Chapter 1 Section 1

The Healing by the Rights of the Recognition of the Chosen One"

Chapter 1: ALLAH'S PRAISE OF HIM AND HIS GREAT ESTEEM FOR HIM

This chapter is an exposition of some of the clearest ayats in the Book, of Allah which speak well of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, enumerate his good qualities and Allah's esteem of him, and praise of him.

SECTION 1:

Concerning Allah's praise of him and his numerous excellent qualities

Allah says: "A Messenger has come to you from among yourselves"(9:128)

Allah informs the believers, or the Arabs, or the people of Makka, or all people (according to different commentaries on the meaning of the words) that He has sent to them from among themselves a Messenger whom they know, whose position they are sure of and whose truthfulness and trustworthiness they cannot but recognize. Therefore, since he is one of them, they should not suspect him of lying or of not giving them good counsel. There is no Arab tribe without descent from, or kinship with, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. This, according to Ibn Abbas and others, is the meaning of His words, "except love for kin." (42:23) He is from the noblest, highest and most excellent of them. How much further in the ayat can praise go?

Then Allah continues the ayat by attributing to him all kinds of praiseworthy qualities and greatly praises his eagerness to guide people to Islam, his deep concern for the intensity of what afflicts and harms them in this world and the Next, and his compassion and mercy for the believers.

One of the men of knowledge, Al-Husayn ibn al-Fadl, said, "He honored him with two of His own names: the compassionate and the merciful (rauf, rahim )." The same point is made in another ayat: "Allah was kind to the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from among themselves." (3:164)

Another ayat says: "He is the One who sent a Messenger from you among the unlettered people." (62:2)

Allah also says: "As We sent among you a Messenger from you." (2:151)

It is related that Ali said that the words of Allah, "from among yourselves" mean by lineage, relationship by marriage and descent. There was no fornicator among his forefathers from the time of Adam. All of them were properly married.

Ibn al-Kalbi said, "I wrote down five hundred female ancestors of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and I did not find any fornication among them nor any of the evils which were prevalent in the Jahiliyya period." Ibn Abbas said that the words of Allah, "when you turn about among those who prostrate", (26:219) mean from Prophet to Prophet until I brought you out as a Prophet.

Jafar ibn Muhammad [as-Sadiq] said, "Allah knew that His creatures would not be capable of pure obedience to Him, so He told them this in order that they would realize that they would never be able to achieve absolute purity in serving Him. Between Himself and them He placed one of their own species, clothing him in His own attributes of compassion and mercy. He brought him out as a truthful ambassador to creation and made it such that when someone obeys him, they are obeying Allah, and when someone agrees with him, they are agreeing with Allah." Allah says: "Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah. (4:80)

Allah says, "We did not send you except as a mercy to all the worlds." (21:107)

Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Tahir said in explanation of this ayat, "Allah imbued Muhammad with mercy, so that his very being was mercy and all his qualities and attributes were mercy to all creatures. Whoever is touched by any aspect of his mercy is saved in both worlds from every hateful thing and obtains everything he loves. Do you not see that Allah says, "We did not send you except as a mercy to all the worlds.?"

His life was mercy and his death was mercy. As the Prophet himself said, "My life is a blessing for you and my death is a blessing for you."

The Prophet also said, "When Allah desires mercy for a community, He takes its Prophet to Him before them and He makes him one who goes ahead to prepare the way for them."

As-Samarqandi explains that the words a mercy to all the worlds mean for both the jinn and mankind. It is also said that it means for all creation. He is a mercy to the believers by guiding them, a mercy to the hypocrites by granting them security from being killed, and a mercy to the unbelievers by deferring their punishment. Ibn Abbas said, "He is a mercy to the believers and also to the unbelievers since they are safe from what befell the other communities who cried lies." It is related that the Prophet said to Jibril, "Has any of this mercy touched you? He replied, 'Yes, I used to have fear about what would happen to me, but now I feel safe because of the way Allah praised me when He said, Possessing power, secure with the Lord of the Throne, obeyed, then trusty." (81:21)

