اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ بِجَمِیعِ مَحَامِدِه کُلِّهَا عَلَی جَمِیعِ نِعَمِهِ کُلِّهَا… اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ مالِکِ الْمُلْکِ مُجْرِی الْفُلْکِ مُسَخِّرِ الرِّیاحِ فالِقِ الاْصْباحِ دَیّانِ الدّینِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمینَ اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی حِلْمِهِ بَعْدَ عِلمِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی عَفْوِهِ بَعْدَ قُدْرَتِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی طُولِ اَناتِهِ فی غَضَبِهِ وَهُوَ قادِرٌ عَلی ما یُریدُ
Praise is to God with all his praises, for all his blessings. . . Praise is to God, the owner of the property, the operator of the orbit, the bender of the wind, the glory of the morning, the religion of the beliefs, lord of the worlds; praise is to God for his dream after his knowledge and thank God for forgiveness after his power, and praise be to God for his long patience in his wrath and he is capable to do what he wills
و نشهد أن لا اله الا الله وحده لا شریک له، و أَنَّ محمداً عبده و رسوله ارسله بالهدی و دین الحق لیظهره علی الدین کله و لو کره المشرکون اوصیکم عبادالله و نفسی بتقوی الله و اتباع امره و نهیه، و اخوفکم من عقابه
And we bear witness that there is no god but God alone, without partner, and that Muhammad is his servant and messenger, he sent him with guidance and the religion of truth, that he might proclaim it over all religion, even if the polytheists hated it.
Common principles in the life of the prophets
Principle 17: Raising the tribe (Ummat)
All the divine prophets have strived to grow and raise their nations. It is true that the prophets had to speak to their tribes in order to be able to guide them, and the holy prophet, Mohammad said: إنّا مَعَاشِرَ الأنبیَاءِ أُمِرنَا أن نُکَلِّمَ النَّاسَ عَلَی قَدرِ عُقُولِهِم “But this means that the divine prophets lowered themselves to the level of understanding of the people in order to accompany with them with them and bring them to the peak.”
When there is an intention to guide another person, sometimes the guide stands at the beginning and tells others to “go” like what the prophet Jacob told to his sons: يَا بَنِيَّ اذْهَبُوا فَتَحَسَّسُوا مِنْ يُوسُفَ وَأَخِيهِ؛ “Go, my sons, and look for Joseph and his brother,” (Yoosef: 87); and sometimes the guide stands at the destination and tells others to “come.” And the invitation of the divine prophets is of the second kind, who has walked and guided himself, and the people are told to “come”.
Also, in the invitation of the prophets, the expression “transcendence” has always been used, which means to rise and grow and be exalted. When the holy Qur’an mentions the presentation of religious rules to the people by the holy prophet, says:
قُلْ تَعَالَوْا أَتْلُ مَا حَرَّمَ رَبُّكُمْ عَلَيْكُمْ أَلَّا تُشْرِكُوا بِهِ شَيْئاً وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَاناً وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلَادَكُمْ مِنْ إِمْلَاقٍ نَحْنُ نَرْزُقُكُمْ وَإِيَّاهُمْ وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الْفَوَاحِشَ مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَمَا بَطَنَ وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ ذَلِكُمْ وَصَّاكُمْ بِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ.
