Page 117 - The Vision of Islam

The Vision of Isla m

let alone the Prophet’s followers, not even the Prophet’s wives and
children are exempted from it.
What does ‘action’ imply? It implies the fulfilment of God’s
demands on us in two capacities in this world: firstly, as the
servants of God and, secondly, as the followers of the last Prophet.
In the first capacity, every Muslim, individually, is expected to be
a ‘righteous man,’ thus testifying to his bond with God, while as
one of the believers in the last Prophet, he must feel inspired by
the necessity of acting as the Prophet’s representative, i.e. he must
convey his message to the people. God said: “I have imposed the
same duties on the followers of Muhammad as I imposed upon My
messengers and prophets.” (Wahab ibn Munabbeh)
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was ordained
Messenger of God for the whole world, and his followers were
similarly ordained on his behalf for the communities into which
they were born. The ordainment of the Prophet was to be kept
alive after his death by his people. Mas’ud bin Makhrama relates
that the Prophet came to his companions and said: “Verily, God
has sent me as a blessing for all peoples. Convey this on my behalf
to other people.” (Tahzeeb Seerat ibn Hisham, Vol. II, p. 141). When
Rustam asked Rabi bin Aamir why they had come to his country,
the latter said: “God has sent us here so that we may, to whom
He wills, show the path leading away from the worship of man,
and towards the worship of God, from the insufficiencies of this
world to divine abundance, and from the tyranny of religions to the
justice of Islam.” (Tabari, Vol. III, p. 33).
The conveying of this message is so important that all other
interests can and should be sacrificed to it. For example, in the sixth
year of the Hijra (628 a.D.), when the tr eaty of Hudaybiyyah
was concluded, one of the conditions laid down by the
Makkans in this treaty was that when they had to pass through
Madinah to carry on their trade with Egypt, Syria and Iraq, their
safety would be guaranteed (Bukhari and Muslim). That is to say
that the Prophet thus allowed the enemies of Islam full freedom
to carry out their trading activities within Islamic territory. This,
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