ISLAM FOR BEGINNERS BRS 107.pdf - CUEA

He continued insisting on the love of Muhammad as one of the delights of faith:Narrated Anas: The prophet said, Whoever possesses the following three qualitieswill have the sweetness of faith: the one to whom Allah and his Messenger becomedearer than anything else, who loves a person and he loves him only for Allah’ssake, who hates to revert to atheism as he hates to be thrown into fire. 29Furthermore, Aisha summarized everything in this way:His daily life was a true picture of the teachings of the Qur’an. Thus a Muslim has adouble guide-the holy Qur’an tells how he must live; and the prophet’s life is aperfect example of living. 30These references are enough to conclude that during Muhammad’s lifetime, he was theonly leader of the Umma. The Qur’an explicitly declares that he was sent to bringhumanity out of darkness into light (Q.65,11), Allah commands obedience to him (Q.4,59;8.20;64,12). Now his presence and his guidance is seen through his sayings, actionsand silences compiled in some collections like Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. Manystories of the sira of the prophet confirm his leadership. At least, during his time,Muhammad was the only leader of the Muslim community; he was the must excellent inmorals, politics, in all the aspects of human life. But what happened after his death?4. LEADERSHIP DURING THE PERIOD OF THE ORTHODOX CALIPHSWhen Muhammad was alive, he was de facto the only authority who could guide thepeople concerning the matters, which were not discoursed in the Qur’`an. But when hedied, the community was in need of being guided again by some people who couldinterpret the Qur’an and find solution to the matters arising. Early, there are four electedCaliphs ( Abu Bkr, `Umar bin al-Khattab, `Uthman bin Affan and `Ali bin Abu Talib); theseare remembered as the rightly guided Caliphs. They are called Caliphs because theysucceeded the prophet since prophethood ends with Muhammad. The period of Rashidunin which they lived is estimated as the best period in Islam. The four, one after the other,were elected to be the leader of the Umma. Bukhari calls them companions of theprophet because they lived with him and complied with him; he praises their merits in29 Ibid.30 .Al-Haj F. R. Hakeem, Life of Muhammad (London:Oxford University Press, 1961), p. 42.Frederic N. Mvumbi,OP Page 71 of 85