7)
Noor- The blessed light of our Prophet
We, the Ahl as-Sunna wa'l-Jama'a, believe that it is indeed
permissable to call the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) 'Nur'. The Qur'an has chosen and applied this word
itself to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).The
Companions would often call him (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) 'Nur'.
However, it is often at this point that those who oppose this view
believe, from some erroneous conviction they hold, that we claim
the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was not
human! This is indeed strange and a gross accusation. For those
who claim that he was not a human, have clearly ventured out of
the bounds of Islam, and have entered into kufr.The belief of
Ahl as-Sunna wa'l-Jamma is that the Noble Prophet Muhammad
(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is nur and human,
as we shall now seek to demonstrate.
Proof from Qur'an
Allah Most High says in the Holy Qur'an:
"Undoubtedly, there has come to you from Allah a light
and a Book, luminous ".
[Sura al-'Ma'ida', verse 15]
Imam Tabari and Qadi Shawkani write under this verse that the meaning
of 'nur' in this verse is used for our Prophet (may Allah bless
him and give him peace), as Zujaag said.
[at-Tabari, Tafsir Tabari; Qadi Shawkani,
Tafsir Fathul Qadeer , under above verse]
From the above evidence we conclude that it is permissible to call
Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) 'Nur' and it is
not kufr or shirk as some people consider ir to be.
Proof from the Hadith
Imam at-Tirmidhi wrote that when Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless
him and grant him peace) smiled, it seemed as if nur was coming
from his teeth.
[ash-Shama'il at-Tirmidhi]
Allama Ibn al-Jawzi writes:
"When Adam (peace be upon him) was being created, the nur
of Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was
placed on Adam's (peace be upon him) forehead and Adam saw the Prophet
Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Adam (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace) asked, 'Who is he?' Allah Most High
replied, 'He is the last Prophet and will be the chief of your children'
"
[Ibn al-Jawzi, Al Wafa, chapter on 'Birth of
the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)']
Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes:
"Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that:
'One night Rasulu'llah asked me to take Hasan and Husayn to their
mother. When I departed with them I witnessed a light which lit
our path and travelled with us until we reached their doorstep'
"
[Ibn Kathir, Ta'rikh Ibn Kathir and
Sirat an-Nabi, chapter on 'Mu'jizat']
Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes:
"Muhammad ibn Hamza (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates
that 'Once Rasulu'llah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
made my fingers glow with light.'
[Ibn Kathir, Sirat an-Nabi,, chapter
on 'Mu'jizat']
Hafiz Ibn Kathir states that:
"When the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant
him peace) was born, the King of Abyssinia witnessed the nur of
the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)"
[Ta'rikh Ibn Kathir, chapter on 'Milad
an-Nabi', vol. 2]
Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes:
"One Companion (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that
upon the occasion of Hajjat al-Wada [the Prophet's last sermon on
the day of Hajj] he saw that the blessed face of Rasulu'llah (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace) was shining like the moon"
[Ta'rikh Ibn Kathir, chapter on 'Mu'jizat', vol.
6]
Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes:
"Whilst 'Abd al-Muttalib was walking with his son ''Abdullah,
a woman saw a light on the forehead of 'Abdullah. She approached
them and offered one hundred camels so that 'Abdullah may marry
her but they refused her offer. Some time after his marriage to
Amina, 'Abdullah again confronted this woman but this time she made
no offers to marry him and said: 'The nur upon your forehead is
no longer present' "
[Ibn Kathir, Ta'rikh Ibn Kathir, vol.
2., and Sirat an-Nabi; Ibn Jarir, at-Tabari chapter
on 'Milad an-Nabi']
Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes
'The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
said:'I am the prayer of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and the prophecy
of 'Isa (peace be upon him). When my mother was pregnant she witnessed
so much light from her body that she could see the palaces of Syria.'
[Ibn Kathir, Sirat an-Nabi, vol.2; Shaykh
Najdi, Muktasar Sirat ar-Rasul]
Ibn al-Jawzi narrates that the nur of the Prophet (may Allah bless
him and grant him peace) would overcome the light of both the sun
and the lamp.
