Abdullah Hakim Quick – Muslims Under Prosecution In Mecca
AI: Summary ©
The history and context of Islam are discussed, including the first step in Islam that was tailored for the Muslim population and its use in global life. The conflict between Muslims and their local groups is also discussed, where groups are trying to stop the message by organizing themselves and creating a council meeting. The third stage of Islam's goal of destruction involves torture and murdering companions, and the speaker encourages listeners to be vocal in their language. The speaker also touches on the spread of Islam and its importance in avoiding touching anyone in one's tribe.
AI: Summary ©
Wabarakus
Salam. All praise are due to Allah, Lord
of the worlds,
and peace and blessings be constantly showered upon
our beloved prophet Muhammad,
the master of the first and the last,
and his family, his companions, and all those
who call to his way and establish his
sunnah to the day of judgement.
My beloved brothers and sisters, to our friends,
our viewers,
assalamu alaikum. Alhamdulillah.
This is another opportunity
for us to gather in the new Muslim
Corner.
And the intention of this
is to provide
locally
a place for new Muslims to gather,
to be able to ask questions and to
socialize and,
to find out different aspects,
of Islam that they might not be able
to in the mainstream masjid.
And then internationally,
we are able to connect
with new Muslims in different parts of the
world
and to share information,
and hopefully to answer some of the questions.
So we are looking at
a very critical aspect,
of Islamic understanding
and that is life of prophet Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
And through his life,
we are able to understand
the second part of the kalima,
first being la ilaha illallah,
and the second part
is Muhammad or Rasoolallah.
There is no god but Allah and Muhammad
is his messenger.
And through understanding
the life of the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, we can get a better feel
as to
the
beauty of the revelation
and the fact that Allah chose
this particular individual
in this time
and in this place.
And without understanding
the place and the time and the people,
it might be difficult
to really,
envision,
you know, why would Allah choose
people who lived in such a desolate place,
as the Arabian Peninsula,
1400 years ago
for a message,
that was supposed to last or is supposed
to last to the day of judgment.
But if you look at the Arabian Peninsula
at the time
and we recognized
that linguistically,
the Arabs at the time
had,
the ability to learn foreign languages
fast
because by speaking Arabic,
you are 8 you have opened up the
different,
parts of your mouth and your throat.
So when you come into another language that
pronounces
letters in a certain way, it's easy to
adapt,
because you're you're you're already opened up. It's
like a person who is playing baseball. They
say, you're a right hand or you're southpaw,
left. And some people can hit with both
hands.
So they are ready.
If a person is throwing with the right
hand, they'll go with the left or they'll
go the opposite.
So similarly with with language, Arabs had this
ability,
to
transcend
the difficulties of language.
Also in terms of culture,
the Arabs at the time were not
one particular
racial group.
So they were a mixture, blending
of different racial groups and so it was
easier for them
to intermarry
and to become parts of different societies,
because they were not so
far away culturally
in terms of their physical makeup.
In terms of
long distances,
to travel long distances
because this message
was tailor made
for the planet.
And if somebody is living high in the
north,
in a mountain,
it's very cold and that's what they're used
to,
it doesn't seem probable for that person to
be able to
travel long distances
into different climates, but the Arabs at the
time were mobile.
Their culture was based on movement
because just to survive
you have to be a nomad,
a Bedouin.
So you need to move from one place
to another. You can't be afraid
to change your home.
And that's important if you're the one who's
supposed to take this message.
Secondly, the the the Allah blessed the Arabian
Peninsula,
with the camel.
And through the camel,
the life of this
animal that can survive
in the desert
and go long distances,
they are able to travel long distances
and to withstand
difficulties.
The Arabian
steed,
they were also
riding
probably the fastest horse on earth at the
time.
And even up until today when people
are racing their animals
and they want to
they wanna bet money even. They want to
put they wanna know who's gonna win the
race.
The intelligent
understand the person who understands horses
will check the the life check the the
DNA of that horse
to actually see how much Arabian blood it
has.
Because if it has Arabian blood
to a certain extent, then it will be
very difficult to beat.
