The First Continent to Accept Islam

smilla rahmanir rahim

alameen wa sallahu wa salam ala sailed over Lima aphid in Vienna Mohammedan. While Allah He was happy about Aqua Salah. Our prayers are due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our beloved Prophet Muhammad, the master of the first and the last, and upon his family, his companions and all those who call to his way, and establish his Sunnah to the Day of Judgment. As to what follows my beloved brothers and sisters, to those in the viewing audience, I begin with the greeting words of the righteous are Salaam wa Alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh

Alhamdulillah, this is a great opportunity for us to reflect. And we in the world are going through a number of changes during this covid 19 pandemic, it is no doubt changed the relationship of human beings on this earth forever.

It has caused us to come closer to the revelation in the sense that we are more aware of the relationship of one human being to another, we are more aware of cleanliness, we are more aware of death. And that is the revelation to connect us to the next life, to purify us and this white life. And to help us to look not just out at material things, but to look inside of ourselves, to reflect upon our lives, where we have come from and where we are going.

And so in this concept of reflection, we want to look at the great continent of Africa, and especially the eastern side of Africa, to look at this early place of civilization. And it is here that human beings developed what may be the first ability to deal with fire and language and civilization. And it is on the Nile Valley, that the ancient writing systems, ancient philosophies, that calendars that so many aspects of the original civilizations were developed. And so East Africa is an extremely important place. And for Muslims, and for those who believe in one God or look at prophets as the most important individuals in our history. It is also a land of the oneness of God.

And we find that monotheism is enshrined within the ancient cultures, we find on the African continent, that there are more ways to say the belief in one God than maybe any other place on the place of the founders. Every single African language has a way to talk about the great spirit, the cosmic spirit, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. And so the concept of one God existed in ancient Africa, in ancient Egypt, from the newbie in south to the Delta Lower Egypt of the North.

The belief in one God rose up and alongside it with polytheism. And so people at some points in time, reverted to polytheism. When the belief in one God had been enshrined by the messengers who came from the beginning of time. And so in ancient Egypt, we find within the hieroglyphics we find within the teachings, especially in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, going back to 3000 BC, we find traces of the belief in one God.

We find that prophets themselves traveled throughout these lands. And it is reported that even Prophet Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam, around 1640 BC, came into Egypt.

His wife, his second wife, hajah, may Allah be pleased with her was an Egyptian.

We find that musala salaam

came around 1525 BC, born into a world where there was great oppression. He spent much of his time in Egypt. And so the connection between the African continent what is now the African continent with the

Other side of the Sinai Peninsula and Arabia was a tight connection from early times. And this led right up to the time of the last prophet and His Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him Born in 570 ad. And after 40 years of living, he received the revelation. And this revelation was not the first monotheistic revelation, but it connected him with prophets and messengers, who appeared from the beginning of time.

prophets came to China,

prophets came to India, prophets came to Europe, prophets came to Africa, to the Americas, every nation, every tribe, according to the court, and at one point in time, a messenger came, and it was the last prophet who brought the last testament and Prophet Mohammed Salah solemn, has informed us that one of the qualities that he has, that distinguishes him from other messengers is that they were sent to their people, but he was sent to the whole of humanity and the jinn.

And so Prophet Mohammed, peace and blessings be upon him, found himself in Mecca. He found himself in the Arabian Peninsula, in a place that had originally been dedicated to the belief in one God. But with time going by and ignorance and people making the wrong choice 360 idols were put into the Kaaba,

we find that racism and tribalism, Arab nationalism was the power of the day, we found find that the weak, we found that the weak attacked the poor. We found that slavery for all people, not only just black people, but there were slaves from Arab tribes, from Persia, slaves from the Greeks, slaves from Africa, all nations could be put into slavery, that this was a brisk business, not only in Arabia, but throughout the world. The whole of the ancient world was involved in slavery. But the form that it took in Arabia was a brutal form. And it is to this society where a man would bury his daughter in the earth out of shame. It is this society where hatred about and where the rich took

advantage of the poor, that Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him brought the last message, he brought a message of the unity of the Creator, the toe, heed the one God, don't worship the created things, worship to create, do not judge a person by the color,

do not separate families, the rich should be assisting the poor, they should be unity and society. And because of this, he was persecuted, and the ruling tribe of kodesh. Although the Prophet was part of it, they set upon the Prophet, they attacked his followers. They tortured people, they drove people out of their homes, and the persecution reached so badly it became so terrible, upon the companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that he found himself turning to Allah subhanaw taala, for guidance, and it is in the middle of the fifth year, after the Prophet would began in Mecca, that cirtl calf was revealed. This is the chapter of the cave, and cirtl calf which

is so important for Muslims up until today. This chapter was a chapter of movement.

