Seerah of Muhammad (s.a.w)

Episode 4 (Part 2)

Then we have the rank of Rasulullah (s.a.w) being known by the people from the very beginning. From even the pagan time, Allah had already prepared humanity for the coming of Muhammad (s.a.w). Look at the prophets before him, they always made mention that there was a prophet to come, and it was each prophet's duty to inform his people that after him, another prophet was going to come. So much so that some of them had made mention of Muhammad (s.a.w) to come. We can also see when Ibrahim (a.s) made Dua for Allah to grant the people if Ismail (a.s) a nabi from them who will guide them- Muhammad (s.a.w) came from the children of Ismail.

Success lies in following what Muhammad (s.a.w) brought- firstly, the Qur'an and secondly his Sunnah. May Allah bless us.

In the bible, they translated the names into other words. Muhammad was translated as the comforter, the praised one in the King James version of the bible and even in the other versions of the bible, but they have been translated as 'the holy ghost' or 'John the Baptist' and others.

Isa (a.s) also mentioned that Muhammad (s.a.w) will come to them in the future, but when he came with the signs, they said it was magic. And when you ask the Jews and Christians where the next messenger is, they have no response, but they also don't accept Muhammad (s.a.w) as the last messenger. 

We have the same message as the Christians and the Jews, as all the prophets had the same message of belief- life after death, worship only one God who made you, heaven and hell. But the day to day issues, what is permissible and what is prohibited changed with the changing of time and each prophet came with a different Shariah and the Shariah of Muhammad (s.a.w) is going to last till the end of time. No prophet has ever said he is the last one, except for Muhammad (s.a.w).

Isa (a.s) and Ibrahim (a.s) both made mention of the coming of Muhammad (s.a.w), and it is also mentioned in the bible and the taurah. The Jews were told there is a man who is going to be sent in Arabia, between two desserts where there are date palms- that is where he will finally end up (he is going to migrate to that area). This could only be one of two places: Khaybar or Madinah.

So the Jews started descending south, from Shaam, to come and start preparing for the messenger according to their books. This is why the Jewish clan settled around Madinah. They came to welcome the messenger but they did not expect him to not be from amongst them because they were used to all the messengers being from the children of Ishaq (a.s). But when he came, they rejected him, because he was not from them.

The People of the Book knew him and some of them accepted him when he came in as a Nabi, but some of them rejected him. The ones who rejected him only did it because he was not from amongst them. Salama ibn Salamah (r.a) said, 'We had a neighbour who was a Jewish man and one day he came up to us when we were sitting and he started telling us something: "do you know there is life after death? Do you know there is heaven and hell? You are going to be resurrected, you are going to be accountable for your deeds and then you will either go to heaven or hell."' They stopped him and asked what he was talking about (we should remember that these people were idol worshippers, while the Jews believed in Allah and had similar beliefs to the ones we have now.)

They asked him for the sign of all that he was saying. And he said 'the sign of it is that we are about to witness the coming of a messenger in this area anytime now.' So they asked him when that will be. So he pointed to Salama who was a young boy at that time and said, 'if this boy is given life, then he will definitely see it because we are already there and the time has come.'

It is reported that some days later, Muhammad (s.a.w) came and this same Jewish man did not accept. They all told him, 'weren't you the one who was telling us that someone will come? And he brought the exact same message you are saying. So why don't you accept?' He said, 'no, we are not going to accept him because we didn't expect him to be from among you guys.'

Ka'b al-Ahbab did not accept Islam during the Prophet (s.a.w)'s life, but he accepted after the prophet passed away. So he saw the prophet but he is not a Sahabi. He said, 'the qualities of Muhammad (s.a.w) are mentioned in the taurah exactly how they are made mention of in the Qur'an and he says he is a messenger who speaks well, he doesn't lie, he comes with goodness, he doesn't eat any charities but he eats from a gift and he is a person who is very eloquent, very calm, very clean, he doesn't swear, does not cheat, and he only teaches that which is good.' But when the teachings came, he delayed in accepting the message but Allah had blessed him to have a life long enough to accept Islam but he was not written from amongst the Sahaba (r.a).

Another incident that is mentioned in Sahih Bukhari about Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al 'Aas (r.a), when he was asked, he says, 'Wallahi, the qualities of Muhammad (s.a.w) have been mentioned in the taurah just like they are mentioned in the Qur'an and he read the verse.'

It was also mentioned that a messenger will come, one who will open the eyes that have been blind, the ears that would have been deaf, the one through whom Allah will open- the hearts that were blocked. It is Allah who does all that, but through the messenger (s.a.w). What this means is that, sometimes we see and hear lessons but we don't benefit from them, they don't strike us and we don't accept/follow them (even though sometimes we may know that it is the truth). But one day we can see or hear a lesson and it will strike us, and we will learn from it- this is when Allah has opened our eyes/ears for us. In the sense that we see/hear and also benefit from it, we accept it. 

Same thing with ourhearts: sometimes our hearts are so hardened, we keep on sinning and keep ontransgressing, thinking Allah is Forgiving, Most Merciful- nothing changes us. Untilone day, Allah wants to open the hearts. And so the heart opens and suddenly weare softened by the Will of Allah (s.w.t), even though that particular itemmight have been a point of negativity in our lives.

*More from this episode to come soon :)*

Ramadhan is passing by so fast, I hope we are doing our best in trying to make the most of it and not letting it pass by without attaining forgiveness and its blessings. May Allah accept from us all our Ibadah.

Ameen