Safina (ra): He Spoke To A Lion | The Firsts | Dr. Omar Suleiman

Welcome back to the firsts. It's been a long time, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ. Who remembers the last biography that we covered? That's not good.

It hasn't been five years, y'all. Who was the last person that we covered in the firsts? Come on. Julaibib, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ.

And who remembers before Julaibib? Zahir, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ. There was a theme that we were going by as we were coming to the end of the last season of the firsts. Now, the first thing that I will say tonight is that, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ, this is not the last of the firsts.

Contrary to what our well-dressed Shaykh said, مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ. This is not the last of the firsts. But what we're going to be doing, إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى, is replacing our Tuesday night with a series on the signs of the end, إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى, the signs of the Day of Judgment.

Why? Because there are so many questions right now about whether or not we're there, and what it means if we are there, and how we're going to process that. And so the Tuesday nights will become now, إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى, the signs of the hour for about 20 weeks, إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى. The firsts, we will continue a little bit inconsistently.

The Mawali of the Prophet ﷺ

Once a month or so, إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى, we'll get together and we'll cover some of the shorter bios, إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى, 15-20 minutes each, بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى, so that we can process some lessons. And we're going to group those biographies by theme, بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى. And so, there was a theme, at the end of the last season, that I actually wanted to start with then, and it builds off of the concept of Zahir and Julaibib and those people, may Allah be pleased with them, that were easily overlooked in the society of the Prophet ﷺ. They didn't have high tribe, they didn't have a lot of wealth, there were all sorts of constraints that would allow them to be visible in a jahili society, in a pre-Islamic society of ignorance.

But the Prophet ﷺ saw them, and he valued them, ﷺ, in a way that sent a message to the rest of the ummah. So, the next batch of biographies that we're going to do, بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى, are a very specific group amongst them, and they are not people that were freed slaves, or people of no tribe, or no distinction around the Prophet ﷺ, they're actually the mawali of the Prophet ﷺ himself. They're the freed slaves of the Prophet ﷺ himself.

The people that the Prophet ﷺ freed himself, and the Prophet ﷺ freed several people from captivity himself, that then attached themselves to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. So, these are the mawali of the Prophet ﷺ, the freed slaves of Muhammad ﷺ. When you are reading through the books of hadith, you will come through in the chain of narrators, so and so, mawla, the mawla of Rasulullah ﷺ, the freed slave of the Prophet ﷺ. Now, of the characteristics of these biographies, they're not like Bilal, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ, or Khabbab, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ, or Zayd ibn Haritha, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ, where you have deep, long biographies. A lot of these are very quiet individuals, and you have one or two narrations about them. But that one or two narrations gives you something so profound to work with, and to think about, بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى.

So, there are a lot of practical lessons that we derive from each of these, beyond simply the excellence of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ towards these people. Because clearly, the Prophet ﷺ was a man who treated the downtrodden with such excellence, that they never wanted to leave his side. And you can think about a society, not just with slavery, slavery was all over the world, right? Slavery is the rule of the world, right? But cruel and harsh conditions, and the abuse, and the way that a person could not wait for the person that technically owned them to die.

And what you'll find consistently with these freed slaves who attach themselves to the Prophet ﷺ, is that they had the opposite reaction. That their greatest honor was being attached to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and their greatest tragedy was the death of the Prophet ﷺ. So these individuals, you can often capture a story or two, with the exception of one that we're going to cover tonight, بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى, or we'll cover next, which will be Thawban رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ, who has a long biography. Otherwise, it's usually just a few snippets, a few snapshots, and I want us to focus on the underlying themes, بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى.

Safina: The Ship

So the first person that we will cover, is actually someone whose name came to my mind, with the flotillas to Gaza, the ships sailing towards Gaza. And I remember, سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ, with the biggest flotilla that was sent, or the delegation of flotillas that was sent last year. I really wanted to talk about this companion of the Prophet ﷺ, but I ran out of time.

Because there was something so symbolic about that, right? Seeing the ships going towards Gaza. May Allah break its siege, and may Allah liberate its oppressed ones. اللَّهُمَّ آمِينَ.

And by the way, side note, the delegation of flotillas continues. I actually spoke to the organizers a few days ago. They, إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى, plan to send another delegation of flotillas, بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى. May Allah protect them and grant them success. اللَّهُمَّ آمِينَ. The reason why I wanted to talk about this sahabi is because his name is Safina.

رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ. Ship. His name is Safina.

If you see the name Safina, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ, in the books of narration, it's talking about this single companion, Safina, the son of who? We don't know. But his name is Safina, mawla Rasulullah ﷺ, Safina, the freed slave of the Prophet ﷺ. His kunya, because he does have children, is Abu Abdur-Rahman. So he's the father of Abu Abdur-Rahman.

