Who Knew the Prophet Best? Insights of Imam Ali - Maulana Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi

Wiladat of Prophet Muhammad (SAWW)Wiladat of Imam Jaffer As Sadiq (AS)17th Rabi Ul Awwal 1448 AH- Tonight's reflection describes Prophet Muhammad (s) through the words and perspective of Imam 'Ali (a), who knew him more intimately than anyone else.- The Prophet declared to 'Ali: none fully knows Allah except Allah and himself, none fully knows the Prophet except Allah and 'Ali, and none fully knows 'Ali except Allah and the Prophet.- 'Ali describes his closeness to the Prophet in Nahjul Balagha (sermon 192), recalling that as a child the Prophet took charge of him and would chew food and feed it to him; from the age of five 'Ali lived with the Prophet and Khadija.- The Prophet's soul, a non-material entity, was the first creation; Allah placed that nur in Adam, and it travelled through the loins of distinguished fathers and the wombs of chaste mothers.- 'Ali describes the Prophet's origin as the noblest of all origins, situated in the mines of honour and the cradles of safety (sermon 96).- In sermon 94, 'Ali explains that Allah moved the Prophets in succession from distinguished forefathers to chaste wombs until this distinction reached Muhammad (s), bringing him from the same lineal tree from which other Prophets and divine trustees were selected.- The same reality is echoed in Ziyarat Warith addressed to Imam Husayn (a): "you were a light in the noble loins and the purified wombs."- 'Ali describes the Prophet as a roaming physician who carries his medicine from place to place, preparing ointments and heating instruments to heal blind hearts, deaf ears, and dumb tongues (sermon 108).- Unlike physicians who wait in clinics for patients to come, the Prophet actively seeks out the spiritually ill to heal them.- This image clarifies the difference between a nabi and a rasul: a nabi receives knowledge from God and is like a resident physician, while a rasul is a nabi given the mission to convey God's message; of 124,000 prophets, only 313 were also messengers.- A nabi is a nabi by birth, but risalat begins when the command to start the mission is given; Muhammad was a nabi from birth, and his risalat began at the age of 40.- The Prophet carried two kinds of medicine — a mild treatment like applying ointment, and an aggressive treatment like a heated instrument for serious infection — matching the intensity of the cure to the severity of the spiritual illness.- "Blind hearts" refers to the 'aql, not the physical heart; the intellect becomes blind when overcome by sins and desires, as in Qur'an 22:46: "it is not the eyes that are blind, but the blind are the hearts within the chests."- "Deaf ears" describes hearing the message without listening to it, and "dumb tongues" describes the failure to speak truth; if the ears truly listen, the tongue will pronounce and promote the truth.- Qur'an 7:157 describes the unschooled Prophet who commands good, forbids evil, permits good things, prohibits impure things, and relieves people of their burdens of sin and the fetters of spiritual and social slavery.Donate towards our programs today: https://jaffari.org/donate/Jaffari Community Centre (JCC Live)