{"id":21,"date":"2018-03-20T14:42:47","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T14:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.harvard.edu\/mansnothot\/?p=21"},"modified":"2018-04-27T00:03:33","modified_gmt":"2018-04-27T00:03:33","slug":"mawlaya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mansnothot\/2018\/03\/20\/mawlaya\/","title":{"rendered":"Mawlaya"},"content":{"rendered":"<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-21-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.harvard.edu\/mansnothot\/files\/2018\/03\/Mawlaya.m4a?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.harvard.edu\/mansnothot\/files\/2018\/03\/Mawlaya.m4a\">http:\/\/blogs.harvard.edu\/mansnothot\/files\/2018\/03\/Mawlaya.m4a<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>For greater convenience, I have attached a link to the English translation of the lyrics, as well as the original version sung by Maher Zain:<span style=\"color: #0000ff\">\u00a0http:\/\/lybio.net\/maher-zain-mawlaya-arabic-version-english-translation\/pop-music\/<\/span><\/p>\n<p>During the fourth week of our course, we discussed prophet Muhammad as a paradigm of morality for humanity. Part of the Islamic ideology hinges on belief in Muhammad as God&#8217;s final messenger to all mankind. Muslims throughout the centuries, from his first companions to contemporary Muslims, have expressed their love and devotion for the prophet in a myriad of ways across a variety of cultures, from intricate poetry to beautiful songs to illustrious artwork.<\/p>\n<p>For this blog, I recorded a cover of Maher Zain&#8217;s &#8220;Mawlaya.&#8221; <em>Mawla<\/em> is a polysemous Arabic word, which in the context of this song translates to &#8220;lord&#8221; or &#8220;master.&#8221; The singer calls upon his\/her\/their Lord (i.e. Allah) to send peace and blessings forever upon His beloved (i.e. Muhammad), and the rest of the song continues with beautiful praises of Muhammad&#8217;s noble character, as well as fervent desires to be united with him in the Hereafter, in Paradise.<\/p>\n<p>Muhammad&#8217;s role within the Muslim community was multi-faceted. In addition to delivering the words of God, he was a spiritual guide to the community, a political leader and uniter, a peacemaker between tribes, an intercessor on behalf of the mankind, and, just as importantly, a father and husband.<\/p>\n<p>One of Allah&#8217;s 99 names is <em>An-Nur<\/em>, the Light. Allah&#8217;s describes Muhammad as a vessel for His light: &#8220;a light <em>(nur) from<\/em> God&#8221; (5:15) and &#8220;a radiant lamp <em>(siraj munir)&#8221; (33:46). <\/em>Allah also describes him as &#8220;a beautiful model [of character]&#8221; (60:6), the ultimate paradigm for morality and good character. Allah also confirms Muhammad&#8217;s divinely-ordained spiritual authority: &#8220;He who obeys the Prophet, obeys God&#8221; (4:80, 4:64). Ultimately, Muhammad&#8217;s mission to humanity is not simply a call to follow a certain faith or ideology, but his presence is a manifestation of God&#8217;s mercy and light to mankind: &#8220;And We have not sent you [O Muhammad] except as a mercy to the world&#8221; (21:107).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For greater convenience, I have attached a link to the English translation of the lyrics, as well as the original version sung by Maher Zain:\u00a0http:\/\/lybio.net\/maher-zain-mawlaya-arabic-version-english-translation\/pop-music\/ During the fourth week of our course, we discussed prophet Muhammad as a paradigm of morality for humanity. Part of the Islamic ideology hinges on belief in Muhammad as God&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9507,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mansnothot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mansnothot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mansnothot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mansnothot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mansnothot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mansnothot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mansnothot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions\/58"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mansnothot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mansnothot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mansnothot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}