Safina to Abu Abdur-Rahman, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ. وَقَدْ قِيلَ أَبُو الْبُخْتَرِي. And it's said also Abu'l-Bukhtari, that that was the oldest son as well.

And before he became mawla Rasulullah ﷺ, the freed slave of the Prophet ﷺ, he was a slave of Umm Salama, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهَا. A slave of Umm Salama, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهَا. And we'll talk about the story of how he becomes then a freed slave of the Prophet ﷺ. لَهُ صُحْبَةٌ, he was a companion of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And there are a few narrations that will be narrated from him.

The Story of His Name

Now what is his actual name? His actual name. When someone's kunya is the name, I'm sorry, when someone's nickname is what they are narrated by, then the actual name is often disputed. And in his case, the name is either Rabah or Mihran or Ruman or Qais.

There are four different names that are narrated as possibly being his actual name, Rabah or Mihran or Ruman or Qais. Four names that might have been his name. But Safina is the actual name that he goes by.

For the one incident that exists between him and the Prophet ﷺ that we have, that is documented. So how does this man come into the life of the Prophet ﷺ? We go back to Umm Salama ﷺ who the Prophet ﷺ would marry in a very profound gesture after the loss of her husband Abu Salama ﷺ when she thought that no one was better than Abu Salama. Abu Salama being one of the core first companions of the Prophet ﷺ, one of the people of the two hijras, one of the martyrs, veterans of Badr, someone with a high status.

And Umm Salama ﷺ says, I never thought that I could possibly be married to a man better than Abu Salama. And so she refused the proposals of every single person. So she says, لَمَّا تُوُفِّيَ أَبُو سَلَمَةَ قُلْتُ مَنْ خَيْرٌ مِنْ أَبِي سَلَمَةَ Who is better than Abu Salama? When he passed away, who is better than Abu Salama? She's talking about her own process.

And one of those who narrates from her is Safina. So these are her thoughts and she's thinking to herself, who could be better than Abu Salama? Then she says, the proposal of the Prophet ﷺ came to me after the famous du'a that the Prophet ﷺ taught her to say:

Oh Allah, compensate me with my tragedy and give me better than what you took away from me.

We talked about this in detail in the biography of Umm Salama ﷺ And then she saw the Prophet ﷺ coming to marry her. Now when the Prophet ﷺ proposed to her, this is the one man that it was indisputable was better than Abu Salama.

She could say, my husband was better than Abu Bakr and Umar. No one would be mad at her. If she said my husband was better than even those companions of the Prophet ﷺ. But the Prophet ﷺ himself, he is the best of the best ﷺ. And so when this happens, what did she do? And this is where Safina comes into the picture.

From Umm Salama to the Prophet ﷺ

Umm Salama ﷺ freed Safina. She freed Safina ﷺ. وَشَرَطَتْ عَلَيْهِ خِدْمَةَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مَا عَاشَ She said, but I free you on one condition. Not in a contract or in a sense of bondage or slavery, but that you serve the Prophet ﷺ for as long as you live.

That you be in the khidmah of the Prophet ﷺ as long as you live. So he becomes Safina to Mawla Rasulullah ﷺ, the freed slave of the Prophet ﷺ. He's not a slave. He's not under bondage, but he is indebted and he serves the Prophet ﷺ to the best of his ability.

And so he becomes amongst those that is often with the Prophet ﷺ. So what is Safina ﷺ become in the life of the Prophet ﷺ or where does he most find himself in the khidmah of the Prophet ﷺ? During his journeys, during his safar. When the Prophet ﷺ would travel, Safina ﷺ would travel with the Prophet ﷺ. Again, his name is not actually Safina. So where did he get that name from? And what is the story of it? He actually narrates it himself.

So if you asked him who he was, he would say my name is Safina. He says that كُنَّا مَعَ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ فِي سَفَرٍ That one day, we were with the Prophet ﷺ on a journey. And he says that while we were traveling, I was carrying as much as I could on behalf of the Prophet ﷺ and his companions.

So I was demonstrating a higher capacity. He wanted to be the most productive member of the caravan. رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ And so he says, so people would give me their swords. And then after someone would give me their sword, another person would give me their armor. And another person would give me their sword. Another person would give me their armor.

Until I started to carry a huge bunch. And you can imagine how the Prophet ﷺ looked at people like that that wanted to do a larger share than what was expected of them. We have the whole incident of Ammar ibn Yasir رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ who was carrying two bricks.

That became the whole basis of our campaign of carrying a brick. So the Prophet ﷺ looks at him while he's carrying this huge load on the journey. And the Prophet ﷺ says مَا أَنْتَ إِلَّا سَفِينَةٌ It's as if, وَاللَّهِ, you're a ship. You're a ship. You're a Safina. So he took on that identity.

