“O Prophet (Muhammad, Õáì
Çááå Úáíå æÓáã)! Verily, We
have sent you as witness, and a bearer of glad tidings, and a warner, And as
one who invites to Allah [Islamic Monotheism, i.e. to worship none but Allah
(Alone)] by His Leave, and as a lamp spreading light.” (Al­-Ahzâb, 33: 45-46).

 

Ayat quoted by trans.

 

Chapter One

Preparing
The Universe For The Message Of Muhammad

 

“Our
Lord! Send amongst them a Messenger of their own, who shall recite unto them
Your Ayat and instruct them in the Book (this Qur'an) and Al-Hikmah (full
knowledge of the Islamic laws and jurisprudence or wisdom or Prophethood,
etc.), and sanctify them. Verily! You are the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.”
(Al-Baqarah, 2: 129)

If we
want to write about the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace), we will certainly need many tomes because the biography of
the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – and the
aspects of grandeur in it are endless. But we will try in this book to offer
glimpses or thoughts about his scented memoir followed by rays of light as
Allah may bestow on us to say, while summoning the greatness of the man most
nobly mannered.

Before
we start talking about the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant
him peace) we shall discuss how the universe was prepared to receive the
Message of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Allah, all
praise and glory be to Him, prepared the entire universe to receive the Message
of the Last of the Prophets (peace be upon them all) and His Law, which His
Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) would convey to mankind, as
established by the glorious Ayah saying (what means):

“O Messenger (Muhammad, Õáì Çááå Úáíå æÓáã)!
Proclaim (the Message) which has been sent down to you from your Lord. And
if you do not, then you have not conveyed His Message. Allah will protect you
from mankind.” (Al-Mâ’idah, 5:67)

Since
the beginning of creation and his name is Muhammad [literally,
the worthy of praise and the highly praised, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace] and then followed the preparation for his Message. Since Adam
(peace be upon him) and Islam is the established Law; the doctrine that Adam
came down to the earth with and he directly received from the Truth [Al-Haqq: one of
the Beautiful Names of Allah], all praise and glory be to Him. Islam is
the doctrine of totally submitting oneself and resigning one’s affairs to
Allah, Alone. It is the heavenly doctrine since time began till the Last Hour
befalls. Enjoining that which blesses humanity and forbidding that which harms
it has been the Law around which revolved all the Divine Messages as states the
glorious Ayah saying (what means):

“And We said: O Adam! Dwell you and your wife in the Garden and eat
you freely (of the fruits) thereof where you will; but come not nigh this tree
lest you became wrongdoers.” 
(Al-Baqarah, 2: 35)

All
the Prophets who came with celestial Messages followed the course of ‘Do and
Do Not Do,’ and gave the glad tidings of the approaching Message of
Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) that gathers all the
heavenly revealed values.

When
we recite the Noble Qur’an we find that Almighty Allah, all praise and glory be
to Him, says (what means):

“And (remember) when Allah took the Covenant of the Prophets,
saying: ‘Take whatever I gave you from the Book and Hikmah (understanding
of the Laws of Allah, etc.), and afterwards there will come to you a Messenger
(Muhammad, Õáì Çááå Úáíå æÓáã) confirming what
is with you; you must, then, believe in him and help him.’ Allah said: ‘Do you
agree (to it) and will you take up My Covenant (which I conclude with you)?’
They said: ‘We agree.’ He said: ‘Then bear witness; and I am with you among the
witnesses (for this).’” (Âl-‘Imrân, 3: 81)

Allah,
all praise and glory be to Him, informs us through these glorious Ayat that He
took the Covenant of all the Prophets that they should announce the glad
tidings of the arrival of His Messenger, Muhammad (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace), and that they should confirm his Message. And if Allah took
that Covenant at one time from all the Prophets prior to birth on earth [i.e., when
Allah extracted from Adam (peace be upon him) all of his descendants who would
be born, generation after generation, until the end of the world and made them
bear witness that He is their Lord], it is also confirmed that Allah took a
Covenant from every Prophet that he should inform his followers and believers
in his prophecy about the Message of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant
him peace).

