It is 12th rabi ul awal 1433 date of Islamic calendar. On 12th rabi ul awal 570, the Prophet Muhammad Mustafa peace be upon him entered in the world, and the most beautiful day for the Muslim ummah rose the sun with the most beautiful face of whole mankind. However, there is a contradiction on dates on which the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) came to the world in the dawn either of twelve or seventeenth Rabi ul Awal. Digressing contradictions, I would like to talk about the gracious and merciful personality of the prophet.

Prophet Muhammad Mustafa (PBUH&HF) was (is) the son of Hadrat Abdullah ibn Hadrat Abu Mutalib A.S. and Bibi Aamna A.S. To the bravery of his grandfather and father, you were destined to be the forefather and fathers of the most beautiful, gracious, merciful and greatest personality of the universe. On the day, I am the happiest person to celebrate once again.

The lineage of Prophet Muhammad can be traced back to Prophet Ishmael, the son of Abraham, through Adnan, a descendent twenty-one generations removed.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) was brought up in a village by a wet-nurse. It was then a culture to send children to the countryside, as it was healthier for them. He was brought up by Bibi Haleema. Prophet Muhammad stayed with his wet nurse until he was five or six years old and was then brought to Makka and handed over to his mother. Halima’s husband was Harith ibn Abdil ’Uzza. The couple’s children, ‘Abd Allah, Unaysa and Shayma, were the Prophet’s foster siblings. Later, when he was orphaned, he was taken care by his uncle Abu talib, who is the father of Imam Hyder Ali A.S.

He embarked on his career in trade by helping Abu Talib A.S., who was involved in trading cloth and grain. Prophet Muhammad continued this trade when his uncle became older. It is known that Prophet Muhammad traveled to various places for purposes of trade, such as to the Hubasha trade fair when he was a teenager, to Yemen once or twice, to the Mushakkar and Daba fairs in eastern Arabia, and even to Abyssinia. As a result of these journeys, Prophet Muhammad not only learned about the necessities of commercial life, but also became acquainted with the people living in certain regions of Arabia, and learned about their languages, dialects, religions, and political and social conditions.

For his personality traits of honesty and truthfulness, he was widely known as Ameen and Sideeq (Trustworthy and Truthful respectively). He met a woman while dealing the business activities, named Bibi Khadeeja A.S. Because of her excellent manners and discipline, she was also called Bibi Tahira A.S. By the most respected personality of the great Prophet, she sent a message if he agreed to marry her. There is a contradiction if she was a widow or not, but I refuse to accept that she was a widow. She was also known as the princess of the Makkah (mecca).

According to many narrations, at the age of 40 the Hadrat Gabriel A.S. (the one of four angels) came down to Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon him in the cave, and revealed him that he was the last Prophet of the religion Islam. The revelation ayats are:

Arabic Text: بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Translation: In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

Arabic Text: اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ
Translation: Read: In the name of the Lord Who created. Quran: 96:1

Arabic Text: خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ
Translation: Created man from a clot of blood. Quran: 96:2

Arabic Text: اقْرَأْ وَرَبُّكَ الْأَكْرَمُ
Translation: Read: And your Lord is the Most generous, Quran: 96:3

Arabic Text: الَّذِي عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ
Translation: Who taught man the use of the pen, Quran: 96:4

Arabic Text: عَلَّمَ الْإِنسَانَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ
Translation: and taught man that which he did not know. Quran: 96:5

These ayats are also known as the first revealed ayahs of the Holy Quran, which is the books of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and his family.

Afterwards, the great Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) was in a state of confusion if it was a dream or not, and then the first person to know about the revelation was his first wife, bibi Khadija A.S. She, then, went to the historian or hakeem of the time, who held and read the history books. He, narrating by prophecies, let her know that her Husband was destined to be a Prophet, the Last Prophet of Religion Islam.From the wife he had three children, one of them was Bibi Fatima A.S., the wife of Imam Hyder Ali A.S., and the mother of Imam Hassan A.S. and Imam Hussain A.S.

He remained silent for a few time, but after not much time he started preaching the straight forward way to the right guidance, to the right life and to the right path. After facing violence from the Makkah tribes, he resorted to patience and lived in cave nearby a village. It was the time when hijri calender existed, and the Ukhawat or Brotherhood of Madina (then Yathrib/Yasrib) inspired following generations.