In it, we find the companions of the cave, they moved, they were Christians who believed in one God, and they had to move to they had to migrate, they had to hide in order to preserve the religion.

We also find the car name, the great king, who had to migrate who travelled throughout the land, calling to the good and forbidding evil, establishing the belief in one God. We also find the story of Musa alayhis salaam, who traveled to the land seeking knowledge to see if there was somebody who knew something he didn't know. And he met alfetta he met the wise one. And so movement is happening. Allah subhanaw taala also revealed in the court and the levina A Sanofi had he had dunya Hassan Ah, we're out of time la he was here in the malua for sabi Runa agera. Home berating SAP. For those who do good in this world, they will restart

Good, and allows Earth is spacious. And verily, the patient will receive their reward with no end to it, and there will be no account built at his app.

And so, movement hegira it is a time of the movement of his companions. And the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him, took this message to heart. And in seeing that his followers were suffering in this terrible persecution, he told them and the Arabic text comes to us. And he said, lo courage to Allah Allah Hubba Sha four in the Bihar melikyan la youth level and the who had, we're here out of Dusit hut, Allah Allahu la confer Jemima antem fee. And so even his Sham in his Sierra

brings us the report that the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him was reported to have said, if you go to alhaja meaning Abyssinia, it would be better for you. For in it there is a king who will not tolerate oppression, it is a land of truth, go until such time that Allah will relieve you from your distress, this is also found in the Muslim ummah.

And

it is a movement, it is Huijin it is migration, it is not running away.

It is not necessarily hiding from the truth. It is a strategic movement, a strategic migration to a land and we see that the prophet SAW Selim is saying go to a hub Russia. This we call today, Abyssinia and in ancient times, as we have learned earlier, it is the aksumite Empire. And this empire from 100 ad to around 940 was one of the most powerful empires in the world. The aksumite Empire was considered by one of the visionaries of ancient times, many and Babylon and Persia. He considered for great powers in the early years of ad, and this is around 303rd century AD, but he considered three great powers in the world. One was Byzantine Rome, the other was the sassanid

Persian dynasty. Third was three great kingdoms in China. And the fourth was excellent.

And so, Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him.

A man of great wisdom, a man who is who is implementing Revelation

tells them to go to these lands. So he is not sending them to a backwater. He is not sending them to an ignorant backward continent, a dust bowl, like some European and orientalist, historians would say, but he was actually sending them to a high civilization. He was sending them to a land where the people had taken on the teachings of Isa la sala. And we know that in 325 ad in the Council of Nicea

that Constantine wanting to organize the Christians recognizing that they were sun worshipers, they were trinitarians there were people with Greek and Roman gods. There were people who believed in one God, how can you unite them together? He called the Council of Nicea in 325 ad, and the Christian bishops chose Trinity as a state religion.

So those who believed in one God were persecuted and areas and his followers spread out to different lands. We find some of them in the early life of the Prophet Muhammad Sal Sal O'Hara, this is the monk who saw the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him on the road, going to Syria, ness Stora the monk these were believers in one God and an ancient Ethiopia, along the Nile they will also believe is in one God.

They struggled because in Christendom, there was a constant struggle going on between trinitarianism and between the Unity monotheism. And so the last prophet Mohammed peace and blessings be upon him came with the last testament.

So this not only was to teach the Arabs, but it was also to bring the True Religion The true teachings of the belief in one God, back to the followers of Isa lay slam to the followers of musala salaam, and to all of the people in the face of the planet Earth. So the Prophet Mohammed so seldom, then say

This companions to will have a shot. And it is reported that 12 men and four women, which included us men, Ebony, our fan, read the last one, and will pay a bit Mohammed radula. One ha, to clear the data of the Prophet Mohammed, they made the hidden and so this was the actual first digit. This is before the digit to Medina. It was the first digit of the first major movement where people are moving for the belief in one God. And some of our scholars are saying they are the first people to migrate purely for the pleasure of Allah since the time of ebrahimian loot, may Allah be pleased with them. And so they moved into Alibaba. They traveled from Mecca down to the Red Sea. They

crossed over into now what is now Eritrea, along the coast, they went up into the highlands of exome. And it is in this region that they met the great leaders there in Ethiopia. And we know that the EXO mites were a great civilization. They were the the owners of the elephants. It is from them that abraha came. They were world power recognized throughout this planet. The leaders were called Natasha in Arabic annachi. In English we say the negatives but in Tigray, which is their language, it is Nick ash. And so the same way that we say Pharaoh when Egypt or Caesar in Rome, in ancient axon which would trigger a society, they would say the gash and for our intents and purposes we will

