Who is a prophet? What is his character like? What challenges face him? Is it a privilege to be a prophet?
This blog is going to talk about the prophet’s ups and downs. by the prophet’s ups and downs we mean the good and the bad times which prophet mohammad had during his call to islam. In the first place, Prophet Mohammad was undoubtedly a prophet. Naturally, the revelation of the Holy Quran came to him every now and then. Therefore, Jibril often met him. The style of the Holy Quran was not similar to any other human style. Quraish had acknowledged the prophet’s virtuousness and truthfulness. The Holy Quran itself assured prophet Mohammad that Allah testifies that Mohammad was a prophet. The guidance of the Holy Quran means all good things to the people who believe in the message of Islam.True Muslims are promised to escape punishment and will be admitted into paradise. The only salvation for Quraish was to believe in the message of Mohammad. Truly, Prophet Mohammad was all keen on their guidance and rescuing his people.
Prophet Mohammad was often sad for the rejection of his call. However, he always wished his people had believed him and believed in him as a prophet. On many occasions, the Holy Quran assures prophet Mohammad that those stubborn people did believe him. Nevertheless, their pride, arrogance and envy stopped them from admitting that he was the messenger of Allah.
The more the stubborn hostile Makkans rejected prophet Mohammad’s call, the more the Holy Quran commanded prophet Mohammad to go on calling them to embrace Islam. Meanwhile, the struggle and the suffering which prophet Mohammad felt was unbearable. However, prophet Mohammad had no choice. He didn’t have any other alternative. He had to go on calling people to embrace Islam regardless of the obstacles he met.
Throughout the Holy Quran, Allah urges prophet Mohammad, and consequently Muslims not to lose hope. It is not daydreaming to be optimistic. On the contrary, a Muslim believes in the existence of the superpower and the ultimate ability and capability of Allah which helps a Muslim overcome all hardships. added to pride, the greatest sin which Satan committed was that he was desperate for the mercy and forgiveness of Allah. That is why one of Satan’s names is Iblis; which means in Arabic: “The desperate one”.
Persistent in his call, prophet Mohammad was commanded to try a new ground to plant the seeds of his new faith, the Holy Quran and religion in. This new ground was about seventy or eighty kilometers away from Makkah. Prophet Mohammad accompanied his servant Zaid ibn Haritha on the journey. prophet Mohammad had his good reputation as a virtuous man ahead of him. so he went to al-Taif hoping that the people there would be welcoming to his call. However, they were no less arrogant, ignorant and stubborn than the people of Makkah.
Prophet Mohammad offered his call, the Holy Quran and religion to the elite of the city of al-Taif. The people of al-Taif enjoyed the luxurious life of their fruit gardens. However, they were not generous enough to give prophet Mohammad a warm welcome. On the contrary, they rejected his offer and encouraged their juniors and idiots to insult him. The ignorant kids chased prophet Mohammad and his servant throwing stones at him. Some stones hit prophet Mohammad’s feet which bled. to the shade of a vineyard, prophet Mohammad resorted for some rest.
Exhausted, frustrated and feeling pain as he was, it would have been natural of prophet Mohammad to implore Allah to ruin those harsh and stone-hearted people. Nevertheless, the first thing prophet Mohammad asked Allah for was that Allah would not be dissatisfied with prophet Mohammad. Soon angel Jibril came to prophet Mohammad with the greetings from Allah. Jibril told prophet Mohammad that if prophet Mohammad commanded Jibril to bury the people of al-Taif under the dust, rocks and sands of the two mountains which surrounded their city, Jibril wouldn’t have hesitated. In spite of this, prophet Mohammad told Jibril to save the bad people; hoping that one day their offspring would embrace Islam.