Messenger of God for Mankind

I wanted to write about my visit to the Cave of the Seven Sleepers (referred to in Surah Al-Kahf) and the Dead Sea, which I made during my short stay in Amman and Irbid, Jordan, but I have yet to put my thoughts together. The other piece that I wanted to write was my reflections on my meeting with the Hadramis, the Yemeni society and Yemen, but this too will take some time for me to weave it into a meaningful tapestry ... and in the meantime many other life stories are unfolded as days passed by ...

Today, we had our inaugural International Hajj Seminar attended by delegates from some 19 countries. Alhamdulillah, I am grateful to be able to chair the presentations by delegates from Singapore, Philippines and South Africa. But I was both overjoyed and moved when the delegate from Albania, Dr Ramiz Zekaj, General Director of the Albanian Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation gave me 3 books on Albania and Kosovo, as well as a set of books titled This is Prophet Muhammad (saw), Messenger of God for Mankind in 5 European languages -- Italian, German, French, Albanian and English. This 90-page book which has been translated into 12 languages, including Russian and Spanish, consists of 4 chapters, a) Let us get to know the last Messenger, b) The Prophet who perfected the human virtues, c) The Prophet in the view of world personalities, and d) A few lessons derived from the life of the Prophet.

What intrigued me was the simplicity and the poetic style used to present the life of the Prophet and his virtues. At the end of the book, readers are served with a chapter of Prophetic sayings. This chapter features a set of colourful drawings of roses each accompanying a hadith (sayings) of the Prophet to correspond the single red rose against a colourful wave that serves as the cover of the book. Let me try to explain what I meant through the introduction at the beginning of the book:

Personalities resemble high mountains. They stand above the others, are easily visible from the distance, but climbing up is a long and tiring road. The traveller, aiming to reach the top, should walk across the footpaths and uphill and rocky roads and cope with patience and persistence the difficulties and tiredness. Up high, the air is fresher and cleaner, and the horizon is vast. In the people's conscience, the mountains symbolize pride, greatness, beauty and eternity. Views from all the points of horizon cross on top of the mountains.

The personality of Prophet Muhammad (saw) is the highest of all mountains. From their peaks one can see in all directions. The fields look toward this peak, as well the hills and the high mountains look towards this point as a point of orientation. The road towards this peak is the longest but not tiresome - soft and nice, as was also the Prophet Muhammad (saw).

During the climbing, the traveller walks across valleys full of colourful flowers, where thousands of bees gather nectar and pollen; taste the pleasure and freshness of pure water running down the water continuously; listens to the songs of the birds mixed with the whistling sound of centuries old forests. All these amazing beauties spiritually lift the traveller to a world as pure as the water and air of this mountain ...

Prophet Muhammad (saw) is the personality that God equipped with all the beauties and heights of the spirit, with the best and special virtues, with the wisest mind and purest heart. Viewed from any direction, he (saw) radiates and serves as a model the people of his time and the following generation of mankind.

Several books including Professor Tariq Ramadan's The Messenger are waiting patiently to engage and interact with me. Dr Ramiz Zekaj's gift adds to this collection.

Dr Zekaj has also introduced me to the Albanians and to "remind the civilised world about this forgotten people", through these books.