Points to Ponder on the Prophet’s Birthday

Date: 22 October 2021 - 22:27

News ID: ۹۵۷۴۱

By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz

“It is He Who has sent His Prophet with guidance and the true religion that He may make it prevail over all religions, and Allah suffices as witness.” (Holy Qur’an 48:28)
Tomorrow, the 17th of Rabi al-Awwal, is that grand day in the history of Planet Earth when God decreed the physical birth of the first-ever creation – a being of celestial light, more ancient than not just the galaxies and the planetary systems containing resplendent stars and suns, but also more superior to the angels and cherubim, including Archangel Gabriel, who were all created well after him.
Those in doubt are advised to read the Holy Qur’an more thoroughly and with an insight supported by the light of faith, in order to understand the Divine Words about the Last and Greatest Messenger who was entrusted with the universal mission of Islam for all mankind and for all time:
“We have not sent you but as Mercy unto the creation.” (21:107)
Such words were not used by the All-Wise Creator regarding the mission of any other Prophet, since their missions time-bound and geographically-confined.
That was the reason the Prophets of the past had prophesied the coming of the Master of all Divine Messengers – predictions whose traces remain in the sacred texts of all religions despite the tampering of interpolators over the millenniums.
The Qur’an has preserved examples of such prophecies, like the prayer of Prophet Abraham (AS) and the tidings of the Virgin-born Messiah to his followers:
“O Children of Israel! Indeed I am the Prophet of Allah to you, to confirm what is before me of the Torah, and to give the tidings of the Prophet to come after me, whose name is Ahmad.” (61:6)
Now we understand the Divine Promise to make the truth of Islam prevail over all religions – creeds that divided humanity into sects and cults by changing the contents of the Heavenly Scriptures and coining of weird beliefs, such as Paul the Hellenized Jew’s transformation of Prophet Jesus (AS) into godson.
It was for this reason that the Seal of Messengers was born in the full limelight of history in Mecca, in the morally virtuous family of the monotheist Bani Hashem clan descended from Prophet Abraham’s (AS) firstborn son, Prophet Ishmael (AS).
Thus, the anniversary of this blessed day is an occasion to celebrate as a God-pleasing duty for every true Muslims, since Divine Providence decreed that this was no ordinary birth.
As a matter of fact, as history bears testimony Prophet Muhammad’s (SAWA) birth was preceded by and accompanied with miracles, such as the Divine Wrath that struck the elephantine hordes of Abraha the Abyssinian governor of Yemen who intended to destroy the holy Ka’ba.
It would be repetitive to say the idols installed in Abraham’s monotheist edifice, the holy Ka’ba, by the pagan Arabs crashed headlong on the night of his birth.
In Ctesiphon (Mada’en – Iraq), a crack appeared in the main arch of the palace of the Sassanid King of kings (Shahenshah), Anushirvan, while fourteen parapets fell to the ground from atop the royal residence. In interior Iran, the sacred fire kept burning for centuries in the main Zoroastrian temple suddenly died down.
Similar miracles were witnessed in far off China, as well as in India and in the Roman Empire spread across Europe and North Africa – heralding the birth of the deliverer of mankind.
Perhaps the skeptics, including the so-called Muslims who frown upon the birthday celebrations of the Greatest Prophet may say Islam has failed to prevail over all religions and moreover there are differences about the date of his birth anniversary as well as jurisprudential matters. In addition, Islam today in non-Muslim countries is depicted as the creed of cutthroats, of mass murderers, of cannibalistic terrorists, of jihadi rapists, and the like.
This deliberate distortion of facts warrants us to scientifically probe the exemplary life of the Best of Creation; the dynamic legacy he left, and for whom, and did those who claim to be the political representatives of the Prophet of peace, follow his advice and formula for unity, especially the following hadith:
“I am leaving behind among the you the Thaqalayn (Two Weighty Things); the Book of God (Qur’an) and my progeny the Ahl al-Bayt; hold fast to them and you will not go astray, for the two never separate with each other even when they return to me at the Fountain (of Kowthar on Resurrection Day).”
The answer is obvious. The caliphate was hijacked, and any usurper, whether of the past when military power subdued lands from Spain in the west to the borders of India and China in the east, or of our own times when terrorists masquerade as Muslims, cannot make any deviant ideology prevail over other religions.
