4 October 2009

Seerah of Muhammed*

*: May the peace blessings & Mercy of Allah be upon him
TMQ: Translation to the nearest meaning of the Qur’an


Private and Secret stage

Ibn Qayyum talks about types of Revelation (Wahi) to the Prophet* ~

1 – Dreams: Before prophethood there was a period of true vision = dreams that came true the next day for 6 months (True Dreams that will happen or need interpreting; Dreams from Shaytan; Meaningless Dreams)

2 – Angel inspires Muhammed* (but does not appear): The noble spirit revealed that no soul will perish until in exhausts its due course so fear Allah and gently request Him and never get so impatient to the verge of disobedience to Allah, what Allah has can never be acquired but through obedience to Him

3 – Angel appears to Muhammed* in physical form of human being: Hadith Jibreel

4 – Angel came to Muhammed* as a toll of a bell: hold him tightly and he would sweat profusely, feel the weight of the angel and the sound like a ringing bell (sound of beating wings like dragging a chain on rocks), bending of the camel or Zaid bin Harithah’s thigh being crushed

5 – Muhammed* would see Jibreel in his actual form: happened twice, his wings would cover the horizon

6 – Allah would speak to Muhammed* directly: al-Miraj


Gap in the early revelation and the Prophet*’s initial doubts, but then Muhammed* went about inviting only close friends & associates and studied in the House of Arqam

Khadijah - first believer, first woman (one of the four greatest women – Khadijah, Maryam, Aasiyah, Fatimah)
Ali - first child
Zaid bin Harithah - first slave
Abu Bakr - first free man (male convert) with no hesitation (as-Saddiq)


Public Stage

“And warn your tribe (O Muhammad) of nearest kindred” TMQ 26:214

Then Muhammed* openly declared Islam. Ali & Muhammed* put on a banquet for elders and then stood on Mount Safa’ and called ‘Yah-Subaaha’ to gather all the people for a critical announcement. In a straight-forward manner he said: “O people! Will you believe me if I say there is an army marching behind this mountain which is about to attack you? They all answered, 'Of course we would, we have not heard a lie from you throughout your life.' Muhammed* then said, 'O people of the Quraish! I warn you to fear God's punishment. Save yourself from the fire…' then Abu Lahab ibn Abd Al-Muttalib, broke the silence saying, 'Give our oath to you? May evil befall you for the rest of the day! Have you gathered us here to tell us such words?'

Hence Allah revealed: “May the hands of Abu Lahab perish, may he (himself) perish. His wealth avails him not, neither what he had earned. Soon will he roast in a flaming fire, and his wife, the bearer of the firewood, upon her neck a rope of twisted palm-fibre." (TMQ, 111:1-5)
Hadith (Riyadh as-Salihin): On Sincerity and having an intention for all actions, words and states, outward and inward

Abu Bakra Nufay' ibn al-Harith ath-Thaqafi said, "The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'When two Muslims clash with their swords, then both the killer and killed are in the Fire.' I asked, "Messenger of Allah, I can understand this with regard to the killer, but what about the murdered man?' He replied, 'He also was eager to kill his companion.

Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The group prayer of a man is some twenty degrees higher than his prayer in his business or his house. That is because when one of you does wudu' thoroughly and then goes to the mosque with no other object than that of doing the prayer, without being impelled by anything other than the prayer, Allah will raise him up a degree with every step he takes, and a wrong action will also fall away from him, until he enters the mosque. When he enters the mosque, he is in prayer the whole time he is waiting for it and the angels pray for him all the time he is sitting there, saying, 'O Allah! Show mercy to him! O Allah! Forgive him! O Allah! Turn towards him!' as long as he has not caused anyone injury and has not broken wudu'." [Muslim]

Abu'l-'Abbas 'Abdullah ibn 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas ibn 'Abdu'l-Muttalib said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said in what he reported from his Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, "Allah wrote good actions and bad actions and then made that clear. Whoever intends to do a good action and then does not do it, Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, will write a full good action for him. If he intends to do it and then does it, Allah will write ten to seven hundred good actions multiplied many times over. If he intends an evil action and then does not do it, Allah will write a full good action for him. If he intends it and then does it, Allah will write one bad action for him."

Another Hadith on a topic we talked about last week:

The hairdresser of Pharaoh’s daughter: While she was combing the girl’s hair, the comb fell from her hand, and she, unconsciously, uttered the name of Allah. “You mean father, don’t you?” asked the girl. “No, Allah is my God as well as yours and your father’s,” replied the hairdresser, and, being affected by Musa (AS) as well as following the sorcerers’ example, she spilled out all that she has kept secret. Immediately, the girl told her father, Pharaoh, about this. Consequently, he ordered for her four children to be fetched. Then he asked her, “Do you have another god besides me?” “Allah is my God as well as yours,” she would reply. He kept asking her the same question before he boiled each of her first three children alive, and she would give the same reply. Until the youngest one, who was a baby, was left. She was about to revert when her baby spoke out and told her she is on the right path and she shouldn’t be afraid. Then, they burned them both. Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) narrates that, as he was making al-mi’raj, he smelt the sweetest scent ever. When he asked Jibril (AS) (Gabriel) about it, he told him that it’s the scent of Pharaoh’s daughter’s hairdresser and her four children.



Topic: The Purpose of Knowledge

In this Saturday’s The Guardian there is an interesting article about how the Universities in England about how the UK Government will focus funding in the Universities for courses that can demonstrate they can have commercial benefit and be productive to society. (see In search of the next Stephen Hawking: Physicists warn Britain risks losing the next generation of great minds http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/oct/02/search-for-stephen-hawkings-successor) and so what is the place of knowledge in Islam and the West?

