بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
و الصلاة و السلام على أشرف المرسلين
و على اله و اصحابه أجمعين

About the reality of the Prophet

A man asked Bara ‘ibn’ Azib: “was the face of the prophet like a sword? “No, rather, it was like the moon” Abu ‘Isa reported it in his jami’ and said “hassan sahih”. He also mentions it in ash shama’il al-muhammadiyyah. The authenticity of the hadith is therefore not the subject of discussion. A man among the tabi’in asked the noble companion, Bara ‘ibn Azib, to describe the prophet ﷺ, postulating that his face was as resplendent as the sword drawn from the scabbard. But sayyiduna Bara’, impregnated with the prophetic light answered him in the negative. On the contrary, the face of the prophet ﷺ was as resplendent as the moon. This marks the difference between sahaba and other men as to the reality of the prophet ﷺ. Indeed, the veiled man from the prophet will see him as an ordinary man, as the people of Quraish claimed: “what is this messenger who eats and walks in the markets? If an angel were sent to us, there would be with him a warner” [s25.v7].
These people remain on the bodily appearance of man and do not see behind this nafs trap the deep reality of man.

Unlike the sahaba … those ones, from their meeting with the prophet ﷺ, apprehended him according to his profound reality, that of a light sent by Allah to guide men towards the real and exclusive adoration of the Unique. That is why sayyiduna Bara ‘described him as a moon, that is to say, a luminous star, full of light and which dispenses light. He therefore apprehended this profound reality because he himself received in his heart the light of the prophet and can appreciate its value. Indeed, the difference between the sahaba and the disbelievers of Quraish is that the firsts recognized the source of light which is the prophet and have accepted to receive it in their heart. They have a luminous heart, shining with light from the Messenger of Allah.

Al-Hattab al-Maghribi said:
“The difference between those who meet the Prophet and the others is that the encounter with al-Mustafa makes it possible to have the heart illuminated in an instant whereas it is not the case with others people, even if we meet them for a long time.”
[Mawwahibb al jalil, sharh mukhtasar Khalil].

Keep away from your mind the idea that this is a metaphor! Oh no, it is indeed a light that the prophet ‘alayhis salatu was salam throws into the heart of his sahaba and gives them access to the sources of divine knowledge. As a result, the companions never ceased to compare the prophet with the bright moon from which flows the light that illuminates their hearts.

Sayyiduna ‘Umar ibn al Khattab versified:
“If you was something else than a human you will be the luminaire in a full moon night”
[Mentioned by al Qastallani in mawwahibb al laduniyyah]

and the Madina’s children intoned when he arrived in the city:
“The full moon appeared to us from thaniyah al wada”
[Dalail an nubuwwa de al Bayhaqi]

Know then that the veiled person from the prophetic reality will see in him only a body that is born, grew, drunk and eaten and died. This is the vision of a fool because it is the vision of Abu Jahl who compared himself to the prophet ﷺ in the lineage and denied him any special character. As for the intelligent, he will take advantage of the hadith mentioned above, showing that in the ruh state, the prophet was already a bright light. And that light is his primary nature. Better, his appearance in the world was accompanied by his light. It is reported in shu’b al-imam that the prophet ﷺ said: “My mother had visions like those of the mothers of the prophets. The mother of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, at the time of childbearing, a light that illuminated up to the palaces of the Sham.”
[Narrated by Ahmed in his Musnad, by Tabarani in al-awsat, Ibn Hibban in his sahih and others].

It is clear from this that the prophet ﷺ is a light by which Allah illuminated the existence and through which He brought it out of darkness into light. Its nature of brilliant light does not escape the one who studies the sunna because there are many indications on this reality. O reader, look at how Hassan Ibn Thabit recognized the prophecy in the personality of Sayyidina Muhammad! The qurayshites paid him to denigrate the noble son of the noble. He stood at a hill to have a defect from which to make his satire. But dazzled by the lights of the Chosen One, he turned back, gave the Meccans their money and converted to Islam. In front of the astonished quraychis, he intoned:

When i saw his resplendents lights,by fear i put my hands in front of my eyes
fearing that his splendor would sweep my sight away, because i can’t watch him beyond of my capacity
a spirit of Light in a moon body,such as a precious garment embroidered with stars

Such is the discriminant between the blind and he who see. The sahaba recognized in the prophet the light sent as mercy. The Meccans denied it and fell into disbelief. But also knows that there is even among those who accept the message of Muhammad those who do not appreciate it to its true value. How many are content to see him as a mere man? How many people say that they apply his sunna and limit themselves to wearing the qamis and the beard? In reality, to know the prophet is to recognize that he is the primordial light from which existence came. To follow his sunna is to enter the luminous path which he has traced and which will not cease to be so long as the sun does not rise to the west. Sayyiduna Ibn ‘Ajibah al-Hassani establishes the hierarchy between those who claim to know the prophet after his physical death: “Anyone who has seen the Prophet sallAllahu’ alaihi wa sallam in dreams is part of the elite,anyone who has seen him in state of awakening in its carnal appearance is part of the elite of the elite. And anyone who has seen him awakened in his luminous spiritual form is part of the elite of the elite of the elite.

So let’s get people of the elite! If you are not, look for the one who will get you there. Because the elite and the masses see the same thing and draw a different meaning from it.