RAHMATU LIL ALAMEEN
رحمتہ للعالمین
Hazrat Mohammad Sallallaho alaehe wasallam came as a Rahmat (mercy) to all the worlds: The Qoran says: (21:107)
وما أرسلناك إلا رحمتہ للعالمین
Sahih International
(And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds.)
Rain is considered to be a blessing wherever crops, people, cattle and well being depends upon timely and adequate rain. Huzoor (SAW) in this context has been thought of as a cloud of Rahmat to believers ever since the beginning of Islam. I read a book recently which includes among many other things a poem by Sufi Shah Abdul Latif Bhitayi on rain attributed to Huzoor (MOHAMMAD, SAW).
The original poem is in Sindhi and here is its English rendition:
Today there is a north wind, and
The cuckoo does complain.
The farmer takes his plough out,
The herdsman does rejoice:
Today my friend has donned
The garment of the clouds.
Today there is a north wind, and
The clouds: black like his hair,
Red garments like my bridegroom—
Each flash of lightning wears!
Thus brings the rainy air
My friend from far away. ( meaning from Madinah)
O cloud—–please show kindness
To the thirsty, for God’s sake!
Collect water in the ponds,
O, make the grains cheap,
Make fertile the land,
That happy be the farmer!
They all think of the rain clouds,
Gazelle, man, buffalo,
Wild ducks await the cloud, and
The frog complains.
The oyster in the ocean
Looks out for it all day—–
O, fill the water tanks,
That happy be the farmer!
The clouds come in rows,
The lightning begins to flash
The blissful cloud
Fills the dried up riverbeds.
The clouds come in rows,
The lightning begins to flash—-
The lightning made me happy
In the black clouds,
The rain’s gentle drizzling
Washes the dust of grief from the hearts.
My prince will protect me — therefore I trust in God
The beloved will prostrate, will lament and cry—
Therefore I trust in God.
Muhammad, the pure and innocent, will intercede there for his people…..
When the trumpet sounds, the eyes all will be opened….
The pious will gather, and Muhammad, full of glory….
Will proceed for every soul to the gate of the Benefactor….
And the Lord will honor him, and forgive us all our sins——–
Therefore I trust in God.
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Acknowledgment: The material in this post is borrowed with thanks from the book
“AND MUHAMMAD IS HIS MESSENGER” by Annemarie Schimmel
Published by Islamic Book Trust, Kuala Lumpur, 2008,
ISBN 978-967-5062-03-2
