Knowledge Retreat, After Aqaba, Spreading the Message in Yathrib
By Omar Suleiman | 2026-01-06T18:45:16.832649+00:00 | Topic: Knowledge
Knowledge Retreat: After Aqaba, Spreading the Message in Yathrib
Omar Suleiman - MASCON2017
Opening Remarks
Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu. So Alhamdulillah, I truly appreciated the program as I was looking over what you all have been studying and this is actually I remember last year attending this portion of the program or part of it as well. I think it is an incredible opportunity not just for you to enhance your knowledge of the Seerah of the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) or to study a topic a little bit more in depth or to have the reflections that you gain out of having a couple of more days and a more focused path as you're going through these topics, but it also helps you to have perspective, a prophetic perspective as you are listening to the sessions that are going to be taking place over the next couple of days with the convention itself (إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى - in sha'a Allah ta'ala).
To always sort of go back and find your roots in the Seerah of the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is a profound ability and it gives you a lot more to absorb (إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ - in sha'a Allah) as you start to go through some of the more contemporary problems.
The Importance of Balance in Islamic Learning
One of the complaints that a lot of people often have about conferences and conventions is that they're too contemporary or sometimes obviously they're too stuck in the past, but this gives you a good blend between the two (بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى - bi'ithnillah ta'ala) and to be able to actually root yourself in the Seerah of the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).
The Topic: Medina
So this topic that I have right now is so deep that if it has to carry on to my second session (إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى - in sha'a Allah ta'ala) then I'll do that and then I'll transition into the topic that's been given for that second allotted session, but it's about Medina.
Personal Experience with Medina and Mecca
Now, how many of you, just a quick show of hands, how many of you have actually been to Medina? Can you raise your hands? All right, great.
How many of you have been to Hajj (إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ - in sha'a Allah). Okay, of those of you who raised your hands and who went to Medina and Mecca, very honest question. How many of you were more attached to Medina than you were Mecca? Pretty much everybody and it happens (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - subhan Allah).
And in fact, you know every year when I take people to Hajj, especially in Hajj, when you go from Medina to Mecca and I do the Medina first package because if you land into Jeddah with all that craziness and that's your first exposure to Hajj, then it just sets the tone in a way that's not very positive. But if you start off in Medina, then you really you get into the zone, you get into this mindset. So you're able to take on the hustle and bustle of Mecca.
All right, and the craziness that comes with being in Mecca, especially in the times of Hajj. But (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - subhan Allah) there's something about Medina. There's something about Medina that has made it more beloved to most people than even Mecca when they actually go there.
The Special Qualities of Medina
It has a home feel to it. It actually, it actually, it's not just an attachment because you see some sort of some sort of nice scenery or because you've developed an attachment to the people per se, although the people in Medina tend to, no offense to any the Meccans that are here. If we have any Meccans here, the people in Medina tend to be easier to deal with than the people in Mecca, but it's about the city and it's something in the air that just connects you to that place.
The blessings of the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), the blessings of that Madani society that existed there with the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) as the anchor of it and the companions that we read about and the wives of the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and so many of those people that are so special to us.
The Quality That Made Medina Special
And it's important to know that the people in Medina had a quality that the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) loved and they had a quality that made them worthy of receiving the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) that was not found in many of the surrounding cities.
Comparison with Ta'if
Now, I want you to think if you are from the people of Ta'if, the descendants of Ta'if, how many of you have been to Ta'if? Can you raise your hands? Not many of you.
Okay, if you are someone from Ta'if, a hundred years after the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and you're looking back at that history and you're thinking wow, we had this man amongst us. If we would have accepted him, imagine if Ta'if was where the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) settled. Imagine if that was where he established the city, if that's where everything happened, if that's where the first masjid was built, if everything happened in Ta'if, then we would all go to Ta'if and Medina, which still be called Yathrib, and we would probably have no attachment to it whatsoever, except that we might drive through it on the way to Ta'if or on the way to Mecca.
The Ansar: An Unlikely Choice
But it was these people, this unlikely group of people that took the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) in and there is a difference between taking in a group of immigrants or taking in people and offering them only safety. But what made this group of people so special is that they took in an unknown man, someone that was unknown to them previously, and they didn't just embrace him out of some noble calling to take in the refugee or take in the persecuted minority from Mecca. They embraced the cause of the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) himself.
