By Sh Khalidal-Ghamdi – 09 Muharram 1437

His Eminence Sheikh Khalidal-Ghamdi –May Allah protect him– delivered this Friday Khutbah entitled “Or Is It That They Did Not Recognise Their Messenger?” in which he talked about our Prophet Muhammad –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him‒ and introduced him as he was mentioned in the Noble Quran. He succinctly outlined both his moral traits and physical features. He equally exhorted Muslims to learn about his tradition and way of life in order to follow him and take him as a model.

Praise be to Allah! We praise Him, seek His assistance, and ask for His pardon. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our inner selves and the misdeeds we committed. Whomsoever Allah guides will never be led astray, and whomsoever Allah misguides will never find a guide. I bear witness that there is no deity except Allah alone with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger. May Allah send His profuse Salat (Graces, Honours, and Mercy) and Peace upon him, his family, Companions, and all those who piously follow in their footsteps!

Now then!

My counsel to you –O Servants of Allah– and to myself is to adhere to Taqwa vis-à-vis Allah (fear of disobeying Him) in private and in public. Taqwa is necessarily conducive to the contentment of the Knower of the unseen (i.e. Allah), to salvation from all types of afflictions, and to the purgation of souls and hearts.

“… If you obey and fear Allâh, He will grant you Furqân a criterion [(to judge between right and wrong), or (Makhraj, i.e. making a way for you to get out from every difficulty)], and will expiate for you your sins, and forgive you, …” [Al-Anfal: 29]

O Ummah of Islam!

This great religion is based on two greatbases which constitute its very foundation. Allah will by no means accept anybody’s deeds or accounts until they adhere to both of them. The first base is to know Allah, admit His Oneness and worship Him. The second one is to know the Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his family– love him and follow him. Both bases represent the requisite of the Two-Shahadas (i.e. attesting that “there is no deity except Allah alone with no partner and that Mohammad is the Messenger of Allah”), and the core of Islam and its essence.

“And they were commanded not, but that they should worship Allâh, and worship none but Him Alone (abstaining from ascribing partners to Him),…” [Al-Bayyinah: 5]

“He who obeys the Messenger (Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam), has indeed obeyed Allâh, …”Al-Nissa’: 80]

Knowledge of the Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his family– along with loving and obeying him, is an irrevocable personal duty incumbent on every Muslim, both male and female. It is a mandatory requirement in religion, a venerated creed, and an enlightening approach. By adhering to it, the servant of Allah will first enjoy an ever blissful life untainted by grief. Second, Allah will bless his lifetime and exalt his worship deeds. Third, Allah will cleanse his soul and mind of all impurities to allow him to experience the joy of life, which is one of the direct consequences of loving and obeying the Prophet ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his family. In this regard, and in a verse full of reproof, Allah did reprimand those who did not recognise their Messenger:

“Or is it that they did not recognize their Messenger (Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) so they deny him?” [Al-Mu’menoon: 69]

O Servants of Allah!

No human being deserves to be loved, revered, and obeyed in all respects except the Messenger of Allah –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his family. We are talking here about the graceful and generous Prophet whom Allah created and designed with special divine care. Allah selected, chose, preferred, and favoured him. He endowed him with all types of human perfection and aptness in terms of physical and moral attributes. He exalted him to superior ranks of glory, perfection and honour until he reached unprecedented levels never attained even by Allah’s select creatures: neither prophets heralding a divine message nor closeangels. Allah has therefore blocked all access to Him except through the channel of Muhammad –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his family. He forbade all His creatures to perform rites of worship except in accordance with the tradition legislated by Muhammad –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his family. Thus, he is the most revered creature for Allah; he is the most devoutly pious and virtuous person who observes taqwa vis-à-vis Allah. His knowledge of Allah is absolutely unrivalled. The world has never known a personality or a public figure like Muhammad’s –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his family‒ and mankind has never been acquainted with any educator, leader and exemplar who is more perfect or higher in rank than this Select Prophet, the Master of Adam’s offspring –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his family!

O Ummah of Muhammad –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his family!

Prolific accounts of narrators and biographers, voluminous writings of so many authors, huge quantity of verse composed by talented poets: all these will never attain the magnificence and the rhetoric and eloquence of Allah’s description of Muhammad –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his family– in the Holy Quran. Quite obviously, no one else knows the Messenger of Allah –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his family– more perfectly than his Lord and Creator does. By the same token, no one else has more knowledge of, and acquaintance with, Allah than the Messenger of Allah does –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his family!

The Noble and Glorious Qur’an, which is characterised by its eloquent style and impressive diction, talks about this Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him– in a way that captures the attention and enlightens the mind. Its account of the Prophet’s personality is overwhelmingly fluent and unbelievably fascinating. In an ornate style embellished with flowery diction, the Noble Quran handles the aspects of grandeur and the perfections of prophethood in his personality.

From early childhood, he was brought up asan orphan, but his Lord –Allah– provided him with shelter and raised him. Allah found him in need of guidance and incognizant of the Book and Faith, so He guided and selected him. He was very poor, but Allah made him self- sufficient and rich. Allah protected him until the time He sent him with His divine Message hundreds of years after the previous prophet (Jesus ‒Peace be upon him) had been sent to humanity. Allah selected him as a highly esteemed man in his community. As a member of their community, people knew him as perfectly as they did their own children.

The first message revealed to him by Allah was the beginning of Surat Iqra’ (that is, Read or Recite), then the beginning of Sūratal-Muddathir, both of which contain a detailed account of the teachings of Islam and the foundations of Da’wah (i.e. call to Islam). Thus, his selection for transmitting the divine Message –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his family– has come to mean the greatest divine gift and mercy entrusted to every Muslim:

“Indeed Allâh conferred a great favour on the believers when He sent among them a Messenger (Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) from among themselves, reciting unto them His Verses (the Qur’ân), and purifying them (from sins by their following him), and instructing them (in) the Book (the Qur’ân) and Al-Hikmah [the wisdom and the Sunnah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam (i.e. his legal ways, statements, acts of worship, etc.)], while before that they had been in manifest error.” [Al Imran: 164]

O You Muslims!

In the Noble Quran, Allah,the Almighty, has raised to a superior rank the status of this Venerated Prophet –May Allah’s Salatand Peace be upon him and his family! He exalted at length his devotion to worship, his moral rectitude, his general line of conduct, and his jihad. He had never addressed him ‒in the Noble Quran‒ except with (O you Messenger!) or (O you Prophet!) by way of veneration and exaltation. This is no surprise, for he is the Illiterate Prophet who has not strayed nor has he erred; nor has he spoken from his own inclination. It is notbut a revelation revealed, taught to him by Jibreel (Archangel Gabriel) who is intense in strength.

So, why should his Lord not exalt him if we know that he is the Seal of Prophets, the Witness, the Observer, the Truthful, and the Credible? He brought with him the truth and confirmed the veracity of his preceding messengers. He was sent to the two the humans and the Jinn as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner, as one who invites to Allah, by His permission and an illuminating lamp.

He was an illiterate prophet whose hand was unable to produce any inscription. He was equally unable to read. However, he brought the greatest laws of religion and he was sent by Allah to preach tolerant haneefiyyah (the pure creed of monotheism as initially preached by Ibrahim [Abraham] ‒May Peace be upon him). His Lord taught him of which he used to be ignorant and embellished him with high moral standards, including humility, courtesy to fellow-believers out of compassion, patience, tolerance, leniency, forgiveness, and pardon.

As a result, hearts and souls have inclined towards him, for had he been rude [in speech] and harsh-hearted, people would have disbanded from about him.

His noble heart –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his family– was imbibed with love for his Ummah. It was indeed grievous to him what it suffered and endured; he was kind and merciful to the believers. He used to have a real craving for ensuring guidance to his Ummah to the extent that he would kill himself through grief over it. However, his Lord consoled him and exhorted him to persevere because, as a Prophet ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his family– his duty was that of transmitting the divine Message without feeling deeply depressed by what they say:

“…So destroy not yourself (O Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) in sorrow for them. Truly, Allâh is the All-Knower of what they do!” [Fatir: 8]

“And let not their speech grieve you (O Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam),…” [Yunus: 65]

He was a noble Prophet who dedicated himself to the cause of Allah. He firmly and perseveringly warned (against the perils of hellfire) and indefatigably transmitted the Message of his Lord without ever slackening his pace. He never claimed or accepted any mundane gains in return for conveying the Message of his Lord. He was never among those who fabricated inexistent stories or behaved extravagantly. On the contrary, he preached tolerance, flexibility, moderation, and temperance. He was not something original among the messengers, and he did not bring anything by himself. He was only faithful in conveying his Lord’s Message –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his family!

His Lord guarded him and protected him against being led astray, harmed, made to slip by the disbelievers’ eyes, or tempted away from some of what was revealed to him in order to make him invent something else about his Lord. It grieves him that you should receive any injury or difficulty. He (Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) is anxious over you (to be rightly guided, to repent to Allâh, and beg Him to pardon and forgive your sins, in order that you may enter Paradise and be saved from the punishment of the Hell-fire), for the believers (he Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam is) full of pity, kind, and merciful.”

O Ummah of Islam!

This honourable, Unlettered Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his family– enjoins upon people what is right and prohibits them from what is wrongand makes lawful for them what is good and forbids them what is evil and relieves them of their burden and the shackles which were upon them. Allah saved him from the wickedness and conspiracy of plotters, rendered him victorious when those who disbelieved had driven him out from his native city which he loved, supported him with soldiers (i.e. angels) that you did not see, sent down His tranquallity upon him and made him stand firm, and commended him for his bravery and composure.

“(And remember) when you ran away (dreadfully) without even casting a side glance at anyone, and the Messenger (Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) was in your rear calling you back…” [Al Imran: 153]

Allah has already aided him when those who disbelieved had driven him out [of Makkah] as one of two, when they were in the cave and he [i.e. Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam] said to his companion, “Do not grieve; indeed Allah is with us. And Allah sent down His tranquility upon him and supported him with soldiers [i.e. angels] you did not see and made the word of those who disbelieved the lowest, while the word of Allah ‒ that is the highest. And Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise.”

Those who detest him and hate his Sunnahare those who will be cut off (from every good thing in this world and in the Hereafter). Those who harm him shall be cursed and subjected to great suffering. Allah Almighty has honoured his family, shielded them against abomination, purified them, and raised the status of his wives over and above that of any of the women in the worlds:

“O Wives of the Prophet! You are not like any other women.” [Al- Ahzab: 32]

Allah Almighty has also raised the status of the Prophet’s honourable Companions, the first to have embraced Islam of the Muhajirun (those who migrated from Makkah to Madinah) and the Ansar (the citizens of Madinah who welcomed the Prophet and helped and gave aid to the Muhajirun). Allah is well-pleased with them asHe has accepted their repentance.

O Servants of Allah!

The Noble Quran speaks of the Prophet’s Jihad and battles in such enlightening and brilliant ways, addressing the causes of victory and defeat thereof, singling out explicitly the battles of Badr, Al-Ahzab, and Hunain, mentioning (the battle of) Uhud, the Hudaybiyah Peace Treaty, the Conquest of Makkah, the Battle of Tabuk, making reference to some of the significant events that took place during his lifetime such as the “Al-Fil (elephant) Incident”, the blessed Hijra, the divine command of rescinding child adoption, the well-known Ifk Incident, the legislation of the act of ‘asking permission’ and the veil, the Isra and Miraj incident, the allusion to the nearing of his death in Surat Al-Nasr, among other stories and issues that the Noble Quran discussed so profusely and with unmatched inimitability and clarity.

May Allah bless you and me by the Glorious Qur’ān and make its verses and wise sayings beneficial to you and me! I say what you have just heard, and I ask Allah the Almighty, the All-Majestic, to forgive my sins, yours, and those of all the Muslims, so ask Him for forgiveness, for He is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful!