Prophetology Selections Part Three
WHAT IS ‘DALA’IL AL KHAIRAT’ AND WHO COMPLIED IT
‘Dala’il al Khairat’ is the title of a smallish book of salawat which has been around for about six centuries. The name means ‘Guides to Good’ (pious feelings and deeds). It was edited by a sufi scholar named imam Abu Abdullah Muhammad Sulaiman al Jazuli. The present editions do not only contain the salawats he has collected from various sources but also many other sections similarly intended- the praises of Allah and His Prophet sws.
Among many Sufis it is required reading and the salawat section is therefore arranged in seven chapters each for the each day of the week. Below we will present abridged versions of these chapters with some occasional unavoidable facilitating and condensing modifications and a few brief explanations in brackets for appreciation’s sake. In the course of it the spiritually able reader with enough goodwill will see the great spiritual potential contained in the exercise. How a man or woman who regularly and faithfully reads these beautiful salawats and the other brilliant prayers sprinkled among them with profit can fail to be moved so much as to move mountains with his or her faith? (and the most difficult and necessary mountains to move are our bad habits which doom us to a life of hell here and hereafter).
FROM ‘THE OPENING PRAYER’
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Praise be to the Lord of All Existence. Allah is enough for me- what a Perfect Support He is! There is no real capability and real power except with Allah. O Allah I distance myself from my own skills and powers and take refuge in Thine. O Allah I approach Thee by saying blessings on our master Muhammad, Thy servant, Thy prophet and Thy messenger, the king of all messengers, in obedience to Thy command, affirming his truth and in love for him and with desire towards him and in appreciation of his worth and rank, on whom be Allah’s blessings and peace. He deserves all that and please accept from me this devotion, in Thy generosity, and make me one of Thy good servants and help me to read this book regularly for the sake of his dearness to Thee.
My God, for the sake of the standing of Thy prophet with Thee, our master Muhammad may Allah’s blessings and peace be on him, and his rank in Thy appreciation and for the sake of his love for Thee and of the Secret which is between Thee and him I ask Thee to bless him and grant peace to him and his family and his companion-disciples. O Allah multiply my love for him and make me aware of what is due to him and of his many high ranks and make me successful in following him and standing with him and reflecting his good manners and his ways and associate me with him and favour me with his vision and make me happy with his conversation and remove from me vain pursuits and useless interests and intermediaries and veils and connect my hearing to his delicious address and make me ready to receive direct from him and make me worthy of his service and make my salawat (prayers of blessing) for him an enlightening light, perfect and perfecting, pure and purifying, destroying of all wrong and darkness and doubt and idolatry and blasphemy and lie and sin and burden and make it a cause of my purification and orientation enabling me attaining the state of sincerity (ikhlas) and sanctity so that no one occupies the throne of divinity in my heart but Thee and I become exclusively attentive and responsive to Thy Presence and become one of the enjoyers of Thy special friendship on account of my sticking to his good manners and adopting his good nature on whom be Allah’s blessings and peace. Amen.
MONDAYS
O Allah Thou saidst “Indeed Allah and his angels shower blessings on the Prophet. Then O believers, you also do shower blessings on him and greet him with greetings of peace”. Then here I am o Allah my Lord with Thy help. The blessings of Allah the Charitable and Merciful and that of the angels brought near to Allah and of the prophets and the truthful and the martyrs and the good people in general and of whatever glorifies Thee o Lord of all worlds- let all be on our master Muhammad son of Abdullah and the Seal of the Prophets and the leader of the Godly and the messenger of the Lord of all worlds, the witness, the bringer of good news, the caller to Thee with Thy permission, the light-giving torch, peace be on him.
O Allah raise him to the Praised Station (the rank nearest from Allah where all desires are granted to the occupant) t which has been the envy of all those before and those after him.
O Allah bless him as he would like to be blessed. O Allah I have indeed believed in Muhammad, then do not deprive
me of seeing him but grant me his company and let me die as one of his nation and water me from his pool with a thirst quenching delicious, easy drink with no thirst after it forever. Thou art able to do all things. O Allah transmit to the spirit of Muhammad respects and greetings from me.
O Allah shower blessings on our master Muhammad to the number of Thy creatures and until Thou art satisfied and to the weight of Thy Throne and the number of Thy words and as much as he deserves and every time mentioners mention him and every time non-mentioner fail to mention him and on his family members and pure clan and grant peace to them generously. O Allah shower blessings on Muhammad and on his wives and his offspring and on all prophets and messengers and near angels and all good servants of Allah to the number of raindrops from the sky since Thou madest it and shower blessings on Muhammad to the number of what grew on earth since Thou spreadest it and to the number of stars in heaven and Thou countest them and shower blessings on Muhammad to the number of breaths of all souls since Thou createst them and shower blessings on Muhammad to the number of what Thou hast created and Thou shalt be creating and Thou hast encompassed with Thy knowledge and many times over.
O Allah, make me of those who hold on to the nation of Muhammad (may Allah’s blessings and peace be on him) and magnify his sanctity and keep his pledge and way and help his party and his call and increase his followers and partisans and do not oppose his path and tradition.
O Allah protect me from all destructive trials and exempt me from all hardship and improve everything I display or hide (both my acts and my inner states) and cleanse my heart from grudge and jealousy and don’t make anybody influence me badly. Make me act justly whether I am angry or pleased with somebody and resigned to whatever happens with Thy decree and thrifty both in poverty and prosperity and humble both in word and behaviour and truthful both when serious or joking.
O Allah there are sins that are between me and Thee and sins that are between me and Thy servants; O Allah whatever are between me and Thee please forgive and whatever are between me and Thy servants please take over and empower me with Thy generosity, Thou art vast in forgiveness. O Allah, enlighten my heart with knowledge and employ my body in Thy obedience and purify my depths from corrupting elements and occupy my mind with edifying insights and protect me from Devil-inspired anxieties and save me from him, O Beneficent, so that he is left with no influence on me
TUESDAYS
O Allah I ask of Thee the good Thou knowest and take refuge in Thee from the evil Thou knowest and ask pardon for what Thou knowest. It is Thou Who knoweth and not us, Thou art the Knower of all invisibles. O Allah have mercy on me regarding this age of corruption and the unscrupulous people extending their hands towards me and oppressing me. O Allah put me in a protected status with Thee preventing harm to me and a castle of innocence encircling me until I meet Thee in security.
O Allah shower blessings on Muhammad as he deserves and bless him as is due to him and as Thou commanded us.
O Allah bless him and his family, the ocean of Thy lights and the mine of Thy secrets and the tongue of Thy proofs and the guest of honour of Thy Kingdom and the guiding leader to Thy Presence and the Seal of Thy prophets, with a blessing which lasts with Thy permanence and stay with Thy staying power, a blessing which satisfies Thee and satisfies him and makes Thee satisfied and pleased with us o the Most Merciful among the merciful.
O Allah bless the one whom with his blessing burdens are fast unburdened. O Allah bless the one whom with his blessing the stations of nearness to the Beneficent (Allah) are attained. O Allah bless the one whom with his blessing both the old and young are pardoned. O Allah bless the one whom with his blessings we are treated well both here and hereafter.
Praise be to Allah for His forbearing us despite what He knows and for his pardoning us despite His power to punish us. O Allah I ask Thy protection from need except for Thee and humbling subjection except to Thee and fear except from Thee and I take refuge in Thee from telling lies and from shame covering me and becoming proudly deceived about and heedless towards Thee. O Allah, bless our master Muhammad and his family as Thou blest and pitied and made prosperous Abraham among all people; Thou art the Praiseworthy Magnificent One, with blessings to the number of Thy creatures and to Thy perfect satisfaction and to the weight of Thy Throne and to the number of Thy words.
WEDNESDAYS
O Allah shower blessings and peace on our master Muhammad the unlettered prophet and on his wives the mothers of believers and on his offspring and all household, such ample blessings and peace that no number can limit them and more never fail to join them, blessings and peace that shall be enough to satisfy Thee and to pay his due and to give him the means and the authority and the high status and raise him to the Station of the Praised Thou promised him and reward him with what he deserves and the same on all his brothers among the prophets and the truthful and the martyrs and the good in general and us all as well o the Most Merciful of the merciful. O Allah give our master Muhammad the best he asked of Thee for himself and give our master the best Thou gave to anybody among Thy servants and give our master Muhammad the best Thou are to be asked by or keep in store for anybody until the Day of Judgment. O Allah shower blessings on our master Muhammad and Adam and Noah and Abraham and Moses and Jesus and all the prophets and messengers in between. O Allah bless our father Adam and mother Eve with the blessings of Thy angels and grant them the satisfaction until they are fully pleased and reward them the best Thou rewarded any father and mother on account of their children. O Allah shower blessings on our master Gabriel and Michael and Israfel (Rafael) and Azrael and the carriers of Thy Throne and the near angels and all prophets and messengers- may Allah’s blessings and peace be on them all. O Allah bless Muhammad with such blessing as satisfies Thee and satisfies him and makes Thee pleased with us and reward his family members with what is their worth on our behalf and to our credit.
O Allah bless our master with such blessing as to make us deserve Thy saving us from all terrors and disasters and meeting all our needs and cleansing us of all sins and raising us to highest ranks and making us attain to highest and farthest aims attainable in life in terms of all pious good achievements as well as after death and forgive us and our parents and all muslims. Praise be to Allah the Lord of All Existence.
O Allah shower blessings on our master Muhammad the best of creation and most beautiful of them and their most magnificent and most graceful and gracious, the most merciful and generous, kindest and most tolerant, best mannered and with most perfect and pleasant character, nearest and dearest to Allah among His creatures, the prophet of Allah, the messenger of Allah, the beloved of Allah, the pure one of Allah, the friend of Allah, the devotee of Allah, the purest of His prophets, the handle of Allah for people to hold on to, the protégée of Allah for the protection of all, the key to the loving kindness of Allah for all, the favour of Allah on all, the chosen from among all messengers and the elect of all His creation, the best of the ones raised and sent, the truest of all speakers, the most saving of all intercessors, and the most gracious of those whose intercession is begged, the truthful in what he conveyed and the holder fastest to his Lord’s commandments, the carrier of all burdens loaded, the nearest to Allah in terms of access and highest off all in his rank and range with Him tomorrow and the noblest of Allah’s prophets and sincerest towards Allah and the loveliest to Him and nearest in nearness to Allah, the best as to his Law among all prophets and the most perfect of them as regards beauties and graces of favours for us and the best of prophets as regards obedience to Allah and merit and the sweetest of speech and the highest praised in the circle of angels and the most loyal in his pledges and most faithful in fulfilling his promises and the most thankful to Allah and most successful in his work and most graceful in patience and most abundant in good works and charity and the easiest to follow and most conclusive in proof and the foremost in faith and the most eloquent in speech and the most obvious in his and triumph and the most convincing in his authority.
THURSDAYS
O Allah shower blessings on Muhammad Thy servant and messenger such blessings as to make Thee satisfied and pleased and to become a full reward for him and a payment in full of his rights on us. Bless him with the best of what the followers of any prophet asked of Thee for their prophet or any race asked of Thee for their messenger and bless all his brothers from among the prophets and the pious, o the Most Merciful of the merciful. O Allah keep us alive on his ways and manners and make us die as one of his nation and among those benefiting from his intercession with Thee. Make us reach his pool and water us from his cup without suffering shame and regret before then, without becoming guilty of changing or corrupting his ways or fallen into felling trials o Lord of the Worlds. O Allah forgive my sins and show kindness to my parents as they showed me when I was small and all muslim men and all muslim women whether already dead or alive and all that are still to come.
O Allah I ask Thee by the Majesty of Thy Face and the Light of Thy Greatness and by what Thou hast bound Thyself with (showing infinite loving kindness- rahmah) that Thou and Thy angels shower blessings on Muhammad Thy servant and messenger and prophet and pure one and good one of Thy creation the best blessings ever Thou hast showered on any of Thy servants; Thou art the Praiseworthy Majestic One. O Allah raise his rank and ennoble his standing and make heavy his balance and brighten his proof and make victorious his way and increase his reward and light up his light and make permanent his miracle and join with him his offspring and members of family in what delights his eyes and magnify him among the prophets who came before him and give him the authority of intercession for his followers with such effective intercession as to become the envy of all those before and after him. O Allah bring us and him together as we have believed in him without seeing him and do not keep us separated from him until we enter where he enters and arrive at his pool and make us his companions together with the favoured ones from among the prophets and the truthful and the martyrs and the good- how beautiful are they as companions. Praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds.
FRIDAYS
O Allah I ask Thee with all the Great Names of Thine which Thou namest Thyself, what I know of them and what I do not; I ask Thee with the names with which Adam peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Noah peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Hud peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Abraham peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Ishmael peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Isaac peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Jacob peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Joseph peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Moses peace be on him called out to thee Job peace be on him called out to Thee and the names David peace be on him called out to Thee and the name Solomon peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Jonah peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Daniel peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Samuel peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Jeremiah peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Isaiah peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Zachariah peace be on him and the names John (Yahya) peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Jesus peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Muhammad peace be on him called out to Thee and all Thy prophets and messengers and saints called out to Thee that Thou showered blessings on Muhammad and on his family and companions to the number of what Thou created before the heaven was built and the earth spread out and the mountains raised and the seas filled in and the springs gushed forth and the rivers made to flow and the sun brightened and the moon shone and the planets sparkled; then Thou wert where Thou wert alone without partner. And also shower blessings on Muhammad every time the Pen moves in the Mother of the Book which is with Thee and every time any soul breathes in and breathes out and every time a leave, a branch or a tree swings in the wind and to the number of rain drops and the drops in Thy seas and to the number of Thy creatures walking or scrawling on earth or flying in air and every time they move or stop or breathe or eat or drink or glorify Thee and to the number of Thy angels and genies and demons and their flights and landings and everytime they clap a wing… from the day Thou made the world to the Day of Judgment send blessings on our master Muhammad. O Allah shower blessings on him to the number of everything Thou created of things and plants and animals and happenings and many times more and to the extent of Thy knowledge and range of Thy loving kindness. O Allah bless him every time the night falls and bless him every time the day lights up and bless him here and hereafter. O Allah bless him until no more blessings remain to bless with. O Allah bless him among the earlier generations and bless him among the later generations and bless him among the Highest Dignitaries (standing before Thy Throne) until the Day of Judgment. O Allah pardon believing men and believing women whether dead or alive and be pleased with the pure wives of the Prophet the mothers of believers and with his superb companions who are the leaders of guidance and the stars of the (spiritual) firmament and with all those who follow them in good faith to the end of the world and praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds.
