A Special episode in the occasion of the Prophet’s Birthday

We continue the topic of the two previous episodes on the occasion of the Prophet’s (PBUH) birthday. We previously said that Allah characterized His messenger by things that have formed the pillars of his message: his orphanage, illiteracy, being a shepherd, his work in trading, and the fact that he was truthful and honest. Let's get back to what we said about the words “orphan” and “illiterate”. We asked who an orphan is and answered that, the one who says Muhammad (PBUH) is an orphan using the general term is mistaken; especially after things were clarified in Sûrat Ad-Duha (The Forenoon “After Sunrise”). Allah says: “Did He not find you (O Muhammad) an orphan and gave you a refuge?”



Here, we say that the Prophet (PBUH) was born an orphan because his father died before his birth. But if we consider Allah’s words: “Did He not find you (O Muhammad) an orphan and gave you a refuge?”, we know that it’s Allah (SWT) who gave him a shelter, so can we still say that he was an orphan? It is true that he was an orphan as his father died, but this orphanage meant nothing to the Prophet, for Allah (SWT) gave him a shelter. It is an honour that Allah (SWT) gave him a shelter. It is an honour to every orphan that the Prophet (PBUH) was himself an orphan.



When we listen to the Holy Qur’an and the Prophet’s (PBUH) commandments, as in the Hadith: “Me and the orphan guardian are as these in Paradise” (he pointed with his thumb and forefinger).This realizes Allah’s words: “Did He not find you (O Muhammad) an orphan and gave you a refuge?”,and “Therefore, treat not the orphan with oppression.”



The Prophet (PBUH) said this Hadith because he understood the meaning of this verse. In fact, this Sûrah tackles many targets. We have to understand the Holy Qur’an according to the meanings Allah (SWT) wants to convey. The greatest problem we have is that we have the Holy Qur’an but we have deserted, which was exactly the Prophet’s complaint when he said: “Verily, my people deserted this Qur’an (neither listened to it, nor acted on its laws and teachings)”.



Muhammad (PBUH) was the orphan to whom Allah (SWT) gave a shelter, and the illiterate whom Allah (SWT) educated. Illiteracy is a shame for any person after Muhammad (PBUH), but for the Prophet (PBUH) it was a necessity so that he could receive the revelation from his Lord. In the previous episode we set the example of three papers: the first one is blank, the second contains writings with a pencil, and the third contains writings with a pen. So, the easiest to write on is the first paper, while the second one is like someone who learnt from a weak teacher. It is quite easy to clean it, exactly as we say in our daily life: “forget all what you know about this subject and let’s start from the beginning”. That’s why illiteracy was necessary in the Prophet’s (PBUH) case.



Sheikh Al-Saâdy recited Sûrat Ad-Duha (The Morning Bright), then the presenter asked a question about the significance of the use of “oppression” with the “orphan” and “rebuke” with the “beggar” in this Sûrah.



This Sûrah must be implanted in Muslims' minds for it tells us about the period when the Prophet (PBUH) endured hardship because of the ceasing of the revelation, which lasted between ten to fifteen days. It was due to the fact that the Prophet promised to answer someone’s question without saying “Insha’ Allah” (If God (SWT) wills). Then the following verses from Sûrat Al-Kahf (The Cave) were revealed: “And never say of anything, 'I shall do such and such thing tomorrow.' Except (with the saying), 'If Allâh will!' And remember your Lord when you forget and say: 'It may be that my Lord guides me unto a nearer way of truth than this.'“ During this period the Qurayshi disbelievers persecuted the Prophet (PBUH) and used to say that Muhammad’s God hated him or that his Satan abandoned him,… etc. So the Prophet suffered a lot during this period of his life. Let’s consider the oath in Sûrat Ad-Duha. We said that Allah (SWT) can swear by anything He wants, whenever He wants and with the way He wants, because He (SWT) is the Creator of everything. However, we can swear only by Allah (SWT) as it occurred in the Hadith of the Prophet (PBUH): “If someone is making an oath, let him swear by Allah or keep silent”. Oaths in the Holy Qur’an are characterized by beauty and glamour. Allah (SWT) swears by specific things on other specific things as in Sûrat An-Najm (The Star), At-Tur (The Mount), Ad-Duha (The Morning Bright) Chapters and many others. We need to consider the reason behind such oaths, so if we read the Holy Qur’an with a researcher's care, we find, for instance, in Sûrat An-Najm that there is a kind sanctity of the Prophet from the first verse to the following verse: “Indeed he (Muhammad) did see of the Greatest Signs, of his Lord (Allâh).”, talking here about the Prophet’s (PBUH) midnight ascending to the sky. We notice that Allah (SWT) talked openly about the Isra' incident (The night Journey) in Sûrat Al-Isrâ’: “Glorified (and Exalted) be He (Allâh) [above all that (evil) they associate with Him] Who took His slave (Muhammad) for a journey by night “, yet didn’t talk openly about the ascension because the ascension happened in Heaven while the Isra' happened on earth. When the Prophet (PBUH) talked about Al-Aqsa mosque, they asked him to describe it, so who would have asked him to describe Heaven? This was an ultimate faith and belief in the unseen, and this was Abu Bakr’s attitude (May Allah be pleased with him), which was referred to at the beginning of Sûrat Al-Bakara (The Cow): “Who believe in the Ghaib (the Unseen)”. As we said before, the Isra' incident happened on earth while the ascension happened in the sky. The star is in the sky, so if you believe in the existence of the unseen star, you will have to believe in the ascension, “Indeed he (Muhammad) did see of the Greatest Signs, of his Lord (Allâh).” And he also mentioned “Sedrat Almontaha” in Sûrat An-Najm (verse 16): “When that covered the lote-tree which did cover it!”. So Allah swears by the star on purpose.



Sûrat At-Tin (The Fig):