You Ruled and you were Just. You felt Safe, so you Slept

You Ruled and You Were Just, You Felt Safe So You Slept

By: Omar Suleiman - MASCON2018

Opening

I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, his companions, and all who follow him.

Introduction: The Beloved Character of Umar

So I actually want to as we pick up now with the story of Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ What I'd like to do is actually compare not styles but circumstances and to sort of understand better how these two would be looked at in the spectrum of how things are unfolding.

Number one, you know, the saying, the title of this session about Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ . Umar is the companion that everybody falls in love with, everybody wants to be, everyone looks at Umar and says I'm going to be that guy and he just has such a story to him الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ that's very profound and truly Allah put the love of Umar in the hearts of people where you read about him and you feel an instant connection to him.

And the thing is that the standard of justice that he set is absolutely remarkable and the character of his is so distinguished to where once you get to know Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ through his character, then even his harsh moments become endearing because you start to realize what place Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ acts from.

The Famous Story: Hormuz and the Sleeping Caliph

The story of the saying that is a line of poetry about Umar it's a very famous incident where هُرْمُزَان (Hormuzan) who was one of the leaders of Persia is in Medina and he asks where أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (Amirul Mu'mineen) is, where the leader, the commander of the believers is.

And his idea is that this is going to be a very pompous man - the name of Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ has spread throughout the world and the greatest quality of Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ or that which is associated with him is a sense of power.

And the Persians, their emperors were very pompous, they lived in huge palaces they had very lavish things and so the idea was I wonder what type of palace this great Khalifa Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ lives in? I wonder what type of a person he is, I wonder what type of things he possesses?

So he comes into Medina and he asks to see Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ . So they go first to the house of Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ and they don't find him there. They then go to the masjid and they don't find him there.

And then they find the most powerful man in the world at the time sleeping out in the open under a tree with his shoes under his head and one leg on top of the other and he is taking the nap of his life with no bodyguards whatsoever just out in the open.

And you know think about any head of state right now taking a nap out in the open with no bodyguards under a tree and not having to worry about themselves - that's very special that Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ had set the type of environment.

The Famous Verse About Umar

And you know the Persian rulers were very used to lots of bodyguards and as you would see particularly the hyper paranoia the way that the average Persian kingdom would last about three months once you know once the time of Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ stops it's rebellion after rebellion after rebellion - this person kills this person, this person kills this person, this person overthrows this person.

So the idea of the most powerful man in the world sleeping out in the open with no worries and no concerns in the world was just mind-blowing to him. So he made that statement:

"You ruled, فَعَلْتَ - and you ruled with justice, فَأَمِنْتَ - and so God bestowed upon you a great sense of security فَنِمْت - and so you were able to sleep out in the open."

So again حکمت - you ruled فَعَدَلْتَ - and you ruled with justice and because you ruled with justice Allah gave you a great sense of security فَأَمِنْتَ and so you were able to sleep out in the open in this way.

The Just Ruler: First Among the Seven

And the description of Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ - may Allah be pleased with him - actually when he entered into Jerusalem without shedding a single drop of blood one of the patriarchs said to him that we read that the keys of Jerusalem would be given to a man حَاكِمًا عَادِلًا - a just ruler, a just ruler.

And so the best way to describe Umar is as a just ruler and the great gem of that is that the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ mentioned that the very first person - I'm sorry the person from the seven categories - the

first person mentioned in the hadith of the seven categories of those who are shaded by the throne of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ on the day of judgment is what? First person is إمَامٌ عَادِلٌ )a) just ruler(.

And so that represents security and safety in the hereafter that you're under the shade of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ's throne and that description is literally the description of Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ . There's no person in history who you can find identifying more with "just ruler" then Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ may Allah be pleased with him. And so he has a great sense of security not just in this life but in the hereafter as well.

Justice as the Foundation of Mercy

And one of the things that that's very important to take from here is that the most beloved quality of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ - attribute of Allah - is what? What's the most beloved attribute of Allah? Mercy. But the description here that's given is not a merciful ruler but a just ruler.

And it gives you some pause for reflection that it's not a merciful ruler - a just ruler - even though

"have mercy to those on this earth and the one who is in the heavens will have mercy upon you."

(Abu Dawud 4941)

And the way that some of the scholars mentioned that is one of the reasons why or the reason why it's not a merciful ruler but a just ruler is that even though mercy is Allah's most beloved trait, without justice mercy cannot prevail, without justice mercy cannot prevail in its most wholesome form.

I was just listening to Dr. Cornel West in Canada and a lot of people not understanding what he was talking about in Canada but obviously doing Cornel West things and he has this saying and he mentioned it there too: "Justice is what love looks like in public, just like tenderness is what love looks like in private."

I'm gonna say that again, sorry: "Justice is what love looks like in public, just like tenderness is what love feels like in private."

And so what the ulama mentioned here is that justice sets the stage in the public domain so that oppression cannot take place in the first place. Mercy is usually shown to victims of oppression and so if injustice is eradicated in the first place, there are two types of رَحْمَة )rahma) - at least these are two categories of رحمة

1. There is mercy that you show to one who is oppressed and that's a form of compassion
2. And then there is إحْسَان )ihsan) as in an elevated form of compassion above justice

And so mercy cannot flourish or إحْسان cannot flourish in its highest sense unless justice properly sets the stage. It puts everyone on even grounding so that people can aspire to their highest selves and that's the

best thing that a ruler can do right, that an authority can do is to set people, to put people in a position where they can aspire to their highest selves.

And so the most beloved person, the closest person to Allah is a just ruler - he sets the stage so that compassion can flourish in society.

The Prophet's Dream About Abu Bakr and Umar

And there is a hadith of the Prophet where the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ saw this dream. Who is better Abu Bakr or Umar? Virtue wise Abu Bakr is better than Umar in terms of virtue - there is no doubt about it. But the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ saw this dream of Abu Bakr drawing water and Abu Bakr had some weakness in drawing that water and so Umar came and took the bucket from him and he drew water with more strength than Abu Bakr and he quenched the thirst of everybody in there including the animals, everyone that was there.

And that was the ability of Umar to serve as a vessel for Allah's guidance, for Allah's justice that Umar was a man through whom Allah chose to spread so much good that he's like that man that's just drawing from this well of guidance and able to spread it all over.

And of course Abu Bakr was dealing with a very unique situation which is the first person to take over after the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ has the most difficult job of establishing a sense of clarity in the message itself. So you're more focused on preservation in that first phase after the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ . Umar was more focused on spreading so it kind of represents their roles, their respective roles as well.

Contrasting Leadership Styles: Umar vs. Uthman

So to sort of contrast Umar and Uthman's styles in this regard, one of the people that would be a troublemaker in the time of Umar who did a lot of what Uthman or the people, the rebels in the time of Uthman did, was someone that would start to pose all these baseless questions, someone that would start to just confuse people by just creating all of this fog.

The Case of Usaybeer and Hakeem Ibn Jabalah

And one of these men was named حَكِيم بْن جَبَلَة (Hakeem Ibn Jabalah). Hakeem Ibn Jabalah so Hakeem Ibn Jabalah he was a highway robber and he used to go around and create a lot of confusion and the same types of things that he used to do in the time of Uthman.

There was another man by the name of أُصَيْبِير (Usaybeer). So these are the first people that are sort of stirring up the trouble in the Ummah of Muhammad صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ . So this man's name is Usaybeer and Usaybeer used to also - he started doing a lot of what these people were doing in terms of posing these questions and creating all of this fog and creating dissension in the Ummah.

So Usaybeer happened in Umar's time, Hakeem Ibn Jabalah happened in Uthman's time. Usaybeer, when Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ found out about Usaybeer, he lashed him, he took him, he lashed him, he isolated him from the public, he punished him pretty severely. He didn't torture him but the point is that he was detained and he was kept away from the dissension and the trouble that he was stirring up and Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ whipped him.

Years later when the rebels in the time of Uthman came to Usaybeer, because he sort of had that reputation as being the troublemaker in the time of Umar and Umar is dead now, Uthman is in charge. Hakeem Ibn Jabalah goes to him and others go to him and they say to him are you ready to do this again? Are you ready to join this revolt?

Usaybeer lifts his shirt up and he shows his back where he's got the marks from the lashing and he says:

"The righteous man taught me a lesson" - like I'm done with this.

So yes, Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ was definitely more heavy handed in terms of dealing with these types of things as a ruler as opposed to Uthman رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ who had a very hands off approach and you can see what that translated into in terms of the fitna growing that Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ really dealt with it in the very beginning and that was Umar's style.

