18 June 2011

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Introduction
    Praise be to gracious Allah, who honoured us by sending Muhammad ibn `Abdullah r as a teacher, educator, leader and guide. As AllahI said in the Qur'an:
"Certainly did Allah confer [great] favour upon the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from themselves, reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book [i.e., the Qur'an] and wisdom, although they had been before in manifest error." (3:164)
    And blessings and peace be upon the most noble and purest of creation, our Prophet Muhammad r, a role model and leader of the righteous, seal of the prophets and messengers and a mercy for all the worlds. He was chosen by AllahI, who said:
"And your Lord creates what He wills and chooses."  (28:68) 
And HeI said:
"Allah chooses messengers from among the angels and from among the people."  (22:75)
So, HeI sent him
"as a witness, a bringer of good tidings, a Warner, one who invites to Allah, by His permission, and an illuminating lamp." (33:45-46)
And Allah, (the Exalted), has decreed honour, contentment and distinction for those who follow his path and decreed humiliation, misery and degradation for those who go against his order. So may the blessings and peace of our Lord be upon him as often as the righteous mention him and as long as night follows day.
    It is agreed that no meeting or encounter could be more honourable than one with the Prophetr (blessings and peace be upon him). And although his companions (may Allah be pleased with them) had the honour of meeting with him in this world and partaking of his teaching, instruction and education, AllahI, out of His mercy and generosity, has facilitated for us also a way to learn his biography, his Sunnah, his guidance and the features of his personality, which was characterized by extensive mercy, leniency, nobility, generosity and morality.
    Some time back, the thought occurred to me to write some of these encounters in a brief and simple way in order to present Muslims with a glimpse of his life, his guidance and some of the aspects which made him a role model, thus aiding them to apply the words of AllahI:
"There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent model for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day and who remembers Allah often."  (33:21)
And "And whatever the Messenger has given you – take; and what he has forbidden you – refrain from."  (59:7)
    I have taken care not to weight these presentations down with a lot of extra notes that might distract the reader from grasping some of their objectives. I also took care to make them suitable for the imam of a mosque to read to his congregation or a teacher to read to his students.
    I cannot forget to thank all those who contributed thought and effort toward producing the book in this form. Special thanks go to Brother Khalid Abu Salih for his great job in gathering and organizing the material and to Muhammad at-Taabi` for his review and corrections, as well as to Imam Arafah, owner of Al-Fustat Press, for typesetting and also his cooperation in reducing the cost of the book to assist those intending charitable distribution.
Indeed, I hope that everyone who reads these encounters will remember me in his prayers and contact me by e-mail to offer comments and suggestions at:
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    I pray to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, to enable us all to fulfil the right of our Prophet e and to make us among those who serve his Sunnah and spread his noble guidance. And I pray that Allah I will increase us in honour and position in this world and the next by enabling us to follow the example of His Prophet e and that He will grant us the Prophet's companionship in Paradise. May He make our deeds purely for His acceptance, and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad r and all of his family and companions.

    AllahI has honoured us by sending Prophet Muhammad e and has favoured us by making known his message.
He said:
Certainly did Allah confer [great] favour upon the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from themselves, reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book [i.e., the Qur'an] and wisdom, although they had been before in manifest error. (3:164) 
    Indeed, the Messenger of Allah e has many rights over us which we should observe, uphold and beware of neglecting. Among them are:
Belief in him
    The first right of the Prophet e is belief in him and in his message, for whoever does not believe in the Messenger of Allah r and that he is the last of the prophets and messengers is a disbeliever, even if he should believe in all of the prophets who came before him.
    The Qur'an contains many verses commanding belief in the Messenger of Allah e and in the message he brought. Therein AllahI has said:
So believe in Allah and His Messenger and the light [i.e., Qur'an] which We have sent down. (64:8) 
And He said:
The believers are only those who have believed in Allah and His Messenger and then do not doubt. (49:15)
    And He stated that disbelief in AllahI and His Messenger is a cause of destruction and painful punishment, saying:
That is because they opposed Allah and His Messenger. And whoever opposes Allah and His Messenger – indeed, Allah is severe in penalty. (8:13)
And the Prophet e himself said,
 "By Him in whose hand is Muhammad's soul, no one from this nation or a Jew or a Christian will hear about me and then die without believing in that with which I was sent but that he will be of the inhabitants of the Hellfire." (Narrated by Muslim) 
Following him
    Following the Prophet e is the real evidence of belief in him. Anyone who claims faith in the Prophet e but then does not obey his order, cease what he prohibited and follow his Sunnah has lied about his faith. For faith is what has settled in the heart and is proven by deeds.
AllahI shows that His mercy is for the believers who follow the Prophet's r example. He said:
My mercy encompasses all things. So I will decree it [especially] for those who fear Me and give zakah and those who believe in Our verses – Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered prophet... (7:156-157)
    In addition, AllahI has promised a bad consequence for those who ignore the guidance of His Messenger r and oppose his instruction:
So let those beware who dissent from his order, lest trial strikes them or a painful punishment. (24:63)
    And AllahI commanded wholehearted compliance with the Messenger's r judgement, saying:
But no, by your Lord, they will not [truly] believe until they make you, [O Muhammad], judge concerning that over which they dispute among themselves and then find within themselves no discomfort from what you have judged and submit in [full, willing] submission. (4:65)
Loving him
    Among the rights of the Prophet e upon his nation is complete and perfect love for him.
He said, "None of you [truly] believes until I am more beloved to him than his child, his parent and all people." (Al-Bukhari) 
    So any person who does not love the Messenger of Allah e cannot be a believer, even if he should have a Muslim name and live among Muslims.
    The greatest degree of love for the Messenger of Allah e is to love him more than oneself. `Umar ibn al-Khattab t once said to him, "O Messenger of Allah e, you are more beloved to me than everything except myself.
" The Prophet e replied, "No, by the one in whose hand is my soul – not until I am more beloved to you than yourself."
 Then `Umar t said, "Now, by Allah, you are more beloved to me than myself."  So the Prophet e said,
"Now [you have believed], `Umar." (Al-Bukhari)
Supporting him
    This is among the most clearly confirmed of his rights both in life and after death. During his lifetime his companions fulfilled this duty in the best way. After his death, however, supporting him entails defence of his Sunnah whenever it is exposed to attack by enemies, distortion by the ignorant or criticism by those who seek to annul it. It also includes the defence of his noble person whenever he might be abused, ridiculed or described in an unsuitable manner.
    In recent times, there has been an increase in campaigns to dishonour and discredit the Prophet of Islam e. The entire Ummah (community of believers) must arise to the defence of its Prophet r by every means possible to force opponents to end their lies, insults and slander.

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