SATURDAYS
O Allah, shower blessings on Muhammad as much as Thou lovest him and are pleased with him. Shower blessings on Muhammad as much as he loves Thee and are pleased with Thee. O Allah I ask Thee on account of Thy being my Owner and Lord and Protector and my Assurance and my Hope that Thou givest me the good which only Thou knowest and turn away from me the evil which only Thou knowest. That Thou pardonest my sins and cover up my all defects and save me from the Fire and guarantee me Thy pleasure and security and forgiveness and favours and look after me in Thy Garden together with those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy favours- the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs and the good in general. Thou art Powerful to do all things. O Allah set me apart for me to do what Thou hast created me for and do not distract me from carrying out the obligations Thou hast placed on me and do not deprive me despite my praying to Thee and do not punish me despite my asking forgiveness from Thee. O Allah, Thou saidest and Thy word is true “It is Allah Who created both you and what you do”. Nothing issues from any of Thy servants as to word or action or movement or rest but Thy knowledge and permission and performance precedeth it. How then it is possible Thou inspirest and helpest me to compose such a book as this and make easy for me in it Thy ways and means and drive out from my heart all doubt and hesitation about this Noble Prophet and make his love in me dearer than my all relations and friends; Then I implore Thee o Allah, o Allah, o Allah to make me and all those who love and follow him to enjoy his intercession and company on the Day of Reckoning without any argument, punishment, reprimand and blaming preceding. And that Thou favourest me with looking at Thy Noble and Gracious Face on The Day of Rewards and More and that Thou rewardest out prophet on my behalf and on behalf of all believers men and women, dead or alive or still to come with the best and grandest and most complete and comprehensive reward better than Thou rewardest anybody with from Thy servants o Thou Strong, Powerful and Sublime!
SUNDAYS
Allah shower blessings on Muhammad that would fill the heavens and the earth and all between and more as much as Thou wishest. O Allah, as he stood up with the mantle of messengerhood and saved the people from ignorance and fought against the people of blasphemy and error and invited to Thy Unity and endured terrible sufferings in guiding Thy servants- then please give him O Allah what he prayed for and make him attain his desire and grant him the means and the privilege and the exalted rank and the Praised Station Thou promised him, for Thou donst break Thy promises. O Allah shower blessings on Thy near angels and Thy prophets sent and on all those who obey Thee and make us worthy of Thy compassion and love on account of this prayer. O Allah shower blessings on Muhammad the worthiest of Thy prophets and dearest of Thy friends and the Beloved of the Lord of All Existence and the witness of all messengers and the master of all children of Adam, the highest celebrated among the near angels, the bringer of good news, the warner, the light giving torch, the truthful and loyal, the obvious truth, the tender-hearted and merciful, the guide to the Right Path whom Thou hast given the seven verses (al Fatihah) and the Great Qur’an, the prophet of kindness, the guide of the nation, the one for whom the earth shall split first at Resurrection and the first to enter the Garden, the one supported by Gabriel and Michael and joyously predicted in the Torah and the Gospel , the Chosen, the Favoured Abil Qasim Muhammad son of Abdullah son of Abdulmuttallib son of Hashim. O Allah shower blessings on Thy near angels who glorify Thee day and night without losing enthusiasm a bit and do not disobey Thee but do what they are commanded. O Allah as Thou choosest them as messengers to Thy messengers and trustees of Thy Revelation and witnesses over Thy creation and as Thou burnt away for them the hiding of Thy veils and gave access to them to what Thy invisible worlds hide and appointed from among them guards of Thy Garden and carriers of Thy Throne and made them the majority of Thy hosts and raised preferred them over the rest and settled them in highest heavens and kept them innocent of disobedience and meanness and purified of defects and afflictions- bless them and greet them with greetings of peace on our behalf and thereby multiply their virtues and make us worthy of their asking pardon from Thee for us. O Allah shower blessings on Muhammad and all his brothers Thy other prophets and messengers whose bosoms Thou hast expanded and delivered in them Thy Wisdom and put in them Thy prophethood and sent on them Thy Books and with whom Thou guided Thy creatures and who invited to Thy Unity and motivated towards Thy promise and discouraged against Thy threat and mentored them on Thy Path and stood up with Thy proof and evidence; therefore greet them on our behalf with greetings of peace and give us a great reward for it. O Allah shower blessings on Muhammad and on the family of Muhammad everlasting blessings on our behalf and accept it from us with such favour and generosity on Thy part so as to pay our indebtedness to him and he is pleased with us.
O Allah, shower blessings on Muhammad the one with beauty and grace, delightful and perfect, with high worth and light and a tongue full of thanks and a grateful heart and a knowledge famed and armies victorious and sons and daughters and pure wives and the high exalted ranks and the owner of Zamzam and the Maqam (al Ibrahim) and the Holy Precinct and the master of avoiding sins and looking after orphans and Hajj pilgrimage and recitation of the Qur’an and glorification of Allah and fasting the Ramadan and the master of magnanimity and generosity and of keeping promises and pledges; the speaker always of truth, the Praised One in the Scripture, the prophet the servant of Allah, the prophet the treasure of Allah, the prophet the evidence of Allah, the prophet to whom obedience is obedience to Allah and to whom disobedience is disobedience to Allah. The prophet of the Arab, of Quraish, of Zamzam, of Mekka, of Tema, the owner of the handsome face and the kohled gaze and the owner of the Pool of Plenty (Kauthar) and the Spring of Plenty (salsabil) and the leader of those with limbs shining from ablutions into the Paradise of delights, the companion of Gabriel peace be on him and the messenger of the Lord of the Worlds and the intercessor for the sinners, may Allah bless him and his family and companions who emigrated to help him and helped him as their immigrant- what beautiful emigrants, what beautiful helpers they were! Amen.
CLOSING PRAYER
O Allah, with our invoking blessings and peace on him fill with joy our hearts and make easy our affairs and open up our intractables and disperse our gloom and pardon our sins and pay up our debts and improve our state and make us attain our goals and accept from us our repentance and wash away our evil inclinations and help our proof and purify our tongues and abate our savagery and pity our loneliness and make our salawat and salam (greetings of peace on him) a light in front of us and behind, to our right and to our left, over us and from below us and in life and at death and in the grave and in our gathering to Thee and a shade to shade under on the Day of Judgment and make heavy o Lord in scale our good deeds and make continuous their blessings on us until we join our master and our prophet Muhammad may Allah’s blessings and peace be on him. O Allah with him we seek intercession in Thy Presence as he is the best of intercessors and by whom we beg Thee to give oath as he is the most precious for Thee to give pronounce an oath by and we seek access to Thee for the sake of Thy love for him and his for Thee and complain to Thee the hardness of our hearts and the abundance of our sins and the extent of our vain desires and the corruption of our behaviour and our laziness towards Thy obedience and our rush to Thy opposition and what an excellent resort of complaints are Thou o Lord. With Thee we ask help against our enemies and our egos, please help us. On Thy generosity we depend in our salvation please do not abandon us to others o Lord. To the side of Thy messenger we attach ourselves, please do not drive us away from him. At Thy Door we stand, please do not turn us away. From Thee we ask, please do not leave us empty- handed. O Allah, pity our pitiful and miserable and tearful beggings and convert our fears to safety and accept our works and improve our state and make Thy obedience our occupation and realise our good desires for us to the full and conclude our lives with happy salvation. This is our humble state in front of Thee and our affair is no secret to Thee; Thou commanded and we rebelled and Thou forbade and we committed. We can than do nothing but run to Thy forgiveness, please absolve us, o the best of those hoped from and most generous of those begged from. Thou art the Most Magnanimous and the Most Tender and Merciful, o the Most Merciful of the merciful. May Allah shower blessings on our master Muhammad and his family and companions and all thanks and praises be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. Allah is enough for us and there is no capability and power except with Allah. Amen.
LESSON 8
MAGNIFICENT CHARACTER
“Nuun! By the pen and what they write, thou art not, thanks to thy Lords favour, jinn-possessed. And indeed for thee is an unending reward. And thou art on a truly magnificent character. Thou wilt see and they will see, as to which one of you is deluded. Certainly Thy Lord knoweth those who went astray and those who are rightly-guided” (Qur’an 68: 1-7).
The above verses came down from the Lord of the Heavens and earth when Muhammad (sws) the messenger of Allah was tormented at its worst in the hands of his compatriots who were not prepared to abandon their ignorant and superstitious evil ways and advance on to the path of truth and righteousness, love and mercy he was inviting them. They kept variously accusing and ridiculing him and torturing the weaker members of his small following. One of the accusations was that he was not inspired his revelations from God but was possessed by jinni, the demons as arabs called them, which possession was a synonym for madness. The idolaters claimed they were the rightly guided group and Muhammad was just deluded. Yet and extremely tellingly, all were unanimous that his character and intelligence was truly great. So what was really the matter was that the Prophet’s teaching threatened them on at least two fronts- losing their lucrative exploitation of the idol-filled temple, namely the Holy Kaaba to which arabs from all over the places they lived regularly flocked to it, the flow becoming a great flood especially during the yearly hajj (pilgrimage) season. The guardianship of the Kaaba and its environs which they also called Masjid al Haram (the Holy Mosque) conferred on them such prestige and brought in so much other profits that a denial of the divinity of the idols in it could simply blow the whole hoax up in smoke. Of course they did not know that Allah, given His Divine character, took away nothing without giving something better instead. However they kicked and protested against Muhammad’s call to monotheism and high morality which was Islam. Yet when Islam won in the end and it made the Holy Mosque even holier and attracted numbers of pilgrims many times more than before the Meccans found themselves even more prosperous then before- with the difference that this time they were not guilty of idolatry and cruelty and delusion. In other words in Muhammad they so bitterly and cruelly opposed they ended up finding their saviour and incredibly great benefactor. Please consider the following.
In 609 Muhammad had his first revelation which soon assured him that he was appointed as the messenger of Allah sent initially to the Arabs and then to all mankind as the last prophet of and messenger from their Creator to teach them about their Perfect and Gracious Creator and how to walk His path of righteousness and kindness. After some bemusement and confusion they weighed towards opposition and increasingly shifted this opposition towards more and more intense and murderous forms. They tortured and killed some of the new faithful (those lacking local tribal affiliation) and tormented the Prophet only too badly for years. After thirteen years of increasingly painful struggle the prophet had to run for his life when he came to know of a mass attempt to assassinate him so as to avoid tribal liability. In other words each pagan tribe was going to be represented by one assassin who then like the assassins of Julius Caesar would pounce on him together and finish him off. Fearing such an eventuality for months now, he made it sure his followers slipped away in ones and twos to take refuge in another town three hundred miles to the north, namely (Yathrib, soon afterwards renamed Madina) where they expected the hospitality of muslims of that town who had recently been converted and had invited the Prophet and Meccan muslims to come and live with them. The prophet was the last one to emigrate together his best friend and most senior disciple Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). All emigrants had left all their property behind in Mecca and were faced with extreme poverty in their new home. The Meccan idolaters would not leave them alone to grow and prosper freely in their new home however. Islam was picking up steam at its new centre and was spreading dangerously fast. The idolaters, yet enjoying an unassailable majority of co-religionists among Arabs formed armies and attacked and attacked with increasing ferocity and desperation and the Prophet was barely able to hold them back, given his extreme weakness as a military opponent. But despite a few mortal exposures and near misses he held his ground and after six years from the emigration he was able to capture Mecca in a brilliant move when he was able to move a large and well-equipped army against Mecca in utmost secrecy. The Meccans were so impressed and caught by surprise that they capitulated and naturally expected a bloodbath to terminate them. But Muhammad was no ordinary mortal and even no ordinary prophet of God. He was not a Joshua, a David or what have you. He was a Joseph. He addressed his trembling captives “O Quarish (Meccans’ tribal name), what do you expect me to do to you now that you are in my hand?”. Knowing Muhammad’s impossibly noble character they thought smelled a faint smell of hope of escaping the worst. They exclaimed “You are a noble and gracious brother and we expect you to do what a gracious brother does to his guilty brethren. It was us who did you wrong”. He delivered something infinitely better, something most could not dare to expect. He declared “I wouldn’t do to you anything other than what my brother (fellow prophet) Joseph did to his brothers. I say to you as he did “No blame on and claims against you today, may Allah forgive you (12: 92). You are free to go”. The Meccans were dazed with incredulous joy and gratitude and many fell to their knees in homage and admiration. History records no such magnanimity on the part of any conqueror and victim of cruelty. They embraced Islam there and then except a few who still hesitated and the Prophet graciously let them be until they knew better. He took all new converts on as full muslim brothers and sisters including the daughter of the Meccan leader Utba, one of the top notorious haters and tormentors of the Prophet and wife of Abu Sufyan the current chief of Quraish and commander of their armies who had been attacking the Prophet’s community for years then, namely Hind bint Utba. Hind was the assassin (through an agent) and mutilator of Hamza the uncle of the Prophet (a saint and top fighter of Islam and very dear to the Prophet). When valorous Hamza was felled by a lance thrown by Hind’s agent Wahshi, a master lancer, slyly from behind a rock she had rushed forward and cut apart Hamza, cut out his liver and chewed it for hate’s sake and as revenge for Hamzas killing one of hers in a previous battle, the Badr. She naturally prepared herself for the worst but she was forgiven without even a single reprimand. To the Quraishite leaders, now totally forgiven the Prophet did the next unthinkable. He gave them especially greater shares from the prosperity of the new nation of muslims. Many were appointed commanders and governors on merit (ability) grounds as if they had been muslims from the start. The result was a universal phenomenon never seen before then and since- a community falling in love with their leader more intensely and headily then in any other form of love. And what is every bit as great was that the leader (unlike rulers who command hearts by exclusive state propaganda from behind impenetrable palace walls behind which they act like devils) fully deserved and kept deserving this love to his last breath as well as to this day among all muslims. No community of people loved a leader so universally, so unanimously, so steadily and so totally as muslims loved Muhammad (may Allah’s greatest blessings and choicest greetings be on him forever). Imaginary love for largely legendary or imaginary god-men like the Buddha and the Christ is one thing (I do not mean that Gautama or Jesus did not exist. What I mean is what are believed about them are largely based on legends and myths created about them later on). Loving a fully flesh and blood real man (authentically preserved by history for later generations to this day) who naturally shares all human conditions with his fellows and helplessly suffer like them but without complaint and despite all the personal temptations and fallibilities rises above all traps and handicaps of testing situations and conducts himself as if he was a noble and great angel (like ‘This is not a man, this can only be a noble angel- malakun karim’- 12:31- as women said when they saw Joseph). Unlike other leaders he also conquered most of his bitterest enemies turning them into docile, adoring friends. It is reported that people saw Muhammad no happier than when an old enemy came forward and surrendered himself to him declaring Islam. He rose up from where he was seated, his face shining like the full moon with a thousand smiles and beginning with the traditional Arab compliment said to the newcomer “may my father and mother be sacrificed to you o so-and-so, I knew that a man like you could not fail to appreciate a thing like Islam’. Here you are and welcome”. And this newcomer could be guilty of most atrocious deeds against muslims and even the Prophet himself. Let the reader not think that this moral success was the fruit of skilful diplomacy and handling of men. True, the Prophet was a superb diplomat and skilful handler of men. But sincerity and truthfulness never departed from him. In a hadith he says “serious or joking, I am sincere and only tell the truth” (sidqun fi’l jiddi wa’l hazl). The men whom he so delightfully welcomed and he often appointed to high office as well. Justifying the appointment they proved themselves worthy of the praises the Prophet directed at them. For Quraish were no more evil people than other intrinsically good but ignorant people which form the majority of people everywhere in all ages. By ignorance I mean spiritual ignorance which may or may not be compounded by academic ignorance. For example let’s take the ‘advanced’ Western society. It has its wonderfully good as well as awfully bad sides. Good sides are based on the spiritual values all great religions share, which values also reason and good philosophy support. Bad sides are based on the attraction of the selfish interests and carnal inclinations which rule human behaviour when inner moral and spiritual checks are inadequately developed. This is what I call ‘ignorance’. Such ignorant people are unaware that all legitimate carnal desires and self interest
‘Dala’il al Khairat’ is the title of a smallish book of salawat which has been around for about six centuries. The name means ‘Guides to Good’ (pious feelings and deeds). It was edited by a sufi scholar named imam Abu Abdullah Muhammad Sulaiman al Jazuli. The present editions do not only contain the salawats he has collected from various sources but also many other sections similarly intended- the praises of Allah and His Prophet sws.
