The Prophet Muhammad was the son of
Abdullah, who was the son of Abdul-Muttalib, who was the son of Hashim; whose
ancestry reaches the Prophet Ismael son of the Prophet Abraham, peace be upon
them.
Muhammad was born in the city
of Mecca Arabia , on
a Friday, the 17th day of the lunar month of Rabi‘-I, in the
year 570CE into a noble family whose fathers and ancestors were amongst the
chiefs of the Quraysh tribe, and the Bani-Hashim clan.
His Prophetic mission began in the
year 610CE on the 27th day of the month of Rajab, when he first
received the divine revelation. Then the Qur'an was revealed to the
Prophet progressively according to the circumstances of the time over a period
of 23 years.
The Prophet Muhammad was killed by poisoning on the
28th day of the month of Safar in the 11th year of the Hijrah[1],
630CE.
His Childhood
Muhammad's father Abdullah son of
Abdul-Muttalib was the best and most pious among the sons of Abdul-Muttalib and
his most beloved. Abdullah died while Muhammad was still in his mother's womb.
All that he left behind were five camels and a servant girl named Barakah, also
known as Omm Ayman, who was Muhammad's nanny. Abdullah was a true believer and a
monotheist.
After Abdullah's death, Muhammad's
grandfather, Abdul-Muttalib, became his guardian. Abdul-Muttalib was one of the
chieftains of the tribe of Quraysh, and a believer in Allah [in the way of
Prophet Abraham], as was Abu Talib, a brother of Abdullah. Abdul-Muttalib
always respected and honoured treaties and adopted the finest of morals. He
loved the poor and helped pilgrims. He would even feed the wild beasts and the
birds of the mountaintops. He would feed people in times of famine and would restrain
wrongdoers.
Muhammad's mother was Aamenah
daughter of Wahab son of Abd Manaf son of Kilab. She was also a believer in
Allah.
When Muhammad was born his mother
said: ‘As soon as I put my child on the ground he leaned with his hands on the
ground, raised his head to the skies and looked at the horizons all the while
speaking in phrases of monotheism. Then a voice called out to me saying: ‘The
best of mankind has been born so name him Muhammad.'
Then Aamenah sent for Abdul-Muttalib. He came to her and she
said: ‘A wondrous boy has been born to you.' Then she brought baby Muhammad to
him. Abdul-Muttalib looked at him then took him and entered the
Ka‘bah and prayed to Allah. Then he left the Ka‘bah and returned him to
his mother and named him Muhammad.
Muhammad was not yet seven years old
when his mother died. After his mother's death, his grandfather Abdul-Muttalib
assumed guardianship of him. Because of his knowledge of the status of the
child and his faith in him he treated Muhammad with more care and attention
than his other children. A group of the Medlaj Clan came to Mecca
Abdul-Muttalib said to Abu Talib in
his will to heed what they say and take care of him. Muhammad was eight
when his grandfather died, and he was taken into the care of his uncle Abu
Talib.
Abu Talib, chief of the Bani-Hashim clan within the
Quraysh, then became the guardian of Muhammad from his eighth year. Abu
Talib went on to protect and serve the Messenger of Allah, defending him and
honouring him throughout the testing times of his Prophethood, until the last
breath of his life.
His Adulthood
Muhammad grew up to become a fine
young man. He became known for his excellent manners, and because of the
honesty in his conduct and dealings he was referred to as al-Saadiq (The
Truthful One) and al-Amin (The Trustworthy One).
As a youngster Muhammad used to
accompany his uncle on his business trips to Syria
As an adult, Muhammad worked as a
trader between the cities of Mecca Damascus
Lady Khadijah gave birth to three
children. All of the Prophet's children were from Khadijah except Ibrahim who
was from Mary the Copt, who was born in Medina Mecca
Ali was born to Abu Talib and his
wife Fatimah bint Assad in 600CE. Ali's birth was associated with a
particularly significant phenomenon. When Fatimah bint Assad was in
labour she came to the Ka‘bah pleading to God for help with her labour.
