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The sun is obviously the principal celestial object.
A solar eclipse was considered to be an omen of extraordinary
significance by them. We had one in India only a few
months ago and the shamefully superstitious behavior
of many, which should have known better, must still
be fresh in the readers' minds. Small wonder then
if 1400 years ago, when Islam had not had even a dozen
years to eradicate centuries old superstitions; people
should read some divine portent in the eclipse.
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"This is a sign from God" they said,"God
is showing sympathy with his beloved prophet."
Though he was unquestionably the most powerful man
in all Arabia at that time, the Prophet led a simple
unostentatious life as always and had continued to
live in the same humble thatched room, built when
he had first moved to Yathrib. Voices carry easily
through the thin walls of a poor man's dwelling and
he heard what the people were saying outside. He was
deep in the throes of his personal grief and would
have been more than justified if he had just ignored
the voices. But he realized that had he done so, people
would have taken it as a tacit approval of their interpretation
of the event and he didn't want that at any cost.
So strong was his sense of mission to guide his people
on the correct path that he kept his grief aside and
came out.
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- "You
shall not ascribe human sentiments to God," he
told the hushed multitude. "Do not belittle God's
Majesty by thinking that He would show sorrow or anger
or joy by signs. Not a leaf will fall from a bough
unless He wills it; but He alone knows the 'Why' and
the 'How' and the 'When' of anything; do not attempt
to interpret His actions or ascribe motives to them
(lest one day you slip into the error of judging him),"
he told the mourners. "Just put your complete
trust in Him and surrender yourselves to His will,
in the full assurance that He knows what is best because
surely He is the Most Compassionate and the Merciful."
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- Such
are the heights to which a man is raised when blessed
with a crystal clear understanding of Godhead and a
pristine pure faith which cuts through superstition.
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