In the
name of Allah, the Most Benevolent, the Most Merciful.
TWO CATEGORIES OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD'S
EXCELLENCES
The excellences of the unique
character of Prophet Muhammad (on him be Allah's blessings and peace) can be
placed under two heads: his perfect submission (to Allah) and his comprehensive
prophethood.
Supplication (Dua) and Call (Dawah)
While supplication is an expression
and a consequence of submission, call is a manifestation of prophet-hood. Each
forms an important and distinct title in the story of the Prophet's glorious
life and is a permanent chapter in his miraculous memoirs. Whether a reader or
a writer, one clearly sees the place of call highlighted in Prophet Muhammad's
personality, for books on him bring it out in its full detail and its
achievements and influences shine in their rich splendour all over the world-
A call is public, and, therefore,
everybody has seen the effect of the Prophet's call clearly and openly. But, to
my limited knowledge, only a few people were able to notice how important to
him was the other aspect, that is, his supplication to God, and what an
enormous contribution it made to the effectiveness and triumph of his call
itself.
Very few people could appreciate how
the Prophet elevated supplication to cherished and sublime heights, how he
revived and renewed it when, like all other forms of prayer and submission to
Allah, it had withered to death. Indeed, the Prophet perfected it and
established it in its most consummate form before he departed from the world.
Age of Ignorance—Man's Relationship
with God
Those who have a deep and thorough
knowledge of the history of religions and creeds know that the period known as
the Age of Ignorance saw a serious decline of man's relationship with his
Creator. The fountainhead of supplication, which would not gush forth except
through faith and love and fear, had dried up in man's heart. Man, the
creature, had fallen a prey to so many misunderstandings and misconceptions
about himself and his Creator that the desire and the urge to supplicate to Him
could hardly well up in his heart. To approach God with supplication one needs,
first of all, belief in His existence. Man must also have faith that his Lord
is all-powerful and can grant whatsoever He likes, and that there is no door
but his Lord's at which he is to knock. He should further trust that,
attributed as He is especially with compassion and mercy, benevolence and
generosity, beneficence and charitableness, his Creator loves to give and grant
and is more pleased by bestowing than His creature is by receiving. Man must
believe that in relation to the Creator the creature's life from beginning to
end is literally one beggar's bowl, and that the Lord is closer to each of His
slaves than all His other creations, nay than even man's own jugular vein, and
further that He listens to everybody and can help everyone in all
circumstances.
Denial of Divine Attributes
A look at the history of the times
of Jahiliah, i.e., before the advent of Islam, would show how rare and feeble
each one of these beliefs had become and how many doubts and barriers,
superstitions and misconceptions had grown in man's mind about each of the
above-mentioned facts of faith. What room was there for supplication and prayer
by those who lived under its influence in the face of denial of the attributes
of the self-Existent ( wajibul wujud) or the First Cause (mabda'i awwal) and
the affirmation of its existence without Divine Attributes
in Greek philosophy ? What logic would be there in invoking a deity and seeking
its help when there was no knowledge of its attributes, nay, the very idea of
its possessing any perfect attribute was being negated ? How could man be
justified in expecting new actions and directions to emerge every moment and at
all the times from an entity which had no control over the workings of nature,
which lay suspended after producing the First Intellect ('aql-i-awwal) and
which was conceived as One (wa’hid) capable of creating one only, which it had already done ?