And also,
this horse
is courageous.
So some horses
when they come in front of
another group of horses or animals or people,
they get very nervous and want it the
Arabian steed
is, you know, a courageous animal.
And, with its connection to its master,
it can actually go into battles
and it can move long distances.
And it's moving faster
than the other animals.
So a lot of advantages
were there. They were tailor made in a
sense
to take the message out of their peninsula.
Thirdly, they were living in a desert.
And it's natural
if you can find a place that has
water and life, you don't mind leaving.
So they didn't mind leaving the Arabian Peninsula.
And so Allah chose this group of people,
as the first,
catalyst
for the message
to start to spread around the world.
And the Arabic, the Quran itself was a
form of Arabic
that was
easy for non Arabic speaking people to learn
because the rules are very straightforward.
You have to practice it if you're not
an Arab. It'll take some time.
But once you get into it, the rules
are very straightforward,
and you can,
become proficient
in the language even though you don't fully
understand,
the language. You can read it, you can
write it when it started to be written.
So,
these were the first people to believe.
And the prophet
started with
his family,
with his wife Khadija Radillahu Anha,
and then with the people of their household.
They began to accept Islam
and,
solidified
the prophet's
own understanding of his faith.
After
that, when Abu Bakr as Siddiq radiaallahu an,
when he accepted Islam
and he was of the same
category as prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
just about his same age,
economically and whatnot, very similar,
to him. But what was special about Abu
Bakr is that
it is said that he is the only
person
who accepted Islam with no hesitation.
So once the message was given to him,
there was no hesitation
and he became Muslim. Other
people would hesitate.
They would try to ask questions or
try to figure it out, but Abu Bakr
was naturally inclined,
and he embraced Islam and then
he immediately began to spread Islam.
So he went to the next category,
that is those who were inclined
to tawhid the oneness of God.
And a number of people embraced Islam
who later became,
illustrious,
companions.
Following this, the message then started to spread
to the prophet's tribe.
And so the Banu Hashim
and the other people living in,
Mecca at the time
began to embrace Islam,
and then,
the Arabs and those who were living with
them in the Arabian Peninsula
started to come in. So this is sort
of it sort of went from the center
and then it goes out.
Okay?
And
the final
task,
was to take the message,
to all of humanity, not just Arabian Peninsula,
but all of humanity.
The other aspect that's interesting about this message
is that it was tailor made also for
the gin.
And the Jin,
beings
of made from smokeless fire
who live in a parallel world,
They make contact with people,
some places regularly,
and other places,
very seldom.
I lived with,
a family in Medina from Tibet.
And Tibet is a very high mountainous
country.
And, they describe,
their relationship with the Jin
like it's something common
that they knew there were these other
other beings
that were there. And and the jinn inhabit,
mountainous areas
and desolate, deserted,
buildings and whatnot. So the Tibetans,
they had contact.
And within,
Arabian culture at the time,
the jinn were known and
even the name
the ghoul,
because in English we will say a ghost,
is the spirit of somebody who's died, but
a ghoul
is an a wicked one.
Okay? Al ghoul
is an Arabic word.
And literally, it meant an evil demon.
And so this was another aspect of the
message.
But the reality of the message itself
is that,
it would encounter
opposition
because in believing in
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
believing that there is one god,
you would come in opposition,
with people who believed in other than that.
And when the scholars look at
belief
in terms of
the actual application.
It's one thing to say
that there is a creator.
Many cultures say that,
many societies.
It's one thing to
praise the creator
and to
respect the creator.
But when you start worshiping the creator
and when you believe
that all worship should be for the Creator
and not the sun,
not the other gods. That's the clash.
So the clash came
in what is known as tohid el Ibadah,
and
and and that is when you
unify your understanding
of
worship,
the divine being.
And once that is there,
once that is solidified,
it brings
a reaction.
So this hostility
came
against the Muslims.
And this is an important point because part
of the propaganda,
which is said against Muslims
is that Muslims are aggressive people.
