The Message of the Prophet's Seerat
Creator: Abdul A'la Mawdudi
Date: 2006-07-20
Format: text
Identifier: http://www.witness-pioneer.org/vil/Articles/sunnah/message_of_the_prophets_seerat.htm
Language: en
Subject: seerah
Title: The Message of the Prophet's Seerat
Created on: Thu Jul 20 23:27:29 -0400 2006
Updated on: Mon Sep 25 13:30:04 -0400 2006
Version: 3
Abstract: ... ury, at the end of which the researchers concluded that apart from copying mistakes, there was no discrepancy in the text of these forty-two thousand copies, though they belonged to periods spanning the first century Hijrah to the 14th century Hijrah and had been procured from all parts of the world. This Institute, unfortunately was destroyed in the bombing raids on Germany during World War ll , but the findings of the research project survived. Another point that must be kept in view is that the word in which the Qur'an was revealed is a living language in our own time. It is still current as the mother tongue of some hundred million people from Iraq to Morocco.In the non-Arab world also hundreds of thousands of people study and teach this language. The grammar of the Arabic language, its lexicon, its phonetic system and its phraseology, have remained in tact for fourteen hundred years. A modern Arabic speaking person can comprehend the Holy Qur'an with as much proficiency as did the Arabs of fourteen centuries ago. This, then, is an important attribute of Muhammad(pbuh), which is shared by no other Prophet or Leader of Religion. The Book which God revealed to him for the guidance of mankind today exists in its original language without the slightest alteration in its vocabulary. Authenticity of the Character and Precedent of the Holy Prophet(pbuh) Now take the second attribute of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) by which he stands unique among all Prophets (pbut) and leaders of religion. Just as the Book transmitted to him, amounts of his character have also been preserved to serve as a beacon for us in all walks of life. From early childhood to theclose of his life, a large number of those who saw him, witnessed the events of his life and heard his conversation, addresses, exhortations or warnings, had retained them in memory and passed them onto their successors. Some of the research scholars believe that the number of those who had passed on to the next generation eyewitness accounts or reports of events that they had heard during the lifetime of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) number a hundred thousand people. The Holy Prophet (pbuh) himself dictated some commands and handed or dispatched them to certain people. These were later bequeathed to the succeeding generations. There were at least six Companions (pbut) who had recorded the Traditions of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and tested the authenticity of their records by reading them out to the Holy Prophet(pbuh). These writings were also inherited by posterity. After the death of the Holy Prophet(pbuh), some fifty Companions (pbut) undertook to collect accounts of the circumstances and incidents of the Prophet's life and his holy utterances. The material gathered from this source also came into the hands of those who later accomplished the task of collecting and compiling the Traditions of the Holy Prophet (pbuh). Besides, as I have mentioned earlier, the number of the Companions who transmitted orally their knowledge of the Holy Prophet's character(pbuh) runs to one hundred thousand, according to theestimate of some researchers. Little wonder, when we take into account the fact that the Holy Prophet (pbuh) performed his last Hajj, known as the Farewell Pilgramage, in the company of one hundred and forty thousand people! All these believers saw him at the time of Hajj, learned from him the rituals of Hajj and listened to the addresses which the Holy Prophet (pbuh) delivered during this last Pilgramage. It is improbable that when this assembly, who had attended such an important occasion as the Hajj, disperse to their own homes, their friends, relations and fellow-citizens should not have questioned them on the circumstances of their journey or failed to ascertain from them the injunctions about Hajj. One can well judge from this, after the Holy Prophet (pbuh) had departed from the world, how eagerly the people must have questioned those who had seen him and listened to his speech, on the details of his life, his sacred utterances, commands and instructions. The procedure that had been adopted from the beginning regarding the traditions bequeathed to the later generations by the illustrious Companions(pbut) was that whoever ascribed an event or saying to the Holy Prophet(pbuh) had to state his source and furnish a chain of evidence. In this way, the sources of a particular tradition were traced through all connecting links back to the time of the Holy Prophet(pbuh) in order to determine whether their connection with the person of the Prophet of God (pbuh) was demonstrably true. If any links were found to be missing in the chain of transmission, the authenticity of the tradition fell into suspicion. When