I. THE OUTSTANDING MERITS OF THE PROPHET

By Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (702–765 ), 5th Ismaili Imam*

Despite their great sins and their ugly acts our Lord — out of His clemency, His tolerance, and His mercy — chose for them the most lovable one of His prophets and the most honourable one of them, Muhammad bin Abd Allah, may Allah bless him and his family. He was born in the most exalted place of glory [Mecca]. He was born of the tree of nobility. His ancestry was not mingled. His lineage was not mixed. The prophets [before him] brought glad tidings (to people) about him in their description. His trait was modesty and his nature was charitable. He was naturally disposed for the burdens of the Prophethood and its good manners, having the inborn characteristics of the mission. From Adam to his father Abd Allah, he was in the best group — the noblest tribe, the strongest family.

Allah chose him, was pleased with him, and selected him. Allah gave him keys of knowledge and sent him as mercy for people and as spring for the country. Allah sent down the Book to him. In it (the book) there are eloquent sayings and explanations. It is the Arabic Qur’an without twists that they may guard (against evil). He (Allah) already explained it to men, detailed its method with knowledge, explained the religion, ordained (religious) duties, limited and explained punishments for people, disclosed and declared matters for His creation. In the matters that Allah declared, there is a direction to salvation.

So, Allah’s Apostle propagated what he was sent to do, declared what he was ordered to, and fulfilled the burdens of Prophethood. He was the patient for his Lord, he waged holy war in His way, he was loyal to his nation, he summoned his people to salvation, he urged them (to read) the Qur’an, he showed them the way of guidance with methods and reasons, he showed them the ways by which they would not go astray after him, and he was compassionate and merciful to them.

Source: Adapted from an English translation by Jasim al-Rasheed and published in 2007 in Qum, Iran under the title Imam al-Sadiq.

*While Nizari Ismailis consider Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (a.s.) as the fifth Imam, he is regarded as the 6th Imam by many other Shia schools of thought including the twelvers who include Hazrat Hasan (a.s.) in the line of Imams.

~~~~~~~~~

II: THE UNIVERSAL PROPHET

By His Highness the Aga Khan (1877 – 1957), 48th Ismaili Imam

The Holy Prophet of Islam is to us Muslims, the last and greatest messenger from the Creator, and through him man is to find salvation in both this world and the next. The great religious teachers before and since [Prophet] Muhammad have all limited the area of truth by excluding either some or all of their predecessors. [Prophet] Muhammad, on the other hand, by a full recognition of all his predecessors and by admitting that no people, race or nation had been left without some kind of divine illumination, gave his Faith universality in the past, and in fact made it coexistent with human history.

If, now we turn from its historic background to its doctrine and to its possibility of development in the future, we will find the potential universality. Take the central principle of ‘Allah-o-Akbar’. Here we find on one side divinity, on the other side infinity. For what is, the greater – time, space, the starry heavens, intelligence, knowledge? – wherever existence goes there His greatness extends. Greatness here, means that everything else is within the womb of the greater – everything else is maintained and sustained by Divine Power, including the furthest spaces of imagination.

[Prophet] Muhammad told mankind first that the infinite sustainer and container of all existence had justice, mercy, and love as well; secondly, that man through these qualities and through gentleness and kindness, prayer, awe or wonder could get – howsoever infinitesimal proportion – direct communion with the all-embracing power in which he lived and moved and had his being.

I submit that this doctrine will have a universality that can be accepted as long as man is man and as long as intelligence as we understand it services on earth.

We maintain that the Prophet only ordered prayer, fasting, and gentleness in all human relations, kindness and consideration for all beasts and animals from the smallest worm to the largest mammal.

It is the same Prophet who advises his followers to ever remain Ibnul ‘l-Waqt (i.e. children of the time and period in which they were on earth), and it must be the natural ambition of every Muslim to practice and represent his Faith according to the standard of the Waqt or space-time.

Source: Foreword in Muhammad: A Mercy of All the Nations, by Qassim Ali Jairazbhoy, London, 1937.

~~~~~~~~~~

III. ALLAH’S LAST AND FINAL PROPHET

By His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan (b. 1936), 49th and present Ismaili Imam

Mowlana Kausar Niazi, Your Excellencies, eminent scholars,

When Mowlana Kausar Niazi invited me to preside at today’s gathering of the Seerat Conference, I felt both trepidation and joy, trepidation because few subjects could be more awe-inspiring for any Muslim to speak on, joy as few subjects could give greater happiness to be involved with. Let me add that I am also deeply appreciative of the occasion offered to me by Mowlana Kausar Niazi to meet and greet you all. Few conferences can have gathered so many men of outstanding intellect, who have devoted so much time and wisdom to the study of Islam and the life of the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him.

In addressing you shortly today, I will begin by making a request: One hundred and seventy-two eminent scholars from forty-eight countries have gathered in Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi to present the results of their research and reflection on various aspects of the life of the Holy Prophet. From all these exchanges, from all the private debates which have preceded and succeeded the presentation of each paper, will have come an immense range of new thoughts, new ideas and new understanding of the Prophet’s life. I sincerely request that you have available to all Muslims a complete printed record of these papers and the subsequent debates.

In your high intellectual world many of you are fortunate to have the time to reflect on the great aspects of Prophet Muhammad’s life. It is a blessing that many a Muslim would wish for, but due to circumstances beyond his control, indeed the very nature of modern life, he cannot have.

