A lesson from the ring of the Holy Prophet s.a.

Hazrat Mir Muhammad Ishaq^ra

After the Holy Prophet’s^sa ring was mentioned in a hadith, Hazrat Mir Muhammad Ishaq^ra said the following:

The Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, had his name engraved onto a ring (which he would use to stamp letters) in the following order [from top to bottom]:

“Allah, Rasul, Muhammad”.

This indicated that Allah is the Greatest and has the highest rank. Then, under “Allah”, “Rasul” [Prophet] pointed towards the rank of the Holy Prophet^sa in the capacity as a prophet. And finally, [“Muhammad”] referred to the Holy Prophet’s^sa personal capacity and as a servant [of Allah].

From this, we can gather that when certain names are to be written together, it is vital one takes into consideration status and rank when writing them. The Holy Prophet^sa could easily have engraved his ring in the following order:

“Muhammad, Rasul, Allah”.

But he chose not to, which meant that he took into consideration status and rank, thus writing “Allah” at the top.

(Originally published in Al Fazl on 13 January 1940 [page 3] in the form of notes taken by Mahmood Ahmad Khalil Sahib from the lectures on hadith by Hazrat Mir Muhammad Ishaq^ra, brother-in-law of the Promised Messiah^as)