It is reported by various narrators and recorded by many chroniclers that as
she was engaged in her prayers by the southern wall of the Ka‘bah, the wall
split open and she entered the House, whereby the wall returned to its normal
state. Having observed this extraordinary phenomenon, people who were
present tried to follow her into the House through the opening but did not
succeed. They then tried to go inside the House through its door but
could not unlock the door. Reports indicate that she was inside the House
for three days, and when she left the House with her newborn she did so in the
same manner as she entered the House.
The Prophet Muhammad took particular
interest in baby Ali, and he played a major role in Ali's upbringing and
education. Ali would be the most ardent supporter of the Prophet
throughout the difficult years of the Prophet Muhammad's mission to convey the
divine message and the teachings of Islam to the masses.
Start of
His Mission
The Prophet Muhammad used to spend
much time in prayer and worship of the one God. This he used to do in a
cave, known as Hira, in the al-Noor mountain near the city of Mecca
In 610CE, at the age of forty,
Muhammad received the first of the divine revelations when he was engaged in
devotion and prayer inside the cave of Hira
In the name of Allah the Merciful,
the Compassionate;
Read in the name of thy Lord who
created,
Created man from a clot,
Read and thy lord is the most noble,
Who taught by pen,
Taught man what he knew not . . .
The Prophet Muhammad conveyed the
news and the Message to Ali and Lady Khadijah. Ali and Lady Khadijah both
embraced the new revelation instantly and without any hesitation.
Khadijah was thus the first woman to
believe in the Messenger of Allah and the first woman to pray with him. She
supported him wholeheartedly and spent all her wealth in the way of Allah. She
was the first woman that the Prophet married and he married no other during her
lifetime. She was immensely loyal to the Prophet. The Angel Gabriel ordered him
to convey a special greeting and a blessing from God as well as ordering that
he give the land
of Fadak
The Prophet Muhammad begins to
invite individuals to the new revelation but in secret. There were very
few supporters and believers. When the Prophet used to perform a
congregational prayer, those who were with him were Lady Khadijah and
Ali. This low-key approach continued for three years.
Afterwards, on instructions from the Almighty, the Prophet's
invitation to Islam started to became more and more public. The Almighty
instructs His messenger to begin with his clan, And warn your nearest
kinsmen. For this purpose the Prophet Muhammad prepared a banquet and
invited the elders and chiefs of the Bani-Hashim, who totalled forty.
After they were served with a good feast, the Prophet invited them to Islam,
called upon them to support him in his mission, and promised them that whoever
does so would be appointed as his successor, but none took up the offer
dismissing the Prophet and his mission as nonsense, with the sole exception of
Ali. Ridiculing the whole thing, they turned to Abu Talib saying, “Your
son will be your commander, you should obey him!” Nevertheless the
mission continues unabated albeit with very few supporters.
Resonance of
His Call
The followers of the new religion
start to grow, and so does the concern of the Quraysh towards them. The
elders of Quraysh send Abu Talib, the trusted uncle of the Prophet to him,
asking him to stop his call for this new religion, and in return they would give
him whatever he would want. “If you want wealth, we will give you as much as
you want, if you want women we will marry you the most beautiful women of Arabia , and if you want position and status we will make
you the owner-king over us.” When Abu Talib conveys the message of the
elders of Quraysh to his nephew-prophet, the Messenger of Allah replies, “I
swear by the Almighty that if they put the Sun in my right hand and the Moon in
my left on condition that I desist from this affair I would not leave it until
Allah causes it to prevail or I die in the process.” Then the Messenger of
Allah began to weep and rose and made to leave, but Abu Talib called him and
said: ‘Come back my nephew. Say what you like my nephew, for by Allah I will
never hand you over to them ever.'
The Quraysh realised that it is
dealing with a true and determined prophet. From then on, open hostility
towards this new religion, its prophet, and its followers started to
increase. Lady Khadijah dedicates all her wealth and resources for the
cause of her prophet-husband's mission. The extent of this hostility
reaches blatant persecution of the followers of the new religion and its
prophet.
