Download The Mission of ProPheT MuhaMMad

The Mission of
Prophet Muhammad
God’s peace be upon him
The Mission of
Prophet Muhammad
God’s peace be upon him
Moin Qazi
Notion Press
5 Muthu Kalathy Street, Triplicane,
Chennai - 600 005
First Published by Notion Press 2014
Copyright © Moin Qazi 2014
All Rights Reserved.
ISBN: 978-93-84381-16-5
This book has been published in good faith that the work of
the author is original. All efforts have been taken to make the
material error-free. However, the author and the publisher
disclaim the responsibility.
No part of this book may be used, reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission from the author,
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical
articles and reviews.
In loving memory of my uncle
Qazi Syed Shahabuddin
The Messenger of God is an excellent model for those of you
who put your hope in God and the Last Day and remember
Him often.
(Q33:21)
Say, [O Muhammad], “If you should love Allah, then follow
me, [so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins.”
(Q3:31)
Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the
Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets.
(Q33:40)
But no, by your Lord, they can have no Faith, until they make
you (O Muhammad) judge in all disputes between them, and
find in themselves no resistance against your decisions, and
accept (them) with full submission.
(Q4:65)
Contents
1. Timeline of Prophet Muhammad’s life
1
2. Introduction 2
3. Biography6
4. The final Vicegerent
20
5. The uniqueness of the Prophet’s mission
27
6. Predestination: The role of fate
32
7. A model ruler
43
8. The Quranic pattern of life 49
9. A living Quran
61
10. The last sermon of the Prophet
87
11. The Medina Charter
90
12. Vignettes from the life of Prophet Muhammad
96
13. The Prophet through the global lens 142
Timeline of Prophet
Muhammad’s life
570 - Born in the town of Mecca. His name (Abu alQasim Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Muttalib ibn
Hashim ibn Abd Manaf ibn Qusai ibn Kilab) derives from
the Arabic verb hamada, meaning ‘to praise, to glorify’.
575 - Orphaned upon the death of his mother and placed
in the protection of his paternal grandfather, then his uncle.
595 - Marries Khadijah - an older, wealthy widow. They
had six children.
610 - Receives first revelation during the month of
Ramadan.
613 - Took his message public; these would later become
the Quran, Islam’s sacred scripture.
622 - Emigrates with his followers from Mecca to Yathrib,
soon to become known as Medina.
624 - The start of three major battles with the Meccans
- the Battle of Badr (victory), 625 - the Battle of Uhud
(defeat), and 627 - the Battle of the Trench (victory).
628 - The two sides signed a treaty recognising the Muslims
as a new force in Arabia. Meccan allies breached the treaty
a year later.
629 - Orders first raid into Christian lands at Muta (defeat).
630 - Conquers Mecca (along with other tribes).
631 - Consolidated most of the Arabian Peninsula under
Islam.
632 - Returned to Mecca to perform a pilgrimage.
632 - Dies in Medina after a brief illness. He is buried in
the mosque of Medina.
Introduction
Let me glorify the family of Muhammad,
for they are my light and the source of my devotion
They are my most exalted support, theirs is the lofty assistance
they are the power of piety and the sun of my destination.
Leave me the love of Husayn and his grandfather,
from their exalted station I witness all spiritual realities.
Do you reproach me for love, although love is grace;
if the longing heart tastes it, it will not wander...
I am not removed from their love because I know my Lord
through them, for they are the source of my acquaintance with
him...
(Sheikh Abdel-Salam Al-Hilwani, Sufis, Mystics, and
Saints in Modern Egypt)
The lavender of the sun begins to grow deeper as the
slowly rising sun spreads a golden calm on the endless
stretch of the sandy dunes. The heat of the sun, direct and
relentless, bakes the plains, blanching everything around.
Far across the vast expanse of the desert, the misty landscape
dissolves into the hills as silence is struck in the air around.