They didn't just tell him that we will risk our lives protecting you from death. They said that we will live and die for what you live and die for. They completely absorbed the faith and these were people that didn't live with him (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - subhan Allah).
While the people that knew him as a Sadiq al-Amin (الصَّادِقُ الأَمِينُ - as-Sadiq al-Amin), that knew him as the honest and trustworthy one, that were literally his family that had seen his beautiful character up close for decades turned him away.
The Difference Between Ta'if and Medina
And Ta'if, because if you look at the people of Ta'if versus the people of Medina, we don't hear much about the people of Ta'if. The people of Ta'if were a royal people in the sense that they were considered amongst the nobles and they were a prideful people and they were people that seemed to have the political power of that region.
Okay, so the people used to go and visit Hubal. You might hear about Hubal, the idol in the valleys of Ta'if. Ta'if seemed like a place for the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) could go to and could find people that would dedicate themselves to his message.
But it was Yathrib. It was this group of people in Yathrib, in Medina, in what would be known as Medina. And there's a lesson in that from the very start that it was never about the quality of the resources or the infrastructure of a city or the military power.
The Quality of Hearts
It was about the quality of the hearts that would take the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) in. It didn't matter that these people were youth, that they were pretty much all with the exception of two or three under the age of 40. It didn't matter that these people had their homes and their civilization ravaged by war, by their fathers killing one another.
It didn't matter that these people did not have the alliances or the strength that the Meccans had. They didn't have the Kaaba which was religious commerce. They didn't have any of that.
But what mattered is that they had the hearts that were ready to receive the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) And that's a message in and of itself.
Umar's Wish for Great Men
Because when Umar ibn Al-Khattab (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ - radi Allahu ta'ala anhu) was once sitting with a group of people in the masjid and he said, تمنوا go ahead and make a wish.
What do you want? So people started to make these different wishes and some people said that I wish for this place to be full of gold so I could spend it (فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ - fi sabilillah). I wish for this whole place full of gold to be able to spend it for the cause of Allah. And he meant in terms of battle and expedition.
Another person wished for pearls and diamonds to be spent in charity for the sake of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala). And Umar (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ - radi Allahu ta'ala anhu) said I wish for a room full of Abu Ubaidah, Abu Ubaidah Al-Jarrah or Salim, Mawla Abu Hudhaifah or Mu'adh ibn Jabal. I wish for a room full of men like that.
You give me people like that. I don't care what resources I have at my disposal. I've got people that are ready to go.
I've got people that are people of sacrifice, people of integrity, people that have absorbed the faith, that have soaked it all in. That was the Ansar of the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). They absorbed faith and they embraced the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and everything that came with embracing the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) at the time.
The Hadith About Love for the Ansar
So I start with this hadith. It's a hadith that's narrated by Anas (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ - radi Allahu ta'ala anhu). That the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:
"The sign of Iman (faith) is love for the Ansar, and the sign of hypocrisy is hatred for the Ansar." (Sahih Bukhari 17, Sahih Muslim 74)
If you want to see Iman, look at the Ansar. And if you want to have Iman, love the Ansar, love these people, attach yourself to them because they are the people that made it possible for the call of the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) to be nurtured and to reach us 1,400 years later with the pristine example and the narrations from them about how he lived that message that was given to him (عَلَيْهِ الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ - alayhis salatu was salam).
In another hadith from Al-Bara', the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:
"None loves them except a believer, and none hates them except a hypocrite. Whoever loves them, Allah loves him, and whoever hates them, Allah hates him." (Sahih Bukhari 3783, Sahih Muslim 75)
And whoever hates them, hates them because of me.
Why We Should Love the Ansar
So you think about why you love the, how can I love these people in the first place? I don't even know them. I've never met the Ansar. It's hard enough to love the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) without ever having met him.
So why would I love the Ansar so much? You know, (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - subhan Allah), when someone that you love is taken care of, when someone does something for someone that you love, without knowing anything about that person, you love that person.
The Example of Khadijah
The Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) loved Khadijah (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهَا - radi Allahu ta'ala anha) in a way that surpasses all of our love for all of those that we love put together. It was an impressive love.
It was incredible. He thought of things that you don't typically think of. And when Khadijah (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا - radi Allahu anha) passed away, what did the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) do? He used to send gifts to all of her old friends.
He used to long to hear the voice of Hala, her sister, because it sounded similar to the voice of Khadijah. These are things that a person who loves will think of that other people will not necessarily think of. If you were to be an elderly person that sent your child off to study somewhere, and someone took care of someone beloved to you, you love that person without ever having met them because you appreciate them.
The Divine Promise vs. Worldly Promises
So the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said if you want to have Iman, you should love these people because they took me in. They gave me their all, they gave me their everything without anything worldly being promised to them. Now, here's the catch.
When we do things for Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) when we do things for Jannah, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) also strengthens us in a worldly sense.
The Consequences of Rejecting vs. Accepting
Let's say, and I'm going to give you two examples of that on a community level and on an individual level. Let's say that the Ansar never embraced the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and they turned him away.
And the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) went and found help and support elsewhere. That city would have never become anything. Most likely it would have been, it would have continued in its war-torn ways and they would have self-destructed because that's the path that they were on and no good would have come to that city.
You know what Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى says to Mecca. Allah reminds Quraysh of the favor of Ibrahim عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ to the city of Mecca and to everyone there in Mecca. It is because of the dua of Ibrahim عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ that you found safety here.
It's because of Ibrahim عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ that you were taken care of because of the Prophets and the message that the Prophets came. But you have abandoned the Prophets for Prophets off of the house of Allah to Prophet off of God instead of follow the Prophet of God. And as a result of that your city will suffer and when they ran the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ out Mecca was struck with years of famine with years of disaster with all sorts of things happening to them.
The Man Who Sought Worldly Gain
There was a man that came to the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ and said to him he saw the potential of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ as a great man and as a leader. He said look I'll support you but in return for me supporting you I want you to promise me that I will inherit the kingdom that you are inevitably to gain because you're on a path of greatness and I know that you're going to do amazing things. So our tribe will back you up but on the condition that we inherit whatever it is that you establish and the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ turned him down in his most vulnerable moments.
He says:
"The earth belongs to Allah. He gives it to whom He wills, and the [best] outcome is for the muttaqin."
I'm not promising you anything and there is no dunya we there's no material condition or perk that you get for embracing divine revelation.
You want to support me support me because I'm on the truth support me because it's the right thing to do. Don't support me because you see me as an opportunity or an asset to gain more of this world to gain power. So the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ turned him down the Ansar were given nothing as a promise.
The Transformation of Yathrib to Medina
So it started off very simple. Medina was a place Yathrib as it was called was a place of division. It was a place that was right with fitna, with trials and tribulation and they needed a new start. You had 46 fortresses and camps in Medina.
So if you walked into Medina at the time when it was called Yathrib, what you had was a bunch of fortresses, a bunch of camps, 46 of them to be exact. You had a souq, a marketplace, but for the most
part there wasn't the type of unification or that you would see within Mecca. You didn't have these old tribal alliances that were actually holding.
You had people that were fighting. They had some agriculture, but it was also a place of disease and a place of a lot of sickness. It was a place where the water was dirty.
And in fact, the word Yathrib comes from Tathrib, you know, Tathrib is like remorse or regret, regretful, right? So it actually comes from a harsh word and that's why the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ changed it to Taiba, the opposite of it, pure. It is good. It is a place of purity and a place of goodness as opposed to a place of sickness and a place of war.
It's a place of peace and it's a place of purity. So the Messenger صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ had that foresight even when he first came to that city and when the people of Mecca first got there, they didn't like what they were encountering. Abu Bakr رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ said, what's left after Medina or what's left after the city except for death? I don't know what, I mean, I'm basically here to die.
They literally authored poems about how much they hated Medina when they first got there, but then they fell in love with it because it was a place where the light of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ would grow.
The Pledge of Aqaba
So what's the hadith? Ubadah ibn Samit رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ he describes this incidence. He says, I was one of the nawaqib, I was one of the group heads, the leaders that went out to meet the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ on the night of Al-Aqaba, the night of the pledge of Al-Aqaba and a nawaqib is someone who heads a group of six.
So he says that we went to the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ and he taught us or he took a pledge and an oath from us that we would not join anything in worship along Allah, we would not steal, we would not commit zina, illegal sexual intercourse, to not kill our children out of poverty, to not accuse an innocent person, to not be disobedient when ordered to do a good deed.
So the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ said whoever amongst you fulfills this pledge will be rewarded by Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى and whoever indulges in any one of these things except for the first one, which is to associate a partner with Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى then if they are punished in this world, that punishment would be an expiation for their sin. If they face consequences in this world as a result of these other sins, then that would be an expiation for the sin.
And if you indulge in any one of these things and Allah conceals your sin, it is up to him to forgive you or to punish you, meaning in the hereafter, in the akhira. So Ubadah ibn Samit رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ said we took that pledge with the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. (Sahih Bukhari 18, 4894)
The Characteristics of the Ansar
And the reason why I chose this hadith is because it shows that the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ was teaching the morality from the very start. Salah still had not been legislated in terms of the five daily prayers. Most of what we know of the religion in terms of practice had still not been legislated.
All of those were madani legislations. Those were things that came in Medina and the society of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. But he was teaching them morality and giving them the general precepts and the foundations of the religion.
And these people, these young people that came to the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ had many different qualities. Of them was their youth. As I said, only three of them were over the age of 40.
So they were young people and they were willing to embrace a change and that's actually something if you think about Mecca, the elders of Mecca were the most resistant to what the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ was bringing. So they were fresh, they were young and they were so young it was a concern to Al- Abbas صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ who was guarding or protecting the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. He didn't want to give them over to these people.
The Abrahamic Tradition in Medina
Another thing is that they were a people. Wow, I was just introducing the subject. All right.
They are a people that were encountering encountering some form of Abrahamic tradition because there were three or actually there were 12 Jewish tribes if you take into consideration the sub-tribes. There were many Jewish tribes that had settled in Medina at the time. So they were encountering that practice.
It was a very prominent form of Judaism. So a lot of things that would be that would be similar to what the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ would bring and there was also the expectation of a prophet. In Mecca, they weren't talking about another prophet coming.
In Medina, they were. However, the logic was that this prophet that came would be an Israelite prophet. He'd be from Bani Israel and he would continue in that same in that same way.
What that meant for the rest of the Ansar was that whoever this prophet comes is he's going to probably kill us. So the fact that this was a prophet that they had heard about that they had grown up listening to messages that were similar to the message of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ.
If you think about the Hadith of Ubadah, it sounds a lot like the 10 Commandments. It sounds a lot like something that that any person who follows the Old Testament would have known at the time. So there was a congruence between that message and the message that they had heard from the Jewish tribes that existed in Medina and they came from the two tribes that were just mentioned, Awsan and Khazraj.
The Background of Aws and Khazraj
Awsan and Khazraj, they were the children of a man by the name of Haritha Ibn Tha'alaba. Haritha Ibn Tha'alaba and he was from Yemen. So they were the children of this this man from Yemen and they had split up due to the the war that had taken place and ripped Medina apart. And now they are coming to the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ and the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ is teaching them about unity.
Is a man from the outside that they can agree upon. Now, typically speaking an outsider is not a good thing. It's harder to unify a people around an outsider.
In this situation, the only one that could bring these people together was an outsider. Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى prepared them as such because there is so much enmity amongst those tribes and so much war that tore them apart that if you were to appoint any one of them to be the leader, then it was a project that was meant to fail. But having a man that was close enough, he spoke their language.
He had some relationship to the people of Medina through his mother. His mother was actually related to the people of Medina. The Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم's mother was related to them.
So he is enough of a point that can unify and bring the Ansar together. He's not too strange and he's not too close. Okay, and سُبْحَانَ الله Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ honored these people.
