Abdullah Hakeem – Character of the 4 Caliphs
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Muhammad
Allah
All praise is due to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
We praise him,
we seek his help,
and we ask for his forgiveness.
We should all praise
and thank Allah
for once again allowing us all to be
gathered here today
for salatuljumu'ah.
I ask Allah
to reward each and every one of us.
And we should also praise Allah and thank
Allah
for keeping us alive in this blessed day
of today.
For those who follow
as today being the day of Ashura,
and also for those who have it for
tomorrow.
It is a special day.
It is a day that we know
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala saved
Musa alaihi salaam
and the Muslims
from Firaoun
and his army.
And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam mentioned
that the one who fasts on the day
of Ashura,
then I hope that Allah ta'ala forgives 1
year of his sins.
So for those of you who are fasting
or will be fasting tomorrow, I ask Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala
to forgive your sins and our sins. Amen.
I was thinking of what to discuss today,
what to talk about in the chutzpah. There's
a few topics we can talk about.
We were thinking about maybe the story of
Musa,
the story
about Al Ashura,
and then we were, this week, discussing
the theme which is following the sunnah of
the prophet
and following the sunnah of the rightly guided
palace.
So inshallah, because
we have heard in the morning assembly quite
a bit about and
the story of Musa, so today I thought,
let's discuss
some stories
from the companions of the prophet, sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam,
who were the Khalifas, the 4 the rightly
guided caliphs. And we can learn some lessons
from their stories, Insha'Allah.
Firstly, as we know,
from the rightly guarded caliphs we have 4.
There's Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and we have
Ali.
And there are so many things that we
can learn from their stories. So inshallah, with
a few minutes that we have, we will
try to cover certain aspects of their life,
what they were known as. I mean these
companions,
you can cover an entire
akhlaq of these companions and you will keep
on writing about them. SubhanAllah.
There's so many things to discuss about each
and every one of these companions.
But if we look at Abu Bakr, if
we were to summarize Abu Bakr
from what he was, which we can say
so many things,
he was a man of action.
Abu Bakr
was a man of action.
He never used to wait for certain things.
Whenever he saw a moment that he could
gain hasanat from Allah,
he did it.
He went out of his way and he
did it. And Abu Bakr
wasn't a wealthy man like some other companions.
He had a good amount for himself and
his family,
but yet he would spend on the path
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And we know Umar Radiallahu and tried to
compete with Abu Bakr,
and we know when the prophet asked
for donation of the expedition,
and Umar radiAllahu an brought half of his
wealth thinking that today I'm going to beat
Abu Bakr. And then when Abu Bakr
came and he brought
his entire wealth, Umar said,
I can never beat Abu Bakr. There is
no way that I can beat Abu Bakr.
There's no way that I can compete with
Abu Bakr Radiallahu An. He was definitely a
man of action.
Abu Bakr radiallahuwan
through that action gave so much dawah.
He was the one that embraced Islam first.
He was the one who helped others to
embrace Islam
in the early stages,
and from the 10 companions that were guaranteed
paradise,
it was through Abu Bakr's dawah that majority
of them embraced Islam.
This is the amount of effort that he
put in to spread the deen of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
He was very very generous.
Whatever he had he would give. For
example, when the slaves were being tortured, when
the Muslims were being persecuted,
Abu Bakr radiallahu an, from whatever money that
he had, he would go and buy those
slaves, and would set them free, subhanAllah.
And it was through his generosity
that Bilal radiAllahu an, was bought and was
set free, subhanAllah.
Even Abu Bakr's own father would say to
him, why are you spending your money on
these slaves? They're not going to benefit you,
they're so weak, They're about to die. But
Abu Bakr knew where the benefit is. The
benefit is in the akhirah.
And of course we can see that he
freed these slaves and they became great giants
of Islam. Look at Bilal radiAllahu an, becoming
the Mu'adhin
of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasalam, and inshallah,
Abu Bakr will be getting the hasanat for
that. A man of action. Abu Bakr radiAllahu
an, when he was Khalifa,
at that position,
such a high position,
yet he would secretly,
every fajr, after every fajr, would go to
a widow's house,
an old woman who was taking care of
orphans, and he would go and help her
clean the house. He would cook them food,
he would wash their clothes, and he would
make sure that the children were fed, and
he would leave, and he would never tell
that lady who he was. He would never
tell that I am the khalifa. No. He
did it for the sake of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. That was a man of action,
and we learned that from Abu Bakr radiAllahu
an. If we want to follow his sunnah,
let's follow him and become people of action.
Umar
was
known as the one who was just,
the criterias,
the distinguisher between good and bad.
Umar
when he realized the truth of Islam,
immediately he embraced it.
In the beginning, he was the biggest enemy
of Islam, the staunchest enemy. But as soon
as the realization came into his mind,
immediately,
he embraced Islam.
