Radwan Saleh 5-20-16

Then, to continue. Indeed the most truthful of speech is the Book of Allah. And the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And the worst of matters are newly invented matters. And every newly invented matter is an innovation. And every innovation is misguidance. And every misguidance is in the Fire.

The Truth About the Prophet's Character

Contrary to a very sick popular belief that the messenger of Islam, Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam, he was nothing but a tyrant messenger. His message was filled with hate. He advocated killing and maiming and torturing people. Innocent people that is. And that could not have been furthest from the truth.

For he sallallahu alayhi wasallam came to an environment that was filled with darkness. At a time of jahiliya, ignorance. Where idols were worshipped. And the strong would beat down the weak and take from them what's not rightfully theirs. That was a different time. A time of darkness. A time of injustices.

That's when he, Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam, emerged like the sun. With rays of hope. And changed the world. Not only in Mecca and the Arabian Peninsula, but the globe that revolved around him.

And how could Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam be an advocate of hate? How could he be, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, a man that would torture innocent souls? Could not have been furthest from the truth. After all, brothers and sisters, the message of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam began by saying, بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم. In the name of Allah, God Almighty. Ar-Rahman, the merciful. Ar-Raheem, the mercy giver.

The Living Quran

And when Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anha, the wife of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, she was asked, by one of the close companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam:

When Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anha was asked by one of the very close companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, "Oh the mother of believers, Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anha, tell us: How was the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam in private? We see him in public. Our eyes meet his eyes in public. We sit with him, we shake his hands. We reminisce with him. We have a private meeting with him continuously. How was he in private?"

So Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anha, she asked Sa'd, "Do you not read the Qur'an?" He said, "Yes oh mother of the believers." Then she said that he was a Qur'an walking amongst the people. His behavior, his demeanor, his attitude, his actions in public and in private - they were Al-Qur'an.

The Man Before the Message

And so brothers and sisters, there is an ignorance looming globally today about the man Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam - the messenger of Islam, the messenger of peace, and the messenger that changed the world. These were not my words. These were words of people that are not Muslims who have written volumes upon volumes about the man called Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam.

And so when we see him alayhis salatu wassalam as the man, and we ask: Before the world knew that Muhammad was the messenger of Islam, how was he as the man that the Meccan people knew him? That the entire Arab peninsula knew him? That his friends and foe knew him?

When the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam came down running through the mountain from the cave after he had received the revelation, he enters home shivering and shaking and in a state of fear from what he had just witnessed. And Khadija his wife she covers him because he asked "I am shivering, cover me." And then he said, "Oh Khadija, I'm afraid from what I have just witnessed and the responsibility that I have been just burdened with."

So Khadija said to him, "You have nothing to worry about. By Allah, Allah will never forsake you. We know you, Muhammad, to be the kind man to your next of kin. You seek in your community who is in need and you go to them during the day or if it was in the middle of the night. You speak the truth no matter what and you stand on your principles even if the world turns and twirls around you."

He was a man of principle. He was a kind man before he was burdened with responsibility. As Allah swears and says, "Oh Muhammad, you possess the best of all characters."

The Rabbi's Testimony

But brothers and sisters, you should not take my word, for I love the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam came to Medina, people ran towards him. And when the chief of all Medina's rabbis said that when news came to Medina that the Prophet has emerged at the horizons, everybody ran towards the borders of Medina. And everybody was chanting loudly, "The Prophet has emerged upon us! The Prophet has arrived! The Prophet has arrived!" and some were chanting, "The moon has emerged upon us!"

"I came amongst the people and I fixated myself on his face. I wanted to know: Is this the man that the Torah wrote about him? Is this the man that we have been told about him in our books and that the scholars discussed him? When I fixated his face and I looked at his face, I knew then and there that this is not the face of a liar."

The Message of Peace and Kindness

And this was the most amazing inauguration speech. It was not an elaborate long speech. It was not something that went for hours on end. It was concise yet very beneficial. It was inclusive. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said:

"Oh people" - he didn't say "oh believers" or "oh Muslims of Medina." He said "oh people" - أيها الناس أفشوا السلام - spread peace amongst you. Say assalamu alaykum to your Pakistani brother, to your American friend, to your Sudanese or Somali. Don't just say assalamu alaykum to someone who happened to be from the very country or the same village, or someone that shares your culture, or someone that you have commonality in color with. Spread peace - say assalamu alaykum to all those you know and you do not know. And give food to those who are in need.

Often times people come up to us and beg, and yet we have one of two choices: Either you give or walk away politely and kindly. But often times brothers and sisters, we formulate opinions about people who are begging us. This was the character of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam.

Kindness to All Creation

But it wasn't only with the people. Today we hear that an animal has been attacked in Africa and the world would stand on one foot and never rest, and we would see people travel thousands of miles to go to some shores of some ocean to save a whale. These are acts of kindness, but the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam advocated such kindness 1400 years ago.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam passed an edict and he said: "A woman imprisoned a cat. This woman did not feed the cat while the cat was imprisoned at her position, nor did she, this woman, let the cat roam freely to eat from the shrubs of the land. This woman, when the cat died, the Prophet said she tortured the cat and therefore she will be in Jahannam. Her final abode will be hellfire."

"There was a woman before you, meaning of the children of Bani Israel. She was extremely thirsty and she found a well in the desert, an oasis. And she went down to quench her thirst. And by the time she climbed up, she sees a dog that's licking the mud from thirst. She said, لقد بلغ هذا من العطش ما بلغ مني - 'This dog is now thirsty the way that I was thirsty moments ago.'"

"So she climbs down the well once again, takes off her shoe, fills it with water, grabs the shoe with her mouth and climbs up and gives water to this dog. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, because of her kindness, دخلت بذلك العمل الجنة - because of this, now she has entered Al-Jannah."

Kindness to Enemies

Brothers and sisters, it is easy to be kind equally to those who are friends, companions and colleagues. It is extremely difficult to formulate an attitude to be kind to those who happen to be your archenemy, to those who are your adversaries, to those who may wish you and I ill. It is extremely difficult brothers and sisters, but the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam knew what it means to be kind even to those who happen to be your archenemies.

A man would knock the door of the house of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And when he asked who is this, the man said his name and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam whispered and said, بئس الرجل من أهل ومن عشيرة - "This is a wicked man who comes to us from a wicked tribe and they have no goal in life except to harm us."

But when the man came in, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam stood up to him, smiled in his face and ushered him so kindly. He folded his seat, his private own seat, and sat with him and reminisced with him. And when the man finished speaking to the Prophet, he got up and ushered him out so ever politely.

So Aisha radiallahu anha she came running and she said, يا رسول الله لقد رأيت ما رأيت وسمعت ما سمعت - "Oh Rasulullah, I have heard what you said earlier, but then the way you dealt with him was an amazing way of dealing with someone."

So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, يا عائشة متى عاهدتيني فحاشة - "Oh Aisha, when did you witness that I am a hard-hearted, rigid person? إن شر الناس عند الله منزلة يوم القيامة من تركه الناس اتقاء شره - The most wicked, the most furthest away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on the Day of Judgment are the people whom others avoid like the plague."

There are people, brothers and sisters, they just frown in their faces naturally and they never smile. They never have this kindness in their heart. Their innateness is not as clean and pure. These are the type of people that sometimes, whether you like it or not, you force yourself to be kind so that you may avoid their wrath, so you may avoid their wickedness. These type of people Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says about them, as the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam tells us, they will be the furthest away from the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on the Day of Judgment.

The Radiant Smile

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was a man that when he smiled, the companions would say كأن على وجه الشمس - that when he would smile, it was as if the sun resonates from his face.

And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, "To smile in your brother's face is a charity." But tabassumka is not just basmatka - it's not a one-time smile act. It is a continuous act of smiling.

Imagine if I'm a doctor and the patients come to my clinic and I frown in their faces, would they ever want to come back? If I'm a taxi driver, if I'm a manager, if I happen to be a business owner and I have this frowning face - would people welcome me? Would people want to do business with me? Would people want to follow my orders? This brothers and sisters is how Rasool Allah sallallahu alayhi wasallam was.

And we have the best of all examples in the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam.

Private Victory, Public Victory

Brothers and sisters, we will never have a public victory so long we lack the power to have a private victory. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was privately victorious in his home. And when Aisha was asked how was he at home:

"The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam would be extremely playful at home with us. He never showed his machoism on us. He wasn't hard to the point that he would walk in through the doors and even babies would shut up and not cry. He was kind to his family at home. And so the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, as Aisha said, he would be serving us, being with us, helping us. And once the Adhan called for the prayers he would leave the home as if we do not know him nor does he know us."

The Definition of Good Character

Ibn al-Mubarak, a well-known scholar, he was once asked, "What is the best of all characters?" So he said:

"Good character is a cheerful face - don't frown in your brother's face. Some people tell me, 'Oh brother, I'm naturally like this. Oh brother, you don't know my entire family have frowning faces. We come from a tribe, if you smile you're looked upon as that weak person amongst us.' Someone would say 'wipe that smile off your face, you look weak.' SubhanAllah. And to stop harming people."

We are the citizens of this world, brothers and sisters. Whether you're a Muslim or not, what business do I have to harm you if I have no authority to do so? It is not rocket science.

And so when Ibn al-Mubarak said it is a cheerful face and to stop harming people - go to Hajj, go to Umrah and see the droves of people that face you, and count on the fingers how many people smile.

The Best Community

And to bring all of this to a point brothers and sisters, we have a captured audience. I can stand here and speak to us and this is a captured audience. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us:

"You were the best Ummah ever brought forth to mankind" - and what is your job and mine? "Enjoining good and forbidding evil."

A Story of Kindness

In the Midwest, a family came in newly to that neighborhood. And one Sunday morning, the two boys in the front yard noticed that there is an old lady struggling with her grocery bags into her home. So they ran across the street and helped her in, only to come back and tell their mother that this is a lonely lady. She is an elderly woman, she lives by herself. Her house is in total shambles. Her backyard is unkept and so is her front yard.

So she signals, what are you supposed to do? So they took their lawn mowers and went across and cleaned her backyard and front yard. Only the next day that the mother will take some food and go and befriend the lady. And one Sunday morning this woman crosses the street and she was ushered in and sat on their kitchen table to eat lunch with them.

And then she looked at them so immaculately sitting together and she told them, "You are the best Christian family that I have ever seen." The mother looked at her and said, "We are Muslims."

Suffice it to say brothers and sisters, when this lady died, she was buried in a Muslim graveyard and she was a staunch volunteer at the nearby masjid. It was not a single bullet fired. It was not long speeches made. All that it was, it was just an act of kindness.

Oh Allah, protect us in this city and protect this city from all evil, and protect our country from all evil. Oh Allah, protect us in this city and protect our country from all evil.