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The Prophetic Title: Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim One of the names by which the Prophet
Muhammad is known - upon him blessings and peace - is Khayru-l-Khalq
or "Best
of Creation." Other similar names of his with identical
meaning are Khayru-l-Bariyya, Khayru Khalqillah, Khayru-l-`Alamina
Turra, Khayru-n-Nas, Khayru Hadhihi-l-Umma, and Khîratullah.
These titles refers to his high status over all human Prophets
and Messengers as well as over the Jinn and angels - upon them
peace. Al-Bajuri (d. 1276), Sharh Jawharat
al-Tawhid (1971 ed. p. 290): "I.e. among jinn, humankind, and angels, in the
world and the hereafter, in all the attributes of goodness." Al-Sawi
(d. 1241), Sharh Jawharat al-Tawhid (1999 ed. p. 295): "This
assertion-of-superiority (tafdîl) is by Consensus (ijmâ`)
of the Muslims, both Sunnis and Mu`tazila, except al-Zamakhshari
[in al-Kashshaf (4:712), Surat al-Takwir] who violated the
Consensus." `Abd al-Salam ibn Ibrahim al-Laqqani (d. 1078),
Sharh Jawharat al-Tawhid (1990 ed. p. 186): "It is obligatory
(wâjib) on every legally responsible person to believe
that he is the best of all, and one who denies it commits a
sin, is guilty of innovation, and deserves to be taught a lesson." Al-Bajuri (p. 293): "Al-Qadi Abu
`Abd Allah al-Halimi [see on him the introduction to our
translation of al-Bayhaqi's al-Asma' wa al-Sifat] together
with others, such as the Mu`tazila, considered that the angels
are better than the Prophets except our Prophet Muhammad,
sallallahu `alayhi wa Alihi wa Sallam. Al-Sa`d [al-Taftazani]
said [in Sharh al-`Aqa'id al-Nasafiyya]: 'There is nothing
decisive in these issues.' Taj al-Din [ibn] al-Subki said
[in Tabaqat al-Shafi`iyya al-Kubra]: 'Safety lies in refraining
from speech on this question and to enter it in detail without
decisive evidence is to enter into great peril, a ruling
over something over which we are incapable of ruling.'" Al-Bajuri (p. 295): "And this is surely the more correct position (wa hâdhihi hiya al-tariqa al-râjiha)." Note that he prefers the Maturidi position here over that of the Jumhûr of the Ash`aris although he is Ash`ari, while the author's son, Shaykh `Abd al-Salam al-Laqqani, said all angels were preferable to all human beings other than Prophets - may Allah have mercy on them and on all Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama`a. Al-Laqqani (p. 186-187): "It is obligatory to believe the preferability of the better (afdaliyyatu al-afdal) exactly according to whatever ruling was transmitted (`ala tabqi mâ warada al-hukmu bihi): if in detail then in detail, if in general then in general (tafsîlan fil-tafsîli wa ijmâlan fil-ijmâli). And it is not allowed to hasten to specific designation (al-hujûm `alâ al-ta`yîn) of something which was not divinely ordained (lam yarid fîhi tawqîf).... Qadi Taj al-Din ibn al-Subki said: 'The preferability of human beings over the angels is not among the matters one is obliged to believe nor harm those who ignore them. If one meets Allah without the least idea about the matter in its entirety, he would not have committed any sin. For people were not tasked to know it. And safety lies in refraining from speech on this question, etc.'" Al-Sawi (p. 297-298), al-Bajuri (p.
296): "Its conclusion
being that our Prophet is the best of creation in absolute
terms, then Ibrahim, then Musa, then `Isa, then Nuh - upon
them peace - then the rest of the Messengers, then the non-Messenger
Prophets - some of them being superior to others, but Allah
alone knows in what detail, then Gibril, then Israfil, then
Mika'il, then `Izra'il, then 'common human beings' (`awamm
al-bashar) such as Abu Bakr, `Umar, `Uthman, and `Ali, then
the mass of the angels." A dear Muslim brother sent the following query: "They swear by Allah to you (Muslims) to please you [all],
but Allah, with His messenger, hath more right that they should
please H/him if they are believers" (9:62). Do they know
any other Prophet or angel-brought-near with whom Allah Most
High shared as many of His own Names in the Qur'an as He did
with the Prophet ? See the end of this post on this. With respect
to his foremost name - Muhammad - sallallahu `alayhi wa Alihi
wa Sallam, consider the poetic verse of Hassan ibn Thabit (RA): Do they know any other Prophet or angel
whom Allah addressed directly and by whose life He swore? "By thy life (O Muhammad)!" (15:72); "And
who is better in his discourse than he who calls unto Allah
and does good and says: I am one of the Muslims?" (41:33)
i.e. who is better in speech than the Prophet ? "Lo! those
who believe and do good works are the best of created beings" (98:7)
i.e. the Prophet is the best of created beings; "Lo! the
noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct" (49:13)
i.e. the Prophet is the noblest of those to whom the Qur'an
