrate you rselves to t h e s u n or to the moon:

with its da rkness and the day with its l ig ht, a n d

This view makes it clea r that prostration

they a lternate without stopping. He created

or sujdood is the rig ht of the Creator of the

the s u n with its bright light a n d the m oon with

u n iverse. I t is strictly forbidden (b.araam) to

its reflected l ig ht. He allotted them their stages

prostrate before the s u n, the moon or any

and gave them separate orbits in the h eavens

other person or thi ng, for that matter.

Prostration of worship for a ny other than

and the l iving. Th us, when ra i n water is poured

Allah has never been lawfu l for any com m u n ity

over it, 'it sti rs a n d swel ls'. This is a rema rkable

i n a ny law of any prophet.

movement which the Qu r'a n recorded many

It is interesti n g to note that the prayer

centu ries before h u m a n science.

ti mes i n Islam have a l l been sepa rated from

When the soil is very d ry and then ra i n fa lls

the hours when the s u n was or is wors h i p ped.

over it, it makes a movement l i ke shaking

The Fojr prayer is offered before sunrise, Ohuhr

or sti rring. It is then fu l l of l ife, bringing forth

only after it has beg u n to decl i ne, 'Asr when it

blooming vegetation that rad iates pleasure. I s

beg ins to lose its shi ne, Moghrib when it has set,

there a nyth ing more pleasing t o t h e eye tha n

a n d '/shoo' o n ly when its light has completely

seei ng life i n bloom i n a n a rea that has long

vanished.

remai n ed barren? Here, the Qu r'a n cites these as one of Alla h's n u merous signs. The Qu r'a n reminds us: 'Indeed, the One who g ives it l ife

Verse 38

can m ost surely give l ife to the dead. I ndeed, He is Powerful over a l l things:

'But if they are too proud' means to worship

Although the a l l usion to the revivi ng earth

Allah Alone, and if they i nsist on associating

often occurs in the Qu r'a n as a para ble of

others with Him in wors h i p, then there a re

ma n's u lti mate resu rrection after death, in the

a ngels who a re with you r Lord. They consta ntly

present context, it i m pl ies a ca l l to the bel iever

g l orify H i m night and day and a re never tired.

never to a bandon the hope that 'those who deny the truth' may one day g rasp the truth of

Sujood at-Tilaawah

the Qu r'anic message.

There a re fou rteen (or fifteen) ooyoot i n the Qu r'a n which req u i re us t o perform a p rostration when we read or hea r these verses. I n them it is mentioned that Alla h's serva nts and creation bow before their Lo rd. Aoyoh 38 is one of them. What does Allah expect from u s

Verse 39 The verse now moves o n to portray other scenes of creation and l iving creatu res on earth a n d in the world of pla nts. The state of bei ng sti l l

instead o f worsh ipping the s u n and why? How does prayer timing aid us i n avoiding s u n wors h i p? Defi ne the Arabic word khoashi' atan.

a n d l ifeless, which is expressed in the Ara bic text

How will you relate it to the earth?

with the word khooshroton is a state between

What does Allah wa nt us to know from

l ife and death. Th is is how the earth is when it

the pa rable of revivi ng the earth?

is starved of water, the basic i n g redient for l ife

2 .4. To H i m Belongs Whatever is i n the Earth: Soorat

Tra nslation of the Mea n i ngs of these Verses 4. �

H i m belongs whatever is i n the heavens a nd whatever he ea rth, and He is the M ost High, the Most G reat. 5. The

heavens a l most brea k

from a bove them, and the angels glorify the praises of their Lord and ask forgiveness for a l l who a re on ea rth. U n q uestionably, it is Allah who is the Forgiving, the Mercifu l .

Explanatory Notes Verse 4

Verse 5

'To H i m belongs whatever is i n the heavens

'From a bove them' mea ns owi n g to the

and whatever is i n the ea rth' mea n s everything

g reatness and majesty of the Lord of the

is subject to His dominion and control. He is

worlds. Accord ing to a nother opi n ion, it may

the M ost High, the Most G reat. Some people,

refer to the ea rth, mea n i n g the heavens a bove

deceived by the fact that they fi nd things i n

the strata of the ea rth a n d a l l its i n ha bita nts. It

thei r hands s u bjected to them, benefiting from

should be borne i n mind that accordi ng to the

them, and which they can use as they wish, a re

Qu r'a n, the h eavens and the ea rth, that is, the

led to believe that they own those thi ngs. Of

physical u n iverse in its enti rety, a re not o n ly

cou rse, they do n ot. Allah is the rea l Owner. It is

conscious of their Creator but also u nfa i l i ng ly

He who creates and destroys, who g ives l ife a n d

fu nction i n accordance with His Wi l l .

cau ses death. He h a s t h e power t o let people

This verse reflects the tota l subm ission o f the

own whatever He wills or ta ke away from their

natu ra l order to a l m i g hty Allah. I t may a l so refer

possession whatever He wis hes i n o rder to

to the massive physical presence of the a n gels

place them in the ha nds of whomever He wil ls.

t h roug hout the u n iverse. Alla h's Messenger �

True owners h i p remains His at a l l times, and He

is reported as having said, ' I ndeed, I see what

dispenses with evertything in a man ner that

you do not see, and I hea r what you do not

su its His G rand Plan.

hea r. The heavens g roa n - and rig htfu l ly so!

There is n o space i n the heavens the measure of a ha nd-span or the measure of fou r fi ngers, but that there is a n angel there, placing his . forehead i n it prostrati ng to Allah. By Allah! If you knew what I know, you wou ld laugh l ittle a n d you wou l d weep much, a n d you wou l d not enjoy you r wives i n bed, and you would come out beseeching Allah: (at-Ti rmid hee, fladeeth no. 23 1 2, and it is classified as flasan) The scope of the sou rces of knowledge, hidden and apparent, such as the ea rs, the eyes, the intel lect, among other tools, g iven by Allah to u s, extends as fa r as the seen world. The u nseen world is beyond its capacity or domain. The way to acq u i re authentic a n d dependable knowledge a bout the u nseen is to get it from what the prophets and the messengers of Allah i nform us on the basis of what Al l a h causes them to see, hea r a n d observe. Accord ing to another opinion, the heavens might nearly be rent asunder beca use of ascribing a son to Allah, Most High. The fol lowi n g verse supports this:

In fact the idea that Allah might have a 'son' - either in the rea l o r in the metap horica l sense of this term - wou l d presu p pose a deg ree of in nate l i keness between 'the father' and 'the son': but Allah is i n every respect u n iq ue, so that 'there is n othing l i ke H i m (Soorat ash-Shooraa, 42: 1 1 ) and 'there is none com pa ra ble to Him'. (Soorat al-lkh/aa�, 1 1 2: 4)

The idea of God havi ng a son goes agai nst

The heavens a re a l most a bout t o be re nt a s u n d er,

the teachings of Islam a n d is descri bed i n the

a n d the ea rth

cloven a n d the mou nta i n s to

Qu r'a n as blasphemous, a n d it is for this reason

col l a pse, razed, that they attri bute to the A l l ­

that the Qu r'a n criticises the C h ristia ns for

Mercifu l a son!

(Soorat Maryam, 1 9:90-9 1 )

Com menting o n these verse, Sayyid Quib

erroneously bel ievi n g that � Eesaa :%!§\ is the son of God.

writes, The very s o u n d of these verses a n d t h e i r rhyt h m a d d t o the a i r o f a n g e r at t h i s fa lse c l a i m . I n fact, t h e w h o l e u n i verse rejects t h i s c l a i m most veh e m e ntly. It s h u d de rs a n d q u ivers with a b h o rrence as it hears t h i s fa l sehood a g a i nst God A l m i g hty. It is a reaction s i m i l a r to that of a person who feels that h is very

Expla i n the verse 'To Him belongs

i nteg rity is attacked, o r that the h o n esty of someone

whatever is in the heavens a n d

h e loves is assa i l ed. In t h e i r beat, the word s here s h ow

whatever is i n t h e earth:

the move ment of a violent attack. Everyth i n g that is settled a n d sta b l e is t h u s s h a ken.

'The heavens a l m ost break from

The whole u n i verse is in a n g e r at t h i s fa lse a l l egation

a bove them'. What does th is verse

a g a i nst G od, the Creato r. The statement is shocking to

refer to?

everyt h i n g i n n atu re: (Sayyid Q u!b,

In the Shade of the

Qur'an, vol. 1 1 , p. 3 76, Eng. Tr. � Ad i i _S_a l ahi)

2.5. The One, the Everlasting Refuge:

Soorat Al-lkhlaa� 1 1 2: 1 -4

Tra nslation of the Mea n ings of this Soorah I n the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Mercifu l 1 . Say: He is Allah, the One, 2 . Allah, the Everlasti ng Refuge. 3. He does not beget, Nor is He begotten, 4.

And there is none com pa rable to Him.

Explanatory Notes

"-----

Hadeeth on the Vi rtues of this Soorah

Allah Most H i g h is the sole s u bject of this soorah. Some scholars have pointed out that

this is the only soorah in the Qu r'a n in which two attri butes of Allah - ai-Ab_ad and a�-S.amad

�Ai'shah • said, 'The Prophet :1 appoi nted a man as the comma nder of a m i l ita ry ca mpaign a n d h e used to lead his compa n ions i n prayer a n d recite a soorah of the Qu r'a n a n d wou l d

have come together and cou l d b_e the reason,

t h e n fol low i t u p with 'Say: He i s A l l a h , t h e

accord i n g to ai-Qur1ubee, why it has been said

One: that is Soorat a/-/kh/aa�. When they

to be eq ual to one-th i rd of the Qu r'a n .

returned from the ca m paign, they asked h i m

why he had done so a nd h e repl ied, "Beca use

Alla h's Messenger � also sa id, 'By H i m i n

[Soorat a/-/kh/aai] provides a descri ption of ar­

whose Hand m y sou l is, it i s tru ly eq u iva lent to

Raflmah, a n d I love to recite it:' The Prophet ;I

one third of the Qu r'a n : (a i-Bukhaaree)

said, "I nform him that Allah the M ost H i g h l oves h i m :" (a i-Bu khaaree)

The Word al-A had The word ai-Aflad, which is d ifferent from the word Waaflid, has added the sign ificatio n of a bsol ute a n d

. conti nuous u n ity a n d t h e a bsence o f equals.

The Term as_-Samad Accord ing to some schola rs, the word a�­ S.amad is a pplied to one who has no stomach a n d therefore does n ot eat or d ri n k; in other words, he is not dependent o n anyth ing. Yet, some other scholars explain the term as mea n i n g one whose attri butes have reached the hig hest point of their development, so that they ca n n ot be bettered. ' Eterna l - One without a beg i n n i ng and without a n e n d ' i s a nother i nterpretation provided b y t h e pious predecessors (salaf). Litera l ly, a�-S.amad wou ld a lso im ply one who sta nds i n need of n o one, while everyone sta nds i n n eed of h i m; i n other words, one before whom people put forwa rd their needs.

What is the subject of Soorat a/-/kh/aa�? Why is it considered as one third of the Qur'a n ? Defi n e t h e terms a/-Aflad a n d a�-S.amad.

Allah's Relationship with the Created

Worlds:

Relationship

as

Man-All a h

�Abd-Rabb

Relation

•

. • •

2.6. Soorat AI-Faatihah

�Ji py, 0 �� �� �- �:.:::-JI 0 �� .:J8i �i �;_ � �JI 1� 0 {i ·�il 1�1 (�\ 0 � ���; � ��10 ��� :�WI 0 �T�li 1; :.t:� y./ai.�J\ ;;1�·};_

;_;_ � 0

v- 1

Tra nslation o f the Mea n i ng s of this Soorah 1 . I n the Name of Alla h, the Most G racious, the Most Mercifu l 2. All pra ise is for Allah, Lord of the Worlds, 3. The Most G racious, the Ever-Mercifu l, 4.

Master of the Day of J udgment.

5 . You Alone we wors h i p a nd You Alone we ask for help. 6. G u ide us to the Straight Path, 7. The Path of th ose whom You have bestowed favou rs, not of those

who have ea rned [Your] anger, nor of those who have gone astray.

Explanatory Notes AI-Faatib.ah has seven verses (aayaat

or signs). But which is the first verse of a/­ Faatib. a h? Every soorah of the Qu r'an, with

the exception of Soorat at-Tawbah, the ninth soorah, sta rts with the basmalah namely, bismillaahir-Rab.maanir-Rab.eem. Sti ll, this aayah is not treated as part of the fol lowi ng soorah, with the exception of the first soorah of the Qu r'an, where the basmalah

is treated by some scholars as bei ng part of it. All ag ree that this soorah has seven aayaat (plural of aayaht but according to

those who do n ot rega rd the basmalah as part of this soorah the first aayah of this soorah is what is n u m bered 2 in the a bove,

and then in order to complete the n u mber of the aayaat as seven, the seventh aayah is broken into aayah 6 and aayah 7. (See

The Word ar-Rahmaan The expression Bismi/1/aahir-Rab.m aanir-Rab.eem is com posed of fou r Ara bic words, the fi rst two of which mea n ' I n the Name of Allah: the other two words add two of Alla h's attributes derived from the same root 'rab.ima', which sign ifies g race and mercy. Wh ile the second of these two attrib utes, ar­ Rab.eem, is com monly used as a su perlative fo rm of gra nting mercy, the first ar-Rab.maan is used only to refer to Allah. I n fact it was never used i n Arabic before Islam. The structure of the word ar-Rab.m aan suggests emphasis u pon the aspect of i nten sity. Th us the Good Name 'ar-Rab.maan' sig n ifies His over-flowi ng love a nd mercy for all of His creatu res, even if someone turns away from Him than klessly. He does n ot i m med iately withdraw His mercy from such a person . H e g ives sustenance to the bel ievers as wel l as t o d isbel ievers. H i s s u n shi nes for a l l of them. H i s ra i n fa lls benefits everyone.

if you can fi nd any such difference in the n u m beri ng of aayaat in different copies of the Noble Qu r'an) There is, however, a nother place where the basma/ah is accord i ng to everyone, part of a Qu r'anic soorah, that is Soorah n u mber 27, or Soorat an-Naml, where it is part of Aayah 30.

We would a lso d raw our students' attention to 1 6:98, according to which seeki ng Alla h's refuge from Sata n is requ i red before we read or recite the Qu r'an. That is why whenever a Muslim wa nts to recite the Qu r'a n, he must first say: Noodhu bil/aahi minash-Shaytaan-ir-Rajeem (I seek refuge

with Allah from Satan, the one who has been deprived of Alla h's mercy), then say the basmalah if what he recites is the beginning

of a soorah, otherwise seeki ng Allah's refuge from Satan would be sufficient.

Commenti n g on these words, 'Ad i l Salahi writes, 'The term ar-Rab.maan bears con notations of power, might and dominion alongside those of grace and mercy. Therefore, a n accu rate transl ation of the term should bring out these additional con n otations . . . Therefore, we can say that ar­ Rab.maan con n otes 'the exercise of mercy o n the basis offree choice by one who is able to i nfl ict severe p u n ish ment without fea r of any conseq uence: ' H e a lso says, " By contrast ar-Rab.eem stresses the availabil ity of Alla h's Mercy in a l l situations a n d to a l l creatu res. People only n eed to a ppeal for it a n d it is certa in to be g ra nted. Indeed, it is given at a l l times without such a ppea ls . . . After a long reflectio n and consideration of a l l these as pects, I have now settled on a new form of tra nslating these two attri butes of God: I n the Name of G od (AI Iaht the Lord of Grace, the Ever Mercifu l." (Sayyid Qu1b, In the Shade of the Qur'an, vol. 1 4, Eng. Tr. � Ad i l S.a lahi)

The Word Hamd The Arabic word b_amd signifies a serva nt's praise for Allah by way of tha n ks. I n fact, the Ara bic word b_amd mea n s both 'praise' and 'than ks'. Hence, it wou ld be a pt to say: All praises a n d tha n ks a re for Allah:

wo rlds, w e a re tha n ki n g the Rabb o f a l l h u m a n beings, or eve n the Rabb o f a l l pe rso n s, t h a t is to say, of all h u mans, j i n n a n d a ngels. When you look i nto the past of h u m a n ity as we l l as its poss i b l e futu re, t h ere a re m a ny such h u m a n worl ds, a n d Allah is the Rabb of a l l such h u ma n worlds. Accord i n g to some scholars af-t aalameen refers to eve ryt h i n g

The Word Rabb: Man-Allah Relati onsh ip Rabb has often been translated as Lord. It i s a good tra nslation i n s o fa r as it combi nes 'love and concern' with 'a uthority: Some tra ns lators

i n exi stence besides A l l a h . A l l p ra ises a n d tha n ks a re d u e t o A l l a h , t o whom be longs t h e creation i n its e nti rety, the h eave n s a n d t h e earth a n d whatever is i n t h e m , a n d whatever is between them - that wh ich is known a n d u n known.

have u sed 'Susta i ner: 'Cherisher' or similar

Master

words for Rabb. They try to be true to the root mea n i ng. Of cou rse, our Rabb is One who ta kes ca re of o u r nourish ment a n d development. I t

com prehensive mea n i ng. Therefore, it is not possible to fi nd an eq uiva lent in lang uages other than Ara bic.

AI-�Aalameen: What a re the Worlds? The word a/-�aalameen is the k i n d of p l u ra l, which is u sed fo r beings l i ke men, j i n n a n d a n gels. So i n tha n king the Rabb o f a l l t h e

the

Day

of

J u dg ment: The Word ad-Deen

shou ld, h owever, b e borne i n mind that Rabb is a Q u r'a nic term, and as such it has a u n iq uely

of

The word ad-deen as used in the Qu r'an has severa l mea n i n gs. It is u sed i n the sense of: •

Religion a n d d ivine law (3:83)

•

The law of the land ( 1 2:76)

•

O bedience ( 1 6:52; 61 :9)

•

Recompense or reward (5 1 :5-6) The term ad-deen in the sense of reward

and p u n ishment causes both its positive a n d negative aspects - (a) a reward for g ood, a n d (b) a pun ish ment for evi l a n d wrongdoing.

The message conta i ned i n these words:

The expression 'ibaadah (worship) denotes

maaliki yawm-id-deen is clea r - a day of

the su bmissiveness a nd h u m i l ity that a person

reckoning is inevita ble: it will defi n itely come to

ought to show towa rds h i s Creator. A sense of

pass. A day when a l l h u m a n beings will return

obed ience is a lso i m p l ied in the word 'ibaadah.

to their Forg ivi ng, Mercifu l a n d Just Lord to receive their share of His reward or punis h ment. Those who followed the d ivine law wi l l be

Worship

and

Aski ng

for

rewarded, but those who refu sed to submit to

H is Help: Its Mea n i ng and

H i m a n d did not seek His fo rg iveness will be

Sign ifican ce

p u n ished. On that day a l l powers wi l l belong to Allah a l one; no one that day will cha l l enge His will or authority.

Suppl ication (du�aa') is a pa rt of wors hip, or 'ibaadah. The fact that we a re the serva nts of

Allah impl ies that we must worship Him a lone,

�lbaadah is what a �Abd Does for H is Rabb The Arabic word 'ibaadah is often translated as wors h i p. �lbaadah is what a �abd does for h i s Rabb. Allah-man relation is u n i q u e. It is altogether d ifferent from any man-man or ma n-th i n g relation. We ca l l it the Rabb-�Abd relation . Man is �abd or serva nt of Allah, and Allah is Rabb or the Lord of man. But there a re �ibaad (plura l of �abd) of Allah other than human beings. Angels and jinn a re a l so �ibaad or serva nts of Allah. Th us a l l people a re �ibaad or serva nts of Allah. "We a re serva nts of Allah a n d Allah Alone" is the most basic principle of Islam.

fol l ow H i s commands and pray or suppl icate to Him a l one.

G u ide us to the Stra ight Path Guiding is more tha n s howi ng. Thus we a re n ot asking for l ig ht on ly; we a re also asking for strength. Life is a conti n uous jou rney. We need Alla h's g u idance a l l the time. Every day we face a new situation in l ife. Life is a jou rney towa rds Allah, which we have to travel stage by stage. We actua l ly need lig ht, strength and su pport from Him i n every step we ta ke o n this journey. By making du�aa' (suppl ication) for g u idance, we a re, i n fact, asking Him to be with us throug hout the jou rney of our l ife.

A�-Siraat ai-Mustaqeem - the Straight Path Th is refers to the Straight Path Allah has shown to human beings through His prophets and messengers to achieve success i n this world and

eternal

bl iss

in the hereafter. This

path

is

the

shortest

fol low i n the hereafter. But some people were p u n i shed by Allah in this very life. The Qu r'a n again and again tel ls us the stories of such people so that we lea rn lessons from them. See for exa m ple 7:59- 1 67; 1 0:7 1 -92; 1 1 :25-1 02. Wh ile m a king du ' aa' that we do not have the same fate, it is a lso req u i red that we try to u ndersta nd why these t h e n seriously try n ot t o fol low i n their footsteps.

to

Th ree g roups of people a re

fol l ow.

mentioned i n this verse: ( 1 ) Those blessed by Allah, (2) Those

Verse 7 G u ide

from them. Of cou rse, the rea l punishment will

peo ple deserved Alla h's wrath a n d

path a n d the easiest

wa rni ngs. Therefore, w e express our separation

us

who i ncu rred H is wrath, and (3) to

the path of those upon whom You have bestowed favou rs: these are the people who wa l ked on the Straight path, worshipping Allah alone, seeki ng His help i n every step. Allah g u ided them at every stage of their jou rney a n d hel ped them to acq u i re a better u n dersta nding of rel igion a n d in l iving a pious l ife; in t h e hereafter, too, they wi l l receive Alla h's special mercies. It is im portant to n ote that by making this supplication, we express our belonging to the circle of all the fa ithfu l serva nts of Allah. But here we a l so observe that some mem bers of the h u m a n fa m i ly went off t h e rig ht path. They ba rred themselves from the special mercy of Allah since they did not mend their ways in spite of H i s clear g u ida nce a n d

Those who strayed from the rig ht path. Reference is to g roups and n ot to i ndividual person s who had divine blessings, divine wrath or who were m isg u ided. We, with a l l the rig hteous people of the past and present, dissociate ou rselves from the g ro u p of wrongdoers. The Qu r'a n d iscusses the rise a n d fa l l of some civi l izations a n d explains how victory and s u pport of Allah came to the fol l owers of the prophets,

and

how the

u nj ust were u ltimately pun ished. It is i m porta nt note

that

before

the punishment of

Allah

comes,

A l la h

wa rns

and

rem inds

H i s serva nts fi rst. I n fact, Allah gives the u njust people a

fixed period of time to mend their ways. The

our tongue as a spontaneous hymn springing

wrath of Allah does not descend before its

from the very core of our bei ng. The wo rds of

appoi nted ti me.

the hym n a re revea led by Allah, the Creator of

Therefore, if some people were not pun ished

human bei ngs. So there can h a rdly be a more

in this l ife, it is not a sign of their bei ng correct.

a uthentic expression of h u ma n natu re. Soorat

Some people may act as rebels and sti l l prosper

a/-Faatib_ah is the g reatest soorah of the Q u r'a n.

in this l ife beca use the time of their being

There is n o other soorah l i ke it in the rest of

pun ished has not yet come. (l rfaan Ahmad

the G racious Book or in the previous revea led

Khan, Reflections on the Qur'an, the Islamic

scriptures. I t is a light that was g ra nted to Alla h's

Fou ndation) It should be borne in m i nd that this soorah

Messenger � which He had not g ra nted to a ny ' prophet or messenger before h i m . It holds a

is in the form of a su ppl ication . Its style is not

centra l position i n daily prayers, and hence the

didactic. It does not teach us h ow to supplicate.

daily l ife of a M uslim.

Rather, the su ppl ication itself is made to flow off

Explain the two attributes of ar-Rab_maan a n d ar­ Rab_eem. H ow a re thes� two related?

How does the term rabb sign ify Allah-man relationship? Explain the term ad-deen as used in the Qur'a n . What is t h e 'Straight Path'? What is t h e sig nifica nce of the word 'g uide' in Verse 6? Th is soorah is in the form of a suppl ication. Discuss.

