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The Messenger Of Allah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) was Peace (Amanah) for his Companions (ra)
Abu Musa (ra) related that the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said,
“The stars are peace (amanah) to the sky: when the stars leave (i.e., when the are scattered), what has been promised to the sky will come to it (i.e., it will split apart). I am peace (amanah) to my Companions: when I leave, what has been promised to my Companions will come to them (i.e., trials, wars, and discord). And my Companions are peace (amanah) for my Nation: when my Companions leave, what has been promised to my Nation will come to it (i.e., the appearance of innovations, the overcoming of desires, etc.).” [Peace, meaning that the stars are the reason for peace in the sky; as long as the stars remain, the sky will not split apart or break, nor will its inhabitants die.]
What will happen when the stars are gone? The features of life will change: there will occur cataclysmic, violent, and awesome changes. In a different sense, the same can be said about the parting of the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) from the Companions (ra): their life and affairs changed; strife and discord occurred among them.
And with the parting of the Companions (ra) there occurred much strife in our Nation, which suddenly became afflicted with many trials and calamities. Innovation became Sunnah in the minds of people and vice versa; people began to see good as evil and evil as good. Ignorance spread and knowledge almost became extinct had it not been for the small number of Allah’s slaves,whom Allah favoured with his mercy.
People ceased to rule by what Allah revealed, and Islamic rulings were used to promote desires, ambitions, and lusts. Muslims became divided into many groups.
And this reminds us of what is authentically related from Ibn Mas’ud (ra) – a narration that can correctly be ascribed to the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam):
“How will you be when you will be enveloped by a trial, [through which] the old will reach senility and the young will grow. People will take it to be a Sunnah, and if any part of it is left, it will be said, “has a Sunnah been left?” They asked, “And when is that?” He said, “When your scholars are gone; when your reciters will increase in number; when your Fuqaha will be few in number; when the number of rulers increases; when the trustwrothy ones will be few; when the world is sought through the actions of the Hereafter; and when knowledge of the Religion is sought, but not for the Religion.” [Related by al-Darimi (1/64), with two chains, one of which is authentic, and the other of which is hasan (acceptable); by Hakim (4/514).]
If what was promised to our Nation arrived as soon as the companions were gone, then imagine the effect of the Prophet’s death!
