The Waswahili Community Trust UK
(Wadhamini wa jumuiya ya Waswahili)
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The Waswahili Community Trust UK |
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Prophet Muhammad, was a good living example of the finest, and most
beautiful manner. Although, he was a human being, but his human qualities were quite distinct and quite
unique from the history of any person in living memory.
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My dear Muslim brothers, I wish the Almighty Allah would bless you all for having attended today’s celebration to mark the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The Qur’an is emphatic in proclaiming that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the last Messenger of Allah. Indeed, Allah has done the Mankind a great favour for sending the Prophet, who is also amongst the human beings.
In another interpretation, Qur’an said Allah has dignify you with his blessings, and has honour you and giving you such a great relief for sending you the Prophet for the benefit of all humanity. In this special context, therefore, the coming of the last Messenger of Allah must be regarded as a great mercy and a great comfort for the Mankind.
This is because, if the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) were not to have been sent to this planet, the Mankind would have still been living in the age of darkness and ignorance. As the various Quran verses repeatedly points out that the most important, and the most fundamental task for the Prophet has been to guide humanity from the old dark age, to the new age of Islamic enlightenment and its spiritual values.
Sadly, there are some people, who are ready to show disrespect and their lack of knowledge in their expressive dishonesty and harmful references on Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), as they often said: “He was a person just like any other person, whose life has ended a long time ago, why should we waste our time in commemorating his birthday?’ (Astagh fir Allah) May Allah forgive .
My dear Muslim brothers, this particular line of thinking is very dangerous, to say the least. And this can also, create some confusion, misunderstanding and ignorance.
Quite rightly, Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) was a human being, neither he, and nor any of the Islamic historiographers have disputed that fact and claiming to be otherwise. He was born in 570 in Makkah and died in June 8, 632 in Medina. His father is Abdullah, who died before the birth of his son. His mother is Amina, and his grandfather is Abd al-Muttalib.
At the age of 25 Muhammad married Khadija, then aged 40, who gave a very important support and protection for her husband. She got 7 children with the Prophet. Khadija died in 619, and soon the Prophet remarried. His family belonged to the clan of Hashim, a branch of the Quraysh tribe. And most importantly, many of his companion Muslim brothers (swahaba) followed him, and knowing quite clearly that he was an individual and, above all, as said a human being likes them.
Just, for the sake of argument, supposing Allah did not send a Prophet, who was one amongst the human beings like us. But, instead, if he had sent to us an Engel to come to this planet to guide the Mankind, some people would not have accepted that Engel, and they would have found all sorts of reasons to ridicule him, just as they do with the Prophet.
They might do so by making contemptuous and cynical remarks about such Engel. To make matters worse, they might not have followed his leadership, guidance, and his teaching. As they might have expressed their disobedience by making distasteful comments:
Islamic historiographers have recorded that shortly before the birth of the Prophet, there were some extraordinary incidents that took place and they were unexplained at that time. But in the later years, these incidents had been associated with the birth of the Prophet Mohammad (PHUH).
For example, one of such incident has been the miraculous trembling of the earth and heavens. This event was linked with the birth of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).Another, unexplained incident took place in Iraq which was part of the Persian Empire. During that time there were two Empires, the Romans and the Persian Empire. The Persian Empire is known to have witnessed the highest achievement of Persian civilisation. The designation of the Sasanian Kings for the Arabs (Kisra in Arabic) was part of the Persian Empire, just like that of Caesar.
Kisra’s imperial castles were known to have great balconies where they used to sit for leisure. The days approaching the Prophet’s birth, these balconies had mysteriously collapsed. This incident was also associated with the birth of the Prophet.
Also, in Iran (Uajemi) there were people who used to worship fire (majusi). As they used to believe that incessant fire lightening had been the causes of many things that are happening in the world, like warm weather, sunshine, etc. Shortly, before the birth of he Prophet, this burning fire, immediately stopped burning. A factor that was later being contributed to the birth of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
Even when walking in the woodland, stones, trees, birds, etc greeted him. (Assallam Alleika Ya Rasulla Llah) - ". Peace be upon you, the Prophet of God”. So, the question that must be asked is that: Is there any other human being, who has witnessed such incidents of high regards from Allah like Prophet Mohammad?
It must be understood that Allah did the Mankind a great favour to have sent to this planet his Messenger. If it were not for the benefit of the Prophet’s teachings and guidance, the human race today might have been in the darkness, ignorance, and confused.
It can be seen therefore, that although the Prophet was being chosen from the amongst human beings, but nonetheless, his unique human, moral, and the spiritual qualities are very different from all other human beings. As Muslim scholars states:
This should not be difficult to understand, my dear fellow Muslim brothers. Because, We all know that Ka’aba is a house, and most importantly, it is also a sacred house of Allah. Can anybody compare Ka’aba with any other house? Or to refer to Ka’aba as being similar to my own house.
The same apply to the holy Qur’an. We all know that Qur’an is a book, we can read it, and it is written on papers, and with ink and being published like any other book. The main dissimilarities are therefore that, although the holy Qur’an is a book, but it cannot be compared with any other book, because it contains the revelation of Allah’s commandments to the Prophet.
The above criteria and reasoning relating to our two examples of the Ka’aba and the holy Qur’an, must also apply to the Prophet Mohammad’s consideration. Therefore, in the light of all the evidence, Prophet Mohammad was truly a human being; this fact is beyond any dispute. But his human spiritual values and his humanity cannot be compared with any other human being.
It is very important now to understand that whenever maulid is being held to celebrate Prophet’s birthday, Muslims should take time to attend such celebration in large numbers. As such celebration is centred on the Prophet who was an individual of immense spirituality and nearness to Allah. Take for example; in almost all the religious acts, and prayers, whenever Allah is mention, the Prophet’s name follows, as for example, the declaration of faith.(shahaddah)
My dear Muslim brothers, the Prophet’s companions (swahaba) were not able to possess their individual significance and became well known figures before the coming of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) Furthermore, the Prophet’s companions (swahaba) have admitted that before the coming of the Prophet they were just ordinary people working as Sheppard. But, as a result of the coming of the Prophet and his guidance, they became spiritual figures worldwide.
Also, they used the teachings of the Prophet to spread the word of Allah. And Islam, spread with great rapidity to many parts of the world. In this sense, therefore, Prophet companions (swahaba) have been transformed from their old social status as ordinary people to the great leaders and great scholars of Islam in general.
Now, coming to our today’s world, and if we critically examine the Palestinian issue, there is no doubt that they have been suffering from gross injustice for a long time. There are many religious scholars who are attributing their suffering mainly to the Palestinian themselves by regarding their struggle as being an Arab struggle, instead of being a Muslim struggle. If they were fighting in the name of Islam, then Muslims worldwide would have felt that they are under an obligation to make their contribution in helping their fellow Muslims.
Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) from the very beginning consider Islam as being a universal religion for all the people who are able to make a declaration of faith (Shahadah)