The Case of the Christian Man in Egypt

You had the Christian man in Egypt who was a client and he was racing with the son of عمرو بن العاص (Amr bin As) and the son of Amr bin As was racing with him in Egypt and as the Christian man beat him in the race he took a whip and he hit him on the head with it and he said how dare you compete with me? I'm a noble man, the son of a noble man. So he praised himself.

The Christian man complained to Umar. Umar brought them all to Medina - the Christian man, the son of Amr who was a great companion of the prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - and he handed the Christian man the whip and he said you can put the whip on both of their heads.

And he said why Amr? He said because his son lashed you in his name. So to put everyone back in a humble place, to sort of equalize the situation, he says you need to - you don't just get to take your vengeance on the man who hit you, this is justice, but also the man in whose name you were hit because he faulted Amr for not curbing that arrogance in his son.

This was also a special type of تربية tarbiyah). It's not قصاص qisas), it's not the actual type of allotment that would take place in a case like this, but Amr was very close to Umar and Umar also wanted this to be a moment of تزييّة, a moment of mentorship for Amr that it was in your name that your son acted this way so you should have done more to curb the arrogance that came out of your son where he thought

Umar's Character: Harshness with Purpose

But what made Amr special? Amr's harshness was not personal and everyone knew that Amr was harsher on himself than anybody else and that when he was harsh on you he wasn't harsh on you out of being mean spirited but because he wanted you to grow to your best self.

So Amr's harshness on himself - and this is very important, it's very easy to want to be the Amr who disciplines people, it is very hard to be the Amr who disciplines himself. It's very easy to hold the stick of Amr, it's very hard to stand in the (قِيَام qiyam) of Amr.

You cannot be harsh with people unless you're that much harsher with yourself and that's the thing with Amr, everyone knew that he held himself to a higher standard so he wasn't a hypocrite. He didn't hold you to a standard that was unreasonable or that he didn't hold himself to. It was well meaning and it wasn't mean spirited and he didn't do anything to humiliate anybody. He did things to set a tone, to set a culture of justice.

Amr was not humiliating Amr, Amr was setting a culture of justice in his rule, in his khilafa and that was the way that he collected himself, he conducted himself.

Universal Justice

Also Amr's justice was never selective. It applied to Muslims, it applied to non-Muslims, it applied to people that were noble, people that were slaves, it applied to male and female, it applied to everybody, across race, across economic class. His justice was not selective.

You can't point to a time where Amr withheld his justice because it was inconvenient to carry out justice in that moment or because there was a personal bias. He always maintained that standard and he invited his ummah to hold him accountable the way he held them accountable and that's just remarkable.

The Incident with Salman al-Farsi

How many of you guys took the class I taught on Salman al-Farsi? Not many of you. So this is the incident, it's really powerful.

Amr stands up in front of the ummah and he says

"listen and obey," which was the way that a head of state would start in addressing the ummah, you know, listen and obey, as I'm about to give the orders, right?

سلمان (Salman) stands up and says:

"I swear by Allah we will not listen to you nor will we obey you."

Amr is the khalifa, he's of the most noble in terms of lineage, he's in a position of power. Salman (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ) is a Persian migrant, right, who rose to prominence by his knowledge and his closeness to the prophet (صَلَّى ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). He's definitely not as strong as Amr (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ) and he has the audacity to stand up and to challenge him that way.

Amr doesn't say to him sit down and don't you ever do that again or wait till we're in private and then come talk to me. Amr says to him, why are you saying that? He actually asks him, why won't you listen to me and consider what I'm saying? There must be a legitimate reason so can you tell me what's holding you back?

So he said, when you distributed the cloths from the treasury, you gave everyone one piece of cloth but you reserved two for yourself.

And you know as I said in the Salman class, can you imagine that being our only complaint with Muslim rulers today? Like that would be great, like hey Sisi, MBS, what's going on here, can you guys you know, why are you taking two cloths for yourself, two (ثَوْب (thawb) for yourself and only giving one توب to everybody else?

Can you imagine if that was the nature of our complaints? There's a reason why the guy can sleep under a tree and not worry about anything because that's the type of care that he shows to his Ummah, that that's the expectation that he created.

Amr (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ) doesn't say like give me a break Salman, like I'm the Khalifa, I take two cloths and you take one. Instead Amr (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ) says, where's my son (عَبْد ٱللَّهِ (Abdullah)? So he points to Abdullah and he asks Abdullah to explain the situation.

