Part 46

Allaah, the Most High, says about Ibraaheem that he described his Lord, the Most High, saying, "He is the One who provides me with food and drink, and if I become ill then it is He who cures me; and He is the One Who causes me to die when He wills, then when He wills He will resurrect me to life." [surah ash-Shu'araa (26):79-81] The Prophet said, “I am just a human like yourselves, I forget just as you forget. So if I forget, then remind me" [Reported by Muslim (Eng. transl. 1/284/ no.1168)]. Furthermore Allaah, the Most High, has described them as being slaves of His, and this is at the height of their honour and in the context of praise of them. So He, the Most High, said about Nooh, "He was indeed a thankful slave of Allaah." [surah al-Israa'(17):3] He said about Muhammad, "Exalted is He who sent down the Criterion (i.e. the Qur'aan) between truth and falsehood, in stages, to His slave Muhammad, so that he should be a warner to men and jinn that they will be punished by Allaah if they do not single Him out with all worship and keep away from the worship of everything else besides Him." [surah al-Furqaan (25):1] He also said about Ibraaheem, Ishaaq and Ya'qoob, "And remember O Muhammad, Our slaves Ibraaheem, Ishaaq and Ya'qoob: men strong in their worship of Allaah and their obedience of Him, and men having understanding of the true Religion; and we chose and purified them with the quality of acting solely for the Hereafter, and calling the people to remembrance of the Hereafter and to obedience to Allaah. All of them were amongst those who were excellent and were chosen by Allaah for obedience to Him and as Messengers to the creation." [surah Saad (38):45-47] Allaah, the Most High also says, concerning 'Eesaa ibn Maryam, "'Eesaa is not but a slave of Ours whom we blessed with guidance and eemaan, and we made Him a sign to the children of Israa'eel." [surah az-Zukhruf (43):59] Eemaan in the messengers comprises four matters: (1) To believe that they were truly messengers sent by Allaah, the Most High. So whoever disbelieves in the messengership of one of them has disbelieved in all of them. Allaah, the Most High says, "The people of Nooh denied the messengers." [surah ash-Shu'araa (26): 105] So Allaah declared them to be deniers of all of the messengers, even though they had no other messenger sent to them besides Nooh. Because of this the Christians who deny Muhammad and do not follow him are also denying the Messiah ('Eesaa) ibn Maryam and are not following him either - especially since he gave them the news of the coming of Muhammad; and there is no meaning to his giving them the news of his coming except that he was to be a messenger for them so that Allaah should save them through him from misguidance and guide them to the Straight Path. (2) To believe in each of them in particular whose name we know, such as Muhammad, Ibraaheem, Moosaa, 'Eesaa and Nooh, 'alayhimus-salaam; and these five are the ones firmest in their resolve (oolul-'adhm) from amongst the messengers. They are mentioned together by Allaah, the Most High, in two places in the Qur'aan, "And when We took the covenant from the prophets, and from you, O Muhammad, and from Nooh, Ibraaheem, Moosaa and 'Eesaa ibn Maryam." [surah al-Ahzaab (33):7] "Your Lord prescribed for Nooh, and that which We revealed to you - O Muhammad (Si), and that which He prescribed for Ibraaheem, Moosaa, 'Eesaa - that you should establish the Religion, acting upon what is prescribed, and not split into sects with regard to it." [surah ash-Shooraa (42): 13] As for those whose names we do not know, then we have general and comprehensive belief in all of them. Allaah, the Most High, says, "And We sent down messengers before you, O Muhammad: We have narrated to you the stories of some of them, and We did not narrate to you the stories of others." [surah Ghaafir