Among many Sufis it is required reading and the salawat section is therefore arranged in seven chapters each for the each day of the week. Below we will present abridged versions of these chapters with some occasional unavoidable facilitating and condensing modifications and a few brief explanations in brackets for appreciation’s sake. In the course of it the spiritually able reader with enough goodwill will see the great spiritual potential contained in the exercise. How a man or woman who regularly and faithfully reads these beautiful salawats and the other brilliant prayers sprinkled among them with profit can fail to be moved so much as to move mountains with his or her faith? (and the most difficult and necessary mountains to move are our bad habits which doom us to a life of hell here and hereafter).
FROM ‘THE OPENING PRAYER’
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Praise be to the Lord of All Existence. Allah is enough for me- what a Perfect Support He is! There is no real capability and real power except with Allah. O Allah I distance myself from my own skills and powers and take refuge in Thine. O Allah I approach Thee by saying blessings on our master Muhammad, Thy servant, Thy prophet and Thy messenger, the king of all messengers, in obedience to Thy command, affirming his truth and in love for him and with desire towards him and in appreciation of his worth and rank, on whom be Allah’s blessings and peace. He deserves all that and please accept from me this devotion, in Thy generosity, and make me one of Thy good servants and help me to read this book regularly for the sake of his dearness to Thee.
My God, for the sake of the standing of Thy prophet with Thee, our master Muhammad may Allah’s blessings and peace be on him, and his rank in Thy appreciation and for the sake of his love for Thee and of the Secret which is between Thee and him I ask Thee to bless him and grant peace to him and his family and his companion-disciples. O Allah multiply my love for him and make me aware of what is due to him and of his many high ranks and make me successful in following him and standing with him and reflecting his good manners and his ways and associate me with him and favour me with his vision and make me happy with his conversation and remove from me vain pursuits and useless interests and intermediaries and veils and connect my hearing to his delicious address and make me ready to receive direct from him and make me worthy of his service and make my salawat (prayers of blessing) for him an enlightening light, perfect and perfecting, pure and purifying, destroying of all wrong and darkness and doubt and idolatry and blasphemy and lie and sin and burden and make it a cause of my purification and orientation enabling me attaining the state of sincerity (ikhlas) and sanctity so that no one occupies the throne of divinity in my heart but Thee and I become exclusively attentive and responsive to Thy Presence and become one of the enjoyers of Thy special friendship on account of my sticking to his good manners and adopting his good nature on whom be Allah’s blessings and peace. Amen.
MONDAYS
O Allah Thou saidst “Indeed Allah and his angels shower blessings on the Prophet. Then O believers, you also do shower blessings on him and greet him with greetings of peace”. Then here I am o Allah my Lord with Thy help. The blessings of Allah the Charitable and Merciful and that of the angels brought near to Allah and of the prophets and the truthful and the martyrs and the good people in general and of whatever glorifies Thee o Lord of all worlds- let all be on our master Muhammad son of Abdullah and the Seal of the Prophets and the leader of the Godly and the messenger of the Lord of all worlds, the witness, the bringer of good news, the caller to Thee with Thy permission, the light-giving torch, peace be on him.
O Allah raise him to the Praised Station (the rank nearest from Allah where all desires are granted to the occupant) t which has been the envy of all those before and those after him.
O Allah bless him as he would like to be blessed. O Allah I have indeed believed in Muhammad, then do not deprive
me of seeing him but grant me his company and let me die as one of his nation and water me from his pool with a thirst quenching delicious, easy drink with no thirst after it forever. Thou art able to do all things. O Allah transmit to the spirit of Muhammad respects and greetings from me.
O Allah shower blessings on our master Muhammad to the number of Thy creatures and until Thou art satisfied and to the weight of Thy Throne and the number of Thy words and as much as he deserves and every time mentioners mention him and every time non-mentioner fail to mention him and on his family members and pure clan and grant peace to them generously. O Allah shower blessings on Muhammad and on his wives and his offspring and on all prophets and messengers and near angels and all good servants of Allah to the number of raindrops from the sky since Thou madest it and shower blessings on Muhammad to the number of what grew on earth since Thou spreadest it and to the number of stars in heaven and Thou countest them and shower blessings on Muhammad to the number of breaths of all souls since Thou createst them and shower blessings on Muhammad to the number of what Thou hast created and Thou shalt be creating and Thou hast encompassed with Thy knowledge and many times over.
O Allah, make me of those who hold on to the nation of Muhammad (may Allah’s blessings and peace be on him) and magnify his sanctity and keep his pledge and way and help his party and his call and increase his followers and partisans and do not oppose his path and tradition.
O Allah protect me from all destructive trials and exempt me from all hardship and improve everything I display or hide (both my acts and my inner states) and cleanse my heart from grudge and jealousy and don’t make anybody influence me badly. Make me act justly whether I am angry or pleased with somebody and resigned to whatever happens with Thy decree and thrifty both in poverty and prosperity and humble both in word and behaviour and truthful both when serious or joking.
O Allah there are sins that are between me and Thee and sins that are between me and Thy servants; O Allah whatever are between me and Thee please forgive and whatever are between me and Thy servants please take over and empower me with Thy generosity, Thou art vast in forgiveness. O Allah, enlighten my heart with knowledge and employ my body in Thy obedience and purify my depths from corrupting elements and occupy my mind with edifying insights and protect me from Devil-inspired anxieties and save me from him, O Beneficent, so that he is left with no influence on me
TUESDAYS
O Allah I ask of Thee the good Thou knowest and take refuge in Thee from the evil Thou knowest and ask pardon for what Thou knowest. It is Thou Who knoweth and not us, Thou art the Knower of all invisibles. O Allah have mercy on me regarding this age of corruption and the unscrupulous people extending their hands towards me and oppressing me. O Allah put me in a protected status with Thee preventing harm to me and a castle of innocence encircling me until I meet Thee in security.
O Allah shower blessings on Muhammad as he deserves and bless him as is due to him and as Thou commanded us.
O Allah bless him and his family, the ocean of Thy lights and the mine of Thy secrets and the tongue of Thy proofs and the guest of honour of Thy Kingdom and the guiding leader to Thy Presence and the Seal of Thy prophets, with a blessing which lasts with Thy permanence and stay with Thy staying power, a blessing which satisfies Thee and satisfies him and makes Thee satisfied and pleased with us o the Most Merciful among the merciful.
O Allah bless the one whom with his blessing burdens are fast unburdened. O Allah bless the one whom with his blessing the stations of nearness to the Beneficent (Allah) are attained. O Allah bless the one whom with his blessing both the old and young are pardoned. O Allah bless the one whom with his blessings we are treated well both here and hereafter.
Praise be to Allah for His forbearing us despite what He knows and for his pardoning us despite His power to punish us. O Allah I ask Thy protection from need except for Thee and humbling subjection except to Thee and fear except from Thee and I take refuge in Thee from telling lies and from shame covering me and becoming proudly deceived about and heedless towards Thee. O Allah, bless our master Muhammad and his family as Thou blest and pitied and made prosperous Abraham among all people; Thou art the Praiseworthy Magnificent One, with blessings to the number of Thy creatures and to Thy perfect satisfaction and to the weight of Thy Throne and to the number of Thy words.
WEDNESDAYS
O Allah shower blessings and peace on our master Muhammad the unlettered prophet and on his wives the mothers of believers and on his offspring and all household, such ample blessings and peace that no number can limit them and more never fail to join them, blessings and peace that shall be enough to satisfy Thee and to pay his due and to give him the means and the authority and the high status and raise him to the Station of the Praised Thou promised him and reward him with what he deserves and the same on all his brothers among the prophets and the truthful and the martyrs and the good in general and us all as well o the Most Merciful of the merciful. O Allah give our master Muhammad the best he asked of Thee for himself and give our master the best Thou gave to anybody among Thy servants and give our master Muhammad the best Thou are to be asked by or keep in store for anybody until the Day of Judgment. O Allah shower blessings on our master Muhammad and Adam and Noah and Abraham and Moses and Jesus and all the prophets and messengers in between. O Allah bless our father Adam and mother Eve with the blessings of Thy angels and grant them the satisfaction until they are fully pleased and reward them the best Thou rewarded any father and mother on account of their children. O Allah shower blessings on our master Gabriel and Michael and Israfel (Rafael) and Azrael and the carriers of Thy Throne and the near angels and all prophets and messengers- may Allah’s blessings and peace be on them all. O Allah bless Muhammad with such blessing as satisfies Thee and satisfies him and makes Thee pleased with us and reward his family members with what is their worth on our behalf and to our credit.
O Allah bless our master with such blessing as to make us deserve Thy saving us from all terrors and disasters and meeting all our needs and cleansing us of all sins and raising us to highest ranks and making us attain to highest and farthest aims attainable in life in terms of all pious good achievements as well as after death and forgive us and our parents and all muslims. Praise be to Allah the Lord of All Existence.
O Allah shower blessings on our master Muhammad the best of creation and most beautiful of them and their most magnificent and most graceful and gracious, the most merciful and generous, kindest and most tolerant, best mannered and with most perfect and pleasant character, nearest and dearest to Allah among His creatures, the prophet of Allah, the messenger of Allah, the beloved of Allah, the pure one of Allah, the friend of Allah, the devotee of Allah, the purest of His prophets, the handle of Allah for people to hold on to, the protégée of Allah for the protection of all, the key to the loving kindness of Allah for all, the favour of Allah on all, the chosen from among all messengers and the elect of all His creation, the best of the ones raised and sent, the truest of all speakers, the most saving of all intercessors, and the most gracious of those whose intercession is begged, the truthful in what he conveyed and the holder fastest to his Lord’s commandments, the carrier of all burdens loaded, the nearest to Allah in terms of access and highest off all in his rank and range with Him tomorrow and the noblest of Allah’s prophets and sincerest towards Allah and the loveliest to Him and nearest in nearness to Allah, the best as to his Law among all prophets and the most perfect of them as regards beauties and graces of favours for us and the best of prophets as regards obedience to Allah and merit and the sweetest of speech and the highest praised in the circle of angels and the most loyal in his pledges and most faithful in fulfilling his promises and the most thankful to Allah and most successful in his work and most graceful in patience and most abundant in good works and charity and the easiest to follow and most conclusive in proof and the foremost in faith and the most eloquent in speech and the most obvious in his and triumph and the most convincing in his authority.
THURSDAYS
O Allah shower blessings on Muhammad Thy servant and messenger such blessings as to make Thee satisfied and pleased and to become a full reward for him and a payment in full of his rights on us. Bless him with the best of what the followers of any prophet asked of Thee for their prophet or any race asked of Thee for their messenger and bless all his brothers from among the prophets and the pious, o the Most Merciful of the merciful. O Allah keep us alive on his ways and manners and make us die as one of his nation and among those benefiting from his intercession with Thee. Make us reach his pool and water us from his cup without suffering shame and regret before then, without becoming guilty of changing or corrupting his ways or fallen into felling trials o Lord of the Worlds. O Allah forgive my sins and show kindness to my parents as they showed me when I was small and all muslim men and all muslim women whether already dead or alive and all that are still to come.
O Allah I ask Thee by the Majesty of Thy Face and the Light of Thy Greatness and by what Thou hast bound Thyself with (showing infinite loving kindness- rahmah) that Thou and Thy angels shower blessings on Muhammad Thy servant and messenger and prophet and pure one and good one of Thy creation the best blessings ever Thou hast showered on any of Thy servants; Thou art the Praiseworthy Majestic One. O Allah raise his rank and ennoble his standing and make heavy his balance and brighten his proof and make victorious his way and increase his reward and light up his light and make permanent his miracle and join with him his offspring and members of family in what delights his eyes and magnify him among the prophets who came before him and give him the authority of intercession for his followers with such effective intercession as to become the envy of all those before and after him. O Allah bring us and him together as we have believed in him without seeing him and do not keep us separated from him until we enter where he enters and arrive at his pool and make us his companions together with the favoured ones from among the prophets and the truthful and the martyrs and the good- how beautiful are they as companions. Praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds.
FRIDAYS
O Allah I ask Thee with all the Great Names of Thine which Thou namest Thyself, what I know of them and what I do not; I ask Thee with the names with which Adam peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Noah peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Hud peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Abraham peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Ishmael peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Isaac peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Jacob peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Joseph peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Moses peace be on him called out to thee Job peace be on him called out to Thee and the names David peace be on him called out to Thee and the name Solomon peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Jonah peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Daniel peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Samuel peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Jeremiah peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Isaiah peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Zachariah peace be on him and the names John (Yahya) peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Jesus peace be on him called out to Thee and the names Muhammad peace be on him called out to Thee and all Thy prophets and messengers and saints called out to Thee that Thou showered blessings on Muhammad and on his family and companions to the number of what Thou created before the heaven was built and the earth spread out and the mountains raised and the seas filled in and the springs gushed forth and the rivers made to flow and the sun brightened and the moon shone and the planets sparkled; then Thou wert where Thou wert alone without partner. And also shower blessings on Muhammad every time the Pen moves in the Mother of the Book which is with Thee and every time any soul breathes in and breathes out and every time a leave, a branch or a tree swings in the wind and to the number of rain drops and the drops in Thy seas and to the number of Thy creatures walking or scrawling on earth or flying in air and every time they move or stop or breathe or eat or drink or glorify Thee and to the number of Thy angels and genies and demons and their flights and landings and everytime they clap a wing… from the day Thou made the world to the Day of Judgment send blessings on our master Muhammad. O Allah shower blessings on him to the number of everything Thou created of things and plants and animals and happenings and many times more and to the extent of Thy knowledge and range of Thy loving kindness. O Allah bless him every time the night falls and bless him every time the day lights up and bless him here and hereafter. O Allah bless him until no more blessings remain to bless with. O Allah bless him among the earlier generations and bless him among the later generations and bless him among the Highest Dignitaries (standing before Thy Throne) until the Day of Judgment. O Allah pardon believing men and believing women whether dead or alive and be pleased with the pure wives of the Prophet the mothers of believers and with his superb companions who are the leaders of guidance and the stars of the (spiritual) firmament and with all those who follow them in good faith to the end of the world and praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds.