The Story of Al-Baraa Ibn Ma'roor
First they were six, six people that went and took the pledge with the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم and then they were 12 And سُبْحَانَ الله you know some of the people that are mentioned amongst these 12 are people that you don't hear about but people that were given great blessings from Allah سُبْحَانَهُ . وَتَعَالَى
So for example, who could tell me the very first person from the Ansar to take the pledge with the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم on the day of Aqaba? Anybody in this room that can name that man? Anybody? The first person to put his hand in the hand of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم and give him the pledge of Aqaba was a man by the name of Al-Baraa Al-Baraa Ibn Ma'roor.
Al-Baraa Ibn Ma'roor رَضِيَ اللهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ. The tragedy of Al-Baraa, though he went to meet the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم and he gave him his hand and he gave him the pledge. Al-Baraa died before the Hijrah.
He actually died before the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم made it to Medina. Tragic, right? But look how amazing this is. This is the first person the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم ever prayed Salatul Janazah on.
Can you imagine that? The first person that put his hand in the hand of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم and took that pledge with him was the first person for whom the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم stood above him and prayed Salatul Janazah. Janazah was not legislated until that year, until 10 years after the
Ba'ithah, after the divine call. So you know, you don't want us to say it just so happened because it's obviously the plan of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى but Allah blessed him with being the first person to have that blessing.
The Story of As'ad ibn Zurara
One of the people that came out to meet the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمAs'ad ibn Zurara. As'ad ibn Zurara was ready to embrace the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم He set the stage. He was making the arrangements for the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم to come to Medina.
Think about how poetic this is. This guy is, you know, making sure that there's coordination between Quba' and Medina, between all of these different places, all of these different areas. So when the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم comes, he will find a home of comfort.
Guess what? When the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم got to Medina, As'ad ibn Zurara met him. They had the initial setup, As'ad ibn Zurara died and he was the first person that the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم buried in the Baqir next to Masjid An-Nabawi, in that graveyard next to the Masjid of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم.
So while he was preparing the home of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمAllah was preparing his home in Al-Baqir where the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم would be the one that would bury him, the very first janazah or the very first burial to take place in Al-Baqir next to the Masjid of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم.
The Role of Mus'ab ibn Umair
So Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى rewarded these people, As-Sabiqoon, these people amongst them that came first and that put it all on the line and all of them were able to get something from the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم and then he sent to them Mus'ab ibn Umair رَضِيَ اللهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ with that group of 12 to teach about Islam and when he sent Mus'ab, Mus'ab had a very special place in the heart of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم and he also had a very special place in Meccan society.
Mus'ab looked exactly like the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم . So there's a physical resemblance.
Mus'ab رَضِيَ اللهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ was a young man like them who's 21 and he's the ambassador of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم. Mus'ab رَضِيَ اللهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ was a person who was well-dressed, who had the best clothes, the best smelling cologne of the time. Mus'ab رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ was a fantastic representation of the صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم Prophet.
He sent Mus'ab رَضِيَ اللهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ there to Al-Madinah. Mus'ab رَضِيَ اللهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ brings back now by teaching the people one by one, the tribes, teaching them with patience. He brings back 73 new Muslim صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم converts to the Prophet.
So Mus'ab set the stage in Al-Madinah. He truly set the stage in Al-Madinah. He prepared it for the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
Both the people that he brought with him to Mecca the next time around to meet the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and the people that were in Al-Madinah that had not yet met the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم were already head-over-heels in love with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم without having seen him. They were ready to put their lives on the line for him. Why?
Because they looked at Mus'ab and they said if this is what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is producing, he must be even more amazing than the one he sent to us.
The Lesson of Being Messengers
You look at the product. If the product is sound, you're interested in the manufacturing. If the product is faulty, you assume that the manufacturing is faulty as well.
Welcome to being a messenger of the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلمeach and every single one of you. Because when people see you and you're driving in your car and I you know, there's some people you're like, I wish they wouldn't put Allahu Akbar or like why Islam or guide us TV or something on their cars to show that they're Muslim. Just keep your cars off because if you've got bumper stickers, but you're also riding people's bumpers on the highway and you're running people off the road and you're you know, you're flipping people off or cursing them out or beeping or yelling and you're not driving like a Muslim people look at you and like I knew they were terrorists.
They're terrorized on the road. You are a messenger of the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم. So when people see you, they make assumptions about Islam based on you, based upon their interaction with you.