So we are the ones that have the
curved sword forcing people to accept Islam and
always, you know, aggressive
and prone toward violence.
But the reality again when you look at
the life of the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam,
it was the opposite.
That the hostility
came,
from outside,
from other forces.
And this is important for us,
to understand,
especially
those who are embracing Islam
or those who are interested in Islam.
The Christians for instance when they speak of
Jesus Christ
and Christianity,
they generally
look at Jesus and his followers as people
who suffered.
They were nonviolent
people,
and there's even
nonviolent movements
based on Christianity.
And so
this concept,
is something that all of the prophets actually
went through.
And in looking at this stage
in the life of the prophet then
we will see
that in the beginning,
Muslims were not the aggressors.
And as a matter of fact, it was
not until
the prophet, peace be upon him, left,
Mecca, which is 13 years,
first part of his life, and then went
on his migration.
Then Allah gave the Muslims
the ability or the permission
to fight back.
But in the beginning, they were not allowed
to fight.
They were not allowed.
So this is what you would call today
nonviolent
civil disobedience.
They have terminologies for this now. And they
say Martin Luther King and
Mahatma Gandhi and different people, the nonviolent
revolutions.
Okay. So the 1st 13 years,
which is the majority of the life of
the prophet
was actually a nonviolent
spiritual
revolution.
And that flies in the face
of what is said about,
Muslims
and the propaganda.
So the hostility
came.
They pressured the uncle of the of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, Abu Talib because
Abu Talib was like his father, in a
sense, take is taking care of him, his
guardian.
So he was put under pressure by the
leaders of Quraish,
and
words started to go around the society
and threats,
started to happen.
And
then
the common people,
because Quresh is sort of an upper class,
a ruling class, but the masses of the
people
were then incited
against the Muslims.
Okay? And so this is important to understand
because we are, to a certain extent,
in a Meccan period
here.
Being,
a minority
and,
finding ourselves,
in opposition
sometimes to the to the local,
understand. Just recently,
and it's come now,
that, there's this vehicle riding around Toronto,
Ontario.
Okay? And the,
you know, news told us that the Toronto
police hate crime unit
is investigating a truck,
that was seen displaying anti Muslim messages
as it drove around the city
this week, that's right now.
Okay? And one of the images
is of Muslims praying and protesting
in Nathan Phillips Square.
So this is real.
This is happening right now in Toronto where
we are speaking from.
And this is an incitement.
So by by by showing this
and and making Muslims appear to be a
violent group,
that are protesting and causing confusion.
The average person who doesn't really know that
maybe they don't know what's happening in the
world,
and they see this, they will say, well,
yes, these these are violent people. So this
is what we now call Islamophobia.
Right? And and Islamophobia
is
this, irrational
feeling or fear
of Islam and Muslims.
And so
I want to emphasize this point,
that we touched on early in an earlier
session because this is the time when this
particular point,
came in.
And that is that the Meccan leadership
wanted to have
some sort of organized response.
They wanted to organize themselves.
Not enough just to incite people, but they
wanted to have
some sort of program, so they called a
council meeting
And these are their elders. This would be
their parliament,
their congress.
It is the Nadwa. It's called the Nadwa,
place. And they,
asked one of their leaders, Al Waleed ibn
Muhira.
They chose him,
you know, as the leader to lead this
council meeting. And, basically, their their intention is
to try to find some way to stop
the message.
They couldn't they were afraid to fight the
prophet himself
because of tribalism. He was from Benu Hashim.
And even though Banu Hashim,
for the most part they were not Muslims
for the most part.
However, there's a loyalty and tribalism.
So if you attack
people in their tribe, they take it personal.
So they couldn't physically,
just take his life.
So they thought that if we cannot kill,
the messenger,
then we'll destroy the message.
And now how can we do this? And
this is what they will call today like
a think tank.
So you gather together your people
and you organize yourself and this is what
happens in many campuses. They open up Islamic
studies departments,
that you would think is an innocent department
to, you know, study Islam the way you
study biology and chemistry. But when you get
in the course, you realize
they are studying Islam to find weaknesses in
it
and they actually,
confuse the people who take the course.