say under joshy. And so

as they traveled across into Aksum,

they were met by the people of the land and they were taken to the great Najafi us Hummer and nagashi. So he was the Emperor, but his name was us Hama, and he was a believer in one God. He was surrounded by bishops, surrounded by a struggle that was going on, between the believers in the Trinity and the believers in one God, but he himself from our records, was a pure soul, a pure heart, who believed in one God, and

when he found that the believers were teaching a last testament, when he listened to the Qur'an, which was recited to him by Jaffa, abudhabi tala brother, the brother of Ali rhodiola one. When he read from Surah Merriam,

It is reported that the joshy cried that his Bishop shed tears and the jassi said, there's no difference between us. You are safe in these lands. The court he had sent a delegation, they were trying to get the Muslims to come back, but Alhamdulillah the joshy and his people this summer, they protected the Muslims, and they were able to live in these lands. But word had gone out that there was a change that had happened.

That know, the people of Mecca had accepted Islam, and certain najem was actually revealed in Mecca. And people bow down because of the the power of this chapter. But they didn't actually accept Islam they were only captured by the words of Allah subhanaw taala. Many of the Muslims returned to Mecca. Lo and behold, they found that know that Croatia had not accepted Islam, and a larger group of immigrants, left Mecca 83 men and 19 women seeking the refuge. And so

Allah subhanaw taala was merciful, and under joshy gave them a place and Prophet Muhammad SAW seldom sent them a letter and a brief of this letter, which is found today, up until now, in the top capital Museum in Istanbul, Turkey. It says in the name of a lot of beneficence, the Merciful from Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah to the great nagus of Abyssinia. Peace be upon he who follows the guidance as to what follows. Verily for you, I praise Allah The one whom there is no deity except Him. The sole King, the holy, the source of peace, the protector and the guardian.

I bear witness that Jesus the son of Merriam is the spirit belonging to Allah, and his word, which he cast into the chase an excellent virgin Miriam. She just became pregnant by means of his spirit and his inspiration with Jesus in the same manner that he created Adam with his hand. So this is interesting the beginning of this letter.

This is a final prophet of Islam, who is communicating with a Christian Emperor. So normally you think Muslims fight Christians, no, these are Muslim refugees, who are taking refuge in a Christian country under a Christian rula. How does the last prophet addressed him, not with hostility, he begins by talking about the Creator. He has a beautiful called giving a beautiful call. He gives the names of Allah subhanaw taala, some of the 99 names, but then he makes an exception, he says, Yes, we believe in God. But

we believe that Jesus, the son of Miriam was born. without a father, his mother was a virgin. Imagine this. Now, this is a Muslim Prophet, the last prophet talking to a Christian. And he's saying to him, we believe that Mary was a virgin, and that Jesus was born without a father, that God breathed His Word and His Spirit into her. And she became pregnant for these reasons. But then he qualified it. And this is again to show the wisdom of the Prophet. He said that, although he was born without a father, it is the same as Adam, who was created by the hand of God. And so Adam, if you look at it, in a sense, Jesus is born with a mother and no father.

Adam is born with no father and no mother. So that qualifies. The understanding if people think that because he was born without a father, God must be his father, then who is Adam, Adam may also must also be God. But what it shows is that a law can create in all different ways, he creates Adam, no father, no mother, who creates Eve Hawa with a father and no mother, he creates Jesus with a mother and no father. So Allah has power over all things, and he creates it all different forms. So back to the letter that the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said to under joshy. He continues by saying, verily, I invite you to Allah, the One who has no partner, and to friendship, continuity and

government, in obedience to Him. Thus I have delivered the message and given you counsel, therefore accept my counsel, peace be upon he who follows the guidance. This is a very wise unique letter.

It is unlike any of the letters that the prophet SAW Selim sent to the kings, because he sent one to the maracas of the Coptic Christians in Egypt. He also said to her miraculous in Rome, he sent it to the Shah of the sassanid Persia, he sent it to Arabian leaders, but he never spoke to any of them like this. He is inviting the great leader and His geonode His army, his government, he is inviting them to the belief in one God, this is a strategic call which is being made, because if Allah subhanaw taala had willed, and the joshy and his army with the elephants came then believing in one God, then the whole of history would have changed. And so a beautiful letter accepted by the joshy.

