To Save The Muslim Ummah |
We Must Return To Obeying The Prophet |
“Anyone who disobeys GOD and His messenger has deserved the retribution of Hell, wherein they abide forever.” (72:23)
Despite severe differences that plague the Muslim Ummah – Sectarian, tribal, political and economic differences – even military conflicts and vicious wars – there is one thing that the Muslims unanimously agree upon: That the Qur’an is the word of God that was uttered by the final Prophet Muhammad.
Every Muslim on earth regardless of sect, race, color, and language believes that Qur’an was uttered by the honorable messenger, upon inspiration from God, and that God has guaranteed its preservation and protection from the slightest distortion, addition or loss.
HAPPINESS IS SUBMISSION TO GOD ALONE
“Surely, we have sent down this message, and surely, we will preserve it” (15:9).
This fact – that the glorious Qur’an is God’s message to the world which was uttered by the Prophet Muhammad – is affirmed in Qur’an by the strongest oath:
“I swear by everything you see, and everything you do not see, this is the utterance of an honorable messenger.
It is not the utterance of a poet, rarely do you believe.
Nor is it the utterance of a soothsayer, rarely do you take heed.
A revelation from the Lord of the universe.
For whom the Lord loves, He chastises, even as a father does to the son he loves.
And, if he ever uttered any other words (i.e. Religious instructions other than the qur’an), We would have punished him severely … We would have stopped the revelation to him. None of you could have protected him from retribution.” (69:38-47)
The Qur’an affirms that disobeying God and His messenger incurs humiliation, defeat, misery, and shame both in this life and in the Hereafter.
“Anyone who disregards My message shall suffer a miserable life. Then, on the Day of Resurrection, we resurrect him blind. He will say, ‘My Lord, why did you resurrect me blind, when I used to be a seer?’ He will be told, ‘When our revelations came to you, you disregarded them. Consequently, you are now disregarded.’ We thus punish whoever transgresses, and refuses to believe the revelations of his Lord. Additionally, the retribution in the Hereafter is far worse and everlasting.” (20:124-127)
“Whoever obeys the messenger is obeying GOD. As for those who turn away, we did not send you to be their guardian.” (4:80)
“Anyone who opposes the messenger, after guidance had been pointed out for him, and follows other than the path of believers, we direct him in the direction he chose. He ends up in Hell; a miserable destiny.” (4:115)
If we can rid our minds of the traditions, innovations, superstitions, and inherited ideas that were injected into our religion, and return to God and His messenger, we would realize that the present decline of the Muslim Ummah is the direct result of disobeying the Prophet.
What helped Satan in misleading the Muslims is that the blatant disobedience of the Prophet takes the shape of loving the Prophet very much. As a rule, anything that exceeds its limits, becomes the exact opposite. When love exceeds the limits, it becomes hatred. Our love of the Prophet has exceeded the limits, until it turned into real hatred in the form of love. This is of course what Satan did to the Christians; they love Jesus so much that he disowns them on the Day of Judgment (5:117) and the Gospel of Mathews 7:21-23).
One of the most flagrant examples of our excessive love of the Prophet …. which turned into direct disobedience …. can be illustrated by studying Verse 285 of Sura 2.
Before I cite this verse, I wish to remind the reader that these words came out of the Prophet’s mouth.
“The messenger believes in what was sent down to him from his Lord, and so do the believers. All of them believe in GOD, and His angels, and His scriptures, and His messengers; ‘We do not make any distinction among His messengers,’ and they say , ‘We hear and we obey. Forgive us, our Lord. To You is our ultimate return.’”
Is this what the Muslims say or do today?
Do the Muslims obey this powerful injunction that “We shall not make any distinction among God’s messengers” and that “We hear and we obey“?
Do the Muslims obey God and His messenger?
GOD made the service of Him obligatory on you, which is to say that He made perfect happiness obligatory for you.
By: Rashad Khalifa as Editor of Muslim Perspective, February, 1985
See also: