Who Knew the Prophet Best? Insights of Imam Ali - Maulana Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi

Amabad, Faaqaa Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, fi kitabil kareem, Ya Yuhannabi, innah rasallakashahidan wa mubashiran wa naziran, wa da'iyan ilallah bi-idhnihi wa sirajan munirah, salawat. Ya Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, Shower His blessings on the Tabrikat, on all of us on this occasion where we are celebrating double events. One is the birth anniversary of the founder of our faith, the last prophet of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, but the one who is the most important as far as the status is concerned, Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and decades after that, you know, it coincided the same day with the birth anniversary of the founder of our jurisprudence and our madhub, our sixth Imam, Imam Ja'far al-Salli, alayhi sallat wa sallam. We have talked about the Prophet in different ways from the Quran and history, but tonight I would like to actually talk about the Prophet of Islam in the words of Amir al-Mu'mineen Ali bin Abi Talib, alayhi sallat wa sallam. Who can know the Prophet better than Ali? In our sources, we have a statement from the Prophet where he says, Ya Ali, ma'araf Allah illa ana wa anta. The reality, no one fully knows Allah except you and me. Wa ma'arafani illa Allah wa anta. And nobody knows me fully, my status in the best manner, except Allah and you. Wa ma'arafaka illa Allah wa anta. And nobody knows your full status except Allah and me. And so if there is someone who knows the Prophet better than anyone else, it is Ali bin Abi Talib, alayhi sallat wa sallam. After all, he was closest to the Prophet than anyone else. You know, himself, in the Balaqah in Khutbah number 192, when he talks about his own childhood, he says, wa qada alimtum mawdi'i min rasoolillahi bil qarabatil qareebah wa manzillatil khasisa. He says, certainly you know my position of close kinship and spatial relationship with the Prophet of Islam. And then he further explains, wada'ani fi hijrihi wa ana waladun. The Prophet, you know, when I was only a child, he took me. And one of the things he talks about, he says, bakana yamdighushayi thumma yuliquminihi. And first, when we used to sit down for food, the Prophet will actually take a piece of meat, soften it in his mouth, and then he will feed me with his own hands. And we know historically, you know, from age five, Ali actually lived with Rasulullah and Khadija, salawatullah, alayh, majma'een. And so there are many statements and sermons, and ahib alaqa wa rameer al-mouminin talks about the Prophet. And I can't bring all of them here in one, you know, gathering or in one event, but I selected two different things. You know, one is a passage where Ali talks about the origin and the ancestry of the Prophet, right from the beginning of creation. And then he talks about the role of the Prophet in a very beautiful way, and that's where I will be elaborating more about it. But let us look at the first one. When we talk about the origin and ancestry of the Prophet, we realize that when we talk about human beings, we are composed of two entities. We have the physical body, and then we have the soul. Physical body is the material entity, but when it comes to the rule or the nafs, you know, this is a non-physical entity. This is a nur in a way. And when we talk about the creation of the soul of the Prophet, that's nothing to do with the milad of the Prophet. These are two different things. And this is where, you know, we have to realize that Allah swt, you know, among the Sunni Sufis as well as Shias, we have a statement where the Prophet says, أول ما خلق الله نوري. The first creation that Allah swt brought forth was my nur, my light. You know, this is referring to his soul. And so keeping that in mind, you know, this is where we see that how when Adam was created that nur of Muhammad was placed in his loins, and then it continued all the way till the time of Islam where we see, you know, he's basically born to, as of when we talk about Hazrat Aminah here, you know. And so this nur actually traveled from one generation to another in the loins of very distinguished individuals and the womb of the mothers who were very pure. And all of them from Adam to the Khatam, that line is the line of Muwahideen. They all believed in one God only. There was no idol worshiper in that line at all. Salawat Paralek Paralek. In Khutbah number 96, the Amir al-Mu'mineen talks about the Prophet where he says, He says, his place of stay, before his, you know, birth was in the best of all places and his origin was actually the noblest of all origins in the minds of honor and credulums of safety. This is how he talks about the original, you know, of Rasulullah. Then he says, you know, in Khutbah number 94, he explains in more detail when he says, when he talks about the ambia in general, and then he talks about Rasulullah. Ali says that Allah kept the prophets in the