Why Talk About The Companions

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While reading the articles in this section, one cannot help but be moved by the lives of the Companions herein depicted. How one longs to have their awe and reverence for Allah! How one longs to spend the same hours in worship as they! How one longs to be as brave as they were in the face of danger! How one longs to be as patient as they were under torture!  

'Abdullaah Ibn 'Unmar, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet said: "The best people are those living in my generation, and then those who will follow them, and then those who will follow the latter. Then there will come some people who will bear witness before taking oaths, and take oaths before bearing witness" [Al-Bukhari]
Muhammad with his truth, steadfastness, purity, and eminence could not but reflect faith of a rare quality on the people around him. It was the faith of people who had known him well and had seen him in all his perfection and grace, saw his humanity and his devotion to Allah, saw his loftiness and modesty, saw all his superb qualities and his simplicity, saw him in his strength and his compassion.
They saw him and perceived the nobility of his motives and his undeviating and straight method Therefore, doubt did not prevent them at all from believing in him. They did not even make use of their right to ask him for a miracle to ascertain his prophethood and his mission
Every nation has asked its prophet for a miracle in order to believe in him, except Muhammad's Companions, the men around the Messenger. They never said, "Show us a miracle as proof of your truthfulness." This was because Muhammad himself was the miracle! Seeking another miracle outside of him, his personality, and his principles would have been a kind of naiveté such intelligent people could not be involved in, especially after their hearts had been filled with the guidance of Allah and their perceptions had been illuminated with His light
Indeed, the faith of that first generation of Muslims bestowed upon the whole of humanity -- with its different religions, different ages and races -- a great trust that revived its youth and its determination. After all, they were human beings. They lived during certain circumstances. They appeared unable to do what they actually did afterwards. Collectively they had not yet achieved all the necessary characteristics to form a society. They were scattered, discordant, fighting tribes led by inflexible narrow-minded individuality. As a political power, they had not achieved anything that could be mentioned. As an economic power, they were the poorest of people. In number, they were less than other peoples.
What happened, then, to make these minorities the constructors of a new world having wonderful features? Was it due to the power of weapons and the plenitude of armies? But Alexander before them and Genghis Khan after them had plenty of weapons and a great number of soldiers. Where is Alexander today? Where is Genghis Khan? What is left of them and their waves of armies or their astounding victories? What is left of all that, in the conscience of life and the conscience of mankind? Nothing.
 Therefore, materialistic power in all its aspects was not the reason that turned the companions of the Messenger, , into what we have seen. It was but faith: faith in truth and in what is good; but above that, faith in the Lord of truth and goodness. This is the true lesson which was given and is still given to all mankind by Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah .
When people devote their lives to the cause of truth and benefaction, surely darkness turns into light, chaos turns into order, weakness turns into strength, property becomes protected, humiliation becomes greatness, ignorance becomes knowledge, privation becomes plenitude, and all thorns become flowers. That was what the Messenger, , and his companions did, and that was what had been done before by all the messengers and their companions of believers. And it is the lesson they left us to learn from.
Since truthfulness and benefaction were the quintessence of the role of the Messenger, , and his companions, and since true, pure, and brave faith was their means and principle, we saw them bequeathing the best heritage to humanity. They filled the human conscience with vigor, illumination, and integrity of behavior.
Today, most of the radio stations of the world openly broadcast parts from the Quran which was revealed to the Messenger, , who conveyed it to his companions. In all the spots of the earth, among Muslims and Christians, among Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists, and in the territories of states that have no religion, lofty minarets are erected to repeat from their heights the same words reverberated since the Messenger, , 1400 years ago!

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