London Central Mosque Trust & The Islamic Cultural Centre

Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. This message of Islam was brought to us by our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). There is not an iota of doubt that Muslims the world over love him. Because Prophet peace be upon him) is our role model. "He is the most perfectionist, most beloved, honourable among all the prophets (peace be upon them all). He is our saviour on the Day of Judgement," said the Ambassador of Qatar, the chairman of the Islamic Cultural Centre Trust, London, at a one-day seminar on the "Love for the Prophet" (peace be upon him) organised jointly by The Union of Muslim Organisations of UK & Eire (UMO) and the Islamic Cultural Centre (ICC), London, held at the Centre, on Saturday, 7th of June, 2014.

Dr. Ahmed Dubayan
Dr. Ahmed Dubayan, the Director General of the Islamic Cultural Centre ICC), in his opening address, said, "We have to celebrate our Prophet; we have to remember Prophet (peace be upon him) always; because he is the life model of the Qur'an. In Hadiths, some of the traditions quoted Hazrat Ayesha, Ummehatul Mumeneen, wife of the Prophet (peace be upon him), How is the manners and ethics of the Prophet (peace be upon him). She summarized actually all the long descriptions about the manners. She said, his ethics and manners was the Qur'an, i.e. all the good things that you find in the Qur'an you will find them in life in the Prophet (peace be upon him). Prophet (peace be upon him) is the moving Qur'an. The way he lived, the way he talked, the way he dealt with people, the way he treated his enemies; even with his friends, with his wives, his companions (peace be upon them all)."

Prophet the Perfect person
Why we remember the Prophet (peace be upon him)? Dr. Dubayan said, "Because he is the Messenger of Allah the Almighty. He is the one chosen by Allah the Almighty to deliver the message to us. And of course indeed, Allah will never choose anybody to deliver the message and unless in our measure he is the perfect person. He is a perfect person. That's why in some of the Sufi's writings we find Prophet Sallallahu wa sallam to be described as perfect human being."

Dr. Dubayan also explained the reason why we celebrate and remember the Prophet (peace be upon him). "This is the message, the Message of the Prophet (peace be upon him) we wanted to be taken to our next generations; to our children; because we wanted to love we want to learn many things from this love," he said.

Value of Mercy, Value of Equality
The ICC Director-General said, "In modern times, we have a crisis in ethics; crisis of manners; everywhere; in our societies, in our families in the East and the West everywhere. Actually, you find the whole world is suffering from an issue of values; there is an issue of values. After the globalisation, everybody is talking about values. Even values are subject of discussions; which values are right one."

"We have to remember the values of Prophet Sallullahu wa Sallam. The value of mercy, the value of equality, the value of forgiveness which we always missed and we don't remember always in time," he said.

Value of Forgiveness
Speaking about value of forgiveness of the Prophet (peace be upon him) Dr. Dubayan mentioned, "The value of forgiveness, of mercy of the Prophet (peace be upon him). We have to remember this because we are attending in our days some radical thinking. In the Muslim societies, in the Muslim countries and also in the non-Muslim countries, there is radicalisation from both sides. When you are radical that means you have not forgiven others. You don't know how to deal with people. What you think or you hate. Even hatred in Islam, there is rules for it. If you hate something we have to remember this because we have people who kill others just for the names."

"We have to remember Prophet (peace be upon him) because there are people now. Everybody is killed and nobody knows why they are killed. Therefore, The Messenger of Love, the message of forgiveness of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) must always be repeated; must always be respected. That's why, we have always this love of the Prophet peace be upon)," he said.

Prophet is the best model
Dr. Dubayan also mentioned another reason why we have to remember and celebrate Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). He said, "We have to remember the Prophet (peace be upon him) because by remembering him, by taking him as our model in lives is the best way how to present Islam to the others. Muslim community in the West is the first history in the last century, in the 20th century. We are attending what is called Muslims living permanently in the non-Muslim societies."

Muslims in non-Muslim countries
"Before in all the history, non-Muslim communities lived in the Muslim countries or in the Muslim societies. But in the 20th and 21st century we are attending something new which is Muslim societies or minorities living in non-Muslim environment. Of course this is something new and the message this community is supposed to take is the message of mercy, the message of forgiveness, and the message of spreading love to the others. This is very important," he said.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, something new happened. Muslims are living as minorities permanently in the non-Muslim societies, in the non-Muslim environment. In this new environment, Muslims have to carry and spread the Message of love, the Message of Forgiveness of the Prophet peace be upon him).

Manners is best in Dawah work
But how to do this, by spreading the message of love, the message of forgiveness of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Dr. Dubayan said, "Manners is more important in Dawah work than anything else. Remember those who come to Islam; because most of them at least have not come to Islam because they have done some research, they have done some study, they read books the Qur'an, the Bible, or other books and then they read this and then they read that and then they finally discovered that Islam is the right path and they go to it."

Dr. Dubayan replied in the negative. He said, "No, those who used to do this or redoing this is a very small percentage of the new Muslim. Non-Muslims come to Islam because they were attracted by good manners of some Muslims. That is the door to come to Islam; the main gate to come to Islam. That means we are the one that represents Islam, through our manners, how we deal with people; how we have good relations with others in our communities and societies. That's the best model; that's the best model that we can present to the societies; that's the best model or the best way how to introduce Prophet (peace be upon him) and to introduce Islam also to others."

"History tells us there was never anybody actually more perfect than the Prophet (peace be upon him). Of course all Prophets or Rasuls they are all perfect human beings. They are chosen by Allah Subhanahu wa Taala. Prophet Sallallahu wa Sallam is the last one," Dr. Dubayan said.

Worst treated person in history
"In spite of this perfectness he has in his manners and in his life, he is actually the worst treated person in history, in many books. The most misunderstood person. You go to some writings by some people those who have not seen the light of Islam, they got some wrong information about Prophet starting from the Middle Ages during the days of the Crusades, then you will find this images of the Prophet (peace be upon him) in many writings in Europe many writings, many things about it," Dr. Dubayan mentioned and added, "Even Qur'an was printed once to be called black Qur'an."

Dr. Dubayan argued, "Now in modern times, with this excellent means and facilities of technology, there is a chance to present Muslims and Islam to the others. But as I said manners are still and always the best way how to present Islam. People see Islam not through books but see through us, though our manners. How you deal with others."

Prophet (PBUH) is a perfect model
Dr. Dubayan said, "Prophet Sallallahu wa Sallam is a perfect model because from his life we knew how he treated his families, his wives and we all know that he had more than one wives and equality was there and how he also faced the crisis in those days and how he participated in wars, how he was fair even with his enemies, how he forgave people in Makkah after all the bad history they made and the battle they launched against him, he forgave them. That message we need today. How he treated animals; he told us how to protect the environment which is in the Qur'an itself. But we don't see it sometime. We don't pay attention. Lot of the crisis today the solution is in the Qur'an; the solution of the Prophet Sallallahu wa Sallam but we don't see it, because we want to see it what is in our head."

Dr. Dubayan advised, "Go back to his biography; let's go back to his life. To study it, to read it to our children; let us forgive some of these mistakes around us; let us open doors to enlighten our hearts. That's why we have to remember always the Prophet Sallallahu wa sallam. And Alhamdo Lillah, the Companions (peace be upon them) they have done perfect jobs. They have delivered the message from the Prophet really with all the capacity of the human beings to us. They have protected the Qur'an. As Allah Subhanbahu wa Taala promised about His Qur'an, to protect the text and to deliver the text."