بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّ حِيْمِ
Text of lecture given by Maulana Dr. Waffie Mohammed
at the Hermitage Masjid
on the auspicious occasion of Meelad Un Nabi (27.02.2011)
Why did Allah send Prophet Muhammad (saw)? Was it to receive the Holy Qur’an on behalf of mankind? If Allah wanted He could have revealed the Book to each one of His servants. Prophet Jesus (as) received a Book, Moses (as), Abraham (as) and so on. So being the recipient of the Glorious Qur’an was not the only purpose of Prophet (saw).
In order for us to understand Muhammad’s mission we must make reference the beautiful Qur’anic ayat;Light upon Light!
This ayat contains a very important message as it highlights the true function of Prophet (saw). Allah is Light (Nur) and He sent Prophet Muhammad (saw) in the dimension of space and time to reflect the Light of Allah to the entire universe. This is possibly why he is called 'Rahmatul Lil Alameen’ – a mercy to the worlds. He is the only creature capable of reflecting the Light of Allah . Allah confirms this in Surah Maidah;
there hath come to you from Allah a (new) light and a perspicuous Book (5:15)
The ‘Light and Book’ mentioned in the above ayat are two separate entities. The Book refers to the Holy Qur’an and the ‘Light’ mentioned refers to the personality of Prophet (saw).
He was able to reflect Allah’s Nur so perfect that his Companions noticed that his personality was bright and shinning. For example Hazrat Jabir (ra) is reported to have said ‘I saw him sitting in a full moon night, he had on a red gown and between the moon and him; his face was the most handsome’.
When is a full moon it’s brightest? When the night is at its darkest and there are little or no clouds present. So to our beloved Messenger was so clean and free from any and all barriers that there was nothing preventing him from reflecting Allah’s light. His personality is like the beautiful full moon, visible from far and wide.
Try your best to remove all the ‘clouds’ from your personality and you will be able to reflect something of the Light of Allah from the physical source that is the personality of Prophet (saw). If we follow him we are suppose to be like the full moon, lighting up the dark spots of the world.
Prophet (saw) is constantly being replenished with the Light of Allah as Allah says;
‘Allah and His angels send blessings on the prophet: O ye that believe! send ye blessings on him, and salute Him with all respect’.
Ask yourself this question; at what stage of the moon would you like to be; the new moon barely visible or the full moon, bright, shinning and admired by all. Build and strengthen your relationship with him to benefit from the blessings being constantly and continuously sent to him. He was able to reflect the Light of his Lord and as such he was able to get closer to Him. If you wish to get closer to Allah then follow His Habeeb (saw).
May Allah make it easy for us and take care of our affairs in both worlds and may He cause our relationship with Prophet Muhammad (saw) to grow and become stronger insha Allah.
