THE PROPHETS ARE THE BEST IN SIGHT OF ALLĀH
By
Ibn Abdillaah As-sudaisiy Al-Iloori
I once heard one Alfa at a wedding event saying even some prophets didn't do the kind of work their Alfa did. He said some prophets would be raised on the Day of Judgment without even a follower. But their Alfa has thousands of adherents. Subhanallaah!
This is how Sufis and some other people of bid'ah misinterpret texts to suit their desire and support their blasphemy. He was probably referring to the Hadith where the Prophet صلى الله عليه said:
عرضت علي الأمم، فرأيت النبي ومعه الرهيط، والنبي ومعه الرجل والرجلان، والنبي وليس معه أحد...
I was shown the past nations. I saw a Prophet who had a very small group (less than ten in total) with him, another Prophet who was accompanied by only one or two men and some did not have even one. [Bukhari and Muslim]
This Hadith was narrated by Ibn 'Abbas رضي الله عنه, and it cannot be interpreted to mean that those who are not prophets (or messengers) could have done better job than prophets (and messengers). No matter how hard a non Prophet works, he can never match the standard of a prophet or messenger even if the Prophet or messenger had no follower. Even the Companions رضي الله عنهم with all their efforts to preserve Islām, they are still behind the prophets and messengers.
The Hadith was mentioned by Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Abdilwahhab رحمه الله in his "Kitabut Taoheed" when he was discussing the case of 70,000 people among the ummah of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم who would enter paradise without accountability. The hadith has a lot of lessons. One of its lessons is for us to know that population is not the determining factor for success in da'wah. Someone might be calling to the truth, and people would not follow him. Someone might be calling to Sunnah and people would not follow him. They may prefer to follow people of bid'ah. And this is very obvious in our society. An Alfa would go to the Church, praise other than Allah, and his next lecture would still be filled with crowd. Someone can say Solaatul Faatih is better than the daily prayers and people would still gather before him. This clearly shows that Islām is not about crowd.
If crowd is to be the determining factor, then how many Muslims do we have in the world? How many Muslims are acting according to Sunnah? How many are those who truly adhere to Sunnah? So, the fact that a prophet doesn't have as much followers as our Alfas doesn't mean our Alfa or Shehu is better than him. We should not even make the mistake of comparing any Sheikh with the prophets, and the companions. They are far above us. There is nothing we can do to match their standard. You will not find anyone who understands Sunnah committing this kind of blunder because the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
خَيْرُ النَّاسِ قَرْنِي، ثُمَّ الَّذِينَ يَلُونَهُمْ، ثُمَّ الَّذِينَ يَلُونَهُم
The best people are those of my generation, and then those who will come after them (the next generation), and then those who will come after them (i.e. the next generation)... [Bukhari]
Part of the meaning of this Hadith is that those who lived with the Prophet صلى عليه وسلم were the best of people after all thr prophets (and messenger) of Allāh. There is no divergence of opinion among the scholars on the fact that the prophets (and messengers) of Allāh were the best of creatures. Those that are next to them are the Companions رضي الله عنهم. If a sheikh is not up to the status of a Companion, how then would he be up to the status of a prophet? It is important for us to know our levels. I watched a video yesterday where a Tijanee adherent was saying Shehu Ahmad Tijani was better than some prophets. This is a blasphemous statement. This is one of the harmful effects of praising people beyond limitations and heroe worship.
People who call to misguidance are usually with highest number of followers. Human being love lies more than anything and anyone who tells them the truth is their enemy. So, they get easily deceived by their population. They think their population is a sign of acceptance by Allāh. This is a joke. Allāh can't be deceived. He is interested in quality and not quantity. More so, in the Qur'an, the people of misguidance and ignorance are usually described with high population, while the people of guidance and success are known with lower population. Allāh said:
ولكن أكثر الناس لا يعلمون
But most people do not know (Q30: 6)
May Allah guide us aright.
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