So Abdullah stands up and Abdullah bin Amr says my father is a very tall man so I gave him my cloth so that he could sew his cloth and my cloth together so it could fit him as a garment.

So Salman (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ) goes:

"Okay, now we hear and now we obey," and he sits back down.

That's the culture in the Khilafah of Amr. That's incredible, inviting accountability like that, shows you, you know when people - let me tell you, this is where you know that your trailblazing for justice and your outrage for good is based out of ego and not for Allah when you're held accountable by the same measures and you react with ego.

If Amr reacted with ego, then you would know that the harshness he supposedly displayed, and the way that he held people to a standard, came out of (نَفْس (nafs), came out of self, not for Allah. But the fact that he created a culture where you could hold him accountable, and he invited that accountability, and actually said to the people around him let not one of you see a flaw in me except that you point it out. I want to know, I want to know if I'm doing something wrong, I want to know if I'm sinful, I want to know if I'm being too harsh.

Where a young child could come to Amr - so Amr didn't speak in abstract right. Like Amr has this famous saying that he lost sleep at night because he feared Allah, or he feared that Allah would hold him accountable for a donkey complaining against him on the day of judgment in Iraq because he did not properly pave the road. He feared that that donkey would testify to Allah against him.

Like he's got a lot of big things to worry about, but for him, that donkey is part of my flock so it's under my rule, I gotta take care of that donkey right. So it's not like Amr said that, and then people said, oh that's so beautiful and that's so sweet. Literally any person, any woman or child, any man, woman, child, male, female, king, servant, wherever it is could walk up to Amr and say to him

"fear Allah" and he would cry and say why? Tell me what I need to do better.

So he set a culture.

Practical Lessons for Today

So I actually want to give a very very practical lesson here for all of you social media hot take people alright, for everyone that likes to weigh in on social media. Consider the tone you have with other people would you accept that tone for yourself? And do you use an even harsher tone with yourself when you're disciplining your (نَفْس (nafs)?

There are two different things:

Number one: When someone talks to you, gives you a taste of your own medicine, how do you react right? If you react with ego and foul, you know, and you're foul and you're aggressive that means that you're only, you're operating out of نَفْس you're not operating out of Allah.

The other thing is: The tone that you use when you're all alone by yourself and disciplining yourself should be even stronger than the tone that you use for anybody else right. So it's a measure that you actually consider yourself, you weigh yourself against.

Like wait a minute why do I, why am I strict on people? Why am I hard on people? And what you'll realize is that what gave Omar the license to be that hard on people was that that was actually the place that he was operating from, so he wasn't calling you to a place he wasn't at already right. So it's not just being harsh on people because they're doing something wrong, it's on living up to the standard that you call other people to live up to.

Omar did that and everyone knew it. Not that Omar put on this like PR campaign, like Omar didn't tell people, you know about his qiyam, or didn't tell people about his secret good deeds, or didn't tell people about his private acts of disciplining himself. But it was so obvious in the way he carried himself. It was just obvious that the man was a person who intensely would undergo spiritual purification. It was so obvious in his character, it was obvious in his humility, it was obvious that he operated out of a sense of justice from a place of conviction and not from some place of it being personal.

Starting with Family

The first people he held accountable were his family, so he wasn't, you know he started off in creating that culture in his household, and that's why the greatest gift that Omar (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ) gave to us were his children. عَبْدِ ٱللَّهِ بْن عُمَر (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ) preserved the sunnah حفصة (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهَا) preserved the Quran. The greatest gift Omar (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ) gave to us is two kids that were like him.

He taught his child Abdullah to love the sunnah as much as he loved it, and Abdullah even surpassed Omar (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ) in some respects, not in virtue but in some respects he even surpassed Omar (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ). So by creating that culture not just in the ummah, but in his house as well, and everyone knew it.

As we said before, the poorest house in the ummah was Omar's house, and that was a saying that the people used to have that there is no faqr ( فَقْر ) there is no poverty in the ummah of Muhammad (صَلَّى ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ) like the poverty in the house of Omar.

No one placed that expectation on himself - he put on him, he placed that expectation on himself. No one put that expectation on him, no one told him that you have to hold yourself to that standard but Omar (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ) did not feel like it was appropriate if people were in poverty on his watch that he himself be in a state of well-being.

