The Imam says: “surround yourself with Muslims who practice the Deen; they are your true friends in this life and in the Hereafter. But what a very difficult admonition this is for those brethren of ours who constantly desire to belong.

Remember, there are only two types of friends for us in this world- those who, whenever we are in their company, we are reminded of the world, of the necessity to pursue the world, to compete for the world. Your multi-billionaire friend. He owns almost everything money can buy in this world- except happiness. He has it – the latest car in town, the best apartments and house.

Only yesterday, I learnt of a multi-millionaire in the United states who rode his care from the ground floor straight to the corridor of his office on the tenth floor of the office complex. He then contemplated the wealth around him. He said – ‘were the Almighty to have an office, this should be the one He would prefer”. In the estimation of men and women like this, the worth of life lies in the material comfort they provide. Whenever you find yourself in their midst, they remind you of this life and of how poor you are in relation to them. These are friends who deprive you and forever too of the opportunity to be grateful to the Almighty.

Yet, there are other friends. Friends who constantly remind you of the hereafter, of the imminence of resurrection, of the ephemerality of this world. Contentment. Gratitude. Sincerity. Charity. These among others are their most cherished values. Not the unconscionable acquisition of material comforts. Not the insatiable lust for money and fame.

Now who is your best friend today? Is he someone who would accompany you to paradise, or is he a companion on the pathway to hell? Indeed, a friend who does not care about your al-Akhirah is not really your friend.

But what if you have turned the corners? What if that friend has become your “soul-mate”?; Illusions. We often think we are indispensable; we often consider the other indispensable in our life. The person who merited that description is Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w). Yet he had to answer the higher call when his time was up. If indeed this is a change that deserves your consideration, then bear this in mind -the greatest obstacle on your way is not that friend of yours but you; the hardest person for you to correct is yourself. There is no shame in being wrong, the shame is in choosing to stay on the wrong path.

Imagine how many people were here with us last year, but are no longer here again! Even our turn is soon approaching. She met him at a bus-stop close to the Unilorin campus gate; moments thereafter she was told the person she just met had departed this world. Out of disbelief, she sent Whatapp messages to his line; out of disbelief she kept on calling his line in empty expectation that he would pick up his call. Remember that day when that phone call would be picked up not by you anymore but by those who shall inherit that costly hand-phone you value so much.

On that day, your beautiful wife would once again become a ‘bride’ waiting to be betrothed afresh; you shall be taken out of that big mansion of yours in order to be interred outside of that beautiful dwelling of yours where you would be lonely and alone; except with your righteous deeds: the prayers you observed on time, the poor you showered with material gifts, the grieving sister you made happy. Dear sister, live your life to please your Creator only, not the creatures. If the Almighty is pleased with you, the displeasure of His creatures counts for nothing.

Remember you cannot expect to enter paradise when you have not worked for it while on earth. To have that type of expectation would be like expecting to pass an exam you never took a class for.

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Afis Ayinde Oladosu Ph.D is a professor of Middle Eastern, North African and Cultural Studies, Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

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Yes. Who is, not who was Muhammad? I refuse to refer to him in the past because the Prophet of Islam (may Allah’s peace and benedictions be on his soul in Madinah) lives in the present. I prefer to refer to him in the present because his legacies make all allusions to him in the present a categorical imperative. In other words, though he died a thousand, four hundred and forty-three years ago, Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) did not actually die. Rather, he lives on in the hearts of billions of Muslims and on the tongues of countless number of creatures of the Almighty who celebrate his shining patrimony and strive to emulate, based on correct knowledge and understanding, his exemplary legacy.

Thus when I say who is Muhammad? It is with the decided agenda to remind you of the known, the unknown and the unknowable. To those who properly understand his message among Muslims, Muhammad is known. To those who are ignorant of the core messages of his vocation but who are only emotionally attached to him, Muhammad is unknown. To those who use the negative exteriorities and reality in Muslim life all over the world as evidence of his message, Muhammad is unknowable. His full name is Abul Qasim Muhammad b. Abdullah b. Abdul Mutallib b. Hashim b Abdul Manaf b. Adnan. His mother is Aminah, the daughter of Wahab. He was born on Monday; he was commissioned into Prophethood on Monday; he left Makkah on migration (hijrah) to Madinah on Monday; he arrived Madinah on Monday; he placed the black stone on its present spot in the Kaaba on Monday; he died on Monday.

Who is Muhammad? He is the man who was born an orphan but rose to become a head of state. He had a father, named Abdullah, who lived till such a time he delivered the “seed” in the womb of his wife, Aminah, before he was transmitted to the great beyond. The unspoken moral here should not be lost on us- live every moment of your life as if it were the last; know that it is good to be important in life. Be aware that it is more important to be good and be God-conscious.

Yes Aminah, the Prophet’s mother, also received the “seed” as a trust and nurtured it to maturation. She gave birth to and reared the young Muhammad till such a time the infant could be separated from the womb and the bosom that bore him before she departed this world.

In other words, children who see their parents on a daily basis easily forget their creator; they shout and chorus at every moment; my daddy, my mummy! But those who have no parents to call take solace in their recourse to the Almighty on a permanent basis. Thus while the former shouts my daddy! my mummy! the latter shouts Ya Rabb! Ya rabb! (My lord! My lord!)

By coming to the world intestate, the whole life of Muhammad (s.a.w) is designed to teach what none other the Almighty can teach. When Muhammad lost his mother at six after having lost his father while he was in the womb, we are reminded that it is a privilege for us to be there, to be “daddied” and “mummied” by our children: the child would attain to his destiny with or without the intervention of his parents!

Who was that man? He was the unlettered Prophet who was given a book that made knowledge the most worthwhile investment one could bequeath to the world. He never had a chance of learning from a scholar but was blessed with a book that makes scholarship the best profession known to humanity. He was given a book that talks about astronomy and space exploration at a time the NASA and the powers that be in the US had not been born. He was given a book that talks about biology and reproduction at a time the human physiology was still unknown and uncharted. He was given a book which talks about geology and archaeology at a time oceanography and oil exploration had not occurred to humanity; he was given a book which talks about economics and the evil of round-tripping at a time the stock market had not been conceived; he was given a book which talks about numerology at a time algebra and the only formula I remember of the mathematics I was taught in my post-primary school- the almighty formula- had not been discovered!

Prophet Muhammad was taught to read a book which is itself all about reading- a book which contains a hundred and fourteen chapters and over six thousand verses which were revealed both in Makkah and Madinah. Whereas the Qur’an is known and seen today as a book, it is equally a book, which is a seal of all revealed books.