Allah's Messengers

2.7. Soorat AI-An � aam, (The Cattle): 75-79

Tra nslation of the Mea n i n g of this Verse: 75. Th us did We show l braa heem the kingdom of the heavens a n d the earth that he be one of those

who have fa ith with certa inty. 76. So when the night spread over him, he saw a sta r. He said, 'Th is is my Lord !' But when it set, he

said, 'l do n ot l i ke those wh ich set: 77. Then when he saw the moon rising up, he said, 'Th is is my Lord!' But when it set, he said, ' U n less

my Lord g u ides me, I shall surely be among the misguided people: 78. When he saw the sun rising u p, he said, 'Th is is my Lord! Th is is g reater tha n both of them: But

when it set, he sa id, 'O my people! I am free from all that you join as partners i n worship with Allah. 79. 1 have indeed tu rned my face with p u re a n d complete devotion to Him Who brought the heavens

a n d the earth i nto being, and I a m n ot of the idolaters:

Prophet l b raa heem �� Debates with H is People It is sig n ificant t o note here that Prophet l braa heem �� was debati n g with his people, explaining t o them the error o f their ways in wors h i pping idols and images. Allah showed l braaheem �� the proofs of H is Oneness over H is kingdom and His creation, wh ich clearly i n d icate that there is no god except Allah. l b raaheem �� explai ned to his people the error a n d uselessness o f wors h i pping t h e va rious planets, wh ich they said were the Moon, Mercu ry, Venus, the Sun, Mars, J u piter, and Saturn. The brig htest of these objects a n d the most honoured to them was the S u n, the Moon and then Ven us. l braa heem �� fi rst proved that Ven u s (the word used in the text is kawkab) is not worthy of being worshi p ped. It is subject to a term and

cou rse a ppoi nted that it does not resist. It does not swerve right or left. Ven u s does n ot have any say i n its affa i rs. It is only a heavenly object that Allah created and made bright out of His wisdom. Ven u s rises from the east and sets in the west where it d isa ppears from sig ht. The rotation is repeated the next n ig ht, and so forth. Such a n object is not worthy of bei ng worsh ipped. l b raaheem �� then went on to mention the Moon in the same man ner i n which he mentioned Ven us, and then the S u n . When he proved that these three objects were n ot worthy of worship he declared:

'0

my

people! I am free from a l l that you join as partners in worship with Allah: These aayaat i n d icate that l b raaheem �� was debati ng with his people a bout the shirk or polytheism they practised. The word yaqeen used in the text denotes that state of certitude of the hea rt, which is experienced when a l l dou bts have been removed with the help of evidence. The Qu r'a n uses the word kawkab, wh ich l itera l ly mea n s a nyth ing that shi nes brilliantly. It is applicable to both sta rs and planets. It is n ot necessa ry that the sighting of the sta r and the moon should have happened on the sa me nig ht, with the s u n sig hted o n the fol lowi ng morn ing. The episode cou l d have wel l ru n through severa l nig hts. It is i m porta nt to note the word s: 'I am free from a l l that you join as pa rtners

i n worship with Allah' demonstrates that l b raaheem �� n ever com m itted that sin. Differences of opinion seem to have su rfaced among Muslim scholars as to the natu re of the episode e n u merated here, whether it was loud th i n king on the part of l braa heem �\, tryi ng to fig u re out who his Lord was, or was it an inductive method devised to convi nce the idolaters of thei r fol ly. Th e majority of Qu r'a n exegetes (mufassiroon) a rg u e that Prophet l b raaheem's statements should be seen as prem ises (statements or ideas that form the basis for a reasonable line of a rgument) of his a rg u m ents against idolaters, rather than as stages i n h is enlig hten ment. It was, in rea l ity, a novel method in a rg u mentation and not a menta l exercise to d iscover the truth. Hence, according to lmaam a r-Raazee, the words, 'Th is is my Lord' were sati rica l. When he uttered these words, he mea nt to say: 'So, this according to your opinion is my lord. Let us see if it proves to be so: Prophet l braa heem �� had to ta ke this i n d i rect route beca use his people were in no mood to l i sten to any d i rect criticism. It should be remem bered that the prophets and messengers of Allah have never even thought of worshipping fa lse gods at any time in their l ives. In fact, Prophet l braaheem's reasoning was d ivinely inspired.

The Word Haneef The word used in the text is b_aneef. The word b_aneef, in its original sense, means 'tu rn ing away from sin'. It im pl ies turn i n g away from idol­ wors h i p and being a worshi pper of the One true God - Allah.

What a re the virtues of Soorat ai-An �aam? 'I am free from a l l that you join as pa rtners in wors h i p with A l l a h : Comment o n h ow l braaheem �� tried to convince his people to worship Allah Alone.

2.8. Rem i n d ing � Eesaa �� of the

Favou rs

that

Allah

leave, you hea led those born blind a n d the lepers, a n d by My leave, you restored the dead to l ife; h ow I prevented the C h i l d ren of lsraa'eel

Bestowed on H i m (Soorat a/-

from harming yo u when you came to them

Maa'idah, 5:1 1 0)

with clear proofs and those who d isbelieved among them, sa id: This is n othing but sorcery:" (5 : 1 1 0)

Oneness of Al lah: Tawheed Oneness of Allah was the bel ief preached by ' Eesaa �� and by every former prophet of Allah. This verse aims to esta blish the truth \ \ · ,;_.jU\

0 � � )lllh 0l�, ).,_ju":(::' .:_,:� 1 ......-

.J. _,, ..,.

-:: _,. /

�

0

.-'-

/

-:: ..

Tra nslation of the Mea n i n g of this Verse 'When A l l a h will say:

"0

' Eesaa, son of

M a rya m ! Remember My favou r to you a n d to you r mother: h ow I a ided you with the Holy Spi rit so that you could spea k to peo ple in you r cradle and i n matu rity; h ow I ta u g ht you the Book a n d wisdom, the Tawraah a n d the lnjee/; h ow, by My leave, yo u formed out of clay

a bird-like fi g u re, and breathed i nto it a nd, by My leave, it beca me a living bird; how, by My

a bout the Oneness of Allah and servitude to H i m, as these a re conceived in Islam. This view presents this truth in a vivid scene ta ken from the Day of J udg ment in the same way as the Qu r'a n presents va rious scenes of that Great Day. I n a l l such presentations, the picture is portrayed in such an inspi ring and effective way that we a l most see it before our very eyes. We a re moved by each such scene as though it were ta king place here and now. We see what is ta king place, hear what is bei n g said and feel every reaction and response. So, what does this scene present?

The scene is ta ken fro m the Day of J udg ment.

sti l l does n o t know h ow t o give eyesight to

Here we will have a fu l l accou nt of the va rious

such people. Almighty Allah, who gives human

aspects of g race bestowed by Allah on Prophet

bei ng s thei r facu lty of seei ng, is a ble to open

� Eesaa �� and h i s mother Marya m �. To sta rt

a blind person's eye to see the lig ht. Prophet

with, he was su pported by the Holy Spi rit i n

� Eesaa �� a lso cured the lepers without using

h i s i nfa ncy. Then, h e ta l ked to people long

medicine. Medication is merely a tool, and

before childre n n orma l ly sta rt to ta l k, freeing

Allah is able to cure without a ny tool. Again,

h is mother of all suspicion ra ised a round her

� Eesaa �� was a ble to restore l ife to the dead,

on accou nt of his m i raculous birth that had n o

by Alla h's leave. The One who gives l ife is wel l

para l lel i n history. He a l so ta l ked t o them in the

able to restore i t a t a n y ti me.

crad le and later as a g rown man who was again supported by J i b reel �1.

Allah fu rther reminds Prophet � Eesaa �� of His favou rs when He extended H i s protection

He was also g iven knowl edge of the Book.

to him agai n st the children of lsraa'eel who,

Allah i m pa rted to h i m wisdom in order to deal

when he prod uced a l l these m i racles, denied

with d ifferent situations i n the best way. Allah

him, claiming that they were plain sorcery.

a lso ta u g ht h i m the Tawraah (Tora h), which had

Allah protected him a n d they were unable to

been given to the Childre n of lsraa'eel, and the

kill or crucify h i m as they were keen to do. Allah

lnjeel (Gospel) wh ich Allah gave h i m to confirm

� sim ply p rotected h i m a n d el evated h i m to

the Tawraah.

H i mself. (In the Shade of the Qur'an, Vol. IV, pp

Moreover, Allah supported Prophet � Eesaa (Jesus) �� with severa l m i racles that no

288-290; English Tra nslation by Ad i l Salahi and

Ash u r Sham is)

human being cou l d accomplish without Alla h's

The use of the word kah/ i n this verse

support. Thus, he cou ld fashion a bird shape

is sign ifica nt. It is used for a person of age

of clay a n d breathe into it, and all at once it

between thi rty-fo u r a n d fifty-one, but Prophet

beca me a l iving bird. How did it happen ? We do

' Eesaa

not know, beca use we do not know h ow Allah

he was only thi rty-th ree. This clearly ind icates

creates l ife. Prophet � Eesaa

��

cu red people

born blind, by Alla h's leave, when medici n e

WI

was ra ised u p to the heaven when

that he will come back towa rds the end of this world, l ive i n it and atta in that age.

Enumerate the favou rs that Allah g ra nted � Eesaa �1. What is the sign ifica n ce of the use of the term 'Kahl?

2.9. Abundan ce (Soorat AI-Kawthar, Soorah 1 08)

���� �� � .,..

_

-

-

-

-

Tra nslation of the Mea n i n g of this Soorah In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Mercifu l 1 . I ndeed, We have given you abundance, 2. So pray to you r Lord and sacrifice [to H i m a l one] . 3. A s t o t h e one w h o hates you; he is utterly c u t off.

Soorat ai-�Asr (1 03) and Soorat an-Naas ( 1 1 0). Soorat ai-Kawthar is the shortest soorah of

The th ree verses of this soorah are addressed,

the Qu r'a n, n ot only i n terms of the n u m ber of

in the first place, to the Messenger of Allah �'

verses but a l so in word cou nt, for it consists of

and through h i m to every bel ievi n g man and

o n ly thirteen words. It shares d istinction with

woman. ---

The soorah ta kes its title from the word a/­

------

severa l sound ab_aadeeth, a river in Pa rad ise.

Kawthar, which occurs in the first verse. The

Alla h's Messenger � said, 'Verily, it is a

word a/-Kawthar is an i ntense form of the noun

river that my Lord, the Mig hty and Majestic,

kathrah, which i n its turn denotes abunda n ce,

has provided fo r me, and it has a bu ndant

m u ltitude or copiousness.

I n the above

goodness. It is a pond where my com m u n ity

context, which is the sole insta nce of its u se in

will be broug ht to on the Day of J udgement.

the Qur'a n, a/-Kawthar sign ifies, according to

Its conta iners a re as nu merous as the sta rs

in the sky. When a serva nt of Allah from among them will be prevented from it, I will say, "0

Lord! He is indeed from my

Ummah (followers) :' Then He (i.e.

Allah) will say, "Verily, you do not know a bout [the i n n ovations] he i ntrod uced [in religion] after you :" (Muslim) Alla h's Messenger � a l so said, 'A/-Kawthar is a river i n Pa radise

with ba n ks of gold and it runs over pea rls. Its water is wh iter than milk and sweeter tha n honey: (Ahmad and at-Ti rmid hee)

Therefore, Turn i n Prayer to You r Lord a n d Sacrifice The expression of gratitude for such bou nteous favou r should b e tremendous. The Prophet � should devote h i m self hea rt and soul to worshipping and serving his Lord. We have said a bove that this soorah addresses itself, i n the first place, to the Messenger of Allah � a n d through h i m to every bel ievi ng m a n and woman. Of a l l modes of worship, the prayer is the most outstanding. Li kewise, among fi nancial modes of worship, sacrificing a n imals sta nds out a bove others, for it sign ifies one's willing ness to sacrifice o ne's own self. Animal sacrifice was instituted i n order to replace self-sacrifice. The point comes out sharply in the story of Prophet l braaheem &il§l.

As to One who Hates You, He is Utterly Cut off Litera l ly the word shaani' means one who hates, hati ng, or a hater and a n enemy. I t sig n ifies hatred, which i s attended by ang er. 'As to one who hates you, he is utterly cut off from a l l goodness' means: 0 Prophet, i ndeed whoever hates you and hates the g u ida nce, truth, clea r proof a n d man ifest l i g ht with which you have been sent is utterly cut off from all good ness. The word abtar is u sed to describe one who leaves no male offspri ng behind him and so is forgotten after he is dead. A ta i l less a n imal is a l so ca l l ed abtar. Some u n bel ievers used to ta u nt the Prophet � with that word when his sons died in infa ncy, im plying that his death wou ld be the end of his mission. Allah � denounced them by assuring the Prophet � that it is his enem ies who would be cut off. I b n Taym iyya h once mentioned that in every age, Allah M ost H i g h will destroy the Proph et's enem ies a n d those who hate h i m i n such a way that history will leave no trace of them. In this verse, Allah th rows back the ta u nt of those who hated and revi led the Prophet �. I ndeed, the prom ise of Allah has come true, for the infl uence and legacy of the Prophet's enem ies was short-l ived, while h i s im pact o n h u m a n history and h u ma n l ife has g rown a n d deepened. Today we witness the truth of d ivi n e pronou ncement as clearly as no one among those addressed by the Gracious Qu r'a n for the fi rst time ever did or imag ined.

Who does the soorah address? Describe the pond of ai-Kawthar. How does the word abtar a ptly describe the enem ies of the Prophet �?

1.

Tafseer Ibn Katheer Eng l ish Tra nslation, 1 0 Volumes;

Darussa lam, Riya d h, 2000. 2.

Mufti M uha mmad Shafi, Ma'riful Qur'an, (Engl ish), 8 Vol u m es, Darui-U i oom, Karachi, 1 995.

3.

Sayyid Abul A'a l a Mawd udi, Towards Understanding the Qur'an, the Islamic Fou ndation, U K, 1 998.

4.

Sayyid Qu1b, In the Shade of the Qur'an, (Engl ish), the Islamic Foundation, U K, 2003.

5.

Syed I q ba l Zaheer, Tafseer lshraq ai-Ma'anee, (English), lq ra Welfare Trust, Ba ngalore, I ndia, 1 992.

6.

Sayyid Abul Hasa n Ali Nadwi, Guidance from the Holy Qur'an, the Islamic Fou ndation, 2005.

7.

M uha m mad Taq i-ud-Deen a i-Hilali and M uha mmad M uhsi n

Kha n, The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an,

Darussalam, Riyadh. 8.

'Abd u l la h Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur'an, English Translation ofthe Meanings and Commen tary, King Fa hd Holy Qur'a n

Pri nting Com plex, Madeenah, Saudi Arabia. 9.

M uha m mad M a rmad u ke Pickthall, The Glorious Qur'an.

1 0.

Ahmad Za ki Ham mad, The Gracious Qur'an: A Modern­ Phrased Interpretation in English, Lucent I nterpretations,

LLC, U SA, 2007. 11.

Hanna E. Kassis, A Concordance of the Qur'an, U n iversity of Cal ifornia Press, 1 983.

3.1 . 3.2. 3.3. 3.4. 3.5. 3 .6. 3.7. 3.8. 3.9. 3.1 0. 3.1 1 . 3.1 2. 3. 1 3. 3.1 4. 3.1 5. 3.1 6. 3.1 7. 3.1 8. 3.1 9. 3.20. 3.2 1 . 3.22. 3.23. 3.24. 3.25. 3.26. 3.27. 3.28. 3.29.

The Prophet's Birth : The Year of the Elephant The Prophet's Lineage and Ancestry The Short-Lived 'Abdullaah Childhood Aaminah and ' Abdui-Muna lib Pass away M uhammad's Early Occupation Baheerah the Monk The Sacrileg ious (Fijaar) War Hilf ai-Fud.ool: All iance of the Virtuous Divine Protection The Prophet's Marriage to Khadijah � The Rebui lding of the Ka' bah Meditation in the Cave of .tiiraa' (Mount .tiiraa') Prophethood: The First Revelation The Pause o f Revelation- Fatrat ai-Waftiy Revelation Resume The Call to Islam in Makkah - the Secret Stage The Early Muslims The Call to Islam in Makkah - the Public Stage Essentials of the Prophet's Early Cal l of His People The Quraysh Reject the Messenger� and His Message The Quraysh Take Action The Quraysh Approach Abu Iaalib The Muslims' Emigration (Hijrah) to Ethiopia Why Abyssinia? The Boycott The Year of Grief The Journey to at-Taa'if The N ight Journey and the Ascension to Heaven (The lsraa' and the Mi'raaj)

3.30. 3.3 1 . 3.32. 3.33. 3.34. 3.35. 3.36. 3.37. 3.38. 3.39. 3.40. 3.41 . 3.42. 3.43. 3.44.

Madinah Residents Embrace Islam Several Emigrations The Long-awaited Hijrah Ta kes Place The Hijrah The Suraaqah Incident The House of Abu Ayyoob ai- An�aaree The Constitution of Madeena h: Safteefat ai-Madeenah The Command of Prayer and Adhaan The Hypocrites: Munaafiqoon The Change of the Qiblah: TheDirection of Prayer War and Peace Campaigns and Expeditions The Issue of Succession to the Prophet� Remembering the Prophet�: The Most Beautiful Model His Character was the Qur'aan Itself

44 45 46 46 48 49 50 51 51 52 52 53 55 57 58 58 59 59 60 61 62 63 63 64 65 66 67 67 69 70 70 71 71 73 75 77 77 78 78 79 80 86 87 89

3.1 . The Prophet's Birth: 'The Yea r of the Elephant' The Messenger of Allah � was born i n

elephant wou l d move q u ickly, but whenever

Makka h o n M onday morni ng, t h e 1 2th of

they d i rected it towards Ma kkah it wou ld kneel

Rabee' ai-Awwal, in the Yea r of the Elepha nt, 5 7 1

down. This was the clearest of forewa rni ngs for

CE, some fifty-five days after t h e u nsuccessfu l

the a rmy not to move one step forwa rd, but

exped ition of Abra h a h agai nst Makka h .

Abra h a h was blinded by his am bition for the

Yemen a t that t i m e was u nder t h e rule of

sanctuary he had built and his determi natio n

Eth iopia, a nd Abrahah was its g overnor. He

t o destroy the Ka � ba h . Had he a n d his a rmy

bu ilt a g rand cathed ra l i n .S.a n �aa: hoping to

tu rned back, they would perhaps have esca ped

make it ta ke the place of Ma kkah as the great

the great d isaster. But it was too late.

place of pilgrimage for a l l Ara bia. A man from

Suddenly the western s ky grew da rk, a n d

Ki naanah, a large tri be of western Saudi Arabia

a stra nge sound was h ea rd i n t h e dista nce.

i n H ijaz, u n derstood Abra h a h's motive, so h e

Its vol u m e g rad ually i ncreased. A g reat wave

went t o .S.a n �aa' with t h e deli berate i ntention of

of da rkness a rrived upon the a rmy from the

defiling the ch u rch, which he did one n ig ht and

direction of the sea, and the air a bove them

retu rned safely to his people.

was fu l l of birds wh ich were very m uch l i ke

When Abra h a h h ea rd of this, he swore that

sparrows and swa l l ows. Each bird had three

he would raze the Ka � ba h to the g round in

pebbles the size of d ried peas, one in its beak

revenge. Havi ng made his preparations, h e

and each one of the other two between the

set off for Makka h with a large army o f sixty

claws of each foot.

thousa nd wa rriors, in the front of wh ich he

They swooped to a n d fro over the a rmy,

placed a colossal elepha nt. His a rmy i n cl uded

pelti ng them as they did so. The pebbles were

between n i n e to thirteen elepha nts. When

hard a n d they la nded with such ra pid ity that

Abra h a h reached ai-M uhassir Va l ley, between

they even pierced coats of mail. Every stone

M uzda l ifa h and M i na, the elephant knelt down

fou n d its ma rk. Every pebble ki l led its man.

to the g rou nd. Abra ha's soldiers did everything

As soon as a soldier was hit, his flesh bega n

they possi bly cou l d to bring it to his feet, but

to rot. A large n u mber o f Abra h a h's sold iers

it stu bbornly refused to move. Whenever they

were kil led in this way. Many others, Abra h a h

d i rected it towa rds the north, south or east, the

incl uded, d ied soon after t h e i r return t o .S.a n �aa:

The Ara bs attached great i m porta nce to this

place in the yea r 5 7 1 of the C h ristian Calendar.

event. They dated thei r ca lendar from it sayi ng,

Accord ing to others, however, it occu rred i n

'Th is occu rred in the Yea r of the Elephant: 'so­

t h e yea r 570 C E . There is a difference o f opin ion

and-so was born in the Yea r of the Elephant' or

among schola rs concern i n g the exact date

'this happened so many yea rs after the Yea r of

of the b i rth of the Prophet :l\. Some scholars

the Elephant'.

mainta i n that h e was born on the gth Rabee' ai­

According to many schola rs, this event took

3.2. The Prophet's Lineage and Ancestry AI-

The

Proph et's

father

was

�Abd u l la a h, and his mother was Aa minah, daug hter of Wa h b ibn �Abd

Manaaf.

�Abdu i-M utta l i b

was his g ra ndfather, and Abu Iaa l i b was one of his u ncles. The prophet � was born among the best of tri bes on earth a n d was of the best of l i n eages. His a n cestry ca n be traced back to Prophet l braaheem �\. As soon as h e was born, his mother

A I - Mu!!a l i b

sent word to his g ra ndfather, �Abdu i-M utta lib,

i nforming

h i m of the birth of a boy and asking h i m to come to see him. �Abdui-M utta l i b

came, took

h i m i n his a rms and ca rried h i m t o t h e Ka � bah, where he voiced, i n a passionate man ner, a n elaborate i nvocation of tha n ks and g ratitude to Allah for this g ift. Then he brought h i m back to his m other a n d na med h i m M uhammad. The Ara bs were n ot fa m i l i a r with t h i s name a n d were rather su rprised b y it.

Awwal i n the Yea r of the Elephant.

3.3. The Short-Lived �Abd u l laah We possess only sca nt information a bout �Abd u l laah, t h e father of the Prophet �. He was the favou rite of his father, the celebrated �Abdu i-M utta l i b. He was ma rried to Aa m i nah, the daug hter of Wa h b, who was a noble lady from Banu Zuhra h of the Qu raysh. The ma rriage was extremely short­ l ived. �Abd u l la a h set out on a trad ing exped ition to Syria, leavi ng Aa minah expecti n g his child. He never retu rned. �Abd u l la a h d ied i n Madeena h on h is return trip from Syria. When news of his death reached Makkah, Ba n u Haashim, and es pecia l ly Aa minah, was grief-stricken. Alla h's Messenger � was not yet born. �Abd u l la a h had no children except the future Prophet, nor had Aa m i n a h a ny other child. �Abd u l laah was bu ried i n Madeenah. He was twenty-five when he d ied. Allah's Messenger ;!i was born shortly after the death of his father.

3.4. Child hood Th e first woman who suckled h i m after his mother was Th uwayba h, the freed female

Some of the tribes had a h i g h reputatio n

slave of Abu La hab, with her son, Masru h . Abu

for n u rsing and rea ri n g children. Amongst

La h a b was one of the Prophet's u ncles. The

these were the Ba n u sa�d ibn Bakr, an outlying

rea l name of this u ncle was �Abd ai-Uzzaa. He

branch of Hawaazin, whose territory lay to

was popu larly nicknamed Abu La h a b, litera l ly

the southeast of Makka h . The Prophet ti was

'father of the flame' on accou nt of his bea uty

entrusted to Ha leema h, the daughter of Abu

which was most n ota bly expressed in h i s

Dh u'ayb. She was from Ba n u Sa�d ibn Bakr.

g lowing face. It was t h e genera l custom of the Ara bs l iving i n towns to send their children, soon after thei r

Her h u sband was ai-Haarith i b n �Abd ai-� Uzzaa, cal led Abu Kabshah, from the same tribe.

birth, away to Bedou i n

Traditions

wet n u rses s o that they

h ow Haleemah a n d

might grow u p i n the free

and

healthy

surroundings

of

describe

a l l h e r h ousehold were

favou red

by

successive

the desert. Thereby

strokes

they

good

wou ld

of fortune

develop a strong

while the child

body a n d acq u i re

M uha mmad

the

p u re

speech

and man ners of the Bedoui ns. They were noted both for pu rity of thei r lang uage and for being free from those vices which usua l ly •

develop in inactive societies.

