لطفا منتظر باشید ...
The Last Message the Last
Prophet
From the first, Islam has
said that it is the last message, and Muslims have accepted this fact with
wisdom and with love, and have realised that Islam is the last manifestation
of revelation prophethood and the culmination of the former pure religions
Also, all Muslims, on the basis of ayahs in the Qur'an and hadith believe that
the prophet of Islam (S.A.) is the last messenger of Allah who was the
recipient of human leadership. The great Qur'an has explained the universality
of the pure religion of Islam in many ayahs and has shown that Muhammad (S.A.)
is the last emissary sent be God:
" Muhammad is not the father of any of
one of your men, but the messenger of Allah and the seal of the Prophets; and
Allah has knowledge of everything"
(XXXIII:40)
It has been said in a hadith from
the Prophet to Ali: "In all respects your relation to me is like that of
Harun to musa ( i.e. if Harun was muse's brother, I also take you as a brother
according to the rules of brotherhood; if he was musa's successor, you also
will be my successor). Except that musa was not the last prophet, and I am the
last." (It is an authentic hadith accepted by both the shia and the sunnis,
see al-ghadir, vol3. p.196-202).
He also said: "I am the last brick
in the building of prophethood. with my coming the prophets have come to an
end."
Imam Ali (A.S.) said in Nahg
al-Balaghah, the great book of learning and knowledge: "with the Prophet of
Islam, Muhammad (S.A.), revelation come to an end. "(sermon 133)
The eighth leader, the true Imam,
Hazrat Rida(A.S.) said : "The pure religion of Muhammad (S.A.)will not be
abrogated till the Day of Resurrection, and also no Prophet will follow him."
(Bihar al-anwar, vol.II,p.34)
What we have just recounted is only
a sample of tens of hadiths which clearly and succinctly explain the
conclusive status of the Prophet (S.A.) and the Perpetuity of his pure
religion; they leave no room for doubt.
The universality of
Islam
one of the greatest causes of
Islam's ever-Iastingness is its all-inclusiveness'. Islam is a comprehensive
project based on the human disposition, and it embraces all aspects of life:
individual, social, material, spiritual, doctrinal, emotional, economic, legal
and so forth and it explains the basis of each in the most acceptable way,
most realistically , for all peoples and all levels of people, in every time
and place. Thus European Islamicists, each with his deep view and research,
have all acknowledged the omni-sidedness of Islamic laws and its universality.
Now let us investigate some aspects of this universality.
The God of Islam and the
Qur'an
The God of Islam is the Preserver
of all worldly things. He is not the god of a tribe, for some special group
only. At prayer we say: al-hamduli'llahi rabbi'l- alamin' praise be to Allah,
the lord of the worlds.' Every moment, in every place, whenever he wants, He
brings into existence ; there is no limitation on His Essence. He has
authority over all existent things.
"Blessed be He in Whose hand is
the kingdom. He is powerful over everything" (lxvll:1)
He is aware of the manifest and the
concealed, the past and the future, and everything, even what is in our
hearts.
"He knows whatever is in the
heavens and the earth, and He knows you conceal and what you declare, and
Allah knows what is in the breasts" (LXIV:4)
Being with Him is possible in every
place: there is no need to travel or to pass by a doorman. He is nearer to us
than anything.
"We are nearer to him (man) than
his jugular vein" (L:16)
He is a reality without parallel,
beyond all human attributes and likenesses; He is not like the gods of other
altered religions who have become man-like or like something created.
Therefore He has no place, for He created place. He is not contained in time,
for He is the creator of time. He is not associated, nor has He any beginning
or ending. therefore, He has no like or similitude.
"Like him there is naught; He is
the All-hearing, the All-seeing." (XLII:11)
His Essence is beyond sleep,
tiredness, remorse and so forth
"slumber seizes him not, neither
sleep." (II:255)
"Say: He is Allah, one."
(CXII:I)
He is one without equal: He has no
son or nother or father, neither partner or associate. This is the reality in
surah tawhid, which Muslims recite many times each day in prayer so as to be
far from the possibility of associating something with Him (shirk). The god of
Islam is a god with all the attributes assigned to by the pure, sweet tongue
of the Qur'an, with an understanding wider, more magnificent, greater than can
be conceived by created intelligences. free from want, without partner,
prevailing, close, supreme, compassionate, most compassionate, available to
all so that anyone at any time may communicate with Him, bring his needs
before Him, ask whatever he wishes of Him, that He may make available what is
of benefit and what is expedient, as He Himself said:
" And verily, Allah is to you
all-gentle, All-compassionate." (LVII:9)
The Equality of all in
Islam
Superiority of race or segregation
is not only eliminated and void in the eyes of Islam, but the equality of man
is an absolute reality from the point of view of Islam, and it says that all
men are equal, all are from one father and one mother and are members of one
family, and from the aspect of nobility, origin and connections they are equal
partners. no one is better than anyone else, except in purity and
devoutness.
"O mankind, we have created you
male and female, and appointed you races and tribes that you may know one
another. surely the noblest among you in the sight of Allah is the most
godfearing of you; Allah is All-knowing All-aware." (XLiX:13)
Islam and freedom of
Thought
Islam is a firm supporter of logic,
rational argument and freedom of thought. Imposition of ideas or beliefs, or
the stifling of voices does not exist in Islam.
"No compulsion is there in
religion. rectitude has become clear from error". (II:256)
In Islam, investigation of the
foundations of beliefs is a duty for every individual, and it is an obligation
for everyone not to accept anything without proof, and if some commands and
precepts are obligatory and must be accepted without why and wherefore, it is
because they are from the source of revelation which cannot be in error, and
because they have been stated through the Prophet and the pure Imams. Islam
censures those who blindly follow the beliefs of their fathers and ancestors,
and commends self-investigation and deep examination. It rejects
feeble-mindedness and vain speculation, and urges only to the persual of
knowledge and certainty.
"and pursue not that thou hast
no knowledge of; the hearing, the sight, the heart-all of these shall be
questioned of". (XVII:36)
Islam grants its opponents the
right to set forth their queries in reasonable discussion and to enumerate
their proofs and listen to the answers.
"Say: Produce your proof, if
you speak truly." (II:111)
This was the reason that many Jews,
Christians and those from other groups who took a stand against Islam, came to
the Prophet or the pure Imams, and sat down and discussed their religious
ideas.
Islam and the Invitation to Thought
and Education
Islam lends great value to
thinking. It asks the learned and wise to think and think again about
creation, time, night and day, the sky, the earth, animal life, man and the
universe and what is in it.
"surely in the creation of the
heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day, and the ship that
runs in the sea with profit to men, and the water Allah sends down from the
sky therewith reviving the earth after it is dead, and His scattering abroad
in it all manner of crawling thing, and the turning about of the winds and the
clouds compelled between heaven and earth, surely there are signs for a people
having understanding". (II;164)
Also it asks them to research into
the lives of those who come before, their thoughts and the causes of their
decline and fall, so that they may keep far from the precipices of their
destruction.
"Divers institutions have passed
away before you; journey in the land and behold how was the end of those that
cried lies. This is and exposition of mankind, and a guidance and an
admonition for the god fearing." (III;136-7)
In short, Islam desires that man
should think deeply and freely and travel across the far horizons of thought
and knowledge and take everything that is best for the improvement of his
being. For this reason Islam values scientific advances and discoveries which
are for the help of humanity, and this is why scientists and scholars rose up
in the centuries following the advent of Islam, to decorate the high road of
human civilisation with the jewel of their scientific endeavours, so much so
that their great names will shine forever at the summit of scientific
history.
They include Jabir ibn Hayyan,
Razi, Ibn Sina ( Avicenna) and Khwajah Nasir ad-Din tusi, who were celebrated
in all the sciences of their times: the intellectual sciences, natural
science, astronomy, chemistry, etc. The books of Ibn Sina were even being
taught in European universities up to the end of the last century. Jurji
Zaydan, the famous Christian Lebanese writer, says on page 598 of his history
of Islamic civilisaton: "As soon as Islamic civilisation found its feet, and
the now sciences spread among the Muslims, Muslim scholars appeared whose
thinking was more important that the founders of some of the branches of the
sciences. in fact these sciences took on a fresh colour with the new
researches of Islamic scientists, and progressed due to Islamic
civilisation."
Islam's
Life-concept
from the view of Islam, there is no
oppposition between the material and the spiritual life, the world and
religion. similarly, those who do not work in this world make no effort are
not approved of, although those who do not think of anything apart from
individual benefit and consumption and profit are also detested from the point
of view of Islam. Imam Sadiq (A.S.) the sixth imam, said: "He who abandons
this world for the next - i.e. he who withdraws from the activities of life in
the name of asceticism- and he who gives up the next world for this world both
are not from among us "(Wasa'ilash-shia,vol.12,p.49). So it can be said that
in this matter Muslims should adjust their actions with equal movement in this
world, advancing with its happiness, and in the spiritual world. Therefore in
Islam there is no monasticism, being a burden on society, social withdrawal,
egoism or seclusion. The Prophet (S.A.) said: "There is no monasticism for us;
the monasticism for my followers is jihd in the way of Allah." (Bihar
al-anwar,vol.p114).
