Praise of the Prophet (PBUH) is a pious and sweet expression of love and affection of the faithful towards the messenger of God. They think it their duty to be grateful to him and extol him and beg from Allah to shower His choicest blessings on him and pray that peace be upon him, his progeny and his companions. They praise him and send their Darood-u-Salaam on him as much and as often as they can. The devout among Muslims let themselves be carried away by the love of their beloved Prophet (PBUH). People laud him and send him Darood-o-Salaam along with Naats in poetic concerts, podiums of mosques, Dargahs, shrines or in their individual capacity and seclusion and in all other places, in such a way that it scatters an aura of spirituality all round. They do so because the Prophet (PBUH) gave humanity a right direction, showed a straight path, guided them to achieve goodness in this world as well as in hereafter and made them eligible for Jannah.
The praise of Prophet (PBUH) has given rise to a separate genre in languages called “Naa’t” and a separate clan of poets who made this praise the sole aim of their life. Poets while reciting Naa’ts pour their hearts in it and are deeply engrossed in love and reverence for their Prophet (PBUH).
Prose and poetry though separate genres in language are supplementary to each other. Prose is generally used to explain the meaning of a poem to the reader in a simple and easy to understand manner. In the context of poetry, importance of prose writing cannot be ignored or underestimated as it helps us in understanding the ideas put forward in poems in an easy way.
The import of the foregoing narrative is to convey essence of the Naa’t to an average reader. The Naa’t in poetry is not easily comprehensible to some and hence it is necessary to praise the Prophet in prose also so that it is read by one and all.
This prosaic description of Naa’t is based on some Kashmiri Naa’ts of Faazil Kashmiri and others and also on some Persian Naa’ts of Maulana Jaami (RA), Sheikh Saidi (RA) etc.
Our Prophet (PBUH) has the highest standard of good conduct and behaviour and personifies all that is good and beautiful in this world and in the hereafter. He is, therefore, acclaimed as the best of all creation. His speaking and interacting with others matches with that of Prophet Moses who is known for having direct conversation with Allah. Such is the sweetness and the flow in the words spoken by Prophet (PBUH) that the audience were mesmerised and spellbound while listening. The whole universe is indebted to him as he has enlightened humanity with the light of guidance shown by him. He is the Imam-ul- mursaleen, leaderof all Prophets who came before him and is their culmination also. His four companions are like the shining stars and he is like a shining moon among them.
Our abundant salutations are presented to him as he is the benevolent guardian of the whole universe. He spread the message of Allah from Makkah and migrated to Madina which later became his seat of propagation of Islam. He met and saw all prophets in heaven on the occasion of Miraaj and was their guest of honour.
In the pre-Islamic days there arose a dispute among different clans on the installation of Hijre Aswad (Black Stone) in the wall of the Kaa’ba. Our prophet was regarded as most just, trustworthy and truthful even before the advent of Islam. So he was made the arbitrator to resolve this dispute with his resourcefulness and intelligence. Which he did amicably. Such was the trust and faith reposed in him by his community even before he proclaimed Islam.
He will enjoy special privilege of recommending the sinners to be pardoned and sending them to heaven by Allah on the Day of Judgment. When the people of Taaif humiliated him and hurled all sorts of abuses, hurting him bodily, he did not curse them. Instead, he asked Allah to forgive them as they were ignorant.
The world was steeped in ignorance and decay before his coming. It was rejuvenated on his coming. His speech was as sweet and fragrant as the fragrance of flowers. On the Day of Judgment when all other Prophets will be worried and concerned for their own wellbeing, our Prophet will be concerned and worried for his Umma and will pray to Allah to forgive them and to send them to heaven.
He was so sympathetic and helpful to others that when he found an old lady on roadside unable to carry her luggage, he offered his back to carry her luggage on it. People who could not afford to wear clothes, he would provide them clothes. He would look after the orphans and the downtrodden in the society. He would behave well even with those who ill-treated him and would impart knowledge to the ignorant and illiterate people.
Therefore, we salute him as he always helped the helpless. Although he ruled over an empire, yet he lived a life of austerity and spent everything in the way of Allah and on the poor and deserving.
He taught us the secrets and subtleties of love and affection with the fellow beings. Although others would hurt him in every possible way, yet he showered them with flowers of blessings and good behaviour in return. Even to those who were after his blood and abused and troubled him in every possible manner, he forgave them and treated them in a nice way. He had no gold or silver in his house and would sleep on a tattered mat as his bedding.
His own people who were closely related to him became his foes and were always up in arms with him when he proclaimed Islam. He had the interests and welfare of his Umma paramount and close to his heart and worked tirelessly for it.
Many complicated issues of the world were solved and their mystery became known to the mankind when the way of life which Prophet showed to the world was adopted fully in letter and spirit. We need not to worry from the pain and hurt which our own ill deeds and sins have inflicted on us as our Prophet (PBUH) has been bestowed with the power of recommending us for Janna or heaven in the hereafter by Allah. Although humanity is thirsty and craves for the path and guidance which Prophet had shown it for its emancipation and is like a dry pack of grass, it is still open to reform and the guidance will still rain down for the dry grass to sprout and blossom, if that path is adopted.
By adopting the right way of life shown by prophet we will surely recognize Allah as we are His path seekers. We are mere beggars before his large mansion and our real king is the Prophet. We take refuge and seek salvation only in the way of life shown by Quran and our prophet (PBUH).
(To be continued)

The writer is a retired telecom engineer, columnist and author of the book “Footprints in the Sand”

Peerzada Abdul Rashid