In the year 570 C.E. Mohammed Ibn Abdullah was born to Aminah and Abdullah in the city of Mecca, member of the Quraish tribe. A few months after becoming pregnant, Aminah lost her husband, Abdullah, leaving her as a single parent. When Mohammed reached the age of seven, Aminah passed away leaving Mohammed in the care of his uncle, who died a few years later. At the age of 23 Mohammed married a wealthy business- woman, by the name of Khadija.[pbuh] They had two sons, both of whom died in their infancy. Later Mohammed would have four daughters and another son, but that son would also die. With all the hardship and tragedy that may have come into our personal lives today few, if any of us can compare with the events that beset Prophet Mohammed in his family life. At the age of forty Allah began the revelation of the Qur’an to Mohammed and his mission as a prophet of Allah started.
In the Qur’an Allah refers to Prophet Mohammed as an excellent model for humanity. Looking at the losses in his life. Seeing a man that never had a father in his life, raised by a single parent and then the loss of her. For eleven years Prophet Mohammed taught one basic theme, “There is no God but Allah”. The revelations came to him almost constantly and then they stopped. The enemies of Islam began to say that he had been making up the verse that he recited and now he had run out. The rumors spread that perhaps God had abandoned him and doubt began to appear among some people that maybe he was not the messenger of God. Then Allah revealed Surah Dhuha, or The Glorious Morning Light.
1. By the glorious morning light
2. And by the night when it is still-
3. Thy Guardian – Lord Hath not abandoned thee, nor is He displeased.
4. And verily the Hereafter will be better for thee than the present.
5. And soon will thy Guardian – Lord give that wherewith, thou shalt be well pleased.
6. Did He not find thee an orphan and give thee shelter and care?
7. And He found thee wandering, and He gave thee guidance.
8. And He found thee in need, and made thee independent
9. Therefore, treat not the orphan with harshness.
10. Nor repulse him who asks.
11. But the bounty of thy Lord, rehearse and proclaim.
The contrast here is in the day and the brightness of the rising sun after a dark period of night and all that comes with the absence of light. The emphasis is on the period when no revelation came to the prophet and it seemed dark to those around him. It seemed that maybe the revelation was over, finished, dead. Allah is showing them, yes, it seems dark when the light of revelation paused but do not despair, the sunlight of revelation will come again just as surely as the Sun will rise after the darkness of the night.
The revelation that came to Prophet Mohammed was among other things, sure guidance that produced certainty that he was on the right path. It validated his mission and gave purpose and a goal to the young followers of Al-Islam. It was a confirmation of their new way of life. But when it stopped, wonder and uncertainty set in. Remember Allah Has said that Mohammed is a model for us, what happened to him and his early followers is a type if model or example of the things that are common to the life of us all. Mohammed did not live a supernatural life that is foreign to the common mans’ life. It would have no validity for us if this life was not typical. But his life was typical and the things that happened to him and the way that he handled those things was the Model for us today.
There are times in life when things seem to stop working like before. Things that used to make us feel like we are “The Man” or “The Woman” no longer seem to work. When the easy things that we used to get away with, everyone seems to be up on them now.
There are times in our lives when the things that brought us fame, prestige and notoriety no longer do so, and we begin to fee quite ordinary. At those times the people around us may start to ask, has he lost it? Has he lost his touch for making money, setting up businesses, making people happy, getting things done? Was he just all talk? Did he ever really have it? Maybe it was just luck that has now turned to bad luck. Surah 93:1, invites us to say, by The Glorious Morning Light that will surely come after this darkness, I’ll be alright. Surah 93:2. Tell them, tell yourself, it may be still and quiet now, it may seem like I am at rest and nothing is happening in my life, but I’ll be alright when the morning comes. Surah 93:4, is saying, tell them and yourself, in a minute, not very much longer, (thereafter) the good times, the progress, the success is going to resume.