best places of deposit and made them stay in the best place of stay. And this is where, you know, then he talks about the Prophet, that Allah moved the prophets in succession from distinguished forefathers to chest and wombs. Whenever a prophet from among them would die, the follower stood up for the cause of Allah until, this is where he says, He says, until this distinction of Allah reached to Muhammad, and then he describes, he says, He says, He says, Allah brought him out from the most distinguished sources of origin and the most honorable places of planting, namely from the same tree from which he brought forth other prophets and from which he selected his Omana and his trustees. I think as a Shia community, we shouldn't be surprised for us. Every Thursday night in Ziyarat-e-Waris, when we address Imam Hussein al-Islam, we have a statement there. What does that mean? I testify, O Hussein, that you were a nur, you were the light in the loins of distinguished fathers and in the wombs of the purified mothers. That statement about, you know, Hussein is depends on this reality of the nur of Muhammad, Allah is the greatest. Let me go to the, you know, a very interesting description that Amirul-Mu'mineen is about the role of the Prophet. We hear about it quite, you know, in different contexts, you know, but this is where I would like to focus on it. In Khutbah number 108 of Nahyub-e-Lawa, Amirul-Mu'mineen talks about the role of the Prophet. We know he was a Nabi, he was a Rasul. He was sent to guide us. But Ali has a very beautiful, you know, description. He says, A simple translation of that would be that the Prophet was a roaming physician who carried his, you know, medicine from place to place. Tabi'ibun dawwar, a physician or a doctor who is roaming around, doesn't stay in one place. You know, basically he prepared his ointments and heated his instruments so that he may use them wherever the need arose. What does that doctor do? So that he can treat and, you know, cure what? When it came to him being a doctor there, he used this, you know, medicine and the instruments in order to heal the blind hearts. And then the dumb tongues. I'll come to explain what does it mean, all this. And this is where we have to realize that, you know, this is a very interesting way of looking at the function of the Prophet. When Amirul-Mu'mineen says he was, you know, Tabi'ibun dawwarun betibi, the roaming physician, what does it mean? What is Ali trying to describe about Rasulullah? Normally a Tabi'ib, a physician or a doctor, you know, normally they would sit in their own clinic or in their hospitals. When I and you need them, we go to them. They are not dawwar. They are not, you know, rotating or, you know, they are not roaming around. And this is where we see that the Prophet is described by Amirul-Mu'mineen as a traveling doctor. He doesn't sit in his clinic or in his hospital. He actually travels around, you know, in order to seek out those who are spiritually ill in order to treat their spiritual disease. And then, you know, the way, this term Tabi'ibun dawwar actually can be explained in a different way. And this is what I'm saying, Amirul-Mu'mineen, you know, is using his own style of speech to describe a very important, you know, factor about our Prophet. You see, those who have been sent to guide human beings, they are of two categories. We call them Nabi or we call them Rasul. What is the difference between them two? Nabi actually, you know, this is where you will know why does Amirul-Mu'mineen say Tabi'ibun dawwar betibbihi? And Nabi, you know, normally the translation is the Prophet. Why do we call that person a Prophet? The word naba means news. And a person who has the news from Allah swt, his source of information is Allah. And so we call him Nabi. In English, you say Prophet because he has the special knowledge by which he can prophesize future, unlike other people who have knowledge also. And so when we say Nabi, you know, basically the role of a Nabi is not to basically roam around and go here and there. He is basically the resident doctor. People go to him to seek guidance. It is not his function, you know, because when we talk about Ambiya, there was, you know, different kinds of Nabi. There were some who were sent only to one family. One maybe might have been sent to one village or one town, you know, so their mission was limited. And they were basically there as a source of information. And this is where we see that, you know, out of the, and that when that Nabi is later on assigned with a mission by Allah swt, that yes, you have access to the Naba, to the news that I give to you and the knowledge that I give to you. But now I have a special mission for you. Now you have to go and convey my message to the people. Then that Nabi also becomes a Rasul. The difference between Nabi and Rasul and how many Ambiya do we have? Hundred and twenty-four thousand Ambiya all of all different, you know, degrees and levels. And among them, not all of them were Rasul. Out of hundred