There is a Hadith which has a good tiding for all of us. However, very less has been thought about it.

Prophet Muhammad’s Prophethood spanned 23 years. He died in 632 AD. Two months before he died, Prophet Muhammad performed Hajj, where he delivered the famous Last Sermon or khutba-e-hajjat-ul-wida (a compilation of Prophet’s address on various occasions). Almost all the companions of Prophet were present at Arafat during this address.

Towards the end of his address, Prophet asked his companions “Are you witnesses that I have conveyed the message of God?” The companions said, “Yes.” Prophet repeated the question three times and all the three times the companions answered, “Yes.” The Prophet then said, “O God! may You also become the witness, I have conveyed the message.”(Seerat ibn Hisham) 

The Prophet asked the companions to spread far and wide and transmit the word of God. He said, “Those who are here should spread the message to those who are not here because those to whom the message is conveyed (second audience) might understand it better (the Arabic word used literally means “better container”) than the ones who convey it (first audience).”(Al-Bukhari)

The above Hadith means that the second audience might be better than the first audience. And in an extended sense, we all are a part of the second audience, as the message of God has come to us after being conveyed generation after generation. Hence it is a big blessing for us to be a part of the second audience.

Second audience – a better container

Prophet Muhammad came in the 7th Century. However the message with which he came was eternal, therefore this message is valid even in the 20th century. Since the framework of 7th century man was traditional, Prophet addressed his immediate audience in a traditional way. It is important to realise that there is no jump in history, and so Prophet could not have made the 20th century man his audience. But because the message is eternal, the same has to be presented to 21st century person as well and in scientific framework.

An example will illustrate this point.

Once when the Prophet was in Medina, an eclipse occurred. The occurrence of the eclipse coincided with the death of the Prophet’s son, Ibrahim. The people of Medina interpreted the eclipse as the mourning of the skies due to the death of the son of the Prophet. When the Prophet heard that the people were thinking thus, he called an emergency meeting. All the people collected and the Prophet explained that the solar eclipse or the lunar eclipse was not linked to anybody’s birth or death. The Prophet said,

“These are two signs of God.” (Al-Bukhari)

He then asked people to remember God on seeing these phenomena. This explanation was given to people who had a traditional framework for understanding phenomena.

Today, astronomy has progressed in leaps and bounds. The discovery of powerful telescopes has made man re-write his observations. It is now known that eclipses are astronomical phenomena. The three celestial bodies, that is, the sun, the moon and the earth are involved in the occurrence of an eclipse. All these three bodies are continuously in a state of motion. The solar eclipse, for example, occurs due to well calculated positioning of these three bodies in space. When the sun, the moon and the earth come in one single line in space then to an observer on the earth, it appears as if the moon has completely hidden the sun. Now the sizes of the sun, moon and earth are proportionately comparable to sizes of a mountain, grain of sand and a football respectively. Due to the great calculation in space, they come in one single line such that the grain of sand totally covers the mountain as viewed from the football.

When today’s man understands the solar or the lunar eclipse by the above astronomical explanation, His immaculate planning makes man realize the greatness of God. Hence in the scientific framework man can realize God at a much greater level.

Why did Prophet say so about the second audience?

This Hadith is actually a proof of Muhammad being the Prophet of God. Being in the 7th century himself, he was able to predict that in the later centuries, man would be able to understand things better. He said this in an age when there existed neither any technological or scientific advancement nor were there any signs of it being faintly imaginable.

To understand this better I would cite a Hadith,

“I and Doomsday have been sent together.”(Musnad Ahmad, Vol 5, Pg-348)

In another Hadith, Prophet is recorded to have said,

“Doomsday and I are very close to each other, just as two fingers.”(Al-Bukhari)

These Hadith are indicative of Doomsday being the culmination of a process one that was initiated at the time of the Prophet himself.

How did man’s framework expand?

According to a Hadith,

“The earth would release all its treasures.”(Al-Bukhari)

Here, treasure does not imply gold or silver, it rather refers to all the discoveries and inventions which were made after the exploration of nature or earth. These discoveries were not made suddenly; it was a gradual process of industrial or scientific revolution. At the beginning of civilisation man rode on horse, then boats were used, steam ship was invented and now millions of other items have been formed.

