Forty Gems of Beauty — Page 27
27 purity, [thirdly] the booty of war has been made lawful for me; it was never made lawful for anyone before me; [fourthly] I have been granted the honour of intercession with the Lord [and fifthly] while Prophets [before me] were commissioned to their particular people, I have been sent to the entire mankind. ( S S S S a hih hih hih hih al-Bukh a a a a r i i i i , Book of Tayammum ) Explanatory Notes In this Hadith our chief (May my life be dedicated to his service), has detailed five distinctions granted to him exclusively which go to show his exalted station and the abounding mercy of Allah the Excellent on him. His first distinction is the Divine gift of awe extending to as far as a month’s journey. The history of Islam furnishes strong supporting evidence showing how notwithstanding his [the Holy Prophet’s] apparently slight physical frame and unostentatious living, an enemy would tremble in awe before him, surely a God-given gift. It so happened on many occasions that the enemy planned to attack Medina and as the Holy Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sallied forth with a small group of companions to meet him, he [the enemy] fled on the first alarm. Again, when the Holy Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) addressed a letter to the Roman Caesar inviting him to accept Islam and the Caesar learnt further details about him, he exclaimed, If I could go and pay obeisance to this Messenger of Allah, I would indeed consider it a great honour if he permitted me to wash his feet. The second distinction of the Holy Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is that the entire earth has been made