Mus'ab رضي الله عنه did such a great job that all of that anticipation, all these people waiting on the outskirts of Ubaidah for months ready to hand over their city. The keys to their city was to a man. They'd never seen or a man.
They'd never met just because of how amazing Mus'ab رضي الله عنه was. Mus'ab set the stage. He showed them what they could also be if they followed what Mus'ab followed and if they took the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in just like Mus'ab took the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in and what happens they, you know, when they meet the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and they ask the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم you know, they're putting their lives on the line.
The Promise of Jannah
They say listen, we're not, you know, as a result of this pledge that we're taking with you. We're breaking all of our alliances because people are going to want to kill us. We are putting ourselves in a seriously
detrimental situation because there are underlying rifts in the city itself that will be amplified as a result of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم coming.
This will also create some friction between us and some of the Jewish tribes in Medina. So this is going to break us off from everybody. We're going to be alienated, isolated.
What do we get in return? What was the answer of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم? One word, Jannah. You get Jannah. Is it enough or is it not enough? No promises made except for Jannah.
That's it. You might die. You might lose all your money. You might break all your tribal alliances. You might have your house taken over, seized. All types of things are bound to happen to you right now for taking me in.
Amanda, you don't know. What do you get in return? Jannah. Is it worth it or is it not? For them, it was worth it.
The Ansar's Response
And they said:
"It's a worthwhile transaction. It's a profitable transaction."
Think about this. The people in Mecca, the tribal chiefs in Mecca were willing to turn their backs on the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم though they knew that he was on the truth because they didn't want to give up the money and the power that would have come with taking the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in as a prophet and accepting him in that way. So they listened to the Quran.
They loved it. They knew that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was a man of integrity, but it's too hefty of a price tag. These people barely know him.
They're meeting him for the first time and they're saying ربح البيع This is a profitable transaction. We're good with this. We will take this transaction.
We will give everything for the sake of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. And you know what's amazing? They didn't change. Because 10 years later when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم comes back to Mecca and conquers Mecca, takes it back.
The Conquest of Mecca and the Ansar's Loyalty
What they're thinking is that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is now going to settle in Mecca, go back home. Obviously, I mean everyone misses their hometown and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم it's not
like he hated Mecca. When he left Mecca, what did the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم do? He kissed the ground, grabbed the ground and said, he grabbed its dirt.
And he said that, you know how much I love you. But and you know, had your people not run me out, I would have never left you. That's what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said to his hometown of Mecca.
Now he gets to come back in charge, victorious. Won't he take that? So the Ansar started to worry when they got back to Mecca that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is going to leave us. And he's going to settle back home.
So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم goes and he gathers them in a tent and he meets with them and he says:
"O Ansar, what are these words that I'm hearing that are coming from you?"
And they were too shy to say to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that they were afraid that he was leaving them. They were afraid that, you know, that he was going to favor the people of Mecca now because this was his hometown at the end of the day.
:says صلى الله عليه وسلم And the Prophet
"Aren't you pleased that all of these people, they will go home with their sheep and with the clothes and with all of the, you know, the spoils of war. But you get to go home and the Messenger of Allah is amongst you?"
You get to go back to Medina and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم will be amongst you. I mean, they burst out with joy and they started to cry tears of happiness and they said:
"We're pleased with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم as our share. We're pleased with the Messenger of Allah as our share. We don't want anything else. Just come back with us."
We took you in and we knew what we were doing when we took you in. We knew the sacrifice that came with them and we want you back. Just as we took you in for no other reason, but Allah سبحانه وتعالى The love of Allah.
We want you to stay with us for no other reason but the love of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and we're willing to pay the price and take all of the sacrifice that comes with that.
Contemporary Application
Now, I want to bring this to a contemporary feel and a contemporary understanding or just something that we can take home for ourselves.
Al-Imam Al-Bukhari رحمه الله The next Hadith he puts in the book of Iman, Kitab Al-Iman is the Hadith of Abu Saeed Al-Khudri that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
"A time will come when the best property of a Muslim will be some sheep that he can take on the top of mountains and in the depths of valleys to flee with his religion from Fitna." (Sahih Bukhari 19)
That he will flee with some sheep to these obscure places to the top of mountains or to these deep valleys just so he can protect his deen. He'll flee from it all.
Why did Imam Al-Bukhari رحمه الله put this Hadith under the Hadith of the Bay'ah, the Hadith of the Pledge? Because what this Hadith says is that there would be a people whom to whom deen is more beloved to them.
Their religion is more beloved to them than everything that they possess and just like the Ansar in the beginning of Islam. We're willing to put it all on the line. For what they knew was true.
There will come a people all the way at the end of time that would put it all on the line and give everything up for what they know is the truth.
The Hadith of Similar Souls
So if you take these two Hadiths together, what are some concluding points that we can take from this إن صلى الله عليه وسلم when he met the Ansar, the Prophet رضي الله تعالى عنهم Musab ? شاء الله تعالى said:
"Souls are like conscripted soldiers. Those that used to get along in the previous realm naturally connect in this realm and those that didn't like each other before don't like each other in this dunya." (Sahih Bukhari 3336, Sahih Muslim 2638)
People of similar values, when they meet, they naturally connect. That's the idea of love for the sake of Allah سبحانه وتعالى. You meet someone and you love them only for Allah سبحانه وتعالىیright? People of similar values and ethics and standards, when they meet with one another, they connect.
The Sacrifice of Mus'ab
Musab رضي الله تعالى عنهمwhen he met with the Ansar, this was clearly a man that they felt a deep connection to. And I want you to think about what Musab represents. Musab fell on the day of Uhud, the battle of Uhud.
Not only did he fall, Musab رضي الله تعالى عنهم who used to have the best clothes, who used to represent materialism in his very being, now lay in the battlefield with not enough cloth to wrap his entire body. You cover up his top, his bottom is exposed, you cover up his bottom, then part of his top is exposed. And the Sahaba saw Musab رضي الله تعالى عنهم and the way that he was murdered on the day of Uhud, with his arms both taken off.
And they saw him there and they saw him laying there and they couldn't cover him and they cried because they remembered the Musab, this man رضي الله تعالى عنهم who represented materialism, who represented success in the worldly sense. And there he was. Sacrificed it all, doesn't even have enough cloth to cover his entire body now.
The fashion guy, the trendsetter, doesn't even have enough to cover his body now. And what that showed them, and what it shows us, is that if you're going to stand for something, then you've got to be willing, you've got to be willing to lose sleep over it. And you've got to be willing to make commitments and things are, you know, you've got to be willing to bear hardships for standing for what you believe in, for standing with that truth.
The Power of Individual Sacrifice
The Ansar represented a community of sacrifice. Musab represented a man of sacrifice, an individual of sacrifice, of selflessness. You know, they recognized that integrity when they saw him.
They recognized those qualities when they saw him. They connected with Musab because they knew that Musab was not selling them something fake. That Musab was not a hypocrite.
He wasn't coming to impose orders upon them that he himself was not willing to live by and even die by. Musab was an embodiment of sincerity and sacrifice. And so it made it easier for the entire community of the Ansar to buy in because they saw how bought in that man was.
And he proved it in Uhud. He proved it in the battle of Uhud رضي الله تعالى عنه. So they saw it in, they رضي الله تعالى عنه saw that embodiment in Musab
It only took one. It only took one, one person. سبحان اللهyou think about the great people that embody sacrifice in the American tradition.
It only takes one or two people to inspire an entire generation because they embody it. They put it all on the line, courage, sacrifice, and sometimes the story would be different if not one or two things.
The Example of Muhammad Ali
You know, you think about the legendary Muhammad Ali. If you know Muhammad Ali would have went to jail for five years as he was already sentenced to do so. He was already sentenced to go to jail. The court already ruled that way.
If he would have went to prison for five years, this might have been a very different story. But
So it was his sincerity that forced a revote that protected him from going, of course Allah
Point being, it only takes one person to inspire an entire group of people, large group of people, for willing to stay true to their values.
Closing Dua
We ask Allah
We ask Allah
Questions and Answers Session
Question 1: Forgiveness of Shirk
Question: You said if someone goes through trouble in this world, it is an expiation of sins, except for shirk. Does this mean Allah forgives all sins except for shirk? Does Allah forgive shirk?
