Dr Adekunle Mikail
The prophet of Islam in person of Muhammad Ibn Abdullah is a trust-worthy personality in all fronts – whether as an individual, historical personage and a prophet! Before his assumption of office as a prophet and messenger of the most high Creator of all things, Allah, he came to everyone as a reliable soul whom everybody can leave their property to and go and sleep!
He had participated in the Alliance Of The Virtue in a move to restore the rights of the downtrodden even before he was commissioned as a prophet. He was quoted as saying that ” he preferred restoring people’s rights to a red she-camel – a red she-camel in Arab cosmology is the highest gift which can be offered to brave warriors in defence of their territories, brilliant chaps that excelled in their ways and Kings as a show of love!
And he affirmed that ” if I’m called again this time when Islam is reigning supreme among us, I will still hearken to the call”. This presents him as a lover of the oppressed and as a liberating- prophet who is always after the ease and protection of the masses! In another instance, he had shown the believers the forms of activism to correct the ills of the society when he said:
” Whoever sees evil among you let him change it with his hands ( i.e through the use of power and authority), and if he is not capable of that , let him change it with his mouth ( advocacy and protest) and if he is not capable of that, let him change it with his mind ( countenance and hatred); this is the lowest of faith”
As a trust-worthy person, people’s property ranging from money, implements, jewelries and sundry things were kept with him while he used to return them to the owners exactly as they gave them to him at the inertia. This was the situation Muhammad was with his community until he was vouchsafed to be a prophet. When the Makkah people could not come to terms with the monotheistic constructs of God and his preaching of abandonment of female infanticide, exploitation of poor people and harassment of women folks, they threatened him and his few followers, maltreated them socially and boycotted them economically!
Later, attempts were made on his life and that of his companions and the commandment to migrate to Yatrib, which would come to be known as Madinatul-Munawarah ( the illuminated City) as a result of the Prophet that lived there. On the day preceding his migration, he had brought the son of his brother, ‘Aliy Bn Abi Talib, to sleep on his bed not as a disguise in the name of war tactics, as it is being bandied in some quarters but to serve as a dispatcher of the people’s belongings in his steads.
The above historical fact has come to depict prophet Muhammad ( salla-llahu alehi wasalam), as an Amiin; an amicable, peaceful as well as a trust-worthy personality even at the time of skirmishes, battles and wars. Imagine you and me having this kind of opportunity with our glaring enemies who have strived endlessly to make life difficulty for us and who had even attempted to end our precious lives? One can imagine what one will do with such property of one’s enemies!
The prophet had also been a kind-hearted, methodical and genuine lover of humanity he had been sent to to guide to the straight path. He has also been patient with the undiscernable , the fools and the impatients among the people he was living with so as to teach and point them to the Virtue and blessing inherent in be patient!
In that instances, he had prevented his companions from descending heavily on a bucolic bush man who had come to his Mosque in Medina and urinated in its entrance. He had allowed him to finish urinating without no fuss while he ordered that a kettle of water be brought and he poured it on the spot the uncultured man had urinated on . The man had been nonplussed and amazed with this prophetic refined character until he uttered: ”Allahuma Irhamniy wamuhammadan Walla tarham ahadan gaerana” ! ” Oh Lord bless me and Muhammad but do not bless anyone except us ”, trying to appreciate the prophet’s good sense of interpersonal relation and skill while openly bewailing God to delist others who had wanted to descend on him for urinating in the mosque, from Allah’s blessing!”. Still the prophet ( salla-llahu alehi wasalam) , did not do with him yet in his positive approach to life, asking him :” do you want to make limited what God Had made expansive – referring to the expansive nature of God’s blessing which the man had prayed to God to limit to him and the prophet alone!
The prophet of Islam, Muhammad ( salla-llahu alehi wasalam) had been raised up as both a completion of good character and as a teacher who taught the world the worships of only one indivisible exalted God ! He had endured the tantrums and uncultured behaviour of the followers against the leaders while bearing their unpleasant manners without complaint. He had taught humanity the true monotheism brought by every prophet of Allah, but which had been corrupted with the worships of man, animal and heavenly body, by man himself!
In doing that, he had demonstrated to the world the errors embedded in asserting that the Creator of the heavens and earth is many, divisible and has children! His teaching of Qur’an 112 is instructive here:
“Say : He is Allah , the one ;
Allah , the Eternal , the Absolute,
He begets not, nor He is begotten;
And there is none like unto Him”.
In the above Quranic chapter, which is widely known as ”the chapter of Ikhlas or purity of faith, humanity is specially taught to avoid the pitfalls into which men and nations have fallen at various times in trying to understand Allah. The first thing we have to note is that God nature is so sublime, so far beyond our limited conceptions, that the best way in which we can realise Him is to feel that He is a personality, ”He” , and not an abstract conception of philosophy. He is near us; He cares for us; we owe our existence to Him.
Secondly, He is one and only God, the only one to whom worship is due; all other things or beings that we can think of are His creatures and in no way comparable to Him. Thirdly, He is Eternal, without beginning or end, Absolute, not limited by time or place or circumstance, the Reality. Fourthly, we must not think of Him as having a son or a father, for that would import animal qualities into our conceptions of Him. Fifthly, He is not like any other person or thing that we know or can imagine: His qualities and nature are unique.
The ” absoluteness” in His name , ”al-Samad” , in the chapter above, implies that absolute existence can only be predicated of Him; all other existence is temporal or conditional and that He is independent on no person or things, but all persons or things are dependent on Him,thus negativing the idea of gods and goddesses who ate and drank,wrangled and plotted, depended on the gifts of worshippers!
That He is not begotten negates the Christian idea of the godhead, ” the father” , ” the only begotten son, etc. And the fact that ” there is none like unto Him” sums up the whole argument and warns up specially against Anthropomorphism, the tendency to conceive of Allah after our pattern, an insidious tendency that creeps in at all times and among all peoples!
The second leg in the belief in Allah is the belief in Muhammad as Allah’s messenger and apostle. That He has been in actuality sent by Allah to the entire mankind as a bearer of glad-tidings and as a Warner of people from what awaits a disbeliever in him!
This second leg of the kalimatu-shahadah completes the first part and portends the necessity of following Muhammad’s instructions, manners and ways of worshipping God. It is what is known as the prophet’s tradition. And before the worships of the worshippers who are Muslims can be tenable and accepted by God, two things must be taken into cognizant by the worshippers;
_ their worships must be dedicated to Allah alone without allowing showoffs, arrogance and all other ills that can creep into man’s worship, to creep into them.
_ their worships must be in tandem with the prophet Muhammad’s instructions, manners and examples of worshipping God!
This can be translated to mean that the love of God, exalted is He must commensurate with the love of His prophet, Muhammad, for one is Light and the latter is the oil that lights the Light! We read in the glorious Qur’an 3 vs 31 as follows :
”Say ( oh Muhammad) if you love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you and forgive you of your faults,and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful!”.