Birthday of Prophet Muhammad (peace
be upon him): Its significance

Q69 :Birthday of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon
him): Its significance

A69 : The month of Rabi Ul-Awal, which is the third
month of the lunar year, has a special significance for Muslims.
According to the more authentic reports, Prophet Muhammad (peace be
upon him) ibn Abdullah was born in that month, ….. His birth signaled
a new stage in human history, since he was destined to be the man who
would receive and convey Allah’s final message to mankind. With him the
process of divine revelation was to reach its climax, for it was
through Muhammad (peace be upon him) that we received the Qur’an, which
provided a netplete and final constitution for human life on earth.
Allah has taken it upon Himself to preserve the Qur’an intact in order
that all human generations should have the same divine guidance. The
occasion of the birth of the Prophet was, then, a great one. Yet we do
not celebrate his birth in any formal or ritual manner. This is because
we have received our religion of Islam from Allah through Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him). Allah has given us our religion netplete,
and by doing so, He has perfected the grace He has bestowed on us, as
He expressly tells us in Verse 3 of Surah 5: “This day I have netpleted
your religion for you and perfected My grace on you and have chosen
Islam to be your religion.” What is netplete and perfect can admit no
addition. The Prophet did not celebrate his birthday, nor did he ever
hint that its celebration was of any religious significance. His
netpanions, who provided the perfect model of how Islam should be
practiced, did not celebrate it either. Hence, we cannot make of the
Prophet’s birthday a religious occasion. It is always important,
however, to remember the Prophet and give him the love and respect he
deserves. He was the means through which we received Allah’s guidance.
Equally important was the fact that he provided for us the perfect
example of how to live in accordance with that guidance. Every thought,
every feeling and every deed he had or did was conceived within the
framework of the guidance Allah chose for man. Every utterance or
statement he made had the single aim of getting people to know Allah’s
guidance and put it into practice. Nothing gave him greater happiness
than the acceptance of Islam by a new person. He personally did not
gain anything from that. His only gain was that another human being had
seen the light. Ever since the Prophet realized what role Allah had
chosen for him, he dedicated himself totally to the task in hand. He
did not hesitate to take any risk, speak to any person, undertake any
action or spend any amount of money in service of his cause. He did not
aspire to any of the luxuries of this life. He lived the life of a poor
man. When he was the sole master of the whole of Arabia, he prayed: “My
Lord, let me live a poor man, and die a poor man, and resurrect me on

the day of judgment with the poor.” The Qur’an describes the Prophet
as “kind and benevolent to the believers.” His kindness and
benevolence was unequaled. They were also shown, in equal measure, to
all believers. He would go himself to a family in order to propose to
them that they marry their daughter to a poor man of his netpanions,
knowing that the man stood little chance of being accepted should he go
by himself. He would lay the body of a dead young man of his
netpanions in his grave and pray Allah to be pleased with him because
the young man did not have any relatives in the Muslim netmunity. His
netpanions were unanimous in describing the great care he showed to the
weak among his netpanions. We are told that any young child was able to
take him by the hand wherever it wanted. He would not leave it until he
had done for it whatever it wanted. He enjoyed the love of his
netpanions and followers to a degree which defied any netparison. They
laid their lives at his fingertip. They did not make him forget his
modesty at any moment. He continued to remind them that he was simply
“the son of a Makkan woman who used to eat dried meat.” Yet his anger
was great indeed when anyone tried to usurp a right which belonged to
Allah. He recognized the great favor Allah bestowed on him by choosing
him to convey His last message to mankind. When he conquered Makkah, an
almost bloodless conquest which represented his greatest victory, he
entered the holy city with his head as low as possible, in gratitude to
Allah for that favor. The Prophet was a great statesman and a shrewd
military netmander. He was also the perfect model of modesty, kindness
and netpassion. He conveyed his message netplete and perfect. He has
left with us divine guidance which ensures that we do not sink into
error. He, then, deserves our whole love. How should we love the
Prophet? He has indeed given us guidance even on this question. He
tells us: “No one of you is a true believer until I am dearer to him
than himself, his money, children and all people.” His great netpanion,
Umar, once said to him: “Messenger of Allah, you are dearer to me than
everything else with the exception of myself.” The Prophet said: “No,
Umar! You must love me more than you love yourself.” Umar said: “I do
love you more than I love everything else, including myself.” The
Prophet said: “Now you have got it, Umar,” meaning true faith. This is
not a simple thing, easily achieved. It is something which requires a
great effort and a perfect understanding of Islam and the position of
the Prophet. Moreover, it requires us to overnete our natural and
deeply seated love of ourselves in order to obey the Prophet in every
small matter as we obey him in the more serious affairs.

Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )