The Holy Prophet (pbuh) in the Words of Imam Ali (a.s.) |
To identify a personality,
you need to either find written material such as a book or
know a person who is very close to him. The life of
the Holy Prophet can be understood by the Book of
Allah which was revealed to the Prophet, or through
Imam Ali (a.s.) who is referred to in the Verse of
Mubahila in the Quran, as the nafs (soul) of the
Prophet.
The Prophet himself said that Imam Ali (a.s.)
is the door to his knowledge. In this article we will explore how Imam Ali (a.s.) describes the Last Prophet of Islam. The pearls flowing from the tongue and pen of Imam Ali (a.s.) were studied and compiled by Sayed Razi in a book he named ‘Nahjul Balagha’. In this noble book, Imam Ali (a.s.) has identified the Holy Prophet in a remarkable way. We will point out only sections of his speech; for more details, readers can access Nahjul Balagha on our website.
His
Prophethood Imam Ali (a.s.) has mentioned in
detail the grace of Allah in sending His messenger.
Imam says: "In this way ages passed by
and times rolled on, fathers passed away while sons
took their places till Allah deputised Muhammad
(peace be upon him) as His Prophet, in fulfilment of
His promise and in completion of His Prophethood.
His pledge had been taken from the Prophets, his
traits of character were well reputed and his birth
was honourable. The people of the earth at this time
were divided in different parties, their aims were
separate and ways were diverse. They either likened
Allah with His creation or twisted His Names or
turned to else than Him. Through Muhammad (p.b.u.h.)
Allah guided them out of wrong and with his efforts
took them out of ignorance. Then Allah chose for
Muhammad, peace be upon him and on his progeny, to
meet Him, selected him for His own nearness,
regarded him too dignified to remain in this world
and decided to remove him from this place of trial.
So He drew him towards Himself with honour. Allah
may shower His blessing on him, and his progeny.
At another place
Imam says: "I also stand witness that
Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) is His slave and His Prophet.
Allah sent him with the illustrious religion,
effective emblem, written Book, effulgent light,
sparkling gleam and decisive injunction in order to
dispel doubts, present clear proofs, administer
warning through signs and to warn of punishments. At
that time people had fallen in vices whereby the
rope of religion had been broken, the pillars of
belief had been shaken, principles had been
sacrileged, system had become topsy turvy, openings
were narrow, passage was dark, guidance was unknown
and darkness prevailed. Imam again says: "Then Allah deputised
Muhammad (S.A.) as a witness, giver of good tidings
and warner, the best in the universe as a child and
the most chaste as a grown up man, the purest of the
purified in conduct, the most generous of those who
are approached for generosity.
His
nobleness "His place of stay is the
best of all places and his origin noblest of all
origins in the mines of honour and the cradles of
safety. Hearts of virtuous persons have been
inclined towards him and the reins of eyes have been
turned towards him. Through him Allah buried mutual
rancour and put off the flames of revolt. Through
him He gave them affection like brothers and
separated those who were together (through
unbelief). Through him He gave honour to the low and
degraded honour (of unbelief). His speaking is clear
and his silence is (indicative) like tongue.
Obeying the
Holy Prophet
"Those companions of Muhammad - peace be upon him
and his progeny - who were the custodians (of divine
messages) know that I never disobeyed Allah or His
Messenger (pbuh) at all, and by virtue of the
courage with which Allah honoured me I supported him
with my life on occasions when even the brave turned
away and feet remained behind (instead of proceeding
forward). When the Prophet (pbuh) died
his head was on my chest, and his (last) breath blew
over my palms and I passed it over my face. I
performed his (funeral) ablution, and the angels
helped me. The house and the courtyard were full of
them. One party of them was
descending and the other was ascending. My ears
continually caught their humming voice, as they
invoked Allah's blessing on him, till we buried him
in his grave. Thus, who can have greater rights with
him than I during his life or after his death?