�

lived u nder her ca re. It is narrated Ha leema h that descri bed i n after-yea rs that she, along with her h usband a n d a recently born

son of their own whom she was n u rsi ng, set

By the time he was two-years old, Ha leema h

out from her vil lage i n the com pany of some

took h i m again to his mother although she

women from Ba n u sa�d ibn Bakr in q u est of

was eager that he should stay with her for the

n u rsel ings to suckle. She said,

blessings he had broug ht her and her fa mily. The Prophet's mother gave h i m once more into

It was a year of d roug ht. We h a d n ot h i ng left. I set forth

her keeping and Haleema h brought h i m again

on a grey fem a l e don key of m i n e a n d we had with u s a n old

to her home. The Prophet � stayed with them

s h e-ca mel which cou l d not yield one drop of m i l k. We were kept awake a l l n ight by o u r son who would keep cryi n g a l l

u ntil he was fou r or five yea rs old.

n ig ht beca use o f h u nger, for I h a d not enough i n m y breast

While the Prophet � was stayi ng in

to feed h i m. At length, we reached Makkah a n d set a bout

Haleema h's house, a very stra nge i ncident

looking for n u rse l in g s . A a m i n a h offered her son first to one

took place. An angel came, split open his chest

and then to a n other, u ntil she had tried them all and they

and removed a blood clot from his heart a n d

had all refused. That was beca use we h o ped for some favours from the

th rew i t away. Then he clea nsed his heart a n d

boy's father. "An orp h a n !" we said, "What will his mother

replaced it. Muslim h a s recorded t h i s incident i n

and grandfather be able to g i ve u s ? " We had fixed our eyes

h i s S.ab.eeb. o n t h e a uthority of Anas i bn Maa l i k

on the reward that we woul d get from the child's father.

� wh o said, 'Wh i le the Prophet � was playi n g

I

"I

Every n u rse who h a d come with me got a ba by, and when we were about to depa rt,

said to my h u sband,

hate to return in the company of my friends without having ta ken a b a by to suckle. I shall g o to that orphan a n d take h i m :' So I went and took h i m for n o reason except that I could fi n d n o n e but h i m .

I put h i m in my bosom than my breasts

I carried h i m back to where o u r mo u nts were stationed, a n d no sooner had

overflowed with m i l k for h i m . He d ra n k h is fi l l , and his foster­

with some boys, Jibreel

;%§1

came t o h i m, took

him, laid h i m to the ground and split open his chest. J i breel extracted his hea rt, removed from it a black clot a n d said, "Th is is the portion of Sata n i n you :' He then was hed the heart with Zamza m water in a basin made of g old, joi ned the hea rt together a nd returned it to its pl ace.

brother a lso d ra n k h i s fi l l . Then they both slept, although

The children ra n up to their m other and sa id,

my baby had not been a b l e to sleep the previ o u s n i g ht at

"Muha m mad has been m u rdered:'They h u rried

a l l. My husband went to that old sh e-camel of o u rs and

to h i m to fi nd h i m standing a lone, pale and

h e fou n d her udders fu l l . H e m i l ked her and d ra n k of her

shaken: Anas � added, 'I have seen the stitch

milk. I a l s o d ra n k with him u ntil we could d r i n k n o more. O u r h u n g e r was satisfied. We enjoyed a sound sleep d u r i n g the n i g ht, a n d i n the morni n g m y h u s b a n d said t o m e , "By

I

ma rks on his chest: This i n cident certa i n ly deserves more than a passing thought or mention. What happened

A l l a h , J:::ia l eem a h, you have taken a blessed ch i l d:' carried h i m a n d rode my d o n key

on that day was one of the signs of Prophethood.

which outstripped the whole troops of fel l ow-travel lers

It was a clea r proof that Allah had chosen

Then we set out.

It

so much so that n o n e of their d o n keys was a b l e to keep pace with h e r. We reached our dwel l i ng s in B a n u Sa'd.

was a barren place. But when we bro u g ht Muha m m a d �

M uha m mad � for a very i m porta nt message. Pu rification from Satan's i nfl uence was in fact

to l ive with us, the barren land soon sprouted l u s h grass.

preparation for protecting the Prophet �

My flock wou l d come fu l l y satisfied at every eve n i n g fu l l of

from evi l of every sort. Although idol-worship

m i l k. We conti n u ed to enjoy this i ncrease a n d bou nty from

and evi l deeds were p ractised on a large sca le

A l l a h . The baby was growi n g wel l . None of the other boys

I weaned h i m .

cou l d match h i m fo r g rowth u nti l the b a by's two years had passed, a n d

·

a mong the Qu raysh, the Prophet � n ever ever bowed down to an idol, nor com m itted a sin. The remova l of the blood-clot from his heart

•

certa i n ly purified h i m from every i m matu rity

Makkah. However, not long after they had set

and recklessness of youth. The i ncident also

out on their return journey, Aa m i n a h fel l i l l.

shows us the deg ree to which Allah p rotected

After some days, she d ied at Abwaa: on the

the Prophet � and prevented Sata n from

road between Makka h and Madeena h, and she

havi n g a ny i nfl uence over h i m whatsoever.

was bu ried there. U m m Ayman brought the boy back to Ma kka h and she did a l l she possi bly could to comfort him now that he had lost both h i s father a n d mother. His g randfather 'Abd u i­ M utta lib took com plete charge of h i m . It soon beca me clea r that his specia l fond ness for �Abd u l laah had been transferred to �Abd u l l aa h's son. �Abd u i-M utta l i b

the

foremost chief of Ma kka h and the

-

was

_. -

u ndisputed leader of Ba n u Haash i m . He was t h e most ha ndsome among the Q u raysh men. He was very ta l l,

3.5. Aa m i n a h a n d � A b d u i­ Mutta l i b Pass away After this incident, Haleemah was so worried a bout the boy that she took h i m o nce more to

kind-hearted, generous, kind a n d enjoyed g reat cha racter. He was held in h i g h esteem, a n d no ru ler had ever met h i m but would show h i m respect a n d hold h i m i n awe. He had been the leader of the Quraysh u ntil his death.

Ma kka h and returned h i m to his mother. He was

�Abd u i-M utta l i b was very fond of his

six yea rs old then. The boy l ived happily with

g randson, a n d thei r i nti mate rel ationship

his mother in Ma kkah for some time, winning

g rew even stronger as time passed. Every day,

the affection of his gra n dfather a n d his u ncles

he wou l d spread a couch i n the shade of the

and a u nts, and his many cousins with whom he

Ka'bah, and out of respect for thei r father none

played.

of h i s sons wou l d venture to sit on it, but h e

The reu nion of orphan M uhammad � with

would seat h i mself beside t h e Prophet � on

his rea l mother was desti ned to be short-lived

the couch a n d stroke his back. Al most everyday

indeed. When he was six yea rs old, his mother

they would be seen together. But, alas, h i m too

decided to ta ke him on a visit to his maternal

M uha m ma d � was destined to lose very soon .

u ncles in Madeenah. She was i n her early

W h e n M uha m mad � w a s eight yea rs, two

twe nties then. She set out to cover a jou rney of

m onths and ten days old, his g randfather

a bout 500 ki lometres with her orph a n boy and

passed away i n Makkah. Umm Ayman reported

her female serva nt Umm Ayman. She spent a

that she had seen the youthful M uha mmad �

month there and then decided to g o back to

weeping as h e q u ickened his steps to fol l ow

the coffi n of his g u a rdian a n d protector. The princely patriarch died at the age of eig hty­ two, acco rd i n g to the most rel ia ble sou rces.

3.6.

M u h a m mad's

Early

Occu pation

Some schola rs put his age at over a h u n d red yea rs when he d ied. When he was dyi ng, �Abdu i-M utta l i b e ntrusted his g randson to Abu Iaa l i b, who was a fu l l brother of you n g M uhammad's father. Abu Iaa l i b conti n ued the love a n d the kind ness that his nephew had received from the old man. Henceforth he was as one of his own sons, a n d his wife Faa1i mah did a l l she possibly could to take the place of his mother. After many yea rs, A l la h's M essenger � used to say of her that she would have let her own children go h u ngry rather than him. Like his father, Abu Iaa l i b was dign ified, honoured a n d greatly respected by his people.

M uha mmad � did what he cou l d i n his ea rly youth to earn h is l ivel ihood. In fact, he tended sheep and goats for a wage and would thus spend day after day a lone i n the hills above Ma kka h or o n the slopes of the va l leys beyond. When M uha mmad � was sti l l you ng, Abu Iaa l i b was going through a fi na ncial crisis. He had many mouths to feed, a n d his busi ness

What i m porta nce did the Makka ns

was not going so wel l . To help his u ncle get

attach to the i ncident of the

through these hard times, M uha m mad �

Elephant?

worked as a shepherd. I n a n a uthentic b_adeeth,

Mention the Prophet's parents.

he is reported to have said, 'Every p rophet

Who na med h i m M uha mmad?

tended s heep: His Compa nions asked h i m,

Why, you th i n k, the Ara bs were

'And did you?' He repl ied, 'Yes, I tended them

su rprised by this name?

for the Makkans in return for qaraaree1: Ibn

Why d id Ha leema h fi n a l ly ta ke i n ba by M uha mmad :i? What

Hajar mentions that schola rs hold two opinions concern ing the mea n i n g of the Arabic word

blessings did she enjoy?

qaraaree1. The fi rst opinion states that a qeeraat

H ow can you say that the Prophet's

(singular of qaraaree1) is a part of a dinar

chest was l itera l ly opened? What

or dirham, a nd the second one

was the wisdom behind this?

qaraaree1 is the name of a place in Ma kka h.

states that

Working as a shep herd afforded the Prophet �thechance to work i n peace a n d q u iet, to enjoy

the bea uty of the desert and to contemplate

people bow their heads low before evi ldoers.

the wonders and g randeur of Alla h's creation.

They remain si lent a bout their wrongdoing for

I ndeed, Allah wou l d have provided the Prophet

fea r of losing their jobs and their l ivel i hood.

ii with wea lth a nd comfort so that h e would not

have to work as a shepherd, but this practice was a divine train ing for h i m so that it wou l d b e m u c h easier for him to dea l with people a n d tolerate their harm. I ndeed, a shepherd needs a g reat dea l of patience a nd forbea rance to look after his flock. Th is practice proved usefu l to the prophets. A shep herd picks up and develops many wonderfu l q ua l ities: the very qualities that the Prophet ii needed to lead his com m u n ity to the truth. Some of these q u a l ities include patience, h u m bleness, bravery, mercy and compassion, and a bove a l l the love of ea rning one's l iving thro u g h hard work. By doing so his fol l owers were a lso ta u g ht a

3.7. Ba heeraa the Monk

very good lesson, namely, the most honoura ble way to live is to eat from what one earns

When M uha m ma d � was twelve yea rs old,

by engaging i n lawfu l work. A person who

he accompa n ied his u ncle, Abu Iaa l i b, on a

invites others to Islam m ust especially avoid

trade jou rney to Syria. When they reached

ta ki ng from what is in thei r ha nds. He should

B u�raa, a n a ncient city i n southern Syria that

be independent of a l l h u ma n bei ngs. A self­

was under the Roman ru le, there was a monk

sufficient man is dignified i n the sight of others.

na med Baheeraa, who came o ut of h is cell to

Whatever good he does, he does it for Allah.

meet them. Although he had not met them

The Prophet ii once said, "Never has a ny one

before, he read i ly recog nized the Prophet �

eaten a better food tha n what he has eaten out

a nd said while taking his ha nd, 'Th is is the

of the labour of his own hands; and David, the

master of all m a n kind. Allah will send him with

Prophet of Allah, u sed to eat out of the labour

a message which wi l l be a mercy to a l l beings:

of his own hands. (AI-Bu khaaree, b.adeeth no.

Abu Iaa l i b asked him, 'How do you know that?'

2072) Moreover, this b.adeeth is suggestive

Baheeraa replied, 'When you a ppeared from

of the adoption of a lawfu l occu pation, no

the d i rection of �Aqabah, every single rock and

matter h ow people may look askance at it. That

tree fel l down i n prostration, which they never

was the reason why the prophets took such

do except for a prophet. I ca n a lso recogn ize

occu pations.

h i m by the a pple-l i ke 'Seal of Prophethood '

When one is self-sufficient, depending upon

below his shoulder bones: He a lso asked Abu

no one but Allah, one gains the freedom of

Iaa l i b to send the boy back to Ma kka h and

being a ble to speak the truth. Beca use they a re

not to ta ke h i m to Syria as there was a serious

dependent u pon the generosity of others, many

danger to his life from the Romans and the

Jews. Abu Iaa l i b obeyed and sent him back to Ma kka h with some of his serva nts. The trip to Syria was no doubt a major event in the l ife of the Prophet :;i. For the first ti me, he saw the bustl ing commercial centres of other la nds. The trip brought him i nto contact with a society which d iffered considera bly from the one in which he had g rown u p.

3.9. Hilf ai-Fudool: Al liance of the Virtuous A s a you n g m a n, t h e Prophet � took part i n t h e formation of t h e 'Allia nce of t h e Vi rtuous' i n Makka h . He once said, 'I was present i n the h ouse of �Abd u l la a h i bn J ud �aan at so excel lent a pact that I wou l d not exchange my part i n it for a herd of red camels, a n d if now, i n Islam, I were s u m moned to it I wou l d gladly respond: The expression fudool comes from the word fad/, which means nobi l ity, superiority and

vi rtue. Hence, it was a n a pp ropriate n a me for the a l l i a nce. The owner of red camels d u ring those tim es wou l d today be equ ivalent to a m i l l ionaire.1 I n fact, Hilf ai-Fudoo/ was a kind of league agai nst i nj u stice. Mem bers of the a l l ia n ce

3 .8. The Sacri leg ious (Fijaar)

War

A war that raged between Ki naanah a nd Q u raysh on one side and Qays �Aylaan, an im porta nt clan of the Hawaazin, on a nother was ca l led the Fijaar or the Sacrilegious Wa r beca use both sides violated the sanctity at the Holy Hou se. The confl ict d ragged on for three or fou r yea rs. Alla h's Messenger :1 took pa rt i n o n e of these battles. His efforts were, however, confined to helping by gathering enemy arrows that had missed their mark and handing them over to his u ncles so that they cou l d shoot them back. At that time, the Prophet :1 was a bout twenty yea rs old. The Ara bic word fijaar means wicked ness. This wa r was given such a name beca u se the sanctity of Ma kka h was being violated, and the Ara bs considered a ny violation of Ma kka h to be a wicked cri me. The Prophet :1 lea rnt a bout wa r and ch iva l ry d u ring these tribal encou nters.

were req u i red to come to the a i d of those who needed an extra helping hand, such as the oppressed victims of i nj ustice, widows, slaves, orpha ns, the travellers, the poor and the elderly. The objective of this a l l ia nce was to protect the defenceless and ensure the safety of stra ngers i n Makka h . The league ca me a bout beca u se a stranger from Yemen sold goods in Ma kka h to a n infl uentia l mem ber of a powerfu l local clan who su bsequently refused either to pay the p rice or to retu rn the goods, as a resu lt of which the wronged seller stood u p in the vicin ity of the Ka � ba h and i m plored aid for h i m self as a stranger i n the city. Several mem bers of the Quraysh a ristocracy ra l l ied to his assistance and sec u red the return of his goods. Meeting i n the house of �Abd u llaah ibn Jud �aan, they pledged henceforth to com bat oppressive acts a nd u phold justice. The Prophet �' then in his early twenties, was p resent at this gatheri ng. 1 - Al i Moha m m ad as-Sa l l aa be e, The Noble Life o f the Prophet �. Daru s s a l a m, R i yad h, Saudi Arabia, 2005, Vol. 1, p. 103.

61

3.1 . Divine Protection Alla h's Messenger � was protected by Allah. He d istanced himself from the indecencies and bad habits of the Jaahiliyyah, the pre-Islamic period of social and moral decl ine. The term Jaahiliyyah is commonly translated as the 'Age of Ignorance': ignora nce, that is, of the word of Allah. Allah's Messenger � felt a deep sense of revu lsion at the worship of idols. Once he was

3.1 1 .

The

Prophet's

Marriage to Khadeejah �

req uested to act in the name of the idols ai-Laat

Khadeejah belo nged to the fa mous

and a i-� Uzzaa, but he repl ied with the sta rtling

Quraysh tribe. She was the daug hter

a nswer, 'Do not ever ask me anything for the sake

of Kh uwaylid ibn Asad. She was from

of these idols. I have never hated a nything more:

the noblest of fa m i l ies and the richest

The Prophet � never lied or deceived a nyone;

of their women. She was i ntel ligent,

he was sincere and truthful. He outshone everyone

resou rcefu l, d iscreet, affectionate and

in truthfulness, trustworthiness, bravery and

of noble cha racter. She cond u cted

modesty. He respected fa mily ties. He shared the

trade with the help of active pa rtners

burden of others. He honoured his g uests, a lways

who g ot a share i n profits. When

provided his own food and was content with simple

she lea rnt of M uhammad's honesty,

meals. What set him apart from his fel l ow Makkans

trustworthiness

was his a bsol ute truthfu l ness, trustworthi ness,

qualities, she sent him a message

integrity, sense of justice and com passion for the

expressing her desire to ta ke her

poor, the oppressed and the downtrodden, as

goods fo r her to Syria. She prom ised

wel l as his tota l refusal to worship a ny idol or do

she wou l d give h i m share of the profits

a nyth i ng immoral. He had gai ned experience in

that was greater than what she wou l d

trad ing th rough his travels with the trade ca rava ns

normally give others. He agreed t o the

to greater Syria becau se of his h onesty, hard work

terms and travel led in the company of

and the busi ness acumen he showed in trading;

Maysa ra h, a serva nt she had provided

he was soon being sou g ht after to ta ke charge

to be his travel compa n ion.

and

high

moral

of other people's merchandise, that is to say, for

The Prophet � succeeded i n his

those who cou ld not travel themselves so that

trade mission very wel l . The profits

they would trade on their beha lf.

were u n usua l ly high. His mild man ners

Soon he was popula rly acclaimed for these

and agreea ble tem perament won h i m

qual ities. A�-S_aadiq (the truthfu l) a nd ai-Ameen

t h e hearts of m e n he employed i n

(the trustworthy) were the titles on everybody's l i ps

t h e cou rse of his jou rney. Th roughout

for M uha mmad � which itself mea ns 'the p raised ' one. ' Always faithfu l and truthfu l, people used to

the trip, Maysarah witnessed the

deposit their va luables with him for safekeeping.

truthfu l ness of the Prophet �.

wonderfu l character, nobility a nd

I n addition to that, Khadeejah experienced

d ied d u ring the Prophet's l ifetime. Faa1i mah

plentifu l blessi ngs in her wealth. Based u pon

t;t);;

these

reasons, she had a h ea rt to h eart

daug hters witnessed Islam, em braced it and

d iscussion with her friend Nafeesa h, the

emigrated to Madeenah. Of the daug hters who

daug hter of M u nya h, tel l i ng her a bout the

ma rried, only Faa1i mah had descenda nts. She

positive feelings she was having a bout the

was the mother of a i-Hasa n and ai-Husayn. Her

Prophet �. Nafeesa h went to the Prophet � and

husband �Ali was a cousin of the Prophet � and

proposed to him on behalf of Khadeejah. The

the fou rth rig htly-gu ided ca liph.

d ied six months after his own death. All his

Prophet � was so pleased with the proposal that he went to his u ncles to seek their advice. They a l l agreed to h i s marriage to her. Khadeeja h

�

was at that ti me a widow, at

the rather adva n ced age of forty. Very wea lthy and with a strong and i ndependent will, she had repeatedly declined m a rriage offers made by some of the most promi nent men of the Qu raysh, after the death of her second h usband. She had p reviously been ma rried to �Ateeq ibn �Aa'idh a i-Ma khzu mee. She bore him a female c h i ld. After him she was ma rried to Abu Haalah at-Tameemee. She bore h i m a boy. Abu Haalah d ied before the advent of Islam. M uha m mad � ma rried her at the age of twenty-five yea rs, i n the prime of his youth. The marriage proved to be one of affection and happiness. She was the first woman that the Messenger of Allah � ma rried, and he did not ma rry a ny other woman u nti l she d ied. Thei r marriage was wondrously blessed. She bore h i m six c h i l d ren, two sons and four daug hters. Their eldest child was a son na med a i-Qaasim, and the Prophet � came to be known as Abui­ Qaasim, the father of a i-Qaasim. B ut the boy d ied i n i nfa ncy. The next child was a daug hter whom they na med Zayna b, and she was followed by three other daug hters Ruqayya h, Umm Ku lthoom and Faa1i mah; and fi n a l ly another short-lived son, 'Abd u l laah who was also cal led a1-Ia a h i r and a1-Iayyi b. All their daug hters except Faa1i mah

�

•

The Cave of !!iraa'

�¢1¢' � ..r ¢ ¢�¢¢� ¢ �¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢�.-t � 3.1 3. Meditation i n the Cave of H i raa' R � {Mount H i raa') ft� � a B � !\\­ As the Prophet � approached the age of forty, he came

to spend more and more of his time i n retreat. He wou ld

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with d rew i nto seclusion in the Cave of H i raa: towa rds the top

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of Mount H i raa: some two mi les northeast of Ma kka h towa rds "!t the back of the mountain. He appl ied h i mself there to a rdent devotions, i .e. wors h i p. He spent his time i n long vig i ls, prayers and contemplation-someti mes for severa l days at a ti me. This mou ntain is cal led Jabal an-Noor (Mount of Lig ht) beca u se there the first verses of the Qu r'a n were revea led. At Mount H i raa: h e wou ld rema i n plu nged in deep thought and reflection. I n his sol ita ry retreat, the Prophet � would be q u ite alone most of the time. He wou ld ta ke with h i m p rovisions and devote a certa i n n u m ber of nig hts to the wors h i p of Allah. Then he would return to Khadeeja h � a nd on his return ta ke ' more provisions and g o again to the mountain. Du ring these times it often ha ppened that after he had left the town and was a pproach i n g the mount he would hear clea rly the words, 'Peace be on you: a nd he wou ld turn a nd look for the spea ker, but no one was i n sig ht, and it was as if the words had come from a stone or a rock. Alla h's Messenger � is reported to have said, ' I know the roc k in Ma kka h that u sed to g reet me. I know it very wel l: (Musl i m, hadeeth no. 2277)

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The first kind of revelation to which the Messenger of Allah � was i n itiated was the true d reams d u ring sleep, and he never saw a d ream but it came l i ke the b rea king of light and dawn. (a i-Bukhaaree) Th is lasted for six m onths. The first of these Prophetic d reams occu rred in the month of Rabee� a!-Awwa/, when the Prophet � had j ust completed his fortieth yea r. The Prophet � once said that the true good d ream is one of the forty-six pa rts of Prophethood. We know that the tota l period of revelation was twenty-three years, of which the first six months formed of true d rea ms. It is i m porta nt, however, to n ote here that n o verse of the Qu r'a n was revealed to h i m i n his sleep. The entire Qu r'a n was revealed to h i m while he was awa ke.

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Who was U m m Ayman? What role did she play after the death of Aa minah? How can you say that �Abd u i-M utta l i b was very fond of h i s grandson? What was the Prophet's ea rly occu pation ? How did it aid i n honing the skills n eeded for Prophethood? Why, do you th i n k, should a M uslim be self-sufficient? Why do you th i n k the Prophet � was very pl eased with his i nvolvement in the formation of the Hilfa/-FuQ.oo/?

What prom pted Khadeeja h � to propose marriage to the Prophet �? How was this marriage blessed?

in the cave when Angel Jibreel �� appea red and said to him, 'Read!' The Prophet � replied, 'I ca n n ot read: Th e Prophet � h i mself later na rrated what happened n ext: 'Then the angel took me and pressed me u ntil all strength went o ut of me, then he released me a n d said, "Read!" I said, " I ca n n ot read:'Then he took hold of me and pressed me again u ntil all strength went out of me; then he released me and said, "Read!" I repl ied, "I ca n not read:' Then he took me a n d pressed me a third time; then he released me a n d said, Read i n the Name o f you r Lord Who h a s created! H e has created man from a c l i n g i n g clot. Read, for yo u r Lord is the Most G racious, Who h a s ta u g ht by the pen, Ta u g h t man what he k n ew not.' (Surat ai-'Aiaq,

96:1 -5)

Trembling with fea r, the Messenger of Allah � retu rned to Khadeeja h � and said, 'Wra p me u p! Wra p me up!' She wra pped him u p u nti l he felt secu re again. Then he told her a bout what had happened a n d said, ' I ndeed, I fea r for myself!' Khadeeja h � said, 'By Allah! Allah will never h u m i liate you! You fu lfi l the d uties of kinsh i p, support the wea k, help the poor, honour g u ests and help those in genuine d istress: During one Ramadhaan, in his third yea r

Then she set out with h i m to her parenta l

of sol itude i n t h e cave of H i raa: t h e Prophet

cousin Wa raqah ibn Nawfa l who had embraced

� was alone i n the cave of H i raa' on the night

Ch ristia n ity before Islam a n d used to write the

destined for the beg i n n i n g of his p rophetic

Bible in Hebrew. He was a lso old and blind.

mission. He was precisely forty l u n a r yea rs,

Khadeejah � said to him, 'My cousin, l isten to

six months a n d twelve days old; that is to say,

your nephew: Wa raqah tu rned to M uha mmad

thirty-nine Gregorian years, three months and

� and said, 'What d id you see, my nephew?'

twenty days.2• It was the twenty-fi rst n i g ht of

M uha m mad � told h i m what he had seen.

