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Last Update: 04:16 GMT, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009 |
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Living Shari`ah > Fatwa Bank
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Name of Questioner
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Anonymous
- United States |
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Title
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Superiority of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
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Question
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Dear scholars, As-Salamu `alaykum. As Muslims we all believe in the superiority of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) over all human beings and regard him to be the greatest of Allah's creation. In the light of the following Qur'anic verse and hadith, kindly explain if we are correct in believing in the superiority of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
In the Qur'an, Almighty Allah 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-Nisa': 152). 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 angry so much so that the anger appeared on his face, and he said, “Do not give superiority to any amongst 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, vol. 4, Hadith 626). Jazakum Allah khayran.
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Date |
22/Sep/2003 |
| Topic | Muslim Belief |
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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Dear questioner, we would like to thank you for the great confidence you place in us, and we implore Allah Almighty to help us serve His cause and render our work for His Sake.
In his response to your question, Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi, former President of the Islamic Society of North America, states:
“There is no doubt that 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 (faddalna) to some over the others..." (Al-Baqarah: 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: 4), but Prophet Muhammad was sent to all people for all time to come (Saba': 28). Allah sent Prophet Muhammad as a mercy to all the worlds (Al-Anbiya': 107), no other Prophet or Messenger of Allah was given this honor. During the Isra' and Mi`raj, 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 you have referred to. The verse (An-Nisa’: 152) is not talking about the superiority (tafdil) 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-Nisa’: 150-151 where Allah says what means, "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: 253 in which Allah has mentioned that He Himself has given superiority to some Messengers over the others.
The hadith that you have mentioned is very beautiful. It is not contradicting the Qur'an, but it is giving us another important lesson of manners (adab) 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 (dalil) and it should not be done to put down the other prophets or to create animosity, dissent and divisions." (see Fath Al-Bari, vol. 6, p. 446).”
Excerpted, with slight modifications, from: http://pakistanlink.com/religion.html
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Allah Almighty knows best. |
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