Luminosity of the Holy Prophet Muhammad

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Ya Ali Madad! On the occasion of the commemoration of the great spiritually uplifting event of Idd-e-Milad un-Nabi, the birthday of our Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.s.), please accept our heartfelt felicitations! May all Muslims and humanity at large be bestowed with peace, prosperity, happiness, and good health! Ameen.

On this day, may Noor Mowlana Shah Karim Al-Hussaini Hazar Imam, the 49th direct lineal descendant of the Holy Prophet (s.a.s.), grant peace, prosperity, happiness, barakat, higher spiritual enlightenment, spiritual & luminous tayid (help) and empowerment to the global Jamat as we go through this difficult period. Ameen.

Allâhumâ salli alâ Muhammadin wa âle Muhammad (O Allah! Bestow Peace on and through Muhammad and his Descendants).

Introduction

I have written many posts on the occasion of Idd-e-Milad un-Nabi and have learned about many aspects of our beloved Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.s.). I was looking for deep knowledge on the spiritual and luminous dimensions of the Holy Prophet and found profound knowledge in book titled, Ibn al-‘Arabi’s Metaphysics of Imagination: The Sufi Path of Knowledge. I have selected content from this book to gain insights into the luminosity of Prophet Muhammad. I believe and am confident that the Salman Spiritual audience can use this knowledge to augment their own search for higher spiritual enlightenment through luminous prayers (bandagi) in the small watches of the night. Please be patient as you read through the complex material. I assure you that it will increase clarity in your spiritual journey. This post has seven parts:

1. Ayat from Surah Al-Furqan and commentary on this verse;
2. The Comprehensiveness of the Holy Quran;
3. The Luminosity of the Holy Prophet Muhammad;
4. The Blessing of All-Comprehensive Words;
5. The Relationship between the Holy Quran and the Holy Prophet;
6. The Character of Muhammad; and
7. Global prayers and Three Grand Aspirations.

1. Ayat from Surah Al-Furqan and Commentary on this Verse

Ayat 25:1

This ayat reads as follows:

“Blessed,¹⁶⁰⁷ is he who sent down ‘Furqan’ (the Distinction) upon His Servant (Muhammad) that he may be unto the worlds a Warner.”

Holy Quran Ayat 5:55

Explanation of Ayat 25:1

Here is an excerpt footnote from S. V. Mir Ahmed Ali’s translation of the Holy Quran:

Footnote 1607

The word ‘Tabaraka’ used as the attribute of God according to the established usage is usually represented by the English word ‘Blessed is’ or ‘Blessed be’; but the meaning of the word in the Arabic language is so wide that the word ‘blessed’ can hardly do justice to interpreting it duly. However, the word ‘blessed’ is used to represent ‘Tabaraka’ the root of which is ‘Barkat’ ‘increase or abundance’ and here it would mean that God who blesses his creation with His bounties in abundance.

‘Furqan’, i.e., Distinguisher between the right and the wrong, the true and the false, (i.e., the Holy Quran) or the criterion.

The object of the revelation of the Holy Quran is to warn the people of the whole world and not any particular people or nation. …The Holy Prophet has repeatedly said to have been sent not only to mankind as a whole but for all the worlds, i.e., the Universe as a whole or the worlds seen and unseen (see 4:79, 7:158, 21:107, 34:28, 33:40, 48:28,29)

Footnote 1607 S. V. Mir Ahmed Ali, pp. 1099-1100

2. The Comprehensiveness of the Holy Quran

W.C. Chittick writes:

… Ibn al-‘Arabi often employs the Koran strictly according with its literal meaning, which is particularly significant to him because it is synonymous with the word jam’, “bringing together,” “gathering.” or “all-comprehensiveness.” The name Allah is the “all-comprehensive name” (al-ism al-jami) of God, since it gathers together to itself all other names. Perfect man is the “all-comprehensive engendered thing” (al-kawn al-jami), because he gathers within himself everything in the Divine Reality and everything in the cosmos. The Koran is “al-Quran“, because it gathers together all the revealed scriptures that were sent down before it and thereby all knowledge of God.

The teaching of Ibn al-Arabi as follows:

The Koran is one book among others except that, to the exclusion of all other books, it possess all-comprehensiveness (jam’iyya) (III 160.4)

Chittick, W. C. The Sufi Path of Knowledge. SUNY Press, Albany, 1989. p 239

3. The Luminosity of the Holy Prophet Muhammad

W.C. Chittick writes:

Ibn al-‘Arabi comments upon the all-comprehensiveness nature of Koran in many contexts, most commonly in conjunction with the perfect and all-comprehensive character of the Prophet, which made him the receptacle for the Koran:

The teaching of Ibn al-Arabi as follows:

The Koran unveils all the knowledges sent down in the scriptures ad contains that which is not contained by them. He who has been given the Koran has been given the perfect luminosity (diya) which comprises every knowledge … Because of the Koran it is true to say that Muhammad was given the “all-comprehensive words” (jawami al-kalim). So the sciences of the prophets, the angels, and every known tongue are comprised in Koran and elucidated by it to the “Folk of the Koran.” (II 107.20)

Chittick, W. C. The Sufi Path of Knowledge. SUNY Press, Albany, 1989. p 239

4. The Blessing of All-Comprehensive Words

The teaching of Ibn al-Arabi as follows:

When God taught Adam the names (Koran 2:30), he was in a station second to the station of Muhammad, since Muhammad had already come to know the all-comprehensive words, and all the names are words (II 88:15)

Muhammad was the greatest locus of divine self-disclosure, and thereby he came to know ‘the knowledge of the ancients and the later folk.” Among those of the old was Adam, who had knowledge of the names. Muhammad was given the all-comprehensive words, and the words of God are never exhausted.” (II 171.1).

Chittick, W. C. The Sufi Path of Knowledge. SUNY Press, Albany, 1989. p 239

5. The Relationship Between the Quran and the Holy Prophet

W.C. Chittick writes:

The Koran employs the expression “Mother of the Book” (umm al-kitab) in three verses, and the term hs been explained in various ways. One of the most common interpretations is that it refers to the Fatiha, the first chapter of the Koran. One of al-Tirmindhi’s question is, “What is the interpretation of “Mother of the Book’?” Parts of Ibn al-‘Arabi’s answer throw light on his understanding of the relationship between the Prophet and the Koran:

The teaching of Ibn al-Arabi as follows:

A ‘mother’ is that which brings together (jami). Hence we have “mother of the cities [that is Mecca, the place of coming together for the pilgrimage]. The head is the “mother of the body”. It is said [in reference to the brain], the mother of the head,” since it brings together all the sensory and supra-sensory (ma’nawi) faculties that belong to man. The Fatiha is the “mother” of all revealed books, which is the Tremendous Koran, that is the tremendous totality that has been brought together (majmu‘) comprising all things.

Muhammad was given the “all-comprehensive words.” Hence his Law comprises all revealed religions (sharia). He was a prophet when Adam had not yet been created. Hence from him branch out the Laws to all prophets. They were send by him to be his deputies in the earth in the absence of his body. If his body had existed, none of them would have a Law. Hence he said, “Were Moses alive, he would find it impossible not to follow me.”

When the Prophet himself became manifest, there remained no ruling that did not belong to him and no ruling authority which did not go back to him. But his level demanded that when he became manifest in his own entity in this world, he should be singled out for something that was not given to any of his deputies. That something had to be so great that it comprised everything which was scattered among his deputies and something in addition. Hence God gave him the Mother of the Book, which comprised all the scriptures and books. It became manifest among as an epitome, seven verses which comprise all verses (II 134.21)

Chittick, W. C. The Sufi Path of Knowledge. SUNY Press, Albany, 1989. pp 240-241

6. The Character of Muhammad

W.C. Chittick’s synthesis:

According to a famous hadith, the Prophet’s wife A’isha was asked to describe the character (khulug) of God’s Messenger. She replied, “Have you not read the Koran?” The questioner said that he had. She said, “Surely the character of the Prophet was the Koran.” The Prophet is the most perfect of the perfect men, the locus of manifestation par excellence for the divine name Allah. Hence the Prophet synthesizes everything and possess all knowledge. “He encompasses the knowledge of all knowers who know God, whether those who have gone before or those who would come after” (III 142.27). To say that his character is the Koran means, according to the literal sense of the term, that he brings together in himself all noble character traits, just as revealed Koran brings together all knowledge. In other words, it is the Prophet who has assumed as his character traits all the names of God, since he “brings together all things” by being the Quran, “that which brings together.” “The character of the messenger of God was the Koran and the assumption of the divine names as his traits” (III 61.2). Coming to know the Koran is to come the Prophet, God, and all things

Chittick, W. C. The Sufi Path of Knowledge. SUNY Press, Albany, 1989. p 240

Idd-e-Milad un-Nabi Mubarak!

It is amazing to learn that the Holy Prophet actualized the Noor (Light) of all the great names (Ism-i Azam) as character traits within his soul and was the locus of manifestation of all lights!

Let us offer thanks for the above pearls of knowledge.

Shukhran Lillah Wal Hamdu Lillah
(All thanks are due to Allah, and all praises are due to Allah)

May Noor Mowlana Hazar Imam fill your spiritual heart (Qalb) with his Noor and nothing else! May this enable you to present Spiritual and Luminous Nazranas described below.

7. Global Prayers and Three Grand Aspirations

Through the barakat of recitation of Holy Quran, Qasidas, Holy Ginans and voluminous prayers and Angelic Salwat by many, many individuals of the global Jamat, O Noor Mowlana Hazar Imam, bless the global Jamat with:

1. Spiritual and luminous tayid (help) to advance materially, spiritually and intellectually;
2. Sunshine in our spiritual hearts and actualization of the inner vision of the Truth;
3. Empowerment to present a Material Nazrana of time, knowledge and financial resources;
4. Empowerment to present a Spiritual Nazrana in the form of a pure heart which is in a state of constant dhikr; and
5. Empowerment to present a Luminous Nazrana in the form of a sound heart (qalb-i salim) which is in a state of constant dhikr and enlightenment.

Al-Hamdu lil-lahi Rab-bil Aalamin (All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds).

Angelic Salwat Supplication

Let us now start supplicating with angelic salwat, Allâhumâ salli alâ Muhammadin wa âle Muhammad (O Allah! Bestow Peace on and through Muhammad and his Descendants) to our beloved NOOR Mowlana Shah Karim Al-Hussaini Hazar Imam for mushkil aasan for material and spiritual upliftment.

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Haizinda — Qayampaya
(Our Present Imam is Living and His NOOR is Eternal)