Ramadhaan, Monday, Aug u st 1 0, i n the yea r

Wa raqah then said to h i m, 'That was the Angel

6 1 0 of t h e Ch ristia n Ca lendar.

of Revelation whom Allah sent down upon

The Prophet � was alone a n d fu l ly awa ke

Moosaa. If only I were you nger and wou l d be

The

a ble to l ive u p to the time when you r people

Da russalam, R i yadh, Saudi Arabia 2002, pp.

will d rive you o ut: M uha m mad � asked, 'Wi l l

2- For m o re deta i l s, see Safi - u r- R a� m a n a i - Mu barakpu ri,

Sealed Nectar, 86 - 7.

they rea l ly expel me?"Yes: he repl ied, 'a nyone who ever brought something similar to what you have bro u g ht was treated with hostility. If I should live ti l l then, I wou ld certa i n ly give you support and assista nce: Wa raqah passed away soon afterwards befo re the Prophet � bega n to preach Islam pu bl icly and before the persecution by the Qu raysh started, and the revelations paused for a whi le. (ai-Bukhaaree) I t was an Ara b custom, which is a lso preva lent these days, to address a n old and respected man as u ncle, hence Khadeejah's words 'yo u r nephew: Wa raqa h believed that M uhammad � was the fi nal Messenger sent to manki nd. He is cou nted among those who embraced

•

Revelations Resume

I n fact, the pa use of revelations for a few days was to rel ieve the Prophet � of the i ntensity of the awe h e had experienced in the Cave of H i raa' and to increase his longing for revelations. And after the pause, the revelation came to h i m again. I t is recorded i n Saheeh ai-Bukhaaree that the Messenger of Allah � was heard tal king a bo ut the brea k of revelation as fol l ows:

Islam. The Prophet � later stated that Wa raqah

'While I was walki ng, I heard a

was one of the dwellers of Pa rad ise. He once

voice coming from the sky. I looked

said, 'Do not spea k i l l of Wa raqah, for I indeed

up and saw the same a ngel who

saw that he had a garden or two gardens i n

had visited me at the Cave of H i raa:

Pa radise: (ai-Haakim)

sitti ng on a throne between the sky and the ea rth. He fi l led me with awe

•itt 3.1 5. The Pa use of Revelations Between

-

the

��

Fatrat a/-Wahiy first

revelation

mentioned i n the a bove tradition a nd the next a period ela psed d u ring which the Prophet � received no revelation, which was a time of deepest d istress for the h i m . There is no u n a n i m ity regarding the d u ration of the pause of the revelations or the i nterm ission. It is, however, reasonable to mainta i n that it was in fact short, lasting only a few days. To say that it lasted a bout two and half or th ree yea rs is not correct.

and I retu rned home and said, 'Wra p me up! Wra p me u p!' Then Allah the Most H i g h revealed the fol lowing verses: 0

you wra pped in a ma ntle!

Arise and del iver you r wa rning. Magn ify you r Lord. Pu rify you r clothes, And keep away from idolatry. (Soorat ai-Muddath-thir, 74: 1 -5)

After this the revelation sta rted com ing frequently a nd reg u l a rly. ' Th us, forthe first time, t h e Prophet � was commanded to preach Islam. The a bove-q u oted verses were the first verses

to

be revealed after the

pause of revelations.

3.1 7. The Ca l l to Islam i n Makka h - the Secret Stage

3. 1 8. The Ea rly Muslims At fi rst, a s we

have poi nted out a bove,

M uha m mad � preached Islam secretly among close

When Alla h's Messenger � received

relatives, friends a nd acquainta nces. The first to

h is Lord 's command to 'rise a nd warn: he

accept Islam was, as is u n iversa l ly acknowledged,

indeed rose and wa rned his people and

his wife Khadeejah. �Ali ibn Abee Iaa l i b, who was a

ca rried doing so u ntil he met his Lord,

ten-year-old cousin of the Prophet � and a member

some twenty-th ree yea rs later. He spent

of the household and later son-in-law, was the next

these twenty-three years vigorously and

convert. The Prophet � undertook to su pport 'Ali

relentlessly striving to abide by the noble

beca u se of the limited resou rces of Abu Iaa l i b and

and weig hty order to 'rise and warn: He

the large size of his fa m i ly. Next was the Prophet's

compl ied with his Lord's command with

freed man and adopted son Zayd i bn Haarith a h . Next

u n ique vigour, energy and dedication. His

to accept Islam was Abu Bakr who was the Prophet's

efforts i n this respect fa ll i nto two major

close friend and confidant for many yea rs.

stages: a secret stage and a public stage.

Regard i n g th e conversion ofAbu Ba kr, M uha m mad

The secret stage was approximately for

� sa id,

the first th ree yea rs of his mission. The

"I never i nvited a nyone to Islam who did not display some hesitation i n embracing it except Abu

second stage l asted u ntil he fi n a l ly left Makka h on his fa mous hijrah (emigration) to Madeenah and the rest of his l ife. The private stage was ma rked by secrecy i n conveyi ng the message. It was d isti ngu ished by g reat care and ca ution i n carefu l ly i nviti ng certain i nd ividuals to Islam.

Bakr. He alone did not delay when I invited him to Islam, nor did h e hesitate." Abu Ba kr was the first convert outside the im mediate household of Muha m mad �. He was two years you nger than the Prophet � who was forty years old. Abu Ba kr � was thus the first male adult to accept Islam. Being a successfu l merchant, he possessed considera ble wea lth. He was very

II

popu lar i n Ma kkah owi ng to his fi ne and easy

ai-Arqam ibn Abee ai-Arqa m, � uthmaan ibn

man ners. He was the first of the prominent

Madh �oon, a n d his two brothers Qudaamah

personal ities of Ma kkah to accept Islam. He was

and �Abd u l laah. � u bayd a h ibn a i-Haa rith,

the first free-born man who open ly declared

Faa1i mah bint ai-Khattaa b, sister of � u ma r, the

himself a Muslim. People reg ula rly tu rned to

second rightly-g uided ca l i ph, sa �eed i bn Zayd,

him for advice beca use of his knowled ge and

h usband of Faa1i mah bint ai-Khattaa b and

experience. Th rough his personal efforts, q u ite a

severa l others who accepted Islam.

good n u m ber of people embraced Islam. These

Among the first Musli ms, the Q u raysh were

include � uthmaan ibn �Affaan, az-Zu bayr ibn ai­

a clear majority. The thought that the early

�Awwaam, �Abd ur-Rahmaan ibn �Awf, sa�d ibn

converts consisted primari ly of slaves, socia l

Abee Waq qaas and Ia lha h ibn � u bayd u l laah.

outcasts a n d d owntrodden persons i s both

Among the early Muslims were a l so Bilaal

wrong and biased. The vast majority of those

ibn Ra baah the Ethiopian, Abu ' U baydah i bn

ea rly M uslims were, in fact, Qu raysh free-born

a i-Ja rraah, Abu Salamah i bn 'Abdu i-Asad,

men and were not slaves at all.

3.1 9. The Cal l to Islam i n Ma kka h - the Public Stage Du ring the three yea rs of the private stage, many people accepted Islam i n Makka h .

you that some cava l ry i n the va lley were a bout to attack you, wou l d you bel ieve me?'

Groups o f men a n d women entered Islam. Soon

They rep l ied, 'Yes, we have never experienc­

the mention of Islam was on everyone's lips in

ed a ny l ie from you : He then said, 'I am a wa rner

Makka h . Then Allah comma nded Messenger :i to proclaim publ icly

to you before a severe pu n ish ment: Abu La h a b shouted ang rily,

what had come to him from his

'Peris h you for the rest of the

Lord: 'And wa rn you r nearest

day. I s it for this that you

relatives: (26: 2 1 4)

have gathered us?' The

This verse was revea led

Prophet

�

rou g h ly three yea rs after

was dismayed by the

the fi rst revelation at H i raa:

response. The response

AI-Bukhaaree record s that

of the Qu raysh was not

when the verse, 'And warn

wa rm. It was hostile in

you r nea rest rel atives,' was

the case of Abu La hab. But

revea led to the Prophet �, he ascended the h i l l of a�-.S.afaa, nea r

�. Abu La h a b was condemned

the Ka � ba h, a n d proclai med i n a

together with his wife i n strong terms.

voice:

II

'0

Ba n u Fihr,

0

Allah comforted the Prophet

Ba n u �Adiy; ca lling the

Soorat ai-Masad was revea led to the Prophet �.

clans of the Qu raysh, till they had all gathered.

Th u s the first person to th reaten the Prophet �

Among those present was Abu La hab, a n

a n d attempt to shout h i m down was his own

u ncle of the Prophet �. The Prophet � then

u n cle, Abu La hab.

addressed them, 'Tell me, if I were to inform

The a bove-mentioned trad ition from a l-

Bu khaaree ma rks the beg i n n i n g of the public

called the Quraysh to acknowledge and worship

stage i n which Alla h's Messenger ·� openly

no god a pa rt from Allah, the only True God.

3.20. Essentials of the Prophet's Early Ca l l of H is People I n t h e first insta nce, Alla h's Messenger �

and beneath it, in the seas, the s kies and every

i nvited the Quraysh idolaters of Ma kkah to

other part of the u n iverse. His knowledge and

decla re the testimony of faith: Laa ilaaha

mercy encom pass everyone and everything. He forgives sins, rel ieves stress,

Mub_ammadun

il/al/aah,

Rasulul/aah (There

god

but

Allah,

woes

removes

a nd

a nd

g u ides those who have

the

gone astray. He feeds

Messenger of Allah) -

the h u n g ry, clothes the

M uhammad

is

the fa mous Muslim call

naked and hea l s the

to pure monotheism

sick. He is One a nd

(tawb_eed).

Alone

and

has

no

statement

partners. Allah is you r

Laa ilaaha illallaah

only Lord and Master.

two

Su rrender you r bei ngs

is

and you r l ives tota lly to

The consists

of

p h rases:

one

a

negation, the other is

H i m Alone. Worship

a n affirmation. Laa ilaaha

and serve no one but Him. There is no god but

(there is no god) wi pes

Allah and M uha m mad is the

out the existence of every

Messenger of Allah.

fa lse god a nd condemns fa l se worship. The word i/aah could

refe r

The roots from which the word Islam comes

to any matter, person, idea or notion which is

means both 'su bmission: 'peace' a nd 'security:

u ndeservedly ta ken or adopted as an object of

The term Islam thus sign ifies the religion i n

wors h i p or adoration, irrespective of whether it

which peace, secu rity a n d subm ission a re

is done out of excessive love or excessive fea r,

attai ned through total subm ission to the will

while the words illal/aah affi rm the existence of

of Allah. Everything in the heavens and on

the One, True God - Allah.

earth belongs to Him. No man has a right to be

Allah is there. H e is the only True God. He is the Creator and the Provider. H e is you r Lord and

master of a nother man or to spread corru ption on earth.

Master. Life and death a re under His command.

Alla h's Messenger � told the Q u raysh idol­

He alone should be fea red. From Him alone we

wors h i p pers: An everlasti ng l ife awaits you

should ask everything. He a lone is worthy of

beyon d where you will meet Allah and you r life

worship. His order and His decree a re fu lfi l led i n

will be j ustified. You must prepa re you rselves

t h e heavens, in the fa rthest reaches o f the earth

for that.

•

What role did true d reams play i n M uha m mad's Prophethood? Was any part of the Qu r'a n revea led i n his sleep? How was Khadeejah • a pillar of su pport to the Prophet � after he experienced h is first revelation? What is fatrat a/-wab_iy? H ow long did it last? What was the wisdom beh in d it? What was the characteristic of the secret stage to the Ca l l of Islam? Mention five of the earliest M uslims? What was the initial basic message that the Prophet � i nvited the people to?

3.21 . The Qu raysh Reject the Messenger of Allah � and His M essage s hook the very

The time of the pilgrimage would soon be

fou ndations of the Ma kka n society. I n real ity,

upon them. Ara bs would come to Makka h

the Q u raysh l ived under the yoke of fa lse gods.

from a l l over Arabia. The Qu raysh h a d a h i g h

Idols lorded over them. Man-made gods of

reputation for hospita l ity. Now t h e pilgrims

their own desires lorded over them. When the

would hear thei r gods rejected by the Prophet

This

simple

message

Q u raysh saw that the Prophet's ca l l was d i rected agai nst thei r gods, their princi ples and their long-sta nding fa lse ·

� and his fol lowers. They would be u rged to forsa ke the religion of their forefathers and to embrace They

practices, they

Islam.

were

were terrified.

g reatly

a l a r m e d .

They lose

P o l yt h e i s m (the

fa lse

belief

that there is more than one god) was

•

deeply ingra i ned i n their m i nds, hea rts a nd sou l s. Si nce they did not

wou l d their

a u t h o r i ty. Therefore,

when

the message of Islam threatened their authority i n ka h, they made u p their minds to

bel ieve in a ny divinely revealed rel igion, their

use a l l their energies and resou rces in an effort

hearts had hardened. They had become a

to protect the a uthority and wea lth to which

materia listic peop le. They ca red only for their

they had grown accustomed. It was very hard

worldly welfare. The situation was extremely

for them to give u p their a ncesterors' way of l ife.

grave, they thought .

They fea red that Islam wou ld bring a n end to

their economic wel l-being and wou l d end their

and rocks. Yet such was the strength of their

free way of life and their su perior socia l status.

fa ith that none of them a ba ndoned it i n the

Alla h's Messenger :i ta u g ht that Allah is One.

face of such trials and tribu lations.

The Ma kka n s had many gods a nd g oddesses. Their fathers and g randfathers had worshipped these gods for generations. The Ma kkans d rew economic benefits from their rel igious beliefs, which they fea red they might lose by

3.23. The Quraysh Approach Abu Taa l i b M uha m mad

� conti n ued

h is

m ission.

becom ing Musli ms. Makka h was the centre of

He proclaimed the truth loud ly. Abu Iaa l i b

their religion. The Q u raysh were i n charge of

conti nued to care for h i m a n d defend him.

the Holy Ka � bah. The Ka ' ba h had three h u n d red

Eventual ly, a delegation of the chiefs of the

and sixty idols. People ca me from a l l over

Quraysh visited Abu Iaa l i b i n a desperate effort

Ara bia to wors h i p these idols in the Ka � bah.

to persuade h i m to forsa ke his nephew. They

The Prophet's :i message th reatened them all.

said, 'Abu Iaa l i b! You r nephew has insu lted our

It chal lenged them. It exposed them. Therefore,

gods. He has criticized o u r religion, ridicu led

his im med iate enem ies in Ma kkah rose agai nst

our customs and degraded our forefathers.

the Proph et � and his ca ll. They began to ca l l

Either leave h i m to us or there will be a bitter

h i m a poet, a soothsayer, and a man possessed.

split between you and us:

Many sim ply h ea rd the Qu r'a n and embraced

They visited Abu Iaa l i b three times. Once

i m med iately ca ptivated by the l ig ht of mercy,

Abu Iaa l i b said to the Prophet � 'Nephew, you r ' people have come t o me with th reats. Spare

generosity, a nd h u ma n ity that was visible i n his

me and you rself. Do not b u rden me more than

man ners a nd mora l s, i n his works and words.

I cou ld bear:

Islam. Some saw the Prophet ·� and were

Islam began to spread, and the op position

Alla h's Messenger � saw that Abu Iaa l i b was

conti nued to harden and i ntensify, g rowi ng a l l

very u pset by what had happened. He found it

t h e more fu rious a nd violent.

hard to ca rry on defending h i m . He said, 'If they

3.22. The Qu raysh Take Action Those who embraced Islam and joi ned the Prophet � were a l so tortu red i n countless ways,

just as was the Prophet :i himself: They were

mocked, a bused, tortu red, flogged, im prisoned and boycotted. The Quraysh tu rned to chea p mea ns i n a desperate attem pt t o turn t h e tide of the Proph et's ca ll. Some were subjected to m uch more i n h u ma n tortures. They were made t o l ie on burning coa l fires u ntil the melting body fat exti ngu is hed them. Some were d ragged over burn i ng sand

were to p lace the sun in my rig ht hand and the moon i n my left, I would sti l l not leave it unti l Allah ma kes me victorious or I perish doing it: Another report states that the Prophet � looked u p i nto the sky and asked the polytheists, "Ca n you see the sun ?"They replied in the affi rmative. Then he said, 'I am no more capa ble of givi ng u p this m ission than you a re capa ble of stea ling a flame from the sun:3 Then Abu Iaa l i b told the Prophet �, 'Nephew, go a nd say whatever you l i ke. By Allah, I will never su rrender you to a nyone: 3 - M a hd i R i z q u l l a h A� m ad, A

Biography of the Prophet �.

Da russ a l a m, R i yadh, Saud i Arabia, 2005, Vol. 1, p. 172 .

•

The

Quraysh

i ntensified

their

efforts to rep ress the spread of Islam and to oppress the new Muslim converts. The noble a n d mercifu l Prophet � was m oved when he saw the trials and tri bu lations to which his followers were subjected. However, as the persecution g rew u n beara ble, the Prophet � said to his Companions, 'If you go to Abyssinia (modern Eth iopia), you will fi nd there a king in whose cou ntry n o one is wronged: The Prophet � h i m self and a few of his Compa nions were comparatively safe due to the protection afforded to

P AI- Ula

them by Abu Iaa l i b, but the same did .

not a pply to the rest of his fol l owers.

Khaibar

So, it ca me a bout in the month of .

Yan u

Rajab, in the fifth yea r of the Prophet's

• AI-Madinah

mission, that a bout a dozen Muslim men a n d fou r women secretly left Ma kkah for Eth iopia, where they received a friendly reception Turabah

•

•

Asha mah Neg u s, who had obviously

At-Ta'if

AI Qunfudah

by

M i g ration to Abyssinia

stron g

• �

towa rds

the

doctri ne of p u re Tawb..eed (On eness of

When the Prophet (�) saw that his Companions were constantly persecuted, and that he cannot protect them, he said to them: "If you leave for the land of Abyssinia, there is a king who oppresses no one, and it is a land of truth, stay there until

'Y.

tenden cies

Allah) preached by the Prophet �. These

Allah finds you a relief from this misery," and this was the first migration in Islam.

emigra nts

incl uded

a

daug hter of the Prophet :i, Ruqayya h $, who was accom pan ied by her

• Abha

�\) Farasan

•

•

husband � uthmaan ibn �Affaan. With

Najran

respect to these few emigra nts, Alla h's

Jizan Ma'rib

Shabwah

Messenger � said, 'They a re the first

•

people to emigrate in the cause of

.

Kamaran o

Sana'

Allah, after l braaheem �� a n d Lu1 �1: Shaqra

Gulf of Aden

•

The first migration, or hijrah, made a profound i m pression on the m i nds of the idol-worshipping Qu raysh, for they rea l ized that the Muslims were prepared to sacrifice everythi ng, even

home and country, for the sa ke of their faith.

Ara b tri bes within Ara bia obeyed the Q u raysh.

Soon afterwards, the emigra nts lea rnt of mass

Fou rth ly, the Prophet tj knew a bout l ife in

conversion of the people of M a kka h to Islam,

Abyssi n ia and loved it. His n u rsemaid Umm

and some of them made their way back home

Ayma n, who was Abyssi nian herself, spent a

to Ma kka h. But this tu rned out to be o n ly a

lot of ti me with h i m d u ring his child hood, a n d

ru mour.

it is not u n l i kely that she h a d spoken t o h i m

The Prophet :1 ordered his fol l owers again to

a bo ut her homela nd, its traditions a n d ru lers.

migrate to Eth iopia. I n this second migration,

Final ly, and perhaps most sign ifica ntly, the

eig hty-th ree

women

main pu rpose of the migration was to spread

pa rtici pated, for the Muslim com m u n ity had

Islam outside of Ma kka h, a n d not sim ply flee

obviously g rown after ' U ma r's accepta nce

from persecution.

men

and

eig hteen

of Islam. Soon afterwards, the Qurays h sent a deputation to Eth iopia, hoping that the

As In his book In the Shade of the Qur'an, Sayyid Qutb writes,

emigra nts be forced to return to Ma kkah. But the Neg us was by this time fu l ly convi n ced of the divine orig i n of the Prophet's teachings, and he fi rm ly refused to su rrender the emigra nts.

The Messenger of A l l a h � wa s searc h i n g for a stronghold outside of M a kkah, a stronghold that could protect the beli efs of I s l a m a n d g u a rantee the freedom to open ly practise I s l a m . I n my estimation, t h i s was the foremost

It is im porta nt to n ote that the migration to

reason that p ro m pted the m i g ration . The view that the

Ethiopia was not a single event, for it took place

Proph et's Compa n i o n s m i g rated only to save them selves i s n o t s u pported b y strong evi de nce. Had they m i g rated only

in two successive stages. And this was the first

to save themselves from torture and temptation to leave

m igration of Islam.

the fo ld of I s l a m , those M u s l i m s who were the weakest in status, strength and protection would have m i g rated

3.25. Why Abyssi n ia?

a s wel l . But the fact is that sl aves a n d wea k M u s l i ms, who

There a re a n u m ber of reasons why the

protected them from torture and temptation - m i g rated

Prophet � chose Abyssinia over other l a nds.

to Abys s i n i a (Eth iopia) . In fact, the majority of t h ose who

bore the major brunt of persecution and tortu re, did not m i g rate. O n ly men who had strong tribal ties - ties that

Fi rstly, the N egus, the king of Eth iopia, was a just ki ng, a fact that the Prophet � himself poi nted out when he said that in the Abyssinian king's cou ntry n o one was wronged. Th is p roved to be true, for the Negus protected the Muslims and refu sed to hand them over to the Quraysh. Second ly, Abyssinia at that time was a land of prosperity. It was a trade centre to which the Quraysh travel led. Thi rdly, and perha ps most im porta ntly, the Q u raysh had no a uthority whatsoever

in

Abyssi nia.

The

m i g rated were members of the Q u raysh .4

The fact that the

Negus a n d

Abyss i n i a n people embra ced Islam s u pports the view that spreading I s l a m in Eth iopia was one of the reasons be h i nd migration to that land. This is n ot the pl ace to ela borate on this point here, but it is recomm ended to read Ali Moha m mad as-Sa llaa bee's The Noble Life of the Prophet :1.

Prophet's

Compa n ions could n ot m igrate to any other place with i n the Ara bian Pen i nsu la, si nce for the most pa rt, and on most occasions, the

other

4- Quoted by A l i Moham m ad a s - Sa l l a abee,

the Prophet �. Da russ a l a m, pp. 487-488.

The Noble Life of

R i yadh, Sa udi Ara b i a, 2005, Vol.

ha nded Alla h's Messenger � over to them. They vowed to observe the terms of the document and vowed to observe its terms. They then hung the docu ment inside the Ka � bah, in order to i m p ress it even more upon themselves. The boycott was fu l ly enforced agai nst the Prophet � his fol l owers, a n d their protectors, ' Muslims and idolaters a l i ke. The boycott took place i n the beg i n n i ng of the seventh yea r of the Prophet's mission. The isolation a n d boycott lasted for a bout three years. The na rrow pass, S h i � b of Abu Iaa l i b, to which they had been confi ned, was a rugged little va l ley enclosed by h i l l s on a l l sides a n d cou l d b e entered from Ma kka h b y a narrow way through the mou ntai ns. I n this d ry va l l ey,

2.26. The Boycott

Alla h's Messenger �� his fo l lowers and the clans of Ba n u Haashim and Ba n u a i-M utta l i b

The fa i l u re of the Makka n delegation to

were obliged to retire with l im ited su pplies

obta i n the expu lsion of Muslims from Eth iopia

of food and necessities. Soon the su pplies of

provoked hostile reaction i n Makka h where the

food and basic necessities began to run short.

persecution of Muslims was fu rther i ntensified.

The Qu raysh prevented them fro m going to

When the Qu raysh saw that the Prophet's

the ma rket-place. Whenever any merchand ise

Com pa n ions sought refuge i n a cou ntry where

arrived in Ma kka h from a b road, the Quraysh

they had found secu rity a n d stability, that the

wou l d p u rchase a l l of it, rega rdless of whether

Neg u s had underta ken to protect them, that

they needed it or not. Their sole i ntent was to

the fea rsome � u ma r ibn ai-Khattaab � had

infl ict as m uch harm as possible on the Ba n u

accepted Islam a n d that Islam conti n ued to

Haashim clans a n d conseq uently lay their

spread among the tri bes of Ara bia, the Q u raysh decided on a tota l boycott of the Prophet � and his fa m i ly.

