INTRODUCTION 

 

Bismillāhir Rahmānir Rahīm, As-salāmu ʿAlaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh. Peace be upon you brothers and sisters. 

 

Welcome back to the Muslim Converts Channel! Our current section is about the Prophet Muhammad (s). In each lesson that we cover in this section, we want to deal with a particular aspect of the Messenger of Allah (s). In this lesson, we want to look at the various kinds of relationships that the Messenger of Allah (swt) had.  

 

First we will begin with his relationship with God. Second, we will look into his relationship with the Qur’an, then his family, companions and finally his Islamic community.  

 

So let’s begin! 

 

 BODY OF TEXT 

 

Indeed, those who pledge allegiance to you, [O Muhammad] - they are actually pledging allegiance to Allah. The hand of Allah is over their hands. So he who breaks his word only breaks it to the detriment of himself. And he who fulfills that which he has promised Allah - He will give him a great reward. (Chapter 45, verse 10 of the Holy Qur’an) 

 

The Prophet (s) and Allah 

 

The Prophet Muhammad’s (s) relationship with Allah was founded on absolute trust, obedience, sincerity and love to Him. The relationship was that of total servitude. In short, the best word we can find for this is Islam, which means to submit and serve God alone.  

 

Every action the Prophet took, or every word that he spoke, was founded on his love and dedication of Allah. The Prophet actually slept very little. He spent his nights worshipping Allah in his night prayers.  

 

Perhaps a good example from his life that shows his dedication to Allah is the conquest of Mecca. When the Prophet (s) conquered Mecca, he could have, like other leaders, come in arrogantly and boasted about his virtues. But no, instead, he entered the city with his head humbly bowed down not looking at anyone. This is because the Prophet knew that Allah does not like arrogant and boastful people. He like those who are humble and meek at heart.  

 

A telling part of one of his spiritual moral character was when he asked Muslims whether or not he had fulfilled his duty to Allah after his victory over the Meccan Arabs. His companions replied “yes.” He went ahead and asked the question two more times, and they replied “yes” to both. This event shows that the Prophet (s) was not concerned with worldly fame, or power, or reputation. All he was concerned with was his standing and reputation before Allah.  

 

 The Prophet and the Holy Qur’an 

 

Islam is a way of life. This means that our religious beliefs and practices cannot remain abstract. They must be materialized. The Qur’an was sent by God as a manual on how to lead the proper religious life. However, the Qur’an, as wonderful as it was, was still a book and was made up of words only. Perhaps the Prophet’s greatest relationship with the Qur’an, aside from having been the vessel for its revelation, was that he was the Qur’an in action. 

 

We have plenty of companions at the time of the Prophet (s) who described him as the “walking and talking Qur’an.” This meant that he was a total embodiment of the Qur’an’s message. This is why it is very important to study the Sunnah of the Prophet for it is one of the main ways of truly understanding the Qur’an. 

 

The Prophet and his Progeny 

 

No man lives forever. But the message of Islam had to continue. Furthermore, Islam had to have continuing role models, at least during the time of the first few generations of Muslims for those times were the formative years of Islam. Allah chose the Prophet’s (s) progeny or Ahl al-Bayt (as) as his religious successors in guiding humankind to salvation in there Hereafter. 

 

The Prophet (s), knowing the role they were to play, spent his life training them so that they would be prepared when he would have to depart this world. For example, the Prophet (s) took Imām Ali (as) under his care when he was just a baby and trained him so that he would take the mantle of Imāmah after him. The Prophet (s) did so similarly with Fātima (as) as well as Imam al-Hasan (as) and Imam al-Husain (as).   

 

In short, the Ahl al-Bayt (as) were primed and prepped for inheriting the knowledge and the character of the Prophet (s). Obviously this was not the only means through which they gained knowledge as Allah also reveled knowledge to them through inspiration. But nevertheless, direct learning from the Prophet (s) still played a major role in the training of the early members of the Ahl al-Bayt (as).  

 

The Prophet and the Muslim Ummah 

 

The purpose of the Prophet being sent to humankind was to save their souls and spirits. He was sent to heal people’s hearts from various spiritual diseases, all of which stemmed from separation from God. In the Middle East, and eventually to the world, the Prophet Muhammad (s) preached monotheism. 

 

The Prophet (s) thus taught them, prayed for them and showed them compassion. No matter who they were, the Prophet always helped widows, orphans and the poor. By showing compassion, the Messenger of Allah (s) not only expressed to them the love that was in his heart, but by doing so he also opened their hearts to him and Allah. This is quite the good point to remember. If we are to guide people to Islam, the best and only way is through compassion and love, not hatred and force. This was the example of the Prophet and the example which we as Muslims should follow.  

 

The intention of creating a Ummah or Islamic community was to break down tribal, geographic and racial barriers. These identities that people have, whether they are racial or tribal, are all mental creations and beget hatred of others. The worst part of these attitudes is that they lead to alienation from God. By breaking these illusions, the Prophet wanted to bring everyone together as equal creations before Allah where the only merit of superiority was piety and fear of Allah. 

 

The Prophet and his Companions 

 

The Prophet (s) had good and bad companions. Some were good in his lifetime and continued to be good afterwards, like Salman and Abu Dharr. Others, however, may have been good in his life time, but deviated after his death. The Prophet obviously knew what would happen, but did not want to take away their chance of guidance. If he disowned them, then maybe that would ruin their chances of repentance sometime towards the end of their lives. 

 

Until Next Time, Thank you for watching. As-salāmu ʿAlaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh