Characteristics of plenitude and completion

in Muhammad’s Prophethood (SAAW)

The most distinctive characteristic of the mission of the Holy Prophet (SAW) has been brought out by the Qur'an at three places thus:

﴿هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَىٰ وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ﴾

]التوبۃ 33، الفتح28، الصف9[

He it is Who has sent forth His messenger with the Guidance (Al-Huda) and the True way of life (Deen al-Haq), to the end that he make it prevail over all aspects of living...

(Al-Tawba 9:33; Al-Fath 48:28; & Al-Saff 61:9)

The important point of which notice should be taken here is that with respect to Prophet Muhammad (SAAW), these words have been repeated at three places in the Qur'an without the slightest change or difference of construction, whereas these have not been revealed even once for any other prophet or messenger.

The famous scholar and mystic of the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent — Shah Waliyullah Dehlvi (1703-1762) — has made this Qur'anic verse the subject of in-depth and extensive study in his book Izalatul Khafa un Khilafatul Khulafa. He has described it as the most important verse in understanding the purpose and mission of Muhammad's Prophethood (SAAW). Similarly, Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi (1872-1944) has taken this verse as the key for understanding the global revolutionary manifesto of Islam.

A careful study of the verse reveals that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has been sent by Almighty God along with two items: (1) Al-Huda or The Guidance, and (2) Deen al-Haq or the True Way of Life (sometimes translated as "the religion of truth").

A deeper consideration reveals the truth that the point and wisdom in the temporal location of the culmination of Prophethood and imparting perfection to the revealed system of life can also be appreciated with reference to these two expressions viz., Al-Huda and Deen al-Haq. Indeed, the time of the advent of Prophet Muhammad (SAAW) was the period of human history in which humanity moved from infancy to mental maturity in two respects.

Firstly, just before the appearance of Islam and its revealed Book, man had reached rational maturity and had conceived and spelled out all types of philosophies he could think of solely on the basis of his reason.

Secondly, the timing of the last Prophet's advent clearly coincides with the fact that the social consciousness of mankind had also reached maturity in the 7th century C.E., in that human polity had experienced all the major evolutionary stages. After passing through the social polities of tribal organization and city state, human life had entered the phase of great kingdoms and empires. This, in fact, meant that the hold and domination of socio-politico-economic system on human life had reached its full intensity for the first time, and that man had begun to face the vexed and multi-dimensional problems of human society and collective life. Moreover, the time was about to usher in which humanity had to encounter such unsolvable issues — as those of the Individual versus Group, Man versus Woman, Capital versus Labor — and in the solution of which human thought moved from one extreme to another, always adding to human travail and misery.

Islam presented itself as the Deen – the complete code of life that was destined to solve all these issues faced by man at the individual as well as the collective level, for all of space and time. Moreover, it was to serve as the template for the believers after the seal of Prophethood. That was the mission of the Prophet (SAAW), as enunciated in the verse above.

That is why we see that the Holy Prophet (SAAW) strived very hard all through his prophetic career for making Islam triumphant and dominant. That is to say, in the world of objective facts, the Prophet had to carry out an extremely arduous struggle for Islam at a purely human level, although we believe that the ultimate and real causal agent of all actions is always Almighty Allah (SWT).

Moreover, when Prophet Muhammad (SAAW), after more than two decades of strenuous struggle, succeeded in establishing in the Arabian Peninsula the system of life in which Allah (SWT) was accepted as the Supreme and Absolute Sovereign and people entered into this faith in great numbers, it was referred to by the Holy Qur'an as the Deen of Allah (SWT).

This, in effect, means that the whole issue is quite simple and understandable. Islam is the Deen of Almighty Allah (SWT) and to make it prevail in this world is essentially the duty of Prophet Muhammad (SAAW). Now, the acid test for the sincerity of a person who claims belief in both of them — in Almighty Allah (SWT) and Prophet Muhammad (SAAW) as the final Prophet — is whether or not he strives his utmost in the cause of Islam with all his energies, capabilities, wealth, belongings and life. If he thus "helps" Allah (SWT) and His Messenger (SAAW), he will attain eternal success and bliss. Otherwise, he will face condemnation and torments of the Hell-fire in the life to come.

In other words, if one does not accept this immaculately clear view of the Islamic obligation (regarding the struggle to establish the Deen of Allah) based on self-explanatory propositions, he will do so at his own peril.

Ref:  Abridged version of an excerpt from the English translation of the Book  "نبی اکرمﷺ کا مقصد ِبعثت"by Dr Israr Ahmad (RAA); “Muhammad (SAAW): The Objective of His Appointment” [Translated by Dr. Absar Ahmad]