I'm a Safina. I am a ship. From the day that the Prophet ﷺ called him that. And so he used to introduce himself. And he used to say that the Prophet ﷺ praised me and said you are but a Safina. You are but a ship. And so my name is Safina. I am a ship. And سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ, in that, if you just took the tangent on that.

The Sunnah of Beautiful Nicknames

The ulama, when they comment on this, they comment on it from a few different things. Obviously, وَلَا تَنَابَزُوا بِالْأَلْقَابِ People used to put bad nicknames on people. And they used to call them by the ugliest of things. They used to call them by a deformity. Or they used to call them by something عيب, some sort of flaw that they had. The Prophet ﷺ used to not only change people's bad names to good names if their name had a bad meaning.

He would actually nickname people with good nicknames. And that became their identity for the rest of their lives. And it became something precious that they held on to. Like the Prophet ﷺ gave me a good nickname. And so, the opposite of وَلَا تَنَابَزُوا بِالْأَلْقَابِ When Allah says don't call people by derogatory names. Instead, call them by beautiful names.

So it shows you the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ in that regard. To not just change bad names to good names, but to call people only by the best of nicknames. The second thing is how when you give someone a good nickname, then that can become an identity shift for that person.

This becomes now the identity that Safina is going to place on himself strength and capacity for the rest of his life. And so, the ulema speak about this from the perspective of parenting. التَّرْبِيَةُ First of all, the sunnah of how you name your child in the first place.

Naming your child is important. I've spoken about this many, many, many times. And may Allah help us. Like the names of the sahaba are disappearing in the naming schemes. Good names are disappearing in the naming schemes. We've lived to see a time where, I'll never forget, when we named our daughter Khadija.

هَذَا اسْمٌ قَدِيمٌ That's an old name. I was like, what in the world does an old name mean? Khadija is an old name. As if there's something wrong with it.

That you name them either by a person or a quality that you want them to be. You want them to live up to a quality and so you name them either by a person or a quality you want them to be. As Ibn Qayyim says, the name is a niyyah. It's an intention. I want my child to be this. The second thing is, when a person calls out to their children, when they reprimand them, the Prophet ﷺ warned us from using a bad nickname.

Because that bad nickname can become a du'a. So you call your child a whatever it is, and that actually becomes like a means of cursing them. And putting them down. Not only embedded in their psychology, but they start to live into that like, my parents call me this. And even when it comes to friends with each other or siblings with one another. This isn't just parents or a teacher to a student.

On the other hand, to name the good quality of a person and then to help them craft an identity around that quality. You're smart. You're intelligent. You're strong. مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ you're so empathetic. مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ you care about people. مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ you never backbite. You're this person. You're that person.

To give them a quality to live up to. So Safina, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ, took this one interaction that he has with the Prophet ﷺ that's documented, and he crafts an entire identity from that, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ, and this is the only narration we have between him and the Prophet ﷺ.

After the Prophet's Death

Now let's move beyond that just a little bit, إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى, about what his life looked like, and then we'll move on, بِسْمِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى.

After the death of the Prophet ﷺ, he resided in a place called Batn Nakhla, which was a valley between Mecca and Taif, and so he kind of avoided the political scene. He wasn't someone that was very involved in these types of things, and his contract with Umm Salama, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهَا, was that you're free, you serve the Prophet ﷺ as long as he lives, ﷺ. Once the Prophet ﷺ died, he no longer was bound by anything, so he lived a quiet life, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ, but one of the most famous narrations of Al-Karamat.

Al-Karamat are the miracles of the righteous people. It comes from Safina, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ. So to make the distinction between two types of miracles that we have, you have a Mu'jiza.

A Mu'jiza is a miracle of a Prophet, and a Mu'jiza poses a challenge as well. So it's not just a sign of piety, it poses a challenge as well. So the Quran is the greatest Mu'jiza. The miracle of parting the sea of Musa ﷺ, the miracle of raising the dead of Isa ﷺ, all of these are Mu'jizat.

Karamat al-awliya, a Karama is a miracle that a righteous person has. It's not used as a challenge to a people, it's not used to introduce any type of Burhan, any type of proof. It is merely a gift that Allah gives to a righteous person, in a very difficult circumstance, as a result of their Taqwa or their Tawakkul, their piety, or their reliance on Allah.

Allah praise these two qualities. Whoever has Taqwa, piety, Allah will make for them a way out, and will provide for them from places they never expected, and whoever demonstrates their Tawakkul, their trust in Allah, then Allah will be enough for them.

