Summary of Study Circle
from 6 November 2016:
Post-Revelation Uncertainty
Aisha narrated "the
Prophet* would dream as true as the Sun rose". That is his dreams would all
come true. He mentioned this to Khadija and she said "this is a good sign from
Allah" and this shows the wisdom of Khadija. Bukhari mentions this period of
dreams lasted six full months. Hence, from Rabbi-Awal to Ramadan the Prophet* saw
what happened the next day. In a hadith the Prophet* said "Nothing is left
of prophethood except good dreams. And good dreams are 1/46th of prophethood".
Prophethood lasted 23 years – so, as a fraction this is 0.5/23 = 1/46.
Aisha also narrates that
the Prophet* ran back to Khadija, his heart was palpitating, sweaty and
panicked. And he entered and said "cover me cover me". He was
reassured by Khadija.
According to one book she
went first to Adaas, a Christian slave who was a slave in Mecca, and asked him if
he is familiar with what’s going on. And Adaas said "An angel of God in this
place of Mecca?". Then she goes to Wariqah ibn Nawful - Khadija's older cousin.
And he was one of the four hunafaa (one of the four who rejected idolatry); he was
the eldest of the four and it’s recorded that he learned Hebrew scripture and became
a Christian.
So Khadija asks Wariqah and
he becomes eager and says "By God this is the same angel that came Musa".
He then said "how I wish I was a young man when your nation ridicules, persecutes
and expels you". When Wariqah said "expels" the Prophet* "my
nation will expel me?!" Wariqah said "yes, never has any prophet been
sent except that these things have happened".
And then Wariqah only lived
a short time. We know the Prophet* said he saw Wariqah wearing white robes and blessed
with gardens in Jannah. So he is surely one of the earliest converts to Islam. He
is the first male sahabi and first to die as a Muslim in Islam.
Finally the Prophet* said
"the revelation stopped for a while". Some scholars say up to six months
and other narrations say that the Prophet* ‘feared for himself’ and even
contemplated suicide during this uncertain silence.
And so the Prophet* resumed
back to normal, but then "when I was walking, I heard a sound and looked up
and saw the same angel that came to be on Hira. Sitting on a throne that was in
the heavens and once again I trembled - and I rushed back again. Then the Prophet*
began to tremble out of fear. One report says the Prophet* dropped onto his knees.
So he rushes home again saying "Cover me, cover me" and this was when
the second revelation were revealed.
Ways in which Revelation would came down to the Prophet
What exactly is revelation
and how does it occur? It is a direct communication from Allah to mankind. Ibn Qayyim
said the Prophet* was inspired by 7 different means:
1. True dreams - lowest form
of inspiration is true dreams. This is the only form of inspiration still open to
all of us and anyone can get this. The Prophet* saw these before his prophethood
for 6 months and also afterwards. There are three types of dream:
a. From Allah - good and
positive; could be visions of the future (i.e. like the Prophet* saw he was going
to tawaaf); or symbolic dreams that you cannot interprate yourself; they never terrify
you
b. From Shaytan - they terrify
you (nightmares); we should not tell anybody of them
c. Our own dreams - our own
imagination; the sign of this dream is that it vanishes from our memory.
2. Whispering /
inspiration from the angels. Example is the mother of Musa being inspired by Allah
"We inspire the mother of Musa". This type of inspiration happens to the
extremely righteous people that Allah chooses. Similarly the mother of Isa. So this
type of inspiration does not make you a prophet.
3. To see the angel in front
of your directly, and to speak to him directly in human form. Sometimes the sahaba
would see him, and sometimes they don't. Later (in Medina) when Jibraeel would come
to him, he would come in the form of a sahabi called Dihya, an Ansari, who was considered
to be the most handsome of all sahabi. Aisha once saw the Prophet* talking to Dihya
and asked "what did he want" but the Prophet* said "that was Jibraeel".
4. More difficult inspiration
- Jibraeel AS would communicate with the Prophet* and the Prophet* would go into
a 'trance'. The world around him would become unknown. Aisha said "in this
state, the Prophet* on a cold day would break into a sweat". In another hadith
"when surah Ma'ida came down the Prophet* was sitting on a camel, and the surah
was so heavy the camel had to sit down". As Allah says in the Qur’an "We
will give you a heavy speech". In another hadith the Prophet* was resting on
a sahaba and when wahi began the sahaba said he thought his thigh bone would crack.
In a hadith the Prophet* said "sometimes Jibraeel AS comes to me in the form
of a man, and sometimes he communicates with me and I hear a noise like the sound
of a bell, and this is more difficult for me - and I understand what he tells me".
5. The Prophet* would see
Jibraeel AS in his original angelic form which happened at least twice (first
revelation and al-'Isra' wal-Mi'raj). All we know he was so big he blocked the horizon
and he has 600 wings (the most number of wings of an angel).
6. Allah inspired /
spoke to him directly without the intermediary of the angels.
7. The highest form - Allah's
direct speech in His presence. This only happened once to the Prophet* in the journey
of al-'Isra' wal-Mi'raj. Only once Allah spoke to him directly - Jibraeel was not
there. So the Prophet* went to a place where he could hear the scribes writing.
And was closer than two bows lengths. And he could see the hijab of Allah - the
veil of light; and this was when Allah spoke to him directly. And certainly Allah
preferred the Prophet* directly as he called the Prophet* to the seven heavens.
The Day of Judgment
Al-Hawd - The Cistern / Pool
Allah will honour His slave
and Messenger Muhammad* in that great gathering by giving him a huge, vast cistern
whose water is whiter than milk and sweeter than honey, with a fragrance finer than
musk. The vessels for drinking will be like the stars of the sky. This good water
will come via 2 canals of gold & of silver from the river of Al-Kawthar, which
Allah has given to His Messenger* in Paradise. The Ummah of the Chosen Prophet*
will come to drink from it, and whoever would drink from it would never feel thirsty
again.
'Abdullah ibn 'Amr, narrated
that the Messenger of Allah said: "My cistern is (as big as) a month's journey,
and its comers are like the same. Its water is whiter than milk and its fragrance
is better than musk. Its drinking-vessels are like the stars of the sky. Whoever
drinks from it will never feel thirsty again. " (Bukhari and Muslim)
The Final Gathering To The Place Of Eternal Abode: Paradise Or Hell
Every Nation Will Be
Told To Follow That Which It Used To Worship
At the end of this Day, the
people will be gathered either to Paradise or to Hell. These are the final places
which people will reach. The Messenger* told us that at the end of that Day, each
nation will be told to follow the god they used to worship. So those who used to
worship the sun will follow the sun, and those who used to worship the moon will
follow the moon. For those who used to worship idols, their gods will be made to
appear before them and will walk before them and they will follow them. Those who
used to worship Pharaoh will follow him. Then these false gods will all fall into
the Fire, one after the other, and their worshippers will tumble into Hell after
them.
As Allah says concerning
Pharaoh: “He will go ahead of his people on the Day of Resurrection, and will lead
them into the Fire, and evil indeed is the place to which they are led” (TMQ 11:98)
After that there will be
no one left except the believers and a few of the People of the Book. Among the
believers will be the hypocrites who were with them in this world.
Then the believers will follow
their Lord. The Siraat will be set up, and the believers will be given their lights,
and they will cross the Siraat. But the light of the hypocrites will be extinguished,
and it will be said to them: 'Go back to your rear and seek a light! ' Then a wall
will be put up between them, with a gate therein. Inside it will be mercy, and outside
it will be torment. (TMQ 57:13)
As-Siraat
As-Safaareeni said: "In
Arabic, the word Siraat means a clear path or way. In shari'ah, it means a bridge
which will be set up over Hell, which the first and the last (of the people) will
pass over. It is a bridge between Paradise and Hell. "
The believers will cross
As-Siraat at speeds commensurate with their faith and righteous deeds. And Muslim
narrated from Abu Zubayr, that he heard Jaabir ibn 'Abdullah being asked about the
passing over Hell. He said:
"We will come on the
Day of Resurrection like this, like this, - and look at that - above the people.