‘Neutralise
the Messenger and his Message'
Then the Quraysh plotted amongst
themselves about the companions of the Messenger of Allah who had entered Islam
with him from amongst the tribes. Each tribe pounced upon any of its own who
were Muslims by tormenting them and forcing them from their religion. Abu Talib
protected the Messenger of Allah, and seeing what the Quraysh were doing to the
sons of Hashim and Abdul-Muttalib, he called for them to protect the Messenger
of Allah just as he was protecting him. So they gathered with him and stood up
with him, except for Abu Talib's brother Abu Lahab and his sons who had
assisted the Quraysh against the Prophet.
Then the Quraysh openly decided to
kill the Messenger of Allah. When this news reached Abu Talib he gathered the
sons of Hashim and Abdul-Muttalib and took the Messenger of Allah to his
quarter and protected him from those who sought to kill him.
The Quraysh imposes total and
complete embargo against the Prophet and his followers in all its forms;
social, economic, political, etc. No citizen of Mecca
The Quraysh agreed to draw up a
document to this effect, and one of them wrote this document in his own hand,
which subsequently was afflicted by paralysis, and then they hung the document
inside the Ka‘bah.
The Prophet and many of his
followers, and members of the Hashim clan withdrew to Abu Talib and entered the
Abu Talib Quarter known as She'b Abu Talib, which had become their virtual
open-top prison. Their condition deteriorated as time went by, and
although some friends of sympathisers managed to smuggle in some help to the
Muslims, but this was few and far between. There they remained in the
quarter for three years until they were exhausted. The voices of the
children could be heard from the quarter crying of hunger. They also increased
the pressure on those who had entered Islam but had not entered the quarter.
The trials became grave and the Muslims were severely shaken. It is
reported that Ali son of Abu Talib used to secretly leave the quarter in
disguise and fetch foodstuff to the besieged, carrying it on his back, into the
quarter.
On one of the divine revelations
made to him, the Messenger of Allah informed his uncle Abu Talib that Allah had
sent woodworms to their document that had eaten every word except the name of
Allah. Having heard this Abu Talib said: ‘No by the falling stars, you
have not lied to me.'
Abu Talib set out with a group of
the clan of Abdul-Muttalib until he reached the vicinity of the Ka‘bah, which
was full of the people of Quraysh. He spoke and said to them: ‘Something has
occurred which may be a cause for a settlement between you and us so bring out
your document.
They said: ‘The time has come for
you to accept and recant. Only one man has caused the split between us and you,
and you have put your people in jeopardy because of him.'
Abu Talib said: ‘I propose a matter
for you in which there is fairness. My nephew has told me and he has not lied
to me, that Allah distances Himself from this document and has erased all your
treachery and enmity and all that remains written is His name. If it is as he
has said then by Allah, we will never hand him over to you until the last of us
dies. If what he has said is false then we will hand him over to you so that
you may kill him or spare him as you wish.'
They said: ‘We agree.' Then
they opened the document and found it as they had been told but some of them
clung to their falsehood and obstinacy and said: ‘This is sorcery from your
companion.'
Then some of those who had made the
pact spoke and tore up the document.
Facing the
Torments
The clan of Hashim then felt safe
enough to emerge from their quarter and once more mingle with the people. This
was in the tenth year of the noble prophethood, circa 620CE.
It was less than six months after
the end of this trial when Abu Talib passed away. Then the Prophet's wife Lady
Khadijah also died only three days after Abu Talib according to some accounts.
The Messenger of Allah was very saddened and named this year the ‘Year of
Sorrow'.
The loss of Abu Talib and Lady
Khadijah dealt a severe blow to the Prophet at a time when he needed these two
most. The death of Abu Talib cleared the last hurdle for the Quraysh, and
if the presence of Abu Talib imposed certain limits and drew some red lines for
the Quraysh that they could not cross, now his death leaves them free to do
what was the unthinkable to the Prophet while Abu Talib was alive.