Understanding Western development:

After the decline of the Roman Empire in the 5th Century CE, European feudal states ("Dark Ages"), but the Muslims conquered Spain. Crusades then the Renaissance then the age of Enlightenment (18th Century) due to a weak Catholic Church and the increase in exploration and trade with the Old World nations, Capitalism slowly begun to replace feudalism and modern Science was starting to be developed and its findings were applied to technological advancements. The industrial revolution (19th Century), where changes in agriculture, transport and manufacturing caused a shift from an economy based primarily on manual labour to one based on industry. Political revolutions and the formation of nation-states, using Capitalist values.


Muslim Education

First & powerful words revealed to Muhammed* (and the Muslims) was Iqra (‘Read’ and‘Recite’)

“Read in the name of your Lord who created, created man from a clot. Read, for your Lord is most Generous, Who teaches by means of the pen, teaches man what he does not know.” TMQ 96: 1-5


Muhammed* did not read to ‘read’ but to ‘recite’ as he had direct information from Allah. It was Allah’s plan to ensure Muhammed* was illiterate & unfamiliar with scriptures [‘If you had known scripture before this or were able to write then this would cause doubts in the ones who want to make doubts’ ~ TMQ 29:48].

Reading is the key to knowledge for Muslims but Muhammed* getting taught by Jibreel. Muhammed prioritised learning (e.g., Badr Prisoners of War asked to teach). But there is Knowledge that Benefits: Umer was reading the Torah and Muhammed* criticised him, but later after many years, Muhammed* said ‘I had prohibited you from reading the stories of Bani Israel but now I am allowing you to read it, but do not believe in it and do not disbelieve in it’; Furthermore, Muhammed* used to make du’a: ‘Oh Allah I ask that you give me knowledge that benefits and I seek refuge in you from knowledge that does not benefit’

Knowledge is developmental: need to feed the students what they can understand easily. Then examinations will test the people according to their level

The Muslim world historically excelled in education and made huge contributions to science and technology. It was the Abbasids that first formalised education in the Muslim world setting in motion what is considered the golden age of Islam by historians, where substantial development occurred in many scientific spheres. The Khulufaa' attracted to their courts men of science, poets, physicians and philosophers whom they supported. Learning progressed and developed with differences of creed, colour, race and tribe being no barrier to learning.


The Masjid (Mosque) served as the fundamental educational institution of early Muslims. However, as the demand for learning grew, the Madrassah - modern day college began to appear. Prior to this period education was taught in mosques in an informal manner. At this early stage, people seeking knowledge tended to gather around certain knowledgeable Muslims – shaykhs who began to hold regular religious education sessions - majalis. With the creation of Madrassah's the Jamia (university) emerged. The University of Al-Karaouine (Jami'at al-Qarawiyyin) in Fez, Morocco as the oldest university in the world founded in 859 and Al-Azhar University (Cairo) in the 10th century, offered a wide variety of academic degrees, including postgraduate degrees, and was the first fully-fledged university.

The Islamic form of education, was eventually emulated by the Europeans - of which many of the similarities stand till this day - the term Chair in a university, reflects the Arabic Kursi, upon which the ‘alim (teacher) would sit and teach his students. The modern doctorate in Latin is termed "a licence to teach" and had already developed long before it was transmitted to Europe, being a direct translation of the Arabic Ijazat at-tadris. A permission to teach was granted by an ‘alim, who had studied with an ‘alim after he had resolved a problem by issuing a fatwa, then defending it in front of a panel of ‘alims.

Even the modern day graduation ceremony resembles the Islamic ceremony. The robes worn today, were called Jubba tul faqih, and were given when an ‘alim received his ijazah. The early Islamic State also created the first public hospital (which replaced healing temples and sleep temples) and the psychiatric hospital, the public library and lending library, the academic degree-granting university, and the astronomical observatory as a research institute (as opposed to a private observation post as was the case in ancient times). The first universities that issued diplomas were the Bimaristan medical university-hospitals, where medical diplomas were issued to students of medicine who were qualified to be practicing doctors of medicine from the 9th century.

Sir John Bagot Glubb wrote "By Mamun's time medical schools were extremely active in Baghdad. The first free public hospital was opened in Baghdad during the Caliphate of Haroon-ar-Rashid. As the system developed, physicians and surgeons were appointed who gave lectures to medical students and issued diplomas to those who were considered qualified to practice. The first hospital in Egypt was opened in 872 AD and thereafter public hospitals sprang up all over the empire from Spain and the Maghrib to Persia."

Madrasahs were also the first law schools, and many have suggested that the "law schools known as Inns of Court in England" may have been derived from the Madrasahs that taught Islamic law and jurisprudence.


Islamic purpose for education and learning includes:

- Building the Islamic Personality (aqliya and nafseeyah) by planting the Islamic culture in the hearts and minds of students

- Preparing the future generation to become scientists, specialists in all fields of life (Islamic sciences and natural sciences) so that they give rise to the Ulema and specialists who will lead the Ummah to become a great nation


“And He has subjected to you the night and the day, and the sun and the moon; and the stars are subjected by His command. Surely, in this are proofs for a people who understand.” TMQ An-Nahl 16:12


“And He has subjected to you all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth; it is all as a favour and kindness form Him. Verily, in it are signs for a people who think deeply.” TMQ Al-Jathiyah 45:13