Allah,
all praise and glory be to Him, brought forth from the loins of the Children of
Adam (peace be upon him) their offspring, one of the other, that will continue
to come till the Day of Resurrection, and made them testify that He is their
Creator and the only true God worthy of worship, as says Allah in the glorious
Ayah (what means):

]“And (remember) when your Lord brought forth from the Children of

Adam, from their loins, their seed (or from Adam’s loin his offspring) and made
them testify as to themselves (saying): ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They said: ‘Yes!
We testify.’ lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection: ‘Verily, we have
been unaware of this.’” (Al-A‘râf, 7: 172)   

A
hadith narrated on the authority of Ibn Sa‘d said that a man asked the
Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) saying, “O Messenger of Allah! When were you a Prophet?”
The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) replied, “While Adam was between the soul and body, when the
Covenant was taken from me.”

Thus,
the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) testified to
the Oneness of the Lordship of the Supreme Creator together with all the
creatures, while Adam was between the soul and body [meaning: when Adam was in
the state in which the soul was about to enter the body]. In the time between
Adam (peace be upon him) and Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
came the procession of the Prophets, guiding to the path of Truth; so that none
would come on the Day of Resurrection arguing that there was not a reminder of
the Law of Allah or givers of glad tidings and warners of what man would meet
in the Hereafter.

When Does Heaven Intervene? 

Adam
(peace be upon him) conveyed the Doctrine of Allah to the earth by the Command
of Allah, all praise and glory be to Him. It was the duty of Adam to teach his
Children the Divine Doctrine, and in turn his Children would teach it to their
posterity and so forth. But negligence came upon the Children of Adam, who
strayed from the Law, forgot it or distorted it. They prostrated themselves to
others than Allah, so Heaven had to intervene with a procession of Messengers
so that man awakes from his inattention and remembers that Allah is the only
worshipped God and is the Sole Creator.

Therefore,

all the celestial Massages came in one procession heralding Islam. All had
Islam as their doctrine: that mankind should worship the one and only True God,
Who has no partner, and that they should adopt His Law as the course of their
life to save them from torment. In Surat Al-A‘râf, Almighty Allah says (what
means):

“Indeed, We sent Nûh (Noah) to his people and he said: ‘O my
people! Worship Allah! You have no other God but Him. Certainly, I fear
for you the torment of a Great Day!’” (Al-A‘râf, 7: 59)

“And to ‘Ad (people, We sent) their brother Hûd. He said: ‘O
my people! Worship Allah! You have no other God but Him. Will you not fear (Allah)?’”
(Al-A‘râf, 7: 65)

“And to Thamud (people, We sent) their brother Salih
(Saleh). He said: ‘O my people! Worship Allah! You have no other God but
Him.’” (Al-A‘râf, 7: 73)

Thus,
all the processions of Messengers came agreeing upon the summit of Faith, that
there is no God but Allah, Alone, Who has no partner, the one and only True
God, and none should be worshipped but Him, then they conveyed the Divine Law.

Ibrahim’s Glad Tidings Of Muhammad

When
Ibrahim (Abraham, peace be upon him) stood raising the foundations of the
Sanctified House (the Ka‘bah at Mecca) he lifted his hands towards Heaven
praying:

“Our Lord! Send amongst them a Messenger of their own, who shall
recite unto them Your Ayat and instruct them in the Book (this Qur’an) and Al-Hikmah
(full knowledge of the Islamic laws and jurisprudence or wisdom or
Prophethood, etc.), and sanctify them. Verily! You are the All-Mighty, the
All-Wise.”  (Al-Baqarah, 2: 129)

Answering
the supplication of Ibrahim was the announcement made to mankind about the Last
of the Prophets, and the glad tidings of his arrival are given in every Book
that preceded the Noble Qur’an.

The
Truth, all praise and glory be to Him, informs in the Torah about Muhammad (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace). The Almighty says, while addressing Musa
(Moses, peace be upon him), what means:

]“Those who follow the Messenger, the Prophet who can neither read

nor write (i.e. Muhammad, Õáì Çááå Úáíå æÓáã) whom they find written with them in the Torah and the Gospel,
- he commands them what is just and forbids them what is evil; he allows them
as lawful what is good (and pure) and prohibits them from what is bad (and
impure); He releases them from their heavy burdens and from the yokes that are
upon them. So those who believe in him (Muhammad, Õáì Çááå Úáíå
æÓáã), honour him, help him, and follow the light
(the Qur’an) which has been sent down with him, it is they who will be
successful.” (Al-A‘râf, 7: 157)

