The Prophet
Our beloved prophet Muhammad was from the "Bannie
Haashim
" tribe. A tribe well-known for their generosity and honesty among theArabs.To
an extent that association with the tribe was a cause for pride and dignity .
In 571 A.D Muhammad was born in the city of Mecca His father was "Abdulallah
" a son of "Abdulmutallib
" and his mother's name was "Amenah
" a daughter of "Wahb
".
Muhammad had lost his father before his birth. So when born , he was in the custody of his grandfather " Abdul -Mutallib
" At the early age of six he faced the untimely death of his mother and at the age of eight he lost his grandfather too Then he was placed in the custody of his paternal uncle " Abu -Tallib
" .
In his childhood he enjoyed no education and thus was kept away and free from the profane and superstitious training of the so-called teachers of his time In fact from the verybegining
he was directly taught and trained by God's invisible angels Regarding the prophet's divine upbringing and training Imam Ali has stated :
" In fact God hadasigned
his highest angel to be with Muhammad since the time he was weaned off the milk in order to guide him moment to moment towards honorable manners and to teach him the most beautiful virtues And I followed him [ Muhammad ] like a baby camel after it's mother Thus he showed me each new day a new example of moral beauties and exhorted me to follow ".
With the most brilliant virtues , sound beliefs and faith in God Alone Muhammad lived among ignorant , unscrupulous people who followed superstitions and their own idiotic whims , sunk in bloodshed indulging in plundering , burying their own children alive and other cruel , wrongful acts In such an era of injustice and such a society ruled by idiocy and blindness , Muhammad opened his eyes and rose like the sun revolting against an overwhelming darkness .
He spend his childhood being a shepherd and when reached the age of a young man "Muhammad" worked as a merchant and as abussiness
agent of a wealthy woman named "Khaddija
", he went on commercial travels Returning home once from and important business journey to Damascus , Muhammad marriedKhaddija
.
Regarding the prophet's biographically important journey to Damascus ImamHaadie
has stated :
" When the prophet got through with his business journey toDamascus,he
donated the obtained profits to charity in the cause of God "
From then on every dawnMuhammad,the
young man would climb up to the peak of the mount "Haraa
" where he sat watching the majestic scenes and signs of God's creation in deep prayer and meditation .
He continued to be in suchspirtual
states till the mature age of forty when God found his heart mostopen,most
humble andobidient
before Himself and let the heavenly gates of the divine mysteries open for him and angels descend upon him with blessings from the Lord of the universe and "Gabriel" to inspire and encourage him torise,when
he called :
- Read !(O Muhammad)
- What to read ? [asked the prophet in amazement]
" Read in the name of your Lord who created (1) Who created man
from an embryo (2) Read and you Lord , Most exalted (3) Teaches by
means of the pen (4) He teaches man what he never knew (5) "
Thus Gabriel recited the first revelations to the prophet and flew back to heaven Overwhelmed by such manifestation of God's glory and majesty , Muhammad climbed down the mount , shivering with awe , in a state of fever and chill like a diseased man .What filled him with fear and anxiety was the thought of people's denial of his mission who would callhim"crazy
" " bewitched" or "inspired by Satan" !
But his past life had proved him the wisest, mostobidient
and blessed
by God among people A man who had always kept away from the devil's -temptations .Therefore to fill his heart with courage and strength against the obstinate disbelievers , God ordered the rocks and mountains around to speak to the prophet and call :
" O, Muhammad , Omassenger
of God , peace and blessing ,be upon
you ! Good news for youO'messenger
; that your Lord has bestowed
beauties and blessings upon you more that anyone before and after you therefore do notdespaire
if people call you crazy ."
Describing the early days of Islam , Imam Ali* tells us :
" In those days , the only home greened and purified with Islam
was the one , the prophet ,Khadijah
[ his wife ] and I lived in I
could well see the brightness of divine inspiration in the prophet's
visage and smell the fragrance of God's blessings in his presence .
No doubt I heard Satan moaning when the first divine revelations
came to the prophet. Therefore I asked : O messenger what is this
moan that Ihear?And
he answered :" It's The devil moaning with
grief and despair , for not being worshiped ."
Then he added : O Ali, you can hear what I hear and can see
what I see except that you are not a prophet and you are only my
assitant
who do not deviate from the right path ."