Islamic commands and the Advance of
Time
The transformation, evolution and
development of the means of living and progress in the various elements of
civilisation have no kind of incompatibility with the eternity of the commands
of Islam, because the incompatibility of a law with this kind of progress is
because the law depends on fundamental means and special factors. For example,
if one makes a law: only the hand must be used when writing, only a donkey
must be used for travel, etc. , this kind of law cannot come into action when
science and civilisation advance. but if it is not in contradiction with
fundamental means, and at the time of making the law these were only used as
examples, they will not clash with the occurrence of now means and the advance
of civilisation.
Islamic laws are of this latter
category, that is to say they do not look especially at the means of one
period in history. For example, they say: one must be unconquerable with
regard to foreign powers so as to defend one's vital and human rights. This
law, although it was declared in the time of the sword, never depends on the
instruments of that time, i.e. Islam never says: The Islamic jihad must only
be with swords. Thus it is practicable today. similarly with business
transactions, trade, word, etc. So, however much civilisation and its means
and elements expand, it will never leave the domain of inclusion in the laws
of Islam, and this is one of the secrets of eternity of Islam.
Does Islam Dispense with
contemporary Idealogies and systems of Thought?
There is no doubt that man has
progressed far in the way of knowledge, but scientists themselves confess that
what they know in the world of creation is not comparable with what they do
not know. and basically, since their vision is limited, they cannot find out
all the secrets of the world. Moreover, each leap forward that man makes is
not immune from error.
Therefore, in the area of human
aspirations, not everything that comes forward, in every field, can be one
hundred percent imbued with certainty, because it is possible that
environmental factors and other unforeseen thing have an effect on man's
thinking and outlook and take him far from reality. But the fundamental
project of Islam, since it grows from the root of revelation, has nothing to
do with the possibility of mistake, and can give trustworthy guidance at all
times of course, with the condition that these pure laws are not inserted
within the framework of other deviated systems, whereupon they the become
completely incapable of deriving advantage.
The continuation of Divine
Assistance
Some imagine that the meaning of
the conclusive nature of the prophet's mission is that after him connection
with the hidden, divine world has been interrupted and stopped. This is not
valid because the meaning of its conclusiveness is only that after the prophet
of Islam (S.A.), no other prophet or religion will come, not that in a general
way connections with the unseen world are also severed. For with the
understanding of shia Muslims, whereby we believe in the Imamate and wilayat
of the twelve pure Imamas this connection is everlasting and is continued by
means of these pure ones. And this is one of the distinctive points of the
shi'a school. Mulla Sadra has written in Mafatih al-ghayb - keys of the unseen
_ : "Revelation, that is to say the descent of the angel to the delegated and
prophetic eyes, has been eyes, has been forever cut off, but the door of
inspiration and illumination has not and will never be closed, and it is not
possible for it to be interrupted."
How can Islam be practised in the
present Day and age?
Although corruption in our world is
greater today, and although as time rolls on it becomes greater, and in the
end more destructive and more annihilating, we must remember that generosity
and magnanimity are found in difficulty. so our independence and individuality
demand that we struggle with the aberrations of the our times. Basically,
control and reform of the environment can be considered as one of the most
pressing duties. The prophets have also taught us by their lives the lesson of
the struggle against the aberrations of the times. They never followed the
perverse desires of the pulsation of their own societies or the various
passions of the environment; eventually they made the environment their own
environment.
The prophet of Islam (S.A.)
struggled constantly against the aberrant and amoral customs of the ignorance
of his time, till he built another society and environment. class differences,
the inferiority of women, idol-worship, tribal wars, and tens of other kinds
of amorality were among the conventions and customs and beliefs of the people
of those days, but the courage of the prophet saw that all of them were
destroyed. some of the chiefs of the quraysh, such as utbah, were very
unhappy about the prophet's method, so they arranged a meeting and after they
conferred together with him to make him deviate from his way by promise and
threat, the prophet replied to them: " This is what I was delegated to do. I
swear by Allah that even if the sun were put in one of my hands and the moon
in the other I would not deviate from my way, nor give up my faith, till
victory or death ensue." So let us follow the way of the iron-willed leader
and envoy of Allah.
( The Roots of Religion, p. 158-169)
