Aqida Tahawiyya, Lesson 5: The Chosen Messenger and the Speech of Allah
Section 7 of 23 · Aqeedah · Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
The Leader of the Children of Ādam, the Beloved of Allah
Wa sayyidu al-mursalīn: the leader of all of the messengers. He is the leader of all of the messengers. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, as related in Imam Aḥmad's Musnad, and Tirmidhī, and Ibn Mājah, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī (may Allah be pleased with him): anā sayyidu waladi Ādama yawma al-qiyāmati wa lā fakhr, that he is the leader of the children of Ādam on the Day of Judgement, and he says this without any pride. Wa biyadī liwāʾu al-ḥamdi wa lā fakhr: he will have the flag of praise, or the standard of praise, on that day, and that too he says without pride. There will be no prophet on that day, Ādam (peace be upon him) or anybody else, except that they will be under his banner. On that day, he will be their leader.
When speaking about prophets, we cannot speak about any one prophet in a way that puts any other prophet down, below their status. But it is fine to speak of the faḍāʾil, the virtues or excellence, of one prophet in a way that does not diminish another prophet, but just shows an additional excellence of a particular prophet. So speaking of Yūsuf (peace be upon him) and his beauty does not mean that the others were below what they were. It is just to show that Yūsuf (peace be upon him) had an outstanding handsomeness. The same holds when speaking of the Prophet (peace be upon him): all the great features mentioned about him, and all the great qualities, and everything, are not mentioned in a way that puts anybody else down. Because Allah says:
۞ تِلْكَ ٱلرُّسُلُ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ ۘ مِّنْهُم مَّن كَلَّمَ ٱللَّهُ ۖ وَرَفَعَ بَعْضَهُمْ دَرَجَـٰتٍ ۚ وَءَاتَيْنَا عِيسَى ٱبْنَ مَرْيَمَ ٱلْبَيِّنَـٰتِ وَأَيَّدْنَـٰهُ بِرُوحِ ٱلْقُدُسِ ۗ وَلَوْ شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ مَا ٱقْتَتَلَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِنۢ بَعْدِهِم مِّنۢ بَعْدِ مَا جَآءَتْهُمُ ٱلْبَيِّنَـٰتُ وَلَـٰكِنِ ٱخْتَلَفُوا۟ فَمِنْهُم مَّنْ ءَامَنَ وَمِنْهُم مَّن كَفَرَ ۚ وَلَوْ شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ مَا ٱقْتَتَلُوا۟ وَلَـٰكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَفْعَلُ مَا يُرِيدُ
“Those are the messengers some of whom We have given excellence over some others. Among them there are ones to whom Allah spoke (directly) and He raised some of them steps higher (in other respects), and We gave clear signs to ‘Īsā (Jesus), the son of Maryam (Mary) and supported him with the Holy Spirit. If Allah so willed, those succeeding him would have not fought against each other after clear signs had come to them.But they disagreed among themselves. So, there were some who believed and there were some who disbelieved, and if Allah so willed, they would have not fought against each other. But Allah does what He intends” (2:253)
Tilka al-rusulu faḍḍalnā baʿḍahum ʿalā baʿḍ: those are the messengers; We gave some excellence over others, in terms of an additional benefit. None of them was considered incomplete; all of them were complete, except that some just had some additional excellences, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) was the greatest of them.
So that is very, very necessary, because the Prophet (peace be upon him) told us not to put him up so high that it leads others to be diminished. It says: lā nufarriqu bayna aḥadin minhum, we do not differentiate between any of them. That refers to not diminishing anyone below their status; not that the excellences of some cannot be mentioned.
Al-Ṭaḥāwī clinches this by saying: wa ḥabību rabbi al-ʿālamīn, he is the most beloved of the Lord of the worlds. There is a hadith to this effect, in which the Prophet (peace be upon him) heard people talking about Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him), and others, saying that Ibrāhīm was the Khalīl of Allah, which comes from khullah.
One level is ṣadāqah, which means friendship, just a general acquaintance: one becomes a ṣadīq. Then one becomes a khalīl, which means becoming more intimate; it is a more intimate relationship. Then becoming ḥabīb is an even more intimate, intense relationship, and that is what the Prophet (peace be upon him) enjoyed. He said that Ibrāhīm is the Khalīl of Allah, but that he himself is the Ḥabīb of Allah, the most beloved of Allah. And al-Ṭaḥāwī uses that here.
This is actually very eloquent, the way Imam al-Ṭaḥāwī brings these points together: first he mentions the Prophet's position as an ʿabd, and as a prophet and messenger, and then he speaks about how he compares to all of the other prophets. And we need to thank Allah (swt) for that blessing: that we are in his ummah.