Dear Brothers & Sisters -in-Islam, Al-salaamu alaykum wa rahmat-Allaahi wa barakaatuhu (Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allaah and His blessings). Tomorrow Saturday,the 25th May Or the 12th Rabi-Al-Awwal is the birthday of our beloved Prophet-Mohammmed Ibn Abdullah(on Whom be the peace and blessing of Allah),it is customary for many muslims the World over except the Wahhabis(or the Puritans)to celebrate the occasion by narrating the life history of the Prophet,Competition on the Recitation of the Holy Quran,Poems written extolling the virtues and nobility of the prophet,Dhikr and darud on the Prophet,and prayers generally offer to help,guide and protect us fron satan.To mark the occasion for us in the the diaspora,I am sending this short essay.I hope you will enjoy reading it.Inshalla. Although there is no historical precedent for it,it is customary for many muslims to celebrate the birthday of the prophet(peace be on him)in this month of Rabi-Al-Awwal.We(muslims) do however acknowledge without reservation that Mohammed(peace be on him)although a normal human being was not like any other ordinary man.He was one ordained by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala to be a prophet and he was therefore divinely inspired.We ascribe no other epithers to him but that of being the last prophet that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala sent to mankind and we revere his memory for the guidance of Al Islam that he brought to mankind.it has become almost a tradition to celebrate the occasion of his birth the world over in this month.he is ever in our hearts,we invoke Allah's blessing on him when we speak and we constantly try to emulate his lifestyle in our' for he is the exemplar 'par excellence' for all Muslims.We affirm our belief that he is indeed a messenger of the Almighty when we make the call to prayer and we invoke Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala's blessing on him countless times everyday when we are in prayer.If anyone mentions his name we add to it salutations and respect.He is not like any other leader who is forgotten when he has passed on,or is only remembered on a special occasion.If you retrace his genealogy to find out who our prophet was,you will find that he was descended from a noble family.He is reported to have said about himself:"Allah has chosen from the sons of Adam,Ibrahim and Ismail.And He chose from the sons of Ismail,Bani Kanana.He chose from Bani kanana the Quraish and from the Bani Quraish He chose the Bani Hashim and from among the Bani Hashim he chose me". The prophet(peace be on him)was born an orphan.That he was not to know his noble father but to pay heed only to Allah Suhbanahu Wa Ta'Ala was the purpose of his creation.Not for him was the natural inclination of every other child,to regard his natural father as protector and provider.It was Allah Suhbanahu Wa Ta'Ala himself who protected him and took care of him as confirmed in the Holy Quran:"Did He not find you an orphan and give you shelter(and care)". The prophet(peace be on him)was known among his people as an honest and trustworthy man.He was known as Al-Ameen(the trustworthy).When Heraclius a regional Governor/Ruler,asked Abu Sufian(whilst he was still an unbeliever)whether the prophet(peace be on him)was known ever to have uttered a lie to anyone during his life.Abu Sufian had to admit...that occasion had never arose.Heraclius then said to Abu Sufian: "If he is known not to have lied to and about people,he will certainly not be liar about God". Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!! When Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala asked the prophet(peace be on him)to admonish his family,He said to him: " And admonish your nearest kinsmen".The prophet(peace be on him)stood,called all his kinsmen to a meeting and addressed them saying: "oh Bani Abdou Manaf,if I were to tell you that some people will attack you right now from behind this mountain,would you accept that from me as truth?".They answered; "yes,because you have never lied to us before".He then said to them: Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala sent me to give you a clear warning and if you do not heed the warning a severe punishment will overtake you".When he told them about the punishment they could not reject it because he was known to be honest. The character of any one who aspires to political leadership of the muslims has to be closely examined.His background and behaviour has to be verified before he becomes a leader of a muslim nation.A leader must be judged by his background,just as the people judged the prophet(peace be on Him)The Prophet (peace be on him) did not gamble or drink alcohal,he did not prostrate himself before any idol whatsoever,whether real or imaginery.He did not pay homage to any body,He did not bootlicked any human being so that he can be granted a position of authority,nor was he involved in character assassination,backbiting or any of the negative human weaknesses so prevalent in our society today.He was in short,honest,frank and brutally dependable.Calling a spade a spade both ways!!This should be our aim.We came to this World with nothing and we shall certainly take nothing with us when we leave except our human portfolio of good and bad. The people accepted without question his judgement in their affairs even before he started his mission,because he always had a very clear mind and dealt justly with all the people.He was and remained always on the straight path. When the people rebuilt Al-Kaaba and argued as to who was going to put the Black Stone in its place and decided that they would accept the first one who entered through the door,it so happened that the first person who entered was the prophet(peace be on him0.Seeing it was him,all of them were very happy and they accepted him as the judge in their dispute.He accepted to arbitrate the dispute and made them to put the black stone in a cloth,made a member of every tribe present carry the object to the place where it was to be put and placed the stone in it's niche with his own noble hands,I reiterate that the people even before his appointment as prophet,voluntarily accepted his judgement and after his appoinment.we as muslims,have to accept it,as commands from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala.Anyone who does not accept it as his command will be lost and will be very sorry for his disobedience on the Day of Judgement.Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala says in the Holy Quran:" The day that their faces will be turned upside down in the fire,they will say:woe to us! would that we had obeyed Allah and obeyed the Messenger!And they will say: our Lord! We obeyed our chiefs and our great ones,and they misled us as to the (right) path.Our Lord!give them a double penalty and curse them with a very great curse!" 33:66,67,&68. In conclusion,I wish to advise that Rasul Allah(peace be on him) is the ultimate of exemplars for anyone whose hope is in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala and the Final Day.He is the greatest gift and mercy from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala to all of mankind as Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Ala says in the Holy Quran:"Allah did confer a great favour on the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from among themselves,rehearsing unto them the signs of Allah,sanctifying them,and instruting them in scripture and wisdom,while before that,they had been in manifest error" Holy Quran 3:164. With the very best of good wishes, Musa Amadu Pembo Glasgow, Scotland UK. [log in to unmask] Da’wah is to convey the message with wisdom and with good words. We should give the noble and positive message of Islam. We should try to emphasize more commonalities and explain the difference without getting into theological arguments and without claiming the superiority of one position over the other. There is a great interest among the people to know about Islam and we should do our best to give the right message. May Allah,Subhana Wa Ta'Ala,guide us all to His Sirat Al-Mustaqim (Righteous Path).May He protect us from the evils of this life and the hereafter.May Allah,Subhana Wa Ta'Ala,grant us entrance to paradise . We ask Allaah the Most High, the All-Powerful, to teach us that which will benefit us, and to benefit us by that which we learn. May Allaah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala grant blessings and peace to our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions..Amen. _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~