* * *
In 610 A.D at the age of forty Muhammad was appointed by God as the messenger of Islam. For as long as three years , he did not proclaim his invitation to Islam in public and kept his mission a secret among afew,until
the third year when God ordered him to invite his relations to believe in Islam. [the religion ofsubmision
to God] It was the time when the revelation came as:
"Now preach to your close relations "
He continued to be in suchspirtual
states till the mature age of forty when God found his heart mostopen,most
humble andobidient
before Himself and let the heavenly gates of the divine mysteries open for him and angels descend upon him with blessings from the Lord of the universe and "Gabriel" to inspire and encourage him torise,when
he called :
- Read !(O Muhammad)
- What to read ? [asked the prophet in amazement]
" Read in the name of your Lord who created (1) Who created man
from an embryo (2) Read and you Lord , Most exalted (3) Teaches by
means of the pen (4) He teaches man what he never knew (5) "
Thus Gabriel recited the first revelations to the prophet and flew back to heaven Overwhelmed by such manifestation of God's glory and majesty , Muhammad climbed down the mount , shivering with awe , in a state of fever and chill like a diseased man .What filled him with fear and anxiety was the thought of people's denial of his mission who would callhim"crazy
" " bewitched" or "inspired by Satan" !
But his past life had proved him the wisest, mostobidient
and blessed
by God among people A man who had always kept away from the devil's -temptations .Therefore to fill his heart with courage and strength against the obstinate disbelievers , God ordered the rocks and mountains around to speak to the prophet and call :
" O, Muhammad , Omassenger
of God , peace and blessing ,be upon
you ! Good news for youO'messenger
; that your Lord has bestowed
beauties and blessings upon you more that anyone before and after you therefore do notdespaire
if people call you crazy ."
Describing the early days of Islam , Imam Ali* tells us :
" In those days , the only home greened and purified with Islam
was the one , the prophet ,Khadijah
[ his wife ] and I lived in I
could well see the brightness of divine inspiration in the prophet's
visage and smell the fragrance of God's blessings in his presence .
No doubt I heard Satan moaning when the first divine revelations
came to the prophet. Therefore I asked : O messenger what is this
moan that Ihear?And
he answered :" It's The devil moaning with
grief and despair , for not being worshiped ."
Then he added : O Ali, you can hear what I hear and can see
what I see except that you are not a prophet and you are only my
assitant
who do not deviate from the right path ."
* * *
In 610 A.D at the age of forty Muhammad was appointed by God as the messenger of Islam. For as long as three years , he did not proclaim his invitation to Islam in public and kept his mission a secret among afew,until
the third year when God ordered him to invite his relations to believe in Islam. [the religion ofsubmision
to God] It was the time when the revelation came as:
"Now preach to your close relations "
[Sura
26 - verse ,214]
* Inviting the relations *
The way the prophet invited his relations to Islam was both interesting and mysterious Though it's mystery came to be known later .Regarding the invitation of close relations the Islamic historians andexegetists
write :
God ordered the prophet to invite his relatives to the new religion .
So after considering the mission from different aspects the prophet told Ali- who was only fifteen at the time -to prepare a meal and some milk for the guests .Then he invited 45 men of his tribe "Bannie
Haashim
" to the feast These were the important chief members of the tribe The prophet intended toanounce
his mission after the meal was served But unfortunately Abu -lahab
- one of the prophet's uncles with his frivolous out-of-place words talkatively ruined and spoiled the whole situation Seeing this , the prophet postponed his plan to a lateroccasio
.
The next day he again invited the guests to another feast and began his speech In the name of God with praise and glorification for the Lord of the universe .Then the prophet continued :
" Indeed a true guide will never mislead his followers By God the one Lord of the universe I'm his sent messenger to you and the whole world O my relatives , you will die like falling asleep at night and rise , like waking up in the morning on the Day of Resurrection when you receive the just reward and punishment for your works. There will be the Paradise for therightous
and the Hellfire for the evil - doers"..
Then the prophet added :" Nobody ever has brought his people a treasure morevalueable
than what I've brought to you .Happiness in this world and in the Hereafter is the gift I bring to you God has ordered me to invite you to his kingdom .Now who among you will give me support and be my brother and successor ?".
When the prophet's statements came to this point a great wave of silence spread all over the atmosphere with every one struck by the divinely assertive statements of the prophet .At this moment , "Ali " who was only a teenager unexpectedly broke that silence When he stood up and said :
" O , Messenger , I'm ready to support you !" but the prophet told him to sit down and then repeated his last question three times ! Again nobody uttered a word in reply except Ali who unashamedly stood up again and asserted his commitment Seeing this the prophet concluded with the historic statement :
" O my people , this young man [Ali] is my brother ,assistant and
my successor among you. You shall listen to him and follow him !"
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Author: Hussein Dargahi
