The Reason for Revelations
In the history of mankind, for every time a nation, a group of people, a family, or a tribe to succeed, thrive and develop, there are two factors underpinning that success. First, a leader with quality, manner and character, and second, a set of rules or behavior (a constitution) for these people.
Not all human beings are endowed with the ability to lead. The majority are followers. The best leaders are the most outstanding people in the community, for they have the vision and qualities to lead and guide the community. Human beings are lost without a good leader. In every organization, there is an executive boss. In every family structure, there is the head of the family. In all groups, there is a leader – whether they are schoolchildren, university students, travellers, soldiers, corporate organisations, villages, cities and countries.
History has also witnessed that any major crisis of any nation is coupled with poor leadership – whether he is incompetent, corrupted, tyrannical, weak or unjust.
Human beings are in need of a leader – a teacher or a role model. We need someone to show us the way, and to take care of our needs with justice. This individual has to have the best character and conduct. A good leader has to take on all these responsibilities as a duty for those in his charge, not for power, fame, status, money or glory. The good leader is for the maximum benefit of his people.
When we are young, our parents are our role models, whether good or bad. School teachers in our life can also affect us. After we grow up we need a companion or a friend or somebody older than us to help us with knowledge and experiences about our future. According to their qualities and knowledge, their impact on our lives and future can be positive or negative.
We also look for leaders in specific disciplines. If you want a strong body, you must follow your trainer, doctor or nutritionist. As human beings, we do not know everything, and this is why we look to others to give us the knowledge and experience we need. The need for leadership and guidance is universal.
In history, leaders have been appointed by kings, groups of people, knowledgeable people or people with status. History has demonstrated that sometimes the people have chosen correctly, but sometimes they have not, meaning the individual might turn out to be a good leader or he might not. When the people have chosen well, the nation thrives. When people choose badly, their leaders may turn out to be dictators, oppressors and tyrants, and lead the nation to chaos and downfall.
When a leader is elected by the people, there is no guarantee that he will discharge that duty for the interests of the people. We have seen this happen repeatedly in history, whether a leader is democratically elected or whether he is appointed. Human beings do not always make the best choices – their choice may be self serving, applying the wrong criteria, or was based on lack of the correct knowledge and wisdom.
Messengers and Prophets
Now let’s examine who should be the best one for us. Someone appointed by human beings, or someone appointed by the Almighty Creator?
From the dawn of mankind, the Creator created human beings with good and bad attributes, strengths and weaknesses. He put us on earth to test us on how much we will struggle to overcome our bad qualities and fortify and use our good qualities.
Because He is the One who created us, He knows exactly how we must deal with each other, with our family, society, the environment, and most of all, with Him. He knows we need a map and a constitution to achieve happiness in this life and the next, to live and fulfill His purpose in our life. So this governance of how we deal with ourselves and with each other, must come from Him. We can think of this as His instruction manual for us.
These instructions were conveyed through Prophets and Messengers, men of the highest caliber, wisdom, strength, character and moral discipline selected by our Creator. They were given revelations, being the messages that the Creator chose to share with us, and which Prophets and Messengers disseminated to the society under their guardianship.
From the beginning of mankind, the Almighty Creator sent to mankind Messengers, Prophets, scriptures and revelations over and over again to guide mankind towards Him. Some people accepted the message humbly and followed the Messengers or Prophets. Others rejected it, and some among them even fought and killed the Messengers and Prophets for their own power, glory, fortune, arrogance and spiritual blindness.
There were also some people who played games with the message and they started adding to or subtracting from the revelations, causing the message to be corrupted. Others manipulated the message for their own worldly benefit. However, after any corruption, the Almighty Creator, the King and Owner of the Universe, always sent us from His justice another revelation with another Messenger or Prophet, to rectify such distortions and to bring the people back onto the right path.
Hence, mankind has no excuse for not knowing the truth.
He is the Almighty. He creates and chooses whatever He wants.
Human beings are varied. We have no control over which family we are born into, what our skin colours will be, how we look and even what is going on in our life. All this has been decided by the Creator. We strive for our lives with the means He gives us but still He controls our destiny.