A cloud of dust, eddied up into the air by the kick of a band
of horsemen, grows into a wispy golden fog as it catches the
luminescent rays of the sun. The landscape is barren and
haunted; but in the nearby city, life bustles with activity.
Amidst the shanties in which the poor dwell, the land is
embossed with palatial mansions of rich merchants and
a curia of hills around the city. There rises in the deeper
hinterland a wall of mountains, polished clean by the
unrelenting sun
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The band of people in the desert slowly mounts their
horses as they prepare for a mission which, in the years to
come, is to transform the lives and thoughts of millions of
people. The band has a teaching to offer to the city folks
who, far from listening to them, start persecuting their
leader so much as to compel them to leave the city. The
year is 622 A.D., the country Arabia, the city Mecca and
the leader of the band, Muhammad.
It was a small event for the Meccan people who, in fact,
felt a sense of exalted joy at the sight of the band leaving
them because they had come to regard its mission and work
as a threat to their life and existence. But for the future
historian, a poignant drama was unfolding on the arid
borders of the city. The event was to blaze the mission in its
full glory in the short span of its initiation and become the
torchlight of a great revolution.
As the hot ball of the sun began to climb over the
horizon the band began to move out. In the process a
great milestone was set. The migration of Muhammad,
peace be upon him, from Mecca came to be known as
Hijra (Emigration) and marked the first year of Islam.
Muhammad, one-time caravan leader and trader turned
religious leader, was leading his followers to the city of
Yathrib, to be called Medina, city of the Prophet.
The Hijra was neither an abandonment of Mecca nor
the forgetting of where one had come from. It was the
tenacious determination to rise up from oppression, with
the intention of returning eventually to redeem even the
oppressor. This Muhammad would accomplish at the end
of his life through his triumphant return home. But before
he could liberate Mecca, he had to move to the city where
the Muslim community would become established.
The advent of Islam was becoming clearly visible,
and it was to be nurtured and nourished into a dynamic
4 The Mission of Prophet Muhammad
and composite philosophy in the peace loving city of
Medina who’s humble and pious inhabitants had invited
Muhammad (peace be upon him) to preach the message
among them.
The seeds which were to flower into full bloom in
Medina were sown twelve years back in the silent cave
called Ghar-i-Hira (Mount Hira) in a Meccan suburb
where Muhammad proclaimed the religion of Islam and
began reviving the teachings of Abraham. It was during the
month of Ramadan, the ninth in the Islamic calendar, that
Muhammad received the divine call and was chosen as the
Messenger of Allah. During Ramadan, Muhammad (peace
be upon him) used to retire for prayers and contemplation
to his retreat in Ghar-i-Hira in the Jabal-i-Nur (Mountain
of Light). It was in the fortieth year, the fifth consecutive
year since his annual retreats that one night, while in deep
meditation, Angel Gabriel appeared to him and said:
“Read!” Amazed and frightened Muhammad replied, “I do
not know how to read.”
The Angel Gabriel roused him from his bed with the
stern command: “Proclaim!” Rubbing his eyes, the startled
Muhammad gasped, “But what shall I proclaim?” Suddenly
his throat tightened as though the angel were choking
him. Again came the command: “Proclaim!” And again
the terrified Muhammad felt the choking grip. “Proclaim!”
ordered the angel for a third time. “Proclaim! (or Read!) In
the name of thy Lord and cherisher who created - created
man out of a mute clot of congealed blood. Proclaim! And
thy Lord is most beautiful. He who taught (the use of ) the
pen, taught man that which he knew not.”
With these words began in the year 610 A.D., the
revelation of the Quran to the prophet. The revelations
continued during the 23 years of his prophet hood ending
shortly before his death in 632 A.D. with the verse: “This
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day have I perfected your religion for you, completed my
favour upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your
religion.”
Biography
Noble birth and pure lineage
The Prophet was born on Monday, 12 Rabi’ al-Awwal,
in the Year of the Elephant (57O C.E.). His ancestry can
be traced back to Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him).