Therefore depend on your intelligence and make your
intentions pure in fighting your enemy, because I
swear by Him who is such that there is no god but
He, that I am on the path of truth and that they
(the enemy) are on the misleading path of wrong. You
hear what I say; and I seek Allah's forgiveness for
myself and for you. In the longest sermon of
Nahjul Balagha called al-Qasi’ah, Ameerul Momineen
says: "Even in my boyhood I had
lowered the chest of (famous men) of Arabia, and
broken the horn points (defeated chiefs) of tribes
of Rabee and Mudar. Certainly, you know my position
of close kinship and special relationship with the
Prophet of Allah - pbuh. When I was only a child he
took charge of me. He used to press me to his chest
and lay me beside him in his bed, bring his body
close to mine and make me smell his smell. He used
to chew something and then feed me with it. He found
no lie in my speaking, nor weakness in any act. From the time of his weaning,
Allah had put a mighty angel with him to take him
along the path of high character and good behaviour
through day and night, while I used to follow him
like a young camel following in the footprints of
its mother. Every day he would show me in the form
of a banner some of his high traits and commanded me
to follow it. Every year he used to go in seclusion
to the hill of Hira, where I saw him but no one else
saw him. In those days Islam did not exist in any
house except that of the Prophet of Allah (pbuh) and
Khadija, while I was the third after these two. I
used to see and watch the effulgence of divine
revelation and message, and breathed the scent of
Prophethood. When the revelation descended
on the Prophet of Allah (pbuh)
I heard the moan of Satan. I said, "O'
Prophet of Allah, what is this moan?" and he
replied, "This is Satan who has lost all hope of
being worshipped. O' `Ali, you see all that I see
and you hear all that I hear, except that you are
not a Prophet, but you are a vicegerent and you are
surely on (the path of) virtue." (Sermon 190)
Remembering the Prophet with Salawat
Here Imam tells people how to pronounce salawat
(invoking Divine Supplication) on the
Prophet:
"My Allah, the Spreader of the surfaces (of earth)
and Keeper of all skies, Creator of hearts on good
and evil nature, send Your choicest blessings and
growing favours on Muhammad Your servant and Your
Prophet who is the last of those who preceded (him)
and an opener for what is closed, proclaimer of
truth with truth, repulser of the forces of wrong
and crusher of the onslaughts of misguidance. As he
was burdened (with responsibility of prophethood) so
he bore it standing by Your commands, advancing
towards Your will, without shrinking of steps of
weakness of determination, listening to Your
revelation, preserving Your testament, proceeding
forward in the spreading of Your commands till he
lit fire for its seeker and lighted the path for the
groper in the dark. Hearts achieved guidance
through him after being ridden with troubles. He
introduced clearly guiding signs and shining
injunctions. He is Your trusted trustee, the
treasurer of Your treasured knowledge, Your witness
on the Day of Judgement, Your envoy of truth and
Your Messenger towards the people. My Allah, prepare
a large place for him under Your shade and award him
multiplying good by Your bounty. My Allah, give height to his
construction above all other constructions, heighten
his position with You, grant perfection to his
effulgence and perfect for him his light. In reward
for his discharging Your prophetship, grant him that
his testimony be admitted and his speech be liked
for his speech is just, and his judgements are
clear-cut. My Allah, put us and him together in the
pleasures of life, continuance of bounty,
satisfaction of desires, enjoyment of pleasures,
ease of living, peace of mind and gifts of honour.
His way of
life
"He treated this world disdainfully and regarded it
low. He held it contemptible and hated it. He
realised that Allah kept it away from him with
intention and spread it out for others by way of
contempt. Therefore, he remained away from it by his
heart, banished its recollection from his mind and
wished that its attraction should remain hidden from
his eye so that he should not acquire any clothing
from it, or hope for staying in it. He conveyed from
Allah the pleas (against committing sins),
counselled his people as a warner (against Divine
chastisement) and called (people) towards Paradise
as a conveyor of good tidings.
We are the tree of prophethood, staying place of
(Divine) Message, descending place of angels, mines
of knowledge and the sources of wisdom. Our
supporter and lover awaits mercy while our enemy and
he who hates us awaits wrath.
Again Imam said:
"You should follow your Prophet, the pure, the
chaste. In him is the example for the follower, and
the consolation for the seeker of consolation. The
most beloved person before Allah is he who follows
His Prophet and who treads in his footsteps. He took
the least (share) from this world and did not take a
full glance at it. Of all the people of the world he
was the least satiated and the most empty of
stomach. The world was offered to him but he refused
to accept it. When he knew that Allah, the
Glorified, hated a thing, he too hated it; that
Allah held a thing low, he too held it low; that
Allah held a thing small, he too held it small. If
we love what Allah and His Prophet hate and hold
great what Allah and His prophet hold small that
would be enough isolation from Allah and
transgression of His commands.
The Prophet used to eat on the ground, and sat like
a slave. He repaired his shoe with his hand, and
patched his clothes with his hand. He would ride an
unsaddled ass and would seat someone behind him. If
there was a curtain on his door with pictures on it
he would say to one of his wives. "O' such-and-such,
take it away out of my sight because if I look at it
I recall the world and its allurements." Thus, he
removed his heart from this world and destroyed its
remembrance from his mind. He loved that its
allurements should remain hidden from his eye so
that he should not secure good dress from it, should
not regard it a place of stay and should not hope to
live in it. Consequently, he removed it from his
mind, let it go away from his heart and kept it
hidden from his eyes. In the same way he who hates a
thing should hate to look at it or to hear about it.
Certainly there was in the Prophet of Allah all that
would apprise you of the evils of this world and its
defects, namely that he remained hungry along with
his chief companions, and despite his great nearness
the allurements of the world remained remote from
him. Now, one should see with one's intelligence
whether Allah honoured Muhammad (pbuh) as a result
of this or disgraced him. If he says that Allah
disgraced him, he certainly lies and perpetrates a
great untruth. If he says Allah honoured him, he
should know that Allah dishonoured the others when
He extended the world for him but held them away
from him who was the nearest to Him of all men.
Therefore, one should follow His Prophet, tread in
his footsteps and enter through his entrance.
Otherwise he will not be safe from ruin. Certainly,
Allah made Muhammad (pbuh) a sign for the Day of
Judgement. a conveyor of tidings for Paradise and a
warner of retribution. He left this world hungry but
entered upon the next world safe. He did not lay one
stone upon another (to make a house) till he
departed and responded to the call of Allah. How
great is Allah's blessing in that He blessed us with
the Prophet as a predecessor whom we follow and a
leader behind whom we tread.
By Allah, I have been putting patches in my shirts
so much that now I feel shy of the patcher. Someone
asked me whether I would not put it off, but I said,
"Get away from me." Only in the morning do people
(realised the advantage of and) speak highly of the
night journey.
True love of the Prophet "The persons most attached to
the prophets are those who know most what the
prophets have brought. Then Imam recited the verse:
Verily, of men the nearest to Abraham are surely
those who followed him and this Prophet (Muhammad)
and those who believe (Quran, 3:68).
Then he said:
The friend of
Muhammad is he who obeys Allah, even though he may
have no blood relationship, and the enemy of
Muhammad is he who disobeys Allah even though he may
have near kinship." (Short Saying 96)
"Our Islam is well-known and our (greatness in the)
pre-Islamic period too cannot be denied. Whatever
remains has been mentioned in the words of Allah:
“... And blood relations have the better claim in
respect of one to the other, according to the Book
of Allah...”( Quran, 33:6)
He also says: “Verily, of men the nearest to
Abraham are surely those who followed him and this
Prophet and those who believe; and verily, Allah, is
the Guardian of the faithful. (Quran, 3:68)
Thus, we are superior firstly because of kinship and
secondly because of obedience. When at Saqifah, the
muhajir contended kinship with the Messenger of
Allah (pbuh) against the ansar, they scored over
them. If that success was based on kinship then the
right would be ours better than yours. Otherwise,
the ansar's contention stands." (Letter 28)
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