Messengers and Prophets were also human beings like us, but they were chosen and appointed to carry the message of the Creator. Their job was to live as role models to their people and to convey His message and to advice and teach them to be guided. They all lived and died but each of them was unique. Some of them were chosen for a village, some for a tribe, some for a nation, some for a certain situation, but all for a certain cluster of people, and for a specific period of time.
The revelations were sent gradually over time, from the time humankind was in its infancy, to the time where the population grew, situations changed, civilizations matured and issues faced by the nations became more sophisticated and complex. For example, in the time of the ancient Egyptians, sorcery was the focus, whereas by the time of Christianity, medical knowledge gave someone esteem in his society.
Social structures were still developing as mankind spread and populated the earth. Some were nations of merchants, some were nations of farmers, and some were nations of decadent lifestyles. However, even though different Messengers were sent to different nations, the underlying message was identical. All the scriptures and revelations contain only one single message, which is the Oneness of the Creator and to remind us of the hereafter. There has never been any variance in the core message. The only distinctions were the types of warnings sent down to the various civilizations to correct their erroneous ways.
Important note: If anyone claims he is a messenger or a prophet chosen by the Creator, he must demonstrate some form of extraordinary ability to show his people he is the appointed one. For example, with Allah’s will, Jesus (peace be upon him) could heal lepers by touch – this is relevant because society then gave a high status to doctors and healers. With Allah’s will, the staff of Moses (peace be upon him) was transformed into a serpent and discredited all the sorcery displayed by the magicians of the Pharaoh, again this is relevant because magicians had a high status in Egyptian society. Moses (peace be upon him) also parted the Red Sea just by touching it with his staff, giving he and his followers a safe passage to walk on during their exodus from Egypt. Solomon (peace be upon him) could decipher the language of animals and birds and talk to them. Hence, a Messenger or a Prophet has to have a sign given by the Creator to prove he is the chosen one.
According to some authentic reports, there were approximately 124,324 Messengers and Prophets sent to mankind. The Creator has shared with us the story of 19 among this number, telling us about those who accepted the message and those who rejected it and what happened to them. Among these 19, He emphasized the story of five (Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, peace be upon them all). And from these five, He chose the final one called Muhammad bin Abdullah, peace be upon him.
Muhammad (peace be upon him) has been chosen by the Almighty Creator to be the final Messenger and Prophet to mankind and to be the seal of all the prophecy.
By the seal of all the prophecy, it means that his message is the conclusion of all the previous messages. The message was revealed when civilization had reached a level of maturity and ability to implement the final teachings and instructions of our Almighty Creator. It completes the details and gaps which mankind was not ready for previously. It sets out the final rulings which mankind has to observe, while abrogating previous injunctions which were revealed by former Messengers and Prophets which were only applicable to a certain people at a specific time.
In short, Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the Messenger who carried the final message, a perfected code of conduct and belief, that would be applicable to all men and women, regardless of race, caste, nationality and status until the end of time.
Who is Muhammad (peace be upon him)?
Muhammad (peace be upon him), the Messenger of Allah was sent as a role model, a teacher, and mercy to mankind to guide them from darkness to light.
He was born and raised in the Arabic peninsula in a time of ignorance, tribalism, violence and mischief. It was also an age where eloquent Arabic poetry and literature was highly appreciated and valued.
He was renowned for his honesty, sincerity, wisdom, and humility. His outstandingly honest reputation was firmly acknowledged and established in society even before he became a Prophet. Like many people in his society during that time, he was illiterate, not having received any formal education, he never learnt how to read or write.
He spent much of his pre- revelation years in deep contemplation, often isolating himself from society to contemplate his Lord. At the age of 40, he received the first revelation through Angel Gabriel when he was meditating in a small cave, searching for divine guidance. He subsequently dedicated the next 23 years of his life calling his people to their Creator.
He called people to accept the guidance, light and wisdom of their Lord. He advised them to stop bloodshed and to honour the sanctity of human life. He explained them how to respect and dignify the life and soul of every human being regardless of race, color, status, or gender. He elevated women from tyranny and oppression, conferring upon them status, privileges and legal rights.