Prophet Muhammad fought many wars in his life for the sake of humanity, the principles and regulations. He strove hard to bring peace to his region, and he was successful in retaining peaceful accord, called Meesaq e Madina, which was a written accord. The wars were fought for preserving independence at the time. Without wars, no one survived for long – either were conquered or defeated by aggression of war.

The Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon him and his family had 11 wives, the one Bibi Khadija A.S. is known as the four perfect women who had ever lived. The other three are Bibi Aasiya, the wife of Firaun, Bibi Maryam, the mother of Prophet Isa(a.s.), and Bibi Fatima Zahra(s.a.), the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and his family. According to Shit’te narrations, Prophet had only one daughter, named Bibi Fatima A.S.

In 632, at the end of the tenth year after the migration to Medina, Muhammad carried through his first truly Islamic pilgrimage, thereby teaching his followers the rites of the annual Great Pilgrimage (Hajj). After completing the pilgrimage, Muhammad delivered a famous speech known as The Farewell Sermon, at Mount Arafat east of Mecca. In this sermon, Muhammad advised his followers not to follow certain pre-Islamic customs. He declared that an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. He abolished all old blood feuds and disputes based on the former tribal system and asked for all old pledges to be returned as implications of the creation of the new Islamic community.

In the end, the rumors about the great personality are only asserted by the chickpeas. Those chickpeas possess two different personalities, first one is what he shows, the other one is in heart. The lack of original text about his life is the reason of all rumor phenomena in the world. No one has, even generally, right to talk against any one abusively, and this is the great Prophet (peace be upon him and his family).

Eid Milad un Nabi Mubarak, everyone!

 

The sensuous eye is a horse,
and the light of God is the rider:
without the rider the horse is useless.
The light of God rides the sensuous eye,
and then the soul yearns for God.
How can a riderless horse
recognize the signs of the road?
God’s light enhances the senses:
this is the meaning of ‘Light Upon Light’

Rumi in his Masnavi 2.1290-1293.

The Divine light has been mentioned in detail in the verse of Light (24:35):

 

“Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth; His light is as a niche in which is a lamp, and the lamp is in a glass, the glass is as though it were a glittering star; it is lit from the blessed tree, an Olive neither of the east nor of the west, the oil of which would well-nigh give light though no fire touched it, – light upon light – Allah guides to His light whom He pleases; and Allah strikes out parables for men; and Allah all things doth know.”

(Holy Quran 24:35)

 

Peace!!!

The last few decades saw Pakistani women relishing Sunni/shia gossip much more than the usual saas/bahu tripe. This holy tête-à-tête is usually between a Baji (employer) and her Massi (maid). The massi is befooled into thinking that baji is guiding her to the straight path while baji is only venting out against all those people she [...]

The sun of 2011 was set by vanquishing the stagnant, miserable and dim lights of indolence. The new sun of 2012 rose with the rejuvenation of passion and struggle. What lead the initiation of events in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, marked a point in the sands off history, that whenever there is not enough light for people to see vividly they hope and struggle for the new sun to rise. Sand which trickles down from the narrow tight passages of trial and frustration lays down in the hourglass of nature, that is ready to repeat its course with the same outcome of serenity, attained after a lot of loss and repentance after its struggle.
It is wondrous that with the discreetness of outcomes of our actions which repeat themselves, we are unable to comprehend that what is necessary and what needs to be done. Many notable historians like Toynbee and Ibn e Khaldun have pointed out in history that when the characters of Nations and civilizations rot in the attic of vulgarism and disintegration of moralities takes place, there is a test for people and for civilizations. This predicament leads to a mass movement of people which decides their fate. This increases the pace of history itself and exaggerates its evolution. This movement of people is to undo the past condition and to rebuild the future on the sentiments of esteemed values which were buried beneath the sands of unconscious mind.
These actions, if, are unable to repair the damage of the past endeavors of people, are like sandstorms which disperse the civilizations to anonymity and annihilation. This is also incipient for new civilizations and they breathe fresh air for some time to again fall prey to the holocaust for inception of new life. This has happened with many of the civilizations of the past like Babylonian, Syrian, Hellenic civilizations.
With loss there is repentance, with repentance there comes faith, with faith there is taqwa, with taqwa there is responsibility, with responsibility there is opportunity, with opportunity there is struggle, with struggle there is satisfaction, and satisfaction leads to self righteousness and nafs e mutmainna. This is the way civilizations are built again on the sentiments of vigor and dignity. It’s when people decide to stand firm on ground, to do what is right and to demolish the whims and falsehoods of turmoil. It exalts hope in people and a spark to reignite the yoke of life.
It is uprightness and steadfastness that keeps the balance of universe. Without motion there could be no universe, no life and nothing like struggle would have existed in our lives. In reality, all these truths exist in our lives and these are integrated part of human mind and intellect which certainly cannot be overlooked or be forgotten. It just needs to be revived.

