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A
FEW LAST REMARKS ABOUT THE GREATNESS OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD
In
the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
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There
are three great and universal things that make known to us
our Lord. One is the book of the universe, about whose
testimony we have explained in some parts of our works. The
second is the Seal of the Prophets, upon him be peace and
blessings, who constitutes the supreme sign in the book of
the universe. The third is the glorious Qur’an. Now we
must recognize and listen to the Seal of the Prophets, who
is the second and articulate proof and announcer of God with
all His names and Attributes, His existence and Unity.
Look at
the universal personality of that proof: The face of the earth
is his mosque, Makka, his mihrab (niche), and Madina,
his pulpit. Our Prophet, upon him be peace, this illustrious
proof, is the leader to all the believers, preacher to all
mankind, the chief of all the prophets, lord of all the
saints, the leader in the remembrance of God of a circle
comprising all the prophets and saints. With all the prophets
as its roots and saints as its ever-fresh fruits, he is a
radiant tree; all the prophets with the support of their
miracles, and all the saints depending on their wonders,
confirm all his claims and corroborate them. For, he declares
and claims: There is no deity but God; and all those
illustrious reciters of God’s Names lined up in the past and
future repeat the same words in unison, as if to say, ‘You
speak the truth, and what you say is right!’ What illusion
has the power to dispute such an argument which is thus
confirmed by such countless endorsements?
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Just
as this radiant proof of Divine Unity is affirmed by the
consensus and unanimity of those prophets ad saints, so,
too, hundreds of signs in the revealed Scriptures, like the
Torah and the Gospels, the thousands of indications of his
Prophethood that appeared prior to his mission, the
well-known reports of the voices from the Unseen, the
unanimous testimony of soothsayers, the indications of
thousands of miracles, like the splitting of the moon, and
the justice and truth of his Shari‘a (the Law) all confirm
and corroborate him. Similarly, the laudable virtues he has
to the utmost degree of perfection; his complete confidence
in his mission and the most excellent qualities he has in
relation to its fulfillment, and his extraordinary fear of
God, worship, serenity, and firmness, which demonstrate the
strength of his belief, and his total certainty and complete
steadfastness, all show as clearly as the sun how utterly
truthful he is in his claim.
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If
you wish, come! Let us go to the Arabian peninsula in the
Age of Bliss, and in our imaginations, visit him while
performing his mission. Look! We see a person distinguished
by the excellence of his character and beauty of his form.
In his hand is a miraculous book, and on his tongue, a
truthful discourse; he is delivering an eternal sermon to
all mankind, to all jinn and angels, indeed to all beings.
He solves and expounds the mystery of creation of the world;
he discovers and solves the intricate talisman which is the
mystery of the universe; and he provides convincing and
satisfying answers to the great and important questions that
are asked of all beings and have always bewildered and
occupied minds: Who are you, and what is the purpose of your
life? Where have you come from? Were are you going now? What
is your final destination?
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Behold!
He spreads such a light of truth that, if you look at the
universe without the light of his guidance, you see it as a
place of mourning, and beings as alien to one another, or
even hostile, and inanimate beings as ghastly corpses and
living creatures as orphans weeping under the blows of death
and separation. Now look! Through the light he spreads, that
place of universal mourning has been transformed into a
place of invocation where God’s Names and praises are
recited in joy and ecstasy. Those alien, hostile beings have
become friends and brothers. The dumb, inanimate creatures
have each taken on the form of familiar, obedient officials
and docile servants. The weeping, complaining orphans are
observed to be either reciting God’s Names and praises or
offering thanks for being discharged from their duties.
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Again,
through this light, the motions and variations observed in
the universe, and also the changes and transformations are
no longer regarded as meaningless and futile playthings of
chance, but have appeared in their true form and function:
each being a missive of the Master of the universe, a page
inscribed with the signs of creation, a mirror reflecting
God’s Names, and the world itself, a book of the wisdom of
the Besought-of-All. While, without this light, man’s
boundless weakness and helplessness, poverty and neediness
cause him to fall lower than the animals, and his intellect,
by conveying to him grief, sorrow and anxiety, makes him
more wretched, when he is illumined with this light, he
rises above all animals and all creatures. Once his
intellect is illumined, his poverty and helplessness become
means of infinite wealth and power through dependence on
God, and himself, through entreaty, ascends to the level of
being a beloved monarch and, through his lamenting, a petted
vicegerent of the earth. That is to say, were it not for
this light, the universe and man, and all things, would be
reduced to nothingness. Indeed, certainly such a person is
necessary in such a wondrous universe; otherwise the
universe, all the worlds need not exist.