in the caseof a tradition, a complete line of evidence had been set up to the time of the Holy Prophet(pbuh), and even one of the reporters along the line had been recognized as unreliable, the tradition was discarded. If you ponder this a while, you will realize that circumstances relating to no other man in history have been recorded with such rigorous scrutiny. It is the distinction of Muhammed (pbuh) that no tradition ascribed to him has been accepted, save on authority. And while looking for the authority of a tradition, it was not considered sufficient to establish a chain of evidence up to the time of the Holy Prophet(pbuh) , but each one of the successive transmitters was carefully scrutinized as well so as to determine his or her reliability. For this purpose, the circumstances of all the reporters were thoroughly investigated and full-scale books were compiled. Setting forth details as to who was trustworthy and who was not; what sort of character and personality each of them had; whose memory was sound and whose weak. Furthermore, the reporter who had actually met the source from whom he had derived the tradition was distinguished from the one who merely named the source without ever having met him. Information about all these reporters has been documented on such a comprehensive scale that today we can easily determine in the case of each tradition whether it has been derived from trustworthy or fake sources. Is there any other person in the history of mankind whose life story has been derived by such authentic means? Is there another single instance in which, while discovering the history of one individual person, comprehensive books were compiled on the life stories of thousands of reporters who had narrated some tradition about that person? The primary motive behind the vigorous campaign of the modern Christian and Jewish scholars is to cast doubt on the authenticity of the tradition is jealousy, for they know full well that the authority on the genuineness of their own Scriptures as well as for that of the histories of their Prophets is non-existent. It is owing to this jealousy that they have dispensed with all intellectual honesty in their criticisms on Islam, the Holy Qur'an and the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). All Aspects of the Holy Prophet's(pbuh) Life Are Open and Fully Known The authenticity of the sources for a reconstruction of this life and character is by no means the only distinction of the Holy Prophet (pbuh). Anothet factor which distinguishes him from all others is that we have access to far more details about each and every aspect of his life than we have with respect to other historical personages:His family background; the kind of life he led before the announcement of his Apostolic Mission; how he was invested with Prophethood; how the Divine Messages were transmitted to him; how he preached islam; in what manner he faced opposition and resistance; how he prepared and trained his Companions; his domestic life; his conduct as a husband and father;his dealing with friends and foes; his precepts and practises, commands and warnings; the practises to which he did not object as well as the practises which he curbed- all these in their minute details may be read in the Books of Traditions and in the works on his pious life and character. The Holy Prophet(pbuh) was an ideal military general and we possess detailed accounts of all the battles fought under his command. The Holy Prophet (pbuh) was the head of state, and a complete history of his reign is available to us. He (pbuh) was a judge, and full proceedings of all the cases tried by him, along with the judgements awarded by him in those cases, are extant. The Holy Prophet(pbuh) visited the markets and watched how the people conducted their business. He (pbuh) forbade all he found to be unfair and fraudulent, while approving of all that was found to be just and equitable. In short, there is no sphere of life regarding which he did not lay down comprehensive guidelines. It is on this basis that we assert with full knowledge and conviction and without any predudice that of all the Prophets(pbut) and religious leaders, it is the Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) alone to whom humanity can turn for advice and guidance, because the Book as presented by him has been preserved in its original text in its pristine form and his character, with all such details as are needed for guidance, has been reported to us through the most authentic and reliable sources. We shall now see what message and instruction his pious character bears for us. The Message of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) Is for All Mankind The foremost featue we observe in his apostolic mission is that he (pbuh) addresses man in his capacity as a human being, setting aside all distinctions of color, race, language or country. He (pbuh) propounds tenets for the welfare of all mankind. Whoever has faith in these tenets is a Muslim and enters the fold of the universal brotherhood of Islam. Black or white, belonging to the East or the West,the Arab or the non-Arab, wherever a human being may be