•

hands o n the Prophet ;;i. The hardship and s uffering beca me their lot. As days and months of their confi nement

They wrote a docu ment i n which they made

dragged a long, the wa i l i n g of h u n g ry children

it binding upon themselves that they would

and women in the va lley could be hea rd in

n ot ma rry with them, nor give their daug hters

Makka h . The siege a n d embargo beca me

in ma rriage to them; neither wou ld they sel l them a nythi ng, nor buy a nyth ing from them;

too d ifficult to bear. They were forced, out of

nor wou l d a l low any kind of provision to reach

were moved to pity a n d sympathy. Others

them, n ot to show mercy to them; not to m ix

were impressed by the courage, devotion a n d

with them; not to sit with them; not to spea k to them; n ot to e nter their houses u ntil they

dedication of t h e Muslims t o their ca use. Th e

h u n ger, to eat the leaves of trees. M a ny idolaters

Prophet � conti n ued to go to the Ka � bah a n d

to pray open ly. He used every opportun ity

she had been not only h is wife, but a lso h i s

to preach to outsiders who visited Ma kka h

i ntimate compa nion, h i s wise cou nsel lor and

for trade or on pilgrimage d u ring the sacred

the mother to h i s whole h ousehold, which

months. I n the third yea r of the boycott and

i ncl uded �Ali and Zayd ibn Haa rithah. Her

the siege, many Q u raysh leaders bega n to feel

death left the Messenger of Allah ii witho ut

g u i lty a bout isolati n g their kinsmen to perish

that affectionate support which had for so

i n the va lley. U lti mately, the u njust boycott was

long hel ped to sustain him i n the face of trial

l ifted and the M uslims were a l l owed to return

and persecution. He was deeply g rieved and

to their homes.

was a l m ost overwhel med by sorrow. The yea r

The boycott is a usefu l rem inder of the

i n which Abu Iaa l i b a n d Khadeejah $ d ied

hardships and sufferi ngs which the early

beca me known as the Yea r of Grief (�Aam a/­

M uslims had to bear in the ca use of their faith.

Huzn), because of the tremendous loss to the

It a lso shows that the boycott was a wea pon to

a l ready affected Prophet �.

which enem ies of Islam have a lways resorted i n their futile effort to put a n end t o Islam.

3.28. The Journey to at-Taa'if To preach in Makka h n ow seemed hopeless, and to p rovoke the Quraysh was n ot the best wisdom. The Prophet � therefore, decided to ' ca rry h is messag e to the people of the nea rby green and bea utifu l town of a1-Ia'if. I n the month of Shawwaal, towa rds the end of May or the beg i n n i ng of J u ne 6 1 9 CE, in the tenth yea r of Prophethood, the Prophet ii set out o n foot

3.27. The Year of G rief

towa rds a1-Iaa'if, a bout sixty to seventy mi les from Makka h, accom pa n ied by his trusted

Hardly had the Messenger of Al l a h ii settled

adopted son Zayd ibn Haarithah, to invite

in Ma kka h after the end of the boycott when

people to Islam. Once there, he went stra ight to

two events took place that were particularly

a leading fam i ly in the city. But their response

h a rd for h i m to bear. Fi rst, Abu Iaalib, his u n cle

to his ca l l was very d isappointing.

and protector, passed away. It was the tenth

The tri bal leaders rid icu led him and rejected

yea r of the Prophet's mission. Abu Iaa l i b,

his ca l l . They instigated thei r slaves a n d street

however, n ever beca me a M uslim. He died as

u rchins to fol l ow h i m and shout a buse at him.

a n idolater.

They kept pelti ng h i m with ston es u ntil his

A few days after Abu Iaa l i b's death,

feet sta rted bleed ing. Zayd, who tried his best

Khadeejah $, the Prophet's beloved wife who

to shield him, received a pai nful wou n d in the

had always hel ped a n d con soled h i m in times of

head. The insolent mob conti n ued to chase the

hardship a n d distress, also d ied. She was a bout

Prophet � a n d his Com pa n ion two or three

sixty-five yea rs old and he was nearly fifty. They

mi les across the sandy plains u nti l they were d riven to the outskirts of the city, where the

had l ived together in profound harmony, and

Ma kkah. The Ma kka ns had lea rnt of

The Historical way between

the Prophet's disa ppointment at a1-

M akkah and at-Taa ' if

which the Prophet (:i) followed

Iaa'if and were prepa ring a degrad ing reception for h i m, but Alla h's help a rrived. A good-hea rted chief, a i ­ M ufim i bn �Ad iyy, took h i m u nder his protection and brought him to his home. Thus did Alla h's Messenger::i re­

,

enter Ma kka h, guarded by a polytheist,

..... - - -.J. ... 'Ain Zabidah

- .

At-Ta'iL

scoffed at by his fel l ow citizens.

•· - -

, '

' -t

••

A1-Iaa'if episode was the hardest moment in the Prophet's l ife.

Prophet :i and Zayd took shelter i n a vineya rd. When the vineya rd's owners saw the Prophet :i bleedi ng, they were obviously moved. They sent their Ch ristian slave, �Addaas with a cluster of fresh g ra pes placed on a platter. Before the Prophet � sta rted eati ng he said,

What was the m a i n reason for the

'In the Name of Allah: �Addaas looked eagerly

Q u raysh to reject Islam?

into his face, then he said, 'These a re not the

How did the Qu raysh aim at putting

words that the people of this cou ntry norma l ly

a n end to the Prophet's Mission by:

say: Alla h's Messenger :i said, 'Where a re you from, and what is you r rel ig ion?"! am a Ch ristia n from Nineveh; �Addaas replied. The Prophet :i then said, 'That means from the city of the righteous man Yoonus the son of Matta a: U pon sayi ng this, �Addaas bent over him and kissed

a. torturing the reverts

b. approaching thei r leader Abu

Iaa l i b What do you

know a bout the

migration to Abyssi nia? Why did the

his head, his ha nds and feet. Later on, when the

Prophet ::i choose this land alone?

Prophet :i felt somewhat refreshed, he set out

What were the terms of the boycott,

towa rds Makka h.

and where did the Muslims l ive

Late that night he reached the va l l ey of Nakhlah, ha lfway halt between a1-Iaa'if and Makka h . While he was standing in prayer there, a group of seven jinn who passed by l istened spel l bo u nd to his recitation. As soon as he completed the recitation, they embraced Islam

d u ring it? Did the Qu raysh manage to curb the prophetic m ission? What is the Yea r of the G rief? Why was it ca l led as such? Why did the Prophet :i g o to a1-

and returned to their com m u n ity, u rging them

Iaa'if? Was h e successfu l i n ach ieving

to favou rably respond to the Prophet's ca l l to

his goa ls?

Islam. U ltimately, the Prophet :i retu rned to

Mediterranean Sea

Daumatil Jandal • Sakakah

•

E

An Nafud Great Desert •

"' 0 0 0 .... 0 0 co

Hail

0 0 CD

(Yathrib) • AI-Madinah

0 0 oq-

0 0 N

.,

3.29. The N ig ht Jou rney a n d

0 0 N

t h e Ascension to Heaven (the Sana'

lsraa' and the Mrraaj)

•

It is in this period that the Prophet's N ig ht

The N i g ht Jou rney

Jou rney to Jerusa lem (lsraa') and his ascension

From AI-Masjid AI-Haraam

from there to heaven (Mrraaj) took place. One

To AI-Masjid AI-Aqsaa

n i g ht the Prophet � was awakened from sleep and ta ken, in the company of Angel Jibreel

(in Makkah)

(in Jerusalem)

-

&;§I,

first to Jerusalem. There he was met by a l l the

his enem ies were im med iately victorious. They

prophets, who gathered together behind him

now felt that they had a sure ca use for mockery.

as he prayed in the centre of the site of the

Every child of the Quraysh knew that it wou l d

Sa nctua ry, the spot where the Dome of the

norm a l ly ta ke a rider a bout a month t o g o

Rock sta nds today. From the rock, l ed by Angel

from Ma kkah t o Syria a n d a month t o return.

&;§I,

he ascended through the seven

M uha m mad :i, they mista ken ly thoug ht,

heavens and beyond. Th u s he saw what Allah

clai med to have gone there in one single nig ht.

made h i m see, the h eavenly worlds which no

A g ro u p of men went to Abu Ba kr and asked

human eye ca n see. During the journey, the

him, 'What do you think of you r friend now? He

five daily prayers were made obligatory for his

has told us that he went to Jerusalem last night

followers. This event is referred to i n Ara bic as ai­

and prayed there and then retu rned to Makka h :

Mi�raaj (ascension i nto heaven) i n the b_adeeth

A b u Bakr confidently repl ied, 'lf h e says so, then

a n d the Prophet's biography (seerah). It is a lso

it is true. There is n oth ing s u rpri nsing about

briefly referred to in the Qu r'a n (Soorat al­

that. In fact, he tel ls me a bout the revelations

lsraa', 1 7: 1 and Soorat an-Najm, 53: 1 3- 1 8). Both

that he receives d u ring any hour of the day or

the N i g ht Jou rney (lsraa') and the Ascension

n ig ht, and I know him to be speaking the truth:

(Mi�raaj) were bod ily occu rrences.

It was for this reason that the Prophet :i gave

When M uha m m ad :i spoke to the people he met in the mosque of h is jou rney to Jerusalem,

him the nickname Oi-S.iddeeq, which means

Jibreel

'the truthfu l:

3.30. Madeenah Residents Embrace Islam

3 .3 1 . Severa l Migrations

Soon after the Prophet's return from a!­ Iaa'if and the Night Journey, at the time of the pilgri mage, six men from Madeena h embraced Islam. Madeena h, then known as Yathrib, was a small oasis about 400 kilometres to the north of Ma kka h. It is now known as Madeenat-un-Nabiy (the City of the Prophet), a/-Madeenah ai-Munawwarah (the Radiant City), or simply Madeenah, for short. These six converts delivered the message of Isla m to as many as they could, and at the time of the fol lowing pilgrimage i n the yea r 62 1 CE, twelve persons came. They pledged to the Prophet � that they would not associate a nyone i n worship with Allah, not to steal, not to com m it a d u ltery, not to ki l l their children, not to utter slander a nd not to disobey him. This time the Prophet � sent M u��ab ibn � u mayr with them to teach them the Qu r'an and Islam and to spread the message of Islam. More a nd more people in Madeenah men, women and tri bal chiefs - accepted Islam over the course of a yea r. At the time of the fol lowi ng pilgrimage seventy-th ree men and two women came. They met the Prophet � at a i-�Aq a bah, a place in the va l ley of M i na, not far from Makkah . They pledged t o protect t h e Prophet :1 a s they wou ld protect their own women a nd children. They invited him and all Muslims in Ma kka h to Madeenah. When asked what would be theirs if they fu lfi l led their pledge, the Prophet � replied, 'Pa radise: Thus the beginn ing was made, and the fou ndations of Islamic society and civil ization were set.

Makka h was no longer a safe place for M uslims to l ive in. Therefore, Alla h's Messenger � encou raged h i s fol l owers to migrate to Madeena h. Quietly they sta rted to move out. The M uslims of Q u raysh began to migrate i n considera ble n u m bers. I n a few months, more than a hundred fa m i lies had left thei r h omes and m i g rated to Madeenah. It was not long before most of h is Companions had mig rated with the exception of Abu Bakr and �Ali. The Q u raysh did all that they possibly could to stop the migrations. They were awa re of the power of the Prophet's message. They sensed the danger that Musli ms' presence i n Madeena h posed to their northern trade carava n routes. They saw no other way to stop a l l this but to ki l l the Messenger of Allah ;I. The Quraysh nota bles consu lted one a nother on what cou rse of action to take regarding M uhammad �. They fi nally ag reed that each clan wou l d provide one strong a nd wel l con nected young man, g ive them a sword each, and together they wou ld attack the Prophet �� each stri king a blow the moment he would leave his house. That way, they thoug ht, the responsi b i l ity for his m u rder wou l d be d ivided among the tri bes, and his blood would thus be on a l l the clans' ha nds. Conseq uently, the Prophet's clan wou l d have to accept blood money instead of revenge. The Q u raysh held this council on Thu rsday morning, S.afar 26, in the fou rteenth yea r of the Prophet's mission (Septem ber 1 2, 622 CE).

3.32. The Long-awa ited Hijrah Ta kes Place However,

Allah

had

a l ready

i nformed

the Proph et :i, through Angel Jibreel

WI

of

Qu raysh's wicked p lot. The long-awaited hour of underta king the hijrah had come. Having lea rned of the plot and g u ided to leave Ma kka h for Madeenah, Alla h's Messenger � went at m idday to Abu Ba kr's h ouse to fi nal ize the emigration. Abu Bakr was overjoyed at having been chosen for the honour and blessing of being the Prophet's compa n ion on h i s blessed and epoch-ma king jou rney. On that fatefu l n ig ht, as da rkness fel l, the

awa re of h is i ntention to emigrate and were bent on killing h i m . Then t h e Prophet � began to recite Surat Yaa Seen. When he came to the words "And We

have put a barrier before them and a barrier beh ind them; and We have vei led them so that they ca n not see (36:9)': h e ca me out of his house, and Allah took away the conspi rators' sight so that they could not see h i m, and so he passed through their m idst a nd went on h is way. When it was dawn, �Ali rose and went to the door of the house, sti l l wra pped in the Prophet's g reen cloa k. When the plotters saw who it was, they rea lized that they had been somehow outwitted.

youths chosen by the Q u raysh leaders to m u rder the Prophet :i su rrou nded h i s house. They had decided to pou nce on him as soon as he ca me out of his house for the dawn prayer. Meanwhi le, the Messenger of Allah :i handed over a l l the money a nd belongings left by the M a kka ns with h i m for safekeeping to �Ali �- The Prophet � asked him to stay beh i nd in Ma kka h s o that he wou l d g ive a l l goods deposited in their house for safekeeping back to their owners. The Prophet :i had always been known to be trustworthy (ai-Ameen), and there were so many Q u raysh polytheists who would trust h i m with their p roperty as they wou l d trust no one else. The Prophet � a lso informed �Al i � of what Ji b reel WI had told h i m about the plot Qu raysh had hatched agai nst him. The Prophet � took u p a g reen mantle i n which he used to sleep and gave it to �Ali, saying, 'Sleep on my bed in it and no h a rm will come to you from them: �Al i I

i bn Abee Iaa l i b l ay down on the Prophet's bed and covered h i mself with the l atter's cloak i n order t o deceive the Qurays h who had become

3.33. The Hijrah Alla h's Messenger � thus left his house d u ri ng the night on S.afar 27, i n the fou rteenth yea r of his m ission, corresponding to the 1 2 or 1 3 September, 622 CE. He retu rned to Abu Bakr, and losing no ti me they went o ut. As they had plan ned, they made for a cave at Mount Thawr, a l ittle to the south on the way

•

The H ijrah

T h e route taken b y the Messenger (�) from Makkah to AI-Madinah He left the Cave of Thawr o n Monday 1 Rabee' ai-Awwal and entered AI-Madeenah o n F riday 1 2 Rabee' ai-Awwal ( 1 6 J u l y 622 CE)

- The route followed by the P rophet (:I) - The caravan route at that time

to Yemen. They knew that as soon as the Prophet's a bsence was d iscovered sea rch bands wou l d be sent out to cover a l l the northern outskirts of the city of Ma kka h . When they had gone a l ittle way beyond the preci ncts of Ma kka h, the Prophet � stopped his camel. He looked back and said, 'Of all Alla h's ea rth, you a re the dearest place to me and the dearest to Allah. Had my people not d riven me out of you, I would not have left you : When the Qu raysh rea l ized that t h e Prophet � had evaded them, they beca me fu rious. They offered a reward of a h u n d red she-camels to a nyone who could fi nd him and bring h i m back to Makka h . Horsemen were a l ready fol lowi ng each and every route from Makka h to Madeenah. Both the Prophet � and Abu Ba kr � stayed i n the Cave of Mount Thawr for three days: Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Qu raysh continued their sea rch to get hold of them. Both ai-Bukhaaree and M uslim mention that the Qu raysh pu rsuers actu a l ly came to the cave. Abu Bakr � worried so m uch a bout the safety of the Prophet � that he shook with fea r, but the Prophet � rea ssured him, 'What do you thi n k of two men whose third is Allah H i mself, Abu Ba kr?' The Q u r'an itself refers to this exchange between the Prophet � a nd Abu Bakr �. When the pu rsuers were sta nding above the cave, Abu Ba kr � sa id, 'lf one of them were to look beneath his feet, he wou l d see us, Prophet of Allah: The Prophet � confidently answered, 'Do not g rieve, for Allah is with us: (9:40) An expert and tru stworthy man by the name of ' Abd u l l a a h i bn U rayq it who had not yet embraced Islam had been h i red by Abu Ba kr as a g u ide. He reached the cave after three n i g hts accord i ng to the plan. He brought with him Abu Ba kr's two camels. The camels were very wel l looked after by Abu Bakr. Alla h's Messenger � insisted on paying the cost of his camel, thus ind icati ng the i m porta nce and desirability of each M u s l i m paying, as fa r as possible, the expenses of his own m i g ration. It was

the Prophet's hijrah, his cutting off of a l l ties of home and homeland

3.34. The S u raqa h I ncident

for the sa ke of Allah. The act of

The award of one hundred camels, for each of them,

emigration, therefore, must entirely

which the Quraysh had a n nou nced to a nyone who wo uld

be his own; not shared by a nyone

capture the Prophet � and Abu Bakr, was so tem pti ng that

else - in a ny respect. The mount on

young men were i n pursuit on every possible trial. Alla h's

which the act was accompl ished

Messenger � a nd Abu Bakr thus bega n their long and

m ust therefore be his own. The

u nsafe jou rney to Yathrib (the old name of Madeena h).

camels name was ai-Qa�waa: a nd

They avoided the usual route as m uch as possible. Th eir

she remai ned his favou rite camel.

expert g u ide was rema rka bly usefu l i n this regard. They had

After three days i n the cave, when Alla h's Messenger ti; a nd Abu Bakr

to ride fast for a l most all the n i g ht a nd most of the day. The Q u raysh were sti l l sea rching for them.

were ready to be on the road again,

Suraaqah ibn Maa l i k a i-Mudlijee was a Bedouin of the

Abu Ba kr's daug hter Asmaa' came

Ki naanah tribe of Ba n u M u d l ij. He was a wa rrior and poet

along with a large bag of provisions

who mostly l ived in his tri bal village near Ma kka h . Havi ng

for the jou rney. She wa nted to

lea rnt of the wherea bouts of the Prophet � from a traveller,

fasten it to one of the camels, but

S u raaqah sto le out of Ma kka h in p u rsuit of the Prophet

she cou l d not fi nd a string to tie it

� with the i ntention of capturing the Prophet :!t and Abu

with. As she had forgotten to bring

Ba kr h i mself so that he wou ld not be obl iged to d ivide the

a rope, she took off her wa istband

reward with anyone else. When Suraaqah was i n sight of

and tore it i nto two lengths, using one to tie the bag sec u rely to her

the Prophet :!t, his conti nued the

father's saddle, and the other to tie

sti l l

their water skin. For this reason, this

bad ly that

noble and brave young woma n who

s a n k

u p to the

was later ma rried to the celebrated

k n e e s

into

Companion of the Prophet �, az­

g ro u n d,

and he was

Zu bayr ibn a i-�Awwaam ti;, ea rned

th rown

off. He then

the title 'Dhaat an-Nitaaqayn' (the

u rged the

one with the two wa istbands). A

shouts, and

nitaaq was a wa istband of cloth

d ragging out d ifficulty. When it could

worn by women in the olden days.

closer,

mare fel l twice, but he chase. As he d rew his mare fel l so its

forelegs

animal

the

by

it p u l led u p, itsforelegs

with

sta nd again, there a rose

The Prophet �, Abu Bakr, a nd

from the h oles which its forelegs had made d ust i nto the

�Aamir ibn Fu hayra h, Abu Ba kr's

sky, l i ke smoke. S u raaqah was very frig htened. It beca me

freed man depa rted, and thei r g u ide

clea r to h i m that the Prophet :!t a nd his pa rty were protected

�Abdu l laah ibn U rayq it led them

from h i m by divine force.

through the seldom used routes

He ca l led out loudly and na med hi mself, vowing that he

a long the coasta l way. This i ncident

intended no harm. Suraaqah remou nted his mare and rode

took place on 1 Rabee� ai-Awwal, 1

towa rds them. When he saw h ow he had been with held

AH (September 1 6, 622 CE).

from harming them, it came to his mind that the Prophet's

•

cause wou ld defi n itely tri u m p h . He said to the

of the city ever si nce news of his setti ng out

Prophet � that the Quraysh leaders had put a

from Makka h had reached them. They wou l d

price o n his head and i nformed h i m oftheir plans

go o u t beyond t h e fields and pa l m g roves a n d

regard i n g him. He offered them provisions and

wou l d stop and wait u ntil t h e s u n beca me

utensils, but they accepted noth ing from him.

intense, then they wou l d return to their homes.

The Prophet � sim ply req uested h i m to keep

They had gone out one morn ing but

their whereabouts secret. S u raaqah asked him

returned by the time the Prophet � and his

to write a warra nt of security, and the Prophet

fel low travellers had beg u n their descent down

tJj ordered tAa m i r i b n Fu hayra h to do so. He

the rocky slope. A Jew who ha ppened to be on

wrote it o n a piece of ta n ned leather. Then the

the roof of his h ouse at that time ca u g ht sight

Prophet � went his way. S u raaqah embraced

of them. Rea lizing who they were, he ca l led

Islam after the Con q uest of Makka h a n d died

out at the top of h is voice that M uha m mad

in 24 AH.

� a nd his compa n ions had appeared. The ca l l was i m med iately ta ken u p. Men, women a n d children h u rried from thei r houses. B ut they had n ot far to go. Alla h's Messenger � a n d his fel l ow trave l l i n g com pa n ions had by n ow reached the outlyi ng pa l m grove. It was the 1lllu

noon of g reat delight o n a l l sides. The Prophet � stopped i n the suburb of Q u baa� two m i les south of Yath ri b. He spent four days there a n d built Qu baa' Mosq ue w h i c h exists t o t h i s day.

,

The Qu r'a n hig h ly commends that Mosq ue beca u se it was built on the fou ndation of piety from the first day. (9:1 08)

Grad u a l ly the l a ndsca pe began to cha nge as

On Friday morni ng, he set off again. At noon,

Yathrib d rew closer. At length, it a ppeared on

he stop ped among the Ba n u Saa l i m ibn tAwf,

the horizon. But it was not u ntil noontime that

where he offered the Jumutah prayer. This was

the Prophet � reached the southern end of the city, a s u b u rb cal led Q u baa'. He set o ut o n 1 st of

the first Friday prayer that he offered in the city

Rabee' ai-Awwa/, 1 AH a n d reached Yathrib on 1 2th of the same month (September 24, 622 CE.)

prayer, he mou nted ai-Qaswaa� a n d the others a lso mou nted their camels and set off for the

Severa l days previously news from Makka h

city. U pon his a rriva l Yathrib was renamed

of the Prophet's a bsence a n d the reward for h i m

Madeenat-un-Nabiy (The City of the Prophet �)

had reached the oasis. The people of Qu baa'

- Madeenah, for s hort.

were expecti ng h i m dai ly. The time of h is a rriva l was now overdu e. Every morn i ng, after the dawn prayer, people wou ld go out to l ook for h im. Crowds of chiefta ins, men, women and children, had been gatheri n g on the outski rts :�

that from now on was to be h is home. After the

What is meant by the words lsraa' and Mi�raaj? What specia l incidents did the Prophet :i experience d u ring the N i g ht Jou rney? How did Madeena h become an ideal place for the M usli ms' emigration? Give two reasons why the Prophet :i asked �Ali � to stay beh i nd. Why and for how long did the Prophet :i stay in the cave at Mount Thawr? Who were �Abd u l la a h and Asmaa'? What roles did they p lay in the Prophet's hijrah? How did S u raaqah rea l ize that it was divine i ntervention that prevented h i m from reaching the Prophet :i? Write a b rief paragra p h on the Prophet's stopover at Q u baa'.

3 .3 5 . The House of Abu Ayyoob a i-An�aaree In Madeenah, The Prophet � was g reeted

The nearest house to where she knelt down

wa rmly by its people. They a l l asked him to

was that of Abu Ayyoob a i-An.s_aa ree, who

stay with them. They gra bbed the ha lter of his

immediately stepped forwa rd and i nvited

she-ca mel he was riding but he said, 'Let her

Alla h's Messenger :i, pointing to h i s two-storey

go her own way, for she is u nder the com mand

hou se, only a few metres away. The Prophet

of Allah: This happened severa l times. Many

� accepted the i nvitation a nd got off his s he­

eager i nvitations were offered. Eventual ly, the

camel.

