The position of Rasoolullahﷺ in Islam – 2

Fajr Reminders - Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Center

Allahﷻ declared that Muhammadﷺ is His Messengerﷺ and the last of them and the Seal of the Prophets and that after him there is no other. مَّا كَانَ مُحَمَّدٌ أَبَآ أَحَدٍ مِّن رِّجَالِكُمْ وَلَـٰكِن رَّسُولَ ٱللَّهِ وَخَاتَمَ ٱلنَّبِيِّـۧنَ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمًا Ahzab 33: 40 Muḥammad is not the father of any of your men but is the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the prophets. And Allah has ˹perfect˺ knowledge of all things. The first thing to remember about Rasoolullahﷺ and our relationship with him is that we are required to believe IN him. Not just to believe the message, but to believe that he, Muhammadﷺ, was the messenger of Allahﷻ. To believe in Rasoolullahﷺ as the messenger of Allahﷻ is essential because the message is about Al-Ghayb, the Unperceivable. Iman-bil-Ghayb is the fundamental element of our Creed. Everything depends on that. We believe in it because Rasoolullahﷺ said so. We believe him because we believe IN him and believe that he was completely truthful and so if he said that Allahﷻ said such and such, then we believe it. His word is the evidence, Daleel. This is the basic principle of authentication of Ahadith. The Muhadditheen check to see if Rasoolullahﷺ said it. If he did, they don’t go further to see if it can be proven scientifically or in any other way. If it is verified that he said it, we believe it. The reality is that our science doesn’t go far enough to look into the future or to tell us what happens after death or anything of Al-Ghayb. We believe in Al-Ghayb simply because Rasoolullahﷺ informed us about it. If you think about it, this makes the entire Qur’an also a Hadith of Rasoolullahﷺ. We believe that Alhamdulillahi Rabbil A’alameen is an Ayah only because Rasoolullahﷺ told us that it is an Ayah. It could just as easily have been something that Rasoolullahﷺ said, because if you wanted to say, ‘All praise and thanks are for Allahﷻ, the Rabb of the Worlds’, that is how you would say it in Arabic. This is what Abu Bakr As-Siddique (R) said when they told him that Rasoolullahﷺ had said that he had travelled from Makkah to Jerusalem and then into the heavens to meet Allahﷻ. He said, “If he said it, I believe it.” That became the fundamental principle of authenticating Ahadith. That is why it is critical to believe IN Muhammadﷺ, as the Rasool of Allahﷻ because the truth of his message is based on his position as the Messengerﷺ. Allahﷻ ordered him to announce to the world: قُلْ يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِنِّى رَسُولُ ٱللَّهِ إِلَيْكُمْ جَمِيعًا ٱلَّذِى لَهُۥ مُلْكُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ يُحْىِۦ وَيُمِيتُ فَـَٔامِنُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ ٱلنَّبِىِّ ٱلْأُمِّىِّ ٱلَّذِى يُؤْمِنُ بِٱللَّهِ وَكَلِمَـٰتِهِۦ وَٱتَّبِعُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ A’araf 7: 158 Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “O humanity! I am Allah’s Messenger to you all. To Him ˹alone˺ belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. There is no god ˹worthy of worship˺ except Him. He gives life and causes death.” So, believe in Allah and His Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, who believes in Allah and His revelations. And follow him, so you may be ˹rightly˺ guided. Allahﷻ reiterated and emphasized this relationship and commanded: لِّتُؤْمِنُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ وَتُعَزِّرُوهُ وَتُوَقِّرُوهُ وَتُسَبِّحُوهُ بُكْرَةً وَأَصِيلًا Fath 48: 9 So that you ˹believers˺ may have faith in Allah and His Messenger, support and honor him, and glorify Allah morning and evening. The distinction of Rasoolullahﷺ is that though he is called a messenger, he is in fact a teacher. Unlike a postman who carries a bag of letters, which he has nothing to do with. He knows nothing about what the letters contain. His job is merely to deliver the letters to the addressees. In the case of Rasoolullahﷺ, the meaning of ‘delivery of the message’ was to teach people how to live by the orders of Allahﷻ. Islam is the name of a practice, like a martial art for example.