Mercy and happiness for all mankind
How great is the Prophet, may infinite peace and blessings be upon him? Every second, the name “Muhammad” (Peace be upon him) is uttered somewhere in the world.
As the light of the sun moves across the globe, the call to prayer is announced in every city, testifying to the Oneness of Allah, and Muhammad (Peace be upon him) as His final messenger. Sermons, for Friday prayers, Eid prayers, or marriage are not considered lawful unless the name of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, is taken.
It is an accepted fact that every event of his personal and public life has been immaculately recorded, even the minutest details preserved conscientiously for posterity His life and works are not shrouded in mystery or doubt but open for all to study.
Chosen by God to be the bearer of His culminating message to mankind, nothing that Muslims can say in praise of the holy Prophet can add to the eternal honour which has already been accorded to him by our Creator.
The birth of Allah’s last Apostle, a blessing for all mankind, the harbinger of hope for humanity and the heralder of revolutionary reform, was an occasion for thanksgiving for every human being irrespective of caste, colour and creed. Muhammad (Peace be upon him) preached and practised nothing but Islam, a simple, natural, perfect and practical religion, all his life.
His tradition as well as the Holy Quran should be an object of careful study by and a source of inspiration to all Muslims. The most befitting homage to his memory is therefore to follow his example. As followers of the Mercy Unto the World, we have it as one of our first obligations to present an example of civilised humanity in every aspect of our life.
The irony is that other nations have profited by the values underlying the Prophet’s percepts and attained a higher stage of individual and collective living, while we pay only lip service to his teachings.
Worst still, even though we go on repeating that Islam is not a mere religion in the sense in which it is understood by most other peoples but a complete code of life, we have virtually negated the concept by confining Islam to the pulpit of the mosque.
The result is the imposition of an un-Islamic social superstructure on a people whose concepts of individual right and wrong are based on Islamic notions of ethics and morality. It is time we bridged the distance between profession and practice. Let us today resolve to do what we can and must so that to legitimately claim that we are on our way towards organising our corporate life and its concerns according to the spirit of Islam.
The last sermon (khutba) of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) at the farewell Haj which gave the first clearly formulated charter of human rights laid emphasis on the sanctity of life and property, on the sanctity of the pledged word, on abolition of usury, on renunciation of revenge and above all on the concept of equality. He thus knocked down the deeply-entrenched notions of tribal, racial and parochial prejudice.
His accent on moderation and the middle path is specially worth recalling as many of us are apt to be assailed by partisan or extremist sentiments. He cautioned the Muslims against exaggerated interpretation of religion so that no tyranny could be instituted by invoking religion. Those Muslims who fight among themselves in the name of religion and think they are serving the cause of Islam must pause and ponder today if they are not misled by momentary passion.
Remembrance of Muhammad’s (Peace be upon him) character has a life-giving value to those who remember and those who listen; and the setting down of Muhammad’s (Peace be upon him) qualities in books of biography and history, in speeches and sermons, has enabled countless people in countless generations to lead better lives. Small wonder then, that the Word of God urges believers to follow the example of the holy Prophet.
Small wonder then, that the Word of God urges believers to follow the example of the holy Prophet. If the Muslims want to recapture their past glory and want to make their due contribution to the peace and happiness of mankind, the schism in Muslim social life must go.
The holy Prophet demonstrated how a man can live a fuller life without becoming a recluse. If each and every action in one’s life is performed with a sense of accountability to the Lord on the Day of Judgment, the difference between the religious and the secular disappears and life becomes one harmonious whole.
It is the duty of every Muslim, man, woman, or child, to read the life and work of the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) with all seriousness for understanding the message of God — the Holy Quran — in practical terms.