If you come across a person that is not familiar with the human biology they will make the same mistake. It’s like the heart beat. The right ventricle fills up with blood, then it pauses and passed the blood to the left ventricle and it pauses then the heart muscle pumps that supply of blood to the rest of the body. But a person that is not familiar with that process of life would take a listening device and hear the heart beat then it would be silent there would be the pause. If they acted to hasty, if they did not have faith that all this marvelous machinery called the human body would not have been made by Allah for heartbeat and then to cease. If they could not wait through that brief night for the morning, they would declare that the person was dead. Oh! My goodness the heart has stopped and the man is dead. Knowledgeable people standing around would start to laugh and say no! Silly person, just have patience for a second, not a minute not an hour, just a second and the heart beat will resume, this is not death, it’s just a pause. God Has not abandoned us. Dear Muslims, although times maybe hard and the situation may seem like it’s been night forever, Allah Has not abandoned us and He is not angry with us to deprive us of His Mercy. If that were so we would not be here having this opportunity to submit our wills and serve Him. Even if you do not hear anything beating, nothing seems to be coming to you of benefit, trust in the promise of Your Lord and my Lord, He Has abandoned us and He is not angry with us, this is just a pause in the life and what comes after this experience is promised to be better than what we have right now, if we trust in Allah.
I have seen a person laying so still that people around then became alarmed and thought perhaps they were dead. They were not moving, not speaking, so those around them may have thought they were paralyzed, dead, finished. But when we know that they were just sleeping then we are assured that they will move again, they will speak again, we just have to wait for them to get up in the morning. Just think back to Surah 93:6, about the orphan. Yes, Prophet Mohammed was orphaned, yes this applies to him, and yes it applies to us in this time as well. What is an orphan? It’s a person without a mother without a father. Think about this, a person is said to be mothering you when they treat you in a certain manner, called a maternal manner. When they look after certain needs in your life, like seeing that your meals are healthy, that you learn common courtesy, that you are made aware or made sensitive to others and that you learn basic family and social values as well as productivity. Now, the father figure embraces the concept of instilling leadership, discipline, strength, and sacrifice for the advancement of the common good. In light of this, have you or I been orphans in this society or not? Surah 93:7, have we not been wandering from fad to fad, from one uncertainty to another, from one false image of ourselves to another? Have we not wandered and wandered what we should be doing with our life, where we should be doing it? How to handle all the things that the world is throwing towards us today, how to handle these ever changing circumstances? And is not Surah 93:8, ever so true? Did not Allah find us in need of social, academic and economic improvement? Islam, that way of life based upon the revealed word of Almighty Allah connected with us at the point of our needs. It found us in want of an answer to the many and varied problems we have faced. In the revelation is this message, God has not abandoned you, God is not angry with you, and if you just have the faith that it takes to believe that after the darkness of tonight the sun will rise in the morning. If we just have the faith that after whatever we are facing right now as our night, that Allah says, the hereafter, right here after a brief night, our life will be better in the most important ways, better than it is right now. And if you still have any doubts then Allah directs us to reflect on what He has already done for us in our life, simply in brining us to Islam, to an opportunity to have the stability, the progress, the establishment in our life of those necessary elements for the success of the human being.
Reflect on how after so many years of wandering and wondering how Allah has brought us to a state of mind where we know what we want to do, where we want to go and can see the way to get there.
Dear Muslims, never despair of the mercy of Allah. Prophet Mohammed did not despair; his message was not for him. It was for those who follow him, both then and now. Look at our present situation as the pause between the heartbeats as the sleepily night before the wakening day, as the night before the dawn. Take courage, take heart, and trust in Allah that His word is true. Do not beat up yourself with despair and doubt, wondering if there is a curse on you or if you are under some damning punishment. It’s just the night before the day and Allah is the Lord of the Night and the Lord of the Day, so we are always in His care.
We have a role model that had no father figure in his life, then no mothers’ care. Who felt the pains of losing his children and his wife, but never became a criminal. He never turned to dope or alcohol; he did not become bitter and say the world is going to pay for all his pain that I have been put through. He is our model of conduct. The words in Surah Dhuha are a message of hope to us all. May Allah Bless us with the light of understanding and the faith to follow his noble example Prophet Mohammed, and to work patiently during dark night in the full knowledge that we will soon see the Glorious Morning Light.