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This
being announces and brings the good tidings of eternal
happiness; he is the unveiler and proclaimer of God’s
infinite mercy, the observer and herald of the beauties of
the realm of the Lord’s sovereignty, and the discloser and
displayer of the treasures of Divine Names. If you observe
him as a devoted worshipper of God, you will see him to be a
model of love, an embodiment of mercy, the pride of mankind,
and the most illustrious fruit of the tree of creation. If
you observe him as a Messenger, you will then see him to be
a proof of God, a lamp of truth, a sun of guidance, and the
means of happiness. Look! His light has lit up from East to
West like dazzling lightning, and half of the globe and one
fifth of mankind have accepted the gift of his guidance and
kept and preserved it like their life. So why is it that our
evil-commanding souls and satans should not accept, with all
its degrees, the essence of his mission, that is, there is
no deity but God.
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Now,
consider how, instantly eradicating their evil and savage
customs and immoral qualities to which they were so
fanatically attached, he equipped and adorned the desperate,
wild and unyielding peoples of that large peninsula with all
the praiseworthy virtues, and made them teachers of all the
world and masters, especially, to the civilized nations.
Behold, it was not an outward domination; rather he
conquered and subjugated their minds, spirits, hearts, and
souls. He became the beloved of hearts, the teacher of
minds, the trainer of souls, and the ruler of spirits.
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You
know that a small habit like cigarette smoking among a small
community can be removed permanently only by a powerful
ruler and with great effort. But see! This being removed
numerous ingrained habits from large obsessed communities
with little outward power and little effort within a very
short period of time, and in their place implanted and
inculcated exalted qualities in such a way that they became
inherent in their being. Many more such miraculous
accomplishments are to his credit. To those who refuse to
see the testimony of the blessed age of the Prophet, upon
him be peace, we present as a challenge the Arabian
peninsula with its present ‘civilized’ state. Let them
go there with hundreds of philosophers, sociologists and
psychologists, and strive for a hundred years, I wonder
whether they would be able to achieve in that period a
hundredth part of what the Prophet achieved in a year.
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You
also know that even an insignificant man of small standing
in a small group of people in a disputed matter of little
importance cannot tell a small but shameful lie openly and
comfortably without displaying such anxiety and uneasiness
as will make his enemies aware of his deception. Now
consider this being: Although he is under the burden of a
tremendous task in the name of the Messengership of God, and
in need of great security against great hostility, can any
contradiction at all be found in the words he fearlessly
uttered in a large community concerning a great cause, with
great ease and freedom, without hesitation or anxiety, with
pure sincerity, great seriousness, and in an intense,
elevated manner that irritated his enemies? Is it at all
possible that any deception should have been involved? God
forbid! What he speaks is nothing but revelation revealed to
him. The truth cannot be deceptive, and one who sees the
truth is not deceived. His path, which is pure truth, is
free of deception. How could a fancy appear to his
truth-seeing eyes to be the truth, and deceive him?
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Now,
see! What curiosity-arousing, attractive, necessary, and
awesome truths he shows and matters he proves!
You
know that what incites man most is curiosity. Suppose that
someone said to you: ‘If you give half of your property,
someone will come from the Mars and Jupiter to tell you about
them. He will also tell you correctly about your future and
exactly what will happen to you.’ If you have any curiosity
at all, you would pay up. Whereas that being tells of such a
King that in His realm the moon flies round a moth like a fly,
and the moth, which is the earth, flutters round a lamp, and
the lamp, the sun, is merely one of the thousands of lamps in
one guest-house out of thousands belonging to that King. Also,
he speaks truly of so wondrous a world and predicts such a
revolution that if the earth was a bomb and exploded it would
not be at all strange. Listen to the suras he recites,
which begin with the verses,
When
the sun is folded up. (81:1)
When
the sky is cleft asunder. (82:1)
(The
day) of Noise and Clamor. (101:1)
Again,
he speaks truly of such a future that the future in this world
is, in relation to it, like a trifling mirage. He also informs
us most solemnly of such happiness that all worldly happiness
is like a flash of lightning in comparison to an eternal sun.
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For
sure, such wonders await us under the apparent veil of the
universe, which is thus strange and perplexing. What we need
then is a wonderful and miracle-working being to communicate
and explain the wonders to us. It is apparent from the
conduct of that being that he has seen them, and he sees
them, and he tells us what he sees. He also teaches us most
soundly what the One God of those heavens and the earth, Who
nourishes us with His bounties, wants of us, and in what
things His pleasure lies. While we should put everything
else aside and run to and heed this being who instructs us
in many more necessary and curiosity-arousing things like
these, how is it that most people are so deaf and blind, mad
even, that they fail to see this truth, they do not hear and
understand it?
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As
well as being an articulate proof and truthful evidence of
the Oneness of the Creator of all beings, this being is a
decisive proof and clear evidence of the resurrection of the
dead and eternal happiness. Such as he is the cause for
gaining eternal happiness through his guidance, so, too,
through his prayers and supplications, he is the cause of
its existence, the means of its creation.
See! In
such a ‘supreme prayer’ (salat) is this being
making his petition (du‘a) that it is as if the whole
Arabian peninsula, even the whole earth performs the prayer
through his sublime presence and makes their petitions. Amid
so vast a congregation is he entreating that it is as if all
the illustrious people of perfection from the time of Adam
until our age and until the end of time, are following him and
saying Amen to his supplications. On behalf of so universal a
need is he imploring that, not only the inhabitants of the
earth, but also those of the heavens, and all beings, join in
his prayer, declaring, ‘Yes, O Master! Grant that to us! We
too desire it!’ He supplicates so needily, so sorrowfully,
in such a loving, longing, and entreating fashion that he
brings the whole universe to tears, making all of it to join
in his prayer.
And
see! He prays for such a goal and purpose that it elevates man
and the world, even all the creation from the lowest of the
low, from humiliation, worthlessness, and uselessness to the
highest of the high, that is to having value, permanence and
sublime duties. In a manner so elevated and help-seeking, so
sweet and mercy-imploring does he make his supplication and
present his petition that it is as if he made all beings and
the heavens and the Divine Throne of Grace hear, and bringing
them to ecstasy, he causes them to exclaim, Amen, O God, Amen!
He begs his needs from so Powerful a Being, All-Hearing and
All-Generous, from so All-Knowing a Being, All-Seeing and
All-Merciful, that He sees the most secret need of the most
hidden living being, and hears its entreaties, accepts them,
and has mercy on that being. He provides its need, even though
this being asks for it through the tongue of its particular
disposition, and He gives it in so wise, seeing, and
compassionate a form that it leaves no doubt that this
provision and arrangement pertains only to an All-Hearing and
All-Seeing One, One Most Generous and Most Merciful.
What
does he want, this pride of mankind, this unique being and
glory of all beings, who, standing on the earth with all the
eminent personalities of mankind behind him, and with hands
up-raised, is praying so sincerely? Listen! He is seeking
eternal happiness. He is praying for eternal life, and to meet
with God. He wants Paradise. He wants all these through all
the Sacred Divine Names, which display their beauty and
operations in the mirrors of beings. Even, were it not for the
innumerable causes such as Mercy, Grace, Wisdom, and Justice,
for the fulfillment of that request, a single one of that
being’s prayers would have sufficed for the building of
Paradise, which is as easy for Divine Power to do as the
creation of spring. Just as his Messengership was the cause
for the opening of this place of trial, so, too, his worship
and servitude to God is the cause for the opening of the next
world. I wonder how the perfect order observed in the
universe, which causes the wise and reflective to say, ‘It
is not possible for there to be a new universe more original
and wonderful than the existing one’, as well as the
flawless beauty of art contained in His Mercy, and the
matchless beauty of His Mastership, can be at all consonant
with ugliness, mercilessness and disorder, or how He could
refuse the most important and most necessary desires, while
satisfying the most insignificant wishes. God forbid! A
hundred thousand times, God forbid!
So, my
imaginary friend, that is enough for the time being, we must
now return. For even we stayed for a hundred years in that age
in that peninsula, we would not be able to comprehend fully
even a hundredth part of that being’s marvelous and
remarkable acts, and still we would never tire of observing
him.
Now,
come! We shall look at each century during our return journey.