From the enemy of the prophet to the
one who loved the prophet.
And on that day, when he embraced Islam,
he went to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam and he said,
are we not on the correct path?
Are we not on the path that Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is on our side? And
the prophet
said yes. And now imagine he just embraced
Islam,
and he said then why are we hiding?
Why are we in secret here? Let's go
out and give dawah. Let's show the people
Islam.
Let's show them their beauty.
And that was why he was given the
name Al Farooq,
the one who distinguishes between right and wrong.
That was Umar radhiallahu an. Umar
when he was Khalifa
and this shows his justice.
There was
a governor of Egypt,
His name was Amr ibn al-'Aas radiallahu an.
And his son,
he had a stock of horses
and he would race these horses.
And there was a Coptic Christian in Egypt
and he said to the son of the
governor that let's have a race.
My horse versus your horse.
And they did that.
And it was the Coptic Christian that won
that race. His horse won that race. And
of course, imagine the son of the governor,
you have got a high status. He was
feeling down and everyone was looking at him.
He got angry, and he went and beat
up that man for no reason.
And that man was so upset
that he came all the way from Egypt
to Madinah
to complain to Umar radiAllahu an about
that Muslim.
And what did Umar do? Oh, don't worry.
He's a Muslim. It's alright. It's all good.
No. He didn't do that.
Umar radiAllahu an summoned him.
Come. I want to see you. And not
only you, your father as well, the governor,
Umar. Come and see me. And they came
all the way
from Egypt to come and see Umar radhiallahu
an in Madinah.
And Umar radhiallahuhan asked them, did you do
this? He had to admit, yes, I did
this.
I did,
I did do this. And and Umar
gave this stick to the Coptic Christian and
told him take your revenge.
Take your revenge because that's the truth. If
he did that to you, this is now
in the courts and it's been established that
he is guilty. Now you take the revenge.
So he took his revenge. And not only
that, Umar Radiallahu when he said, now take
your revenge on on his father. Because his
father for his status, his son acted like
this. But the man said no, I've got
nothing against the father. I've got nothing against
the father, I'm not going to do that.
Umar radiAllahu an it didn't matter if he
was a Muslim or a non Muslim. He
was just with the law of Islam. So
that is Umar
and we'll continue inshallah with Uthman and Ali,
in the next
We continue, inshallah, with the and
now we are talking about Usman
Afan.
Usman ibn Afan is known as someone who
was very wealthy.
He was very rich, but he was generous.
He was one of the most generous sahabas,
subhanAllah.
And and Uthman radiAllahu an, because he was
so wealthy,
he made sure he gains jannah through his
wealth. That he would give that in the
path of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So one
thing we learned, there's nothing wrong being rich.
It's actually a good thing that you're going
out there, you are working hard, you are
earning a living, you are making money. It's
a good thing to be rich and Muslims
should be wealthy,
but at the same time use that wealth
wisely, for giving it in the sake of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala in the right causes.
There are so many things we can talk
about Uthman and his wealth. But just one,
Insha'Allah.
Uthman radhiallahuwan,
during the time of Umar
Umar, radiallahuwan, when Umar was Khalifa,
there was a time of famine.
A time of famine. There wasn't much rain
coming, so crops weren't growing. Animals were dying.
People of Madinah didn't have enough food. People
were starving.
Muslims were dying.
And they couldn't go to places to find
food. They couldn't buy food.
The businessmen of Madina, they had money, but
they couldn't go to shops to buy any
food. There was nothing there to sell.
And then all of a sudden,
the Muslims in Medina saw a massive caravan
of camels coming. About a 100 camels coming
and all these camels had a full load
of food.
SubhanAllah. Imagine,
100 camels full of goods and food, and
he was coming to Madinah, and they were
getting excited. Where is this food coming from?
Whose caravan does it belong to?
And he went straight to the residence of
Uthman ibn Affan Now
the businessmen of Medina,
they came to Uthman and they said, do
these belong to you? He said yes. They
said we'll buy it for you. From whatever
you want to sell it, we'll give you
double. They were desperate. They had money but
no They couldn't buy anywhere.
We will give you double.
He said,
No.
But I have made a better deal.
I have made a better deal.
Then you're thinking, who made a better deal?
Alright. We will give you triple.
We will give you triple that.
And of Samadhi Allah, he said, no. I've
got a better deal but thank you. They
said, we'll give you 4 times. No. I've
got a better deal. 5 times
more. He said, no.
I have got a better deal.
And the businessman of Medina was stunned. They
said, we're the businessman of Medina. We know
the market.
Who is buying this off you for more
than what it's worth?
And then Uthman radiallahu, he said that I
have sold this to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
I have made this business transaction with Allah.
Everything that you can see on these camels
belong to the Muslims.
He gave everything for the sake of Allah
to every Muslim in Madinah.
