(The
appearance and introduction of Rasűlullah, [sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallâm]).
The
shapes of all the visible limbs of our master, Rasűlullah, his idiosyncracies,
his beautiful manners, his entire life, with all their delicacies, have been
very detailedly and clearly written by savants along with references and
documents. These are called siyer books. Of the thousands of siyer books, the
one which was written first was Ibnî Is-haq’s book, Sîrat-i Rasűlullah, which
was elaborated upon under the same title by Ibni Hisham Humayrî and reprinted
by Westenfeld, a German orientalist. Allahu ta’âlâ also bestowed upon Muhammad
(alayhissalâm) all the mujizas (miracles) which He had given to all His anbiyâ
(prophets). Many of them are written in the books al-Mawâhib-ul-Ladunniya
(Arabic); Madârij-un-Nubuwwa (Persian); al-Anwar-ul-Muhammadiyya (Arabic), which
is the mukhtasar (abridged version) of Mawâhib; and Hujjatullahi alal’âlamîn fî
mu’jizâti Sayyed-il-mursalîn (Arabic).
In
this booklet of ours, we quoted from the two-volumed book entitled
al-Mawâhib-ul-ladunniya by Hadrat Imâm-ý Ahmad Qastalânî, one of the great
Islâmic savants from Egypt. Abdulbâqî Efendî, a Muslim poet, has translated
this book from Arabic into Turkish. Out of the whole book, the parts considered
necessary for youngsters have been written briefly as follows:
The blessed face and all the blessed limbs
and the blessed voice of Fakhr-i kâinât (Muhammad [sall Allâhu ’alaihi wa
sallâm]) were more beautiful than the faces and limbs and voices of all people.
His blessed face was roundish. When he was cheerful, his blessed face used to
shine like the moon. It would be evident by his blessed forehead that he was
pleased. Resűlullah (sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam’ used to see during the night
just as well as he saw during the day. He used to see what was behind him just
as he saw what was in front of him. Hundreds of events proving this fact are
communicated in books. Allahu ta’âlâ, who creates vision in the eye, is a well
potent enough to create it in another organ. When he would look towards one
side or look around, he used to turn with all his body and then look. He used
to look at the earth more than he looked at the sky. His blessed eyes were
large. His blessed eye-lashes were long. There was a certain amount of reddish
colour in his blessed eyes. The iris of his blessed eye was extremely black. Fakhr-i
âlam had a broad
forehead. His blessed eye-brows were thin.
His eye-brows were apart from each other. The vein between his two eyebrows
used to swell when he became angry. His blessed nose was extremely beautiful
and was a little higher in the middle. His blessed head was great. His blessed
mouth was not small. His blessed teeth were white. His blessed front teeth were
sparse. When he expressed a word, it used to sound as if haloes (nur) were
coming through his teeth. Among the creatures of Allahu ta’âlâ, no one has been
seen with a more eloquent or sweeter speech than his. His blessed words used to
be understood easily, pleasing hearts and attracting souls. When he spoke, his
words used to string like pearls. Had someone wanted to count his words, it
would have been possible to count them. Sometimes, he used to repeat something
three times in order that it might be understood well. In Paradise everybody
will speak like Hadrat Muhammad. His blessed voice could reach a distance which
no one else’s could.
Fakhr-i âlam (sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa
sallâm) was affable. He used to smile pleasantly. When he smiled, his blessed
teeth used to be seen. When he smiled, his sacred light used to enlighten the
walls. His weeping was easy like his smiling. As he never burst out laughing,
so he never used to cry loudly, but his blessed eyes would shed tears and the
sound of his blessed chest would be heard. He used to weep when thinking of the
sins of his Ummat [that is, Muslims], and he used to weep out of fear of Allah.
He also wept when he heard the Qur’ân al-kerîm and, sometimes, when
performing namâz (ritual prayer).
Fakhr-i âlam’s (sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa
sallam) blessed fingers were big. His blessed arms were fleshy. His blessed
palms were wide. The scent of his entire body was more odorous than the most
beautiful scent. His blessed body was both soft and strong. Anas bin Mâlik
says, “I served Rasűlullah for ten years. His blessed hands were softer than
silk. His blessed sweat was more odorous than the most fragrant scent or than
any flower. His blessed arms, feet and fingers were long. His blessed toes were
big. The bottom of his foot was not too high and was soft. His blessed belly
was wide and his chest and his belly did not exceed each other. [They were in the
same vertico-frontal plane.] The bone at the point of his shoulder was big. His
blessed chest was wide, his qalb-i sharîf (blessed heart) was nazargâh-î ilâhî (a
place of Divine Sight).
