Here, the greatness of Muhammad (PBUH), the Messenger of Allah, becomes clear. He did not want internal strife or civil war, even if there was a chance—or even a strong likelihood—of his victory. Here, his compassion and humanity shine: he could not bear to see people persecuted because of him, even though he knew well that sacrifice is the price of every noble struggle and every great mission. Sacrifice must be borne when it cannot be avoided. But when suffering can be lessened, let the believers go that way. Why, then, did he not go with them?
Because he had not been commanded to leave. His place was where idols still stood. There he would continue to proclaim the name of Allah, the One. There, he would continue to receive injury and harm without anxiety, as long as it was he who suffered and not the weak believers who followed him, not even those noble men who had embraced his message. Whoever can name examples equal to such steadfastness and nobility of sacrifice, let him bring them forward. This is a lofty rank, attainable only by the leading messengers and the chosen ones of Allah.
The man and the Messenger met in Muhammad (PBUH) in a single, magnificent, perfectly joined reality. Those who doubted his prophethood could not doubt his nobility, the purity of his nature, or the integrity of his humanity. Allah, Who knows best where to place His message, chose a man who represented the highest that humanity could reach in elevation, loftiness, and honesty. People heard him reproach them for any exaggeration in honoring him, even when they were merely expressing his true rank without excess. He forbade them to stand up for him as non-Arabs did for one another when glorifying their leaders. He said, “Do not stand for me as other peoples stand for one another.”
When the sun was eclipsed on the day his beloved son Ibrahim died, some Muslims said it was an eclipse out of grief for Ibrahim’s death. But the great, truthful Messenger (PBUH) hastened to correct this assumption before it became legend. He stood among the Muslims and said, “The sun and the moon are two of Allah’s signs; they do not eclipse for the death or life of anyone.” He was entrusted with guarding people’s minds and ways of thinking, and fulfilling that trust was more precious to him than any worldly honor. He knew with certainty that he had come to transform humanity’s way of life and that he was not a messenger to Quraysh alone or to the Arabs alone, but Allah’s Messenger to all people.
Allah showed him how far his mission would extend and how high his banner would fly. He knew the truth of the faith he proclaimed and the living permanence it would have until Allah inherits the earth and all upon it. Yet he saw in himself, in his religion, and in his unparalleled success nothing more than a single brick in a great building. This great man expressed that vision in one of his finest statements: “The example of me and the prophets before me is that of a man who built a building, completing and beautifying it, except for one brick in a corner. People walked around it, admiring it and saying, ‘If only this brick were put in its place!’ I am that brick, and I am the last of the prophets.”
All that long life he lived, all his struggles and sacrifices, all his glory and purity, all the victories achieved in his lifetime and the victories he knew would follow after his death—he saw all that as only a brick, a single brick in a lofty, well-founded structure. It was he who declared this and repeated it, and he did not say it as a show of false humility to feed some hidden desire for glory. He stated it as a fact and considered expressing it part of the essence of his message. Humility was indeed one of the essential characteristics of Muhammad (PBUH), but it was neither the only sign nor the fullest measure of his greatness, which reached a level of excellence beyond all comparison.
That was the teacher of humanity and the last of the prophets. He was the light people saw while he lived among them as a human being, and after he departed from this world, he was—and remains—seen by the whole world as a truth and a living memory. Now, as we meet a number of his noble Companions in the following pages of this book and are amazed by their faith, their sacrifices, and the noble purpose that shaped their lives in an unprecedented way, the reason for their extraordinary lives becomes clear before us. That reason was nothing other than the light they followed: Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah (PBUH). Almighty Allah joined in him a clear vision of truth and a self-respect that honored life and illuminated the destiny of humankind.
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