is addressed in the sight of Allah; "And we preferred some of the Prophets above others" (17:55) then He said: "It may be that thy Lord will raise thee to a praised estate" (17:79), a Station which the Prophet said none but he would receive. and this is the Station of Intercession at the right of the Glorious Throne as we described at length in the posting "The Seating of the Prophet on the Throne." "And [have We not] exalted thy fame?" (94:4) Mujahid said: "Meaning, every time I [Allah] am mentioned, you [Muhammad] are mentioned." Ibn Kathir mentioned it in his Tafsir. Al-Shafi`i narrated the same explanation from Ibn Abi Najih and so did Ibn `Ata' as cited by al-Nabahani in al-Anwar al-Muhammadiyya min al-Mawahib al-Laduniyya (p. 379). Al-Baydawi said in his Tafsir: "And what higher elevation than to have his name accompany His Name in the two phrases of witnessing, and to have his obedience equal His obedience??" "And My Mercy embraceth all things, therefore I shall ordain It for those who ward off (evil) and pay the poor due, and those who believe Our revelations" (7:156); and He said "truly the Mercy of Allah is near those who do good": "Inna rahmat Allahi qaribun min al-muhsinin" (7:56) without putting qaribun in the feminine (qaribatun) although rahma is feminine, because in reality that rahma is the Prophet , as explicited in the verse: "wa ma arsalnaka illa rahmatan lil-`alamin": "And We did not send you (Muhammad) except as a Mercy to the worlds" (21:107); "Say: In the bounty of Allah and in His mercy: therein [alone] let them rejoice. It is better than what they hoard" (10:58). Ibn `Abbas said: "The bounty of Allah is Knowledge [of Tawhid], and His mercy is the Prophet ." Abu al-Shaykh narrated it as stated by al-Suyuti in al-Durr al-Manthur (4:367). Al-Alusi in Ruh al-Ma`ani (10:141) and Abu al-Su`ud in his Tafsir (4:156) said that the bounty is general while the mercy is specific and therefore emphasized. Al-Razi in al-Tafsir al-Kabir (17:123) said the command is emphatically restrictive, meaning that a human being should not rejoice in anything else than the mercy. "Truly, Allah and His angels send praise and blessings
[forever] upon the Prophet. O ye who believe! Praise and bless
the Prophet with utmost laud and blessing" (33:56); "That
ye (mankind) may believe in Allah and His messenger, and may
honor h/Him, and may revere h/Him, and may glorify h/Him at
early dawn and at the close of day" (48:9). Al-Nawawi
said that the scholars of Qur'anic commentary have given this
verse two lines of explanation, one group giving the three
personal pronouns "HIM" a single referent, namely,
either Allah ("Him") or the Prophet ("him");
the other group distinguishing between two referents, namely,
the Prophet for the first two ("honor and revere him"),
and Allah for the last ("glorify Him"). Those of
the first group that said the pronouns all refer to the Prophet
explained "glorify him" (tusabbihuhu) here to mean: "declare
him devoid of inappropriate attributes and pray for him." "And
Allah sufficeth as a witness that Muhammad is the messenger
of Allah" (48:28-29). There are, in fact, 6,666 Qur'anic proofs that the Messenger of Allah - Sallallahu `alayhi wa Alihi wa Sallam - is (not "was") without doubt the Best of creation, namely, the verses of the Holy Qur'an, since it is the greatest of all revealed Books and their Seal, the only Book that Allah guaranteed to preserve, and the universal Revelation for all creation (including angels, cf. al-Haytami, Fatawa Hadithiyya p. 69, 151-154) as opposed to previous Revelations which were only for the people among whom they were revealed. And this Book was revealed to the heart of the Prophet Muhammad : "And lo! it is a revelation of the Lord of the Worlds which the True Spirit hath brought down upon thy heart" (26:192-194). They might be confused by the narrations forbidding the Companions from boasting the merits of one Prophet over the others, or preferring him over Musa, or preferring him over Yunus, Allah bless and greet our Prophet and them. However, these narrations denote humbleness on the part of the Seal of Prophets . That is what all the Ulema said in reply to the superficial contradiction between the latter narrations and the verses and narrations that firmly establish his superior status. Ibn `Abbas (RA) said: "Allah has preferred (faddala) Muhammad over all Prophets and over the dwellers of the heavens (= the angels)." They said: "O Ibn `Abbas, how did He prefer him to the dwellers of the heavens?" He replied: "Allah Most High said: 'And one of them [the angels] who should say: Lo! I am a God beside Him, that one We should repay with hell" (21:29) but He said: 'Lo! We have given thee (O Muhammad) a signal victory That Allah may forgive thee of thy sin that which is past and that which is to come, and may perfect His favor unto thee, and may guide thee on a right path' (48:1-2)." They said: "And how did He prefer him over the Prophets?" He replied: "Allah Most High says: 'And We never sent a messenger save with the language of his folk'(14:4) but He said: 'And We have not sent thee (O Muhammad) save unto all mankind' (34:28)."1[1] There are many other more or less direct textual proofs to that effect, among them the fact that Allah ordered the angels to learn the names of things from Adam, but He ordered the universes to learn about Allah Himself from the Prophet : "The Beneficent! Ask any one informed concerning Him" (25:59); the fact that the Prophet is to witness not only over his own Community but over all others (2:143 and 4:41); the fact that the Prophet alone, of all humankind, jinn, and angels, has been given the Maqam al-Mahmud (17:79) i.e. the Glorious Station (of intercession with Allah Most High) and, in the Sunna, the fact that Allah did not give His intimate friendship to any angel, but He gave it to the Messenger of Allah as well as to Sayyidina Ibrahim (AS), and He made the Messenger of Allah the Imam of all Prophets and Messengers when he prayed among them in Masjid al-Aqsa, the intercessor for all the Communities (in the hadith "People shall surge like waves..."), and the Master of Humankind (Sayyidu al-Nas) together with the fact that he was known in the Divine presence as a Prophet while Adam (AS) was still being created, and that the latter sought his intercession because he saw his name written on the Throne. Adam (as) asks sought intercession
and forgiveness with the Prophet's name In the chapter concerning
the Prophet's superiority over all other Prophets in his
great book titled al-Wafa bi Ahwal al-Mustafa', Ibn al-Jawzi
states: "Part of the demonstration
of his superiority to other Prophets is the fact that Adam
(AS) asked his Lord through the sanctity (hurma) of Muhammad
that He relent towards him." The most authentic chain
for this report is not that of al-Hakim's narration from `Umar
through `Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam who is weak (da`îf),
but that of the Companion Maysarat al-Fajr who narrates it
as follows: Another great proof that the Messenger of Allah is the Best of Creation is the Consensus of the Imams and Ulema of Ahl al-Sunna, violating which are three scholars on record: the Zahiri Ibn Hazm; the Mu`tazili al-Zamakhshari; and the Mujassim Ibn Abi al-`Izz who was imprisoned for it as related by Ibn Hajar in his Inba' al-Ghumr (1:258-260). Shaykh `Abd Allah al-Talidi said in his Tahdhib al-Shifa' (p. 162): "The dissent of Ibn Hazm and al-Zamakhshari carries no weight." Sayyid Abu al-Fadl `Abd Allah ibn Muhammad
al-Siddiq al-Ghumari al-Hasani wrote a book titled, Dilalat
al-Qur'ani al-Mubin `ala anna al-Nabiyya Afdalu al-`Alamin
("The Indication
of the Manifest Qur'an that the Prophet is the Best of the
Universes"), in which he listed the verses to that effect
Sura by Sura and in the introduction of which he mentioned
the following story: "Al-Sha`rani in Tabaqat al-Awliya'
narrated from [his Shaykh] the Knower of Allah Abu al-Mawahib
al-Shadhili that the latter said: 'A dispute took place between
me and a certain person in the Mosque of al-Azhar over the
statement of the author of al-Burda [Imam al-Busiri]: Whereupon that person said: He has no proof for this. I said to him: Consensus (ijma`) has formed over this. He did not change his view. Later I saw the Prophet - Sallallahu `alayhi wa Alihi wa Sallam - and with him were Abu Bakr and `Umar, Allah be well-pleased with them, sitting at the pulpit of the Azhar Mosque. He said to me: Marhaban bihabibi - Welcome to my dear beloved! Then he said to his friends: Do you know what happened today? They said No, O Messenger of Allah. He said: So-and-so the Wretch (Fulan al-Ta`is) believes that the angels are better than me!... What is wrong with him, disbelieving in the Consensus?'" Following is a list of works containing proofs from the Qur'an and Sunna of the superiority of the Prophet over all creation: 1. Al-Qadi `Iyad, al-Shifa' fi Ma`rifati Huquq al-Mustafa Al-Qadi `Iyad said in al-Shifa', in
the section entitled: "On
Allah honoring the Prophet with some of His own Beautiful Names
and describing him with some of His own sublime qualities":
Know that Allah has bestowed a mark of honor on many of the
Prophets by investing them with some of His names, for instance,
when He calls Ishaq and Isma`il "knowing" (`alim)
and "forbearing" (halim), Ibrahim "forbearing",
Nuh "thankful" (shakur), `Isa and Yahya "devoted" (barr),
Musa "noble" (karim) and "strong" (qawi),
Yusuf "a knowing guardian" (hafiz, `alim), Ayyub "patient" (sabur),
and Isma`il "truthful to the promise" (sadiq al-wa`d)... May Allah send blessings and peace on the Prophet, his Family, and all his Companions. Even the Christians and Jews of old knew that the Prophet Muhammad is the best of creation, as evidenced by some of his names and attributes reportedly found in the Bible, such as "Ikleel = Crown [of creation]" and "Parakletos = Spirit of Holiness." WAllahu a`lam. Wa SallAllahu wa Sallam `ala Sayyidina Muhammad. GFH
Courtesy: www.livingislam.org |