His full name is Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abdu’lMuttalib ibn Hashim ibn ‘Abd Manaf ibn Qusayy ibn
Kilab ibn Murrah ibn Ka’b ibn Lu’ayy ibn Ghalib ibn Fihr
ibn Malik ibn an-Nadr ibn Kinanah ibn Khuzaymah ibn
Mudrikah ibn Ilyas ibn Mudar ibn Nizar ibn Ma’add ibn
‘Adnan. The lineage of Adnan goes back to Ismail, the son
of the Abraham (peace be upon both of them).
Babyhood
Muhammad was of noble blood, and it was the custom
for children of higher social standing to have a wet
nurse. A Bedouin woman named Halima had the great
fortune of being entrusted with his care. She took him
into the harsh desert to live with her people. For such a
young child it was a challenging environment. But it
was here that Muhammad would develop his first close
connection with nature, and spend most of his time in
solitude, contemplating the world around him. It was
also at this time that, according to tradition, two angels
appeared to Muhammad in the guise of men, opened his
breast, and purified his heart with snow. This episode,
which exemplifies the Islamic belief that God purified his
Prophet and protected him from sin, was also described by
Muhammad: “There came unto me two men, clothed in
white, with a gold basin full of snow. Then they laid upon
me, and, splitting open my breast, they brought forth my
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heart. This likewise they split open and took from it a black
clot which they cast away. Then they washed my heart and
my breast with the snow.” (Martin Lings, Muhammad: His
Life, Based on the Earliest Sources, 1991). Muhammad then
repeated the verse, found in the hadith, “Satan toucheth
every son of Adam the day his mother beareth him, save
only Mary and her son.” Amazed by this event and also
noticing a mole on Muhammad’s back (later identified in
the traditional sources as the sign of prophecy), Halīmah
and her husband, Ḥārith, took the boy back to Mecca
He returned to his mother, Amina, who took him to visit his
father’s grave, but on the return journey she fell dangerously
ill. Muhammad was barely six years old when he faced the
loss of another parent. Later his own experience would help
him to encourage compassion for orphans, emphasizing
repeatedly to his companions that kindness shown to
parentless children would grant them Paradise.
The shepherd and the businessman
Utterly orphaned, he was brought up by his grandfather
Abdul Muttaalib, who also died two years later. He was
then placed in the care of Abū Talib, Muhammad’s uncle
and the father of Ali, Muhammad’s cousin. Later in life
Muhammad would repay this kindness by taking Ali into
his household and giving his daughter Fatimah to him in
marriage.
As a young boy, Muhammad earned his living as a
shepherd, a role he was later to speak about with fondness:
“All the prophets of God were shepherds.” Later he would
become renowned for his honest dealings with people in
business and trade.
The husband
A wealthy businesswoman named Khadijah requested
Muhammad’s expertise in negotiating a business venture for
8 The Mission of Prophet Muhammad
her. When she heard of how he had secured more than she
expected, she was impressed and made enquiries about his
character. On hearing the accounts of his noble character,
she sent a proposal to the 25 year old man. Khadijah was a
widow, some fifteen years older than Muhammad, and had
children from two previous marriages; she was intelligent,
independent and kind. Muhammad accepted her offer.
Khadijah and Muhammad’s marriage was a happy and
harmonious one: they consulted, supported and cared for
each other in equal measure. She was his first love, the first
he turned to for support, and the first to acknowledge his
prophet hood. They had four daughters together who they
cherished, and two sons, but they tragically died in infancy.
Physical features
Muhammad grew into a young man of unusual physical
beauty as well as generosity of character. His sense of
fairness and justice were so revered that the people of
Mecca often went to him for arbitration and knew him as
al-Amīn, ‘the Trusted One’. His striking appearance is the
subject of countless poems in various Islamic languages.
Muhammad, according to Alī, was neither tall nor lanky
nor short and stocky, but of medium height. His hair was
neither crispy curled nor straight but moderately wavy. He
was not overweight and his face was not plump. He had a
round face. His complexion was white, tinged with redness.
He had big black eyes with long lashes. His brows were
heavy and his shoulders broad. He had soft skin, with fine
hair covering the line from mid chest to navel. The palms
of his hands and the soles of his feet were firmly padded.
He walked with a firm gait, as if striding downhill. On his
back between his shoulders lay the Seal of Prophet hood [a
mole], for he was the last of the prophets. (Tosun Bayrak
al-Jerrahi al-Halveti, The Name & the Named: The Divine
Attributes of God, 2000)
Moin Qazi 9
Trials and challenges
Muhammad first preached his message to the members of
his family, then to a few friends, and finally, three years
after the advent of the Revelation, to the public at large.
The first to accept Muhammad’s call to become Muslims
were Khadijah; ʿAlī; Zayd ibn al-Ḥārith, who was like a son
to the Prophet; and Abū Bakr, a venerable member of the
Meccan community who was a close friend of the Prophet.
This small group was the centre from which Islam grew in
ever-wider circles. Besides his family and friends, a number
of prominent Meccans embraced Islam. However, most
influential figures and families rejected his call, especially
those prominent in trade. Even within his family there were
sceptics. Although Muhammad gained the support of many
of the Banū Hāshim, his uncle Abū Lahab, a major leader
of the Quraysh, remained adamantly opposed to Islam and
Muhammad’s mission. These naysayers feared that the new
religion, based on the oneness of God and unequivocally
opposed to idolatry, would destroy the favoured position of
the Kabah as the centre of the religious cults of various Arab
tribes and hence jeopardise the commerce that accompanied
the pilgrimage to Mecca to worship idols kept in or on the
Kabah.
As Muhammad’s message spread, opposition to him
grew and was led by ʿAmr ibn Hishām, dubbed Abū Jahl
(Father of Ignorance) by the early Muslims. Abū Jahl even
had some early converts tortured, which resulted in the
death of one of them named Summayyah. Muhammad
himself, unharmed because of the protection of his family
and especially his uncle Abū Ṭālib, then gave permission
to a number of early disciples to migrate temporarily
to Abyssinia, where the country’s monarch, Negus,
received them with kindness and generosity. They joined
Muhammad later in Medina.
10 The Mission of Prophet Muhammad
Meanwhile in Mecca, life for Muhammad and the early
Muslims was becoming ever more difficult and dangerous
as the result of extreme pressure exerted upon them by the
Quraysh rulers of the city. Even the conversions of leaders
of the Meccan community, such as ʿUmar al-Khaṭṭāb and
ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, did not diminish the severe difficulties
encountered by Muhammad in his later years in Mecca.
In 619 Muhammad was greatly saddened by the
death of two people who were especially close to him
- Khadijah and his uncle Abū Ṭālib. Not only was Khadījah
his devoted wife of 25 years and the mother of his children,
but she was also his friend and counsellor. Only after her
death did Muhammad marry other women, mostly as a
means of creating alliances with various families and tribes.
The exception was the daughter of Abū Bakr, ʿĀʾishah, who
was betrothed to the Prophet when she was very young and
in whose arms he would die in Medina. Later in the year,
the death of Abū Ṭālib, Muhammad’s protector, created a
much more difficult situation for him and for the young
Islamic community in Mecca. These deaths, combined with
Muhammad’s lack of success in propagating the message of
Islam in the city of sṬāʾ if, severely tested his determination
and resolve.
Night journey
Every Prophet has his miracle, and it is said that the Quran
was Muhammad’s miracle. Yet the Night Journey joins the
many miraculous stories about prophets before him – of
Jesus’ birth, of Jonah and the Whale, of Moses’ parting of
the Red Sea.
Two years after the death of Khadijah, one evening
Muhammad fell asleep by the Kabah and was awoken by
the angel Gabriel who showed him a white, winged horse.
They both mounted and began the journey to Jerusalem
The Mission of
Prophet Muhammad
God’s peace be upon him