May  22, 2002

Mubarak addresses the nation on the Prophet's Birthday

That is the time for our nation and the whole world to remember the birth of a gracious Prophet who was sent as a mercy to all nations.

In the context of true faith in the sublime message revealed to us through our gracious Messenger of Allah and through a rejuvenated awareness of our religious, cultural and historical peculiarities, we seek to bring about closer association among nations and societies and abort calls for hate and grudge.

As to the gracious Prophet whose birthday we celebrate today, suffice it to dwell on three facts of his biography:

First: His belief in Allah, reassurance of His true Promise and his unshakable confidence in Allah’s backing and support even in hard times that fill people in general with frustration and despair.

Second: we would like to pinpoint that although Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was inspired by Allah, yet, he was a topmost human in every aspect of his life.

Therefore, his course of life is still vivid in our minds and hearts. His words and deeds still warm the cockles of our hearts. Whenever faced with any difficulty, and encircled with changes in our life, we turn to his course of life seeking in his rightful guidance good example, good-fellowship, security, peace of mind, confidence in Allah as well as self-confidence.

Third: is that , throughout his most valuable life, the great prophet always tended to adopt a facilitatory and auspicious attitude in all matters.

Thus we can project the true image of Islam and enable Muslims live among others in self-pride, peace of mind and self-confidence.

It is our belief that, accross its history, the world has been more than ever in need of such a great Message as it is today, when the words of God are forgotten, false accusations made against it and its image distorted by he who has no respect for covenants or promises.

This immortal Message is singularly characteristic of three matters that today are the only safeguard for humanity against horrors of conflict, scourge of wars and injustice of the vulnerable by the powerful. Characteristically, this Message stressed the unity of man’s origin, persistently emphasizing this principle in the face of claims of supremacy and attempts of hegemony over others.

This Message declared the fact of diversity and multiplicity of human existence.

This Message adopted such diversity and multiplicity as a means to enrich the human experiment and civilization as well as a means to enhance communication, interaction and cooperation, to stimulate competition and vying for good-doing and performing beneficial deeds to people.

We will continue to advocate benevolence, justice and peace; and closer communication and relations among nations. We still believe that the world today is in most pressing need to lend an attentive ear to the words of Heaven and to seek guidance in the messages of prophets.

I put up, as a trust before you, an invitation for us to scrutinize together the contents and style of religious discourse whereby Ulema and speakers address the public.

It must make it clear that being different from others in terms of religion, culture or values does not automatically mean being hostile to others. It rather means that it is important to follow the approach of our gracious Prophet Muhammad, namely dialogue based on reason and logic rather than exaggeration and extremism.

In this night, we pray to Allah Almighty to elevate the status of our Islamic nation and to support it against false accusations and allegations. May Allah reveal the truth, defeat injustice and aggression, grant us strength and determination to deliver the Message that Allah has entrusted us with when He chose us as followers of His gracious Prophet Muhammad.

.