Also,
‘Issa (Jesus, peace be upon him) gave the glad tidings of the approaching
Message of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), as states the
glorious Ayah (which means):

“And (remember) when ‘Issa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), said: ‘O
Children of Israel! I am the Messenger of Allah unto you confirming the Torah
[which came] before me, and giving glad tidings of a Messenger to come after
me, whose name shall be Ahmed.’” (As-Saff, 61: 6)

Not
only did the Prophet ‘Issa (peace be upon him) give the glad tidings of the
Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), but also his
descriptions were accurately stated in the Torah and the Gospel, in a way that
permitted the Jewish rabbis and Christian monks to easily know the Messenger of
Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) without a guide.

With
regard to that, The Truth, Blessed and Exalted be He, says (what means):

“Those to whom We gave the Scripture (Jews and Christians)
recognise him (Muhammad, Õáì
Çááå Úáíå æÓáã) as they recongise their
own sons. But verily, a party of them conceal the truth while they know it -
[i.e. the qualities of Muhammad, Õáì
Çááå Úáíå æÓáã, which are written in
the Torah and the Gospel].” (Al-Baqarah, 2: 146)

The Monk Bahira Identifies The Messenger

We thus
can see that the Message of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace),
even his outward appearance, was known and heralded in the celestial Books.
Furthermore, the Jewish rabbis and Christian monks recognized him even before
his mission; they knew the time of his Message and were sure of his birth.

Abu
Talib, the uncle of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace),
traveled with a trade caravan to Syria, having in his company the Messenger of
Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who was still a boy. The
caravan reached Busra [which was a part of Syria, in the vicinity of Howran
under the Roman domain], where lived a monk called Bahira, who devoted himself
to worship in his hermitage. Many a time the caravans passed by his place, but
monk Bahira never talked or socialized with them.

But
this time he prepared for them a banquet, and then he descended from his
hermitage and said to them, “I prepared food for
you, O people of Quraish, and I would love to entertain you all, the young and
old, the slaves and the free.” So, the people wondered saying, “We used to pass by often but you prepared for us nothing,
so what has happened?”

The
monk replied, “I liked to welcome you.”

So,
all the people gathered around the table except the Messenger of Allah (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace) who kept sitting under a tree. Monk Bahira
asked, “O People of Quraish, did any of you miss
my banquet?” They replied, “None missed it except a boy, who is the youngest amongst
the people.” He said, “Call him.” Afterwards,
Bahira went to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace), embraced him and then kept looking for the sign (the seal) of
Prophethood in his body (which is found between his shoulders).

After
the people finished eating and parted, Bahira said to the Messenger of Allah
(may Allah bless him and grant him peace), “I ask
you in the name of Al-Lat, and Al-'Uzza [two idols of the pagan Arabs], to tell
me what I seek to know from you.” Bahira used to hear the Quraish
swearing by Al-Lat, and Al-'Uzza in their talk, but the Messenger
of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said to him, “Do not ask me in the name of Al-Lat, and Al-'Uzza, for by
Allah, I have never hated anything more than them.”   

Bahira
said, “Then in the Name of Allah, tell me what I
seek to know from you.”

The
Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, “Ask me about whatever you like.” Bahira kept asking and the Messenger (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace) answering, and Bahira finding all the
statements of the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) exactly
as in the Book, then he looked at his back and saw the seal of Prophethood
between his shoulders.

Upon
concluding his questions, his uncle Abu Talib arrived, so Bahira asked him, “What this boy is to you?”

Abu
Talib replied, “He is my son.” Bahira
said, “He is not your son, and the father of this
boy should not be alive.” Abu Talib said, “He is my nephew.” Bahira asked, “What
happened to his father?’ Abu Talib replied, “He died while his mother was pregnant with him.”

Bahira
said, “You told the truth and I have seen the
clouds shading him while he was sitting in front of the hermitage and that is
why I invited you. Return with your nephew to his country and guard him against
the Jews, for by Allah if they saw him and learned from him what I did they
would seek to harm him. This nephew of yours will be a person of great
importance and influence.”

When
Abu Talib heard these words he hurried back to Mecca with the precious child,
Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).