And it is reported within our sources that under joshy, US Hama under Jessie rhodiola one, that he actually embraced Islam. And that is verified by the fact that Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, made the salata janaza, the funeral prayer for the absent person funda joshy. And he lined up the believers and asked them to pray for the joshy pray for your brother who has died in this foreign there. And so the joshy the Great Leader, accepted the Muslims and they were able to stay within these lands until the major digital came about. And when the major digital then came about. The Muslims had to travel from Mecca from Yemen from anywhere they were to yathrib This is El Medina

Tijuana water to the lighted city. And so the prophet SAW Selim had made his migration from Mecca to Medina. And then he called the believers from everywhere. This is the great hegira it's not the first. The first is not to Medina, it is not to Persia. It is not to Turkey.

It is not to India. It is not to Yemen. It is not to Indonesia. The first migration is to Africa. The first movement out of Mecca was to the African continent, where the Christian African Emperor, accepted the believers and gave them a home and eventually accepted Islam himself. And so,

when the movement was made, from alhaja, from Ethiopia, to Medina, it is recorded that there were a number of companions, a number of Ethiopians among the companions, naturally, or instinctually. When people think of African Muslims, Ethiopia must be said Bella, rally alone. That's a natural response. But did we know that there were other people?

Did we know that Bilbao had a brother? He had a brother named Khalid ebin. Rubber brother lower. Did we know that amongst those who migrated was Manhattan Alhaji Abu Bakr Al Habsi? Show Quran Al habashi to mcma al Habsi do mme al hub sheep Dudgeon Duma na hub hub Shi

Khalid ebenen hamari Aslam SAR yes our US thermal hub she Hillel washy who we knew our Sim, not in LA Pete

Grl, Ibrahim abraha, Eben Saba our bra even for tune.

And Joshua ame. And a number of people migrated from Ethiopia. It's actually reported that over 32 abyssinians migrated to the early community. And this is important for us to remember and to understand about the first generation. Also, we recognize the fact that Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him had has surrounded himself with not only people of Polish, and people of the Arabian Peninsula, but poor people, and especially people from the African continent. And surprisingly enough, although it is standing right in front in front of us, many of the early companions of Prophet Muhammad SAW solemn were actually from Ethiopia, or from what we would call

East Africa. Remember, because East Africa could include parts of Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and going down the coastline. So from any of these areas, from Uganda from any of these areas, because of the movement of slavery, and the movement of people from any of these areas, these early African Muslims came into the community amongst the those who who who migrated.

And amongst the the, the early people was, they were females.

Did we know that bill had a sister, her name was Veera. There was also some era

There was also a Baraka of, Amun of excuse me a better car of home Habiba.

There was a nub ha, I'll have Shia and so from amongst the early companions of the Prophet peace be upon him.

Were a number of African women. And what is important for us never to forget, that from the early life of the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him, was an Ethiopian woman, an African woman, whose name was on a man whose name was Baraka, and she was the wet nurse of Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and it is reported that after his father had died, and his mother, Amina, had given birth, and she wanted to travel to Gaza area, and she carried on Amun Baraka with her, that after visiting the grave, and on the return, she fell ill and she found herself at the point of death. And so she turned her son, the young Muhammad Ali sought to slam over to Baraka and said to

her, treat him as your son, stay with him, and on Amen robotica May Allah be pleased with her said from that time, I never left him, either physically or spiritually. And she buried the mother of the prophets Allah with her hands and with her tears.

Imagine this closeness as the boy is climbing, crying, clinging to his new mother.

Imagine the relationship when he goes back to Mecca. And he's staying, eventually with Abu Talib. Eventually, as a young man, eventually getting married to Khadija. And a man is still with him, still within his life. Imagine that during that time with Khadija that they actually free her, and she marries a woman. And this is where the name or she marries a man from Medina and the sun is named Amen. So she gets the name on Amen. Imagine that closeness that is developed because she's always coming back to the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him. When her husband then passes away, and the prophet SAW seldom they went to his companions, and asked them who would like to marry

somebody from the people of paradise. And they all were ready to marry. But then when they found out it was on a month they hesitated, and Zaid even had a regular one.

