In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate - - - Heartiest congratulations to you all on a very blessed day. Today is the day when Planet Earth was graced by the Best of God’s Creation, who was foretold by all prophets of the past in different ages and in various lands. Born in the full limelight of history, Prophet Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny) was sent by God with the universal message of Islam to change the destiny of the world. Following is a special feature on the person regarding whom God Almighty says in ayah 107 of Surah al-Anbiya of the holy Qur’an:
“We have not sent you, but as the Mercy unto the creation.”
We are celebrating one of the most auspicious days in the history of the world. It is the day on which God Almighty sent into the world, through an unbroken chain of virtuously monotheistic fathers and mothers, His Last and Greatest Messenger. That is the reason we read in the Ziyarah or standard form of salutation to him, the phrase: “I bear witness that you were (descended) through pure loins and chaste wombs.”
It was on the 17th of Rabi al-Awwal that the Best of God’s creation was born in a monotheistic family, in the noble Hashemite Clan of the Quraysh tribe descended from Prophet Ishmael the firstborn of Prophet Abraham (Peace upon them). It was no ordinary birth. In fact, in the year he was born, that is, 570 AD, a miraculous event happened, when the army of Abraha al-Ashram, the Abyssinian king’s Christian governor of Yemen, who was all poised to destroy the holy Ka’ba with an army led by an elephant, was himself destroyed, by a swarm of birds, pelting men and animals with pebbles. Thus, the birth of Prophet Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny) was a bright shaft of light to enlighten the globe. That is why, on the eve of his birth, the idols that the infidel Arabs had placed in Prophet Abraham’s edifice of monotheism, the holy Ka’ba, fell headlong.
The forces of Jahiliyyah, whether in the Arab Peninsula or elsewhere in the supposedly civilized world, witnessed events that heralded the end of the days of ignorance. History bears witness that the sacred fire of the Zoroastrians that had been kept burning in Persian proper for over a thousand years, suddenly died down to the horror of the Mobads. In Ctesiphon – Mada’en near Baghdad in Iraq – a crack suddenly appeared in the huge arch of the magnificent hall of audience of the Sassanid Shahenshah or king of kings. At the same time, several parapets came crashing down from atop Khosrow’s palace. They were others portents in other parts of the world that are outside the scope of this brief radio programme, in which we intend to point out that none of the ancestors and ancestresses of the person sent by God as “Mercy unto the creation”, were other than staunchly virtuous monotheists. This is confirmed by all respected scholars of Islam, whether Sunni or Shi’ite Muslims, and disproves the allegation of hypocrites that Abraham’s father was Azar the idol-worshipper, who actually his misled uncle, while his deceased father’s name was Tarakh.
The famous Sunni scholar of Mamluk Egypt, Jalaluddin as-Suyuti has written extensively on this subject to prove that all the ancestors of Prophet Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny) were true believers. This has also been confirmed by Shaykh Abdul-Haqq Muhaddith Dehlawi of Mughal India, who writes: “All the ancestors of Prophet Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny) from Adam up to Abdullah were pure and clean from the uncleanness of disbelief and paganism. It was not possible for Allah to put that Holy Light (of the Prophet) into dark and dirty places, i.e. the loin of a pagan man or the womb of a pagan woman. Also, how could it be possible for Allah to punish the ancestors of the Prophet on the Day of Judgment and thus humiliate him in the eyes of the world?”
The great scholar of Safavid Iran, Allamah Mohammad Baqer Majlisi, has written that it is the unanimous belief of Shi’ite Muslim scholars that the father, mother and all ancestors of Prophet Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny) followed the true religion, and his Light never entered into the loin of any pagan man or the womb of any pagan woman. Also, the authentic hadith say that all his ancestors were “Siddiqoun” (or Truthful Ones): They were either prophets or successors of prophets.”
Thus in order to better understand the Seal of Prophets, his mission Islam, and his authentic Sunnah and Seerah, that is, practice and behaviour, we have to trace our sources to Prophet Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny) and his Blessed Household the Ahl al-Bayt, rather than those idolatrous Arabs who became Muslims in the last days of his life – and that too for a variety of reasons, and not out of sincere conviction.