Another
hadith, on the authority of Ibn Salam2
– one of the Jewish rabbis – narrates that he came to the Messenger of Allah
(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) after embracing Islam and said, “Ashadu ana La ilah illa Allah, wana Muhammadan rasul Allah
[I testify that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of
Allah]. By Allah I know that Muhammad is the
Messenger of Allah as I know my own son and my knowledge of Muhammad is even
greater.” Then he said to the
Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), “The Jews are a people (inclined to) slander and
falsehood, and if they should come to know about my reversion to Islam before
you ask them about me, they would tell a lie about me.”

When
Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) asked the Jews, “What kind of man is Ibn Salam amongst you?”
They replied, “He is our master and the son of our
master, and he is our venerable rabbi.” Then
the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) asked, “What would you say if ‘Abdullah bin Salam embraced Islam.”
They replied, “May Allah protect him from this!”
Whereupon, ‘Abdullah came out and said, “I testify
that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” Thus, the Jews said, “He
is the evilest among us, and the son of the evilest amongst us,” and
disparaged him. On that ‘Abdullah said, “That is
what I was afraid of, O Messenger of Allah.”

The
Jews of Medina even knew the time at which Muhammad (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace) would be commanded to deliver the Message. They used to tell
Al-Aws and Al-Khazraj [two tribes in Medina, later two sections of the Ansar (Supporters)],
“There has come the time of a Messenger whom we shall follow, and we, along
with him, shall exterminate you, just as the nations of ‘Ad and Iram (people)
were exterminated.”

Preparing The Universe For The Message Of Islam

We
can see that the entire universe was spiritually being prepared to receive the
Message of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). But some may
ask, “What good will it do to herald the arrival of the Message of Muhammad
(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) to people who will die before his
birth?”

We
say that Allah willed that none of the believers, who did not live during the
lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace),
should die without being given the glad tidings of his arrival and being
trustful of his coming. That spiritual preparation of the universe to welcome
the Message of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) also mirrors
the honorable status of the Last of the Prophets in the Sight of The Lord, be
ever gloried His Majesty and Might.

That
spiritual preparation was part and parcel of preparing the entire universe for
receiving the Message of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).
The last act in preparation came on the birth year of the Messenger of Allah
(may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Allah, all praise and glory be to
Him, willed by it to inform the entire earth that the last of all Prophets
would be born and He Himself would guard his Message. That this Prophet would
knock down the pillars of injustice in the entire universe, and if his doctrine
is justly followed, it would leave no trace of oppression and bring about
absolute justice.

There
was a sign in the year of his birth and another on the day of his birth. As for
the sign that happened in the year of his birth, it was the Elephant Incident.
Abrahah – one of the Abyssinian leaders – wanted to destroy the Ka‘bah, the
Sacred House of Allah in Mecca. It is narrated that Abrahah was a powerful
tyrant who invaded Yemen. When he heard that people made pilgrimages to the
Sacred House of Allah, he wanted to build a house in Yemen that people would
visit instead of Mecca.

It
happened that an Arabian came and threw garbage in that house, which wildly
enraged Abrahah. He decided to retaliate by destroying the Ka‘bah and Satan
adorned that heinous deed in his eyes. For that is the diabolic stratagem in
adoring falsehood, which the Noble Qur’an illustrates to us through the glorious Ayah saying (what means):

“Remember Satan made their (sinful) acts seem alluring to them, and
said: no one among men can overcome you this day, while I am near to you: but
when the two forces came in sight of each other, he turned on his heels, and
said: Lo I am clear of you; lo I see what you see not; Lo I fear Allah; for
Allah is severe in punishment.’ (Al-Anfâl, 8: 48)

Satan And Abrahah

The
Noble Qur’an shows us through this glorious Ayah how the devil adorns evil to
mankind, a solemn warning to us against him. The devil whispered to Abrahah saying,
“You are strong and brave, and those are merely
nomad Arabs, with neither might nor power. Go and destroy the Sacred House, you
will find no one to defend it.” So, Abrahah prepared a powerful army
built of elephants and mighty men, and he marched on to destroy the Sacred
House of Allah, filled with pride at his strength.

When
they arrived at Mecca and its people saw that mighty army and its force of
elephants they fled to the mountains, deserting the House, undefended. There
was a Divine wisdom behind this desertion, because if the people of Mecca
surrounded the House to defend it and defeated Abrahah, it would have been said
that a heroic minority defeated Abrahah’s army. Furthermore, if only one
defender remained in front of the House, legends would have been fabricated
about him.