and twenty-four thousand Ambiya, only three hundred and thirteen were Mursaleen. And this is very to realize the difference between a Nabi and so Nabi is more a source of divine guidance. People will go to him. When that Nabi is also then assigned a special task that now you have to actually actively go and convey the message of Allah swt, that Nabi is now also a Rasul. So when it comes to the status of Rasul, they are higher than those who are just Nabi. Can you have a Rasul who is not a Nabi? No. But that would mean that his source of knowledge has been cut. No. Every Rasul is a Nabi, but not every Nabi is a Rasul. And this is where we see this concept that when we talk about this concept of Nubuwat and Resalat, you understand this, you know, different, you know, positions that they have. And Nabi is a Nabi from birth. Resalat might be later on. Our Prophet from the day he was born, he was a Nabi. He had this Naba connection with Allah swt. He was in a way in his own personal capacity, was guided by Allah swt from day one. And we'll talk about it later on. Ali talks about that also in his childhood. It was only when he becomes 40 years old that now Allah swt says, now is the time of Muhammad. Now you can weigh my final message to the human society. And that is where we say his Resalat starts when the Prophet became 40 years old. So when Amirul Muhammadin says that the Prophet is, you know, Tabibun Dawar, roaming, you know, physician, spiritual physician, what he means is that this is not just a Nabi who has this knowledge from Allah swt. Now he has this duty to basically spread the words of Allah swt to the people. And this is where, you know, the Prophet would, from that time of his Be'asat, when he became 40 years old, this is where, you know, he started, the main point of meeting would be the Kaaba. Especially when the Karawans would come and, you know, different tribes will come, the Prophet will actually seek them out. You know, to convey the message of Allah swt. And this is where we see the people of Madinah, how did they become Muslim? The people of Makkah know, most of them were the enemies, opponents of Rasulullah. But Madinah, by the time when the Prophet migrated there, majority had already become Muslims. But the Prophet had not gone there. This is the time when these people from Madinah used to come and, you know, for their own business in Makkah. And that is where we hear about some of the meetings which were done in secrecy around Makkah between Rasulullah and these people would come from Madinah. And this is where they became, you know, closer to him. They started believing in him. And they eventually, you know, they asked him, can you send somebody to teach Quran to us? And this is where the Prophet then assigned a young person by the name of Mus'ab bin Umair to go there with them in one of the meetings that they came to second or third time. And so this is how Islam spread in Madinah through propagation. And so the Prophet used to go, you hear about his journey to Taif, especially. Of course, just as he, you know, he didn't get that much success in Makkah, similarly in Taif also, you know, they ridiculed him. They even sent the children to stone him. Yet Rasulullah would never ask Allah to send, you know, Abab and punishment to the people. This is his, you know, dimension of being Rahmatun li-l'alameen. He would just pray to Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, that these people of mine, you know, my home, they are ignorant ones. They are in the state of, you know, ignorance and heedlessness. You know, provide them guidance. And so using this example of a, you know, roaming physician or doctor, then Amir al-Mu'minin says, Then Amir al-Mu'minin says, قد أحكما مراهيمهم, مراهيم, you know, مرحم in Farsi, Arabic or even in Urdu, I don't know, Gujarati, what would you say? Ointment, you know, when you are wounded or something. And then he talks about, you know, how he would prepare the, of course, symbol, in a symbolic sense, we are talking about, you know, spiritual doctor, not a physical doctor. وعحم مواصمه. And then he will use this iron and heat it up. And this is where we come to realize that, you know, basically Amir al-Mu'minin is saying that, you know, the ointment and the instruments, that this spiritual doctor, what does it mean? Well, it depends on the disease. If the sickness is kind of a mild, you know, nature, the treatment would be mild treatment. So, مرحم and ointment would be sufficient. But sometimes, you know, even our doctors, they realize, okay, no prescription and medication is helping, we have to operate on this person. Sometimes they might even cut apart of the limb of the person just to save the rest of the body. You know, so, and this is where we see then that Amir al-Mu'minin says that he used to heat up the tools. So, that is, you know, depending on the severity of the situation, you know, either using mild treatment or aggressive treatment to cure the illness of the patients. And this is where we see that, you