That is how generous
Uthman is. Not only that, Uthman bought a
well in Madinah
when there was no other wells having water.
He bought that well.
Muslims and non muslims were drinking for free.
Before that they had to pay money to
the person who owned it.
Today that well still exists.
Today that well is still generating money and
it made so much money that of they
had to open up the Saudi government had
to open up a bank account
under the name of Osman.
And not only that, the money was so
huge they build they build buildings
in the name of Osman, hotels in the
name of Osman.
And all the money that is generated is
given to the poor and the needy.
Imagine Uthman is in his grave at the
moment,
1400 or so years ago he passed away,
yet he is reaping the reward of his
generosity.
So if we were to learn one thing
from Uthman,
that is to be generous. No matter how
much you have. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
he said
that see the fire of Jahannam even if
you have to give half a date in
charity.
So give for the sake of Allah and
be generous.
Lastly,
Ali radiAllahu an.
Ali radiAllahu an, the 4th Khalifa from the
rightly guarded caliph.
He was known as someone who was brave,
strong,
courageous.
And he was known for that. His bravery.
Every time there was something happening, a skirmish,
a battle, Ali radhiallahuhan would be up there
first ready to go. And it didn't start
when he was older but he started when
he was young. He was only a child
when he embraced Islam.
I want you all to
think. Those of you who are here, the
age of maybe 10 to 15, think about
this for a moment.
That at your age, at the moment, what
do you think about regularly?
What's your thought processes? Maybe certain games you
wanna play, certain sports you wanna play, certain
movies you wanna watch. Right? These are our
thoughts on a regular basis.
Alir radiallahu an at that age, all he
would think about is the deen of Allah.
All he would think about is being brave
and strong so that he can serve the
Muslims. He can serve Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That was his thought process at that age,
and he grew up in the household of
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
He was so brave subhanallah that there is
a story in the battle of handak and
I want you to listen to this story
because it's not just about being strong and
being able to cause destruction of the opposing
party. No. It's also about his heart.
During the battle of Khandak, although there wasn't
a major battle that happened,
but there were skirmishes that happened around.
There was a disbeliever by the name of
by the name of Amar ibn Abdul Wood
and he was able to cross the handak
and he came to the other side.
And he was so strong. He was known
from the Quraysh to be one of the
strongest
who can take on so many people.
And he came up very proudly. He will
say, who is there to fight me? Who
is there to fight me? Who wants
who wants their mother to be left without
a child? Who wants to quickly go to
Jannah? He would say these things
and he would try to egg on the
Muslims
and no one was getting up. They were
quite afraid. This is this is Amr ibn
Abdul Wood, one of the strongest.
But who got up? Ali radiAllahu. He stood
up. He said, you Rasulullah,
let me go.
And And the prophet told
him, do do you know who he is?
This is Amr ibn Abdul Wood. Sit down.
So he sat down. Then again, he is
saying, who is there? Anyone wants to challenge
me? He stood up again. He said, give
me a chance. Let me go.
And again, the prophet said, this is Umar
ibn Abdul. Sit down. So he sat down.
And then he turned around. Umrah turned around.
No one's gonna fight me.
Allah is on our side. Give me a
chance. So the prophet
allowed him to go. And as the battle
was happening between the 2,
Ali radhiallahu was able to put Amr on
his knees.
And he was about
to kill him.
But at that moment,
armor spat on his face.
Armor spat
on the face of Ali radiAllahu an. And
because of that, now I want you to
think, at that moment you would get even
more angry.
You will get even more angry and you
would cause so much harm. But when that
happened,
Ali radiAllahu an, put his sword down, turned
around and walked away.
And as he was walking away,
some narration mentioned that Umar attacked him and
that is when Ali radhiallahu was able to
be victorious.
The sahabas asked Ali, why did you do
that?
Why did you You had the opportunity. Why
did you walk away?
He said because when I was fighting, I
was doing that for the sake of Allah.
But as he spat on my face,
it became personal.
It became personal and I didn't want to
do this for my sake. I wanted to
do it for the sake of Allah.
So that's why I didn't. So can you
see his heart?
He wasn't doing things for his sake, but
he was doing things for the sake of
Allah.
So we learn a lot of things from
these sabers, these companions.
And just to recap, inshallah,
it is really important to know the 4
khalifas.
Learn about their life.
Learn about their life. Learn about their stories.
And inshallah,
we ask Allah to be just like them.
Abu Bakr, a man of action.
Omar radiallahu and the distinguisher, the criterion
between good and bad. Osman, he was rich
and he was generous. And Ali radiallahu and
brave and he was strong. We ask Allah
to give us all these characteristics. Ameen. We
ask Allah
to make us
become generous,
become brave, become people of action,
and become those who distinguish between right and
wrong. Amin. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to reward all of those who are fasting
today and tomorrow, and we ask Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala to forgive all of our sins.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give
us all
Please stand up. Make yourself.