Page 117 - The Vision of Islam
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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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