Prophet's she-ca mel ha lted i n the middle of a

Abu Ayyoob lost no time in movi ng their

l a rge and open plot of land and knelt down.

luggage i nto his house. In this way, the problem • •

of the Prophet's stay in Madeenah was settled

'No, Abu Ayyoob! But I found in it a strong

without creating a ny feelings of favour or

smell of garlic a nd on ions. You may eat it, if

d isfavou r among the various clans of Madeenah,

you wish. I spea k to one, to whom you do not

to whom playi ng host to the Messenger of Allah

spea k; referring to Angel J i b reel. The hijrah of

� was a high honour. The Prophet � then asked

the Prophet � a nd his com panions heralded

a bout who owned the large and open plot of

an entirely new e ra in the history not only of

la nd, and he was i nformed that it belonged to

Islam but also that of the world. Tha n ks to the

orphan boys. So he asked them if they would

support offered by the An�aar (l itera l ly Hel pers

sell him the courtyard and told him to name

- the Madinan Musli ms), the Prophet � was

their price. They said, 'No, we give it to you,

able to rea lize the aim for which he had up till

Messenger of Allah: The Prophet � wou ld not,

then been striving: the esta blish ment of a n

however, ta ke it as a gift. He insisted on payi ng

Islamic society, the first of its kind i n the world.

the price and the deal was concluded. With i n

With the hijrah, suddenly it beca me clea r

a few days, t h e build i ng o f t h e Mosq ue (Masjid

that Islam aimed a t m uch more than a mere

an-Nabawee) was wel l underway.

mora l reorientation of man. With the m ig ration

The Prophet � h i mself took an active pa rt

of the Prophet � and his Compa nions to

in the construction of the mosq ue. The house

Madeenah, it beca me clear that Islam aspired,

of Abu Ayyoob ai-An�aaree was, natu ra l ly,

among other thin gs, to the esta bl ish ment of

the centre of a l l the attention and emotions

a self-contained com m u n ity, which cut across

which the Prophet's presence attracted, and

the conventional divisions of tribe a nd race.

it remained so for the fu l l seven months of his

The fi re of persecution, endured for more than

stay.

a decade, had pu rified and steeled the mi nds

Abu Ayyoob � and his wife were g reatly

of the M usli ms. It had hel ped them rea l ize that

delig hted with thei r g uests. Only two i ncidents

tri bal kinship ties were of no i m portance as

ma rred the happiness of the hosts. The first was

compared with hig her loya lty towa rds a n idea.

when an earthen pot of water broke and a great

The new conception of a brotherhood of m en,

deal of water spilt onto the floor. Afra id that

un ited not by bonds of blood-relationship but

it might d rip down to the fl oor below, where

by the awa reness of common outlook on l ife

Alla h's Messenger � was stayi ng, Abu Ayyoob

and common objectives, fou nd its expression

used the whole of his bed sheet i n a n attempt

in the principle of the Ummah.

to soa k u p the water. Then he went down to

Ummah - an organ ization open to everyone

the Prophet ;i and req uested yet again that he

- of whatever race or colour one may be!

move to the u pper fl oor. Seeing his a nxiety, the

The emigration of the Prophet � a nd his

Prophet � agreed.

Compa nions to Madeenah beca me the l iving

The second i ncident took pl ace when the Prophet :i once retu rned the food Abu Ayyoob

• • •

symbol of this development. Yea rs later, � u ma r ibn a i-Khattaab, the second of the fou r

had prepa red for him untouched. Deeply

Rig htly-gu ided Ca l i phs, wo uld recog nize the

u pset, Abu Ayyoob rushed u pset and asked

sign ifica nce of the hijrah and declare 622 to be

the Prophet �, 'Messenger of Allah, did you not

the first yea r of the new Islamic era. The first

l i ke the food tonig ht?' The Prophet � replied,

thing Alla h's Messenger :i did after settling

down i n Madeenah was to tie the Emig rants (ai­

been p reserved i n a n early biography of the

Muhaajiroon) and thei r hosts ca l l ed the Hel pers

Prophet � com posed by I bn lshaaq (d. 767),

(ai-An�aar) into one brotherhood.

which is available to us now in the edition

Sti l l today, this brotherhood remains the

prepa red by Ibn H ishaam (d. 833). Dr. Zaka ria

hallmark of the believers. One person from the

Bashier d iscu sses this in g reat deta i l in his

Emigra nts was made the brother of one from

brilliant work entitled Sunshine at Madeenah

amongst the Hel pers. The Hel pers offered to

publis hed by the Islamic Fou ndation, U K. An

share eq ually a l l that they possessed with the

English version of the Sab_eefah appea rs i n this

Emigra nts. Th us the M uslims were forged i nto a

book on pages 1 04-8.

close-knit com m u n ity of fa ith and brotherhood.

The Prophet � g u a ra nteed for the Jews their

At the same time, steps were ta ken and the

religion and their property and conferred on

needed institutions built to integ rate the entire

them specific rig hts and d uties. The historic

social l ife a round the centre and hea rt of the

sign ifica n ce of this constitution is considerable,

worship of One God - Allah. For th is pu rpose, five

for it gives us a very clea r idea a bout the nature

daily prayers in congregation were esta blished.

of society and of i nterfaith relations thought u p i n this early period.

The of

Constitution

Madeenah: Saheefat ai-

Madeenah Next, the Prophet � d rew up a docu ment which deta iled the relations primari ly between the Muhaajiroon (the Emigra nts) and the An saar and the Jews of Madeenah. This document is known in Ara bic as 5_afleefat a/-Madeenah (litera l ly 'The Docu ment of Madeena h, or as is more commonly tra nslated i nto Eng l is h as 'The Constitution of Madeenah). The document has

•

The Prophet � disliked the way the Jews a nd Christians used horns a nd bel ls to a n nou nce their ca l l s to prayer. Then Allah honoured the bel ievers

I

I

I I I

I I I

! f.•!

with the adhaan (ca l l to prayer). One

1 1 1 1 1 11!

of the Prophet's Compa n ions saw the

, ,i m

I I'

l l l l lllj

•

method in a d rea m. His name was �Abd u l laah i bn Zayd. The Prophet

I I I

:1 accepted �Abd u l laa h's d ream as

Irf I

a uthentic. Thereafter, the adhaan, as it is known today, was cal led out loudly by Bilaal i bn Ra baah as seen in the drea m by �Abd u l laah ibn Zayd. Bilaal was chosen beca use of the wonderfu l q ua l ities of his voice.

3 .38. The Hypocrites: Munaafiqoon (si ng. Munaafiq)

3.39. The Change of the Qiblah: The Di rection of Prayer U ntil the time he was i n Ma kka h, the Prophet � a n d his Com panions used to offer the prayer in a man ner that he would be facing both the Ka � ba h a nd Jerusa lem. The Prop het � prayed, as a ru le, before the southern wa l l of

Islam bega n to spread ra pidly

the Ka � bah, towards the north, so as to face the Ka � ba h

throughout Madeenah, and some of

a nd Jerusa lem. This was, however, not prom pted by any

the learned ra bbis a lso embraced it.

specific revelation. After his migration to Madeena h,

These ra bbis incl u ded �Abd u l laah ibn

this was no longer possi ble on account of a change i n

Salaam whose accepta nce of Islam

d i rections t o face t h e Ka � ba h as before i n prayer. Th is

annoyed other Jews. They envied Islam

separation from the Ka � ba h was natu ra l ly very pai nfu l

and were, at the sa me time, frig htened

for h i m, and he anxiou sly wa ited for g u idance i n this

of it. A g roup of hypocrites, therefore,

rega rd.

emerged. Their leader was �Abd ullaah

For some eig hteen months, after his a rriva l at

ibn U bayy ibn Salool, whose control

Madeenah, the Prophet � a nd the M uslims tu rned their

and a uthority were not q uestioned

face i n prayer towa rds Jerusalem (Bayt-ui-Maqdis), j ust

before the advent of Islam. But his

as the Jews used to do. About eig hteen months after

people were now ra pidly embracing

his a rriva l at Madeenah, he received a revelation (Surat

Islam. He and others l i ke him who

ai-Baqarah, 2: 1 42-1 50) which definitely establis hed the

were g reedy for power and a uthority

Ka � ba h as the qiblah of the fol l owers of the Qu r'an. This

enemies of Islam,

a ba ndonment of Jerusa lem obviously d ispleased the

beca me open

wh ile others beca me hypocrites. The hypocrites represented the 'i nternal' unseen enemy.

Jews of Madeena h. The wisdom of maintaining Jerusalem as the qib/ah in this i nteri m period and then changing it to the Ka � ba h as described by the Qu r'a n was to test t h e believers i n

• •

order to d isti ngu ish the true among them from

3 .40. War and Peace

the fa lse. Th is was necessa ry to sort the raw and wea ker elements that had joined the Musl ims'

As has a l ready been mentioned, after the

ra n ks from a mong the People of the Book. It was

Prophet � a rrived i n Madeenah, he formed an

expected that after going through this test, they

a l l ia nce with the Jews. N ext, he a pp roached

would wholehearted ly embrace Islam or would

a l l the nea rby tri bes and tried to pers uade

clearly be separated from sincere Musl ims. The

them to make a n a l l ia nce or at least enter

change in qib/ah was indeed a hard test. With

i nto a no-wa r pact. Many tri bes d id . Th us the

the annou ncement of the qib/ah, the Prophet

sma l l g roup forced to leave Makka h assu med

� and the Muslims rejoiced g reatly a nd felt

strateg ic im po rta nce. But the Ma kka ns who

relieved and honoured. But the Jews were

had earlier plotted to kill the Prophet � were

a n noyed with the Prophet � and the Musli ms.

now determi ned to wi pe out this budding

Th is h istoric episode sig nal led the formation

com m u n ity of Islam.

of a Muslim com m u n ity, charged with the

I n the roughly thirteen yea rs of the Prophet's

mission of Alla h's g u ida nce and fol lowing the

Makkan phase, resista nce to the Ma kka n

most ancient message of Prophet lbraa heem

establis h ment and defence agai nst Ma kka n

�1,

turning towa rds the most a ncient House

persecution was cond u cted through peacefu l

of Allah, built by him. The Jews q uestioned the

means: through the peacefu l spread of the

ca uses and grounds of the sudden change and

messag e of Islam, freeing of slaves a nd other

expressed their d isapprova l of it.

acts of cha rity, and migration at first to Eth iopia for some and then to Madeenah. But the situation changed d ramatica l ly after m i g ration to Madeenah.

How was the issue of the Prophet's stay in Madeenah solved with d ivine wisdom? How did the Prophet's hijrah to Madeenah sow the seeds of Islamic brotherhood and Muslim u n ity? Can we sti l l achieve this un ity, and how? Why was the Constitution of Madeenah d rawn up? What role did �a/aat play in the l ife of the M uslims i n Madeenah? Who were the munaafiqoon? Why was the change i n qib/ah a n acid test to d isti n g u ish between the M uslims and

non-M uslims

hypocrites?

a nd

non-Musli ms/

The Prophet � had a l ready received a revelation tl_ajj,

(Soorat al-

22:39-40)

p e r m i tt i n g the

M uslims

to

resort

to

a rmed

com bat, for the Muslims had

been

w r o n g e d and u njustly persecuted by the Quraysh fo r over thi rteen years. At the end of the period, they were forced to migrate and leave their ho mes, fa milies, wea lth, lands a nd

• •

•

property and their means of l iveli hood. It is very

seemingly with the intention of attacking the

im porta nt to note that the Quraysh pagans

g reat Ma kka n ca rava n led by Abu Sufyaan, now

persecuted the M uslims merely beca u se they

on its way home from Syria. A h eavily a rmed

said that 'Al l a h Alone is our Lo rd: The verse

Ma kkan force marched towa rds Madeena h, on

q uoted a bove ca l l s the effo rt to fig ht agai nst

the pretext of protecti ng their trade ca rava n.

religious oppression.

Th e Prophet � despite his com m u n ity's small ' n u m ber and lack of arms, decided to face their threat bold ly. On 1 7th RamaQ_aan, at Badr, the

3 .4 1 . Ca mpaigns Exped itions

and

two forces met and fou g ht a battle i n which 3 1 3 bel ievers defeated the 1 000-strong wel l ­ eq ui pped Ma kkan a rmy.

The Prophet � now began sending out military exped itions agai nst his enem ies.

Seventy of the Ma kka n chiefs who had been

Severa l such expeditions were sent before the Battle of Bad r, which took place on 1 7 th

most active and violent in persecuti ng the

RamaQaan, 2 AH (634 CE).

prisoner and were later released for ransom.

Muslims were ki l led. Many others were ta ken

A close look at the Proph et's exped itions

For the first time, prisoners of wa r were treated

befo re Bad r shows that the rea l object was

h u manely and kind ly. They were fed and housed

not to obtain booty. These exped itions were

in the same way as their captors ate and l ived.

merely meant to compel the Makka n Quraysh

In the third yea r after the hijrah, a 3000-strong

to give open battle. The Prophet � understood

Ma kka h force again marched on Madeenah

that the position of the M uslim com m u n ity at

both to avenge the defeat at Bad r and to make

Madeena h cou l d never become secu re u n l ess

another attempt to wipe out the Muslims. 700 of

the Q u rays h were made to rea l ize, by means of

them were chai n-mai led and 200 mou nted. The

a crushing defeat, that a n enti rely new period

Muslims num bered only 700. The two arm ies

had beg u n in the history of their cou ntry.

met just outside Madeenah nea r Mount Uhud.

G reat Badr Expedition

Majma' AJ-Asyal

(The Day of Criterion, the day

when the two forces met) 17 Ramadan 2 A.H. 13 March 624 A.D.

"Verily, Allah loves those who fight in His Cause In rows (ranks) as if they were a solid structure.· (Qur'A n 61:4)

B'1r Rumah •

·And AllAh has already made you victorious at Badr, when you were a weak little force. So fear AllAh much that you may be grateful." (Qur'fm 3:123)

AJ-Madinah e

'\ Polytheists Fighting According to the Method of Attack and Retreat

����

Abwa

�o-\ �-�\)'{1�'3" cg�. ' ll;ll

. '

e Bad'

�

�

:�] ,.-1

Rabighr; T;;: ho-;:;; : Sit::-: o o1 Badr

Banu Abdul Ash-hal and Zawara' Waa; oanar Ratj

Expedition of U h ud 1 5 Shawwal 3 A. H.

Banu Salamah

Banu Zafar

Al-Khazrai t h !rom 1"\ar\ eanu AI

As-Sunh

"And Alltlh did indeed fulfil His Promise to you when you were killing them (your enemy) with IYathrib) His Permission: until (the moment)you lostyour courage and feU to disputing about the order, Prophet's Mosque Banu An-Najjar and disobeyed after He showed you (of the booty) which you love.· (Qur'An 3:152) � ----------------------

At the beginning of RamaQ_aan 2 AH, the

At first the M uslims were gaining g round i n

Prophet � set out from Madeen a h at the

t h i s battle, b u t the tide tu rned agai nst them

head of some 3 1 3 Com panions, for the first

when a large contingent of Muslims a rchers,

time assisted by wa rriors from the An�aar,

sensi ng victory at hand, deserted their posts i n

the hope of bei n g a ble to col lect thei r booty.

by that time had been exiled to Khayba r

The Ma kka n cava l ry l ed by the brave Khaalid

from Madeenah by the Prophet � for the

ibn ai-Wa leed, who later rose to fa me as a

fol lowi n g reasons: ( 1 ) for non-payment of their

sta lwa rt wa rrior i n the Muslim a rm ies, saw his

contri bution to the blood money they owed to

chance a n d swooped down o n the Muslim

the tribe of Ba n u �Aamir o n acco u nt of tri ba l

fla n k a n d rea r. In the resu lting fig ht, some

a l l ia nces; and (2) the Qu r'a n i c revelation to

seventy M usli ms, including the Prophet's u ncle

the Prophet � wa rning h i m agai nst Ba n u an­

Ha mza h, were ma rtyred. The Prophet � h i mself

Na.Qeer Jews' plot to kill him. Another Jewish

was wou nded. The remaining Muslim fo rces at

tri be, the Ba n u Qayn uqaa� had previously been

the last m i n ute ra l l ied, causing the Ma kka n s to

expel led from Madeena h after some of its men

q u it fig hting instead of pursuing their earlier

put to death a Muslim man, who in defending

pa rtial victory.

the honour of a Muslim woman, had kil led a

As for the polytheists, twenty two of

Jewish man who had dishonoured her.

them were killed. They fai led to pu rsue thei r

At the beg i n n i ng of the Battle of the Trench,

advantage and clinch the victory.

the Ba n u an-Na.Qeer shamelessly came out T h e Trench Dimensions

The Confederates

Length : 5544 m Average width : 4.62 m Average Depth : 3.234 m

::�� �,; �� �� ������ �

,

'\

Ban u M urrah

d k � �h , made a high barrier from Ban u Asad thedirection ofAl-Madinah.

�

The Prophet's Mosque

promising to offer them h a lf the date ha rvest of Khaybar, o n the a ntici pation

third Jewish tri be, the Ba n u Q u rayd ha h,

Banu Abdui-Ash-hal and Za'wara

Shawwal 5 A-H.

to joi n the Ma kka n confederacy by

l a nds if the Muslims were defeated. A

An-Nubait

Banu Zafar

i n a rousing the Ba n u G ha1afa a n tribe

that they would rega i n their former

The Trench

The Expedition of the Confede rates

agai nst the Muslims and succeeded

W

openly pretended n eutra l ity while As-S u n h

Banu AI-Harith from AI-Khazraj

"And when the eyes grew wild and the hearts reached to the throats." (Qur'iln 33:10)

Baqi Banu An-Najar

The next major battle known as a/-Khandaq

hatching a secret conspiracy with the Quraysh and the Ba n u G ha1afaan agai nst the Musli ms. These actions of the Jewis h tribes were i n utter violation

of the terms of the Constitution of Madeena h .

(the Battle of the Trench) took place i n the

The Battle of t h e Trench gai ned its name

month of Shawwaal, in the yea r 5 AH (627 CE). The Ma kka ns now plan ned to make a fi nal

from the trench (khandaq) that was d u g a round the city of Madeenah, a strategy attri buted

attack on Madeenah to settle the matter once

to the Compa nion Salmaan ai-Faa risee, who

a n d for a l l . The Ma kka n s' resolve to brea k the

knew it as defensive plan from his native I ran.

back of the M uslims had harden ed, and a h uge

The pagan Ma kkans tried va inly to cross the

a rmy of a bout 1 0,000 sold iers was a massed

trench for severa l days, but they fi nally gave

against them.

u p. The siege lasted for over 25 days. I nternal

The Jewis h tribe of Ban u a n-Na.Qeer played

d ifferences, lack of suppl ies, the deep trench,

a considera bly evi l role in the formation of

the cold weather and the high winds forced

the Ma kkan confederacy. The Ba n u an-Na.Qeer

the Ma kkan a rmy to withd raw. Th is was the

turning point i n the history of confl ict with the

:j, informing h i m that they wou l d not be

Ma kka n s. Madeenah was never to be attacked

perm itted to enter Ma kka h that yea r to perform

again.

the lesser pilgri mage. Negotiations took place

The Prophet :! now m oved swiftly agai nstthe

between the two sides. Fi nally a treaty known

treac herous Ba n u Qurayd h a h and dema nded

in Ara bic as S.ufh ai-Hudaybiyah was ag reed

their u ncond itional su rrender. He realised the

u pon by the two sides which promised the

threat they posed and decided that their fate

ending of hosti l ities for ten yea rs. Some of the

should be judged by a member of one of their

conditions of the treaty of ai-Hudaybiya h were

a l l ied tri bes, to which plan the Jews agreed; and

u nfavou rable to the Muslim side, such as the

all present, accepted to a bide by the decision.

one which req u i red that if a n individ ual from

Sa t d ibn M u taadh was selected as the judge

the Q u raysh were to come over to the Muslims

from the Aws tri be, which was a l l ied with the

without perm ission from his g u a rdian, he was

Ba n u Qu rayd h a h . Satd decided that a l l the men

to be sent back to h is people. On the other

of Banu Qurayd h a h should be put to death, their

ha nd, a Muslim defector to the Q u raysh wou l d

women and children made ca ptive and their

not b e returned. The Prophet :1 later m a d e a n

property divided. The Prophet ':! said to h i m,

exception for t h e Qu rays h women, w h o u pon

'Yo u have judged with the j udgement of Allah

accepti ng Islam, migrated to join the M uslims

from a bove the seven heavens: It is significa nt

i n Madeenah. He refused to send them back.

to rea lize, h owever, that these Jewish tri bes

He rea l ized the u n usually del icate situation i n

were punished on accou nt of their pa rticular

w h i c h they wou l d fi nd themselves i f they were

acts of treachery, which th reatened the safety

sent back to their Ma kkan relatives. Mo reover,

of the M uslim Com m u n ity, and certa i n ly not on

a revelation ca me down to forbid the return

account of their being Jews.

of a ny believing women to the d isbel ievers

From the beg inn ing the Jews were given

(Soorat a/-Mumtab_inah, 60: 1 0).

;-

fu l l rig hts of citizenship. Yet they comm itted generations of Jews, however, were never held res ponsible for the evi l deeds of the Jews of

I n the sixth yea r after the hijrah (628 CE), the Prophet :1 decided to set out with about 1 400 or 1 500 of his Com pa n ions to perform the lesser pilgrimage ( ' Umrah) at Makka h . They were unarmed, but the Q u raysh chiefs, agai nst all establ ished a nd sta ndard traditions, refu sed

:,t

· ��

Madeenah. On the contra ry, Muslims a lways treated them justly and kind ly.

p

·'·-�""" � ""'IL.:>"�.H.- 1 �_>l.Jl�..o;; l �;-f

acts of treason and deception. Su bseq uent

....,..- ,,- Jiy,fo �l��l�-i �.L.L ·u=�) -��)k �l -�, �����ol �l�-f .��� ��.�,

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:_

them admission. The Prophet :1 lea rnt of this

Acco rding to the terms of the treaty,

and encam ped at a place cal led a i-Hudaybiya h

permission was given to the Muslims to

just outside the sanctuary at Ma kka h. The

perform the lesser pilgrimage the fol lowi ng

Makka n s sent em issa ries to the Prophet

yea r. While the negotiations were i n prog ress,

}

M uslims swore a pledge to the Prophet �

' which is known as Bay�at ar-RiQ_waan (the

the em peror of the Byza ntine Empire, i nviting them to Islam. He ass u red them that he was not

Pledge of G ood Pleasure) . It is a lso referred to

i nterested i n their kingdoms or wea lth . They

as the Pledge of the Tree, (Bay� at ash-Shajarah)

could keep these for themselves only if they

on accou nt of having sat u nder a tree while

worshi p ped Allah a lone, the o n ly true God.

making the pledge. Then the Prophet � bro ke ca m p a nd retu rned to Madeenah. On his jou rney back, Allah revea led to the Prophet�thatthetruce ofai-Hudaybiya h was not a setbac k but rather a victory (Soorat a/-Fatb_, 48: 1 -3). AI-H udaybiya h

treaty gave the idol worshippers and bel ievers a n opportun ity to mix. The idol worshi ppers soon ca me to a ppreciate the good q u a l ities of the Musli ms. Many of them embraced Islam d u ring this period. The pledge appears prom inently in accou nts of the l ife of the Prophet � and his Companions. It was a test of fa ith for the M uslims in those sorely stressfu l circumsta nces. The h i g h esti mation of those

Within two years, however, in the yea r 8

who swore the pledge under the tree reflects

AH (630 CE), the Ma kkans broke the treaty. It

in a b.adeeth in which the Prophet � is reported

was now time to deal with their never-ending

as havi ng said, 'No one of those who pledged

hostil ity. The Prophet � reacted fi rm ly to this

thei r a l l egiance u nder the tree will enter the

turn of events. He mobilized a n army of a bout

Fire: (Muslim and Abu Daawood)

1 0,000 men and set out for Ma kka h. The Qu raysh

Althoug h the terms of the truce a p pea red

had by now become q u ite demora l ized; they

h i g h ly u nfavourable, even insu lting, for the

were aware that they had broken the terms of

M u s l i ms, they made enormous gains by virtue

the treaty. They no longer wished to put up a

of the treaty. Those who were expelled out of

resistance. The Prophet � ca ptu red the city

Ma kka h and attac ked seve ra l times were now

and declared a genera l am nesty for all those

recogn ized as a n equal fo rce, to be treated

inside Ma kka h who wou ld su rrender without

res pectfu l ly and ta ken seriously. The result

resista nce. The Prophet � forgave all those

was that many Ma kkans and Ara b tri bes

who had been his bitterest enemies a l l his life,

either accepted Islam or made peace with the

persecuted him and planned to kil l him, d riven

Prophet �.

him and his Com panions out of Makka h and was

had marched th rice to Madeenah to destroy

signed, the Prophet � sent letters to va rious

the Musli ms. This signal event is referred to as

neighbouring Ara b and non-Ara bs ru lers a nd kings including C hosroes of I ra n a nd Heraclius,

a/-Fatb_, l iterally'the Opening: or the'Open ing of

As

soon

as

ai-Hudaybiya h

truce

Ma kka h:

After the Prophet � had subd ued Ma kka h, retu rned victorious from Ta book, and the Thaqeef tribe of a1-Iaa'if embraced Muslim, Ara b

delegations

sta rted

pouri ng

i nto

Madeenah from a l l directions to profess their accepta nce of Islam, or at least to express their acknowledgement of the Prophet's pol itical authority. The yea r 9 AH (630-63 1 CE), therefore, came to be known as the Yea r of Deputations. The tota l n u m ber of delegations mentioned by The Ka ' ba h was cleansed of the 360 idols

scholars was more than seventy.5

which had been housed within it. An icon of

There was a lso a delegation of sixty men

the Vi rg i n Mary with the Ch rist child in her

from the Ch ristians of Najraan which the

a rms and a painting of the patria rch Abra h a m

Proph et � kindly received. He concluded with

(l braaheem) were a lso destroyed. Ta king h i s

its mem bers a pact according to which Muslims

c u e from t h e wo rds spoken b y Prophet Joseph

wou l d grant fu l l protection to their churches

(Yoosuf) to his errant brothers, the Prophet �

and possessions i n return for the payment of

told those who had earlier shown mercil ess

protection taxes.

hosti l ity towa rds him or his fa mily and towa rds Islam i n genera l, 'There shall be no reproach this day. May Allah forg ive you, fo r He is the Most Mercifu l of the me rcifu l : (Soorat Yoosuf, 1 2:92) H i nd, the wife of Abu Sufyaan, who had caused the death of Ha mza h, the Prophet's u ncle, at the Battle of Bad r, was forgiven. Habbaa r ibn a i-Aswad, whose chase of the Prophet's daug hter Zaynab

In the yea r 1 0 AH (632 CE), the Prophet

while attem pti ng to migrate from Ma kka h

� set out to perform the pilgrimage (Hajj)

to Madeena h had cau sed her to have a

in Makkah. This was the only pilgrimage he

miscarriage, was a lso pa rdoned.

ever performed. I n the plain of �Arafaat, he

The neig h bouring Roman Empire now made

gave a sermon of supreme bea uty and lasti ng

ready to attac k and wipe out the M u slims in

va lue, which is m uch cited by the Prophet's

Madeena h. However, when the Prophet �

biogra phers. Shortly after retu rning from the

ma rched to Ta book on the northern border,

pilg rimage, the Prophet � contracted an i l l ness

his determi nation, cou rage a nd timely action

from which he did not recover. His prophetic

made the enemy lose hea rt and withdraw. Th e Ta book Exped ition took place i n the yea r 9 AH.

