ISLAM

Holy Prophet

Mercy to mankind:

For putting to pen some tributes about the dear Prophet of Islam Muhammad Ibn Abdulla (PBUH)) is a task of ardor. I stand bewildered, words crowd my mind and I am simply lost to which of his beautiful qualities I should commence with, nor can I fathom which of the Prophet’s immortal deeds I should write about.

Should I write about the orphan who was reared by Allah, the illiterate who was tutored by Allah, and who filled the world with mercy for the weak and designed the best way for the learned.

Should it cover the justice which covered the earth under his Prophethood until his enemies and equally loyal followers equally benefited from it? Or should it be the piety which the beloved Prophet emitted, which rose to the heights that have never been achieved before in human history, the piety which is now adopted as the norm and will remain with his beautiful name until eternity.

Who can ever forget the stand the Prophet adopted against his adversaries when they offered wealth and fame inducing him to abandon the Call of Allah?

They sent to him the most of dear of persons his uncle Abu Talib to convince him, and the beloved Prophet replied to Abu Talib with the words that thundered the Arabian desert and spread like lightning.

“By Allah! Even if they placed the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left hand in order that I may give up my cause, I shall never ever give it up till I achieve it or die for it” When Allah fulfilled his promise to Muhammad (pbuh) and His soldiers gave him victory and offers of the sandy plains of Makkah to be turned into gold the Prophet merely said “No by Allah I shall starve one day and eat the next. If my hunger is satisfied I shall give praise and thanks to Allah, and if I am hungry, I shall be patient and forbearing”.

It had to be as Allah has declared that the Prophet is the best of all creation and there was never anyone ever to match him and there will never ever be in the future. Allah also affirmed that He would have never ever created the earth and all constellations for that matter entire creation if not for the Prophet.

His mission to resuscitate humanity when mental, moral and spiritual death had completely overtaken mankind. This was his greatest achievement.

Man is inclined both to be lazy and need arousing to action by the call to arise or else to be impatient when thus aroused, and to become more depressed or even despairing.

In our confused minds Allah appears to be going more slowly than our impatience prefers. When our beloved Prophet was convinced that he was the chosen Messenger of Allah, and was to preach Allah’s unity as Angel Jibreel (Gabriel) had made him known then what happened next?

When the Prophet preached his faith the opposition that he faced in his hometown Makkah was innumerable.

Once when the Prophet was prostrating and worshipping Allah within the holy precincts of the, Kaaba his sworn enemy Abu Jahl placed his leg on the Prophet’s neck and pressed his nose to the ground followed by them jeers of idolaters who had surrounded this scene.

Another instance one of the enemies of the Prophet put a towel round the neck and twisted it, that made the Prophet comment to his beloved wife Aisha that hurt him a lot.

Once again while the Prophet was in deep prayer prostrating and worshipping Allah in the area of the Kaaba his bitter enemies poured out entrails and the fetus of the camel together with excreta onto his shoulders and head.

It was left to the Prophet’s beloved daughter Fathima to go up to the Prophet and clean up her father and guide him away amidst the insults and nasty shouts that prevailed.

The Prophet participated in several battles as the Commander in Chief and did not stay back as Heads of State do in modern times. He used to wear the armour in the blazing heat of Arabia and go out to meet the enemies with his Companions when he was confronted in the battlefield.

He was struck by an enemy in the battlefield of Uhad and fell unconscious and also lost two teeth in the process. In the city of Taif when he ventured to preach his mission there the inhabitants threw barrages of stones at the Prophet and he was bleeding profusely so much so that that the holy blood solidified under his sandals.

All this sufferings he bore so that mankind could be told the Real Truth and be given the eternal gift of eternal bliss and happiness of Heaven in the Hereafter and saved from the burning embers of Hell.

The Prophet underwent all the hardships for the sake of mankind, and never for his personal glory or fame. Allah describes the Holy Prophet as “Thou art of sublime morals” and morals were the armour in his noble mission. His character was abundant with super noble qualities, kindness was his forte, recognition and fulfillment of duties, complete devotion to and trust in God, selflessness, truthfulness, forbearance, modesty, courage, loyalty, thoughtfulness, forgiveness, mercy, compassion, concern for the welfare of the poor and needy, sympathy for the suffering were some of his noble qualities, so numerous to mention it could fill volumes.

As the Holy Quran revealed to the Prophet by Allah attaches the highest importance to justice, the Holy Prophet laid great emphasis on it as in the case when a woman belonging to the tribe of Makzun was found guilty of theft and her relations requested Usama bin Zaid a close companion of the Prophet to intervene on her behalf to release her. The Prophet addressed Usama “Usama do you mean to come to me and intercede against the laws of God”?

