The First Call: On proper conduct with the Messenger of Allāh (peace be upon him)

Verse 104 of Sūrah al-Baqarah

أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ

I seek refuge with Allāh from Satan, the accursed.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَقُولُوا رَاعِنَا وَقُولُوا انْظُرْنَا وَاسْمَعُوا وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ

O you who believe, do not say 'Rāʿinā', but say 'Unẓurnā', and listen, for the disbelievers shall have a painful punishment.

Explanation

This is the call of Allāh a to His believing servants. He called them by the title of faith, because the believer is alive through his faith: he hears, he understands, and he is able both to act and to refrain. The disbeliever is otherwise, for he neither hears nor understands, he does not act when he is commanded and he does not refrain when he is forbidden.

Know, O reader of this call, that when Allāh a calls His believing servants, He calls them only to enjoin upon them that in which their happiness and their completeness lie, or to forbid them that in which their misery and their loss lie, or to give them good news, or to warn them, or to teach them what will benefit them.

Let us listen to ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd f. A man said to him, 'Advise me, O ʿAbdullāh,' and he said to him, 'When you hear Allāh a say {يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا}, that is, "O you who believe", then lend Him your ear, for it is a good that is being commanded or an evil that is being forbidden.'

In this verse Allāh a called His believing servants in order to forbid them the word 'Rāʿinā' and to direct them to the word 'Unẓurnā'. That was because the hypocrites among the Jews used to say 'Rāʿinā' to the Messenger of Allāh e, and in their Hebrew tongue it carried the meaning of derision and mockery. By it they were mocking the Messenger e and deriding him, and to mock the Messenger and to deride him is disbelief.

So Allāh a forbade the believers to say 'Rāʿinā' to the Messenger e when they sat with him learning the Book and the wisdom, and told them to say in its place a word which in Arabic carries the meaning they intended, 'Unẓurnā', which is to say, give us time and do not hurry us, until we have memorised or understood what you say to us. And He commanded them to listen closely and to hear when they receive knowledge and understanding, and to observe good conduct in that.

And He informed them that the disbelievers, who are those among the Jews and others who mock the Messenger of Allāh e and deride him, shall have a painful punishment, that is, a severe and agonising one, and it may reach them in this world before the Hereafter.

In this noble verse there is a statement of the obligation of proper conduct with the Messenger of Allāh e and of the prohibition of offending him by word or by deed. This is so where there is ignorance and no knowledge. But where a man knows that the word or the gesture carries an offence against the Messenger of Allāh e, that is disbelief itself, and we seek refuge with Allāh exalted from it.

And just as offence against the Messenger of Allāh e is forbidden, and may be disbelief where it is deliberate and intended, so offence against the one who trains, the one who teaches, the one who guides and the one who governs is forbidden also. And in the same way, to find fault with a believer, or to hold him in contempt, or to make sport of him, or to deride him is forbidden, and the one who does it is a transgressor if he does not repent of it. Let us read the word of Allāh exalted:

{يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا يَسْخَرْ قَوْمٌ مِنْ قَوْمٍ عَسَى أَنْ يَكُونُوا خَيْرًا مِنْهُمْ وَلَا نِسَاءٌ مِنْ نِسَاءٍ عَسَى أَنْ يَكُنَّ خَيْرًا مِنْهُنَّ وَلَا تَلْمِزُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ وَلَا تَنَابَزُوا بِالْأَلْقَابِ بِئْسَ الِاسْمُ الْفُسُوقُ بَعْدَ الْأِيمَانِ وَمَنْ لَمْ يَتُبْ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ}

O you who believe, let no people scoff at other people, for they may be better than them, nor let women scoff at other women, for they may be better than them. And do not find fault with one another, nor call one another by bad nicknames. Wretched is a name of sinfulness after faith. And whoever does not repent, those are the wrongdoers.

Let us beware, then, of improper conduct with Allāh a and with His Messenger e. When Allāh a is mentioned, or His Book is recited, we must listen closely and be humble, and not raise our voices or laugh. And when the Messenger of Allāh e is mentioned, or a ḥadīth of his, we must listen closely, and reverence for him, and respect, and love, and esteem must show upon us.

This is the fruit of this Divine call, which Allāh a has honoured us with by preserving it for us and by our understanding of its meaning. So let us pluck that fruit and take its benefit, and let us praise Allāh a for it and give Him thanks, for He is worthy of praise and thanks and commendation.

And peace be upon the messengers, and all praise is due to Allāh, Lord of all the worlds.