[Ibn Jawzi, Al-Wafa, chapter on 'al-Wilada']
Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes:
"Ka'ab ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) recited a
[na'at] poem in the presence of the Prophet (may Allah bless him
and grant him peace) [part of which we have translated from Arabic
is]:
'We have come to you and you have transformed our darkness into
light and have removed the barriers of ignorance.'
[Ibn Kathir, Ta'rikh, and Sirat
an-Nabi chapter on 'Mu'jizat']
Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes:
"Hasan ibn Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) said: 'Rasulu'llah
(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is that star from which
even the moon of the fourteenth night obtains it light' "
[Ta'rikh Ibn Kathir, chapter on 'Wilada']
Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes:
"From Ibn Hisham who narrates that Hasan ibn Thabit (may Allah
be pleased with him) said:' When I was eight years old, a Jew was
calling to the people; they gathered around him and asked him what
was the commotion. He replied:'The star of Ahmad has risen, that
which is born tonight' "
[Ta'rikh Ibn Kathir, vol. 2; Ibn Hisham,
Sirat an-Nabi, chapter on Milad an-Nabi]
All these references are proof of the light of Rasulu'llah (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace), which was felt by the people
and witnessed by those in his presence.
What was the first thing that Allah created?
There is a difference of opinion amongst the scholars with regards
to what was the first to be created, whether it was water, Arsh
(Throne), or the ruh (nur) of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace). We say that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace) was the first creation of Allah Almighty.
Allah Most High says in the Qur'an:
"And O beloved! Remember when We took covenant from the Prophets
and from you, and from Nuh and Ibrahim and Musa and ''Isa son of
Maryam; and We took from them a firm covenant"
[Sura al-Ahzab, verse 7 ]
From the above verse we are shown that Allah took the covenant
from His beloved first and then from the other anbiya, even though
they came before. The answer to this has been written by the following
scholars:
Imam Tabari, Hafiz ibn Kathir and Imam al-Qurtubi write:
"Qatada reported that:
"Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
said that 'I was created before every one and I came at the end
of all the Prophets' "
[at-Tabari, Tafsir Tabari; al-Qurtubi,
Ibn Kathir, all under the verse of Sura al-Ahzab]
Allah Most High says in the Qur'an:
"Who sees you when you stand and
...your movements among those who offer prayers".
[Sura ash-Shu'ara', verse 219]
In reference to this verse, Hafiz ibn Kathir and Qadi Shawkani
write:
"Abdullah ibn Abbas reported that the verse '...your movements
among those who offer prayers' means that the nur moved from one
Prophet to the next and this carried on until it reached Amina's
house and then the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
was born"
Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes:
"The Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
said, 'I always stayed amongst the pure and then at the end I appeared
to my mother' "
[Ibn Kathir, Sirat an-Nabi, chapter on 'Wilada']
We shall now present the qasida recited by 'Abbas (may Allah be
pleased with him) who was the uncle of the Prophet. Scholars such
as Ibn 'Abdi'l-Barr, Imam Dhabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani, and many
others, have unanimously written this so no one can have the courage
to decline this qasida.
Hafiz ibn al-Qayyim, Hafiz ibn Kathir and Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab
write:
"'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that on returning
from the expedition of Tabuk, I said to Rasulu'llah (may Allah bless
him and grant him peace):'I wish to recite a qasida about you',
to which he replied:'May Allah bless your mouth!'I then recited
this qasida:[We have translated part of it in English from Arabic]
"Before you came into the world, you were under the leaves
of Heaven's trees.Prophet Adam covering his body with the leaves
of Heavenly trees [when his heavenly clothes were taken off
him]
Before Adam came into the world ,your (nur) was transferred
upon his forehead.
Through Adam you came into the world, but at the time you were
not human, nor a piece of flesh, not even a drop of blood.
But at the time you were only (nur) in your fore-father's back.
And when others were drowning your fore-father, Nuh, boarded
the boat.
After coming off the boat your (nur) was transferred from one
clean woman to another
Until you came into the back of Prophet Ibrahim. How can the
fire burn him while you were in his back?
Then you travelled into Khindaf, who was also a clean woman.