Then the Prophet convened a meeting of his Companions and addressed them as follows. “Nations which have preceded you have been wiped out of the face of the earth for the one reason only, that they have imposed punishment on the poor and relaxed the laws in favour of the rich. I swear by God that if my daughter Fathima were to be found guilty of theft, then I would have her hands cut off as per the law”.

We are no doubt living in the last stages of the earth’s existence as the following predictions of the Holy Prophet proclaimed over 1400 years ago indicate. It is recorded that Abdullah bin Abbas and Abu Hurairah both close companions of the Prophet narrated that the Prophet gave the following signposts of the approach of the Final Hour when the world will be destroyed and the Day of Judgment for mankind will begin. The Major signs given by the Prophet are still to come but here are some of the minor signs which we can witness today.

These include pursing carnal desires, transgressors become leaders,it will be not impossible to distinguish between truth and false, rain will do no good and it will fall out of season, usury will be rampant as shown by money lending organizations like banks, finance institutions are the order of the day, offspring will disobey their parents, homosexuality and lesbianism become order of the day, murder will be prevalent ,human blood will have no value and religion will not have helpers, man will obey his wife and ignore his parents and there will appear people from the west who will dominate the weak among the people.

Army-ant in technology

Ant-robots are simple physical, virtual creatures:

Then, when they reached the Valley of the Ants, an ant said: “Ants! Enter your dwellings, so that Sulayman and his troops do not crush you unwittingly.” (Qur’an, 27:18)

‘Army-ant’ robots

Valley of the ants

The “Valley of the Ants” refers to a special place and special ants. In addition, the fact that Prophet Sulayman (as) could hear the ants talking among themselves may contain striking references to future developments in computer technology. The present-day term “Silicon Valley” refers to the centre of the world of technology. It is most significant that a “valley of the ants” appears in the account of Prophet Sulayman’s (as) life. Allah may be drawing our attention to the advanced technology of the future.

Furthermore, ants and other insect species are widely used in advanced technology as models in robot projects and are intended to serve in a wide range of areas, from the defence industry to technology. The verse may also be referring to these developments.

Latest Developments in Miniature Technology: Army-Ant Robots

The best known project using ants as a model are the “Army-Ant Robot” projects being carried out independently in several countries. One study being carried out by the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Virginia State University seeks to develop small, inexpensive, and simple physically identical robots that can be used as a robot army.

Project officials explain these robots’ functionality in the following terms: “The way they behave as a group, in a coordinated manner, perform a series of physical actions, and take joint decisions.” These robot armies’ mechanical and electrical designs have been based on the behaviour of an ant community. They are called the “army-ant” robots because of their similarities to their insect counterparts.

The “army-ant” robot system was originally designed as a “material-carrying system.” According to this scenario, several small robots would be charged with jointly lifting and carrying objects. It was later decided that they could be used for other tasks. One report describes other tasks to which they might be assigned in the future:

Nuclear and hazardous waste cleanup with robotic “swarms”’ mining (including material removal and search-and-rescue), mine sweeping (both land and water), surveillance and sentry, planetary surface exploration and excavation.

In a report by Israel A Wagner, an expert on ant robot technology, the ant robot projects were described in these terms:

Ant-robots are simple physical or virtual creatures designed to cooperate in order to achieve a common goal. They are assumed to have very limited resources of energy, sensing and computing, and to communicate via traces left in the workspace or on the ground, like many insects naturally do…

The distribution of work among multiple a(ge)nts can be made by either a central controller who sends orders to the agents, or by an a-priori agreement on a certain partitioning that, if obeyed by the agents, eventually leads to a completion of the given mission.

A third way, used throughout the current work, is to design the behaviour of individuals such that cooperation will naturally emerge in the course of their work, without making a-priori decisions on the structure of the cooperation. The specific application that we address is covering, which is also known as exploring or searching.

This variety of names hints to the many applications this problem might have: from cleaning the floor of a house to mapping an unknown planet or demining a mine field.198

As can be seen in these examples, an ant’s social lifestyle forms the basis of many projects, and the various ant-based robot technologies are providing benefits for human beings. That is why it is so important that ants and their valley are referred to in the Qur’anic account of Prophet Sulayman’s (as) life.

The term “ants” in the verse may refer to an army consisting of robots, future developments in robot technology, and how robots will play an important role in human life. For example, they may perform many arduous tasks and thus make people’s lives more comfortable. (Allah knows best.)

