بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّ حِيْمِ
We often say Ash-hadu anla ilaha illallaah Wa Ash-hasu anna Muhammadar Rasuulullaah;
I testify that there is no god but Allah and I testify that Muhammad (pboh)
is Allah's Messenger.
In order to
testify definitely that there is no God but Allah we rely upon the testimony of
Prophet Muhammad (pboh), because he was taken up in the Divine Presence of
Allah. And Allah says in His Holy Words;
There is no god but He:
that is the witness of Allah, His angels, and those endued with knowledge, (3:18)
So whether we
can conceptualised this fact or not we accept it because Prophet Muhammad
(pboh); that one who never spoke a lie and who is the most trusted said
so. So we accept it wholeheartedly.
The next part of
the declaration of faith is the testimony that Muhammad (pboh) is Allah’s last
Messenger. How can we verify this
statement?
Firstly, Allah
tells us this; so we accept it. It is
also necessary for us to experience and to gain knowledge about whatever Allah
tells us. That is why He says;
Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying
down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens
and the earth, (with the thought): "Our Lord! not for naught hast Thou
created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the
Fire. 3:191
What then about
the finality of the Messenger? Every
Messenger who came before brought something about the messenger, but they never
brought the comprehensive message. How
then can we say with certainty that Muhammad (pboh) is the last Messenger?
Allah says in Qur’an ‘take
note that amongst you is the Messenger of Allah’. And the
Qur’an contains the message for all times, not just during the life of Prophet
(pboh). Some
scholars interpret this ayat to mean that it is his sunnah that is with
us. They also say the recitation of Al
Qur’an is another way that he is with us because he taught us its
recitation.
Whilst these are
all true the ayat reflects more than that.
For example he is reported to have said: “Whoever sees me in a dream
actually sees me”. What does that mean?
In other
narrations we see that when a person is being questioned in the grave he visits
them while the angels are questioning the person. Physically he is not with us but he still
maintains a connection with us.
This is possible
why Allah says ‘amongst you is the
Messenger of Allah’
Understand that
you don’t have to wait until the time of death comes in order for you to have
vision of the Beloved Prophet (pboh). If
you purify yourself and connect to him, insha Allah you can achieve it in this
realm.
May Allah bless
us and enable us to connect and attach ourselves to His Beloved (pboh) in this
world and the next.
Transcript
of discourse delivered by
Maulana
Dr. Waffie Mohammed