That is how you kept travelling forward, until the time of
your birth came. When you were born, the Earth and the edge of the
sky, all shone as they never did from your nur. We are still travelling
under the same guidance of that nur'"
[Narrated and certified by Ibn 'Abdu'l-Barr,
Qadi 'Iyad in ash-Shifa, Ibn Athir, Tabarani; Ibn Qayyim
in Zad-ul-Ma'ad, vol.3, page10; Ibn Kathir in Ta'rikh,
at the end of chapter 'Gazwa-e- Tabuk'; and Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab
an-Najdi in Mukhtasar Sirat ar-Rasul. Ibn Kathir, Sirat
an-Nabi; Ibn al-Athir, Us-dul Gabah; al-'Asqalani,
al-Asaba; Ibn 'Abd'il-Barr, al-Isti'ab, biography
of'Hoorainm Ibn Oas'; Hafiz adh-Dhahabi, Talkees Mustadrak;
Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, Nashrut Teeb]
Qadi 'Iyad, in his book Ash-Shifa, narrated from 'Abdullah
ibn 'Abbas that Prophet Muhammad's (may Allah bless him and grant
him peace) nur was created 2000 years before the creation of the
world.
[ash-Shifa, chapter 1, page 48]
Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab an-Najdi writes:
"There is a hadith in which Rasulu'llah(may Allah bless him
and grant him peace) stated:'I was a Prophet even when Adam (peace
be upon him) was between clay and water[i.e. in the process of being
created]
[Hadith transmitted by at-Tirmidhi, Ibn 'Abd
al-Wahhab, Mukhtasar Sirat ar-Rasul;, al-Bayhaqi, Ahmad,
al-Hakim and adh-adh-Dhahabi declare it to be sahih]
Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) stated:'I
have always been amongst the good (group), and my nur was present
even before Adam.'
[Qadi 'Iyad,,Tabari ash-Shifa, chapter
on 'Milad an-Nabi']
The Companions used to call the Prophet (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace) 'Nur
When Rasulu'llah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) had
passed away, the following na'ats were recited:
Imam Ibn Sa'd writes that Hasaan ibn Thabit (may Allah be pleased
with him) recited:
"Who can compare to the one who was nur, the one from
whom light was extracted. There were blessings in his commands and
he was our guide and warner. He was such a nur that his light shone
upon the whole of the creation.The person who has shown us the path
of this blessed (nur) attained success. He was the light, he was
the nur.It is his footsteps that we follow, and after Allah, he
was our ears and eyes"
Ka'ab ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) stated:'He was
Bashir an-Nazir and the rays of his nur kept us enlightened. Allah
saved us through his blessings of nur, and through his mercy we
obtained salvation from the fire of Hell.'
Arwa bint 'Abd al-Muttalib (may Allah be pleased with her) stated:'If
I weep, then it is for him who was the nur for all the nations;
he was the Messenger of Allah and his name was Ahmad, let me remain
in this state of mind.'
Atiqa bint 'Abd al-Muttalib (may Allah be pleased with her) stated
'O my eyes!, Weep for the one who was the selected nur, who was
from the children of Hashim!'
Safiyya bint 'Abd al-Muttalib (may Allah be pleased with her) stated:
'Upon the one with whom Allah is pleased, the one upon guidance
and piety, the one who brought the light of guidance after darkness.'
Hind bint 'Usasa bin 'Abd al-Muttalib (may Allah be pleased with
her) stated: 'He was the moon of the fourteenth night, such a nur
from which light was extracted and by the Lord he was bestowed with
the Book.'
[Tabqaat Ibn Sa'd , chapter
on 'Wafat an-Nabi']
Everything contained in this chapter is evidence in support of
the fact that the nur of Rasulu'llah(may Allah bless him and grant
him peace) was present long before human creation. For this reason
the Ahl as-Sunna believe that although Rasulu'llah(may Allah bless
him and grant him peace) was a human being (bashar), it is also
justified to call him nur.
This was the reality of the creed of nur, which is the belief of
the Ahl as-Sunna wa'l-Jama'a. The final question we ask is that
if it is kufr to have such belief, can all the scholars (whose names
and references have been given) also be classified as kuffar?
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