Dear Brothers & Sisters -in-Islam,
Al-salaamu alaykum wa rahmat-Allaahi wa barakaatuhu (Peace be upon you,
and the mercy of Allaah and His blessings).
Tomorrow Saturday,the 25th May Or the 12th Rabi-Al-Awwal is the birthday of
our beloved Prophet-Mohammmed Ibn Abdullah(on Whom be the peace and blessing
of Allah),it is customary for many muslims the World over except the
Wahhabis(or the Puritans)to celebrate the occasion by narrating the life
history of the Prophet,Competition on the Recitation of the Holy Quran,Poems
written extolling the virtues and nobility of the prophet,Dhikr and darud on
the Prophet,and prayers generally offer to help,guide and protect us fron
satan.To mark the occasion for us in the the diaspora,I am sending this
short essay.I hope you will enjoy reading it.Inshalla.

Although there is no historical precedent for it,it is customary for many
muslims to celebrate the birthday of the prophet(peace be on him)in this
month of Rabi-Al-Awwal.We(muslims) do however acknowledge without
reservation that Mohammed(peace be on him)although a normal human being was
not like any other ordinary man.He was one ordained by Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'Ala to be a prophet and he was therefore divinely inspired.We ascribe no
other epithers to him but that of being the last prophet that Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala sent to mankind and we revere his memory for the
guidance of Al Islam that he brought to mankind.it has become almost a
tradition to celebrate the occasion of his birth the world over in this
month.he is ever in our hearts,we invoke Allah's blessing on him when we
speak and we constantly try to emulate his lifestyle in our' for he is the
exemplar 'par excellence' for all Muslims.We affirm our belief that he is
indeed a messenger of the Almighty when we make the call to prayer and we
invoke Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala's blessing on him countless times everyday
when we are in prayer.If anyone mentions his name we add to it salutations
and respect.He is not like any other leader who is forgotten when he has
passed on,or is only remembered on a special occasion.If you retrace his
genealogy to find out who our prophet was,you will find that he was
descended from a noble family.He is reported to have said about
himself:"Allah has chosen from the sons of Adam,Ibrahim and Ismail.And He
chose from the sons of Ismail,Bani Kanana.He chose from Bani kanana the
Quraish and from the Bani Quraish He chose the Bani Hashim and from among
the Bani Hashim he chose me".
The prophet(peace be on him)was born an orphan.That he was not to know his
noble father but to pay heed only to Allah Suhbanahu Wa Ta'Ala was the
purpose of his creation.Not for him was the natural inclination of every
other child,to regard his natural father as protector and provider.It was
Allah Suhbanahu Wa Ta'Ala himself who protected him and took care of him as
confirmed in the Holy Quran:"Did He not find you an orphan and give you
shelter(and care)".
The prophet(peace be on him)was known among his people as an honest and
trustworthy man.He was known as Al-Ameen(the trustworthy).When Heraclius a
regional Governor/Ruler,asked Abu Sufian(whilst he was still an
unbeliever)whether the prophet(peace be on him)was known ever to have
uttered a lie to anyone during his life.Abu Sufian had to admit...that
occasion had never arose.Heraclius then said to Abu Sufian: "If he is known
not to have lied to and about people,he will certainly not be liar about
God". Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!!
When Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala asked the prophet(peace be on him)to admonish
his family,He said to him: " And admonish your nearest kinsmen".The
prophet(peace be on him)stood,called all his kinsmen to a meeting and
addressed them saying: "oh Bani Abdou Manaf,if I were to tell you that some
people will attack you right now from behind this mountain,would you accept
that from me as truth?".They answered; "yes,because you have never lied to
us before".He then said to them: Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala sent me to give
you a clear warning and if you do not heed the warning a severe punishment
will overtake you".When he told them about the punishment they could not
reject it because he was known to be honest.
The character of any one who aspires to political leadership of the muslims
has to be closely examined.His background and behaviour has to be verified
before he becomes a leader of a muslim nation.A leader must be judged by his
background,just as the people judged the prophet(peace be on Him)The Prophet
(peace be on him) did not gamble or drink alcohal,he did not prostrate
himself before any idol whatsoever,whether real or imaginery.He did not pay
homage to any body,He did not bootlicked any human being so that he can be
granted a position of authority,nor was he involved in character
assassination,backbiting or any of the negative human weaknesses so
prevalent in our society today.He was in short,honest,frank and brutally
dependable.Calling a spade a spade both ways!!This should be our aim.We came
to this World with nothing and we shall certainly take nothing with us when
we leave except our human portfolio of good and bad.
The people accepted without question his judgement in their affairs even
before he started his mission,because he always had a very clear mind and
dealt justly with all the people.He was and remained always on the straight
path.
When the people rebuilt Al-Kaaba and argued as to who was going to put the
Black Stone in its place and decided that they would accept the first one
who entered through the door,it so happened that the first person who
entered was the prophet(peace be on him0.Seeing it was him,all of them were
very happy and they accepted him as the judge in their dispute.He accepted
to arbitrate the dispute and made them to put the black stone in a
cloth,made a member of every tribe present carry the object to the place
where it was to be put and placed the stone in it's niche with his own noble
hands,I reiterate that the people even before his appointment as
prophet,voluntarily accepted his judgement and after his appoinment.we as
muslims,have to accept it,as commands from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala.Anyone
who does not accept it as his command will be lost and will be very sorry
for his disobedience on the Day of Judgement.Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala says
in the Holy Quran:" The day that their faces will be turned upside down in
the fire,they will say:woe to us! would that we had obeyed Allah and obeyed
the Messenger!And they will say: our Lord! We obeyed our chiefs and our
great ones,and they misled us as to the (right) path.Our Lord!give them a
double penalty and curse them with a very great curse!" 33:66,67,&68.
In conclusion,I wish to advise that Rasul Allah(peace be on him) is the
ultimate of exemplars for anyone whose hope is in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala
and the Final Day.He is the greatest gift and mercy from Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'Ala to all of mankind as Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala says in the Holy
Quran:"Allah did confer a great favour on the believers when He sent among
them a Messenger from among themselves,rehearsing unto them the signs of
Allah,sanctifying them,and instruting them in scripture and wisdom,while
before that,they had been in manifest error" Holy Quran 3:164.

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.

_________________________________________________________________
Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~