This means, God’s Promise of Islam’s peaceful prevailing over all creeds will only be fulfilled when the Master of the Affairs are the Legitimate and Divinely-designated successors of the Messenger of Mercy.
For this reason, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) had said without mincing words – as recorded in the hadith compilations of our Sunni brethren as well – the world will not end until my descendent (Imam) Mahdi (AS) will appear to establish the global government of peace and justice by ending corruption and oppression.
As for the actual date of his birth, this is not a matter of contention, as was wisely resolved by the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini in 1979, when he designated the Islamic Unity Week to bridge the 12th and 17th span.
Moreover, reason says we should refer to family accounts, since narrations from those who had witnessed the events at the birth of the Seal of Messengers, and passed them down from father-to-son, are more reliable than the hearsay of companions he acquired at the age of 40 and after, or the wives he had to marry out of social necessity as a 53-year old widower in the last ten years of his life.
Thus, according to Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), his dearest cousin, ward, son-in-law, and Divinely-designated Vicegerent who was personally groomed by the Prophet almost a decade before proclamation of the universal mission of Islam, the following Ayah was heard from a voice emanating from the sky at sunset, while the idols installed by the pagan Arabs in and around, the supreme edifice of monotheism built by Prophet Abraham, fell headlong to the ground.
Household accounts relate that the virtuous monotheist lady, Amena bint Wahb (SA) saw strange signs during her pregnancy, and when her son was born, a voice echoed: “The Best of creation is born. Name him Muhammad (SAWA).”
The Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt or immediate blood relatives, whom God has made immune from any blemish and uncleanness (Holy Qur’an 33:33), say: “When the newborn was brought to Abdul Muttalib (AS) he took him in his arms and said: “I praise and thank Allah Who blessed me with such a handsome (grand)son who surpasses all children.”
Then the monotheist grandfather composed a poem praising the newborn.
The Prophet’s 6th Infallible Heir, Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS) has said that on the birth of his illustrious ancestor, Fatema bint Asad (SA) – the mother of Imam Ali (AS) – rushed to her husband Abu Taleb (AS) and gave the good news of the birth of a radiant nephew to him. She also described strange things about the wonderful birth. Abu Taleb (AS) said: “After thirty years a son will be born to you too who will be like this newborn in every aspect, except prophethood.”
Abu Taleb (AS) performed the “Aqiqah” or hair-removing ceremony of his nephew on the seventh day of birth and invited the entire Hashemite clan to the feast, saying it is the “Walima” (banquet) of Ahmad. Asked why was Muhammad being called “Ahmad”? He said: “Those in the heaven praise him as such.”
Those pseudo Muslims, wrongly accusing the Prophet’s Guardian and Uncle, who till the last years of his life fiercely protected his nephew from the plots of the pagan Arabs, of lacking faith in Islam, should read the holy Qur’an, where in Ayah 6 of Surah Saff, the Almighty Allah has quoted the tidings of Prophet Jesus (AS) to his followers, some six centuries before the birth of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA):
“O Children of Israel! Indeed I am the Prophet of Allah to you, to confirm what is before me of the Torah, and to give the tidings of the Prophet to come after me, whose name is Ahmad.”
It is interesting to note that the Gospel of St. John, despite the tampering it has gone through, still preserves the words of Jesus of the coming of the Last and Greatest Prophet – as “Comforter” in the English translation, and “Paraclete” in its Greek translation, which is the translation of the original Hebrew/Aramaic word “Hmda” or the Praiseworthy, and which in Arabic means “Ahmad”.
This is further proof of the universal mission of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) to all mankind, the reliability of the narrations of his monotheist household, and the logic behind celebrations of his blessed birth.
It is outside the scope of this brief newspaper column to mention the prophecies of Prophet Moses and Prophet Isaiah about the Last Prophet or the predictions in the sacred texts of the Zoroastrians and the Hindus of Islam’s worldwide triumph.