CALL TO PROPHETHOOD
By the time Prophet Muhammad was forty, he had already cultivated the habit of spending hours in retirement, meditating and thinking over all aspects of creation around him. This meditative temperament helped to widen the mental gap between him and his compatriots. His chosen location for his meditation is the Cave of Hira, in Makkah. He continued in this state until the Revelation of the Qur’aan came to him.
This Qur’aan, which is the peak of eloquence and clarity and recited by the Muslims and committed to memory by millions of his followers worldwide, mentioned most of the accounts found in the previous scriptures, telling us about these events in the great detail. These accounts came precisely as they were found in the Torah sent down to Moses and in the Gospel sent down to Jesus.
Neither the Jews nor Christians of the Prophet’s time were able to deny anything revealed in the Qur’aan about these two noble Prophets and their teachings.
Though Muhammad was popular among his people as the most-trustworthy one among them in whose hand they entrusted their valuables, he was never known as a statesman, a preacher or an orator before he attained the age of forty. He was never seen discussing the principles of metaphysics, ethics, law, politics, economics or sociology.
Did he possess an excellent character, charming manners and was he highly cultured? Yes! But was there anything so deeply striking and so radically extraordinary in him that would make men expect something great and revolutionary from him in the future? No!
He came out of the Cave of Hira with a new message, completely transformed. Is it possible for such a person of the above qualities to turn all of a sudden into 'an impostor' and claim to be the Prophet of Allaah and invite all the rage of his people? One might ask: for what reason did he suffer all those hardships? His people
offered to accept him as their King and he would leave and he would leave the preaching of his religion. But he chose to refuse their tempting offers and go on preaching his religion single-handedly in face of all kinds of insults, social boycott and even physical assault by his own people. Was it not only God's support and his firm will to disseminate the message of Allah and his deep-rooted belief that ultimately Islam would emerge as the only way of life for humanity, that he stood like a mountain in the face of all opposition and conspiracies to eliminate him? Furthermore, had he come with a design of rivalry with the Christians and the Jews, why should he have made belief in Jesus Christ and Moses and other Prophets of God (peace be upon them), a basic requirement of faith without which no one could be a Muslim?
Is it not an incontrovertible proof of his Prophethood that in spite of being unlettered and having led a very normal and quiet life for forty years, when he began preaching his message, all of Arabia stood in awe and wonder and was bewitched by his wonderful eloquence and oratory? It was so matchless that the whole legion of Arab poets, preachers and orators of the highest calibre failed to bring forth its equivalent. And above all, how could he then pronounce truths of a scientific nature contained in the Qur’aan that no other human being could possible have developed at that time?
Last but not least, why did he lead a hard life even after gaining power and authority? Just ponder over the words he uttered while dying: "We the community of the Prophets are not inherited. Whatever we leave is for charity."
As a matter of fact, Muhammad is the last link of the chain of Prophets sent in different lands and times since the very beginning of the human life on this planet.
As humans are wont to resist changes, his people spurned his message, rejected him and persecuted him and his companions, and only few people initially believed in him. When the persecution became unbearable, he permitted his companions to migrate to Abyssinia, while he stayed back in Makkah to continue with the message of his Lord amid torrents of persecution until Allaah commanded him to migrate to Madinah [known then as Yathrib].
His companions left gradually and unobtrusively, Muhammad remaining to the last. Their departure was soon discovered by the pagans of Makkah, who decided to slay him before he could escape. But his Lord saved him from their evil machinations and he, and his best companion, Abu Bakr left Makkah.
They arrived at Madinah safely under the protection of their Lord. He was now free to preach, and his followers increased rapidly. The Muslims could now worship freely and live according to the laws of Allah.
Soon after his arrival and after making sure that the pillars of the new Islamic community were well established on strong administrative bases, and political and ideological unity; the Prophet commenced to establish regular and clearly-defined relations with non-Muslims. All of these efforts were exerted solely to provide peace, security, and prosperity to all mankind at large, and to bring about a spirit of rapport and harmony within his region, in particular. The Prophet decided to ratify a treaty with the Jewish community of Madinah with clauses that provided full freedom in faith and wealth.
He meticulously respected the clauses of the treaty and it was only after his partners in this treaty started behaving treacherously and undermining the security of the city in particular and the region in general that they were accordingly dealt with.
The people of Makkah, on their own part, did not want the religion of Islaam to take roots, so they waged a number of wars against him and, due to Divine Providence, they were disgracefully defeated. They wanted to put out the Light of God with their mouths, but God insisted that His Light should be perfected.
In the year 622 AD, Muhammad fell sick after he had arrived from his Farewell Pilgrimage. The illness lasted for some fifteen days at the end of which his blessed soul departed this earthly world. May peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him!
