Foreword

اَلْحَمْدُ ِللهِ مُنْشِئِ الْخَلْقِ مِنْ عَدَمِ ثُمَّ الصَّلاَةُ عَلَى الْمُخْتَارِ فِى الْقِدَمِ^[1]

Endless praises are due to Allah the Almighty, Who has blessed us with the honor of being humans and being His servants among His countless creation, Who sent Muhammad Mustafa, the Eternal Pride of the universe, to His servants as the guide for the straight path, and Who has blessed us with the honor of being among the followers of His Messenger (pbuh) and Who has bestowed upon us the exemplary personality of His Messenger.

He is Allah, Who filled the hearts of the believers with the flowers of wisdom and knowledge. He quenched the thirst of humanity with His Holy Book Qur’an and brought peace into their hearts by sending His Messenger Muhammad Mustafa.

 Dear Lord! Even if You had given us endless life, and we had devoted all of it to thank and praise You, we would not have praised You enough. You are just like You praised Yourself. We are incapable to be thankful enough even for Your smallest blessing. How would it be possible to be thankful enough for Your blessings? Moreover, being able to offer our gratitude to You, is Your blessing which requires gratitude. O Lord! We are aware of our weaknesses and we verily absolve You from all deficiencies.

Peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad Mustafa, who is the loftiest example of the Divine training, who was chosen by Allah the Almighty to convey His message to humanity and devoted himself to the salvation of humanity. He, who taught and continues to teach people their Lord’s love and knowledge, who is the blessed guide of the path which goes to Paradise and Allah the Most High, and who is the happiness of the souls.

Glowing light of the universe! Our generous master! Peace be upon you…

The one who reached the highest station which a created being can possibly reach! Peace be upon you…

The one for whose honor the Divine treasure of favor is opened before those who are in the darkness of ignorance! Peace be upon you…

O honorable Prophet! Your lights and spirituality is the potion for our eyes and souls. What would be the meaning of our world, if there was no hope to meet you in the Hereafter? Peace be upon you …

You are the capital of our soul, and we love neither this world nor the Hereafter without you. Peace be upon you …

The most superior creation! We cannot send enough blessings to properly honor you. Hundreds of thousands of peace and blessings, for each moment of Allah the Almighty, be upon you …

We send our greetings to the companions, who completely reported all the actions and sayings of the Prophet to us, and to the scholars, the saints, the martyrs and the righteous servants of Allah, who followed the examples of the companions; we expect their intercession in the Hereafter. May Allah be pleased with them all!

In order to achieve perfection and reach the straight path, people are in need of guides and missionaries, whose souls are pure and whose hearts are clean from the blemishes of sins and suspicion, because imitation and examples are the natural characteristics of human beings. Also, examples are more effective than the words. Humans are more fascinated by actual examples than abstract thoughts and ideas. This is necessary not just to help in the learning process, but also to persuade the listener. In fact, some lessons in the Qur’an are presented by stories and examples from the past, which makes the message more tangible for the readers.

If the need in human nature for exemplary characters is not filled with true guides and excellent exemplars, then it will certainly be filled with fake ones; because, as it is expressed in an old saying, “nature does not like the gaps.” Humans, especially when they are maturing and spiritually developing adolescences, look for exemplary characters to imitate and sometimes they may pursue mischief-makers as guides of the straight path. They may devote their souls to the wrong places and become disappointed. Those who cannot find the right guides, which lead them to goodness, follow the wrong examples shown to them. In fact, when we compare today’s lifestyle with the lifestyle required by Allah the Almighty we see a huge gap between them; because, people in the modern age usually look for examples among the dishonest and worthless instead of looking for them in the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). It is very important to correct this mistake and to fill the above-mentioned gap; for Allah the Almighty states in the Qur’an: “(Remember) the day when We will call every people with their Imam…” (Al-Isra 17; 71) and tells His servants that they will enter either Paradise or Hell together with their leaders. Therefore, one should choose the right guides in this world and be among the righteous.

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) assembled all the distinguishing characteristics of the previous Prophets in Himself. He is the apex of all the Prophets and he is the glad tidings given by them; he is an honored and great prophet sent as mercy for the universe. The Prophets made a solemn promise to Allah the Almighty that they were going to help the Messenger (pbuh), whom they were waiting for a long time. This is expressed in the following verse:

“Behold! Allah took the covenant of the Prophets, saying: “I give you a Book and Wisdom; then comes to you a Messenger, confirming what is with you; do you believe in him and render him help.” Allah said: “Do you agree, and take this my Covenant as binding on you?” They said: “We agree.” He said: “Then bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses.” (Al-i Imran 3; 81)

The Prophets (peace be upon them) kept their promises, and they declared their faith in our Prophet (pbuh). They strongly desired to be among his followers and they gave the glad tidings of his arrival in every chance they had. All kinds of goodness, righteousness, justice, mercy, and good manners on this world undoubtedly emerged from the message of these Prophets. They had been sent to humanity to show the straight path. If they had not been sent, there would not have been any order in this world; life would have been unbearable; anarchy would have spread all over the world and people would have drowned in the whirls of mischief. There would be no logical basis for the creation.

Our Prophet (pbuh) is the final prophet. All distinguishing attributes of the Prophets were manifested in him. He is a unique and beautiful exhibition in which all kinds of moral excellence are displayed. Our Lord created the universe for the sake of the Prophet (pbuh) and made him the dearest of all creation. Beautiful roses, favors, and rich fiestas bestowed upon us by the Absolute Divine Power are all for the sake of him.

Our beloved Prophet (pbuh) lived like a common member of his society. He experienced all the levels of the society from being an orphan to being the head of the state. He was always with the people. This situation prepared the natural ground for him to be an excellent example in every detail of life. Our Prophet’s leadership in social and political fields often leads those who think that the prophetic guidance was only about spiritual matters to disbelief in his prophethood. However, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) is a perfect guide for humanity not only in the spiritual life, but also in the material and social life.

Selection of the Prophets from human beings instead of angels is certainly based on wisdom. Otherwise, people might object saying that “we are not angels and we cannot be like them.” This is why the Prophet (pbuh), who is our only exemplary character to reach perfection, became an exemplary guide for affairs in both this world and in the afterlife.

As a prophet, a missionary, a statesman, a leader, a commander, a judge, a teacher, a tradesman, a father, and a friend, all the acts and sayings of the Prophet (pbuh) were recorded in details in thousands of volumes.

Our most important duty, as Muslims, is to learn our Prophet’s (pbuh) exemplary life in the best manner and to teach about him to future generations. Moreover, we need books presenting his exemplary life that are appropriate for the needs of a time and place. In this regard, no matter how many books are written about the Prophet (pbuh) and no matter how much we introduce our Prophet to humanity, this book cannot be considered much.

We, as the authors of this humble book, have wanted to add a value and meaning to our lives by writing about our Blessed Prophet (pbuh). Even though we are not worthy enough, we took it upon ourselves to write this book.

We pray that our Lord blesses our hearts with love for Him and knowledge of Him, and love for His Messenger (pbuh). We ask Him to make this humble effort a continuous charity for us and for all those who made a contribution. We pray our Lord to bless us all with the intercession of our Prophet (pbuh) and with the honor to be neighbors to our beloved Prophet (pbuh) in the Hereafter.

Amin…

And the success is from Allah the Almighty

Küçük Çamlıca / 30. 04. 2003

Prof. Ömer ÇELİK

Assistant Prof. Mustafa ÖZTÜRK

Dr. Murat KAYA