A man from the Amir tribe came to the Prophet(SAW)and said: “May I enter.”
The Prophet said to a maid: “Go out and say to this man to say: ‘Assalamu
alaikum. May I enter.’ He has not sought permission properly.” The man said:
“I heard this before the maid could come out to give me this message. So I
said: Assalamu alaikum. May I enter.” The Prophet said: “And to you. Yes,
come in.” I went in and asked him: “With what message have you come?” He
said: “I have come to you with nothing but good. I have come to you so that
you worship none other than God who has no partners. You must abandon the
worship of idols like Al-Lat and Al-Uzza. You must pray five times each
night and day, and fast a month in each year, and offer the pilgrimage to
the House (i.e. the Kaaba), and take a portion of the money of the rich
among you so as to give it to your poor.” I asked him: “Is there any part of
knowledge unknown to you?” He replied: “God certainly knows what is good.
Some knowledge is known only to God alone.

“There are five things that are unknown to anyone other than God: ‘With God
alone rests the knowledge of when the Last Hour will come; and He (it is
who) sends down rain; and He knows what is in the wombs; whereas no one
knows what he will reap tomorrow; and no one knows in what land he will
die.’” (31: 34) (Related by Al-Bukhari in Al-Adab Al-Mufrad and Abu Dawood)

When the man asked the Prophet about his message, the Prophet outlined it
for him in clear and concise terms. The first thing the Prophet said was the
main essence of faith, which is God’s oneness. We note how the Prophet made
his statement so emphatic, asserting the need to worship God alone and to
ensure that no partners are associated with Him. But he goes on to add the
importance of the practical shape this faith should take. To an Arab at the
time, this could not be illustrated in a better form than abandoning the
worship of the main idols he had been used to glorify.

Thus the Prophet gave his interlocutor both the belief and its practical
manifestation in both what needs to be done and what must be abandoned.

The Prophet then outlined for his interlocutor the four main acts of Islamic
worship, namely prayer, fasting, pilgrimage and zakah. These cover all areas
of life. Prayer is a bond between a human being and his Lord, God Almighty.
It is renewed five times every day because a human being needs to be
constantly aware of this bond. Such awareness is the best support anyone
could have against temptation.

During the day, every day, a Muslim is either approaching a prayer coming
soon or having finished a prayer a short while ago. In either case, prayer
serves as a reminder putting a Muslim on his guard.

Fasting, on the other hand, is a worship that signifies complete and pure
devotion, because it involves abstaining from food and drink, the two things
closely connected with our survival.

When we withstand hunger and thirst for God’s sake, resisting the temptation
of food and drink, we are better able to resist all temptation of sin.

The pilgrimage is an act of worship that symbolizes the unity of the Muslim
community all over the world, not only in the present generation, but also
throughout history.

Zakah is a financial act of worship that aims at ensuring complete social
security for all people. We note here how the Prophet makes it clear that it
should work within the community: You “take a portion of the money of the
rich among you so as to give it to your poor.”

This strengthens bonds within the community, because both giver and taker
are fulfilling an act of worship.

The next question the man asks is about knowledge. The Prophet attributes
all to God who knows all goodness. He then quotes a verse from the Qur’an
that outlines five areas which are known to God alone: “With God alone rests
the knowledge of when the Last Hour will come; and He (it is who) sends down
rain; and He knows what is in the wombs; whereas no one knows what he will
reap tomorrow; and no one knows in what land he will die.” (31: 34)

The first is that of the Last Hour, when all creation will be gathered
before God on the Day of Resurrection. No one, not even a Prophet or an
angel, is ever given such knowledge.

But it is not merely the timing of the Last Hour that is withheld from our
knowledge. What comes next is also known to God alone. This applies to both
heaven and hell and whatever God has chosen to create for that life which we
have no doubt of its coming.

Secondly, the verse the Prophet quotes mentions that it is God alone who
sends down rain. When we relate this to knowledge, we may think of the
quantity of rain that is sent down each time a cloud sheds its contents.

This is definitely an area which scientists have not even tried to explore.
Even if they do, they can only hazard a guess with regard to the volume of
rain, or its duration and the area where it falls.

They may develop technology to give them better results. But God knows every
drop of rain and where it falls, long before a cloud is formed. Not only so,
but He knows the effects of such rain, and whether it will seep through the
earth strata into an underground reservoir or pour into a river. He also
knows which of His creation will benefit by each rainfall, and how much it
contributes to the life of plants and animals.

Thirdly, God knows ‘what is in the wombs.’ In his translation of the Qur’an,
Muhammad Asad adds the following comment: “This relates not merely to the
problem of the sex of the as yet unborn embryo, but also to the question of
whether it will be born at all, and if so, what its natural endowments and
its character will be, as well as what role it will be able to play in life;
and life itself is symbolized by the preceding mention of rain, and the end
of all life in this world, by the mention of the Last Hour.” We may add that
God’s knowledge does not apply to human embryos only, but to the unborn
young of all species.

The fourth aspect of knowledge known only to God is that of the future,
expressed in the Qur’anic verse in these words: “Whereas no one knows what
he will reap tomorrow.” It is indeed knowledge of the next moment that is
kept away from us. No one can ever claim to have clear and certain knowledge
of what will happen beyond the present moment, or indeed whether he or she
will survive to take another breath. But everything that will happen to the
end of time is known to God in every minute detail.

The final aspect also relates to the future, but it is more closely related
to a person’s life and its end: “No one knows in what land he will die.” It
is not merely the place of death that is unknown to us. Also its timing and
causes are also withheld. We realize this as we see in life that death
cannot be predicted for any person, whether he suffers from ill health or he
enjoys robust and good health. It may come through the least expected of
causes and in the most unusual of ways. The only thing that is certain about
it is that it occurs in every case, at the time God has chosen.

With the very best of good wishes,
Musa Amadu Pembo
Glasgow,
Scotland
UK.
[log in to unmask]
Da’wah is to convey the message with wisdom and with good words. We should
give the noble and positive message of Islam. We should try to emphasize
more commonalities and explain the difference without getting into
theological arguments and without claiming the superiority of one position
over the other. There is a great interest among the people to know about
Islam and we should do our best to give the right message.
May Allah,Subhana Wa Ta'Ala,guide us all to His Sirat Al-Mustaqim (Righteous
Path).May He protect us from the evils of this life and the hereafter.May
Allah,Subhana Wa Ta'Ala,grant us entrance to paradise .
We ask Allaah the Most High, the All-Powerful, to teach us that which will
benefit us, and to benefit us by that which we learn. May Allaah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala grant blessings and peace to our Prophet Muhammad and his family
and
companions..Amen.




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