SERMON 197
Amir al-mu'minin's attachment to the Holy
Prophet. The performance of his funeral rites.
Those companions of Muhammad
- the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him and his descendants - who
were the custodians (of divine messages) know that I never disobeyed Allah
or His Messenger
(1) - the peace and blessing of Allah be
upon him and his descendants - at all, and by virtue of the courage
(2)
with which Allah honoured me I supported him with my life on occasions
when even the brave turned away and feet remained behind (instead of
proceeding forward).
When the Prophet - the peace
and blessing of Allah be upon him and his descendants - died his head was
on my chest, and his (last) breath blew over my palms and I passed it over
my face. I performed his (funeral) ablution, may Allah bless him and his
descendants, and the angels helped me. The house and the courtyard were
full of them.
One party of them was
descending and the other was ascending. My ears continually caught their
humming voice, as they invoked Allah's blessing on him, till we buried him
in his grave. Thus, who can have greater rights with him than I during his
life or after his death? Therefore depend on your intelligence and make
your intentions pure in fighting your enemy, because I swear by Him who is
such that there is no god but He, that I am on the path of truth and that
they (the enemy) are on the misleading path of wrong.
You hear what I say; and I
seek Allah's forgiveness for myself and for you.
(1).
Ibn Abi'l-Hadid has written (in Sharh Nahj al-balaghah, vol. 10, pp.
180-183) that Amir al-mu'minin's saying that he never disobeyed the
commands of the Prophet is a sort of taunt to those who felt no hesitation
in rejecting the Prophet's commands and sometimes even checked him.
For example, when, at the
time of the peace of al-Hudaybiyah, the Prophet was agreeable to negotiate
peace with the unbelievers among the Quraysh, one of the companions became
so enraged that he expressed doubts about the prophethood of the Prophet
whereupon Abu Bakr had to say:
Woe be to you! Keep
clinging to him. He is certainly Allah's Messenger and He will not ruin
him.
The introduction to the
oath, 'inna', and the word of emphasis 'lam' which are used here to create
conviction about the prophethood shows that the addressee had gone farther
than mere doubt, because these words of emphasis are employed only when
the stage of denial has been reached. However, if belief required absence
of doubt, the presence of doubt must imply defect in the belief, as Allah
says:
The believers are only
those who believe in Allah and His Messenger, they doubt not
thereafter,... (Qur'an, 49:15)
Similarly, when the Prophet
intended to say the funeral prayers of Ubayy ibn Salul the same companion
said to him, "How do you intend to seek forgiveness for this Chief of
hypocrites?" And he even drew away the Prophet by catching the skirt (of
his shirt).
Then the Prophet had to say,
"No act of mine is beside the command of Allah". In the same way the
Prophet's command to accompany the force of Usamah ibn Zayd was ignored.
The greatest of all these insolences was displayed in connection with the
Prophet's intention to write down his advice as to when such a blame was
laid against the Prophet which proves an absence of belief in the commands
of the shari`ah, and creates a doubt about each command as to whether it
is based on divine revelation or (Allah may forbid) just the result of
mental disorder.
(2).
Who can deny that the ever-successful lion of Allah, `Ali ibn Abi Talib
(p.b.u.h.) shielded the Prophet on every critical occasion and performed
the duty of protecting him by dint of the courage and valour gifted to him
by Allah. The first occasion of risking his life was when the unbelievers
from the Quraysh decided finally to kill the Prophet and `Ali slept on his
bed surrounded by enemies and under the direct peril of swords, whereby
the enemies were not able to succeed in their aims.
Then, in those battles where
the enemies used to attack the Prophet together and where the feet of even
the reputed heroes could not stand firm, Amir al-mu'minin remained
steadfast with the banner (of Islam) in his hand. `Abd al-Barr and
al-Hakim writes about it:
Ibn `Abbas says that `Ali
had four qualities which no one else possessed. Firstly, he was the
first among Arabs and non-Arabs to have said prayers with the Messenger
of Allah. Secondly, he always had the banner of Islam in his hand in
every battle. Thirdly, when people ran away from the Prophet, `Ali
remained with him; and fourthly it was he who gave the Prophet his
funeral ablution and laid him in his grave. (al-Isti`ab, vol. 3, p.
1090; al-Mustadrak `ala as-sahihayn vol. 3, p. 111)
A study of the holy wars of
Islam fought in the Prophet's days leaves no doubt that, except for the
battle of Tabuk in which Amir al-mu'minin did not partake, all other
battles bear testimony to his fine performance and all the successes are
due to his valour. Thus, in the battle of Badr seventy unbelievers were
killed, half of whom were killed by `Ali's sword. In the battle of Uhud,
when victory changed into defeat as a result of the Muslims engaging
themselves in the collection of booty, and they fled away under the sudden
attack of the enemy, Amir al-mu'minin remained steadfast, taking jihad to
be a religious obligation, and displayed such conspicuous performance in
support and defence of the Prophet that the Prophet too acknowledged it
and also the Angel.
Again, in the battle of the
Trench (al-Khandaq), the Prophet was accompanied by three thousand
combatants, but none dared face `Amr ibn `Abdawadd. At last, Amir
al-mu'minin killed him and saved the Muslims from ignominy. In the battle
of Hunayn, the Muslims were proud of their number because they were ten
thousand while the unbelievers were only four thousand, but here too they
leapt onto the booty, as a consequence of which the unbelievers gained the
opportunity, and pounced upon them. Bewildered with this sudden attack the
Muslims fled away as the Holy Qur'an says:
Most certainly did Allah
help you in many (battle) fields, and on the day of Hunayn, when made
you vain your great number, but they availed you nothing, and was
straitened the earth against you with all its extensiveness, then ye
turned back in retreat. (9:25)
On this occasion also, Amir
al-mu'minin was steady like a rock, and eventually, with Allah's support,
victory was achieved.
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