“Relieve yourself of the fear of others,
You are a power asleep; shake yourself awake”
(Allama Muhammad Iqbal)

In the Islamic world as well as other centers of the world social structure of our communities is at a decline, injustice is a norm, discrimination flourishes under capitalism, monarchy with a new hood of democracy is dominant, and people live astray lives in trying to find peace in the delusion of modern notions of society. The zeitgeist has stripped humans off of their religion and faith and has made the material world their supreme commander. Particularly in Pakistan people have become static in their lives, they have befallen in the hands of sloth and luxury. Action which was to endorse their existence, aims which were to keep them alive, and dignity which had to earn their rightful place in society is on the verge of extinction.
Although, we have managed to hold on to the mimesis of our civilization but procrastination, and inability to act, and a dignified character is missing from the souls of our people. Universe is a single truth, so as Allah and so as humans. It’s is the unity and constant change which ensures the existence of our life on the small grain of sand. We have today infinite number of reasons to make a divide among ourselves. It is the oneness of our religion which can unite the pearls in a single necklace of love.
But we are faced with venomous melancholia which forbids us to stand up for right and turn down evil by all our force, to adopt the path of righteousness and to put a halt on the wrong turns. We need to act, we need to volunteer, we need to work, and we need to actualize our selves. We need to revive our Islam, we need to wear our morals and ethics, we need to ponder over our own actions and we need to alter them for good, we need to inspire the lost dignity, we need to care for our brothers and sisters, we have to say no to our selfish desires, we have to work for others, we have to rejuvenate the spirit of selfless service for others, we have to adopt the character of our leader Muhammad (S.A.W), we have to do something or else the sands of time will wipe us out from the face of this world as they did to sixteen of the major civilizations of the past.

خدا تجھے کسی طوفا ن سے آشنا کر دے
کے تیر ے بحرکی موجوں میں اضطراب نھیں

On the question of aims by one of our teacher, blank faces of students were observed and they didn’t surely knew what their aim was and what is it that they are here for. The replies came out like this; I want to be an accomplished engineer; I want to be self dependant and would share the burden of my parents; I would go abroad for study and would come back to Pakistan to serve it; etc. There is a reason that we are Muslims and we need to work for that reason. Unfortunately we have taken our deen for granted and we are not willing to learn what it teaches us and what injunctions imply on us as the responsible young Muslims. A study has revealed that majority of the Muslims are 25 or under, a resource that is passing its lives with no aim what so ever. We were sent down to form the caliphate under Allah’s subjected rule. We were to be His representatives. But we are living our lives in a delusion with no meaning and purpose.
The reason of all this delusion and procrastination is that we are reluctant in acquiring knowledge and are hesitant about our fundamental beliefs and faiths. This ideological weakness and lack of true understanding of Islam has lead to this situation. It is observed that those people who are staunch believers of any idea transpire movement and revolt in people against the stagnated sands. We should relive our past and be confident about our future, we should always remember that we have a resource of true wisdom and knowledge with us and it can contribute to eradicate all the grave misconceptions faced by humanity today. We have to understand that our salvation lies in helping others not by ridiculing them, it lies in understanding others not by leaving them alone in the delusions of the society, our success lies in unity and not in discord. We have to revive the brotherhood, a fraternity which no religion on this earth provides with.
We should act, persevere and incept new horizons for our future while learning from the mistakes of our past. We should unleash the passion which is concealed in our hearts and tame this spirit for the fulfillment of Allah’s commandments only then we will be able to succeed in this world and in the world hereafter. Otherwise there will be chaos and discontent in our lives. Otherwise, hourglass of time will break free our sands and will disperse us in the preposterous winds of delusion.

خدا ےَلم یزل کا دست قدرت تو ، زباں تو ہے
یقیں پیدا کر اے غا فل کہ مغلوب گماں تو ہے