Hindrance in Supplication to God
Contrary to these tenets of ancient
Greek philosophy, the polytheistic ignorance and idolatry had associated almost
all of the divine attributes with one temporal creature or the other. One deity
controlled life while the other provided sustenance. This one had all-encompassing,
all-embracing knowledge so that the "unknown" was "known"
to it, while that transcended the limitations of time and space, reaching
anywhere and everywhere and helping its devotees all and at once. And so on and
so forth. In such a situation, what possibility was there of man's turning to
"the One God" and lifting his hands to Him for help in need,
particularly when He should be Unseen and the palpable deities within sight and
reach ? It should also be borne in mind that there was then no mention or talk
of the divine attributes and powers of "the One God"; a correct
knowledge of them was as a matter of fact almost extinct. On the other hand,
public gatherings of the time resounded with the tales of the grand
performances and wonderful agencies of "the myriad deities," and
minds and hearts were benumbed by such legends. In such a situation there
naturally emerged a state of mind which is depicted in the Qur'an as follows:
When God, the One and Only, Is
mentioned, the hearts of those who believe not
In the Hereafter, are filled with
disgust and horror; But when (gods) other than He
are mentioned, behold, they are
filled with joy! '(Noble
Qur’an; Al-Zumar: 45)
Greek Philosophy and Polytheistic
Ignorance
Thus, Greek philosophy (due to its
negative position on Divine Attributes) had closed the door of supplication and
prayer upon man, and polytheistic ignorance (by ascribing divine attributes to
temporal creatures) had directed them from the Creator to the created. The net
result of these two influences was that the practice of directly seeking and
begging of God and imploring Him with supplication and entreaty had almost come
to an end. At the time of the conferment of prophethood on Muhammad (blessings
and peace be upon him) it was hard to find even a few such persons in vast
areas, even in a whole country, who regularly and properly supplicated to God,
and who derived peace and contentment from this practice or invited others to
it.
Mankind under Obligation to Prophet
Muhammad
Prophet Muhammad (our souls and
spirits be offerings for him) bestowed upon the humanity deprived and debarred
of its spiritual moorings, the riches of supplication once again, and helped
man to open a dialogue with God. And what a rare gem this
supplication was ! Man was now
endowed with the bliss of submission to God, nay, with the bliss and honour of
life itself. Thus the barred humanity once again gained access to the Lord and
the fugitive son of Adam returned to the threshold of his Creator and Master
saying;
Your slave has staggered back to
Your door,
Having stained his honour with
deadly sin!
Why man did not supplicate?
A major reason of man's deprivation
of the bliss of supplication was the erroneous view prevalent in the Age of
Ignorance that God was too far away from man to hear his feeble voice. Prophet
Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him) gave the glad tidings from Allah :
When My servants ask thee concerning
Me I am indeed close (to them) : I listen
to the prayer of every suppliant
when he calleth on Me
(Qur’an; Al-Baqara: 186)
Real Source of Help and Harm
Another false belief widely held at
that time was that powers other than God could also help and harm man and come
to his aid and assistance. This notion had diverted man's supplication and prayer
from God, the Absolute ordainer of his good and evil haps, to imaginary helpers
and protectors, and the world at large had fallen a prey to polytheism and
idolatry. The Prophet of Allah proclaimed with all force and clarity Allah's
dictate as directly addressed to him :
Say : "0 ye men I If ye are in
doubt As to my religion, (behold)
I worship not what ye Worship, other
than God I But I worship God—
Who will take your souls (At death)
: I am commanded To be (in the ranks)
Of the Believers. "And further
(thus): 'Set thy face Towards Religion with true piety,
And never in any wise Be of the
Unbelievers: "Nor call on any Other than God;—
Such will neither profit thee Nor
hurt thee: if thou dost, Behold I thou shaft certainly
Be of those who do wrong." If
God do touch thee with hurt, there is none
Can remove it but He: If He do
design some benefit For thee, there is none
Can keep back His favour: He causeth
it to reach Whomsoever of His servants
He pleaseth. And He is The
Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
(Qur’an; Yunus: 104-107)
Sublime Position of Supplication
The Prophet did not only make it
clear that man could approach his Creator with supplication who hears him and
can help him; he also showed that Allah appreciates supplication of man and is
pleased with it, and further that, in fact, He is displeased with the
non-suppliant. Supplication is in essence a vivid and effective manifestation
of man's bondage, and an evasion of it is a symptom of defiance, arrogance, and
rebelliousness.
The following proclamation of the
Prophet elevated the status of supplication to wonderous heights and
transformed it from a compulsive act done in bondage to a sublime form of
devotion and a sure step towards establishing closeness to Allah.
And your Lord says: "Call on
Me; I will answer your (Prayer): But those who are
too arrogant to serve Me will surely
find themselves in Hell—in humiliation!"
(Qur’an; Al-Mumin:60)
The Prophet is reported lo have said
that abstaining from supplicating to Allah not only causes a fall from His
grace, but that it also earns Allah's displeasure. The words of a tradition
are:
Allah is angry with him who does not
ask of Him.
That is not all. The Prophet called
supplication the quintessence of devotions and key to the door of divine mercy
and favour. He observed.
To whom the door of supplication
opens, to him the door of God's mercy opens wide.
Thus were the founts of supplication
released to flow anew and afresh after it had virtually vanished from the then
spectrum of life, its light having departed from prayers and prayer-houses, and
the seeking, the disciplined, the pious, and the ascetic of the Age of
Ignorance having gone without their share of its riches. In a short time this
rare blessing of supplication was so plenteous that, according to an Urdu poet,
"All inhabitants partook of it freely?"
Supplication an Evidence of
Prophethood
The revitalizing and perfecting
process of the prophethood of Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him) did
not stop there. He also taught us how to supplicate to Allah and enriched the
treasure-house of humanity and the archives of world literature with those gems
of supplications which are second only to the Holy Qur'an in lustre and
brilliance. He addressed his Lord in words so moving and meaningful, so apt and
suitable that they can never be surpassed by human eloquence. These
supplications live as Prophet Muhammad's lasting miracle and as a monumental
testimony to his prophethood. The words of these supplications connote that
they are from the tongue of a prophet. They reflect the light of prophecy and
the faith of a prophet. They breathe the humility of a perfect bondsman and the
confidence and pride of one who is beloved of the Lord of worlds. They are
informed with the simplicity of the prophetic nature, and the
straightforwardness of an anguished and restless heart. These supplications are
charged with the importunings and anxieties of one in need and want, and with
sensitive care and profound reverence as shown by one who is well aware of the
august decorum of the court of the Lord of lords. They throb with the distress
of the bleeding heart and the agony of the suffering and with blissfull faith
in the All- Healing, All-Relieving. In the Prophet's supplications there is an
expression of his anguish as well as a declaration of his belief:
All affliction is from You
And You the Only Remedy still !
Literary Value of Supplication
In addition to their spiritual and
expressive values, the supplications of Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace be
upon him) are of the highest literary standard.
As literary rarities and
masterpieces, they stand unparalleled in the whole range of man's literature.
Many critics have given a high literary place to personal letters on the ground
that they are spontaneous and informal, and contain a frank expression of
emotions. But they do not know that, in the words of an Urdu poet, "There
exist worlds even beyond the stars."
There is another form of literature
which far excels personal letters in frankness and spontaneousness, and in
which all disguises and formalities of communication disappear, and the speaker
lays his heart bare in utmost sincerity, his tongue becoming truly
representative of his heart. When supplicating to God the speaker rises above
the considerations of ovation and applause and "plays" not "to
the gallery," but addresses his Maker urged by the dictates of his own
heart. This sublime form of literature is—supplication and prayer (du'a and
munajat).
Cry of Heart
Most critics of literary art tend to
overlook an important element of literature which informs it with a genuine
spirit and power and makes it immortal with truth and sincerity. The way this
element finds expression in prayer and supplication, it cannot appear in any
other form of literature. Besides, when the man supplicating be possessed of a
heart in pain and of a mastery of the very highest order over the expression of
his sense of pain, his words emerge as literary gems. They remain words no
more: they in effect become bits of the heart and tears of the eye which move
and stir the emotions of thousands of men over centuries. In addition, when the
tongue giving utterance to these emotions is the one which has been a vehicle
of divine revelation (wahi) and master of eloquence, the effectiveness and
marvellousness of its supplications know no bounds.