After his death, his followers faithfully carried on the message of Islam, and within 90 years, the light of Islam reached Spain, Africa, the Caucasus, China, and India.
This Qur’aan, which is the peak of eloquence and clarity and recited by the Muslims and committed to memory by millions of his followers worldwide, mentioned most of the accounts found in the previous scriptures, telling us about these events in the great detail. These accounts came precisely as they were found in the Torah sent down to Moses and in the Gospel sent down to Jesus.
Neither the Jews nor Christians of the Prophet’s time were able to deny anything revealed in the Qur’aan about these two noble Prophets and their teachings.
Though Muhammad was popular among his people as the most-trustworthy one among them in whose hand they entrusted their valuables, he was never known as a statesman, a preacher or an orator before he attained the age of forty. He was never seen discussing the principles of metaphysics, ethics, law, politics, economics or sociology.
Did he possess an excellent character, charming manners and was he highly cultured? Yes! But was there anything so deeply striking and so radically extraordinary in him that would make men expect something great and revolutionary from him in the future? No!
He came out of the Cave of Hira with a new message, completely transformed. Is it possible for such a person of the above qualities to turn all of a sudden into 'an impostor' and claim to be the Prophet of Allaah and invite all the rage of his people? One might ask: for what reason did he suffer all those hardships? His people
offered to accept him as their King and he would leave and he would leave the preaching of his religion. But he chose to refuse their tempting offers and go on preaching his religion single-handedly in face of all kinds of insults, social boycott and even physical assault by his own people. Was it not only God's support and his firm will to disseminate the message of Allah and his deep-rooted belief that ultimately Islam would emerge as the only way of life for humanity, that he stood like a mountain in the face of all opposition and conspiracies to eliminate him? Furthermore, had he come with a design of rivalry with the Christians and the Jews, why should he have made belief in Jesus Christ and Moses and other Prophets of God (peace be upon them), a basic requirement of faith without which no one could be a Muslim?
Is it not an incontrovertible proof of his Prophethood that in spite of being unlettered and having led a very normal and quiet life for forty years, when he began preaching his message, all of Arabia stood in awe and wonder and was bewitched by his wonderful eloquence and oratory? It was so matchless that the whole legion of Arab poets, preachers and orators of the highest calibre failed to bring forth its equivalent. And above all, how could he then pronounce truths of a scientific nature contained in the Qur’aan that no other human being could possible have developed at that time?
Last but not least, why did he lead a hard life even after gaining power and authority? Just ponder over the words he uttered while dying: "We the community of the Prophets are not inherited. Whatever we leave is for charity."
As a matter of fact, Muhammad is the last link of the chain of Prophets sent in different lands and times since the very beginning of the human life on this planet.
As humans are wont to resist changes, his people spurned his message, rejected him and persecuted him and his companions, and only few people initially believed in him. When the persecution became unbearable, he permitted his companions to migrate to Abyssinia, while he stayed back in Makkah to continue with the message of his Lord amid torrents of persecution until Allaah commanded him to migrate to Madinah [known then as Yathrib].
His companions left gradually and unobtrusively, Muhammad remaining to the last. Their departure was soon discovered by the pagans of Makkah, who decided to slay him before he could escape. But his Lord saved him from their evil machinations and he, and his best companion, Abu Bakr left Makkah.
They arrived at Madinah safely under the protection of their Lord. He was now free to preach, and his followers increased rapidly. The Muslims could now worship freely and live according to the laws of Allah.
Soon after his arrival and after making sure that the pillars of the new Islamic community were well established on strong administrative bases, and political and ideological unity; the Prophet commenced to establish regular and clearly-defined relations with non-Muslims. All of these efforts were exerted solely to provide peace, security, and prosperity to all mankind at large, and to bring about a spirit of rapport and harmony within his region, in particular. The Prophet decided to ratify a treaty with the Jewish community of Madinah with clauses that provided full freedom in faith and wealth.
He meticulously respected the clauses of the treaty and it was only after his partners in this treaty started behaving treacherously and undermining the security of the city in particular and the region in general that they were accordingly dealt with.
The people of Makkah, on their own part, did not want the religion of Islaam to take roots, so they waged a number of wars against him and, due to Divine Providence, they were disgracefully defeated. They wanted to put out the Light of God with their mouths, but God insisted that His Light should be perfected.
In the year 622 AD, Muhammad fell sick after he had arrived from his Farewell Pilgrimage. The illness lasted for some fifteen days at the end of which his blessed soul departed this earthly world. May peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him!
After his death, his followers faithfully carried on the message of Islam, and within 90 years, the light of Islam reached Spain, Africa, the Caucasus, China, and India.
posted by Amir | 8:37 AM
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