But
Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, wanted that all people leave His House
unprotected. Thus, Abrahah stood with his huge army and no human rose to defend
the Sacred House.

There
the miracle happened and the sky was covered with birds, and suddenly the birds
started to cast small stones that annihilated Abrahah’s army and crushed it.
Thus, the mighty army perished in no time. The Truth, all praise and glory be
to Him, relates this event saying 
(what means):

“Have you (O Muhammad, Õáì Çááå
Úáíå æÓáã) not seen how your Lord dealt with
the Owners of the Elephant? [The elephant army which came from Yemen under the
command of Abrahah Al-Ashram intending to destroy the Ka‘bah at Mecca].
Did He not make their plot go astray? And sent against them birds, in flocks,
striking them with stones of Sijjîl (baked clay). And made them like an empty
field of stalks and straw, (of which the corn) has been eaten up.” (Al-Fîl,
105: 1-5)

Some scientists
tried to account for the destruction of the elephant and Abrahah’s army by
hypothesizing that the birds might have been carriers of infectious diseases
that caused the destruction of the marauding army, which is absolutely false!
Because the mission of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
started when he was forty and the Elephant Incident happened in the year of his
birth. If Surah Al-Fîl [The Elephant: 105] was revealed without the real
occurrence of this incident, the people of Mecca who were fifty, sixty, seventy
years old or more, amongst whom were disbelievers who heatedly desired to
impugn Islam, those would have said, “We have lived the year of the Elephant
Event, but we neither saw flocking birds nor stones of perdition.”

But
the birds did come and threw stones of clay, baked with Hellfire, and none
could deny what the glorious Ayat narrate. We have to believe that Allah is
mightily Able to do anything, so we should neither introduce interpretations
that belittle the Might or Power of Allah, Whose Majesty reigns supreme, nor
subject the Divine Miracles to the worldly principles of cause and effect, nor
to what is within our limited reasoning power for they are enormously higher
above it.

The Straight Course

But
what is the meaning of that incident? It clearly signifies that Almighty Allah
wants us to carefully bear in mind that His Messenger (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace) who would be born in that year would bring a doctrine mightily
guarded by Heaven, even if all mankind deserted him. No human would be able to
remove, change, replace or conceal anything from the Noble Qur’an…the doctrine
of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Because it
is a doctrine mightily guarded by the Power of Allah, The Most Exalted and
Ever-Majestic, and what Allah guards can never be within reach of humans.

With
real wonder, we ourselves witness that at the time the strength of faith is in
decline the curve of preserving the Noble Qur’an is rising up. We even find
that Almighty Allah is subjecting to the service of preserving the Noble Qur’an
those who do not believe in it. So, we may find a Japanese scholar writing the
whole Qur’an in one page, and a Japanese institution producing luxurious Copies
of the Noble Qur’an. All over the world are non-Muslims serving the Noble
Qur’an, who do not offer the same as to their books.

We
also find that some of those who are rivaling for enhancing the Copies of the
Noble Qur’an and publishing them in beautiful designs only memorize few Ayat
from the Noble Qur’an. This upward curve of faith is from Allah Who will guard
His Noble Book against the abuse of mankind till the Day of Resurrection, as
declared by the glorious Ayah saying (what means):

“Verily We: It is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (i.e. the
Qur’an) and surely, We will guard it (from corruption).” (Al-Hijr, 15: 9)    

   

The Birth Of The Light

Now
we move to the birthday of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace). On that day the strongholds of injustice were shaken all over
world, and all of a sudden the sacred fire that the Magi worshipped died down;
Lake Sawa, which the Persians sanctified, sank down; and Kisra’s palace, the
fortress of oppression and disbelief, cracked and its balconies fell down.

Was
there an operating hand behind these events? Or did they happen by the Power of
Allah, Alone?

Of
course, they happened by the Power of Allah, Alone, for us to learn that the
truth whose Prophet was born on that day would destroy the strongholds of
injustice in the whole world. And the Law that this Noble Messenger would be
sent with, if followed truthfully and out of sincere faith, would leave no
trace of injustice on the earth. They served as universal signs to the
monotheistic religion, and the sublime message it bears to this universe.

