13 Farhan Abdul Azeez Is It Truly a Victory

Is It Truly a Victory?

Speaker: Farhan Abdul Azeez

Opening

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ، وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورٍ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا ، مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ، وَخَيْرَ الْهَدْيِ هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا ، وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ، وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ، وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ

The Camel That Refused to Move

The Prophet ﷺ was going forward, but it refused. And so the Prophet ﷺ when hearing that being said about his camel, he said:

(Bukhari, Hadith 2731)

"No, she has not become stubborn."

الْقَصْوَاءُ She's an animal, a riding animal, has become stubborn, has become obstinate, become defiant. It's not going forward when we're telling it to go forward. The Prophet ﷺ said, "No, no, no, that's not the character of my camel."

He said:

"But rather the one who stopped the elephant on the attack of the Ka'bah, the army of Abraha, is the same one who stopped الْقَصْوَاءُ."

The Journey to Hudaybiyyah

Now why did he say this? The Muslims set out with 1,400 companions to perform Umrah on the 6th year after Hijrah. They even took animals for sacrifice when that is not a part of Umrah. Animals aren't offered for sacrifice. To make abundantly clear to the Quraysh, we're coming not with intention of war nor of fighting, but to honor the sanctity of the Ka'bah and to perform Umrah.

They didn't bring their weapons of war even though they're going to people who have been at war with them. And when the Quraysh heard of this, they sent Khalid bin Walid, the undefeated general, at the head of 200 men to attack them. But news reached the Prophet ﷺ and so he took a different route, evaded Khalid's army and reached a place called Hudaybiyyah.

And there the statement was made: الْقَصْوَاءُ has refused to move. And the Prophet ﷺ said in response, "No, وَلَكِنْ حَبَسَهَا حَابِسُ الْفِيلِ — Rather the one who stopped the elephant."

Why Did Allah Stop the Camel?

It's interesting because why did Allah choose to stop الْقَصْوَاءُ here? Why were the Muslims stopped from going forward? When we know it is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that it is Allah who stopped the camel.

And Allah says in Surah Al-Fath, in a surah, the whole surah and it's entirely revealed about this incident. Allah says:

If the disbelievers, you 1,400 who set out with no weapons other than what you take in normal travel. If you were to fight the whole of the Quraysh in their base, in their home in Mecca, they would have been defeated.

Allah says they would have been defeated. So Allah is telling the believers victory is right there. Yet it is Allah who stopped this from happening. Why?

The Events After the Statement

So before we answer that question, we have to look at what happened in the events after the statement of the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet sent in messengers to Quraysh to tell them, look, we've come for Umrah, we haven't come for fighting. And this was unknown, this was not something that would even be recognized amongst the Arabs that someone comes to perform Umrah, to perform Tawaf around the Kaaba and they would be prevented. Let alone someone from their own people.

So the Prophet sent messengers and a rumor was spread that one of his messengers, Uthman ibn Affan, was killed. Uthman ibn Affan was sent to give the message to the Quraysh. And a rumor had spread that he was killed.

Why was that rumor spread? Because the man that was sent before him, Kharash ibn Umayyah, when he went, they killed his camel, and they almost killed him, but his tribe prevented them from doing so. And he came back. So the Muslims are already on edge.

The Pledge of Allegiance

And so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he gathers the companions, and he tells them, come give me a pledge. A pledge for what? What is this pledge for?

What's interesting is the Prophet ﷺ didn't tell them what the pledge is for. The scholars differ of what was the reason for the pledge.

Some say it was a pledge that we will fight to the death, even with no weapons. But this, the killing of the messenger of the Messenger of Allah, the son-in-law of the Prophet ﷺ, one of the greatest companions, Uthman, we will fight to the death. Or they say that they pledged that they will not flee in battle, they won't flee in war.

And the third is actually very interesting. They pledged that whatever is in your heart, O Messenger of Allah, we pledge to that. We will commit to whatever you want, and we don't even know what that is.

That level of submission to the will of the Messenger of Allah. That it doesn't matter what you ask of us, we are ready to do whatever it is.

The Emissaries from Quraysh

You see, the Quraysh also sent emissaries to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to negotiate with him, to talk to him, to find out what's his intention.

And Urwah ibn Mas'ud, he was one of the leaders of Ta'if. You know that when Allah says:

"Why was this Quran not sent down upon a great man from these two cities?" A man from these two great cities. It was referring to this man from Ta'if, Ta'if and Mecca.