And that was the intention because most of
the Islamic studies courses in the West were
developed by Christian missionaries
to train people
about what is Islam
and then to equip them
to go into the Muslim world
and then to,
cause confusion,
you know, and to bring people,
into Christianity.
So they wanted to know, like, what can
we call him?
There's gotta be some name, the same way
you see this truck going around,
in in in Toronto,
you know, for those who may have just
come in. And this is a real,
situation that we're dealing with right now
riding around the city,
okay, which is inciting the people.
Okay? So it's showing Muslims in Nathan Phillips
Square,
you know, trying to to to make Muslims
seem violent. Right?
So violent in you know, intolerant
against society,
oppressive of women.
You see, these are the terminology. So they
first said to Alwaleed,
they suggested the word kahin,
and a kahin is a wizard.
They were the ones that took care of
the idols in the Kaaba itself.
But Waleed was an honest person. He wanted
an an honest propaganda.
You know, and he said, no. He's not
a Kayin.
Then they said why don't we say he's
Mejnun,
that he's insane?
Alawwalid said he's not insane. He's very calm.
Does not have any of the signs of
a person who is insane.
So they said why don't we call him
Sha'ir? Why don't we say he's a poet?
But Waleed said, no, this this thing that
he's reading, the Quran
that they call, this is not poetry.
It rhymes
but it's like prose. It's telling a story
in rhythm.
It's not poetry.
Then they said, okay, let's call him Sahir
or magician.
And Waleed said, no, you can't call him
a a magician,
because he's not blowing in knots
like some of the spells that people try
to put on spells in Mecca. So that's
not gonna work.
And initially, they they rejected everything and finally,
they agreed on Saher.
So we'll say that he's a magician because
he's breaking up families.
And the magicians will break up families
and they'll cause confusion and the Quran itself
sort of like,
mystifies people
because of the rhythm in it. So that's
the closest they could get.
Again, this is the propaganda,
that they are setting up to try to
stop the message.
And,
2 people in particular,
Abu Jahl and Al-'Aas ibn Nawawi
al Sahami,
they led the attack.
And especially,
Al-'as,
the verbal Abu Jahan was very physical.
But Al-'as, he would travel around anytime he
heard that the prophet
was going to a caravan or any public
thing, he would come in back and say
to the people,
this man is Abtar.
This man is
cut
off. He's useless
because he has no sons.
And in this society,
having a son
is important for them because it's a male,
oriented society
in terms of
lineage,
in terms of,
fighting,
and whatnot. So if you don't have anybody
to fight for you
or to make poetry about you,
then you are, to a certain extent,
you're cut off.
Okay? So this is,
the concept that they were spreading. And it's
at this point, again, that the Quran is
revealed, and this is, again, shows us how
the Quran is revealed.
So it's not just a book you pick
up on a shelf.
This is an incident that's happening to you
that's really bothering him.
And the Quran then comes down
saying,
So the Quran says, verily,
we have,
given you an abundance,
So pray to your lord and sacrifice
and surely your enemy
is the one who will be cut off.
So this is how
the Quran is coming now.
See, if you don't understand
the Sebba nuzul, the reason why this came,
you wouldn't understand the power of this.
You just read the chapter and say, oh,
that's 10 words. It's the smallest chapter in
the Quran. I guess you I should memorize
that. Right? Because if you wanna read a
fast express salat,
then you gotta read Khalsa.
Short,
everybody can memorize this chapter.
There's no excuse.
But if you understand
the power
that was manifested at this time,
this is not just a something small. This
is something which is expanding
and will continue
to expand
because
Alcoutha
means,
a river in paradise,
El Cauza,
which we believe will flow down
onto
a pond or a lake in the day
of judgment,
Al Hawd.
People will gather around the Hawd,
those who have faith.
Okay? Its liquid is white as milk,
sweet as honey,
cold as ice.
And if you drink once
for milkosa,
you'll never be thirsty again.
So that is a beautiful thing. This was
given to the prophet salawasalam and on the
day of judgment,
he will meet
his companions.
The Muslims will meet
those who are sincere Muslims,
not hypocrites, are not Muslims on Friday only.
Right? But sincere Muslims will meet
at this place called Al Qasr.
And but it also Al Qasr also means
something that expands and expands and expands.
Okay. So this is the message. And the
scholars have looked at this to say, okay.
This Quran itself,
you know, it it connects
and the message connects you with the creator.
His followers continue to expand, the al Qaussar.
The message continues to expand. It's expanding up
until today.
Even in in in this year itself,
with all the repression in the world, there's
more people accepting Islam
than we've seen in a long time.
That is al Qaussar.
Okay? And then the final part of it
says
in Nashani Aqahu Al Abta
that the one who cursed you, remember, Al
As,
he will be cut off.
And right now if you went to Arabic
speaking people,
or Muslims and asked who is Al Asibani
Waial al Sami,
99.9%
do not know.
Only scholars would know
who he is. You might know his son,
Amr ibn Alas
or his his grandson,
Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Alas, radhialahu anhu.
They are great companions,
but Al As is cut off. But the
prophet, sallallahu alaihi, his name
has now been
recognized as the most
used name on earth
is this.
Because the Muslims,
you know, named their sons especially,
you know, have this name.
So that is like a a standing
miracle.
Okay? So don't worry about this. Pray to
your lord.
Sacrifice.
Don't worry
because the one who
has insulted you,
that person will get cut off.
And so
the second stage of of the repression,
and this is something which is deep and
you can read more about it in the
text,
this is where
his some of his companions really started to
get problems.
And his uncle Hamza embraced Islam,
very powerful person.
And so the Quraysh got afraid
and they tried to use,
bribery.
So they would try to bribe the uncle
of the prophet, the prophet himself.
This is typical to today,
people who stand up,
for Islam
against the system, so to speak,
the first thing they wanna do, they're gonna
bribe you,
give you a nice job.
Why don't you become a university professor?
And we'll put you far in the mountains
somewhere so nobody can hear you.
We'll give you a good job.
We'll give you a Hollywood contract.
It's bribery. Right?
That that's very common. If that doesn't work,
they'll come right to you to they'll negotiate
with you.
If that doesn't work,
assassination.
And this is a system up until today
which is being used
to repress
leaders.
Not just Muslims, it's people who stand against,
the the,
colonial system, so to speak.
This is how they destroy,
the leaders or one of the aspects
of the destruction
of the leaders. So the second stage
included
these aspects.
K?
And, of course,
Islamophobia
continued.
This is important to understand
because the propaganda is that the Muslims were
aggressive.
The Muslims were the violent ones.
That's the opposite
of what actually happened.
And for somebody who had love in their
heart
for Jesus,
for Isa alaihis salam, and many people who
have Christian background
have a special place in their heart,
for Jesus because of of the suffering
of Jesus and his companions.
Okay, when you recognize
what happened to the Muslims,
that same love
will develop in your heart,
for the believers.
And and and the third stage and we
will be looking at this,
as we go on,
in our in our classes.
The 3rd stage
is
to torture
and to murder
the defenseless people, the companions of the prophet.
So they couldn't kill him, he had his
tribe,
so they started to torture
his companions.
Again, that's different than the propaganda. Right? This
is not Muslims torturing people.
This is Muslims who are actually suffering.
And one of his companions, Bilal ibn Rabah,
Radilahwan,
who was a East African,
Ethiopian, they say, but it's really East African
origin.
He was
a believer in one God and he went
through tremendous changes,
and he was,
put on the ground
and they you know, his his master, Umayyad
Al Khalaf,
put a stone on his chest and told
him,
you know, that you know, renounce the faith
and he would say, ahadun ahad, one God,
one God.
He would not renounce the faith.
He refused.
And he is, one of our great symbols,
you know, of people,
Muslims who resisted. With man ibn Affan,
Redilawan who's a famous companion
and eventually became a fairly wealthy person.
He was tortured.
He was actually put into a straw mat
and they lit it on fire.
