In order to attract people’s attention to the significance of his speech, sometimes Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) began his speech with swearing; and sometimes he repeated his words two-three times, and sometimes he changed the position in which he sat.
Allah the Almighty commands His Messenger to swear in order to confirm what he spoke about. Two of these orders are as follows:
“…say, Nay But most surely, by my Lord, it [the Hour] will come upon you…” (al-Saba’ 34; 3)
“…Say (unto them, O Muhammad): Yea, verily, by my Lord! You will be raised again …” (al-Taghabun 64; 7)
Swearing is one of the prominent styles of the Qur’an. Explaining an issue by swearing by Allah shows the significance and greatness of the matters that will follow. Allah the Almighty expresses many Divine truths by swearing upon His Might or upon the beings that He chose. For instance, Allah the Almighty swears eleven times consecutively and states the reality of the self, and reaching salvation by purifying it or perishing by burying it into misdeeds. (al-Shams 91; 1-10)
In the ninety-fifth chapter (al-Tin) of the Qur’an, Allah the Almighty informs that He created human beings in the best stature after swearing four consecutive times. (al-Tin 95; 1-4)
Some examples from the Prophet’s teaching through swearing can be mentioned as follows:
Abu Hurairah (r.a.) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) observed:
“By him in Whose hand is my life, you shall not enter Paradise unless you believe so long as you do not affirm belief (in all those things which are the articles of faith) and you will not believe as long as you do not love one another. Should I not direct you to a thing which, if you do, will foster love amongst you: (i.e.) give currency to (the practice of paying salutation to one another by saying as-salamu alaikum.” (Muslim, Iman, 94)
As it is pointed out in this prophetic saying salutation is the tool to spread love and love is the sign for the perfection of faith. The Prophet (pbuh) expressed this fact by swearing byAllah the Almighty.
In another example, according to the narration of Anas (r.a.) the Prophet (pbuh) observed:
“By Him in whose Hand is my life, no bondsman (truly) believes till he likes for his brother in Islam whatever he likes for himself.” (Muslim, Iman, 72; Bukhari, Iman, 7)
One of the ways to attract the listeners’ attention is to repeat the matter a few times based on its significance. Human comprehension is weak and most of the time an issue cannot be understood after listening to or reading it once. There are even some profound issues that cannot be understood by listening dozens of times. They take long time to settle in the heart.
The most important aim of repetition is to engrave the divine and lofty objectives effectively into the hearts and souls; because people can better assimilate the issues presented before them through repetition. Repetition has an exceptional place both in the Word of our Lord and in the practices and sermons of His Messenger (pbuh).
Important matters in the Holy Qur’an are mostly repeated by their meanings and sometimes are repeated literally. The feature of repetition in the Qur’an can especially be seen in the parables of the earlier prophets. This is not always in the actual form of repetition. In the general course of the chapter, it presents different details depending upon the context. For instance, the issue of Devil’s refusal of prostration to Adam (A.S.) is repeated seven times, yet every one of them attracts our attention to a different side of the Devil’s tricks and plots.
The wisdom behind these repetitions is expressed as follows:
“Thus have we sent this down an Arabic Quran and therein explained some of the warnings in detail, in order that they may fear God, or that it may cause their remembrance (of Him).” (Taha 20; 113)
We observe that some phrases and sentences are repeated in the Holy Qur’an. They sometimes have the aim of reiteration and sometimes provide a rhetorical subtlety, like expressions of surprise, horror or warning. For instance, the verse repeated thirty-one times after the statements of blessings bestowed upon humans and jinns,
فَبِأَىِّ آلآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny?” (al-Rahman 55) reminds the servants to remove the curtains of heedlessness before their eyes, to admit the Divine blessings, and then to give thanks for them.
When the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) talked about his message, he would state his words clearly and sometimes repeat them a few times. According to the report by Anas (r.a.), the Prophet (pbuh) would repeat his words thrice. (Bukhari, ‘Ilm, 30) For instance, when the Prophet (pbuh) advised the recitation of some surahs to some of his Companions such as Abdullah b. Hubaib, Uqba b. Amir, and Jabir b. Abdullah, he followed a good method in order to attract their attention to the significance of such. First the Prophet (pbuh) called their names and said:
“Recite.” When the Companions asked:
“O Messenger of Allah! What should I recite?” he repeated his order once more. And after repeating it three times and preparing them for his words, he (pbuh) said:
“Recite the chapters of Ihlas and Muawwidhatain three times day and night. These are enough for you to be protected from all kinds of harm.” (Abu Dawud, Adab, 101; Tirmidhi, Daawat, 116)Other examples of the method of repetition are as follows:
According to a report on the authority of Abu Umamah, Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) told his Companions during the night prayer:
“Meet for the prayer tomorrow, I have some important issues to tell you.” One of the Companions told the others:
“O so and so! Tomorrow you memorize the first words of the Prophet, and you memorize his following words, and you memorize his words after that. So we will not miss anything from his speech.” After the Prophet (pbuh) performed the dawn prayer, he asked:
“Have you assembled like I ordered you yesterday?” The Companions replied in the affirmative. Upon which the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) told them:
“Worship Allah and do not associate any partners with Him. Do you understand? Do you understand? Do you understand?” The Companions replied:
“Yes, we do.” Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) continued:
“Perform your ritual prayers and pay your alms. Perform your ritual prayers and pay your alms. Perform your ritual prayers and pay your alms. Do you understand? Do you understand? Do you understand?” Again the Companions replied affirmatively. Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) then said:
“Listen to me and obey. Listen to me and obey. Listen to me and obey. Do you understand? Do you understand? Do you understand?” And the Companions said: “Yes, we do.” (Tabarani, VIII, 162; Haythami, I, 46)
The Companions’ sensitivity and meticulousness for learning the Prophet’s teachings is what primarily attracts our attention in the above tradition. Another point is that the Prophet (pbuh) repeated three times the basic principles of Islam such as:
