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Prophet
Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the best among all the
creation of Allah. He has superiority over all human beings,
including all the messengers and the prophets of Allah. Allah
Himself says in the Qur’an: [Those
Messengers, We gave superiority to some over the others]
(Al-Baqarah 2:253). Prophet Muhammad is also reported to have said
in a number of authentic hadiths, “I am the leader of all the
children of Adam, but I do not boast about it.” Allah gave
Prophet Muhammad this honor. All prophets were sent to their own
people for their own time (Ibrahim 14:4), but Prophet Muhammad was
sent to all people for all time to come (Saba’ 34:28). Allah sent Prophet Muhammad as a mercy to all
the worlds (Al-Anbiyaa’ 21:107); no other prophet or messenger of
Allah was given this honor. During the Israa’ and Mi`raj
(Ascension and Night Journey), Allah gave Prophet Muhammad (peace
and blessings be upon him) the honor to be the imam of His prophets
and messengers.
There is no
contradiction between this and the Qur’anic verse that says [To
those who believe in Allah and His Messengers and make no
distinction between any of the Messengers, We shall soon give their
due rewards] (An-Nisaa’ 4:152). The verse is not talking about the
superiority among Allah’s prophets and messengers. It uses the
word yufarriq, which means “making distinction
or making discrimination,” i.e., believing in some and not
believing in others. This is explained before in An-Nisaa’
4:150–151 where Allah says [Those
who deny Allah and His Messengers, and those who wish to make
distinction between Allah and His Messengers and say “we believe
in some but reject others” and those who wish to take a way in
between, they are in truth unbelievers and We have prepared for
unbelievers a humiliating punishment.]
Islam teaches us that we must believe in all the Prophets and
Messengers of Allah. We should not discriminate between them by
accepting some and rejecting others, but this does not mean that all
prophets were of the same status. To say this will be against the
verse Al-Baqarah 2:253 in which Allah has mentioned that He Himself
has given superiority to some messengers over the others.
In the
Sahih
of Al-Bukhari there is also a hadith reported by Abu Hurayrah (may
Allah be pleased with him): Once while a Jew was selling something,
he was offered a price that he was not pleased with, so he said,
“No, by Him Who gave Moses superiority over all human beings!”
Hearing him, a man from the Ansar got up and slapped him on his face
and said, “You say, ‘By Him Who gave Moses superiority over all
human beings’ although the Prophet (Muhammad) is present among
us!” The Jew went to the Prophet and said, “O Abul Qasim, I am
under the assurance and contract of security, so what right does
so-and-so have to slap me?” The Prophet asked the other, “Why
did you slap him?” He told him the whole story. The Prophet
became so angry that the anger appeared on his face, and he said, “Do
not give superiority to any among Allah’s prophets, for when the
trumpet will be blown, every one on the earth and the heavens will
become unconscious except those whom Allah will exempt. The trumpet
will be blown a second time and I will be the first to be
resurrected to see Moses holding Allah’s Throne. I will not know
whether the unconsciousness which Moses received on the Day of Tur
has been sufficient for him, or whether he got up before me. And I
do not know that there is anybody better than Yunus ibn Matta”
(Al-Bukhari).
The hadith
is not contradicting the Qur’an, but it is giving us another
important lesson of manners that we Muslims must have when we speak
about the prophets and the messengers of Allah. The Prophet (peace
and blessings be upon him) taught us that we should not speak about
him in such a manner that we show any disrespect to other prophets
and messengers. He gave the example of Prophet Yunus (Jonah) (peace
and blessings be upon him). His story is mentioned in the Qur’an
and it is mentioned that he left his people and ran away from his
duty. He was swallowed by a whale and lived in the whale’s belly
for several days. Then he repented and Allah accepted his
repentance. Even this prophet should not be spoken of in a
derogatory manner. He also deserves our full respect and honor as a
prophet of Allah.
Especially
in our inter-religious dialogue when we talk to the people of other
faiths, we should use our language very carefully. Imam Ibn Hajar
has explained this hadith very beautifully and said, “The Prophet
(peace and blessings be upon him) forbade from talking about the
superiority of one prophet over another according to one’s
personal opinion, but it must be based on a proof and it should not
be done to put down the other prophets or to create animosity,
dissent, and divisions.”
*
Source: Excerpted, with slight modifications, from:
http://pakistanlink.com/religion.html
Director of the Islamic Society of
Orange County
in Garden
Grove, California.
For more about him, click here. |