With the death of Abu Talib, the
trials meted out by his tribe to the Messenger of Allah grew more naked and
audacious.
When the Prophet was praying by the
Ka‘bah, one of the idolaters approached and violently tried to strangle him.
The Quraysh encouraged the foolish
ones to throw dirt on the Prophet's face and head. They used to throw filth and
blood and thorns at his door. Ommayah ibn Khalaf used to insult the Prophet
until his face became red but still the Prophet would not say anything to him.
When a fool threw the dirt in the
face of the Messenger of Allah, he entered his house with the dirt still on his
head. Fatimah began to clean the dirt from his head and crying and the Messenger
of Allah saying: ‘Do not cry my daughter, for Allah will protect your father.'
He also said: ‘The Quraysh could not
harm me until Abu Talib died.'
It is related from Khabab who said:
‘I approached the Prophet when he was reclining in the shade of the Ka‘bah.
This when we had received some harm from the Polytheists. I said to him: ‘O
Messenger of Allah, will you not invoke Allah?' He sat up red of face and said:
‘Among those who came before you there were those whose skins would be scraped
off with combs of iron down to the bone and this did not divert them from their
religion. Allah will complete this matter until a rider may travel from San'a
to Hadramaut with nothing to fear but the wolf getting to his sheep.'
Migration of
the Messenger of Allah
The Quraysh and their allies make
the decision that Muhammad must be physically eliminated in order to finish
with him and his religion once and for all. But whoever does this would
have to deal with the consequences and face the wrath of the respectable Bani-Hashim
clan. In order to divide the guilt between as many clans and tribes as
possible, forty clans are made to be involved in the task. The best
warrior from each clan is chosen for the task. They are instructed to
storm the house of Muhammad and every single one of them is to ensure to strike
Muhammad with his sword at least once. This is so that if Bani-Hashim,
Muhammad's clan, were to seek revenge for his blood, they would be confronted
with forty clans, and thus making it impossible for them to seek any
retribution.
The Almighty instructs the Prophet
Muhammad to leave for the city of Yathreb Medina
In 622CE, after some thirteen years
of calling the people to Islam, the Messenger of Allah left Mecca Medina
On his way out of Mecca Medina
With first daylight, the forty brave
warriors set off in pursuit of the Prophet by following his track. They
used an expert guide to help them track him, and the guide led the warriors to
the cave of Thawr Mecca
Having failed to capture the
Prophet, the Quraysh announced a reward of 100 camels for anyone capturing him
or giving information leading to his capture.
The Prophet Muhammad left Mecca on
the eve of the first day of the lunar month of Rabi‘-I, and arrived at the
outskirts of Medina, some 400 km north of the city of Mecca, on Monday the 12th day
of the same month.
Another task that Ali ibn Abu Talib
had to do when the Prophet had left Mecca
When Ali had returned all the goods
he was given by the Prophet Muhammad to their rightful owners, he went to the
roof of the Ka‘bah and yelled at the top of his voice, “if anyone has any claim
against Muhammad, or had entrusted him with anything that he has not got back
yet, then they should come forward.” It is reported that nobody did.
Having discharged all his tasks in
Mecca, Ali set off for Yathreb together with the 'Fatimahs', namely: his mother
Fatimah bint Assad, Fatimah the daughter of the Prophet, Fatimah the daughter
of Zubair ibn Abdul-Muttalib, and Fatimah duaghter of Hamzah.
Messenger of
Allah Arrives at Medina
When the news of the Messenger's
exodus from Mecca Medina Medina noon drove them back.
Many days they waited until one day when they had returned to their houses it
so happened that a Jewish man was looking out from his fortress when he saw the
Prophet shimmering in the haze. No sooner had he sighted him than he hailed the
Muslims at the top of his voice saying: ‘O Muslims, here is your Master whom
you await!'
The Muslims immediately rushed to
meet the Messenger of Allah on the crest of the lava fields. He then kept going
until they had reached Qubaa where he stopped with the clan of Amr ibn Awf. The
Muslims hailed ‘Allahu Akbar' (God is Greatest) with joy at his arrival. The
Prophet stopped at Qubaa for three days awaiting the arrival of Ali. He
did not want to enter the Medina
The Prophet remained with Ali with
the clan of Amr ibn Awf for a day or two. During his stay in Qubaa he
established the mosque of Qubaa, and thus it was the first ever established in
Muslim era.
And on the Friday, the Prophet
entered the Qubaa mosque and led the Muslims in the Friday prayers and gave a
sermon. And this was the first Friday sermon ever given. The Prophet prayed in
the direction of Jerusalem Medina
Once in Medina Medina
Abu Ayyub's mother, who was blind,
said: ‘O if only I had sight so that I could see my master the Messenger of
Allah!' The Prophet Muhammad then called to Allah for her and her eyes opened.
This was the first of his miracles in Medina
It is said that when the Messenger
of Allah entered Medina Medina
First Muslim
Community
With a significant number of those
who embraced Islam migrating from Mecca Medina Medina Medina Mecca Mecca
However, the Quraysh and their
allies did not relent, and they forced the Muslims of Medina into a number of
battles and skirmishes. These were usually unequal, especially at the
early days, with the Quraysh and their allies being superior in number and
armour. For example at the battle of Badr, which was one of the early
clashes between the two sides, the Muslims combatants were 313 men, who had
seventy camels and two horses, while their opponents were about one thousand,
had seven hundred camels and one hundred horses.
Peace between the two sides was
eventually brought about through the peace treaty of Hodaybiyah – signed in the
eleventh month of the sixth year after Hijrah – which was highly biased in
favour of the Quraysh and their allies, to the extent that some of the
companions of the Prophet protested to him for agreeing and signing a treaty
that was ‘unfair and unacceptable'. However, subsequent events after the
Hodaybiyah were pointedly in the interest of the Muslims, which in turn
exonerated the Prophet's judgement and decision, and proved his wisdom and
farsightedness.
Less than two years after the treaty
of Hodaybiyah, Quraysh grew impatient with the environment of peace and
security that reigned in the land. Muslim losses in the battle of Mu'tah
in north Arabia – in today's Jordan
The Messenger of Allah left Medina
Then the Messenger of Allah
proceeded until he arrived at Marr al-Dhahran, the heights of Mecca
It is reported that Abu Sufyan, the
Prophet's archenemy, was saying: ‘I have never seen such fires as last night
nor such a camp.' He said: ‘What is the news and what are all these
fires?'
The narrator responded to him: ‘The
news is that the Messenger of Allah has arrived here. He has come with a
force you cannot resist; with ten thousand of the Muslims.'
Abu Sufyan said: ‘What is to be
done?'
I said: ‘By Allah, if he defeats you
he will surely strike your head off so ride this donkey with me so that I can
take you to the Messenger of Allah and I will ask him for an amnesty for
you.' So he rode behind me.
It is related that Ali ibn Abu Talib
said to Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith: ‘Go to the Messenger of Allah and say to him
what Joseph's brothers said to Joseph: By Allah, Allah has preferred you
over us and we have certainly been sinful [6] Then the Messenger of Allah
said in answer to him and seeking to best him in speech: He said: Let
there be no reproach upon you this day. Allah will forgive you and he is the
Most Merciful of those who show mercy [7]
The banner of the Muslims was with
Sa'ad ibn ‘Ibadah and when he passed by Abu Sufyan he said to him: ‘Today is
the day of slaughter, today the women will be captured'. Abu Sufyan heard him
and kept it to himself until the Messenger of Allah passed by him when he said:
‘Do you know what Sa'ad ibn ‘Ibadah has said?'
The Messenger of Allah said: ‘What
he has said is of no consequence.' Then he sent someone to Sa'ad and took the
banner from him and passed it to Ali and said: ‘Enter with kindness.' Ali took
the banner and began to proclaim: ‘Today is the day of mercy, today honour will
be protected.'
Then the Messenger of Allah turned
to Abu Sufyan and said to him: ‘O Abu Sufyan, proceed to Mecca
When the Messenger of Allah entered Mecca Mecca
Then the Messenger of Allah, after having rested a little in
his tent, bathed and mounted his camel and set out for the sacred mosque. The
Muslims were before him and behind him and all around him and they were
repeating along with the Messenger of Allah the words of Allah Almighty:
The truth has come and falsehood has perished, indeed falsehood is (by
nature) perishing
And thus a whole era of idol
worshipping in Arabia was brought to an
irreversible end, and Mecca Capital City Mecca
But the Prophet never again took his
birth city, Mecca Mecca Medina
Ideal Islamic
Order
From early days, the Prophet
gradually established an Islamic system of governance and a way of life.
In its first years, the nascent Muslim community in Medina
On the political front, the Prophet
enjoined the community to avoid wars and violence as far as possible, and it
should only be the absolute last resort, when all other avenues have been
exhausted. The Prophet Muhammad went out of his way to avoid conflict and
violence, and it is recorded that in the ten years that the Prophet was in Medina
Another social-political principle instilled by the Prophet
Muhammad was that “Land belongs to Allah and whoever develops
it” . This had a very significant impact on the development of
the country both socially and politically, not to mention the economic progress
and revival it entailed.
Another socio-economic policy was
established by the Prophet's declaration “I am responsible for
them” . He who dies and leaves family who do not have enough to
make ends meet, then the Prophet would be responsible for them and they should
go to him. On the other hand, “he who dies and leaves a wealth behind, it
is for his heirs” . All that wealth is for the family he leaves
behind, i.e. no inheritance tax in Islam. But this policy did not stop
there, and it went further when the Prophet announced that if a person dies and
leaves a debt behind, then he [Muhammad, and subsequently the leader of the
Islamic state in general] is responsible for paying it .
The Prophetic legislation also addressed the interest of the
non-Muslims living under the Islamic state, referred to as dhimmy; literally
means “the responsibility of” [the Islamic state]: “He who hurts a dhimmy, then
indeed he has hurt me” .
Such laws, and the peaceful
liberation of Mecca
By the name of Allah, the Compassionate,
the Merciful,
When came Allah's succour and the
conquest,
And thou saw the peoples entering
into the religion of Allah in troops -
So glorify the praise of thy Lord and seek His forgiveness,
indeed He is relenting.
The Two
Momentous Things
In the holy city of Medina
The Holy Qur'an
The Prophet ensured arrangements be
made to compile a ‘bound' copy of the Holy Qur'an – known at the time of the
holy Prophet, and also today, as the mus}h}af. The Messenger of Allah
commissioned Ali son of Abu-Talib to gather and compile the entire Qur'an,
which Imam Ali did during the lifetime of the holy Prophet and under his
supervision.
The Messenger of Allah validated and authenticated the end result – the
mus}h}af – even verifying the order and position of the individual verses
within a given chapter or surah, as instructed by the Almighty. According
to traditions, when archangel Gabriel used to reveal a particular ayah or verse
to the Prophet, the former would also indicate its position within the surah or
chapter of the Qur'an and the surah it belonged to.
Reports state that during the lifetime of the Prophet, when
the entire text of the Holy Qur'an was committed to writing and it had been
compiled as mus}h}af, people used to come to the mosque of the Prophet, where
the compiled Qur'an – the mus}h}af – was kept by the pulpit, to make their
copies of the Holy Scripture.
It is sometimes stated, through a
minor misunderstanding, that the Holy Qur'an was first compiled during the
reign of the third ruler Othman ibn Affaan, some twenty years after the death
of the Prophet Muhammad. The root of this misunderstanding stems from the
incorrect assumption of the meaning of the Arabic word jamcthat
means ‘to collect', but instead it is taken to mean ‘to compile'. What was in
fact commissioned at that time was to collect the incomplete documents holding
some verses or chapters of the Holy Qur'an and to complete them as copies of
the entire Qur'an. Any compilation that took place during this time was to
reproduce the authentic copy of the Holy Qur'an as per the version compiled by
Imam Ali during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad and under his supervision.