Rasűlullah (sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam)
was not too tall, nor was he short. When someone came near him, Rasűlullah
would
look taller than the person. When he sat,
his blessed shoulders would he higher than all of those who sat down.
His hair and the hairs of his beard were
not too curly, nor too straight, but they were undulate from his creation. His
blessed hair was long. Formerly he used to have a ringlet of hair in front,
later he parted his hair into two. Sometimes he use to grow his blessed hair
long, and sometimes he used to have it cut and shortened. He didn’t use to dye
his hair and beard. When he passed away the white hairs in his hair and beard
were less than twenty. He used to trim his blessed moustache. The length and
the shape of his moustache were as much as and like his blessed eye brows. He
had private barbers in his service. [Also, it is a sunnat for Muslims to grow
their beard as long as a small handful and to cut what is more than this and to
trim their moustache.]
Rasűlullah (sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam)
always had his miswâk and his comb with him. [A miswâk is the twig of the arak
tree that grows in Arabia. It is used for brushing the teeth.] He used to look
in a mirror when he combed his blessed hair and beard. At nights he used to put
kohl in his blessed eyes.
Fakhr-i kâinat (Muhammad [sall-Allahu
’alaihi wa sallam]) used to walk fast while looking down at the ground in front
of him. When he went past a place, he would be recognized by his odorous scent.
Fakhr-i âlam had a white complexion mixed
with red, and was extremely handsome with a blessed and lovable appearance. If
a person says that the Prophet was ugly he becomes a disbeliever.
He (sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam) was an
Arab. ‘Arab’ means ‘beautiful’ in the dictionary. For instance, ‘lisân-i arab’
means ‘beautiful language.’ In the geographical sense, ‘Arab’ means the person
who was born on the Arabian Peninsula and who grew up in its climate with its
water and food and who is of the blood of its people. As those of Anatolian
blood are called Turks, those who are born and raised in Bulgaria are called
Bulgarians and those in Germany German; likewise, Rasűlullah is an Arab because
he was born in Arabia. Arabs, during the time of Rasűlullah were white,
light-complexioned. Especially the family of our Prophet (Muhammad) was white
and very beautiful. As a matter of fact, his ancestor Hadrat Ibrâhîm had a
white complexion and was the son of a Muslîm named Târuh, who was one of the
inhabitants of the city of Basra. Âzer, who was a disbeliever, was not Hadrat
Ibrâhim’s (’alaihi’s-salâm) father. He was his uncle and stepfather.
The fame of Rasűlullah’s ‘sall-Allâhu
alaihi wa sallam’ father, Abdullah, had spread outward even to Egypt due to his
beauty and owing to the blessed light on his forehead; almost two hundred girls
had come to Mecca in order to marry him. But, Hadrat Muhammad’s sacred light
fell to Âmina’s lot.
For a century, in Turkey and in many
Islâmic countries, the Raghâib Kandil is referred to as the night on which
Abdullah got married. It is not right to give such a meaning to the Raghâib
night. It would mean that Rasűlullah honoured the world with his presence
earlier than nine months, which is a deficiency, a defect. As he was superior
to every man in every respect and as he was perfect in every way, so he was
perfect and adequate when he enlightened our mother Âmina. A deficiency in this
gestation time is considered a defect and fault in medical science.
The first Friday night (the night between
Thursday and Friday) of Rajab-i Sharîf is called the Raghâib Night, for Allahu
ta’âlâ endows raghîbats, that is, blessings and gifts, on His human creatures
on that night. The prayer done on that night will not be refused and the
worships, such as namâz, fasting and alms, will be rewarded many times more
than usual. He (Allah) will forgive those who respect that night.
In the early ages of Islâm, and before
Islâm, it was harâm (forbidden) to war in the months of Rajab, Zilqâ’da,
Zilhijja and Muharram. It is written in the eighth paragraph of the second
chapter of the book Riyâd-un-nâsihîn, ‘It is writen in the Tafsîrs
of Zâhidî and Alî Jurjânî and in all the Tafsîrs that before Islâm the Arabs
used to change the places of the months in order to be able to make war in the
months of Rajab and Muharram by putting them forward or backward. Rasűlullah,
when he performed the Farewell Hajj with ninety thousand Muslims in the tenth
year of the Hegira, said, “O my Ashâb! We are performing the hajj just at its proper time.
The sequence of months is just as it was when Allahu ta’âlâ created it!” In
the year when Abdullah got married the places of the months were wrong. The
month of Rajab was in the place of Jamâ’zil’âhar. That is, it was one month
ahead. Then, the transition of the Prophet’s blessed light to our mother Âmina
is in today’s month of Jamâ’zil’âkhar. It is not on the Ragâib Night.