The poorer countries of Islam have ahead of them years of increasingly hard work if they wish to progress materially to acceptable standards of every day life. The richer countries, especially those that have new means, will rapidly find that this wealth, blessing that it is, will impose upon them heavy new responsibilities. They will have to administrate this wealth wisely, in the best interest of their citizens, but also keeping in mind that they have a heavy responsibility to their less well endowed brother Muslim countries, and indeed to the human race at large. Thus it is my profound conviction that Islamic Society in the years ahead will find that our traditional concept of time, a limitless mirror in which to reflect on the eternal, will become a shrinking cage, an invisible trap from which fewer and fewer will escape.

I have observed in the Western world a deeply changing pattern of human relations. The anchors of moral behaviour appear to have dragged to such depths that they no longer hold firm the ship of life: what was once wrong is now simply unconventional, and for the sake of individual freedom must be tolerated. What is tolerated soon becomes accepted. Contrarily, what was once right is now viewed as outdated, old-fashioned and is often the target of ridicule.

In the face of this changing world, which was once a universe to us and is now no more than an overcrowded island, confronted with a fundamental challenge to our understanding of time, surrounded by a foreign fleet of cultural and ideological ships which have broken loose, I ask, “Do we have a clear, firm and precise understanding of what Muslim Society is to be in times to come?” And if as I believe, the answer is uncertain, where else can we search then in the Holy Qur’an, and in the example of Allah’s last and final Prophet?

There is no justification for delaying the search for the answer to this question by the Muslims of the world, because we have the knowledge that Islam is Allah’s final message, the Qur’an His final book and Muhammad His last Prophet. We are blessed that the answers drawn from these sources guarantee that neither now, nor at any time in the future will we be going astray.

As the demands on his time increase, every Muslim will find it more and more difficult to seek for himself the answer to the fundamental question of how he should live his life for it to be truly Muslim. It is men such as you who will have to bring forth the answers, answers which will have to be practical and realistic in the world of today and tomorrow. Rather than let force of circumstance impose upon us through our default in not having suitably prepared ourselves for the future, ways of life which are not or should not be ours, we must ourselves design the path we should tread.

In seeking to define what our Islamic Society should be in times ahead, 50 and 100 and 200 years hence we should, I believe, be aware that the Muslims of this world cover such an amazing range of historical, ethnic and cultural backgrounds that a completely monolithic answer may not be found. I am convinced on the other hand, that we do want to avoid so much diversity that our Muslim countries are in conflict amongst themselves or that they are so divided that they are incapable successfully of facing common enemies, be they cultural, religious, national or otherwise. This is why I so applaud Pakistan for having organized the first Muslim Summit Conference, and now this Seerat Conference, for it is only through dialogue, personal contacts and continuous exchanges that the great diversity of cultures, knowledge, outlook and resources can be coordinated and brought to bear fruit for the Muslim world.

Let me return, now, to the question of what Muslim Society should seek to be in the years ahead. Islam, as even non-Muslims have observed, is a way of life. This means that every aspect of the individual’s daily existence is guided by Islam: his family relations, his business relations, his education, his health, the means and manner by which he gains his livelihood, his philanthropy, what he sees and hears around him, what he reads, the way he regulates his time, the buildings in which he lives, learns and earns.

I cannot think of any time in Islamic history when Muslims have had a greater opportunity to unite, and to ensure that the society in which they live is that which they have defined and chosen for themselves.

Not only are all forms of human communication easier than ever before in history, but rarely, if ever has the Muslim world had such means to ensure its future. Conferences such as this seeking inspiration from the life of the Holy Prophet could render no greater service to Islam than to assist in defining what steps can be taken, where, and how, to ensure that our people can live in the years ahead in greater peace, greater prosperity and in an Islamic Society which will not be overrun or simply taken by surprise, by forces, pressures or concepts which are totally alien and may damage us irretrievably.

In our search for a solution, I am convinced that we must call upon our own men and women, who have achieved positions of eminence anywhere in the world, and persuade them to return, for us to benefit from their knowledge, their learning and their work. All too often in my journeys I have met or learnt of outstanding Muslim scholars, doctors, scientists, and architects who have remained abroad, or who, when they do come home, have failed to receive the support and encouragement necessary for them to bring to their nations’ benefit their Muslim outlook on key areas of modern progress.

Any meaningful human endeavour, any original thinking, any authentic research, will require moral encouragement and material support. This we must provide, not only during the individual’s initial years of learning, but equally when he leaves the restricted life of his academic centre to enter into the wider world of national or international activity.

The Holy Prophet’s life gives us every fundamental guideline that we require to resolve the problem as successfully as our human minds and intellects can visualise. His example of integrity, loyalty, honesty, generosity both of means and of time, his solicitude for the poor, the weak and the sick, his steadfastness in friendship, his humility in success, his magnanimity in victory, his simplicity, his wisdom in conceiving new solutions for problems which could not be solved by traditional methods, without affecting the fundamental concepts of Islam, surely all these are foundations which, correctly understood and sincerely interpreted, must enable us to conceive what should be a truly modern and dynamic Islamic Society in the years ahead.

Source: Presidential Address by His Highness tha Aga Khan, Seerat Conference, Pakistan, 1976.

Date posted: Tuesday, January 22, 2013.

___________________

Share this article with others via the share option below. Please visit the Simerg Home page for links to articles posted most recently. For links to articles posted on this Web site since its launch in March 2009, please click What’s New. Sign-up for blog subscription at top right of this page.

We welcome feedback/letters from our readers. Please use the LEAVE A REPLY box which appears at the bottom of this page. Your feedback may be edited for length and brevity, and is subject to moderation. We are unable to acknowledge unpublished letters.