The Prophet s.a [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

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)