Praises of the Prophet and excellent qualities

Allah says: “A Messenger has come to you from among yourselves.” (9:128)1
    Allah informs the believers, or the Arabs, or the people of Makka, or all people (according to different commentaries on the meaning of these words) that He has sent to them from among themselves a Messenger whom they know, whose position they are sure of and whose truthfulness and trustworthiness they cannot but recognise. Therefore, since he is one of them, they should not suspect him of lying or of not giving them good counsel. There is no Arab tribe without descent from, or kinship with, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. This, according to Ibn ‘Abbas and others, is the meaning of His words, “except love for kin”.  (42:23) He is from the noblest, highest and most excellent of them. How much further in the ayat can praise go?

    Then Allah continues the ayat by attributing to him all kinds of praiseworthy qualities and greatly praises his eagerness to guide people to Islam, his deep concern for the intensity of what afflicts and harms them in this world and the Next, and his compassion and mercy for the believers.

    One of the men of knowledge, Al-Husayn ibn al-Fadl, said, “He honoured him with two of His own names: the “compassionate” and the “merciful” (ra’uf, rahim)”

    Ja‘far ibn Muhammad [as-Sadiq] said, “Allah knew that His creatures would not be capable of pure obedience to Him, so He told them this in order that they would realise that they would never be able to achieve absolute purity in serving Him. Between Himself and them He placed one of their own species, clothing him in His own attributes of compassion and mercy. He brought him out as a truthful ambassador to creation and made it such that when someone obeys him, they are obeying Allah, and when someone agrees with him, they are agreeing with Allah. Allah says: ‘Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah.’  (4:80)”

Allah says, “We did not send you except as a mercy to all the worlds.”  (21:107)  Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Tahir said in explanation of this ayat, “Allah imbued Muhammad with mercy, so that his very being was mercy and all his qualities and attributes were mercy to all creatures. Whoever is touched by any aspect of his mercy is saved in both worlds from every hateful thing and obtains everything he loves. Do you not see that Allah says, ‘We did not send you except as a mercy to all the worlds.’? His life was mercy and his death was mercy. As the Prophet himself said, ‘My life is a blessing for you and my death is a blessing for you.’2 The Prophet also said, ‘When Allah desires mercy for a community, He takes its Prophet to Him before them and He makes him one who goes ahead to prepare the way for them.’“3

     It is related that the Prophet said to Jibril, “Has any of this mercy touched you?” He replied, “Yes, I used to have fear about what would happen to me, but now I feel safe because of the way Allah praised me when He said, ‘Securely placed with the Lord of the Throne, obeyed there, trustworthy..’ “ (81:21)l    

    Allah says, “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The likeness of His Light  is that of a niche  in which there is a lamp, the lamp inside a glass, the glass like a brilliant star, lit from a blessed tree, an olive, neither of the east nor of the west, its oil all but giving off light even if no fire touches it. Light upon Light. Allah guides to His Light anyone He wills and Allah makes likenesses for mankind and Allah has knowledge of everything.” (24:35)
        Ka‘b al-Ahbar and Ibn Jubayr said, “By the second light He means Muhammad. Allah says, ‘the likeness of his light…’ meaning the light of Muhammad.”
    Sahl ibn ‘Abdullah at-Tustari said that it means that Allah is the Guide of the people of the heavens and the earth. Then Sahl said, “…like the light of Muhammad when it is lodged in the loins like a niche. By the lamp He means his heart. The glass is his breast. It is as if it were a brilliant star because of the belief and wisdom it contains, lit from a blessed tree, i.e. from the light of Ibrahim. He makes a comparison with the blessed tree and He says, ‘Its oil all but giving off light,’ i.e. Muhammad’s prophethood is almost evident to the people before he speaks, just like this oil.”

    This is why He says: “Did We not expand your breast for you?” (94:1) To expand, ‘sharaha’, is to make wide, vast. By the word “breast”, Allah here means the heart. Ibn ‘Abbas said, “He expanded it with the light of Islam.” Sahl at-Tustari said, “With the light of the message.” Hasan al-Basri said, “He filled it with judgement and knowledge.” It is also said that it means, “Did We not purify your heart so that it does not allow in any whispering from Shaytan?”

    The sura continues: “And We lifted your burden from you, the burden that weighed down your back.”  (94:2-3) It is said that this means his wrong actions, i.e. from the time before he was a Prophet. It is said that it means the burden of the days of the Jahiliyya. It is said that the meaning is the message which weighed down his back before he conveyed it, and this is the opinion of al-Mawardi and as-Sulami. It is also said that it means, “We protected you and if it had not been for that, wrong actions would have burdened your back,” and this is what as-Samarqandi relates

    The sura continues: “Did We not raise high your renown?” (94:4) Yahya ibn Adam said that this meant by being given prophethood. It is said that the meaning of these words is explained by the hadith qudsi, “When I am mentioned, you are mentioned with Me in the statement, ‘There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.’ “ It is also said that the same is done by means of the adhan.

    What is clear is that by these words Allah confirms the immensity of the favour He has bestowed on His Prophet, his noble station with Him and the honour in which He holds him. He expanded his breast to belief and guidance and made it wide enough to contain knowledge and bear wisdom. He removed from him the burdens of all the things of the Jahiliyya and made their pursuance hateful to him by giving victory to His deen over all other deens. He lightened for him the weighty responsibility of the message and prophethood so he could convey to people what was sent down to him. He re-emphasised the sublime position, majestic rank, high renown of His Prophet and joined his name to His own name.

    Qatada said, “Allah exalted his fame in this world and the Next. There is no speaker, witness nor anyone doing the prayer who fails to say, ‘There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.’ “

Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri related that the Prophet said, “Jibril, peace be upon him, came to me and said, ‘My Lord and your Lord says, “Do you know how I have exalted your fame?” ‘ I said, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said, ‘When I am mentioned, you are mentioned with Me.’”1
    Ibn ‘Ata’ quoted a hadith qudsi saying, “I completed belief with your being mentioned with Me.” And another one which says, “I have made your mention part of My mention so whoever mentions Me, mentions you.”
    Ja‘far ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq said, “No one mentions you as the Messenger but that he mentions Me as the Lord.”

    The fact that mention of the Prophet is directly connected to mention of Allah also shows that obedience to the Prophet is connected to obedience to Allah and his name to Allah’s name. Allah says, “Obey Allah and His Messenger” (2:32) and “Believe in Allah and His Messenger.” (4:136) Allah joins them together using the conjunction wa which is the conjunction of partnership. It is not permitted to use this conjunction in connection with Allah in the case of anyone except the Prophet.