The Famous Miracle with the Lion

So what is his famous miracle, karamah that is narrated? Safina was on a Safina. Safina was on a Safina. So you remember the story إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى. I'm actually being serious. He was on a Safina. He was on one of the expeditions on the water. And it's generally mentioned that he fought and he strove in jihad, but which battles, any particular moment, not necessarily, except for this moment, that he was one day on a ship, and that ship lost its way.

It basically broke down. And he ended up on an island. And while they were on that island, a lion came. Now when this lion approached, what do you do if you're on a boat, and the boat breaks down, and you end up on an island, and a lion approaches you? This is what you learn in the first. Probably run. Try to calm it down. Try to feed it something else. Maybe feed it someone else. But this is actually one of the most famous karamat that's narrated from the sahabah of the Prophet, because it was so vivid.

Safina رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ, as the lion starts to approach, he says to the lion, أَيُّهَا الْأَسَدُ، أَنَا صَفِينَةُ مَوْلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ.

Oh lion, I am Safina, the freed slave of the Prophet ﷺ. And سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ, when he says that, the lion stops in his tracks, and he says, فَدُلَّنِي عَلَى طَرِيقٍ. Guide us across this path.

And the lion humbles itself, and becomes a guide for the companions of the Safina. As a result of that, the companions of the ship. This is actually one of the most famous karamat that's narrated about the sahabah, because imagine the sight, and the scene, and the tawakkul, and the I know who I am, أَنَا صَفِينَةُ مَوْلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ.

I am the freed slave of the Prophet ﷺ. He didn't say, I am the son of so and so, or I am akram al-arab, none of that nonsense. I am the freed slave of the Prophet ﷺ.

And there are two things that come out of this. Beyond just the obvious taqwa and tawakkul, the piety of the man, and his trust in Allah. One of them is that Rasulullah ﷺ was honored not just by the people, but honored سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ even by the animals, and honored even by the trees ﷺ, and honored by the creation of Allah.

So his saying that I am mawla Rasulullah ﷺ, put the lion in its place. As if Allah caused the recognition of that lion from the moment that this man served the Prophet ﷺ. Therefore I will serve him. That's why he said, So instead you become a guide, instead of being a predator towards me, I command you to become a guide because I serve the Prophet ﷺ. And so the lion became a servant to him as a result of his service to the messenger of Allah ﷺ.

And of course the next point that we take from that is what we learn of the difference between a mu'jiza and a karama. Which Prophet used to command the animals? Sulaiman ﷺ. So the ulama mentioned that whatever was given to one of the awliya, one of the sahabah or the righteous ones, was something that the Prophets before them did and so their miracles are extensions of that miracle. Of course Sulaiman ﷺ didn't command one lion. Sulaiman ﷺ commanded armies of animals. But Allah gives you an extension of that one miracle and so this becomes his, a miracle that is in the books of karamat.

And سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ he even says by the way that the sound the way that the lion responded or the way that the lion nodded he said, فَظَنَنْتُ أَنَّهُ يَعْنِي سَلَامٌ. As if he was giving me salam. It's as if the lion was giving me salam as he then moved me to the next place. So this is Safina رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ.

His Later Life and Narrations

He lived until the year 70 after hijrah. So he lived a very long life. There are 14 ahadith that are narrated or preserved for him. And his narrations are narrated by his sons Umar and Abdurrahman. He was also encountered by and narrated from by Imam Hassan al-Basri رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى and some of the others of the tabi'een.

One of the consequential narrations about him when it comes to al-fitan, when it comes to the trials and the tribulations, because he did live to see the fitna, but he didn't used to participate in the political arena, but he lived to see the fitna. And سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ, this quiet actor in the sense of being present in the life of the Prophet ﷺ, remembers or mentions the narration of the Prophet ﷺ as a way of quelling some of the fitan that were taking place, the trials and tribulations that were taking place.

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4646)

and so some of the ulama mentioned سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ the quiet companion who was hearing and listening in, and he weighs in at a consequential moment in the time of the ummah as they're trying to figure out how they should act with the fitan that are unfolding, and though he had nothing of a large scholarship to offer to the ummah, this consequential truth was preserved in this very quiet man رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ who Allah blessed with an amazing miracle and also a tradition of how to nickname, a tradition of how to nickname رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ, so he lived long enough to see what the Prophet ﷺ had predicted and prophesized in that regard, and all we know of him is what the Prophet ﷺ described him as and the question that we take from that by the way is like, if the Prophet ﷺ saw you what would he nickname you?

Reflection: What Would the Prophet ﷺ Nickname You?

what would the Prophet ﷺ have nicknamed you? because if you start to work through that methodology then you start to realize that Allah and the angels, perhaps they have another name for you, perhaps you have a nickname in the heavens and they call you by something, what is the one good quality that the Prophet ﷺ would have nicknamed you and Allah and the angels would nickname you