He had been to the kings of Rome and Persia and Najashi and the like. And so when he came to talk to Muhammad ﷺ, the Messenger of Allah, he would stick his hand out to touch his beard. And this was something the Arabs would do.

: عليه السلام tells Musa عليه السلام Harun

"Don't grab me by my beard."

So he would reach his hand out to touch the beard of the Prophet ﷺ. But there was a man next to the Messenger of Allah in full armor who would take the handle of his sword and strike the hand of Urwah, this great man, man of position. He said, "No, you don't get to touch the beard of the Prophet ﷺ."

And so Urwah looked at this man and said, he can't tell who it is. He's covered in head to toe in armor. So he says, "This is the most wicked person amongst you." And the Prophet said, "You know who that is? That's your nephew Mughira."

Urwah was surprised. Like my own blood, my own nephew is doing this to me.

Urwah's Testimony

But then when Urwah went back to the Quraysh, he said, "I've been to the kings of Persia and Rome and the like and I've never seen a people who venerate their leader like the companions venerate the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. When he would spit, they would rush to catch the spit and rub it on their skin and their faces.

When he would command them, they would rush to fulfill the command. When they would speak to him, they would lower their voice out of reverence of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And when they would look at him, they would lower their gaze again out of honor of the Messenger of Allah."

So he said, "I've never seen a people who honor their leader like them. Do whatever you want. But my advice is, listen to what he has to say. His people will never leave him."

The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah

So you see these kind of things that are happening in between. Then Suhail bin Amr comes, another leader of the Quraysh. And then they begin writing a treaty.

A treaty is signed between the Muslims and the Quraysh. And some of the conditions of the treaty weren't favorable to the Muslims. Number one, they had spent a week in travel and have been waiting now several days outside of Mecca.

And they are being told, you cannot perform Umrah. Go back. No Umrah.

Imagine the anticipation that builds in the heart six years later after the Muslims in Mecca were kicked out of Mecca and the Ansar who have never performed Umrah before now going to perform Umrah after a week's long travel and the difficulty and the like, all coming. They're saying, no, go back. You come back next year and you only get three days.

Not only that, but in the conditions of this treaty and the ceasefire between the two parties was what? If any Muslim were to leave Medina and go to Mecca, we can keep him. But if any Muslim from Mecca, and there were many there who were still Muslim but weren't allowed to make hijrah because they were captured. If any of them were to leave Mecca and go to Medina, you have to send them back.

The Case of Abu Jandal

Now, these are the verbal agreements and it has to be written down. And as this is being verbally agreed upon and the Prophet ﷺ agrees to this term, Abu Jandal now shows up. Who's Abu Jandal? He's the son of Suhail that negotiated for Quraysh.

And the Companions say we could see the effects of torture upon him. He was a Muslim. But he was prevented from making hijrah. And he was in the lion's den in Mecca being tortured under the captivity of his own father. And he escaped when he heard the Muslims were at Hudaybiyyah. He fled his captors.

And he throws himself with his chains in front of the Companions and the Messenger of Allah and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ himself. And when Suhail sees this, he tells Muhammad ﷺ, we already agreed. And so this is the first person.

The agreement was if a Muslim comes to you, you send him back. Prophet ﷺ said, but we haven't even written it down yet. He said, nope. That's the agreement. If you walk away right now, if you say no, I'm walking away, the deal is off. The Prophet tries to say, look, look, just between me and you, forget all this, just as leader to leader, man to man, just give me him.

And he says, no, absolutely not.

Abu Jandal's Cry

And when Abu Jandal hears this, he says, Ya Rasulullah, Ya Ma'shar al-Muslimin. He calls out, he cries out to the Prophet. All the Muslims who are watching, they're all witnessing this. A man, their own brother, in chains and signs of torture upon him. And he's saying:

"I'm gonna be sent back? After I escaped, you're gonna send me back? And they're putting me on trial for my religion."

And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ says:

"O Abu Jandal, just be patient. And seek your reward with Allah. For Allah will certainly provide a way out for you and the Muslims who are with you."

Now, this was, you have to understand, this is very difficult upon the companions. All these terms, the treaty, seeing Abu Jandal, one of their own.

Umar's Questions to the Prophet

So Umar al-Khattab, he couldn't hold himself. He goes to the Prophet ﷺ, he says:

"Ya Rasulullah! Aren't you the Messenger of Allah?" بلى - "Yes"