14 Farhan Abdul Azeez Hope in Allah

How to Celebrate Success

Speaker: Farhan Abdul Azeez

Opening

"And fear your Lord, Who created you from one soul, and created from it its wife. And He spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah, to whom you ask for help, and the wombs. Indeed, Allah is ever watching over you."

"O you who have believed, fear Allah and say a firm word. It will amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, he has certainly attained a great victory."

"As for what follows, the truest of speech is the Book of Allah. And the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. And the worst of matters are the newly invented ones, and every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire."

The Secret Expedition

In the 8th year after Hijrah, the Prophet ﷺ told his companions in Medina to prepare themselves to go out for battle. And in doing so, in this particular battle, while all battles generally there is an aura of secrecy, in this battle particularly, no one, absolutely no one knew the plans of the Prophet ﷺ, including his own wife and his closest companions like Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه

And he ﷺ even sent an expedition to the north, like a small scouting mission if you want to say. And so some people thought maybe he was going after the battle of Mu'tah to have a second encounter. Until the day was decided, the day before they set out, the Prophet ﷺ told them, we are going to Mecca.

He told the Muslims that we are going to Mecca.

The Breaking of the Treaty

Now, why would he go to Mecca? There was a treaty in place between the Quraysh and the Muslims, known as the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, many of you are familiar with it. But what happened was, one of the tribes allied with the Quraysh, they went to the Quraysh and said, we want to attack this tribe allied to the Muslims, both live on the outskirts of Mecca.

And the Quraysh gave their approval, anticipating that it will be a raid at night, stealing some camels and horses and the like and whatnot, nothing too intense, no loss of life, no one will know, just a typical raid that happens. And so, Banu Bakr, the tribe allied of Quraysh, goes ahead and attacks Banu Khuza'ah. But when they did so, it didn't go as planned.

The women and the children were alerted, people woke up, and then they defended themselves. And what ended up happening is over 20, including women and children, were killed from Banu Khuza'ah. And it was a break of the treaty.

Even one of Banu Khuza'ah escaped and fled into Mecca, and went into the boundaries of the haram. And within the haram, you cannot be attacked, it's a sanctified place. Yet he was killed within the boundaries of the haram, which is a big no-no.

So a massive mistake upon a massive mistake, and news reaches the Prophet ﷺ, after their leader comes to him with 40 from his tribe, and they recite lines of poetry, explaining what happened, and how their tribe was attacked in the night, and they were killed while they were praying and the like.

The Army Marches to Mecca

And so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ finally, after some time passed, the news was announced that we're going to Mecca. An army of 10,000 is gathered, and they head out to Mecca in the month of Ramadan, and they reach there in nine days.

Now when they camped outside Mecca, news has reached Mecca that perhaps an army is coming, they don't know who, and they're not sure what exactly the details are. So Abu Sufyan comes out, and Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ, who just embraced Islam, actually went into Mecca, and he meets Abu Sufyan, and Abu Sufyan is now the leader of Quraysh.

He is brought to the Prophet ﷺ. And after some back and forth, and some conversations between the two, Abu Sufyan, finally after decades of opposing the Prophet ﷺ, leading Uhud, leading Ahzab, being the leader of the enemies against the Prophet ﷺ, now embraces Islam.

The Mercy of the Prophet ﷺ

And so Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ, who also just embraced Islam, he tells the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, give him something, Abu Sufyan is a leader. So the Prophet ﷺ tells him, and look at, subhanAllah, the mercy of

the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, despite him being the leader of the opposition to him, for so long, he says, anyone who comes into your house, will be safe.

But he first said, anyone who's within the haram, once we attack, anyone within the haram boundaries is safe. And anyone who stays in their own home, meaning they don't come out to fight, they will be safe. But he also gave him a special recognition, said, anyone who comes to your house, will also be safe. There are people in Mecca who may not live there, and so they can go to Abu Sufyan's house if they don't go to the haram.

But Abu Sufyan goes into Mecca, and he sees this army of the Muslims, the shining armor, and the fires that are lit, and whatnot, this mass of 10,000 strong. And he goes into Mecca, and he tells the people, you have no chance. You have no chance.

So whoever comes to my house is safe. He conveniently leaves out the other two, because he wants to feel special. Somebody tells him, how can we all fit inside your house? And he says, okay, if you go to the haram, you're safe, or if you stay in your house, you're safe.