He used to say, Omar (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ):

"How can I claim to be a shepherd of my flock when I am not struck with what my flock is struck with?"

So if my flock is struck with hardship, I need to feel that hardship. If they're struck with pain I need to feel that pain, poverty, I need to feel that poverty, and that was his style of leadership.

Umar's Growth in Leadership

Another thing of Omar (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ) that's probably underestimated about his leadership is that Omar (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ) always grew - and I'm not talking about physically, he was a big man - but you know what's really interesting, many of the things that Omar (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ) objected to when he wasn't in leadership, he himself did.

Not hypocritical but for example, leniency that Omar (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ) thought was undue or objected to when he was not the khalifa himself. If he objected to leniency shown on the part of the Prophet (صَلَّى ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) or Abu Bakr, he himself would show that same leniency and that's important.

So once again, a lesson for us in our personal lives - it's very easy to make bold statements when there are no consequences to your words. Like the only thing you have to worry about is someone disliking your status but there are no consequences to what you say, so you can be bold, you can make the most audacious sensationalist and just attention grabbing statements on every single issue and claim awesomeness out of that.

But the reality is that there are no consequences to what you're saying. When you actually are in a position of leadership, things change to where you have to consider things and this is probably one of my favorite things in terms of having had the blessing to الحمد لله be around a lot of people that grew into positions of leadership is to see how they matured into those positions right. So you could see that they grew and that they got it, and even leadership could be being in charge of your youth, being in charge of your (أُسْرَة (usrah), being in charge of some department or some effort, some work.

But you get it now like okay I have to be more responsible, I have to be more measured. That does not mean cowardice, that's not cowardice. Recklessness is not courage, okay. Being measured is not cowardice. I just have to think these things through better because my words have more consequences now.

Examples of Umar's Evolved Leadership

Umar (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ) when he positioned himself and he was the challenger to the leniency that he felt like was being shown, when Umar (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ) grew into that leadership, he wasn't arrogant, he exercised leniency as well, in some very important and crucial matters.

So if I was to tell you for example Umar (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ) or Uthman which one do you think raised the salaries of all government workers because he didn't want them to be susceptible to bribery? It was Umar.

If I didn't tell you that, if I just gave you the profile of Umar and the profile of Uthman and I said which one of them do you think raised the salaries of all of the ulama and all of the state workers because he didn't want them to fall to bribery, you would think Uthman. Uthman's the generous one, but Umar (رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُ) took advice from people like Uthman.

If I was to tell you that someone lifted the (حَدّ (hadd), lifted the punishment for theft because the ummah was in famine and people got into a position where they needed to steal to eat and to live and someone said there's no punishment for theft. The khalifa of the time said there's no punishment for theft. Your mind not knowing who it was would go to Uthman but it was Umar.

So Umar رضي الله عنه was not, you know, he was not limited by his justice right, he wasn't limited by his sense of justice. He had the right people around him and he grew and this was reflective of his personal تزكية (tazkiyah) because personal spirituality means consistent growth, right, so that reflects itself in his leadership as well.

Usually people that are very justice oriented become extremely unreasonable. Umar رضي الله عنه was not unreasonable. He thought about things, he was careful, he took advice from people, again as we said and he grew out of those things.

Umar's Final Moments

Lastly and then we'll go to Q&A, what time is it? Okay so lastly one point on Umar رضي الله عنه that I just find very beautiful about him and his personality in regards to leadership and where his concern, where his heart was always at.

When Umar رضي الله عنه was stabbed - so he's in the masjid leading salah and he was stabbed - number one the pretext of that, that the man who stabbed him. Umar رضي الله عنه was threatened by him. He saw him outside polishing his arrows, doing something and Umar رضي الله عنه said something to him. He made a comment at Umar and I can't recall what the exact comment was but the comment reflected a threat to Umar and Umar told the people around him that he just threatened to kill me.

They said why don't you do anything about it? He said because he was ambiguous, it's not fair. That's my interpretation of what he just said. I think the guy just threatened to kill me but I'm not gonna pre-empt it and go after him.

When (أبو لؤلؤة - Abu Lu'lu) stabbed him in the masjid as he was praying, the very first concern that Umar رضي الله عنه had, the first question he asks is what? Was it a Muslim who stabbed me or not?