Answer: So tomorrow (إِنْ شَاءَ اللهُ تَعَالَى) we have a whole, we have the Yaqeen conference, academic conference that will be parallel to the mass conference (إِنْ شَاءَ اللهُ تَعَالَى) and one of the first lectures is going to be on this question of salvation. The answer to that question is that shirk is the only unforgivable sin as a standard.
Why? Because it lacks even acknowledgement. Allah
with the divine. However, shirk is forgivable in the sense of a person makes tawbah from it obviously in this world and on the day of judgment Allah
As a standard shirk is not forgivable, but Allah
Question 2: Increasing Love for the Prophet
Question: [How to increase love for the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)]
Answer: First and foremost the salah ala rasoolillah (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)so constantly invoke peace and blessings upon him.
Secondly to read about him as a person. Otherwise when you approach the hadith, you're just approaching text and instruction, but to actually read about him and to develop an attachment to his character and his personality to know his shamaal, to know his appearance and his character and the way that he carried himself. All of these are means by which we increase our love of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) and then bringing in his sunnah into our lives, even if it's the small habits.
Intentionally connecting ourselves to some of his habits (عَلَيْهِ الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ) is a means of bringing him into our lives, but definitely don't ever disconnect yourself from the seerah. There is nothing, I mean reading seerah is an ibadah, it truly is an act of worship, listening to seerah is an ibadah, it's an act of worship. When people ask me like what's the best thing I can do on the way to umrah or hajj? I tell them like read a book of seerah or watch the message.
It's not the most accurate portrayal of the seerah of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)so you might not remember that movie The Message, but you know what? Connect yourself as much as you can to the seerah of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)develop an emotional attachment through learning about him and loving him, develop a practical attachment through living him (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) So through having aspects of a seerah in your life and making it a point to practice the sunnah as much as you can and develop a longing for him by mentioning him in your dua and particularly seeking that moment of meeting him (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ),looking forward to that meeting.
You know
surpasses all, even the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)meaning we should love Allah the most and we should direct our longing to him. And the irony of the believer is that the believer fears most the standing before Allah but longs most for the meeting with Allah.
I'm going to say that again, the believer fears most the standing before Allah but still longs most for the meeting with Allah. So it's like I'm afraid of what I'm going to be asked and what I'm going to be taking a task for but I can't wait to meet him. Right? To see Allah and hopefully to meet Allah while he's pleased with me.
You've been worshiping him in the unseen all this time and you followed his instruction. You thanked him for his blessings and his favor and now you get to see him. So you long for the meeting with Allah
Even though you fear his hisab, you fear him holding you accountable and taking you a task. With the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)there is the longing for that meeting because one of two things happens when you meet the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)either either you are turned away from him or he serves you from his blessed hands (عليه الصلاة والسلام).
So how is it that a person is turned away from him? It's when a person innovates in the religion or a person turns their back on the sunnah of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ).
But a person who strove to meet him and a person who strove to follow his example, the first time you meet the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ), he will be serving you. It's amazing. He's not going to ask you any questions.
He'll be serving you something to drink:
"A sweet, refreshing drink, and you will never be thirsty again."
And when a person drinks from the sweet hand of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)they will never be thirsty again.
May Allah
Question 3: Book Recommendations
Question: [Book recommendations for Seerah]
Answer: Some books, I'm going to be very honest with you. I rarely, rarely, rarely read English books in terms of Islamic studies when it comes to these things. So I rarely read in English. I did get a chance to look through that book Revelation by Miraj al-Din, is that what it is? Muhyiddin something.
Yeah, look it up (إِنْ شَاءَ اللهُ). Miraj, I think his name is Miraj al-Muhyiddin or something like that. The book is called Revelation and I recommended it to a few people and they really did love it.
So I think it's a good resource. It's a good attempt. Nothing is going to be perfect, but it seems to be a good, a good book.
So what's it? So it's called Revelation the story of Muhammad (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). The author is Miraj al- Muhyiddin. M-E-R-A-J, last name is Muhyiddin, which is spelled Muhyiddin.
It's on Amazon. Seems like a good resource.