And the nations will be called by their idols and that which they used to worship,
one by one. Then our Lord will come to us and will say, 'Who are you waiting for?'
They will say, 'We are waiting for our Lord. 'He will say, 'I am your Lord. 'They
will say, 'Let us see You. 'Then He will manifest Himself to them, smiling. Then
He will set out with them and they will follow Him. Each one among them, believer
or hypocrite, will be given a light, then they will follow Him. On the bridge over
Hell there will be hooks and spikes, which will catch whomever Allah wills. Then
the light of the hypocrites will be extinguished, and the believers will be saved;
the first group among them will have faces like the moon on the night when it is
full, seventy thousand who will not be brought to account. Then those who will follow
them will be like the light of the stars in the sky ... "
Bukhari and Muslim narrated
from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger* said, replying to the Sahaabah when they asked
him whether they would see Allah:
"Do you have any doubt
that you see the moon on the night when it is full and there are no clouds in front
of it?" They said, "No, O' Messenger of Allah." He said, "Then
you will see Him on the Day of Resurrection in the same way. Allah will gather the
people and will say, 'Whoever used to worship anything, let him follow it. 'So all
those who used to worship the sun, or the moon, or the false gods, will follow (their
gods). Then this Ummah will be left, with its hypocrites among them. Then Allah
will come to them in a Form other than that which they know, and He will say, 'I
am your Lord. 'They will say, 'We seek refuge with Allah from you. This is where
we will stay until our Lord comes to us. When our Lord comes to us, we will know
Him. 'Then Allah will come to them in the form which they know, and He will say,
'I am your Lord. 'They will say, 'You are our Lord,' and they will follow Him, and
the bridge will be set up over Hell. "
The Messenger of Allah* said:
"I will be the first one who will cross it, and the prayer of the Messengers
that Day will be, 'O' Allah, save, save ! ' On it will be spikes like the thorns
of as-sa 'daan. Have you not seen the thorns of as-sa 'daan?" They said, "Yes
indeed, O' Messenger of Allah." He said, "They are like the thorns of
as-sa 'daan, but no one knows how huge they are except Allah. They will hit people
according to their deeds: some will be doomed because of their deeds, and some will
cut into pieces and will fall into Hell, then they will be saved ..”
Allah has told us about this
scene, when the believers will cross as-Siraat. He says:
“On the Day you shall see
the believing men and the believing women - their light running forward before them
and by their right hands. Glad tidings for you this Day! Gardens under which rivers
flow [Paradise], to dwell therein forever! Truly, this is the great success! On
the Day when the hypocrites men and women will say to the believers: 'Wait for us!
Let us get something from your light!' It will be said: 'Go back to your rear! Then
seek a light! 'So a wall will be put up between them, with a gate therein. Inside
it will be mercy, and outside it will be torment. [The hypocrites] will call the
believers: 'Were we not with you?' The believers will reply: 'Yes! But you led yourselves
into temptations, you looked forward for our destruction; you doubted [in Faith]
and you were deceived by false desires, till the Command of Allah came to pass.
And the chief deceiver [Satan] deceived you in respect of Allah. ' So this Day no
ransom shall be taken from you [hypocrites], nor of those who disbelieved. Your
abode is the Fire. That is your mawla [friend - proper place], and worst indeed
is that destination.') (TMQ 5 7: 12-15)
“The Day that Allah will
not disgrace the Prophet [Muhammad] and those who believe with him. Their Light
will run forward before them and [with their Records Books of deeds] in their right
hands. They will say: 'Our Lord! Keep perfect our Light for us [to cross the Siraat]
and grant us forgiveness. Verily, You are Able to do all things.” (TMQ 66:8)
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