That's subhanAllah, that's, you know people are thinking at that point now you know, what are you thinking about in those last moments? Umar رضي الله عنه is asking the man who stabbed me was it a Muslim or not?

And you know they said that he wasn't a Muslim and Umar رضي الله عنه said:

"Alhamdulillah, Allah did not allow me to be killed by a person who says la ilaha illallah."

That would be painful to my heart to bear and the consequences of that going forward of a Muslim killing a Muslim leader would be detrimental. So his concern was for himself in the hereafter and his concern was for the believers after him with the precedent that that would set. And indeed Ali and Uthman were both killed by Muslims, by someone inside.

So صلى الله عليه وسلم the person who killed me was not from the followers of Muhammad الحمد لله So

You know what's really interesting here by the way, he almost used the exact same rhetoric when the plague hit and he said:

"O Allah don't let the nation of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم perish on my hands."

And then when it came time for his assassination, he said الحمد لله Allah did not allow for the hand that صلى الله عليه وسلم killed me to be from a member of the ummah of Muhammad

So he's still thinking about the ummah, the consequences, he still has concern for that, right, and that's special. That's not something that you're going to find in everybody.

Connection to Malcolm X

Some of you may have attended, I think I'm teaching in Chicago soon, the class on Malcolm after Mecca. What grieved Malcolm at the end of his life is, he said it, he said you know, what's sad is that two black groups have to kill each other off. That's what really pains me in all of this, like I always knew that I was going to be killed but it pains him that the trigger that would be pulled on him would be from someone who he loved so much and someone that he was trying to help, that it would be a black finger that would pull the trigger on him. He hated that thought because he didn't want that, because he knew what type of a precedent that would send, and he knew what that would perpetuate in terms of culture.

So Omar رضي الله عنه was concerned he didn't want it to be a Muslim that would be responsible for his death and, you know you talk about culture and what this sets. If you go back to the fitna, I don't know how much you guys actually got into it or if you got to talk about Omar bin Khattab رضي الله عنه and Abdullah bin Omar in particular رضي الله عنه but when the fitna broke out, when trials and tribulation broke out and people, swords actually started being raised, Muslims actually started picking up swords against each other, Abdullah bin Omar was like I'm not having any part of this.

He said, you call me to prayer, you call me to good deeds but you call me to kill another Muslim? I'm staying home. I'm not taking part in this right. That was something that he took from his father, right, that, you know, this is not going to end well, this is not the type of culture that we want to perpetuate.

So those are some of my thoughts just on the leadership of Omar رضي الله عنه . May Allah be pleased with him and be pleased with Uthman رضي الله عنه and allow them both to be amongst those who are granted شهادة (shahada) and to allow us to be joined with them اللهم آمين

Questions and Answers

So we'll go ahead and we'll take questions inshallah. So this is just a summary of a lot of the same questions just asked in several different ways but a lot of attendees and a lot of people when they hear about this tragedy with Sayyidina Uthman رضي الله عنه they ask a lot of why questions. You know, why did the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم if he knew about this why didn't he warn Uthman رضي الله عنه Why didn't Uthman step down or why didn't just a lot of why questions you know, why couldn't it have been a different way and so on. What are your comments regarding that?

The Prophet's Dua and Divine Wisdom

You know, there's a dua that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم made so that you can think about why the :says صلى الله عليه وسلم Prophet

"I asked Allah for three things: I asked him that my nation would not be wiped out by an army, that's one, or by some sort of a disease, a famine or a plague, that's two, and three that he would not put their misfortune amongst themselves meaning that he'd protect us from disunity."

And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said Allah granted me the first two but he withheld the third.

And one of the things to take from that - first of all there's the Ummah wide outlook that Allah will take care of everything on the outside for us, we will never be defeated by something on the outside. We have to focus on ourselves, we have to focus on the inside so our trials are always amongst each other.

And even today when you think about this in the political sense, the complicity of the Muslim world in every single conflict - or I don't want to even use the word conflict - in every single case of the oppression of a group of innocent Muslims, there are other Muslims that are complicit in that oppression for whatever reason, political gain, economic gain, whatever it may be and it's pathetic.

So at the political sense or in the political sense Allah has given us everything around us to succeed, we have to get our stuff right. And in the local sense, your masjid, your organizations, I can't tell you how many incredible Muslim efforts have been ruined because of the ego of one person. How many masjids have foiled, how many institutions have come apart, how much turmoil has been caused and it all boils down to the egos of one or two people and so Allah will always protect us from the outside when we do what we have to do on the inside, so that's just sort of a general rule.