He advocated social justice and humility for all. He discouraged his nation from striving for material status, but instead encouraged the rich to distribute their wealth to the poor and the needy. He taught the poor and the needy to be patient. He imposed on his nation the duty to take care of their neighbors. He imposed responsibility upon the men to provide women with all their need and necessities, and to treat women with justice, mercy and compassion. He taught his nation that while men and women have different duties in their lives, they are equal in front of the Creator and are distinguished only by the status of piety and relationship with the Creator.
He taught his nation to pay attention to neatness and cleanliness. He educated his nation on how to care about the feelings of others. He enlightened them on their duty to respect all of creation including animals, plants and the environment. He established a social structure on how to behave with others. He raised the morality of his nation, instructing them that they should not lie, cheat, or betray each other. He made it wrong for his nation to oppress or take advantage of others, but rather imposed on them a duty to protect the poor, the orphans and the needy.
His message, like all the previous messages of the former Prophets, was simple. He instructed his people to live this life like a traveller because soon they will depart from this earth.
Our life is short and all of us are accountable for our actions, and one day we will meet our Lord and account our actions to Him. Whoever has done good to himself and others will be treated with mercy and rewarded with Paradise for infinity. Whoever broke the constitution, the covenant (oath) between him and his Lord, or cause even the slightest injury (including hurting someone’s feelings), will face the consequences. The message is that the best one among us and the closest one to Allah is the one who will leave a legacy of goodness, generosity, kindness, and above all good manners, after he dies.
Muhammad (peace be upon him) shared with his people the very humble style of life. He refused to be treated like a king even though he was the ruler of Arabia when he passed away. He hardly accumulated anything. He lived in a simple room with some leaves and animal hide on the floor. His bed was a bunch of twigs on the ground. Sometimes he used to hold a piece of rock tied around his stomach to calm his hunger. He was the best father, husband, neighbour, friend, leader, and creation. Allah gave him beauty, humility, power, strength, justice, kindness, patience, generosity, compassion and forgiveness.
Most of all, he left an encyclopedia, a complete guideline to live healthily and happily, physically and spiritually, in this life and hereafter. A universal set of guidance that can be applied in any given situation, at any time, by anyone. A set of solutions to extract us from any difficult situation. A belief system on how to live well, how to switch to a healthier psychological, emotional and physical state.
This is the Qur’an, the highest, most sophisticated and most exquisite Arabic text that has ever existed in this earth, and that has not been surpassed in terms of linguistic quality, accuracy of content or accuracy of predictions, perfectly structured down it its last letter, in such sublime beauty that no literary academic up to today can compose anything comparable. All from an unlettered or illiterate man. Hence the greatest miracle of all, the legacy that he left us, is the Qur’an, the divine script, the very words of our Almighty Creator.
Muhammad (peace be upon him) advised: whoever wants happiness in this life and hereafter, follow me. The Creator will guide you and shower you with His mercy. He will give you chance after chance because He is the most Generous, the most Patient, and the most Compassionate. Whoever strives for Him, He will give him guidance.
“O mankind! There has come to you a good advice from your Lord (i.e. the Qur’an, enjoining all that is good and forbidding all that is evil), and a healing for that (disease of ignorance, doubt, hypocrisy and differences) which is in your breasts, a guidance and a mercy (explaining lawful and unlawful things) for the believers.” (Al Qur’an 10:57)
“Say: ‘In the Bounty of Allah, and in His Mercy (i.e. Islam and the Qur’an);—therein let them rejoice.’ That is better than what (the wealth) they amass.” (Al Qur’an 10:58)
Salvation and Guidance
This is a glimpse, a few words about this man, our Prophet, your Prophet, the final Messenger and Prophet to mankind, from your Lord, the Almighty Creator. I hope you agree with me that we are in need of the most sincere knowledge and leader to follow. Who do you think has better knowledge than the One who created us? Who is the best human being to follow except the one He chose for our leader? This is your chance for salvation and guidance to the Almighty Creator, Allah.
Most of people have bad images of Islam because of some wrong behavior done by Muslims under the name of this religion. But please try to focus on the original message sent to us by our Lord.
May He guide us and use us to spread guidance, mercy and light to all mankind. Ameen.