It is related that Jafar as-Sadiq said that the words of Allah, "Peace be upon you, among the Companions of the Right" (56:91) mean because of you, Muhammad. The cause of their peace is the high honor bestowed upon Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Allah says," Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth; the likeness of His light is like a niche wherein is a lamp, the lamp in a glass, the glass as if it were a glittering star kindled from a blessed tree, an olive that is neither of the east nor the west whose oil would nearly shine, even if no fire touched it. Light upon light. Allah guides to His Light whomever He wills. Allah makes examples for people and Allah has knowledge of everything." (24:35)

Kab al-Ahbar and Ibn Jubayr said, "By the second light He means Muhammad. Allah says,the likeness of his light meaning the light of Muhammad."

Sahl ibn Abdullah at-Tustari said that it means that Allah is the guide of the people of the heavens and the earth. Then Sahl said, "...like the light of Muhammad when it is lodged in the loins like a niche. By the lamp He means his heart. The glass is his breast. It is as if it were a glittering star because of belief and wisdom it contains, kindled from a blessed tree, i.e. from the light of Ibrahim. He makes a comparison with the blessed tree and He says,"Its oil would nearly shine, i.e. Muhammad's prophecy is almost evident to the people before he speaks, just like this oil." A lot more is said about this ayat, and Allah knows best what it means.

Elsewhere in the Qur'an, Allah calls his Prophet a light and a light-giving lamp. He says, "A light and a Clear Book have come to you from Allah." (5:15)

Allah also says, "We sent you as a witness, a bringer of good news and a warner, one who calls to Allah with His permission and a light-giving lamp. (33:46) This is why He says: "Did We not expand your breast for you? (94:1)

To expand, sharaha, is to make wide, vast. By the word breast, Allah here means the heart. Ibn Abbas said, "He expanded it with the light of Islam." Sahl at- Tustari said, "With the light of the message." Hasan al-Basri said, "He filled it with judgment and knowledge." It is also said that it means, 'Did We not purify your heart so that it does not allow in any whispering from Shaytan?'

The sura continues: "And We lifted your burden from you, the burden that weighed down your back." (94:2-3)

It is said that this means his wrong actions, i.e. from the time before he was a Prophet. It is said that it means the burden of the days of the Jahiliyya. It is said that the meaning is the message which weighed down his back before he conveyed it, and this is the opinion of al- Mawardi and as-Sulami. It is also said that it means, 'We protected you and if it had not been for that, wrong actions would have burdened your back', and this is what as-Samarqandi relates.

The sura continues: "Did We not exalt your fame?" (94:4)

Yahya ibn Adam said that this meant by being given prophethood. It is said that the meaning of these words is explained by the hadith qudsi, "When I am mentioned, you are mentioned with Me in the statement, 'There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.'" It is also said that the same is done by means of the adhan.

What is clear is that by these words Allah confirms the immensity of the favor He has bestowed on His Prophet, his noble station with Him and the honor in which He holds him. He expanded his breast to belief and guidance and made it wide enough to contain knowledge and bear wisdom. He removed from him the burdens of all the things of the Jahiliyyah and made their pursuance hateful to him by giving victory to His deen over all other deens. He lightened for him the weighty responsibility of the message and prophethood so he could convey to people what was sent down to him. He re-emphasised the sublime position, majestic rank, high renown of His Prophet and joined his name to His own name.

Qatada said, "Allah exalted his fame in this world and the Next. There is no speaker, witness nor anyone doing the prayer who fails to say, 'There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.'"

Abu Said al-Khudri related that the Prophet said, "Jibril, peace be upon him, came to me and said,' My Lord and your Lord says, "Do you know how I have exalted your fame?" I said, 'Allah and His Messenger know best.' He said, "When I am mentioned, you are mentioned with Me."

Ibn Ata quoted a hadith qudsi saying, "I completed belief with your being mentioned with Me." And another one which says, "I have made your mention part of My mention so whoever mentions Me, mentions you." Jafar ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq said, "No one mentions you as the Messenger but that he mentions Me as the Lord."

Some of the people of knowledge, such as al-Mawardi, suggested that the Station of Intercession was being referred to by this.The fact that mention of the Prophet is directly connected to mention of Allah also shows that obedience to the Prophet is connected to obedience to Allah and his name to Allah's name. Allah says, "Obey Allah and His Messenger." (2:32) and "Believe in Allah and His Messenger." (4:136)

Allah joins them together using the conjunction wa which is the conjunction of partnership. It is not permitted to use this conjunction in connection with Allah in the case of anyone except the Prophet. Hudhayfa said that the Prophet said, "None of you should say, 'What Allah wills and (wa) so-and-so wills.' Rather say, 'What Allah wills.' Then stop and say, 'So-and-so wills.'"

Al-Khattabi said, "The Prophet has guided you to correct behavior in putting the will of Allah before the will of others. He chose then (thumma) which implies sequence and deference as opposed to and (wa) which implies partnership.Something similar is mentioned in another hadith. Someone was speaking in the presence of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and said, "Whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has been rightly guided, and whoever rebels against them both"-(joining them together by using the dual form). The Prophet said to him, "What a bad speaker you are! Get up! [Or he said: Get out!]" Abu Sulayman said, "He disliked the two names being joined together in that way because it implies equality." Someone else thought that what he disliked was stopping at whoever rebels against them. Abu Sulayman's statement is sounder since it is related in another sound recension of the hadith that he said, "Whoever rebels against them has erred", without stopping after ...whoever rebels against them.

The commentators and etymologists disagree regarding the words of Allah, "Allah and His angels pray blessings on the Prophet." (33:56) about whether the word 'pray '(masc. pl.) refers to both Allah and the angels or not. Some of them allow it to refer to both while others forbid this because of the idea of partnership. They make the pronoun refer to the angels alone and understand the ayat as Allah prays and His angels pray.

It is related that Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said to the Prophet, "Part of your excellence with Allah is that He has made obedience to you obedience to Him." Allah says,"Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah" (4:80) and "If you love Allah, then follow me and Allah will love you." (3:31) It is related that when this ayat was sent down, people said, "Muhammad wants us to take him as a mercy in the way the Christians did with Isa", so Allah revealed, "Say: Obey Allah, and the Messenger." (3:32) Allah connected obedience to Muhammad with obedience to Himself in spite of what the people said.

The commentators disagree about the meaning of the words of Allah in the Fatiha, "Guide us on the Straight Path, the path of those You have blessed." Abul-Aliyya and Hasan al-Basri said, "The Straight Path is the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the best of the People of his House and his Companions." Hasan al-Mawardi related from Abul-Aliyya and Hasan al-Basri, "The Straight Path is the Messenger of Allah and the best of the people of his House and his Companions."

Makki related something similar, "This refers to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his two Companions, Abu Bakr and Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both. Abul-Layth as-Samarqandi related almost the same from Abul-Aliyya regarding the words of Allah, "The path of those whom You have blessed."

Hasan al-Basri heard it and said," It is true, by Allah, and it is good counsel." Al- Mawardi relates this in his commentary on the words "The path of those whom You have blessed", from Abdur-Rahman ibn Zayd. Abu Abdur-Rahman as-Sulami related that one of the commentators said that in the words of Allah, "He has taken hold of the firmest handle", (2:256) 'the firmest handle is Muhammad', may Allah bless him and grant him peace. It is also said that it means Islam. It is said that it means the testimony of tawhid (that there is no god but Allah).

Sahl at-Tustari said that the words of Allah, "If you count the blessings of Allah, you will not be able to number them", (14:34) refer particularly to the blessing of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Allah says, "The one who has come with the truth and confirmed it, - they are the ones who fear Allah." (39:33)

Most of the commentators say that the one who brought the truth is Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. One of them said, "He is the one who confirmed it." Sometimes this word is read as sadaqa (spoke the truth) and sometimes saddaqa (confirmed it) i.e. referring to the believers. It is said that Abu Bakr is meant and it is said that it refers to Ali and other things are said as well. Mujahid said that the words of Allah, "Hearts are made tranquil by the remembrance of Allah", (13:28) refer to Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his Companions.

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