SATURDAYS
O Allah, shower blessings on Muhammad as much as Thou lovest him and are pleased with him. Shower blessings on Muhammad as much as he loves Thee and are pleased with Thee. O Allah I ask Thee on account of Thy being my Owner and Lord and Protector and my Assurance and my Hope that Thou givest me the good which only Thou knowest and turn away from me the evil which only Thou knowest. That Thou pardonest my sins and cover up my all defects and save me from the Fire and guarantee me Thy pleasure and security and forgiveness and favours and look after me in Thy Garden together with those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy favours- the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs and the good in general. Thou art Powerful to do all things. O Allah set me apart for me to do what Thou hast created me for and do not distract me from carrying out the obligations Thou hast placed on me and do not deprive me despite my praying to Thee and do not punish me despite my asking forgiveness from Thee. O Allah, Thou saidest and Thy word is true “It is Allah Who created both you and what you do”. Nothing issues from any of Thy servants as to word or action or movement or rest but Thy knowledge and permission and performance precedeth it. How then it is possible Thou inspirest and helpest me to compose such a book as this and make easy for me in it Thy ways and means and drive out from my heart all doubt and hesitation about this Noble Prophet and make his love in me dearer than my all relations and friends; Then I implore Thee o Allah, o Allah, o Allah to make me and all those who love and follow him to enjoy his intercession and company on the Day of Reckoning without any argument, punishment, reprimand and blaming preceding. And that Thou favourest me with looking at Thy Noble and Gracious Face on The Day of Rewards and More and that Thou rewardest out prophet on my behalf and on behalf of all believers men and women, dead or alive or still to come with the best and grandest and most complete and comprehensive reward better than Thou rewardest anybody with from Thy servants o Thou Strong, Powerful and Sublime!
SUNDAYS
Allah shower blessings on Muhammad that would fill the heavens and the earth and all between and more as much as Thou wishest. O Allah, as he stood up with the mantle of messengerhood and saved the people from ignorance and fought against the people of blasphemy and error and invited to Thy Unity and endured terrible sufferings in guiding Thy servants- then please give him O Allah what he prayed for and make him attain his desire and grant him the means and the privilege and the exalted rank and the Praised Station Thou promised him, for Thou donst break Thy promises. O Allah shower blessings on Thy near angels and Thy prophets sent and on all those who obey Thee and make us worthy of Thy compassion and love on account of this prayer. O Allah shower blessings on Muhammad the worthiest of Thy prophets and dearest of Thy friends and the Beloved of the Lord of All Existence and the witness of all messengers and the master of all children of Adam, the highest celebrated among the near angels, the bringer of good news, the warner, the light giving torch, the truthful and loyal, the obvious truth, the tender-hearted and merciful, the guide to the Right Path whom Thou hast given the seven verses (al Fatihah) and the Great Qur’an, the prophet of kindness, the guide of the nation, the one for whom the earth shall split first at Resurrection and the first to enter the Garden, the one supported by Gabriel and Michael and joyously predicted in the Torah and the Gospel , the Chosen, the Favoured Abil Qasim Muhammad son of Abdullah son of Abdulmuttallib son of Hashim. O Allah shower blessings on Thy near angels who glorify Thee day and night without losing enthusiasm a bit and do not disobey Thee but do what they are commanded. O Allah as Thou choosest them as messengers to Thy messengers and trustees of Thy Revelation and witnesses over Thy creation and as Thou burnt away for them the hiding of Thy veils and gave access to them to what Thy invisible worlds hide and appointed from among them guards of Thy Garden and carriers of Thy Throne and made them the majority of Thy hosts and raised preferred them over the rest and settled them in highest heavens and kept them innocent of disobedience and meanness and purified of defects and afflictions- bless them and greet them with greetings of peace on our behalf and thereby multiply their virtues and make us worthy of their asking pardon from Thee for us. O Allah shower blessings on Muhammad and all his brothers Thy other prophets and messengers whose bosoms Thou hast expanded and delivered in them Thy Wisdom and put in them Thy prophethood and sent on them Thy Books and with whom Thou guided Thy creatures and who invited to Thy Unity and motivated towards Thy promise and discouraged against Thy threat and mentored them on Thy Path and stood up with Thy proof and evidence; therefore greet them on our behalf with greetings of peace and give us a great reward for it. O Allah shower blessings on Muhammad and on the family of Muhammad everlasting blessings on our behalf and accept it from us with such favour and generosity on Thy part so as to pay our indebtedness to him and he is pleased with us.
O Allah, shower blessings on Muhammad the one with beauty and grace, delightful and perfect, with high worth and light and a tongue full of thanks and a grateful heart and a knowledge famed and armies victorious and sons and daughters and pure wives and the high exalted ranks and the owner of Zamzam and the Maqam (al Ibrahim) and the Holy Precinct and the master of avoiding sins and looking after orphans and Hajj pilgrimage and recitation of the Qur’an and glorification of Allah and fasting the Ramadan and the master of magnanimity and generosity and of keeping promises and pledges; the speaker always of truth, the Praised One in the Scripture, the prophet the servant of Allah, the prophet the treasure of Allah, the prophet the evidence of Allah, the prophet to whom obedience is obedience to Allah and to whom disobedience is disobedience to Allah. The prophet of the Arab, of Quraish, of Zamzam, of Mekka, of Tema, the owner of the handsome face and the kohled gaze and the owner of the Pool of Plenty (Kauthar) and the Spring of Plenty (salsabil) and the leader of those with limbs shining from ablutions into the Paradise of delights, the companion of Gabriel peace be on him and the messenger of the Lord of the Worlds and the intercessor for the sinners, may Allah bless him and his family and companions who emigrated to help him and helped him as their immigrant- what beautiful emigrants, what beautiful helpers they were! Amen.
CLOSING PRAYER
O Allah, with our invoking blessings and peace on him fill with joy our hearts and make easy our affairs and open up our intractables and disperse our gloom and pardon our sins and pay up our debts and improve our state and make us attain our goals and accept from us our repentance and wash away our evil inclinations and help our proof and purify our tongues and abate our savagery and pity our loneliness and make our salawat and salam (greetings of peace on him) a light in front of us and behind, to our right and to our left, over us and from below us and in life and at death and in the grave and in our gathering to Thee and a shade to shade under on the Day of Judgment and make heavy o Lord in scale our good deeds and make continuous their blessings on us until we join our master and our prophet Muhammad may Allah’s blessings and peace be on him. O Allah with him we seek intercession in Thy Presence as he is the best of intercessors and by whom we beg Thee to give oath as he is the most precious for Thee to give pronounce an oath by and we seek access to Thee for the sake of Thy love for him and his for Thee and complain to Thee the hardness of our hearts and the abundance of our sins and the extent of our vain desires and the corruption of our behaviour and our laziness towards Thy obedience and our rush to Thy opposition and what an excellent resort of complaints are Thou o Lord. With Thee we ask help against our enemies and our egos, please help us. On Thy generosity we depend in our salvation please do not abandon us to others o Lord. To the side of Thy messenger we attach ourselves, please do not drive us away from him. At Thy Door we stand, please do not turn us away. From Thee we ask, please do not leave us empty- handed. O Allah, pity our pitiful and miserable and tearful beggings and convert our fears to safety and accept our works and improve our state and make Thy obedience our occupation and realise our good desires for us to the full and conclude our lives with happy salvation. This is our humble state in front of Thee and our affair is no secret to Thee; Thou commanded and we rebelled and Thou forbade and we committed. We can than do nothing but run to Thy forgiveness, please absolve us, o the best of those hoped from and most generous of those begged from. Thou art the Most Magnanimous and the Most Tender and Merciful, o the Most Merciful of the merciful. May Allah shower blessings on our master Muhammad and his family and companions and all thanks and praises be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. Allah is enough for us and there is no capability and power except with Allah. Amen.
LESSON 8
MAGNIFICENT CHARACTER
“Nuun! By the pen and what they write, thou art not, thanks to thy Lords favour, jinn-possessed. And indeed for thee is an unending reward. And thou art on a truly magnificent character. Thou wilt see and they will see, as to which one of you is deluded. Certainly Thy Lord knoweth those who went astray and those who are rightly-guided” (Qur’an 68: 1-7).
The above verses came down from the Lord of the Heavens and earth when Muhammad (sws) the messenger of Allah was tormented at its worst in the hands of his compatriots who were not prepared to abandon their ignorant and superstitious evil ways and advance on to the path of truth and righteousness, love and mercy he was inviting them. They kept variously accusing and ridiculing him and torturing the weaker members of his small following. One of the accusations was that he was not inspired his revelations from God but was possessed by jinni, the demons as arabs called them, which possession was a synonym for madness. The idolaters claimed they were the rightly guided group and Muhammad was just deluded. Yet and extremely tellingly, all were unanimous that his character and intelligence was truly great. So what was really the matter was that the Prophet’s teaching threatened them on at least two fronts- losing their lucrative exploitation of the idol-filled temple, namely the Holy Kaaba to which arabs from all over the places they lived regularly flocked to it, the flow becoming a great flood especially during the yearly hajj (pilgrimage) season. The guardianship of the Kaaba and its environs which they also called Masjid al Haram (the Holy Mosque) conferred on them such prestige and brought in so much other profits that a denial of the divinity of the idols in it could simply blow the whole hoax up in smoke. Of course they did not know that Allah, given His Divine character, took away nothing without giving something better instead. However they kicked and protested against Muhammad’s call to monotheism and high morality which was Islam. Yet when Islam won in the end and it made the Holy Mosque even holier and attracted numbers of pilgrims many times more than before the Meccans found themselves even more prosperous then before- with the difference that this time they were not guilty of idolatry and cruelty and delusion. In other words in Muhammad they so bitterly and cruelly opposed they ended up finding their saviour and incredibly great benefactor. Please consider the following.
In 609 Muhammad had his first revelation which soon assured him that he was appointed as the messenger of Allah sent initially to the Arabs and then to all mankind as the last prophet of and messenger from their Creator to teach them about their Perfect and Gracious Creator and how to walk His path of righteousness and kindness. After some bemusement and confusion they weighed towards opposition and increasingly shifted this opposition towards more and more intense and murderous forms. They tortured and killed some of the new faithful (those lacking local tribal affiliation) and tormented the Prophet only too badly for years. After thirteen years of increasingly painful struggle the prophet had to run for his life when he came to know of a mass attempt to assassinate him so as to avoid tribal liability. In other words each pagan tribe was going to be represented by one assassin who then like the assassins of Julius Caesar would pounce on him together and finish him off. Fearing such an eventuality for months now, he made it sure his followers slipped away in ones and twos to take refuge in another town three hundred miles to the north, namely (Yathrib, soon afterwards renamed Madina) where they expected the hospitality of muslims of that town who had recently been converted and had invited the Prophet and Meccan muslims to come and live with them. The prophet was the last one to emigrate together his best friend and most senior disciple Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). All emigrants had left all their property behind in Mecca and were faced with extreme poverty in their new home. The Meccan idolaters would not leave them alone to grow and prosper freely in their new home however. Islam was picking up steam at its new centre and was spreading dangerously fast. The idolaters, yet enjoying an unassailable majority of co-religionists among Arabs formed armies and attacked and attacked with increasing ferocity and desperation and the Prophet was barely able to hold them back, given his extreme weakness as a military opponent. But despite a few mortal exposures and near misses he held his ground and after six years from the emigration he was able to capture Mecca in a brilliant move when he was able to move a large and well-equipped army against Mecca in utmost secrecy. The Meccans were so impressed and caught by surprise that they capitulated and naturally expected a bloodbath to terminate them. But Muhammad was no ordinary mortal and even no ordinary prophet of God. He was not a Joshua, a David or what have you. He was a Joseph. He addressed his trembling captives “O Quarish (Meccans’ tribal name), what do you expect me to do to you now that you are in my hand?”. Knowing Muhammad’s impossibly noble character they thought smelled a faint smell of hope of escaping the worst. They exclaimed “You are a noble and gracious brother and we expect you to do what a gracious brother does to his guilty brethren. It was us who did you wrong”. He delivered something infinitely better, something most could not dare to expect. He declared “I wouldn’t do to you anything other than what my brother (fellow prophet) Joseph did to his brothers. I say to you as he did “No blame on and claims against you today, may Allah forgive you (12: 92). You are free to go”. The Meccans were dazed with incredulous joy and gratitude and many fell to their knees in homage and admiration. History records no such magnanimity on the part of any conqueror and victim of cruelty. They embraced Islam there and then except a few who still hesitated and the Prophet graciously let them be until they knew better. He took all new converts on as full muslim brothers and sisters including the daughter of the Meccan leader Utba, one of the top notorious haters and tormentors of the Prophet and wife of Abu Sufyan the current chief of Quraish and commander of their armies who had been attacking the Prophet’s community for years then, namely Hind bint Utba. Hind was the assassin (through an agent) and mutilator of Hamza the uncle of the Prophet (a saint and top fighter of Islam and very dear to the Prophet). When valorous Hamza was felled by a lance thrown by Hind’s agent Wahshi, a master lancer, slyly from behind a rock she had rushed forward and cut apart Hamza, cut out his liver and chewed it for hate’s sake and as revenge for Hamzas killing one of hers in a previous battle, the Badr. She naturally prepared herself for the worst but she was forgiven without even a single reprimand. To the Quraishite leaders, now totally forgiven the Prophet did the next unthinkable. He gave them especially greater shares from the prosperity of the new nation of muslims. Many were appointed commanders and governors on merit (ability) grounds as if they had been muslims from the start. The result was a universal phenomenon never seen before then and since- a community falling in love with their leader more intensely and headily then in any other form of love. And what is every bit as great was that the leader (unlike rulers who command hearts by exclusive state propaganda from behind impenetrable palace walls behind which they act like devils) fully deserved and kept deserving this love to his last breath as well as to this day among all muslims. No community of people loved a leader so universally, so unanimously, so steadily and so totally as muslims loved Muhammad (may Allah’s greatest blessings and choicest greetings be on him forever). Imaginary love for largely legendary or imaginary god-men like the Buddha and the Christ is one thing (I do not mean that Gautama or Jesus did not exist. What I mean is what are believed about them are largely based on legends and myths created about them later on). Loving a fully flesh and blood real man (authentically preserved by history for later generations to this day) who naturally shares all human conditions with his fellows and helplessly suffer like them but without complaint and despite all the personal temptations and fallibilities rises above all traps and handicaps of testing situations and conducts himself as if he was a noble and great angel (like ‘This is not a man, this can only be a noble angel- malakun karim’- 12:31- as women said when they saw Joseph). Unlike other leaders he also conquered most of his bitterest enemies turning them into docile, adoring friends. It is reported that people saw Muhammad no happier than when an old enemy came forward and surrendered himself to him declaring Islam. He rose up from where he was seated, his face shining like the full moon with a thousand smiles and beginning with the traditional Arab compliment said to the newcomer “may my father and mother be sacrificed to you o so-and-so, I knew that a man like you could not fail to appreciate a thing like Islam’. Here you are and welcome”. And this newcomer could be guilty of most atrocious deeds against muslims and even the Prophet himself. Let the reader not think that this moral success was the fruit of skilful diplomacy and handling of men. True, the Prophet was a superb diplomat and skilful handler of men. But sincerity and truthfulness never departed from him. In a hadith he says “serious or joking, I am sincere and only tell the truth” (sidqun fi’l jiddi wa’l hazl). The men whom he so delightfully welcomed and he often appointed to high office as well. Justifying the appointment they proved themselves worthy of the praises the Prophet directed at them. For Quraish were no more evil people than other intrinsically good but ignorant people which form the majority of people everywhere in all ages. By ignorance I mean spiritual ignorance which may or may not be compounded by academic ignorance. For example let’s take the ‘advanced’ Western society. It has its wonderfully good as well as awfully bad sides. Good sides are based on the spiritual values all great religions share, which values also reason and good philosophy support. Bad sides are based on the attraction of the selfish interests and carnal inclinations which rule human behaviour when inner moral and spiritual checks are inadequately developed. This is what I call ‘ignorance’. Such ignorant people are unaware that all legitimate carnal desires and self interest