1. To worship Allah
2. Not to associate any partners with Him
3. To perform prayers
4. To pay alms
5. To listen to and obey unconditionally to the Messenger of Allah.
Another incident related to our topic was narrated by Abdullah b. Amr:
“Once Allah’s Apostle remained behind us in a journey. He joined us while we were performing ablution for the Asr prayer which was over-due. We were just passing wet hands over our feet (not washing them properly) so the Prophet addressed us in a loud voice and said twice or thrice:
“Save your heels from the fire.” (Bukhari, ‘Ilm, 30)
According to this report, it is an appropriate method of teaching someone who does not know, warning by raising the voice because of a mistake witnessed, and repeating the correction. Repetition may vary based on the students’ level of comprehension. If someone does not understand something, it is not a shame to ask it to be repeated; for repetition strengthens and confirms the previous words.
According to Abu Hurairah’s report, one day Allah’s Messneger (pbuh) said:
“Should I inform you who is the good and bad among you?” and repeated it three times,
Those who were present replied in the affirmative and the Prophet (pbuh) continued:
“The best one of you is the one from whom goodness is expected and from whose harm people are protected. Your worst one is the one from whom no goodness is expected and from whose harm nobody is protected.” (Tirmidhi, Fitan, 76)
Here, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) attracted the attention of the Companions by making a comparison between two opposite characters and repeating his words three times. And then he eloquently presents us who these opposite characters are.
Allah’s Apostle (pbuh) would sometimes change the position in which he was sitting and then repeat his words to attract the listener’s attention. His aim again was to show the significance of the matter in question. An example of this was narrated by Nufai b. Harith (r.a.):
“Allah’s Apostle (pbuh) asked three times:
“Shall I not inform you of the biggest of the great sins?” We said:
“Yes, O Allah’s Apostle” The Prophet (pbuh) said,
“To associate partners with Allah and to disobey one’s parents.” and he sat up after he had been reclining and added,
“And I warn you against lying and giving a false statement.” The Prophet (pbuh) kept on saying that warning until we thought that he would not stop. (Bukhari, Adab, 6; Muslim, Iman, 143)
Here, in this tradition Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) changed the position in which he was sitting when he was going to say the third great sin after stating the first two great sins. This change is to clearly express the unlawfulness of lying and bearing false testimony. The most significant reason for their unlawfulness is the extensiveness and the greatness of the harm caused by them.
Once again the Prophet’s repetition of the statement “Shall I not inform you of the biggest of the great sins?” is also to express the significance of his words and thus to attract his Companions’ attention to the greatness of these sins.
Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) would also use other methods to attract his listeners’ attention. One of them was that he would consciously hold the hand or shoulder of the person whom he was addressing. Thus, his listener’s attention would be concentrated upon the Prophet’s speech and he could understand it better. Abdullah b. Mas’ud (r.a.) narrated:
“Allah’s Apostle taught me the Tashahhud (supplication of tahiyyad) just like he was teaching me a chapter from the Quran, while my hand was between his hands.” (Bukhari, Isti’dhan, 28)
The Prophet (pbuh) would sometimes emphasis his point while touching his Companion’s shoulder. Abdullah b. Umar (r. anhuma) said that:
“One day Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) held my shoulder and said:
“Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveler.” (Bukhari, Riqaq, 3)
In this tradition, our Prophet (pbuh) made his Companion feel his closeness and then gave him some advice to guide him to Allah the Almighty.
Another educational method applied by the Apostle of Allah was this: He would address his listener to attract his attention and repeat this a few times and then move to his real issue. For instance, (during a military expedition) he addressed Muadh b. Jabal (r.a.) three times:
“O Muadh!” and every time Muadh (r.a.) responded:
“O Messenger of Allah! Here I am at your service.” After that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) told him:
“If anyone testifies (sincerely from his heart) that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger, Allah grants him immunity from Hell.” (Bukhari, ‘Ilm, 49; Muslim, Iman, 53)
Here, the Prophet’s address to Muadh (r.a.) three times by his name is to draw his attention to what he was about to say.
We should derive the utmost benefit from all these prophetic methods of education in order to convey to people the message of Islam more easily and more effectively.