Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society
Chapter 2.
DUTIES TO THE HOLY PROPHET*
*According to the Holy Qur’an, the status of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be on him) is that of nabi and rasul. Unfortunately, there is no English word capable of conveying the connotation of these terms properly. As regards the word “Prophet”, it means, according to English lexicon, “a spokesman of the deity, one who proclaims a divine message, a preacher, a foreteller whether claiming to be inspired or not.” Thus it can be adopted as an Islamic term only in a qualified manner— signifying there: “a spokesman of the One True God, who receives the Message from Him through Revelation, and proclaims and preaches it as a divinely-appointed Teacher and as the possessor of a flawless, sublime and extraordinary spiritual and moral personality”
1.
Duties of Respect;
2.
Duties of Love.
ENDS:
(a)
Objective
Maintenance of the
attitude of obedience and loyalty through the constant cultivation of respect
and love for the Teacher and Exemplar of Qur’anic morals, in order to be able
to act enthusiastically on the Qur’anic Moral Code.
(b) Subjective
Maintenance of
assurance, through the remembrance of the Example of the Holy Prophet (Peace be
on him), in respect of his personal conduct and his achievements in the moral
domain, so that the moral ideal set forth by the Holy Qur’an is realizable.
We have seen in the
foregoing that Love for God is a Muslim’s highest pursuit and the highest duty.
In that connection, the Holy Qur’an states further that this love should
manifest itself in loyally following and imitating the communicator and
exemplar of God’s Guidance for mankind, namely, the Holy Prophet Muhammad
(Peace be on him). It says:
“Say (O Muhammad)! If you do love
Allah, follow me (and build up your moral and spiritual life on my model):
Allah will love you and forgive you your sins: For Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most
Merciful.” (3:31).
Following and imitating
the Holy Prophet (Peace be on him) is not possible, however, without
maintaining the attitudes of respect and love towards him,—these, in their
turn, giving rise respectively to obedience and absolute loyalty. Thus we
arrive at four duties relating to our relation with the Holy Prophet (Peace be
on him), namely:
1)
to respect him above all created beings;
2)
to love him above all created beings;
3)
to obey him without demur;
4)
to be absolutely loyal to him.
Starting from the side
of man, these four duties form the essential condition of the moral agent’s
Moral Perfection and of the Moral Perfection and Happiness of others—humanity
at large, because true Guidance in that connection is available only through the
Holy Prophet (Peace be on him) and that Guidance cannot be truly accepted and
enthusiastically followed without maintaining the attitude implied in those
duties.
We may now state the duties in the
language of the Qur’an:
(1)
DUTIES OF RESPECT
(a)
Subjective :
To regard the Holy Prophet with respect;
(1) Duty
of Commission:
Maintaining the attitude of positive
respect enjoined:
“… So it is those who believe in him
(i.e., Muhammad), and honor him, and help him, and follow the Light which is
sent down with him,—it is they who will prosper.” (7:157).
(2) Duty
of Omission:
Directly or indirectly insulting the Holy
Prophet prohibited:
“And it is not right for you to insult Allah’s Messenger (Muhammad) …” (33:53).
Worthy of note in this
respect is the following stern command of God given to the Muslims of the Holy
Prophet’s time:
“O you who believe! Put not
yourselves forward before Allah and His Messenger; and fear
Allah: for Allah hears and knows all things.
“O you who believe! raise not your voice
above the voice of the Prophet (Muhammad), nor speak aloud to him in talk as
you may speak aloud to one another, lest your deeds (of righteousness) be
rendered vain (thereby) and you perceive not (the loss).
“Verily those who lower their voice
in the presence of Allah’s Messenger—these are they whose hearts Allah has
disposed unto piety: For them is Forgiveness and a great Reward.” (49:1-3).
Also: the following
guidance to the socially uncouth people of those days:
“Verily those who shout out to you
(O Muhammad) from outside the inner apartments—most of them lack a path proper
sense. If only they had patience until you could come out to them, it would be
best for them: but Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (49:4-5).
(b)
Objective:
To obey the Holy Prophet without demur.
(1) Duty
of Commission:
Practicing
positive obedience enjoined:
“… and obey the Messenger (Muhammad)… ”
(4:59).
“The answer of the Believers, when
summoned to Allah and His Messenger, in order that He may judge between them,
is no other than this: they say, ‘we hear and we obey’: It is such as these
that will attain felicity.” (24:51).
(2) Duty
of Omission:
Disobedience in any manner whatsoever,
prohibited:
“… and whosoever disobeys Allah and His
Messenger, he verily goes astray in error manifest.” (33:36).
“And whosoever opposes the Messenger
even after Guidance has been plainly conveyed unto him, and follows a path
other than that of the men of Faith, We shall leave him in the path he has
chosen, and land him in Hell,—what an evil refuge!” (4:115).
(2)
DUTIES OF LOVE
(a)
Subjective:
To regard the Holy Prophet with love.
(1)
Duty of Commission:
Maintaining the attitude
of positive love—a love which transcends the love for any other created being,
emphasized; hence it is duty:
“The Prophet is closer to the
Believers than their own selves (—this spiritual relationship entitling him to
more love and respect from the Believers than for any created being related in
any way).” (33:6).
“None of you can have Faith unless I become to him dearer than his parents, his off-springs and (in fact) all human beings.” (Bukhari)
This personal spiritual
love for the Holy Prophet (on whom be Peace and the Blessings of Allah) is to
be cultivated, besides obeying him in all things with overflowing love, through
forming spiritual contact with him by reciting salat and salam, as commanded by
God in the following verse:
“Lo! Allah and His Angels shower
blessings on the Prophet. O you who believe! send your benedictions on him
(i.e., ask Allah for His blessings on him) and salute him with a worthy
salutation (i.e., with respect and love).” (33:56).
The shortest formula in this connection is:
“Allah has bestowed on him His Blessings and Peace”.
This formula has been further condensed in the form:
“Peace is with him”, and is employed in the form of prayer: “Peace be on him.”
(a)
Objective:
To
foster absolute loyalty to the Holy Prophet (Peace be on him).
(1)
Duty of Commission:
To be positively loyal to
him emphasized as a condition of Faith; hence it is duty:
“But nay, by your Lord, they can
have no (real) Faith, until they make you judge in all disputes between them,
and find in their souls no resistance against your decisions, but accept them
with the fullest submission.” (4:65).
“And it is unbecoming of a believing
man or a believing woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decided an affair
(for them), that they should (after that) claim any say in their affair;…”
(33:36).
(2)
Duty of Omission:
Being disloyal to him in any manner,
prohibited:
“O you who believe! be not disloyal to
Allah and His Messenger…” (8:27).
Source
to be continued . . . . .