5- Safi - u r- R ah m a n a i - Mu b a rakpu ri,

The Sealed Nectar,

Da r u s s a l a m, R i yadh, Saud i Arabia 2002.

m ission had ach ieved success a n d was nearing

but is bu ried where he has d ied: So the g rave

its end. During the last few days of his i l l n ess, he

was dug in the floor of �Aa'sha h's a pa rtment

a ppoi nted Abu Bakr to lead the con g regational

near the couch where he was lyi ng. Then a l l the

p rayers. His sickness lasted ten days.

people of Madeen a h visited him and prayed

On Monday, 1 21h Rabee� ai-Awwa/, in the yea r

over h i m . He was laid in his g rave by �Ali and

AH (Monday, J u ne 8, 632 CE), the Prophet �

others who had prepared h i m for burial. Later,

b reathed his last i n his home in Madeenah. He

Abu Ba kr and � u m a r too were bu ried in the

was sixty-th ree yea rs a nd fou r days old when

same a pa rtment. With the passing away of the

h e died. The Com pa n ions n ow disagreed as

'Seal of the Prophets' (Soorat ai-Ab_zaab, 33:40),

to where he should be b u ried. Abu Ba kr �

the age of prophets and revelation came to a

reca lled having hea rd him say, 'No prophet dies

close.

1 1

H ow did the pol itical strategy of the Muslims d iffer in Madeenah, as com pa red to that in Ma kkah? What was the pu rpose of the exped itions prior to the Battle of Badr? How, i n you r opin ion, should prisoners of wa r be treated? What was the reason behind the M uslims' nea r-defeat at Uhud? How can you say that the action meted out to the Jewish tribes was a pt? What is a�-�ulb_? Why was it d rawn u p? How did it p rove to be a blessing in disgu ise? What is al-fatb_? In what way was it a b loodless conquest? What is the Yea r of Deputations? B riefly write on the 'Fa rewe l l Pilgri mage:

•

'

3 .42. The Issue of Succession to the Prophet � When the ea rthly l ife of the Prophet � had come to a n end, news of his death fel l o n the Compa n ions l i ke a flash of lightning. They were stu nned beca use of thei r i ntense love for him. Every one of them thought that the Prophet � was more gracious a n d considerate '

to h i m than to any other Companion. Some of them could h a rdly

�

bel ieve the n ews of his death. t U ma r i b n ai-Khattaab � reb u ked the man who told him a bout the Prophet's death. He went to the m osque a nd wa rned the aud ience that he wou l d cut off the hands and legs of those who clai med that the Prophet � was dead. When t U m a r � was spea king thus, Abu Bakr � a rrived from as­ S u n� where he l ived. The news had q u ickly spread over the whole oasis. Without pa using to spea k to anyone, he went stra i g ht to his daug hter's apartment and d rew back from the Prophet's face the

ma ntle with wh ich he had been covered. He kissed h i m between his ' eyes and said, 'Dearer than my father and mother, you have tasted death which Allah had decreed for you. No death shall ever come to you after this death: As for the Ca l i phate of Abu Ba kr a�-.S.iddeeq, he came a bout . through the u na n i mous agreement of the Helpers (An�aar) and the Emigrants (Muhaajiroon). In the h a l l of Ba n u Saa tidah, Muslims paid homage to Abu Bakr � as the successor of the Messenger of Allah �. They were determi ned that the Prophet � would leave the world with r.

the Muslims u n ited a n d u nder a strong leader who cou l d ta ke charge of their affa i rs. Then Abu Bakr gave tha n ks to Allah a n d addressed the people, sayi ng, 'I have been given the a uthority over you, and I a m not the best of you. If I perform my d uty wel l, help me; and if I should deviate, correct me. You m ust be God-fea ring. Piety is the most i ntel l igent practice and immora l ity is the most fool ish. The wea k among you will

be strong i n my sight u ntil I secure his rig hts, if Allah wil ls. The strong ' ' among you will be wea k in my sight u ntil I wrest the right from h i m, if Allah Wil ls. Obey me so long as I obey Allah and His Messenger �. If I disobey Allah and his Messenger � you owe me no d isobedience: ' Abu Bakr's inaug u ra l address as the first ca l i ph ra n ks as one of the most im porta nt speeches in the records of Islamic h istory.

�

3.43. Rememberi ng the Prophet �: The Most Beautiful Model One must always remember that Prophet M uha m mad ;i never clai med to possess any superhuman q u a lities: 'I am o n ly a man l i ke you. It has been revea led to me that you r God is One God: (Soorat as-Sajdah, 41 :6) When the Ma kka ns chal lenged h i m to provide proof fo r his prophethood by performing miracles he said that the only m i racle he had was that he had received the d ivine revelation i n clear Ara bic lang uage, which was proclaimed through h i m, i n the form of the Noble Qu r'a n: Say, " I f a l l the people a n d a l l t h e jinn were t o come together to prod uce the l i ke o f this Q u r'an, they would not produce its l i ke even if they back u p one a n other with help a n d su pport:' (Soorat a/-/sraa',

1 7:88)

No matter how eloq uent the Ara bs were and h ow perfect their h ig h ly refi ned traditional poetry was, they could not prod uce something similar i n form and content to the G l orious Qu r'a n. The Qu r'a n chal lenged them to prod uce ten soorahs but they cou l d not: Do they say, ' H e h a s fa bricated it?' Say, 'Bring then ten soorahs l i ke it, and ca l l all those whom you can besides A l l a h, if you a re truthfu l .' (Soorat Hud,

1 1 : 1 3)

The Qu r'a n a lso chal lenged them to prod uce one single soorah, but they again fa i led: And i f you a re i n s o m e doubt, concern i n g w h a t W e sent down u pon O u r servant, then bring one chapter l i ke it, a n d ca l l u pon all your hel pers beside Allah, if you a re truthfu l .

(Soorat AI-Baqarah, 1 :23)

The Prophet � knew that he was only a h u man being, and was repeated ly remi nded in the Qu r'a n that he was only a man whose only privi lege was that he was g ra nted revelation. As the Qu r'a n cautions him, Say, 'I do not say to you that Alla h's treasures a re with me, nor that I know the u n seen, nor do I say to you that I a m an a n gel. I only fo l l ow what has been revealed to me:

(Soorat ai-An 'aam, 6:50)

He was also reminded that only Allah the Almighty is a ble to g u ide mankind: I n deed, you ca n not g u i d e a l l those whom you love [to I s l a m ] . Rather i t is A l l a h alone who g u i des whomever H e w i l l s so: (Soorat a/-Qa5_a�

28:56)

Thus he was ca l l ed to preach the message

religion. The Prophet � is singled out by Allah

of u ncompromising monotheism (Tawbeed),

the Al m ig hty. He is truly the chosen one, al­

of a bsol ute su rrender to One God who alone is

mustafaa, and for this reason his Sunnah, his

the Creator, the Sustai ner and the J udge.

way of l ife, emerges as the uniq uely valid rule

When the Ma kkans ridicu led h i m, asking

of cond uct for the Musl ims. If you wish Allah

persistently when the Hour of J udgement

to love you, you must love H is Messenger �

wou ld come, he had to repeat again that he too

by fol lowing his Sunnah, for the Prophet �

was not i nformed a bout its time, and that he

is, indeed, as the Qu r'a n declares, "uswatun

was only a clear wa rner: (Soorat a/-�Ankaboot,

b.asanatun" (an excellent model) (Soorat a/­

29:50); awa kening the h ea rt of those who are i n

Ab_zaab, 33:21 ) . The Prophet's Sunnah consists of

fea r of t h i s 'Hour' (See, for instance, Soorat Iaa

h i s statements, actions, tacit approva l, physica l

Haa, 20: 1 5; Soorat an-Naazi�aat, 79:42, among

appea ra nce, i n ner q u a l ities and biog ra phy;

other verses of the Qur'a n).

a nd beca use of the great sign ificance of the

Yet there a re severa l verses i n the Qu r'a n

Prophet's bea utifu l exa m ple, the science of

that poi nt to the Prophet's exceptional role.

b_adeeth came to occupy a centra l place i n

The Prophet � was sent as a mercy to a l l the

I s l a m i c stud ies.

(Soorat

For Musli ms, the Prop het � is the moral

a/-Anbiyyaa', 2 1 : 1 07); Allah and H is angels

exemplar of piety and eth ical conduct for a l l

invoke peace and blessings u pon him: (Soorat

ti me and t h e best of m a n kind. His Sunnah

a/-Ab_zaab, 3 3 :56) 'He is most surely of a n

represents the rea l ization of the Qu r'a n ic ideals

outsta n d i ng cha racter: (Soorat a/-Qalam, 68:4)

and commands a nd it is second o n ly to the

In severa l places one fi nds the divine command

Q u r'an. When �Aa'ishah �� the Prophet's wife,

'Obey Allah and obey the Messenger' or similar

was asked a bout h is character, she repl ied

com ma nds. Such Qur'a nic g uida nce formed

sim ply that his character was the Qu r'an itself,

the basis of a veneration of the Prophet �. Even

that is, he translated the Qu r'a n's commands

now Muslims will never mention a nything

i nto rea lity.

creatu res:

rab_matul-lil-�aalameen

bel onging to or relati ng to the Prophet �

Va rious

ab.aadeeth

from

standard

without uttering the formula �allal/aahu �alayhi

compi lations deta il the Prophet's daily conduct

wasal/am (Upon him be Allah's peace and

i n the domestic field, in the mosque, in a l l

blessings of Allah).

worldly matters, among other things. The love

The obedience d ue to the Prophet � plays

n u rsed by Muslims for the Prophet � remains

a centra l role i n the development of Islamic

undeniable and visible to this day and wi l l

piety. I n Soorat Aal �lmraan, 3:3 1 we read, 'Say,

remain s o forever. S u c h devotion t o t h e Prophet

"If you love God, then fol low me. Allah will love

� has inspired a schola rly genre i n Islamic

you and forg ive you you r sins111•

lands known as shamaa'il, or cha racteristics

I n the twofold profession of fa ith 'Loa ilaaha i/1-A//aah, Mub.ammadur-Rasoolul/aah' (There

of the Prophet � which deta il, for i nsta nce, ' the Prophet's i nwa rd a nd outward bea uty

is no god worthy of worship except Allah,

and nobility of cha racter. One such work is ai­

and M uha m mad is the M essenger of Alla h),

QaaQ.ee � lyaaQ.'s As-Shifaa, which was translated

the second half defines Islam as a d isti nctive

into English by Aisha Abdarrahman Bewley

under the title Muflammad, Messenger of Allah.

of perfecti ng good mora ls. The mora l q ual ities

Every student of Islam m ust read it. The book

mentioned in the Qur'a n a n d the i nj u n ctions

praises in detail the Prophet's specific attributes,

revea led by Allah, were a l l harmon ized in h is

such as his fortitude in the face of tria ls and

person. He l ived u p to a l l the principles he

tribulations, the gentleness of his tem perament,

brought and to which he ca lled, i n private as

his h u m i l ity, aversion to showiness and his

wel l as in publ ic. Throug hout h u m a n h istory,

physical ha ndsomeness, which are to be used

great men have a lways sought to keep their

as role models by a l l generations of believers. At

private l ives and personal behaviou r secret.

this poi nt, we wish to present o n ly some aspects

Th is is n ot the case with Prophet M uham mad�,

of these q u a l ities that people nowadays badly

as is evident from the detailed record of the

sta nd in need of emu lation.

Sunnah.

He was the very pattern of excel lence and the nobl est exem plar. H i s own people u sed to ca l l h i m the "the truthfu l and trustworthy" even before he received revelation s from his Lord. When Heracl ius asked Abu Sufyaan, 'Have you ever accused h i m of lyin g before the Qu r'a n was revea led to h i m ?' Abu Sufyaa n repl ied, 'Never: He n ever dra n k wine, nor worship ped idols, nor sought am usement in a n i m proper man ner. He was affectio nate to the poor a n d tender­ hearted to the wea k. He wou ld n ever deny anything h e was asked for. He gave assista nce and support to the oppressed and never took revenge for h i mself u n l ess one of Alla h's l aws was violated. He devoted himself completely to the wors h i p of A l l a h . He fasted so m uch that it sometimes seemed that he never went a day without fasti ng. He wou l d a lso spend long stretches of the n ig ht i n optional prayers u ntil As we have observed a bove, �Aa'ishah �

h is feet wou l d swel l. When � Aa'ishah � once

' the Mother of the Bel ievers, described the

asked him why h e wou ld spend so m uch time

Prophet � in this way in an a uthentic fladeeth,

i n prayer when Allah had forgiven him all h i s

'His mora l was the Qu r'a n itself: (M uslim) The

past and future sins, he rep l ied, 'Should I not be

Qur'a n itself says a bo ut h i m , 'And in deed, you

a g ratefu l serva nt?'

a re most s u rely o n a n outsta n d i ng standard of

He

s h u n n ed

all

forms

of showi ness

cha racter: (Soorat ai-Qalam, 68:4)

and a ppeara n ces of pride that commonly

The Prophet � was sent as a mercy to a l l mankind. He was sent solely for t h e pu rpose

cha racterize holders of high offices a n d heads of states. �Aa'ishah � once sa id, 'The fam i ly • •

of M uha m mad � never had their fi l l of barley

exchange good-natured fu n i n order to am u se

bread for two consecutive days u ntil he died:

and delight them. l n fact, he wou ld bend down

(ai-B u khaaree and Muslim)

so that his g randsons, ai-Hasan and a i-Husayn

The mattress o n which the Prophet � sl ept was made of leather stuffed with palm tree

He was very brave. More than once fea rless

fi bre. According to a i-Bukhaaree a n d M uslim,

men fled away, h i m alone, wh i le he stood with

the Prophet � d ied i n such a condition that

fu l l compos u re facing the enemy without

his a rmour was pledged to a Jew for some

tu rning his back. �Ali ibn Abee Iaalib � who

food which he bought for his fa mi ly. He always

was known for his va lour, once said that when

practised what he preached and never bro ke

fig hting beca me i ntense on the battlefield, the

a n agreement with a ny of his enem ies or acted

Prophet � wou l d be seen i n positions nea rest

treachero usly even if he fea red treachery from

to the enemy. (Musl im)

them. He did n ot engage i n fa lsehood i n order to gain victory in any of h i s battles.

'

He was a lways at great pains to look and act h u m a n . He ate a n d worked, slept a n d entered

The Prophet ·� comma nded his fo l l owers

i nto conjugal relationships. He was i nvolved i n

to show kind ness not o n ly to h u mans but

trade, war, affairs of the state and t h e wide ra nge

a lso to a n i mals and i nsects. Abu H u rayrah �

of matters that su ited his sublime and noble

narrated that the Prophet � said, "A traveller

natu re. As S.afi-ur-Rahman ai-Mubara kpuri has

who was thirsty saw a wel l o n the way. He got

put it:

i nside the wel l a n d when he came o ut he saw a dog l icking mud beca use of thirst. The man

I l l -m a n ners a n d i n decency a re two q u a l ities completely a l i en to h i m . He was decent and did not call anybody n a m es. He was not the sort of person who cursed or

thought to hi mself that the dog should be as

made noise in the streets. He did not exch a n g e offe nces

thirsty as he was, and so he g ot i nto the wel l

with others. He pus hed back a n offe n ce or an error by

again, fi l led h i s leather sock with water and carried it out holding it with his teeth . And thus he q uenched the dog's thi rst. Allah was pleased with this act of kindness a n d pa rdoned his sins:' The Com pa nions asked, "Messenger of Allah, is there a lso a reward i n the matter of beasts and wild a n i m a ls?" The Proph et repl ied, "There is recompense in rega rd to every creatu re that has a living hea rt:' He prohibited a l l types of abuse a n d tormenti ng a person u nder sentence o f death. However, i n spite of his extreme tenderness, he com manded severe retri bution for cri m i n a l s and offenders. He had enormous charm and a g reat sense of h u mo u r. He used to joke on occasion though he uttered noth i n g except the truth. He u sed to I I

cou l d ride on his back.

forg iveness and overloo k i n g . Nobody was a l l owed to wa l k behind him (i.e. as a bodyguard) . He did not feel h i m self superior to others not even to h i s s l aves (men o r women) as far a s food or clothes were concerned. (p.

32 1 )

When h e entered his hou se, h e behaved l i ke any other man and wou l d help his wives. He carried o ut household chores. He never stood up or sat down without the name of Allah bei ng on his l i ps. He gave all those who sat with h i m such attention that they believed that he paid more attention to them than to anyon e else. When someone asked for help, he wou l d either give h i m what he needed or spea k kindly to h i m . He wou l d n ever name a person whom he had hea rd i l l-news a bout which he hated. I n stead he wou l d say, 'Why do certa i n people do such-and-such a thing?'

The Prophet :I lived for twenty-th ree years after the beginning of his m ission. Th is period of his l ife was the busiest and most fru itfu l. He fu lfil led his mission of ca l l ing mankind to the wors h i p oftheOneTrue God-AIIa h.Throug hout this period, he strove hard agai nst a rrogance, evil and u n belief. He taught and educated those

How did the Muslims react towa rds the death of the Prophet ;:i?

who fol lowed him. He succeeded in establ ishing

H ow was Abu Bakr � the best

Islam i n the world, made it reign supreme and

ca nd idate as a successor to the

built, on its basis, a state which was fou nded on the principles of the worship of Allah and brotherhood among the faithfu l. He often advised his Companions to treat their wives ki nd ly. He wou l d say, 'The best among you are those who a re the best to their

Prophet ;:i? Write a pa ra g raph on the status of the Prophet :I and the lofty position that h e enjoys with the Muslim s.

wives, and I a m the best amongst you to my

Expla i n �Aa'ishah's statement, 'His

wives: (at-Ti rm idhee) He was once seen placing

character was the Qu r'a n itself

his knees on the g ro u nd for his wife _$afiyya h � to help her step on and mount a camel: (ai­ Bukhaaree) In a word, his character was the Qu r'a n itself.

1

•

.$afi-u r- Rahma n a i-Muba ra kp u ri, The Sealed Nectar, Darussa lam, Riya d h, Saudi Ara bia 2002.

2. Mahdi Rizq u llah Ahmad, A Biography of the Prophet ;:i, Da russa lam, Riyadh, Saudi

Ara bia, 2005. 3. Ali Moham mad as-Sa l laa bee, The Noble Life of the Prophet ;:i, Darussa lam, Riyadh,

Saudi Ara bia, 2005. 4. Akram Dhiyaa' al-� u m a ree, Madinan Society at the Time of the Prophet ;:i, Tra nslated by Huda Khattab, I nternational I n stitute of Islamic Thoug ht, Herndon, U SA, 1 99 1 . 5. Za ka ria Bashier, War and Peace, In the Life of the Prophet Mub.ammad ;:i, The Isla m i c

Fou ndation, U K, 2006. 6. Musta n�i r M i r, Coherence in the Qur'an, America n Trust Publications, Plainfield,

I ndia na, 1 987.

•

4.1 .

The

Terms

Sunnah and Hadeeth

4.2. The I m portance of the Sunnah Any student of the G lorious Qu r'a n will see that the Qu r'a n deals with the broad pri nciples, com ma nds, or

or

is

essentials of religion-going i nto deta i l i n very ra re

u ndoubted ly the secon d sou rce

cases. The deta i ls a re provided by the Messenger of

from wh ich the teachings of Islam

Allah � h i mself, either by showing through his practice

a re d rawn. Li ngu istica l ly, Sunnah

how a com mand must be ca rried out, or by giving a n

mea n s 'a way, ru le, manner of

expla nation i n words.

Sunnah

b.adeeth

action or mode of l ife: whereas, the

word

b_adeeth

i nformation,

signifies

utterance,

Now consider this: the most i m porta nt religious institutions or p i l l a rs of Islam, for i n sta nce, a re the prayer

or

(�alaah) and the pu rifying d ues (zakaat). Yet when the

a n nouncement, a thing or matter

com mands relati ng to �a faahand zakaat were delivered,

that it ta l ked of told or narrated.

both in Ma kkan a n d Madeenan revelations, no details

Hence, the Qu r'a n is a lso spoken

were suppl ied. Wa aqeemu�-�alaata 'a nd d u ly establish

of as b_adeeth. ( 1 8:6; 3 9:23)

the prayer' (2:43) is the Q u r'a nic i njunction, a nd it was

Tech n ical ly,

is

the Prophet � h i mself who, by his own actions, gave

the

the deta ils of its performance. I n rea l ity, the revelations

sayi ngs,

ca me down to the Prophet :i and Angel J i breel ��

actions, tacit a pp rova l, manners,

suppl ied him with the Sunnah, which explains it. A man

physica l traits, or biog ra ph ical

once cla imed that there is no need for the Sunnah and

facts. Thu s, Sunnah

indicates

that the Qu r'an is sufficient, but h e was told, 'You a re a

the doings a n d the b_adeeth the

stu pid man. Do you fi nd i n the Book of Allah that the

sayi ngs of the Prophet �. But in

Dhuhr prayer consists of fou r rak�ats and recitation is

fact both cover the same g ro u nd

not a loud in it? Does the Q u r'a n specify the n u m ber of

a nd a re a ppl icable to his actions,

prayers and the n u m ber of rak�ats i n each one of them?

p ractices a nd sayi ngs.

