BISMILLAH HIRRAHMÃ NIRRAHEEM

We have not sent thee except as a mercy to the worlds.” [Surah 21/107]

Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) rose like the midday sun from the horizon of Arabia and dissipated the intense darkness around the globe. His personality embodied the boldness of Musa (A.S.), the courteousness of Hãroon (A.S.), the patience of Ayub (A.S.), the grandeur of Sulaimãn (A.S.) and the humility of Isã (A.S.).

His leadership stands unparalleled in the annals of history. He despised the pomp of royalty, dutifully carried out the menial tasks of the family, he kindled the fire, swept the floor, milked the cows and mended his own shoes and garments.





HIS BEAUTIFUL FEATURES

Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) was neither tall nor short but of medium stature. His hair had a slight wave in it (neither straight nor curly). His eye lashes were long and his eyes extremely black. He had a broad chest with a well developed body. His palms were soft and fleshy. He had a thick beard, with a line of hair running from the chest to the navel. His teeth were like a set of pearls, beaming white. He always had a smiling countenance. His perspiration emitted a fragrance sweeter than musk. Ãyesha (R.A.) would frequently say “The women cut their hands off when they were enchanted and captivated by the beauty of Yusuf (A.S.), had they seen my beloved, they would have cut out their hearts.”

SIMPLICITY OF RASULULLAH (SALLALLAHU ALAIHI WASALLAM)

Anas (R.A.) states that Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) frequently visited the sick, followed the Janãza, responded to the invitation of (even) a slave and rode on a mule.” [Ibn Mãjah]

Ãyesha (R.A.) reported that Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) used to mend his shoes, sew his cloth and work in the household just as any of you would do in your households. He was a man among men who patched his clothes, milked his goats and served himself.” [Tirmizi]

HIS CONCERN AND SACRIFICES

Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) said: “I have been subjected to harm (and suffering) in the cause of Allah, as no one else had been.” The brutal tortures and relentless persecutions reached such levels that the pathway of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) was secretly laden with thorns, refuse and the intestines of animals was flung at him. He and his group of devout companions were denied a home, denied food, water and medicine for three years. The cry of infants and children echoed through the valleys of Arabia.

HIS MISSION

The mission of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) is eloquently portrayed in a speech which Ja’far (R.A.) made to the ruler of Abyssinia in Africa.

He said: “O King! We were a people of ignorance, worshipping idols, eating the flesh of dead animals, committing abominations, neglecting our relations, doing evil to our neighbours and the strong amongst us would oppress the weak. We were in this state when Allah sent to us a messenger from amongst us, whose decent and sincerity, trustworthiness and honesty were known to us. He summoned us to the worship of one true Allah and to divest ourselves of the stones and idols which we and our forefathers had been ascribing to Allah. He ordered us to be truthful in speech, to fulfil all that is entrusted to us to care for relatives, to be kind to our neighbours, to refrain from unlawful food and the consumption of blood. He forbade us from engaging in shameful acts and false speech.”

MUHAMMAD (SALLALLAHU ALAIHI WASALLAM) THE GREATEST OF MANKIND

“Never has a man set for himself, voluntarily or involuntarily, a more sublime aim, since this aim was superhuman: to subvert superstitions which has been interposed between man and his creator, to render God unto man and man unto God, to restore the rational and sacred idea of divinity amidst the chaos of the material and disfigured gods of idolatry, then existing.”

“Never has a man undertaken a work so far beyond human power with so feeble means, for he, Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) had in the conception as well as in the execution of such a great design no other instrument than himself, and no other aid, except a handful of men living in a corner of the desert. Finally, never has a man accomplished such a huge and lasting revolution in the world.”

If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astounding results are the true criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any great man in modern history with Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam)? The most famous men created arms, laws, and empires only. They founded, if anything at all, no more than material powers which often crumbled away before their own eyes. This man moved not only armies, legislation's, empires, peoples and dynasties, but millions of men in one third of the inhabited world, and more than that, he moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs, and the souls. On the basis of a book, every letter of which has become law, he created a spiritual nationality which blended together peoples of every tongue and of every race. He has left us – as the indelible characteristic of this Muslim nationality – the hatred of false gods and passion of the One and Immaterial god.

The conquest of one third of the earth to his dogma was his miracle; rather it was not the miracle of a man but that of reason.”

His life, his meditations, his heroic reviling against the superstitions of his country, and his boldness in defying the furies of idolatry, his firmness in enduring them for thirteen years at Makkah, his acceptance of the role of public scorn and almost of being a victim of his fellow countrymen: all these and finally his migration, his incessant preaching, his wars against odds, his faith in his success and his superhuman security in misfortune, his forbearance in victory, his ambition, which was entirely devoted to one idea and in no manner striving for an empire, his endless prayers, his mystic conversations with god, his death and his triumph after death – all these.. (served) to affirm conviction which gave him the power to restore a creed.”

“Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational dogmas, of a cult without images; the founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire, that is Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam). As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he?”

[Lamartine, Histoire de la turquire, Paris, 1854]

CONCLUSION

The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) said: “None of you has perfect faith until I am more beloved to him than his parents, his children and all the people.”

Real love for him will induce us to follow him in all walks of life. The Sunnah is the axle on which the Deen of Islãm rotates. A quality apple has the colour, taste and smell of an apple. If any one of these qualities is missing than the apple will be an imperfect one. Similarly we will only be real Muslims if we have a taste, colour and smell of the Sunnah of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) in our way of walking, talking, eating, behaving, our social, political and financial dealings.

In short, every aspect of life should be moulded according to his lifestyle. We judge a fruit by looking at its exterior. Likewise the manner in which a person conducts his life is a true reflection of his God consciousness and his love for Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam).

MAY ALLAH GRANT EVERY MUSLIM AN OPPORTUNITY OF DEVELOPING AN INTENSE LOVE FOR RASULULLAH (SALLALLAHU ALAIHI WASALLAM)

ÃMEEN.