So he was tortured himself.
And and and these these torture
issues, you know, are not nice,
but these are some of the names,
of the companions.
And in, in the next class, inshallah,
we will be going to into this in
more details,
because of our class,
tonight,
will be slightly shortened.
But these are some of the names I
want you to keep in mind. If you
have a chance to research, Mus'ab ibn Umayyah
is another person that we're gonna talk about
inshallah a little bit more,
in the next period
And also
the family of Yasir,
his his wife
was named Sumayya
and his daughter was Amar.
So these are important companions
that we will look at,
inshallah
in in the upcoming class,
to to show you
what Muslims actually went through. 13 years
they were not allowed to fight.
This is what will be called today
a nonviolent
civil disobedient
revolution.
It's a nonviolent
protest,
and that's what Muslims were involved in for
the majority of the prophet's life.
That's what the message was.
That's totally different
than what what you might hear,
online
or some of the Islamophobic,
propaganda.
So I wanna open up the floor for
any questions,
that anybody may have,
concerning
these early stages,
of the spread of Islam.
Floor is open for any questions anybody has.
Online?
Floor is open for any questions or any
comments anybody has?
Any general questions?
Floor is open for that as well.
Things that you'd like to know, you know,
about Islam. You know, we leave a little
bit of time.
Next week, inshallah, we'll have more time, you
know, for that. This is a post
Eid type of, gathering we're having having, so
it'll be a little short.
It says, like, the the tribalism
protected
profit,
from them going straight to assassination.
Like,
why why is that?
Like, what about tribalism,
made it so that they they wouldn't wanna
harm him?
Because, you know,
tribalism was very serious in the sense that
the the feuds
feuds going on between groups.
So, therefore, he is Bennu Hashim.
He's part of
one of the most powerful tribes.
So even though his message is different,
their blood,
like some people used to say, blood is
thicker than water. You know, for them, blood
is the key thing. So even though he
was a Muslim and they weren't, you don't
touch somebody in my family.
That that that's that's how they used to
think.
So, therefore, they did not want to
incite
a major tribal war,
in Mecca itself,
so then they,
you know, use other methods, other methods,
with the prophet salam al salam.
The assassination part, eventually, they did come back
to that.
But But in the beginning, no.
Okay?
Floor is open for any other questions, anybody
has concerning anything?
Yeah.
Of
of of these which ones? Just these. No.
All of these people are not in this
tribe. None of them are in this tribe.
And this was
the problem for people who were accepting Islam
who did not have a tribe.
If you did not have a powerful tribe
in back of you, you're subject to immediate
attack.
Whereas somebody with a tribe, you would have
to be somebody in your tribe who attacks
you
because strictly based on tribal things. Like today,
it would be gang war warfare.
It's like nation states in the world.
You don't touch somebody in my nation state.
You see, it's it's something similar to that,
you know, on a lower level.
So for this class, Insha'Allah, we're gonna be
closing, early,
today. Was there something online? Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. This is a very big question.
The question is how does the vision come,
to form Shia and Sunni?
If you go to islam.ca,
which is our website,
Islam Institute of Toronto,
Then there's there's a class called,
you know, groups and *,
s e c t s in Islam.
So it's a course that I did which
goes into details about this.
So you can get,
you know, that information because it's too long,
to discuss really, you know, at this point
in time. You can go on you can
get that, you know, from this this course.
Yes. So what can be done about the
the propaganda,
you know, on the road? I mean, you
know, government officials have been contacted.
You know, we're publicizing it as much as
we can.
Right? And keep pounding Islamophobia.
Islamophobia. Put it out there.
Right? And and and and be very vocal.
Don't hide.
We can't hide
now. We're gonna have to come out,
you know, and be very vocal, you know,
with our situation.
K. So with this, we're gonna close the
class because of, you know, our gathering today.
And, Insha'Allah, next week, we will continue on
to understand what happened in the repression
and what,
followed that, which is one of the beautiful
parts of Islam that followed this repression. So
I leave you with these thoughts, and I
ask Allah to have mercy on me and
you.