Does it specify the amount of zakaat to be paid? Do you

basica lly

a

a ny

fladeeth

report

Messenger of Allah's

There

a re

three

of

kinds

of

Sunnah. It may be a qawliyyah,

find this explai ned in the Qu r'an?' Li kewise, the verse: wa aatuz-zakaata 'a nd g ive the

a n uttera nce of the Prophet �,

Zakaat' (2:43) is again a com mand frequently repeated

which has a bea ring on religious

in the G lorious Qu r'a n, yet it was the Messenger of Allah

matters; a fNiyyah, an action or a

� who gave the ru les a n d reg u l ations for its payment

practice of his; or a taqreeriyyah,

and col lection. Another exa m ple of this nature is zakaat­

his tacit a pprova l of the actions of

ul-fitr, the zakaat that is paid at the end of the month of

his com pa n ions.

RamaQ.aan. '

AI-Bu khaaree a n d Muslim record on the authority �Abd u l laah I bn � u mar � that Alla h's Messenger ::i made it obligatory for the Muslims to pay zakaa-tul fitr at the end

4.3. The I m porta nce of the

Sunnah i n the Qur'a n

of RamaQ_aan. Based on this na rration and

There a re m a ny verses i n the G lorious Qur'a n

other similar reports, there is consensus that

that point to the i m porta nce of the Sunnah. I n

zakaat-ul-fitr is obligatory (waajib). There is

real ity, m a ny verses give a clear i n dication that

absol utely no reference to zakaat-ul-fitr in

it is obl igatory for a person who believes i n Allah

the Q u r'a n, but there is sti l l consensus that

to fol low the Sunnah. Muslim scholars state that

it is obligatory.

the position of the Sunnah has been confi rmed i n

These a re but three exa mpl es, but since Islam covers the entire sphere of h u ma n

over forty places i n the Qur'an. The fol lowi ng a re but a few just a few of these verses:

activity, for h u n d reds of poi nts h a d t o be explai ned by the Messenger of Allah � through h is exa m ple i n words and deeds. The man, therefore, who claims to be a

'0 you who bel ieve, obey Allah and obey the Messenger: (Soorat an-Nisaa', 4:59)

'Say [0 Muha m mad, to them]: If you truly love A l l a h,

Muslim or embraces Islam, sta nds in need

then follow me a n d Allah wil l love you a n d forgive

of both the Noble Qu r'a n a n d the Sunnah

you r si ns; for Allah is Oft- Forgiving, Most Merciful:

of the Prophet �. No one ca n cla i m to be

(Soorat Aaf-t /mraan, 3:3 1 )

able to understa nd the Q u r'a n and know a l l its ruli ngs without the assista n ce of the Sunnah.

The Sunnah cla rifies what is u ndefi n ed

'Whoever obeys the Messenger has thus obeyed Al la h, but as to whoever turns away, We have not sent you [0 M uha m m ad], to watch over [their evil deeds) :

(Soorat an-Nisaa', 4:80)

i n the Qu r'a n, such as the relig ious obligations which a re u n specified i n the Qur'a n . It provides the deta i ls and ti mes

'And obey Allah a nd the Messenger so that you may be shown mercy: (Soorat Aal-tlmraan, 3 : 1 32)

and shows when the genera l is mea nt

'And whatever the Messenger g ives you, take it; a n d

to be genera l in the Qu r'an, a n d when

whatever he forbids for you, desist from it. And be ever

Allah mea ns a pa rticular category by a

conscious of Al la h; for A l l a h is strict i n punish ment:

genera l expression. Th e Sunnah adds, by

(Soorat AI-Hashr,

divine inspiration, rulings to obl igations

Thus, it is Al lah H imself who commands

confirmed by the text of the Qur'a n, which

the Muslims to fol l ow a nd o bey the Pro phet

a re a conseq uence of them or con nected

M uha m mad �. If a nyone claims to fol l ow the

to them. It provides ru l i ngs which a re n ot

Qur'a n, then he m ust a lso fol l ow the Sunnah of

i n the Qu r'an a n d a re not additions to it. It

the Prophet �' as the Q u r'a n itself com mands

should be remem bered that the cla rity of

the Muslims to fol l ow the Prophet �. Therefore,

the Qu r'a n is genera l a n d u n iversa l. The

it would be contradictory to claim to fol low the

Sunnah fleshes out the deta i l s and adds

Qur'a n w h ile denying one's obl igation to fol l ow

more i nformation to the general ity of the

the Sunnah.

Qu r'a n .

59:7)

4.4. The Prophet's Pronouncement regard i ng the I mporta nce of the Sunnah Apart from the a bove Q u r'a nic verses that point to the obligation of obeyi ng the Prophet ij a n d the i m porta n ce of the Sunnah, the Prophet :i hi mself clea rly declared the i m porta n ce of his own Sunnah and wa rned against a bandoning it. I n S.ab.eeb. ai-Bukhaaree a n d S.ab.eeb. Muslim, Alla h's Messenger � is

recorded to have said, 'Whoever obeys me actu a l ly obeys Allah; but whoever d isobeys me actua l ly d isobeys Allah: Hence, n ot following the Sunnah or the commands of the Messenger of Allah ij is ta ntamount to

not fol l owing the com ma nds of Allah �. Th is proves that a nyth ing that comes from the Messenger � as a matter of fact orig inates with Allah. Alla h's Messenger :i is a l so reported as having said, ' I have left behind among you [two] matters; if you adhere to them, you wi l l never be m isg u ided: the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet ;�: (ai­ Haakim) Alla h's Messenger :i a lso said, 'Al l [members of] my ummah will e nter Pa rad ise except those who refuse to do so: His Compa nions asked, 'Who would refuse?' He repl ied, 'Whoever obeys me will enter Pa rad ise, but whoever d isobeys me has refused to do so: (a i-Bu khaa ree) These reports make it a b u nda ntly clea r that a M uslim m ust fol low the Prophet's Sunnah in order to be rig htly-g uided.

) ,

"'

I

I

4.5. Narration of Hadeeth d u ri ng the Prophet's Lifetime The na rration of t h e excellent practices a n d sayi ngs of the Prophet ti from one

to the req uests of some of his Companions to write down his uttera n ces. Therefore, by the time when m uch of the Qu r'a n was received, memorized and doc u mented, the Prophet ti perm itted doc u mentation of his sayi ngs.

person to a nother thus became essential

AI-Bukhaaree and severa l other traditionists

d u ring the l ifetime of the Prophet ti. In fact,

(mub_addithoon) have recorded that in the

he h i mself used to give instructions with

yea r 8 AH, on the occasion when the Prophet

rega rd to conveyi ng what h e had tau g ht. On

ti victoriously returned to his n ative city of

the occasion of the Fa rewe l l Pilgri mage, he

Ma kka h, A l la h's Messenger ti del ivered a

said, 'Let those who a re present here ca rry

sermon on the rig hts and d uties of Muslims and

[this message] to those who a re a bsent: (a i­

other i m porta nt matters. A man from Yemen,

Bu khaaree)

Abu Shaah, who was present at the time said, 'Messenger of Allah! Have this written out for

4.6.

Writing

of

Hadeeth

d uring the l ifetime of the Prophet � The need of the Sunnah, its a uthority a n d its preservation a re a l l tracea ble to the l ifetime of the Prophet ti.

It is genera l ly known that the Prophet ti

discouraged recording his own sayi ngs a n d the Sunnah a t t h e early stages of his mission i n order to p reserve the pu rity of the Qu r'a n a n d prevent the possi bil ity of confusing between the Qu r'a n a n d his b_adeeth. He o nce said to his com pa nio ns, 'Do not write what I say: If a nyone has written a nything which I h ave said other than the Q u r'a n, let him blot it out. You may spea k a bout me a n d there is

me:The Prophet ti comma nded, 'Write it down for Abu Shaah: The Prophet ti is a l so reported as having said, 'May Allah make rad iant the face of a man who has hea rd what I said and has preserved it in his memory u ntil he conveys it to a nother. Perhaps the person he conveyed it to has a better u nderstand ing than h i m : (at-Ti rmid h ee) Abu Daawood and at-Ti rmidhee have a l so reported that �Abd u l laah i b n �Amr i b n ai-�Aas_ � used to write down the Prophet's sayi ngs

with his knowledge and perm ission so that h e might not forget them. Some people told h i m n ot to do so, sayin g that t h e Prophet ::\!j was a h u m a n bei n g after a l l who may be angry at times and pleased at times a nd that it wou ld n ot be rig ht to record a nyth ing he said. �Abd u l la a h

n o objectio n to that, but whoever attributes

went t o t h e Prophet ti a n d asked, 'May I write

a l ie to me deli berately will have his p lace i n He ll: (Muslim)

ti rep l ied, 'Write [it down]. By the One i n whose

BlJ t there a re reports that d u ring the latter part of his mission, that is, at a time when

the truth; pointing to his mouth. This mea n s

m os : of the Qu r'a n had been revea led a n d reco fded, t h e Prophet ti responded positively \

\

down whatever I hear from you ?' The Prophet Hand my sou l is, n oth ing comes out of it except that he always spoke the truth whether h e was a n g ry or pleased.

AI-Bukhaaree

his

Abu H u rayra h � said, while Abu H u rayra h

5_afleeh that Abu H u rayra h � said, 'None of

was tota l l y u nawa re of the a rrangement.

the com pa nions of the Messenger of A l l a h �

The scribe relates, 'Ma rwaan went on asking

has na rrated more fladeeth than I have, except

a n d I went on writing, and the fladeeth g rew

�Abd u l l a a h i b n �Am r, beca use he used to record

considera ble in n u m ber. After the l a pse

the fladeeth but I d i d n ot do so: Ara bs, Ara b

of a yea r, Marwaa n sent for Abu H u rayra h

poets a nd geneal ogists were renowned for the

again, a n d I was seated once more beh i n d

performa n ce of a mazi n g feats of memory and

the c u rta i n. He went on questioning h i m o n

rel ied o n this a g reat deat and these trad itional

the same traditions, and I w a s compa ring

ski l l s were employed i n the ca u se of I s l a m .

what he said now with what he had narrated

Abu

H u rayra h

has a lso

� had

reported

a

in

photogra p h ic

before: Th i s esta b l i s hes n ot only the truth

memory. He came to Madee n a h i n the yea r 7

of Abu

H u rayra h's strong

memo ry but

AH when the Prophet � was at Khayba r. He

also the fact that, by Ma rwaa n's orders, a

fo l l owed him there and accepted Islam. From

n u m ber of aflaadeeth that Abu H u rayra h �

that time onward he never left the Prophet

na rrated were documented and that they

� and was day a n d n i g ht i n h i s attenda nce

were a lso verified by way of com pa rison

as h i s most fa ithfu l servant. This accou nts for

with the o riginal. (See Dr. H a m i d u l l a h i n his

the g reat n u m ber of traditions (aflaadeeth)

classic work entitled An Introduction to the

attri buted to h i m . H i s belly was easily satisfied.

Conservation ofH.adeeth; p. 5 1 )

He ate n o leavened bread (the Arabic word used

It s h o u l d be remem bered that accord i n g

by ai-Bukhaaree is a/-khameer) and wore no

t o t h e I s l a m i c bel ief, t h e N o b l e Qu r'a n i s

showy garments. He did not p u rsue a ny trade

A l l a h's fi n a l revelation, M uha m mad � i s

but preferred to rema i n in attenda nce o n the

Alla h's fi nal messenger ;,1 a n d that A l l a h

P ro phet �- Abu H u rayra h � rel ated some 5 3 74

commands t h e M u s l i ms t o fol l ow the

aflaadeeth. There is noth ing to be su rprised

Sunnah of the Pro p h et ;1. If the Sunnah was

a bout this. The re were Ara bs in the past who

not preserved, this wou ld not be consistent

memorized a tota l of 5000 long poems, a n d

with Alla h's mercy, wisdom and j u stice.

there are m a ny exa m ples o f this throug hout Ara b h isto ry.

The

Com panions

of the

Prophet �

were fu l ly awa re of their responsibil ity for

Abu H u rayra h � used to ascribe the strength

conveyi ng the fladeeth of the Prophet ;I a n d

of his memory to the Prophet's blessing o n h i m .

they d i d t h i s with g reat accu racy. Certa i nly,

Hea ring t h e fa me o f his memory, Marwaan i b n

i n genera l, one of the ways of preserving

a i - H a kam, t h e governor o f Madeenah, o n o n e

something is to record it. And the record i ng of

occasion, decided t o test h i s memory. He sent

the fladeeth of the P rophet � a ctua l ly bega n

for h i m, and after havi n g ta l ked to h i m a bout

d u ring t h e Prophet's l ifeti me. The P rophet

several matters, he bega n to ask him a bout the

fladeeth of the Prophet ;,1. Beh i nd a c u rta i n was a scri be, who was writi ng down everyt h i n g that

;I made the Com pa n ions rea l ize that it was their responsibil ity to learn what he said and to convey it to others just as they heard it.

4.8. Col lection of

Hadeeth Conti n ued after the Death of the Prophet � J y _, ,....l - .J.j' -,. ,._.;- �..

With the Prophet's death,

- �\ i ...J\ t""\. n ..� .. sJ' ...Jo$ ? rJ .1- \. � "- t\,.. \r.,. io -,r..o\f .J:,. \. l t ,I' J( \ �\ &Mi l\ - t \. � ,� , ,.... � )\ \ " ... J' t i. A� l-o. ,..- v , ,.. ._ _. _... , ,

lll.sl ...... ,_

-�- ' ,..

\\�

,._w_.,_, l.!.r' f !l>'i

the col lection of b_adeeth yet

l,j ,. ulo .lJ \•P

entered a nother stage. Every

!-"'

$"' ")

case that came up for decision had now to be referred either

4.7. Letters Sent by the Prophet �

to the

Noble Qu r'an

or to

some judgement or sayi ng of It is sign ificant to n ote that A l l a h's Messenger � h i mself

the Messenger of Allah �- The

sent h u nd reds of l etters to severa l ki ngs, em perors a nd triba l

Prophet's

j udgements

thus

chiefs. I n rea lity, these were noth i ng more t h a n t h e Prophet's

gained a wide circu lation. There

b_adeeth.

a re plenty of cases on record

The first steps for the preservation of b_adeeth were thus

in which a right was clai med

ta ken i n the l ifetime of the Prophet � and conti n ued after his

on the basis of a judgement or

death. In his monu mental work Studies in Early Hadeeth Literature, Dr.

saying of the Prophet � and ' evidence was dema nded as

M uha m mad M ustafa A tza m i has listed some fifty com panions

to the authority of the saying

of the Prophet � who had recorded b.a deeth (A tza m i p. 34-60).

or b_adeeth. Th us there was a

I n fact, D r. Nza m i has com piled a l ist of more than 400 scholars

twofold process at work. Not

who had documented b_adeeth, a l l of whom l ived a nd d ied

only

before the yea r 250 AH. Many of them a re from before the time

a uthenticity of the particular

of t U m a r i bn tAbdui-Azeez, who is i nacc u rately credited, by

b_adeeth was esta b l ished beyond

some modern scholars, with havi ng been the first person to ask

dou bt, but the b_adeeth a lso

for the com pilation of b_adeeth. t U m a r ibn tAbdu i-Azeez ru led

gained a wide circulation from

towards the close of the first centu ry. He died in the yea r 1 0 1 AH.

being the knowledge of a few; it

Recent resea rch

has esta b l ished that a l m ost all

the

the

trustworthiness

or

passed on to that of many.

ab_aadeeth of the Prophet � were written down i n the l ife of the

Yet t h i s was n ot the o n ly

Companions, which stretch ed to the end of the first century.

factor that gave a spa rk to

One may then ask: What ha ppened to these early works? This is

the spread of the knowledge

a perfectly g e n u i n e q u estion. Dr. A tzm i says, 'These books were

of

not d estroyed, nor did they perish, but were a bsorbed i nto the

a nother factor of the utmost

works of later a uthors. When the encycl opaed ia-type books

i m porta nce.To the Com panions

were produced, scholars did n ot feel the necessity to keep the early books or booklets, and so slowly they disa ppeared:

of the Messenger of A l l a h � the ' rel igion which he had bro u g ht

(Studies in b_adeeth Methodology and Literature, p. 75)

was a priceless diamond; a

b_adeeth.

There

was

thing which they va l ued a bove everything el se. For its sa ke they had g iven u p their busi ness, their relatives a n d their very homes. They had laid down their l ives to d efend it. To ca rry the d ivine blessing, this g reatest g ift of A l l a h t o other people had become the supreme goal of thei r l ives. Hence

the

s p read

its

foremost concern. They were fa ithfu l to the g reat obl igation, which was laid on them. They went eastwa rds a n d westward s a n d northwa rds. I n whichever to

they

whichever

went,

and

cou ntry

they

trave l led, they ca rried with them the message of the Q u r'a n and the Sunnah. Every one of them who had b ut the knowledge of one-incident relating to the Prophet's l ife considered it his d uty to del iver it to others. Their places of residence, fact,

beca me

i n stitutions

in for

the spread of the knowledge of

b_adeeth. Abu H u rayra h � a l one had

e i g ht

e Aa'isha h's resorted

h u n d red house,

to

by

Hadeeth The zea l of the n ew generation for the acq uisition of relig ious knowledge was such that the students reg u la rly travel led from one place to a nother to complete their knowledge of the Sunnah. Some wou l d jou rney long d ista n ces to obta i n fi rsthand knowledge a bout one b_adeeth on ly.

of

knowledge was their first a nd

d i rection

Travels for the Purpose of Seeki ng

d isciples. too,

h u n d reds

was of

a rdent p u pi ls. The reputation of eAbd u l la a h i b n e Abbaas � was eq u a l ly g reat. I n spite of h is

It is reported that J a a b i r ibn eAbd u l l a a h � travelled from Madeenah to Syria for the sa ke of a single b_adeeth. It was a month's jou rney as J a a b i r h i mself states i n a report (a i­ B u kh a a ree). AI-Bu khaaree's fa mous commentary Fatb_ ai-Baaree relates severa l i n cidents of this type. Abu Ayoob a i-Ans_aaree � for i n sta nce, is related to have u nderta ken a long jou rney to h ea r a sayi n g of the Prophet ;i from e uq ba h ibn e Aa m i r �­ He travel led a l l the way to Egypt. He told e uq ba h that o n ly he a n d e uq b a h were left who had hea rd that particu l a r b_adeeth d i rectly from the Prophet ;i. After h earing the b_adeeth, his p u rpose was over in Egypt and thus retu rned to Madeenah. saeeed ibn ai-Musayya b i s reported to have said that he used to travel for days and n i g hts in sea rch of a s i n g l e b_adeeth. Th is esta b l is hes beyond d o u bt that documentation of

b_adeeth beca me a major p reocc u pation of the scholars, which they p u rsued a s a form of service to Islam a n d a mea n s of gaining the pleasu re of Allah. I n the second centu ry of the

Hijrah, b_adeeth bega n to assu me a more perma nent s h a pe, and written col lections beg a n to see the l i g ht of day. H u n d reds of b.a deeth students were engaged in the work of learn i n g it i n va rious centres. B u t with every n e w teacher a n d student the work of preservi ng the n a mes of the tra nsm itters a long with the b_adeeth itself was beco m i n g d ifficu lt. As time passed, the chains of tra nsm itters (asaaneed; s i n g u l a r. isnaad) g rew longer a n d the deta i l s of names, places, and dates in them beca me b u rdensome for memo ry. Written

youth, h e had a forem ost place

col l ections of b_adeeth had thus become essential. The third

a m o ng the cou n sel l ors of e u ma r

centu ry of the Hijrah marked, yet again, a new phase i n the

ibn ai-Khattaab on a ccou nt o f h i s knowledge o f t h e Q u r'a n and the

documentation of b_adeeth. Th i s g reat work reached its pea k in the t h i rd centu ry of the Hijrah.

Sunnah. I •

Defi ne the terms fladeeth a n d Sunnah. What is the basic d ifference between them? S how the i m porta nce of Sunnah in Islam. Give a few references from the Q u r'a n a nd fladeeth to suppo rt you r a nswer. Write a n ote a bout Abu H u rayra h's a mazi ng memory a n d how it was, along with other Compan ions'memories, the key to preserving the hadeeth of the Prophet ii.

Aside from relyi n g on memory, how else was the Prophet's b.a deeth preserved? What did the M u s l i m s do after the death of the Prophet ii with rega rd to the com pi l ation of fladeeth?

4.1 0. The Major Col lections of Hadeeth

lmaam Maa l i k's AI-Muwatta' lmaam

Maa l i k's

AI-Muwatta'

is

often

descri bed as the pioneeri n g work among the

fladeeth col l ections, even preced i n g in some ways that of a i-Bu khaa ree. The classification of its contents is o rgan ized i n a n o rder that is typical of the works of j u risprudence, or fiqh. That is why AI-Muwatta' is sometimes identified as the work of both fladeeth and fiqh. lmaam Maa l i k revised and strengthened h i s work many ti mes and it is said to have ta ken h i m forty yea rs t o complete it. A s fa r a s rel i a bi l ity i s concerned, AI-Muwatta' sta nds i n t h e first ra n k with a i - B u khaaree a n d M u s l i m . /maam M a a l i k d ied in 1 79 AH. AI-Muwatta' has been tra nslated into Engl ish.

The

Musnad

of

lmaam

Ahmad i b n H a n ba l The term musnad is derived from sanad, mea n ing a uthority, and the isnaad of a

fladeeth means the tracing of it back thro u g h va rious transm itters t o t h e Compa n ion o f t h e Pro p h et ii o n whose a uthority i t is rested. The col l ections of fladeeth known as masaaneed ( p l u ra l of musnad) a re a rra nged, n ot a ccord i n g t o t h e subject-matter o f t h e fladeeth, but under the name of the Compa nion on whose fi n a l a uthority the fladeeth rested. The most i m portant of this class is the Musnad of /maam Ahmad i b n H a n ba l, which conta i ns a bout 3 0,000 reports. lmaam Ahmad was born in 1 64 AH a nd d ied i n 241 AH, a n d is one of the fou r recog n ized lmaams o f fladeeth.

Narrators of the Noble Ahaadeeth

�

Rodhos

Cyprus

Alexandria

Siwa

·\r L •

v�h �o-

• Tabuk

�-1 -�'-5,� i?QJ

• Taima

AI-Madinah

�:i.·

•

'>' .,>

1 . AI- Bukhaar ee

2. Muslim

3. Abu

Daawood

4. At-Tirmidhee 5. An-Nasa'ee

6.

� I

�

Rash!

e Bukhar a

� - ;"'

Atrak

• AI-Basrah •

e •

• Mary Tauz • Khorasan

.

Neyshabur

.., ...._ ..,-?!_,...'V

� QJ �

� �� Hagar •

%

Hajar

-�'v�

-

;-.. i?.s>Q ;, .;> • '? '?

l

Pers ·

�

Kerman

v-7

�

• Suhar

/

o'?

--4it:OO==:::i'oo;......i . "E::ii" =:::i tooo Muhra

Gulf of Oman

• M��

.,.,

!=-c=':i '00 ii

Sejstan

'"'

k.m.

..,.../

/

Completion of Hadeeth Books to Nine

7. lmaam Ahmad 8. Ad-Daarimee 9. lmaam Malik

�

.0

/"'"'-- "' .

Samarkand

.... � .. ...,,... .Gorgan

Ibn Maajah

ibn !::!a nbal

The Six Wel l-establ ished Col l ections of Hadeeth The most fa mous col lections of b.adeeth, however, a re ( 1 } the Sab.eeb. (the sound or a uthentic) of Muha m mad ibn l smaa�eel a i-Bukhaaree (d. 256 AH/870 C EL u s u a l ly cal led a i- B u khaaree, (2} the S.ab.eeb. of Abui-H usayn M u s l i m ibn a i-Hajjaaj (d. 26 1 AH/875 C E), u s u a l ly ca l led M u s l i m . These two S.ab.eeb.s or as­

S.ab.eeb.ayn (the Arabic d u a l of the word �ab.eeb.) a re the most a uthentic of the six wel l-esta b l ished col l ections. The other fou r a re (3} those of Abu Daawood (d. 261 AH/875 CE); (4} at-Ti rm id hee (d. 279 AH/892 CE); (5} a n-Nasaa'ee, and (6} I b n Maajah (d. 273 AH/886 C E). These make u p the Six Books o r a/-Kutub

as-Sittah. Mainly the works of a i-Bu khaaree and M u s l i m a re referred to as a�­

S.ab.eeb.ayn, o r the two sound col lections. But it is very i m porta nt to rea l ize that no one may ca l l a b.adeeth u n reliable or wea k merely because it has not a ppea red i n a i - B u khaaree o r M u s l i m . Al m ost a l l the other major col l ections conta i n m a ny a uthentic ab.aadeeth. Some of them, however, a lso conta in a n u m ber of wea k ab.aadeeth. A d eta i led d iscussion concern i ng these Six Com p i lers of b.adeeth is forthcoming.

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• Nahavand Baghdad • Esfahan

� '>'o . �".o

Makkah • At-Taif

Tas kent /

Rey

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