Say, ‘Come, I will recount what your Lord has forbidden you. That you shall not ascribe any partners to Him, and you shall be good to the parents, you shall not kill your children due to penury—We will provide for you and for them—you shall not approach indecencies, the outward among them and the inward ones, and you shall not kill a soul [whose life] Allah has made inviolable, except with due cause. This is what He has enjoined upon you so that you may exercise your reason. (An’am: 151)
And also when the holy prophet, Mohammad, addresses the Jewish and Christian leaders and invites them to dialogue, he uses the same interpretation and says:
قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ تَعَالَوْا إِلَى كَلِمَةٍ سَوَاءٍ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمْ أَلَّا نَعْبُدَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ وَلَا نُشْرِكَ بِهِ شَيْئاً وَلَا يَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُنَا بَعْضاً أَرْبَاباً مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ؛
Say, ‘O People of the Book! Come to a common word between us and you: that we will worship no one but Allah, that we will not ascribe any partner to Him, and that some of us will not take some others as lords besides Allah.’ But if they turn away, say, ‘Be witnesses that we have submitted [to Allah].’ (Al Emran: 64)
And in response to this exalting invitation of the prophets, the infidels’ attitude which is reported by the holy Qur’an is a sign of their short-sightedness; they adhere to the thoughts and behavior of their fathers and refuse to grow and excel in following the divine commands. The Qur’an says:
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْا إِلَى مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ وَإِلَى الرَّسُولِ قَالُوا حَسْبُنَا مَا وَجَدْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءَنَا أَوَلَوْ كَانَ آبَاؤُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ؛
When they are told, ‘Come to what Allah has sent down and [come] to the Apostle,’ they say, ‘Sufficient for us is what we have found our fathers following.’ What, even if their fathers did not know anything and were not guided?! (Ma’ede: 104)
And the attitude of the hypocrites is a sign of their stubbornness. The hypocrites are those who seemingly joined the call of the prophets but did not believe in this call in their hearts. The holy Qur’an says:
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْا إِلَى مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ وَإِلَى الرَّسُولِ رَأَيْتَ الْمُنَافِقِينَ يَصُدُّونَ عَنْكَ صُدُوداً؛
When they are told, ‘Come to what Allah has sent down and [come] to the Apostle,’ you see the hypocrites keep away from you aversely. (Nesa: 61)
Principle 18: Monotheism in fear
One of the common principles in the life of all divine prophets is that they had no fear or worry in their hearts of any power except God. Their fear was only from God, and through that fear they were in the position of monotheism. The holy Qur’an speaks of God’s messengers and emphasizes this fearful monotheism and says:
الَّذِينَ يُبَلِّغُونَ رِسَالَاتِ اللَّهِ وَيَخْشَوْنَهُ وَلَا يَخْشَوْنَ أَحَداً إِلَّا اللَّهَ وَكَفَى بِاللَّهِ حَسِيباً؛
… such as deliver the messages of Allah and fear Him, and fear no one except Allah, and Allah suffices as reckoner. (Ahzab: 39)
The prophets loved God and supported him, so they were not afraid of anything. In the words of Rumi:
I am the lover of that One to whom every ‘that’ belongs: of (even) a single pearl of His the bodyguard is Intellect and Spirit;
How should I steal when He is the keeper of the treasury? How should not I be hard-faced (bold and resolute)? He is my support;
Every one whose back is warmed by the Sun will be hard-faced: he will have neither dread nor shame;
Every prophet was hard-faced in this world, and beat single-handed against the army of the kings;
And did not avert his face from any fear or pain, (but) single and alone dashed against a (whole) world;
In this regard, we sometimes consider that God assures the prophets that they will not be bitten by the people and says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الرَّسُولُ بَلِّغْ مَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ رَبِّكَ وَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلْ فَمَا بَلَّغْتَ رِسَالَتَهُ وَاللَّهُ يَعْصِمُكَ مِنَ النَّاسِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْكَافِرِينَ؛
O Apostle! Communicate that which has been sent down to you from your Lord, and if you do not, you will not have communicated His message, and Allah shall protect you from the people. Indeed Allah does not guide the faithless lot. (Ma’ede: 67)
This does not mean that the prophet Mohammad was worried about his life, because the divine prophets were always in danger of death, being killed, burned, etc., and they were not afraid of it. Rather, what God has encouraged the prophet Mohammad in this verse is that the mission of the messenger of God should not be harmed by the conspiracies of his opponents. Otherwise, the words of the prophets against the conspirators have always been that قُلِ ادْعُوا شُرَكَاءَكُمْ ثُمَّ كِيدُونِ فَلَا تُنْظِرُونِ؛ إِنَّ وَلِيِّيَ اللَّهُ الَّذِي نَزَّلَ الْكِتَابَ وَهُوَ يَتَوَلَّى الصَّالِحِينَ؛ “Do they have any feet to walk with? Do they have any hands to grasp with? Do they have any eyes to see with? Do they have any ears to hear with? Say, ‘Invoke your partners [that you ascribe to Allah] and try out your stratagems against me without granting me any respite. My guardian is indeed Allah who sent down the Book, and He takes care of the righteous.” (A’raf: 195 – 196)