know, then Amir al-Mu'minin goes first, and he says, okay, what kind of, you know, ailment or disease or sickness was the spiritual doctor, you know, dealing with? And we are talking about Rasulullah here. And this is where he says, he says he used to deal with treatment of the blind hearts. You know, قلب ون عمين. Now, when you talk about the word قلب, normally the translation is hard. But remember, you know, it's not really referring to this heart which is, you know, in our bosom on the left side. In Quran also, many times when the word قلب is used or قلوب, it refers to the power of akhal and intelligence. That element where you actually, you know, digest the information, analyze it, and then you come to a conclusion. Otherwise, this heart doesn't do that. This only pumps blood, that's all. You know, so you, we are physically alive. You know, so, akhal is not a, you know, entity of this physical heart. When the word قلب is used in Quran in many places, anyone in Ahadith, it actually refers to this ability of reasoning and intelligence. And so, for example, if you see, now here, Amir al-Mu'minin says, well, the prophet is looking at the people whose hearts are blind and he wants to cure them. Well, can the akhal become blind? Yes, the akhal can become blind. That power is there. But if it is surrounded by the dirt of sins and desires, then it doesn't function in the right way. You know, you might have, for example, a room you never opened for five years, you know, and there was a, let's say, a bulb hanging from the roof. I'm talking about the old days, not this fancy lights that we have these days. One bulb is hanging there with a wire, and after five years, you open the room, never opened it. There was all dust gathering on it. You turn on the switch, you know, the power has gone there, but it will not really, you know, give light in the room. Although the bulb is still there, and it is not, you know, fused, but because of that dirt over it, you can't see the light. That is the state of the qalb of a human being on a spiritual level. The sins when they accumulate, you know, that nur that Allah has created for us to guide us, it is still there. But we have to maintain it. When he says, you know, wa nafsim wa ma sabwaha, he actually says that I swear by the nafs, the soul of the human being that I have created. And then at the end, he says, you know, whoever purifies it, keeps it purified. He is the one who is successful. Wa khawba man dassaha. Wa khawba man dassaha. But the one who lets it, you know, the dirt gathered on it, that is the person who is a loser. So the energy is still there, but you don't see the light forward. And this is the function of Rasulullah, that he basically, you know, will try to heal the qalb, this aql, this power of intelligence of this person. Whose aql has become or his qalb has become blind. Salawat, Quran al-Akbar. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in one of the ayat actually talks about this issue where he says, Afalam yaseeru fi l-arabu, you know, referring to the unbelievers of Makkah, Allah says, do not they go and travel around their areas in their region? Because if they go around and look at the ruins of the civilizations which came before and they were destroyed, if they reflect about it, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, let them go and see. Then they will have the qalb, which yaqluna, the function of aql is being used here for aql. So this is actually talking about aql, not about this physical heart. That if you go and reflect on what happened to the nations before, then your power of reasoning and your intelligence will become more sharp. And you will be able to, you know, then use your aql in the right way. Aw aabanun yasma'oonabiha and the ears which they have, now they will be able to listen to things. They were not deaf in a physical sense. And so after this issue of, and then Allah says in the next sentence in that ayat, that it's not the eyes that become blind, it is your aql which becomes blind. You know this blindness of the eyes is not a big matter. The bigger sickness or disease is the issue of the blindness of the heart. And so the first role of this Tabir bundawar, the prophet, is basically to cure the blind hearts and this he does by the light of knowledge and the divine guidance which comes through him. The second term, Amir al-Mummi, uses that deaf ears. We are not talking about a physical deafness here. You know, we are talking about the person who still has this ability to hear, but there is a difference between hearing and listening. That's the problem. You know, people hear everything, but do they listen to everything and follow it? On the day of our Shura, Imam Al-Saral Al-Zoramin Karbala, you couldn't find a better or eloquent speaker than Hussain ibn Ali on the face of earth on that day. He's speaking to this army there and there was a point where he says, that I have been talking to you two or three times on that day he addressed them. He says, but you are not listening to m