The Ahl al-Bayt
The other fundamental and vital task that the Prophet had to
secure during his lifetime was to address the question of his
successorship. On instructions from the Almighty, the Messenger
of Allah named and appointed the successors who must lead the Muslim community
after him according to the teachings of the Holy Qur'an and the Messenger of
Allah. The Prophet Muhammad used numerous occasions to instruct the
people to follow and adhere to his twelve appointed successors, ‘Caliphs' or
‘Imams', the first of whom was Imam Ali son of Abu Talib, and the twelfth is
the living Imam Mahdi, who is hidden from public view[19] until such a
time when the Almighty instructs him to reappear in public “to lead the nations
of this world from tyranny and oppression to tranquillity and bliss”.
[The Prophet Muhammad, his daughter Fatimah, his cousin and son-in-law Imam Ali
and the eleven impeccable Imams descendents of Ali and Fatimah form Ahl al-Bayt
as referred to in the holy Qur'an 33:33.]
In 630CE, seventy days before his
death, and just after performing the farewell Hajj pilgrimage, on instructions
from the Almighty, at the location of Ghadir Khum, the Prophet appointed Ali as
his successor and ordered the Muslims who were present there to pay Ali homage
of allegiance as The Commander of the Faithful, and their leader after the
Prophet. The revelation from the Almighty on this day in this particular
respect was:
O Messenger! Convey that that has been revealed to thee from
thy Lord, and if thee do not, then thee would have not conveyed His Message;
and Allah will protect thee from the people. Surely Allah guides not the
disbelieving people.
After the revelation of the above
instruction, the Messenger of Allah declared:
“Whoever I am his master and leader, then Ali is his master
and leader too. O Lord support whoever supports Ali, and oppose whoever
opposes him.”
“Ali is my caliph and successor upon ye after me.”
Some chroniclers put the number
of those present at Ghadir Khum who gave the homage of allegiance to Imam Ali
as the Commander of the Faithful and the successor of the Prophet Muhammad at
up to 120,000 men and women.
To confirm and conclude this
momentous event, the Almighty then revealed:
Today I have perfected your religion for ye, completed My
favour upon ye and have sanctioned Islam for ye as a religion.
In order to reveal the station of
his successors present and future, the Prophet frequently used to refer the
Muslims to the Ahl al-Bayt – at the time notably Ali – for they were the most
knowledgeable about the teachings of the Qur'an and the Prophet himself.
To clarify any possible doubt about his immediate successor, in the famous
tradition of “City of Knowledge
“I am the City of Knowledge and Ali is its Gate, so
whosoever wishes to access this City, then let him do so through its
Gate.”
According to many Prophetic teachings
and traditions the Holy Qur'an and the Ahl al-Bayt are considered as the two
inseparable and complementary components of the divine message. Towards
the end of his life, the Messenger of Allah often used to say:
“I leave with ye the two momentous things – the book of
Allah and my kin the people of my Ahl al-Bayt. As long as ye adhere to
them both ye will never go astray after me.”
However, after the death of the
Prophet Muhammad, the people did not honour their pledge of allegiance that
they had given at the time of the Prophet to the successor he appointed on
instructions from the Almighty.
After several failed attempts on his
life, and by various means, the culprits eventually succeeded in assassinating
the Prophet Muhammad - this time through poisoning. The final Messenger of
Allah to humanity died on the 28th day of the lunar month of
Safar in the 11th year of the Hijrah, circa 630CE.
The Prophet Muhammad brought about a
nation and a civilisation that in a relatively very short space of time won the
prime position amongst all other nations. The Muslims attained such
achievement so long as they adhered to the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.
Today although the Muslims are numerous, they do not occupy the eminent station
amongst the nations anymore, for they did not adhere to “the two momentous
things” that the Prophet Muhammad left behind for them. The Muslim nation
may still be a candidate to lead mankind to bliss and prosperity if they ensure
to adhere to the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and his appointed
successors.
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