Prophet Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny) himself has said: “I was always being transferred from the loins of the pure ones to the wombs of the pure ones.” It means that after Prophet Ishmael, all his ancestors were “Awsiya” or legatees of Ishmael. In several hadith we find the mention of the name of the Prophet’s grandfather, Abdul-Muttalib as a "Hujjat-Allah or Proof of the One and Only God. Since the Prophet’s father Abdullah died a couple of months before the birth of his son, after Abdul-Muttalib, his other son Abu Taleb was the “Wasi” (or legatee). Now it becomes clear to, as to why Divine Providence entrusted the upbringing of the orphaned Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny) to his uncle Abu Taleb, and why the Prophet, on the express commandments of God at Ghadir-Khom, two months and ten days before his departure from the world, proclaimed his equally purely and pristinely descended cousin, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (Peace be upon him) as vicegerent after him.
Imam Ali (Peace be upon him), the one and only Commander of the Faithful, has said in this regard:
“By Allah, neither my father ever worshipped idols, nor my grandfather Abdul-Muttalib, nor his father Hashem, nor his father Abd Munaf. They prayed facing towards the Ka’ba and followed the religion of Abraham.”
To be brief, the Prophet’s mother, Amena bint Wahb, was also a staunch monotheist. So what can we say about the orphan of Abdullah who was born to change the destiny of the world in order to save the human race from sure disaster! The loss in words becomes more apparent when we consider that he carried out the mission entrusted, in a most impeccable and flawless manner. He was every inch a perfect man, so complete that even his detractors and enemies could not find the smallest fault in his glowing personality.
In view of these undeniable facts, we now understand the passages in the Torah, the Evangel, and even in the books of the Hindus, the Zoroastrians, and other religions, of the coming of the Last and Greatest Prophets, who would be born among the Arabs, and will be entrusted by God with a universal mission, that is, Islam. Accordingly, Prophet Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny) when he proclaimed his mission, he did not speak or advocate the cause of some particular race or ethnic group, but stood up for all humanity irrespective of race, colour, class, language or geographical barriers. The Message he preached was universal, transgressing all obstacles whether artificial or otherwise. A Message so complete and comprehensive that it not only revolutionized the era in which it was proclaimed, but even today its timeless beauty has lost none of the original charm and continues its profound appeal to the human intellect. The Prophet set a worthy example by practicing what he preached. This means that if the principles of his immortal message are sincerely observed, and if we are ready to tread the footsteps of that fantastic man, not only does it guarantee us a harmonious co-existence on this earth but also a blissful life in the hereafter. The moment modern man is ready to cast aside his bunkered lenses of prejudice and vain pride, he will understand that the eternal truth called 'ISLAM' and the final Prophet named ‘MOHAMMAD’ were not something special or essential to the Arabia of 14 centuries ago, but are capable of remarkably solving the complex issues of our era, the Space Age.
We again congratulate you on this auspicious occasion of the birth anniversary of the Prophet of Peace, and present you a poem written by Iran’s English language poet, Dr. Hassan Najafi.
A boy is born today
For a morrow in glory to sway,
Mohammad of universal fame,
Jesus foretold Ahmad’s name.
"Hmda" in Hebrew Moses prophesied,
Noah and Abraham his also his name specified,
Born to change the destiny of the world,
To make prevail everywhere God's word,
Islam the global mission entrusted to him,
Jahiliyya will vanish and all its ignorant whim,
His birth made idols headlong fall.
A sudden crack in Ctesiphon's arch stupefied all,
The sacred fire of the Zoroastrians extinguished,
As monotheism became distinguished,
Crashed down at Khosrow's palace fourteen parapets
To herald the advent of equal number of Immaculates,
Though orphaned but will be eternally victorious,
The Son of Abdullah will forever be glorious,
Brought up by Uncle Abu Taleb, the guardian,
Repaid favour by proclaiming Ali as Islam's custodian,
This was the Messenger of Mercy,
He came to stamp out heresy,
I salute him with a fitting salutation
He and his progeny are keys to my salvation
O Prophet of Peace, welcome to my ravaged grave
Here reposes a poet enamoured of your love.
AS/ME
source : irib.ir