See, how each has bloomed fully through the flow of light it
has received from that Sun of Guidance, and yielded thousands
of illustrious fruits like Abu Hanife, Shafi‘i, Bayazid al-Bistami,
‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, Shah Naqshband, Imam Ghazali, and
Imam Rabbani.
Postponing
the details of our observations to some later moment, we
should invoke blessings on that worker of miracles and bringer
of guidance, which refer to some of his certain miracles:
Upon
him who was sent the Wise Criterion of Truth (i.e., the
Qur’an) by the All-Compassionate and All-Merciful One,
from the Mighty Throne-our master Muhammad-be peace and
blessings thousands and thousands of times, to the number
of the good deeds of his community; upon him whose
Messengership was foretold by the Torah, the Gospels and
the Psalms, whose Prophethood was predicted by wondrous
signs that appeared prior to his Prophethood, by the
voices of jinn, saints of mankind, and soothsayers, and at
whose gesture the moon split-our master Muhammad-be peace
and blessings thousands and thousands of times, to the
number of the breaths of his community; upon him at whose
beckoning came the trees, by whose prayer rain fell
swiftly, whom the cloud shaded from the heat, with a dish
of whose food hundreds of men were satisfied, from whose
fingers water three times flowed out like the Spring of
Kawthar, and to whom God made speak the lizard, the
gazelle, the wolf, the camel, the mountain, the rock, the
pole, and the clod of earth, the one who made the
Ascension (Mi’raj) and ‘whose eye did not waver’-our
master and intercessor Muhammad-upon him be peace and
blessings thousands and thousands of times, to the number
of the letters (of the Qur’an) formed in the words that
are represented with the permission of the
All-Compassionate in the mirrors of the airwaves at the
reciting of all the words of the Qur’an by all reciters
from the beginning of revelation until the end of time.
Forgive us and have mercy upon us, O God, for the sake of
each of those blessings. Amen.
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The
Wise Qur’an, which is the treasury of miracles and itself
a supreme miracle, proves the Prophethood of Muhammad, upon
him be peace and blessings, together with the Oneness of God
so decisively that it leaves no need for further proof. We
will now give its definition and refer to one or two flashes
of its miraculousness which have been made an object of
criticism.
The
Wise Qur’an, which makes our Master known to us, is an
eternal translator of the great Book of the Universe; the
discloser of the treasures of the Divine Names hidden in the
pages of the earth and the heavens; the key to the truths
which lie beneath the lines of events; the treasury of the
favors of the All-Compassionate and the eternal addresses
coming forth from the world of the Unseen beyond the veil of
this visible world; the sun of the spiritual and intellectual
world of Islam and its foundation and plan, and the map of the
worlds of the Hereafter; the expounder, the lucid interpreter,
articulate proof and clear translator of the Divine Essence,
attributes and acts; the educator and trainer of the world of
humanity and its guide, leader, and true wisdom: it is both a
book of wisdom and law, and a book of prayer and worship, and
a book of command and summons, and a book of invocation and
knowledge of God-it is a book containing books for all the
spiritual needs of mankind, and it is like a sacred library
offering books from which all the saints and the eminently
truthful, and all the purified and discerning scholars of
different temperament have derived their ways peculiar to
each.
Consider
the flash of miraculousness in its reiterations, which are
imagined to be a fault: since the Qur’an is both a book of
invocation and prayer and a book of summons, reiteration is
desirable, and even most necessary and a beautiful instance of
eloquence, contrary to what the mistaken suppose. For the
invocation of God requires reiteration to impress and
enlighten the hearts. Prayer, through repetition, itself
acquires strength and gives strength to, and becomes ingrained
in, hearts. Commands and summons need restatement to be
confirmed and enforced. Moreover, everyone is not capable of
reading the whole of the Qur’an any time he wants, but
usually is able to read one sura (chapter). For this
reason, the most important purposes of the Qur’an are
reiterated in most of the longer suras, each of which
thereby being like a small Qur’an. Certain of its purposes
and themes like Divine Unity, the resurrection of the dead,
and the story of Moses are repeated so that no one should be
deprived of the benefits thereof. Furthermore, as bodily
tastes and needs vary, so do spiritual tastes and needs. Man
is in need of some at every breath; as the body needs air, the
spirit needs the particle Hu-Huwa (He-God). Of some he
is in need every hour, like Bismillah (In the Name of
God). And so on. The reiteration of verses therefore arises
from the recurrence of needs. The Qur’an reiterates in order
to point out those needs, make them deeply felt, and to awaken
man to their satisfaction.