The Entry into Mecca

And so the next day comes, and the Prophet ﷺ, he divides the army into three, and one comes in from the east, one comes in from the west, and he ﷺ, from the middle, they enter into Mecca. And for the most part, the people of Quraysh knew that there was nothing they can do, and they stayed within their homes. A few tried to fight back and were handled.

The Prophet ﷺ gave very clear instructions, do not kill anyone, do not hurt anyone, unless you are forced to do so. An army coming in, after being eight years of battle and prior to the eight years, 13 years of difficulty, and torture, and abuse, and neglect, and abductions, and being driven out of their homes, all of that. And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ now catching them by surprise, says, do not harm anyone.

The Humble Conqueror

And so he comes into Mecca. He was wearing a red turban ﷺ, and his head was lowered. The narrations say that his beard was almost touching the hump of the camel he was riding.

A conqueror, with zero bloodshed, essentially zero, except for the few who resisted. And the first thing he does is he goes to the Kaaba. And he begins performing Tawaf on his camel, around the house of Allah.

The Destruction of the Idols

And he takes his stick, and he points to the idols, and he says:

"Truth has been established, and falsehood has vanished. For indeed falsehood is something that will not last."

And with each time he's pointing to the idol, the idols are coming down, and there are over 300 idols around the Kaaba.

And the Quraysh they know, the people of Mecca they know, if you're within the Haram, you're safe. And so people start coming into the Haram, and witnessing what they're seeing. The Messenger of Allah, the one who they knew as (الصَّادِقُ الْأَمِينُ - the truthful and the trustworthy).

The one who they would turn to when they had issues, disputes amongst themselves. The one who his own enemies would know that they'll get their trust back, even when he made hijrah, he left Ali in his bed to give them the trust back. They're seeing him with their own eyes now.

Many of them fought him on the battlefield. And now they're seeing him going around the Kaaba, knocking down the idols. And then once he did so, he went inside the Kaaba. And he purified the Kaaba as well from the idols. And then he comes out.

The Address to the People of Mecca

And now the Haram is full. Everybody's there. And he comes outside of the door of the Kaaba, and he addresses the thousands who are now waiting and listening, and he says:

(Muslim, Hadith 1218)

"There is absolutely no one worthy of worship but Allah. He is one. He fulfilled His promise. He gave victory to His slave. And He defeated the confederates alone."

There is no God worthy of worship but Allah. And then he says, every matter of Jahiliyyah, every affair of Jahiliyyah is abolished except for two: Sadana and Siqaya. Sadana is those who will bear the keys of the Ka'bah, stayed in Bani Abd al-Dar. And Siqaya — providing water to the pilgrims who come for Hajj. Those are two practices that will stay.

Everything else has been abolished. And then he goes on to say, and all the arrogance of Jahiliyyah has been abolished, meaning the tribalism and the ties based on tribe and not on brotherhood. He says, all of you are from Adam. And Adam is from dust.

The Verse of Human Equality

Then he recited the verse in Surah Al-Hujurat:

"O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you into different nations and tribes so that you may get to know one another. Indeed the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is the one who

has the most taqwa. And indeed Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware."

The Fate of the Quraysh

And then he says:

"O people of Quraysh," – this is the moment. Their fate now is in the hands of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. The man they opposed for so long. And they thought they would be victorious over. They are now humbled and awaiting the decision what will happen to them.

So he says:

"What do you think I will do to you?"

And so if you're giving a fair answer, you would say, I think you're going to execute all of us for that's what they deserved.

But they say:

"We think you'll do good. You are a generous man, our brother, and the son of a generous brother."

And so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he says in the famous statement:

(Bayhaqi, Sunan al-Kubra)

"Go, you are free."

And he says a statement that Yusuf عليه السلام said to his brothers:

"There is no blame upon you today."

The Mercy Despite the Pain

How merciful! He has the power. He has the reason. I mean his own... His daughter died as a result of the attack of the Quraysh upon her when she tried to make hijrah. His own daughter was killed by them. His wife Khadija died at the end of the boycott.

All these images that could be going through his mind right around the Ka'bah on one of the sides of the walls where they would torture the Muslims. When Ibn Mas'ud, the first companion to ever recite the Qur'an publicly,