living, whatever the country, nation or race in which he is born;irrespective of the tongue he speaks or the color of his skin, the call of the Prophet (pbuh) is addressed to everyone. Taboos, inequality, racial or class distinctions, linguistic, territorial or geographic bias-nothing that divides man from man has any place in the society of Islam. The Best remedy for Racial Prejudice or Color Bar On reflection, one comes to appreciate that this is a great blessing vouchsafed to mankind through the Arabian Prophet, Muhammad (pbuh). It has been this differentiation between man and man that has , more than anything else, ruined mankind. In some places, man was declared to be polluted and it was argued that since he was an untouchable he could not enjoy the same rights as the Brahmans. Then, according to some, man was considered to be good only for destruction, for he had the misfortune to be born in America, Australia, or Palestine in an age when the foreign immigrants badly wanted his eviction from the land. In places, man was hunted, enslaved and forced to work like an animal merely for the offense of being born in Africa and the color of his skin ,black. In other words, these distinctions of nationality, country, race, color and language have, from time immemorial, been highly detrimental to mankind. These differentiations have caused wars. They have served as the basis of aggression by one country against the other. They have provoked a people to plunder another people. Generations of human beings have been subjected to ruthless genocide for the satisfaction of these predjudices . The Holy Prophet (pbuh) treated this malady so effectually that the enemies of Islam now admit that never were the problems of color distinction, racial prejudice and national bias so successfully solved as in the religion of Islam. When the famous leader of the African- born nationals of America, Malcolm X, who at one time led an extremist Black Nationalist Movement against the Whites, undertook Hajj (pilgramage to Makkah) after embracing Islam, he saw people of all races, colors and nationalities speaking different languages and converging at one central place from the East and the West and from the North and the South. They all wore the same garment, the Ihram, all chanted Labbaik, in the same language; all mingled to perform circumambulation, and they all formed one compact congregation under the of one leader to offer worship. Malcolm X observed this and exclaimed that it was the only correct answer to the questions of race and color and that the measures hitherto adopted by his compatriots were wrong. Malcolm X was murdered, but his autobiography survives to bear witness to the profound impact Hajj had made on him. Hajj is but one of the articles of worship in the Islamic faith. Whoever surveys the Islamic religion as a whole with open eyes will not find even the smallest point to which he can refer and say that here Islam has tilted the balance in favor of a particular nation, tribe, race or class. The entire code of Islam testifies to the fact that it is applicable to the whole of humanity. It affirms that all human beings who acknowledge the principles of Islam and enter the fold of the universal brotherhood of Islam are equal. nay, the conduct of Islam towards the non- Muslim presents a happy contrast to the treatment of the Blacks by the Whites, and highlights, by contrast, the conduct of the imperialists toward the slave peoples as well as the behavior of the Communists governments towards their non-Communist subjects or toward their own dissident party members. Let us now turn to the rules for human welfare which the Holy Prophet (pbuh) propagated through the teachings of Islam and the seizure of power to enable him not only to guarantee human well-being but to unite all human beings in one Ummah. Widest Conception of the Oneness of God The foremost of these principles is the belief in the Oneness of God, not just in the sense that God exists, nor merely that there is only One God, but in the sense that the Creator, Master, and All-Wise Sovereign of this universe is Allah alone. There is no comparable authority in the whole universe which is soveriegn and has the right to command or forbid; or has the power to make certain things lawful and others unlawful by decree. These powers are vested in no one, save Allah. It is the sole prerogative of the Creator and master to allow certain things in this world at Will and to prohibit certain things at Will. Islam preaches that the belief in Allah signifies the acknowledgement of all these Powers of God. The belief in Allah is tantamount to the affirmation that we show allegiance to no one except Him and that no power on earth has the right to enact a law that is inimical to His Commandments. The belief in Allah implies that man's head is made to bow to God alone and is consequently rendered incapable of bending down before anyone else. The belief in God carries the meaning that only Allah has the power to make or unmake our destiny; that He has absolute power in regard to life or death. He can take away our life whenever He pleases and He... [Full Article...]
