The Prophet’s Appearance

The Quran repeatedly reminds us of the importance of the Hadith, enjoining us to strictly follow the Prophet: “...Obey God and obey the Messenger...” (Al-Nisa, 4:59) It is as if, the Quran is the text, and the Hadith the commentary; the Quran being the theory and the Hadith being the practice. Thus the Quran and Hadith cannot be separated from one another. They are complementary to each other. Both are equally essential for the establishment of religion. During the life of the Prophet there were no regular compilations of the traditions, for they were not generally recorded in writing. However, they were orally transmitted, with great accuracy of detail, thanks to the Arab’s exceptionally retentive memories. Later they were compiled into books by various collectors of Hadith. Tazkiya Since spiritual development is to do with the mind, spiritual progress is just another name for intellectual progress or intellectual development, which is the main target of man. The process of spiritual or intellectual development in fact begins with the de-conditioning of the conditioned mind or the purification of the mind—Tazkiya, as mentioned in the Quran. The more one de-conditions the mind, the more one will gain in spiritual or intellectual development. Spiritual or Intellectual progress is just not possible without taking such a step. Spirituality, in its awakening of the mind, provides the best formula for tazkiya—the purification, or de-conditioning, that leads to our personality development. It is a great strength at all times. Spirituality, in effect, is a promoter of all good and a killer of all evils. Everyone may be born spiritual, that is, one may be spiritual by nature, but, after birth, one lives in a society, which, with its multiple influences, conditions or shapes man’s personality in such a way that it is flawed by negative feelings. These negative feelings can be of anger, revenge, jealousy, hatred and rivalry. Due to these negative influences, we develop a negative personality. We, therefore, have to consciously activate our minds and de-condition or purify them so as to develop our personality on positive lines, as only a positive personality will gain entry into paradise. To attain the state of tazkiya, a man has to re-engineer his mind. Man must become disciplined and not allow his personality to develop under the influence of external incentives. He should, by his own decisions, construct his personality on the basis of higher principles. Only then will he be of a divine character. He has to shake and jolt and remould his personality to abide by the plan of his Creator. He has to turn himself into the kind of person who is shaped not by society, but by spirituality and is thus able to live a Godoriented or Rabbani life. According to a Hadith, the Prophet Muhammad said that the highest form of worship was to pray as if you were seeing God. We learn from this Hadith the true sign of a superior form of worship. The true sign for man is to sense the presence of God during worship, and feel that he has come close to God. That is when he can experience the refreshing, cooling effect of God’s love and blessings for man. It is this feeling of closeness to God which is the highest form of spiritual experience. The Sajdah is the highest form of meditation. Sajdah is a form of unification of soul and body. Sajdah is the meeting point between God and man. Sajdah is the sign of submission or surrender, for it is only in a state of submission or surrender that we can meet God Almighty. Sajdah is the final position of submission for acquiring a place very close to God.