His uncle Abbâs and his son Abdullah
shared his fair complexion. Also, our Prophet’s descendants until the end of
the world will be beautiful and sympathetic. For example, the Amîr of Jordan,
the late Abdullah, who had been to Istanbul, was such a
person. The virtuous Ahmad Makkî Efendî,
the late mufti of Kadiköy, was a sayyed (a descendant of the Prophet), and like
his ancestors, he was white with black eye-brows, big black eyes, very
sympathetic and affable. Rasűlullah’s Ashâb were sympathetic and beautiful,
too. Hadrat ’Uthmân was white with blond hair. Dihya-i Kelebî, the ambassador
whom Rasűlullah used to send to the Emperor of Byzantium, Heraclius, was very
handsome, and as he went around on the streets of Istanbul, the Byzantine girls
used to rush out into the streets in order to see his face. Hadrat Jabrâil
(Gabriel) usually came in the disguise of Hadrat Dihya (radî-Allâhu ’anh).
The natives of Egypt, Damascus, Africa,
Sicily and Spain aren’t Arabs. But since the Arabs came to these places after
having migrated from the Arabian Peninsula in order to spread Islâm all over
the world, there are Arabs in these lands, too. Likewise, they exist in
Anatolia, India and other countries. But, today, none of the citizens of these
countries can be called Arabs.
The Arabic language, the one and only
language of knowledge and civilization in the Middle Ages and which is, in
fact, the most advanced and sophisticated language among the seven hundred and
seventy languages used in the world today with its richness in grammar,
eloquence and literature, had entered and settled in every countries along with
the Islâmic civilization. In those times, the French and other European people
who had gone to Arabic universities and Muslim schools in Spain for
specialization had taken with them many Arabic words, especially technical
terms used in knowledge and science, to their countries and mixed them with
their own languages. Today, in Western languages, Arabic words are still in
use.
In “The Gospel in Many Tongues,” published
by The British and Foreign Bible Society in London, in 1947, there are a few
lines written as examples of each of the seven hundred and seventy languages.
The people of Egypt have a light-brown
complexion. The people of Ethiopia (Habashistân, Al-habashatu) are black and
are called habashî. The people of Zanzibar
(Zanjîbar) are called Zanjî (negro), and they are also black. It is an
act of worship to love and respect our Prophet’s relatives, the Arabs. Every Muslim
loves them. Everybody who came to Asia Minor as guests, introduced themselves
as Arabs to us in order to receive respect and kindness, and the credulous
Anatolian Muslims believed and loved them. This was because the black and the
white weren’t
looked upon differently in terms of this
love. For a Muslim, a black Muslim is better, dearer, and more lovable than a
white disbeliever. To be black does not diminish the value of îmân (faith) for
any person. Some of Rasűlullah’s Ashâb were black even though they were Arabs.
Hadrat Bilâl-i Habashî and Usâma whom the Prophet loved very much were black.
But such disbelievers as Abű Lahab and Abű Jahl, whose evil and baseness are
known by everybody, were white. Allahu ta’âlâ evaulates a man not with regard to
his colour, but with respect to the strength of his îmân and taqwâ.
However, the enemies of Islâm, the Jews,
introduced blacks as if they are of a low class and horrible. They used them as
slaves. They wanted to wipe out the love existing among Muslims and to break
off their relation of brotherhood. On the other hand, by calling black pets
such as cats and dogs ‘Arab’ and by referring to the blacks in their pictures,
cartoons, magazines and newspapers as Arabs, they tried to misrepresent the
Arabs to our youth as badly as they could in order to alienate Muslim children
from our Prophet (sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam). Today, people living in
Arabia, Mecca-i mukarrama, and Medina-i munawwara are the descendants of the
foreigners who came in the course of centuries from Africa, Asia, and other
places and settled there. Those foreigners were black and were lovers of Allah
and Rasűlullah. Eyyüb Sabri Paţa, ‘rahmatullâhi aleyh’, one of Sultan
Abdulhamîd Khan II’s ‘rahmatullâhi aleyh’ admirals, writes in his five-volumed
Turkish book Mir’ât-ul-harâmayn that in the entire city of
Mecca there are only two Arab homes left. And today, there aren’t any. After
our Prophet’s death, all of his companions and then his descendants moved out
of Arabia for jihâd, that is, in order to spread Islâm all over the world. They
spread far into Asia, Africa, Cyprus, Istanbul and, in brief, everywhere. In
order to introduce Allah’s religion to His human creatures, they fought and
they sacrificed their lives. These vast lands are full of those blessed
martyrs. They sent their sons to the faculties of Baghdad University, which was
at that time the greatest universtiy in the word –and it can be seen in its
existing artifacts today that they had experimented and discovered many new
things in physics, chemistry, astronomy, geography and mathematics– in order
that they might learn knowledge. When Hulâghu, the famous tyrant, and the
disbeliever Genghis [Whose real name is Timuchin] Khan’s grandson persecuted
and killed more than eight hundred thousand Muslims, including women and
children, and burned
and destroyed Baghdad in 656 (
All the beautiful habits were accumulated
in Rasűlullah. His beautiful habits were given to him by Allahu ta’âlâ; he did
not acquire them later by striving. He never cursed a Muslim by mentioning his
name, nor did he slap anybody with his blessed hand. He never took revenge for
himself. He used to avenge for Allah’s sake. He used to treat his relatives,
companions and servants well and modestly. He was very mild and affable in his
home. He used to visit the sick and attend funerals. He used to help his
companions with their work and take their children on his lap. Yet his heart
wasn’t busy with them. His blessed soul was in the world of angels.