And
marvels truly happened, for at the time of the revelation of the Noble Qur’an
the Arabs were a disunited nation, warring tribes with neither might nor power,
killing one another and feuds were unabating between them. They lived in a
barren desert, coveted by none. Then, Islam came to make the Arabs master the
whole world and defeat the greatest two powers at that time: the Persians and
the Romans.

But
how was all this realized? Did the Noble Qur’an give the Arab an atomic bomb,
or a new secret weapon? Or a scientific discovery that none has ever known
before?

Nothing
of that, but the Noble Qur’an brought a Law from Allah, be ever gloried His
Majesty and Might, if man follows it, he will surely govern the whole world and
be the master of this universe. The Arabs followed the Law of Allah; therefore,
in a few years they became the masters of the earth, owners of civilization and
power. Their word obeyed and their force feared, pioneers of progress and
civilization in all domains.

That
is the Law of Allah, whoever truthfully follows it will be superior, and
whoever abandons it will miserably fail.

The Universality Of The Message 

After

the spiritual preparations that Allah has made in His Universe to receive His
Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), through the glad tidings
given by all the Prophets (peace be upon them all) about his arrival, and after
stating his full description in the celestial Books that preceded the Noble
Qur’an, and after the Elephant Event that captured and directed the attention
of the Arabs at the time of its occurrence, to the Mighty Power of Allah, all
praise and glory be to Him, and the entire world as well by depicting it in the
Noble Qur’an, and after the highest strongholds of injustice on the face of the
earth were mightily shaken, we must answer two important questions:

The
first question:
Why was the Message of the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) sent to the worlds or to the entire universe, and was not sent
particularly to his people? Because, the Prophets who came before the Messenger
of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) were sent to their own people
in order to remedy certain vices in the world. Moreover, at one time there was
more than a Prophet. Ibrahim (Abraham, peace be upon him), the father of the
Prophets, and Lut (Lot, peace be upon him), both of them were sent at the same
time: Ibrahim to remedy the vice of idolatry and Lut to remedy sodomy that
spread among his people.

Communities
during the times of the preceding Prophets lived in isolation from one another.
In addition, means of transportation were slow and difficult, almost
nonexistent. People living anywhere, knew nothing about those living in other
distant places.

The
Wisdom of Heaven dictated that every Messenger was sent to his own people to
remedy a certain vice or vices in a particular community. Surely, Allah, all
praise and glory be to Him, eternally possesses absolute knowledge about His
universe and how it would be unified. How the Most Exalted would reveal to
mankind from the secrets of His Universe what would render transportations easy
and distances short, in a way that unifies the problems of the world, and that
is exactly what we now see.

In
seconds the whole world knows about any incident that takes place in whatever
spot on the earth. A disease that appears in America is quickly transmitted to
Europe, and in a quicker pace to Africa, Asia and the rest of countries, until
the problems from which the world suffers became almost one. For instance, the
entire world suffers from violence and terrorism. Drugs not only threaten the
youth of a certain country, but their evil also extends to all the countries of
the world. Diseases became one in the whole world, which necessitated the
appliance of one remedy. Because the problems of the world are one, it follows
that the medicine should be one.

Therefore,
Islam, the Message of the Last of the Prophets and Messengers, came to remedy
the diseases of the entire world. After all these preludes people should have
appreciated the value of Islam, and the Law brought by the Noble Qur’an.
Regretfully, instead of that many people on the earth, who hear about Islam and
the Noble Qur’an, never seek an enlightening reading about them that may shine
within and show the way before them.

Any
tourist is so caring about the trip he will undertake, reading the smallest
details about the country he is going to visit and asking those who have
visited it before, but he never tries to learn about his religion (Islam) or
understand the teachings of Islam on which life is established.

Allah,
all praise and glory be to Him, created this universe and prepared it for man
before creating him. He made man the master and made the entire universe serve
him, and subjected it to him. But many never question themselves about He, The
God, Who has subjected and created.

The
second question:
Why was Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) the Last of the
Prophets? Because, his mission (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is the
completion of all Messages and the perfection of all blessings, and in these
two lies utmost contentment. For by their grace the canopy of Islam flies over
the Worlds. Allah, the Almighty, has perfected the religion, completed His
grace and Favour upon those who follow guidance, and the Prophet (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace) has conveyed the Message. Allah says in the Noble
Qur’an (what means):

“This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My
Favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.” (Al-Mâ’idah,
5: 3)

The
Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, “My similitude in comparison with the other Prophets before
me, is that of a man who has built a house nicely and beautifully, except for
the place of one brick in a corner. The people go about it and wonder at its
beauty, but say, ‘Would that this brick be put in its place!’ So I am that
brick and I am the last of the Prophets.’”

