Question No. 2887 31 August 2022 Official answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) verified Content level: Intermediate

Was Our Belonging to the Prophet’s Community Decreed in Earlier Realms?

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Dear questioner, Master Ali Saei

Tracking code: #Q-2887

On the anniversary of the passing of the Noble Messenger (PBUH) and Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS), you said that one of God’s great blessings and acts of grace toward us was to make us part of the community of Muhammad (PBUH), rather than, for example, the communities of Abraham, Noah, and others. You also said that Moses asked God to make him part of Muhammad’s community, and that God set a condition, and so on.
My question is: Did we have some merit or worthiness, or was this decided by a choice made in earlier realms, or something else? Why have we become part of Muhammad’s community while many of God’s friends have not?

Subject category: Theology and Creed Theology and creed

The essence and first answer at a glance (60-word summary)

Belonging to the community of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) does not, in itself, show that we were superior or especially deserving beforehand. Rather, it brings duties and responsibilities, and we must prove ourselves worthy through firm faith and action. Although a person’s conduct in earlier realms played a part, even the worst people have been excluded from his community.

Answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat)

Teacher and researcher in the intellectual tradition of wisdom and the Ahl al-Bayt | Soroush Bamdadān Cultural Center

Certainly, not everyone—but some worthy individuals within the community were capable of experiencing the presence of the Messenger of God, peace be upon him.

البقره : 143 و کذلک جعلناکم أمه وسطا لتکونوا شهداء على الناس و یکون الرسول علیکم شهیدا و ...

“And thus We have made you a middle community, so that you may be witnesses over the people, and the Messenger may be a witness over you…”

For everyone else, being in the presence of the Messenger of God was an extraordinary privilege. Among the people of the latter days, too, there are individuals who, by virtue of their particular qualities, possess the worthiness required: steadfast in faith, attentive to the call of their innate nature, and holding fast to the Two Weighty Things.

Human beings’ conduct in the primordial realm, and before it, played a decisive role in shaping their affinities and relationships. Yet simply belonging to the community of the Prophet was no mark of superiority or virtue, for the worst of people emerged from within it. Membership in his community entails duties and obligations: one must fulfil them and demonstrate the requisite worthiness.

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Was Our Belonging to the Prophet’s Community Decreed in Earlier Realms?

The essence and first answer at a glance (60-word summary)

Answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat)

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