Fear would grasp a person who saw
Rasűlullah suddenly. If he hadn’t behaved mildly, no one could have sat near
him, no one could have had the strength to listen to him, owing to his manners
of prophethood. However, out of embarrassment, he himself would never look at
anybody in the face with his blessed eyes.
Fakhr-i âlam (sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam)
was the most generous of human beings. He has never been heard to say, “I don’t
have,” about something asked from him. If he had the thing asked for, he gave
it; if he didn’t have it, he didn’t answer. The Prophet had so many great
attributes and had done so many favours for so many people that the Byzantine
emperors and the Persian shahs could not do enough to compete with him. But he
himself liked to live in inconvenience. He led such a life that he would not
even remember to eat or drink. He never used words like “Bring something to
eat,” or “Cook such and such food.” He used to eat when they brought the meal
to him, and he used to accept whatever fruit they gave him. Sometimes he ate
very little for months, and he liked hunger. And sometimes he ate much. He used
to eat with three fingers. He didn’t drink water after meals. He used to drink
water while sitting. When he ate with others, he used to stop eating after
everybody had finished. He used to accept presents from everybody. In response
to someone who had brought him a present, he used to give much more.
Rasűlullah, together with twelve thousand
heroes, after departing from Medina on the tenth day of Ramadân, conquered
Mecca on Thursday, the twentieth of Ramadân, in the eighth year of the Hegira.
On the following day, Friday, when reciting the khutbah, he had a black turban
around his blessed head. After staying eighteen days in Mecca, he went to
Hunayn. He used to let the end of his turban hang down. He used to say, “The turban
distinguishes Muslims from disbelievers.” It was his habit to
wear various clothes. When ambassadors from foreign countries came, he used to
adorn himself. That is, he used to wear precious and beautiful clothes and
expose his beautiful face. First, he used to have a gold ring, but later he
wore a ring with an agete. He used his rign as a seal. “Muhammadun Rasűlullah”
was written on his ring. It is not permissible for men to wear gold rings in
all four madhhabs. His bed was made of leather filled with date tree shredding.
Sometimes he laid on his bed and sometimes on the leather laid on the ground,
on a mat and sometimes on dry soil. He laid on his right side putting his
blessed palm under his right cheek.
Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam)
didn’t accept zakât, and he didn’t eat such things as raw onions or garlic, and
he didn’t recite poems.
Rasűl-i akram (sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa
sallam) was born in Mecca, in the hegira year 571, on the twelfth of the month
of
Rabî’ul-awwal, on a Monday night, which
coincides with the twentieth of April, towards morning. Every year, Muslims all
over the world celebrate this night as the Mawlid Kandil. Everywhere,
Rasűlullah is remembered by reciting Mawlid Qasidas [Eulogy of Mawlid]. The
Sultân of Erbil, Abű Sa’îd Muzaffar-ud-dîn Kukburî bin Zaynaddîn Ali, used to
organize festivals on mawlid nights and used to give gifts and presents. The
beautiful character, benevolence and good deeds of the sultân is noted in
detail in a history book by Ibni Khillîgân, on the 234th page of Hujjatullâhi
’alal’âlamîn and in a pamphlet entitled Mawlid-î sharîf by
Sayyed ’Abdulhakîm-i Arwâsî. ‘Mawlîd’ means ‘the time of birth.’
‘Rabî’ul-awwal’ means ‘the Spring.’ Our Prophet, after he had become the
Prophet, used to lay very much stress on this night every year. The ummat of
each prophet had made the birthday of their prophet a feast day. And this day
is the Muslims’ feast day. It is a day of pleasure and happiness. When Hadrat
Âdam was between soul and body, he (Muhammad) was the Prophet. Hadrat Âdam and
everything were created for his honour. His blessed name is written in Islâmic
letters on the Arsh, on skies and heavens. His name Muhammad was given to him by his
grandfather, Abdulmuttalib. He had dreamt that (Muhammad’s) name would be
spread over the world and that everybody would praise and laud him. ‘Muhammad’
means ‘he who is praised much.’ Hadrat Jabrâil’s first coming and informing him
of his prophethood, his leaving the city of Mecca for a Hegira, his setting
foot in the village of Kubâ of Medîna-i-munawwara, his leaving Madina for the
conquest of Mecca, and his death all took place on Mondays. When he was born,
it was discovered that his umbilical cord had been cut and that he had been
circumcised. When he honoured the earth with his presence, he raised his index
finger and prostrated. Angels used to cradle him. He began talking while yet in
the cradle. It is said in the annotation Zerkânî of Mawâhib, “When they got married, Hadrat
Abdullah was eighteen and Hadrat Âmina was fourteen years old. Hadrat Âmina
passed away when she was twenty. First he was suckled by his holy mother for
nine days, then by Suweyba, a jariya of Abu Lahab, for a few days. Then,
Halîma-i Sa’diyya suckled him for two years. He stayed in the village of Banî
Sa’d bin Bakr for two years; then, when he was four years old, he was brought
to the city of Mecca. When he began to walk, he used to watch children play; he
wouldn’t join the playing. When he was six years old, his mother Âmina passed
away, and when he was eight, his
grandfather Abdul-muttalib passed away.
When he was twenty-five years old, he married Hadrat Hadîjah ‘radiy-Allâhu
anhâ’. When he was forty years old, in the month of Ramadân on a Monday, as he
was in a cave on a mountain that was called Jabal-i-hirâ and Jabal-i-nűr and
which was an hour’s walk north of the city, the angel appeared to him and he
was informed that he was the Prophet for all human beings and genies. First,
Hadrat Jabrâil came. Then, for three years Hadrat Isrâfil kept coming to teach
him. Yet, Isrâfil didn’t bring the Qur’ân
al-kerîm. Then, Hadrat Jabrâil began to come and conveyed
all of the Qur’ân al-kerîm
in twenty years. Jabrâil ‘alaihis-salâm’ came to him twenty-four thousand
times. [However, he had descended to Hadrat Âdam twelve times, to Hadrat Nűh
(Noah) fifty times, to Hadrat Ibrâhim forty times, to Hadrat Műsâ (Moses) four
hundred times, and to Hadrat Îsâ ten times.] He didn’t manifest his prophethood
for three years, and then, with the command of Allahu ta’âlâ, he declared it.
When he was fifty-two years old, on the
twenty-seventh night of the month of Rajab, in Mecca, Hadrat Jabrâil descended
and took him from Masjid-i-Harâm to Masjid-i-Aqsa in Jerusalem and thence to
heavens. In this Mi’râj, he saw Allahu ta’âlâ. On this night, the five times of
namâz (ritual prayers) during the day became fard. Please read the last page on
the fifth chapter of the second part (of the Turkish version).
When he was fifty-three years old, he
migrated to Medina with a divine command. He left his house early in the
morning, on Thursday, the twenty-seventh of the month of Safar. He came to Abu
Bakr Siddîq’s house in the afternoon. After a short time, he and Abu Bakr left
the latter’s house together. They went to a cave on Mount Sawr, five and a half
kilometres south-east of Mecca. The way to this mount, which is
became the beginning of the Muslims’ Hijrî kamarî
calendar. That first day, according to historians, was in
the year
One solar year contains 365.342 days. And
one lunar year contains 354.367 days, that is, 354 days plus eight hours plus
48.5 minutes.
He went to war twenty-seven times, nine
times of which he attacked as a soldier, and the other times he occupied the
rank of commander-in-chief. He used two types of flags in his holy wars. His
Râya was black. His Liwâ, which was smaller, was white. We have already
explained in the twenty-ninth chapter of the first part (of the Turkish
version) that the banner of the Ottoman State was designed by Timurtaţ Paţa.
In the city of Medina, he passed away
before noon on Monday, Rabî’ul-awwal 12th, 11 [632 A.D.], when he was 62 or 61,
according to the calculations done by using the lunar calendar or the solar
calendar, respectively. Without taking his holy shirt off, he was washed three
times, was wrapped with a new white shrould folded three times, and was buried
where his blessed soul was taken.
Sarwar-î âlam’s (Muhammad) blessed eyes
used to sleep, but his blessed heart would not sleep. He used to go to bed
hungry, but he would feel satiated when he got up. He never yawned. His blessed
body was luminous, and he never cast a shadow on the ground. Flies didn’t
alight on his clothes, nor would mosquitos or other insects suck his blessed
blood. When he was made Rasűlullah (Allah’s Messenger) by Allahu ta’âlâ, satans
could not ascend to the sky and could not get news any longer, nor could
soothsayers make predictions.
If a person dreams of Rahmatan-lil-âlamîn
‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam’, this person certainly has seen him, for the
Devil cannot disguise himself as him.
Sarwar-i âlam ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa
sallam’ is now alive in a life we do not understand. His blessed body never
rots. An angel stays in his tomb and informs him of the prayers which his Ummat
(Muslims) say for him. Between his pulpit and his blessed
tomb is a place called Rawda-i-mutahhara. This
place is one of the gardens of Paradise.
It is one of the greatest and most
valuable of worships to visit his blessed shrine. He said, “My shafâ’at is
certain for him who visits my shrine.”
Sarwar-i âlam ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa
sallam’ had three blessed sons and four blessed daughters, eleven blessed
wives, twelve uncles and six paternal aunts.
[In order to deceive youngsters, immoral
and indecent people, the enemies of religion say that the Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu
alaihi wa sallam’ was fond of women and girls, and they insolently slander him
by saying and writing very loathsome things which become their abominable
souls, but of which we would be ashamed to write in this book of ours.
Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam’ first got married when he was
twenty-five years old; he married Hadrat Khadîja. She was forty years old and a
widow. But she had much property, beauty, wisdom, knowledge, honour, nobility,
chastity and decency. They lived together for twenty-five years, and she passed
away three years before the Hegira in the month of Ramadân in Mecca. When she
was alive, Rasűlullah (sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam) never married another.
Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam’,
secondly, married Hadrat Âisha ‘radiy-Allâhu anha’, Hadrat Abű Bakr’s daughter,
when he was fifty-five years old. He took her under his nikâh [religious
betrothal in Islâm] one year after Hadrat Hadîja’s death, with the command of
Allahu ta’âlâ, and lived with her for eight years, until he died.
He married all the others after marrying
Hadrat Âisha ‘radiy-Allâhu anhunna’ and did so either for religious or
political reasons or out of mercy or as a blessing. All these women were
widows. Most of them were old. For example, when the Meccan disbelievers’
persecution and harm to the Muslims had become unbearable, a group of the
Prophet’s companions migrated to Ethiopia. Najashî (Negus), the Ethiopian
emperor, was a Christian. He asked the Muslims several questions, and, admiring
the answers he received, he converted to Islâm. He did the Muslims many
favours. Ubaydullah bin Jahsh, who had a weak belief, in order to escape
poverty, submitted to the priests and became a renegade by changing his faith
for the world – may Allah protect us. This accursed person, who was
Rasűlullah’s aunt’s son, incited and forced his wife, Umm-i Habîba, to dissent
from the religion and become rich. Yet, when the woman said that
she would rather die than dissent from
Hadrat Muhammad’s ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam’ religion, he divorced her. He
waited for her to die out of misery. But he himself died after a short while.
Umm-i Habîba was the daughter of Abű Sufyân, who was the commander-in-chief of
the Quraysh disbelievers in Mecca. Meanwhile, Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa
sallam’ was busy with a very difficult armed struggle against the Quraysh
armies, and Abű Sufyân was fighting with his utmost power in order to
annihilate Islâm. Rasűlullah heard of Umm-i Habîba’s strength of faith and the
dismal happenings which she had undergone. He wrote a letter to Najâshî,
saying, “I will marry Umm-i Habîba, who is there; perform my nikâh! Then send
her here!” Najâshî had already converted to Islâm. He respected the letter very
much and gave a feast inviting many Muslims from that area to his palace. The
nikâh was performed in the seventh year of the Hegira, and he gave many
presents and gifts. In this way, Umm-i Habîba attained the reward of her îmân
and became rich and comfortable there. Owing to her, the Muslims of that area
became comfortable, too. Since women will be with their husbands in Paradise,
she was given the good news of the highest grade of Paradise. All the pleasures
and blessings of this world are almost nothing when compared to this good news.
This nikâh was one of the reasons contributing to Abű Sufyân’s ‘radiy-Allâhu
ta’âlâ anh’ being honoured with becoming a Muslim afterwards. As it is seen
here, this nikâh not only shows how wrong and worthless the disbelievers’
slanders are, but also indicates the degree of wisdom, intelligence, genius,
blessing, and mercy in the Messenger of Allah.
Another example is that of Hadrat Hafsa;
Hadrat ’Umar’s daughter was widowed. In the third year of the Hegira, when
Hadrat ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ anh’ said to Hadrat Abű Bakr and Hadrat
’Uthmân ‘radiy-Allâhu anhumâ’, “Would you marry my daughter?” each of them
said, “I’ll think about it.” One day when all three of them and others were
present, Rasűlullah asked, “O ’Umar! I see you are sad. What’s the reason?” As
it is easy to see the colour of ink in a bottle, so Rasűlullah used to
understand everybody’s thought at first glance. He sometimes used to question
the person when he deemed it necessary. Since it is fard for us to tell the
truth to him and even to others, Hadrat ’Umar answered, “O Rasűlallah
‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam’! I offered my daughter to Abű Bakr and to
’Uthman ‘radiy-Allâhu anhum’. They wouldn’t marry her.” Rasűlullah, because he
never wanted
one of his most beloved companion to be
hurt, immediately said in order to please him, “O ’Umar! Would you like it if I gave your daughter to a
person better than Abű Bakr and ’Uthmân ‘radiy-Allâhu anhum’?” ’Umar was
astonished. For he knew there was no person higher and better than hadrat Abű
Bakr and ’Uthmân. He said, “Yes, O Rasűlallah.” Rasűllullah said, “O ’Umar, give your
daughter to me!” Thus Hadrat Hafsa became the mother of Abű
Bakr, ’Uthmân ‘radiy-Allâhu anhum’ and of all Muslims; and they became her
servants, and Hadrat Abű Bakr, Hadrat ’Umar and Hadrat ’Uthmân became closer to
one another.
For a third example, let us explain
briefly that in the fifth or sixth year of the Hegira, Juwayriyya, who was
amongst the hundreds of slaves captured from the tribe of Banî Mustalaq, was
the daughter of Hâris, the chief of the tribe. When Rasűlullah bought,
emancipated and married her, all his companions said, “We would be ashamed to
use as jariyahs and servants the relatives of Rasűlullah’s wife, our mother.”
They all emancipated their slaves. This nikâh caused hundreds of captives to be
emancipated. Hadrat Juwayriyya often mentioned this fact boastfully. Hadrat
Âisha used to say, “I haven’t seen a woman more auspicious than Juwayriyya.”
The fourth example is that of
Zaynab-bint-Huzeyma (radî-Allâhu anhâ).
Our booklet is too small to allow us to
write down the other examples. The first three examples will certainly suffice
for him who has wisdom, quick understanding and the capacity to realize the
truth. We will state also the fact that though he was the strongest of men in
every respect, he lived only with his nine wives. And that lasted a few years.
Besides, in those times he was always busy with wars; the days when he stayed
home were very few. If it had been as priests write about it or as the
dishonest, who suppose he was like themselves, describe it, in his youth he
could have had as many women as he wanted by marrying young girls and divorcing
them after a short while. As a matter of fact, his grandson, Hadrat Hasan,
married almost a hundred pretty young girls by marrying and divorcing them. One
day when his father, Imâm-i Alî, said in a khutba of his, “O Muslims! Don’t
give your daughters to my son Hasan! He divorces, drops girls soon.” The
Muslims said, “We will gladly sacrifice our daughters to him. It will be enough
for them to be honoured by his nikâh (marriage in a manner prescribed by
Islam). We will give our daughters to him.” In Badr, in Uhud, in Handak and in
Khaybar,
by attacking a superior enemy with one
signal from Rasűlullah, those lions sacrificed their lives for him. Wouldn’t
they have given their daughters to him? Yet, he didn’t want them. On the Night
of Mi’râj (his ascent to heaven), when he entered Paradise, he never turned to
look at the houris of Paradise. Voltaire, one of the enemies of Islâm,
dramatized Rasűlullah’s marrying Hadrat Zaynab and calumniated them with vulgar
and base slander. For this reason, he received a letter of congratulation from
the Pope, who was his enemy. This fact is written in Kaműs-ul-a’lâm,
under the entity Zaynab. In a translation of Mawâhib-i
Ladunniyya, on page 459, it is written, “Rasűlullah
‘sallallahu alaihi wa sallam’ married his aunt’s daughter Zaynab to his adopted
son Zayd. After a long time, Zayd said that he wanted to divorce his wife. When
he was asked ‘Why?’ he said, ‘I have not seen a
bad thing in her, and I have always appreciated the useful things from her. But,
she boasts about the honour of her lineage and always reminds me of it.’ Though
Rasűlullah said to Zayd, ‘Do not divorce her for this reason.’ Allahu ta’âlâ
stopped him from preventing this divorce. Allahu ta’âlâ married Zaynab to his
Messenger and ordered him to ask her for marriage.” Dawűd (alayhissalâm) had
one hundred wives and three hundred jâriyas. Sulaymân (alayhissalâm) had three
hundred wives and seven hundred jâriyas. Voltaire does not even mention the
names of these great prophets, but attacks Rasűlullah for taking a wife that he
was ordered to by Allahu ta’âlâ.