Supplication at Ta'if
Take a look at the supplications of
the Prophet recorded in books on his life and traditions. Can even the greatest
literary writer employ more touching, more fascinating, and more inclusive
words to depict his state of need and want, to invoke the surging sea of God's
mercy ? Bring to your mind the scene of the Prophet's journey to Ta'if, feel
his broken-heart and bleeding feet and then against that background of persecution
and oppression amidst an angry rabble, read the following words:
0 Allah ! I complain to You of the
feebleness of my strength, of the littleness of my resource, and of my public
indignity. You are the Most Merciful of all showing mercy. You are the
Protector of the oppressed and the helpless, and indeed You are my Protector
too. Whom do You entrust me to? To a stern stranger ? Or to an enemy whom you
have given control over my affairs ? If thus Your wrath may spare me, I mind
not how I am placed, except that Your grant of well-being would be immense to
me. I seek refuge in the effulgence of Your Divine Being which dispels all
darkness and sets right matters here and in the Hereafter, so that I may never
incur Your wrath or earn Your displeasure. I shall plead with You till You be
pleased. And I receive only from You power to do good and stay away from evil.
(Tarikh Tabari)
If you ever experience such a moment
and your heart be similarly charged, do you think you can employ better and
more effective words than those used above or find in the literary treasure of
the world more eloquent words to express your feelings ?
Supplication at 'Arafat
Similarly, imagine the plain of
'Arafat. A hundred and twenty-four thousand pilgrims dressed shroud-style in two
pieces of cloth are assembled there. The atmosphere resounds with their supplications and their
pilgrimage-chant, "Here I am, 0 Lord!" The scene creates upon the
heart a deep impression of Allah's unique state of total independence of all
His creation, and His sublime grandeur and austere omnipotence. Among this
dense mass of humanity there stands one (my father and mother be his ransom!),
bare-headed and wearing two unsewn pieces of pilgrimage cloth, who carries the
burden of all mankind on his shoulders. Of all watchers, his vision of Allah's
magnificence and majesty is the best, and of all those who know, he is the most
aware of deficiency, insignificance, and helplessness of man. His voice rises
in this charged and awe-inspiring atmosphere and thus hears
that audience then:
0 Allah! I Assuredly, You hear what
I say and see where I am and know what I hide and what I show. Nothing
concerning my case is concealed from You. I am afflicted, needy, begging Your
help, seeking Your protection, miserable, frightened; admitting and confessing
my sin. I ask of You as asks the helpless one. I cry, beseeching in front of
You as a wretched transgressor wails in misery and I call to You as the scared
and afflicted one calls, and as one whose neck is bent in front of You; whose
tears stream forth in Your presence; whose body lies low in extreme humility to
You; and who rubs his nose in the dust in humiliation before You. 0 Allah! Let
me not fail in supplicating to You and turn to me as the Most Merciful and. the
Beneficent, 0 You, the Best One Asked-and the.Best One Giving. ( Kanzul ‘Ummal: on the authority of Ibn Abbas)
Is it possible to find in the record
of human eloquence more touching, sincere, and winning words than these to
suggest Allah's grandeur and magnificence, to express a suppliant's -inability
and resourcelessness, destitution and want, humility, and helplessness, and to
invoke Allah's boundless mercy? Can anybody better depict the state of his
heart and his loneliness and desolation? Undoubtedly, these words are
sufficient to move the mercy of Allah. Even today, when repeating them, hearts
are moved, eyes are filled with tears, and Allah's beneficence clearly seems
inclining. May Allah's myriad blessings descend on the Prophet who was
"the mercy for the worlds." He taught his followers so rapturous and
affecting a supplication and so well-prepared them for appealing to Divine
Mercy.
Bless him and his progeny with mercy and peace as
abundantly,
0 Lord, as Your omniscience extends.
-Taken from Shaykh Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi's book "Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) in the Mirror of His Supplications"