Two aspects of a discovery

Discoveries made by man can broadly have two aspects. One aspect is acquiring of material goods and living in luxury. The other aspect is to discover the glory of God or attain marefat or greater realization of God.

It were these two approaches that led to the origin of two parallel intellectual streams in history. The first stream led to the flourishing of the material culture, one where people utilized the material goods brought by the scientific revolution and developed the formula of “right here, right now.” That is, they believed in the concept of eat, drink and be merry. The other stream was that of marefat, one where those who realize God deeply in the scientific age, would be able to discover His glory at a greater level.

The concepts of Dajjal and Mahdi can be explained as the outcomes of the above mentioned gradual process. The negative culmination of the process is Dajjal. That is, instead of becoming thankful to God, people became arrogant and developed erroneous theories such as “right here, right now.” The positive culmination of this civilisation is Mahdi. That is, the phenomenon of discovery of God at a greater level in the scientific age. (kitab-ul-fitn)

Blessed groups

Throughout history, there have been small groups of people who were especially selected by God. The first group of such people was of the prophets. But after Prophet Muhammad, no more Prophets were to be sent. The next blessed group of people was that of the Companions of the Prophet of Islam or Ashab-e-rasul. This group which took direct teaching from the Prophet will also not come again, since they were the contemporaries of the Prophet.

However, the glad tiding is that in this list of specially blessed people there are no full stops but only commas. As a blessing, God has given us the opportunity of being included in the group referred to as the Ikhwan-e-rasul or Brothers of the Prophet in the Hadith.

According to a Hadith, the Prophet once said, “I want to see my brothers.” The companions said, “Are we not your brothers?” The replied, “No, you are my companions.”(Sahih Muslim)

Another mention of this special group is one which would journey to Cyprus. Here Cyprus is a symbol used to refer to that group of people which would do dawah work in the West.

All these prove to be a source of immense hope and provide us with a great opportunity to be amongst the blessed groups of God. According to a Hadith, there will be a group of people on the Day of Judgement whom it says,

“God will present before all as His pride.”(Musnad Ahmad)

Man’s chance to be the ‘Pride of God’

Quran has the following dialogue between God and angels:

“When your Lord said to the angels, “I am putting a successor on Earth,’ they said, “Will You place someone there who will cause corruption on it and shed blood” (2:30)

It is important to understand that why angels were apprehensive about man being made the in-charge of Earth. Their fears were based on the precedent set by the jinns who were given the charge of the earth before man. However, they fought with each other and spread a lot of corruption. God took back the charge form jinn and they were dismissed. Then man was given the charge of earth.

But God’s reply to the angels shows that God created man with the hope that he would not do the same which Jinn did. Those people who stand this test would be God’s pride on the Doomsday; they would disprove the doubts of the angels.

“[God] answered, ‘Surely I know that which you do not know.’”(2:30)

Standing on the expectations of God is not in the sense of making civilisational or technological progress. This is not required by God.

Rather God is referring to those people who would give the proof of making unseen as seen. God is not in front of us like sun or moon. However, still they would discover and realize God. They would worship God like they are seeing Him. By activating their mind and intellect, they would be able to attain marefat and surrender before God.

Such are the people who are able to see that which is unseen. They have the courage to give up the apparently visible paradise of this world for the invisible paradise of the hereafter. Such people make God their supreme concern, love Him the most, fear Him the most and yearn to live in His neighbourhood. They are ready to do all that they can to spread His message to mankind. People such as these would become the pride of God and could be bigger than becoming the pride of your Creator!

How must we strive for it?

In order to become His pride, man must pass his test in this world. He must believe in God – who is under a veil – in this world as a seen being. This I must add, he is required to do of his own free will. A person who believes and surrenders to God after being given total freedom is the one who stands the test of this world.

When earlier marefat could only be attained in the traditional sense, today it can be much profound in view of the scientific framework that modern man has access to.

Man has got just one life to live. So, he must make full use of this opportunity that has knocked at his door because basis this in the post-death period will he either repent or delight eternally. The Bible says for those who will not stand God’s test,

“Forever you will cry and lament that you missed the opportunity.”

So we must awaken ourselves to the opportunity that God has put before us. The only price for being selected amongst the people who would be pride of God is, to rightfully use our freedom and realise our Creator, which will not happen instantaneously but will be the culmination of a process of introspection and study.

May God guide us all so that we may be granted a place in the neighbourhood of God!