One of the important reasons why Rasűlullah married many wives was to communicate the Sharî’at. Before the âyat of Hijâb was revealed, that is, before women were commanded to veil themselves, women also used to come to Rasűlullah to ask and learn what they did not know. When Rasűlullah (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) went to the house of one of them, they used to come and sit, and listen and obtain information. But, after the âyat of Hîjâb, it was prohibited for nâ-mahram women and men to sit together and talk, and Rasűlullah did not allow nâ-mahram women to come and ask questions afterwards. He ordered them to ask and to learn from his blessed wife Hadrat Âisha. There were so many women and so many questions that Hadrat Âisha was unable to find time to answer all of them. In order to make this important task easy, and to reduce the weight on Hadrat Âisha, Rasűlullah married as many wives as necessary. He communicated to Muslim women hundreds of delicate pieces of information concerning women through his blessed wives. If he
had had one wife, it would have been
difficult, and even impossible, for all the women to learn from her.]
Rasűlullah was ummî, that is, he hadn’t
read books; he was not schooled in writing nor had he received lessons from
anyone. Born and raised in Mecca, brought up among certain people, and despite
having never travelled, he conveyed information about facts and events in the Tawrât (Hadrat
Műsâ’s holy book), in the Injîl, and in the books written
during the Grecian and Roman centuries. In order to communicate the Sharî’at,
he sent letters to Muslims. In the sixth year of the Hegira, he sent letters to
Byzantine, Iranian, and Abyssinian rulers and to other Arabic emperors. More
than sixty foreign ambassadors came to his service.
It is wâjib for everybody who has heard of
Rasűlullah’s ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa saslam’ prophethood to believe in him, the Qur’ân, which
he brought, and Islâm. He who, after having heard, dies without having îmân
will go into Hell and will be eternally tormented there.
Fakhr-i âlam’s ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa
sallam’ names and characteristics were written in the Tawrât and in the Injîl.
Jews and Christians had been awaiting his honouring the world with his
presence. But, because he came not from their own race, but from the Arabs,
they became jealeous and denied him. However, many of their learned and wise
ones were reasonable enough to believe, and they did believe. It will not
decrease his vaule and honour not to believe in his Prophethood nor not to
appreciate his greatness and superiority. Allahu ta’âlâ says in Surat
al-Inshirâh: We exalted (raised high) for you your
reputation (name, esteem)” [your name is said together with
My name everywhere]. While moving one degree of longitude towards the west, the
times of prayer begin four minutes later. Therefore, Muslims all over the world
call the Azân every minute of the day, and his blessed name is mentioned with
esteem and love everywhere, all the time.
Unless a person follows Rasűlullah
‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam’ in everything he does, he will not be a Muslim.
Unless he loves him more than his own life, his îmân will not be complete.
It is stated in the chapter about namâz in
Ibni Âbidîn that
it is farz to say the (certain prayer) Salawât (pronounced as a benediction
over our Prophet’s soul) once in one’s lifetime. It is wâjib to say it each
time one says, hears, reads or writes (his blessed name) for the first time,
and it is mustahâb to pronounce this blessed benediction whenever the blessed
name (of the
He is the Prophet of all people and
genies. It is wâjib for every nation living in every century to follow him.
Every Muslim should help his religion, adapt himself to his habits, mention his
blessed name very often, say salât and salâm for him respectfully and with love
whenever he mentions or hears his blessed name. A Muslim should want with love
to see his blessed beauty, and love and respect the Qur’ân and the Sharî’at, which he
brought. The book Mir’ât-i Kâinât says, “Ignorant and lazy
people write initials [such as (SAW)] instead of ‘sallallâhu alaihi wa sallam.’
This is not advisable. We should carefully avoid this.”
Whoever on Earth can attain by force his goals?
Whatever the divine decree is, it will certainly take place.