 

Allah,
all praise and glory be to Him, made the miracle of His Messenger (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace) his very doctrine, to keep the doctrine guarded
by the power of the miracle till the Day of Judgment. In the past, Allah
entrusted His servants with the duty of guarding the previous celestial Books,
but what did they do with them? They forgot them, and the parts unforgotten
were distorted, and those undistorted were hidden and those unhidden were
substituted and changed.

Therefore,
mankind was untrustworthy of guarding the Law of Heaven, because whims and
caprice interfered and worldly greed changed and substituted the Divine Law.
Hence, it is Almighty Allah Himself Who guards the Noble Qur’an against any
change or corruption.

The Noble Qur’an… A Miracle Ever-Renewing

Allah,
all praise and glory be to Him, made the doctrine of His Messenger (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace) an everlasting miracle. To every generation the
Noble Qur’an has something new to offer. There are matters that the Messenger
of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) has accurately clarified,
explained and detailed, which are the matters connected with worship. The Messenger
of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) left no rule related to
worship without explaining it in detail.

But
there are Ayat that were beyond the grasp of the contemporaries of the
Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), which the
Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) left as Qur’anic miracles
to every generation. Thus, no time passes without the manifestation of a new
Qur’anic miracle, which we have not known before.

Almighty
Allah says (what means):

“Say (O Muhammad Õáì Çááå Úáíå æÓáã to mankind). ‘If the sea were ink for (writing) the Words of my
Lord, sooner would the sea be exhausted than would the words of my Lord, even
if we brought (another sea) like it for its aid.” (Al-Kahf, 18: 109)

When
they discovered that the earth is globe-shaped, it became evident how the Noble
Qur’an was the first to clearly indicate that truth in the creation of the
night and day. The Noble Book indicates the spherical shape of the earth and
its rotation on its axis in one glorious Ayah, in which The Most Exalted says
(what means):

“And it is He Who made the Night and the Day to follow each other:

for such as have the will to celebrate His praises or to show their gratitude.”
(Al-Furqân, 25: 62)

A
thing that succeeds another means to exactly follow close upon it like patrols,
one after another; or as work shifts in a factory, each succeeding the other.
But there is always a beginning in all this, where the first night patrol does
not have a preceding one, and the first shift upon start of work in a factory,
does not come after another shift, simply because it is the beginning of work
at the factory. But The Truth, all praise and glory be to Him, says (what
means):

“And it is He Who made the Night and the Day to follow each other.”
(Al-Furqân, 25: 62)

Night
must follow day from the moment of creation, which cannot be unless night and
day were together created on the face of the earth, which also cannot be unless
the earth is globe-shaped. At the moment of creation, night and day both
existed on the earth at the same instant, so that each becomes the successor of
the other. Night and day cannot succeed one another unless the earth rotates on
its axis. Had the earth been still, the part subjected to light would have remained
day forever and the dark part would have remained night forever. Therefore, the
axial rotation of the earth is a must-be fact. Another marvel found in the
Noble Quran about the rotation of the earth, is the glorious Ayah in which
Almighty Allah says (what means):

“And you see the mountains and think them firmly fixed; but they
pass along as the clouds pass: (such is) the Artistry of Allah, Who perfected
all things.” (An-Naml, 27: 88)

After
the revolution witnessed in science, scientists became able to film the baby
within its mother’s womb, but the Noble Qur’an has already scientifically
depicted the phases of embryonic development with amazing accuracy. Then
medicine discovered that the sensory-perception in man is the skin, because
nerve endings (receptors) lie directly beneath the skin, and again they find
the Noble Qur’an stating that truth, in the glorious Ayah speaking about the
eternal torment that the inhabitants of Hellfire will taste:

“As often as their skins are roasted through, We shall change them
for other skins that they may taste the punishment.” (An-Nisâ’, 4: 56)

The
Noble Qur’an is richly plenteous in miracles, some Allah has willed to be
unveiled, and many others are to be revealed to the future generations. All
this serves to keep the Noble Qur’an an everlasting rejuvenating miracle, in a
way that offers to every age a new miracle.

The
whole universe rejoiced at the birth of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless
him and grant him peace), because he came with a doctrine that would bring back
the harmony man lost with the universe and with his own self. Although, the
whole universe is made to obey, except mankind and the jinns who are given free
will, none should think that Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, imposed
such subjection on the universe. But the Justice of Allah dictated that such
subjection be of its own choice. Had it been a compulsory matter, Allah would
not have given the universe the freedom to choose.

In
this regard, The Truth, all praise and glory be to Him, says (what means):

“Truly, We did offer Al­-Amânah (the trust or moral
responsibility or honesty and all the duties which Allah has ordained) to the
heavens and the earth, and the mountains, but they declined to bear it and were
afraid of it (i.e. afraid of Allah’s Torment). But man bore it. Verily, he was
unjust (to himself) and ignorant (of its results).” (Al-­Ahzâb, 33: 72)

Thus,
we see that Almighty Allah offered the trust or freedom of choice to all His
creatures, but these creatures, other than mankind and jinns, feared lest they
should not be able to fulfill and honor the trust and said, “O Lord! We have
chosen to be subjected.” But as for man he was misled by his reason and
asked for free choice.

The Universe And Mankind  

So,
the whole universe is a glorifier of Allah except mankind, as some are
glorifiers and others are not. In this regard, The Truth, all praise and glory
be to Him, says (what means):

“See you not that to Allah prostrates whoever is in the heavens and
whoever is on the earth, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the
mountains, and the trees, and Ad-Dawâb (moving living creatures, beasts,
etc.), and many of mankind? But there are many (men) on whom the punishment is
justified.” (Al-Hajj, 22: 18)

The
glorious Ayah shows that upon mentioning mankind obedience varied, but as for
the rest of creatures they are all glorifiers. True indeed, for the Messenger
of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) heard the glorification of
the pebbles; and the longing of the date-palm trunk on which he used lean while
preaching, and the moan it uttered when a pulpit was built for him to deliver
sermons from, instead of it. Also, the clouds that used to shade him and the
camel that complained to him of man’s cruelty and the water gushing forth from
his fingers.

All
these glorifiers rejoiced at the Message of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace), but man whom Allah made the master of this universe and
created for him all these blessings, is the one who opposed and disbelieved.
Therefore, all what exist in the universe from inanimate beings, plants and
animals curse the disbeliever, even the human body that Allah has subjected to
serve man, whether an obeyer or a disobeyer.

The tongue
can utter the Shahadah [The Testimony of Faith: There is no God but
Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah)] or the word of disbelief,
Allah forbid. Similarly, the hand obeys its owner when it assaults people and
also obeys him when helping someone rise on his feet, or helping a cripple or a
blind man cross the road.

But
on the Day of Resurrection all the organs of the human body will come to
testify against the sinner and curse him, as substantiated by the glorious Ayah
saying (what means):

“On the Day when their tongues, their hands, and their legs or feet
will bear witness against them as to what they used to do.” (An-Nûr, 24: 24)

The
Truth, all praise and glory be to Him, willed that the Islamic Message should
be send down in Mecca, that blessed stretch of land, which Allah has chosen as
His House. Although it is a small spot from the spacious land that Allah has
created, man with his disbelief stubbornly insisted on defiling that Sanctified
House and worshiping in it others than Allah. Within the House of Allah, chosen
by Allah Himself, man set up idols that were worshipped instead of The Most
Exalted.

The
Truth, all praise and glory be to Him, willed that Islam starts with purifying
His House and that the first Call of Faith be cried within the ears of the
chiefs of the Quraish, to whom the House had given mastery over all the Arabs;
those chiefs who were the leaders of disbelief and the establishers of the
idols within the Sacred House of Allah; who tyrannized over the world. Their
society was widely estranged from the Worship of Allah, a society that
approbated sins, disbelief and polytheism. Then came the Cry of Faith to
mightily shake them all and restore to life the eternal values springing from
this very blessed place that is connected with the continents of the earth by
land and sea, for it constituted the outset and from its land the Message was
conveyed to the Worlds.

Before
discussing the Message, we have to talk about the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace), and his descriptions as given by his
contemporaries, and why was he of superb manners? And why did Allah, Blessed
and Exalted be He, chose him a human? And why illiterate? And why an orphan?