Also,
the Qur’an is a founder: it is the basis of a manifest
religion, and the foundation of the world of Islam. It came to
change the social life of mankind and to answer the recurring
questions of different social classes. Repetition is therefore
necessary for a founder to affirm, and reiteration in order to
emphasize. A new establishment requires confirmation and
strengthening, and therefore repetition.
Again,
the Qur’an speaks of such important matters and subtle
truths that reiteration is necessary in different contexts in
order to impress them on people’s minds and hearts in their
different aspects. In any case, the repetitions are merely
apparent. In reality, each word has manifold meanings,
numerous benefits, and many aspects and levels. In each place
the words or verses occur in a different way, in a different
context, for a different meaning, purpose and benefit.
The Qur’an
mentions certain cosmological matters in a concise, allusive
way. This too cannot be an object of criticism, and is not a
fault, as some atheists imagine; rather it is another flash of
its miraculousness, for the Qur’an aims for the guidance of
man.
Question
Why does
the Wise Qur’an not speak of beings in the same way as science
and materialistic or naturalistic philosophy? It mentions some
matters very briefly, and some others it seems to speak of in a
simple and superficial way that is easy for the common people to
understand and does not wary their minds.
Answer:
Scientism and materialistic philosophy have strayed from the
path of truth. As for the Qur’an, it is not a book of science
that it should speak of the cosmological matters elaborately:
its purpose in mentioning certain facts of creation is rather to
make known the Divine Essence, Attributes and Names, by
explaining the meaning of the Book of the Universe, to make
known its Creator. Therefore, it considers the creation not for
its own sake, but for the sake of knowledge of its Creator. In
addition, science, besides considering the creation only for its
own sake, addresses particularly those specialized in it. The
Qur’an, however, addresses the whole of mankind, and since it
uses creation as evidence and proof to guide mankind, and the
majority of mankind are common people, the evidence should be
manifest and obvious in order to be understood by the common
people easily, and guidance requires that things of little
importance should be touched on only and the subtle points be
made understandable by means of parables. In order not to
mislead people into errors, it should not change things which in
their view are obvious in a way which will be of no use or may
even be harmful to them.
For
example, the Qur’an speaks of the sun as a moving lamp because
it does not mention the sun for its own sake, but because the
sun is the ‘mainstay’ of the order and the center of the
system in the universe, and order and system are two means of
obtaining the knowledge of the Creator. When the Qur’an says, And
the sun runs its course, it suggests the well-ordered
disposition of Divine Power in the revolutions of winter and
summer, and day and night, and therefore implies the majesty of
the Maker. Thus, whatever the reality of this ‘running’ is,
it does not harm the intended meaning, which is the observed
order woven into the structure of the universe.
The Qur’an
also says: And He made the sun as a lamp. By depicting
the sun as ‘a lamp’, the Qur’an calls to mind that the
world is like a palace, the contents of which are the
decorations, provisions and other necessities prepared for man
and for other living creatures, with the sun like a lamp to
illuminate it, and therefore it implies the mercy and bounty of
the Creator.
Now
consider how science and materialistic philosophy deal with the
sun: The sun is an enormous mass of burning gases. It causes the
planets which have been flung off from it to revolve around it.
It is of such and such size, and it is of such and such
qualities. It gives to the spirit no perfection of knowledge
apart from a terrible dread and bewilderment. It does not
approach the matter as the Qur’an does. From this comparison,
you can judge the value of the merely scientific and
philosophical way of thinking, the former being outwardly
splendid but inwardly hollow. So do not be taken in by the
outward worth of scientific descriptions and so become
disrespectful towards the most miraculous style of the Qur’an!
O
God! Make of the Qur’an a cure from all sickness for us; a
companion to us in life and after death; a friend in the
world, a confidant in the grave, an intercessor on the Day
of Judgment, a light on the (Bridge of) Sirat, a veil and a
screen from Hellfire, a friend in Paradise, and a guide and
a leader to all good deeds, by Your grace, munificence,
beneficence, and mercy, O Most Generous of the generous and
Most Merciful of the merciful! Amen.
O
God! Bestow blessings and peace on him to whom You sent the
Wise Qur’an, the Criterion of Truth and Falsehood, and on
all members of his family and all of his companions! Amen!
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