'It is Ahmed, stunning on 'one chord to two bows' (qasida 19:10)

This is the motto of this section, which is for talking about our beloved prophet Mohammad [PPBUH].

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 His Nation being Intermediate

There came verses in Qur'an describing the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] as the "Messenger". We will try to unveil it and discuss it one by one, in order to dye our minds and hearts with his love and his Dhikr [PPBUH] as:

[Knowledge; whether lean or replete      would dye the hearts]

We start with the first verse in Qur'an describing him [PPBUH] as the "Messenger", which is the 143rd verse of al-Baqarah, where Allah, Almighty says [Thus We have made you an intermediate nation, that you be witnesses over mankind and the Messenger be a witness over you. And We made the Qiblah which you used to face, only to test those who followed the Messenger from those who would turn on their heels. Indeed it was great except for those whom Allah guided. And Allah would never waste your faith. Truly, Allah is All-kind, Most Merciful towards mankind]. In this verse Allah talks about the intermediation of his nation [PPBUH] with the Pure Grace of Allah, the witnessing of the Messenger over his nation, the trial of the first Qiblah and the Supreme Wisdom in it, and the great rank of those who follow the messenger [PPBUH] with Allah.

The intermediate nation - is a Pure Care of Allah:

Imam Fakhreddin al-Burhani said:

[the intermediation of the witnesses is not but                                     

                                                  with a pure care that reached its limit] 29/37

This is what the Qur'anic expression showed in [We have made you an intermediate nation], as this making of Allah is a Pure Godly Care, and it reached its limit. It is a blessing that Allah blessed the Prophet of this nation, which necessarily requires our thanks. And it is a grace that Allah gifted this nation, as an honoring for His Messenger, Beloved, Mohammad [PPBUH], as the nation is related to him [PPBUH]. The masters of interpretation were interested to talk about this intermediation. Al-Qurtoby said about the verse [We have made you an intermediate nation] that the meaning is: As Ka'ba is the middle of the earth, so we made you an intermediate nation, i.e. below the prophets and above the nations. Also the word "intermediate" in Arabic means "just", as most praised thing is its most intermediate. At-Turmuzy narrated from Abo-Saied al-Khodry the Prophet [PPBUH] said about [We have made you an intermediate nation], he said (Justice). He said: A Sahih Hadith. In the book of "The Revelation": the most intermediate is the most just and the best.

The middle of the valley: is the best place in it and the richest with grass and water. In the Hadith (the best of the matters is its most intermediate), and also narrated by Ali [AAH] (You stick to the most middle pattern, as the high one descends to it and the descending one will raise up to it). They say about someone in Arabic "he is of the most intermediate in his people, or he is the middle man of his people, or the center of his people", and this would mean he is from the best of them and the best relations among them.

Imam al-Qushairy interpreted the intermediation of the nation - and before I mention what he said [PPBUH], I want to pave the way for the high level meaning that he guided us to, and the clear drink that he made us drink from. As he made the nation of Islam to be the one described with the "middle/ intermediate", then he mentioned a group of them and described them as the "middle of the middle" referring to the Hadith of the Prophet [PPBUH], where he said (there will still be a group of my nation supporting the truth, and not harmed by those who disagreed with them). These are the righteous people or the people of Allah in this nation. They are the saints of Allah for whom there is no fear and they are not to be sad. - So he said [AAH]: the middle is the best of them, so he described this nation as the best of the nations. And he described this group, the people of Allah, to be the best of this nation, so they are the best of the best. As this nation is the witness for all other nations in the hereafter, this group is the origin; they are the center of the orbit, they are the pole, and with them Allah keeps the whole the nation. Whoever is accepted in their hearts will be accepted, and whoever is rejected in their hearts will be rejected. The true judgment is in their insight, their judgment is correct, their sight is right, and they protect the whole nation from gathering to something wrong. Allah protected this group from error in sight or judgment, and in acceptance or rejection. And the building of their matter is relying on the Sunna of the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] and anything that not following the Messenger [PPBUH] is not accepted and his doer in no good.

The book of "the Extended Sea" said, about the reason for their witnessing over mankind, the witnessing of the Messenger over them: Allah, the Truth, the Glorified, said: As We guided you to the straight path and We made your Qiblah the best direction, We made you the best of the nations; righteous and just ones purified with the knowledge and deeds, so as to be good for the witnessing over others. So you would be, in the judgment day, [witnesses over mankind]. I say: that is of the great grace of Allah for this nation, as the love of Allah for His Prophet [PPBUH] required the preference of his nation, and this preference required their qualification for the witnessing by pureness, and this qualification and pureness required the witnessing for them by their Prophet [PPBUH] that they are just and righteous. Then the book said: and your Prophet purifies you and witnesses for your justice and righteousness.

Al-Baydawy said: it was narrated that "the nations in the judgment day will deny that they were informed by their prophets. Then Allah will demand the evidence for the informing, while He is the All-Knower of them. Then they get the nation of sayydina Mohammad [PPBUH] to witness - testify to the informing of the prophets - the nations would say: how did you know that? They would say: we knew from the Book of Allah by the tongue of his Prophet [PPBUH] the sincere one. Then they get Mohammad [PPBUH] and he would be asked about the status of his nation, and he would testify for their justice".

From Ebadah ibn as-Samit that he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] saying (My nation was given three things that were not given except to prophets: Allah use to, when He sends a prophet, say to him: Pray for me and I will respond, and he said to this nation: pray for me and I will respond. Allah used to, when He sends a prophet, say to him: you have nothing to be embarrassed about in religion, and He said to this nation: you have nothing to be embarrassed about in religion. Allah used to, when He sends a prophet, make him a witness over his people, and He made this nation witnesses over all people). At-Turmuzy in his book "the Rare Origins".

In another issue ISA, we will talk about the wisdom of the change of Qiblah, and the high ranking of the Prophet's followers [PPBUH] with Allah, Almighty.

Written by Ibrahim ad-Desouqi

Translated by Mohamed

Whoever wants to get more about this subject, can seek it in the website of Al-Nabi [PPBUH]

the Editorial Team