Image transmission

[He is] the Originator of the heavens and earth. When
He decides on something,
He just says to it, “Be!” and it is. (Qur’an, 2:117)

He who possessed knowledge of the Book said: “I will bring it [the Queen of Saba’s throne] to you before your glance returns to you.” And when he [Sulayman] saw it standing firmly in his presence, he said: “This is part of my Lord’s favour, to test me to see if I will give thanks or show ingratitude.” (Qur’an, 27:40)

“He who possessed knowledge of the Book” told Prophet Sulayman (as) that he could bring the Queen of Saba’s throne to him very quickly. This is a possible reference to the transmission of images with present-day advanced technology. Another verse on the subject reads:

A demon of the jinn said: “I will bring it to you before you get up from your seat. I am strong and trustworthy enough to do it.” (Qur’an, 27:39)

In our day, text, pictures, and films can be sent anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds, thanks to the Internet and advances in computer technology. For instance, carrying the Queen’s throne to Prophet Sulayman’s (as) court very quickly may well refer to the fact that it will be possible to send a three-dimensional picture or image in the blink of an eye over the Internet.

According to scientists, the teleportation of atoms and molecules, as well as larger bodies, may become possible in the near future. By this method, the item’s material characteristics are removed from one location and transferred in every detail and atomic sequence to another location, where they are reconstructed.

If this technology becomes operational one day, time and space will no longer represent an obstacle to travel and objects will be able to be transported anywhere in a single moment without traversing any physical distance.

In 1998, physicists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) working with two European groups transported a photon. The scientists formed a copy of the photon by reading its atomic structure and then transmitted that information a distance of 1 metre. In another recent teleportation experiment, Ping Koy Lam of the Australian National University (ANU) and other researchers transmitted a laser ray a short distance.185

Indeed, according to a CNN report on July 17, 2002, a group of physicists from the National Australian University in Canberra split a laser ray and “transmitted” it several metres. Ping Koy Lam, the team’s head, stated that they had not yet succeeded in transmitting matter in its atomic state, but that such a thing was not impossible and may become a reality in the future.

According to a study published in the science journal Nature, Eugene Polzik of Denmark’s University of Aarhus, and his colleagues performed successful experiments on a large number of atoms, using laser rays and quantum physics.

In his analyses of teleportation’s potential, published in the journal Scientific American, Australian physicist Anton Zeilinger states that far more complex systems could be teleported without violating the laws of physics.

As the Qur’an reveals in “We will show them Our Signs on the horizon and within themselves until it is clear to them that it is the truth” (Qur’an, 41:53), these scientific advances may represent a part of the technologies indicated in the Qur’an, all of which reveal its miraculous aspects.

Caliph Umar also cried

Have you ever heard a story about Calip Umar Bin Khattab (RA) crying?

Umar bin Khatab RA was known as a strong and fearless man, respected by both friends and foes. In fact it was said in a tradition, the Prophet said that even the Shaitan would shrink from Umar to the extent that when Umar walked on a path, the Shaitan would avoid the same path and use a different one.

There are many other narrations that talked about the fearlessness of Umar. It was obvious that the formidable character of Umar had become the talk of the town amongst the Muslim community. Thus, for this reason it must be an incredible event if Umar was ever found to cry. Why did Great Caliph cry?

Umar once seeked permission to meet Prophet Muhammed (PBUH). He found the Prophet lying on a very rough mat and a part of his body was laid on the ground. He only had a very hard stalk of palm tree as his pillow. He greeted him peace and sat close to him. He could not hold his tears.The noble Messenger asked, “Why are you crying O Umar?”

Umar replied, “How could I not cry. The mat has left a mark on your body, whereas you are Allah’s Prophet and His beloved. Your wealth consists only of what I am seeing now. Whilst kings and emperors are seated on thrones made of gold and sleep on pillows made of silk.”

The Prophet said, “They have hastened to get their comforts in the present time, a comfort which will soon end. We are a people who adjourn our comforts for the last days. The likeness of my relation with the world is like that of a traveller journeying in the summer. He takes shelter under the shade of a tree, and then depart and leave it.”

So beautiful indeed was the Prophet’s comparison with regards to his relation to this world. This world is just a place of transit, to take shelter from the midday sun and then carry on with the real journey.

Leave some of the comforts of this world as provisions for the hereafter. In the seven days of the week, why don’t we suppress our nafs (ego), endure the feeling of hunger and thirst, at least two days a week.

Perform the sunnah fasting of Monday and Thursday. In the twenty four hours of the day, why don’t we set aside an hour or so to perform salah and read al-Qur’an. In the eight hours of our sleeps, why don’t we take 5 minutes away to perform the Tahajjud prayer.

“Dip your hand in the ocean,” the Prophet suggested to a companion who asked about the difference between this world and the hereafter, “the water you see in your fingers is this world, whereas the rest of the water (in the ocean) is the hereafter.”

Be prepared to dive into the “ocean of the hereafter”. Who knows Allah SWT will be calling us in a short while, and when the time of the calling arrives, not only that we don’t have the time for ibaadah (worships) anymore, even the time to cry is also non-existent!

Compiled by: Latheef Farook Email [email protected]