The Nature of Fitna and Human Choice

Now when it comes to the fitna as it took place, there are several dimensions to it, you know for one, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم warned the companions about it. He did warn the companions about it and sometimes you forget - time goes by, we're talking about you know 30-40 years after the Prophet صلی الله عليه وسلم passes away and then you recall some of those things he told you.

So for example Az-Zubayr was sitting with Ali and think about this scene - Az-Zubayr has his arm around Ali and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم asked Zubayr:

"Do you love Ali? Do you love Ali?"

And Zubayr says yes, and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says:

"One day you will fight him and you will be in the wrong doing."

Az-Zubayr said me? Of course not and he said what a miserable person I am then, I can't believe that would ever happen because they were so close.

And until those moments when Uthman is being assassinated, Az-Zubayr and Ali are both holding swords defending Uthman, trying to defend Uthman, protect Uthman, and then suddenly they find themselves facing off in a battlefield and Ali reminds Az-Zubayr about that incidence and Az-Zubayr totally forgot it and he recalls it and he walks away from the battlefield like I'm not doing this.

So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم did warn them, told them that a battle would arise and you know the righteous - or if you want to know, if you want an indicator at the end of the day as where truth lies then you look to the army where عمار رضي الله تعالى عنه was killed and so Ammar رضي الله تعالى عنه was . رضي الله تعالى عنه killed from the side of Ali

And then some of the people from the other side, this is how we get, we're human beings at the end of the day, they said well it's really Ali's army that killed him because they laid him bare to be killed, so they put him to be killed so therefore they're really responsible for his murder and what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says was those would be responsible for Ammar's death.

That's what happens to human beings, that's what happens to people and we need to learn from our history.

The Prophet's Wisdom About Al-Hassan

Now the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم taught us to also you know, be able to look back at that and to do what, when he holds his son الحسن and he says:

"This son of mine is a leader and it may be that Allah will bring together through him two great armies of believers, two great armies of Muslims." (Bukhari 3746)

So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم acknowledged that these two armies still remain righteous people, they're Muslims, they're believers.

So when you say well, why didn't the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم stop them right, why didn't Allah stop them? So first of all that's a qadar question. Allah does not stop us from making our choices even though his will remains dominant at the end of the day, this is a whole discussion of divine decree. We can't blame Allah when we mess up, when we do the wrong things so we have to own those things ourselves.

Abu Hanifa's Wisdom

When we look at the companions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم Abu Hanifa رضي الله تعالى عنه رحمه الله has a very beautiful incident that took place with him and I think I should end on this note when talking about how to contextualize those things.

Abu Hanifa was asked who was right Ali or Muawiyah? Now Abu Hanifa could have given a really drawn out answer to that question. You know what he responded? He said:

"I doubt on the day of judgment Allah will ask me about Ali or Muawiyah. I gotta worry about myself."

So the mistakes that were made, the way the conflict arose, they were great people and unfortunately things you know went south and it was an instigated issue. You learned this by the way as you studied the history that the rebels essentially attacked the army of Ali and the army of Aisha because they saw them coming together and they were worried so they launched an attack on both armies so that each army would think that the other one attacked them.

So initially when those armies met at the battlefield the intention was not to kill each other, the intention was to demand the justice of Uthman. Once Ali and Aisha spoke they went back to their camps with the understanding that we're good now.

The same people that killed Uthman went and attacked both camps to embroil them in that controversy with each other so they'd be too busy with each other because if they don't kill each other then they're going to come after us. That means they're coming after us now right. So it was instigated from the outside and sadly here's our human nature - when the door opens it doesn't close.

Once that door opens of sahaba killing each other, fighting each other, that door opens and unfortunately it took a few battles as well where that took place.

We should not burden ourselves with trying to decide who gets what and what's going to happen or busy ourselves too much with those types of things, instead read history in a way that's instructive. Benefit from their examples, take the lessons from the tension and the fitna, the lessons of what led to

Closing

We ask Allah to protect us and to grant us the station, the virtue of any of those companions of the prophet.

And may Allah grant us good in this world and good in the next world and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.

And may Allah send His peace, blessings and mercy upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and all his companions.