He married her. Some reports even had that Zaid, although being an Arab was a darker skinned person, because many of the Arabs were of complex. In any event, the sun, Osama Ebony's aid or the law one that was sama

was clearly an Ethiopian person, clearly an African person. And so amongst the early companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, people from that East African side played an extremely important role

amongst the early companions of the Prophet, so Hello, I'm Amy. And it was after right until the death of the processor, she was there she was in Medina. And when he died, they found her crying. And they asked her why are you crying? And and she said, in words, I'm crying, not because Mohammed has died. But because the revelation has ended. Look at her fick. Look at her understanding. And she read the last one, huh? Whatever the process is, Helen would see her he would break the Hulk or the circle. And he would say yeah, oh me, Omar, he would refer to an African woman as his mother. This is important for us to understand as we are dealing in a world which is filled with racism, with

confusion with people are judged by the color of their skin, while being even an African Muslim, can actually be an equality that puts a person in a lower position when it should be actually on par with other people or even in a higher position.

So, the early companions of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. Many of them were Africans. Amongst the other companions, was July beep was sad aswhat Marja movies

and salad Mola ebin Abby who they found rather low on them and is reported that Salim was one of the top readings of the court and you can put them in the top five of those who could recite and knew the book of Allah subhanaw taala there was also Muhammad Eben mess, lemme

read the last one. He was a black man living in Medina. We're not sure of his actual heritage, but we know he was of African appearance. He was called the knight of the prophets of Southern K and I ght the fattest son to be, because he was a great horseman and he was a great defender of the province of Sutton. He was the one who was sent out on special missions, and he was the one who kept his belief in Allah subhanaw taala and his connection to the prophets of solemn all the way through. He is he is the one who set the stage for chivalry, for the great knights of Andalusia for the great Knights that came later on in Europe and around the world. Mohammed Eben muslimah rather allow one

this is another great achievement. This is another great contribution that is made by people coming out of an African background. Who sama Ebony's aid radula one Houma the proud Salaam used to say to him Anna or hibou sama Illa Fatima. I love Osama better than anybody except Fatima Reddy. lohana. And so that's how close a young black man was to the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him. And that is the importance that we see and so 32 abyssinians

migrating from Ethiopia and Habesha to Medina. So we could say in the significance of this is that basically the first generation

is made up of Hejazi Arabs meaning people, Arabic speaking people from Mecca, Medina, and the Hejaz region in between. Also a few people sprinkling of Persian like solid metal fantasy, sprinkling of Romans.

So hey Rumi, although he was Iraqi who looked like a Roman, but because he lived in Byzantium for a while, and he spoke two languages, they called him suhaib, the Roman, so different types of people, white people, yellow people, brown people, black people, all companions of the Prophet Muhammad Ali's autoselect. But it's important for us to understand when we are dealing with the African continent, that a great percentage of the companions were actually from Africa, or had African origins. This generation was described in many hadith of Prophet Muhammad Ali sought to slam in one tradition he tells us, Pharaoh Nasser corny, from Medina, yo Luna home, Toma, Latina, yo, Luna, the

best of people is my generation, and then the ones that follow them, and then the ones that follow them. So the best of people, the best nations, that early group, who gave their lives, who were sacrificing in Mecca, who made the migration, who accepted the believers who came back who went to Medina, who suffered in better and overdone conduct and all the different attacks that the city went under those who braved the cold, those who braved the difficult circumstances, holding on to the rope of Allah subhanaw taala. Those who, who developed the basic community in the light of the revelation, they're examples are the greatest examples for us, of any human beings at this point in

time.

Their examples are like shining lights, like shining stars to us. And it is reported that over 15 of the companions died in Alabama. And if you go to the village of Nick ash, which is in Ethiopia, you will find the grave of us Hama, under joshy, and 15 companions of Prophet Muhammad SAW seldom, it is recorded, they are buried in that area. And within a historical text, you can actually see their names. And so the contribution of East Africa so the foundation of Islam, the movement of people into the continent, the movement back the relationship of the believers, and the spread of Islam as as how it began to spread, that early foundation can be attributed to the people of East Africa, the

people of Arabia, Allah subhanaw taala chose them. And under normal circumstances, we do not separate people, or focus on the nationality of people. But we recognize in this case, because of racism, that is stocking the land, because of misunderstanding about Africa, and especially East Africa in particular. Because of that mis misunderstanding, we bring it out. How many of us knew that bill had a brother named call it? How many of us knew that he had a sister named McAfee era, bent rubber? May Allah be pleased with them both. We bring it out, not to shock. We bring it out to add to our understanding, to understand that it is all colors, all nationalities, all languages that

have contributed to the beautiful community of Islam.

Never forget the foundations in Arabia, the foundations in East Africa, which is the connection, that early home for the message of monotheism, that early base for the companions, and as we sell, we shall see inshallah, as we go further, we will see how the companions spread out. We will see how they moved into what is now Somalia and Djibouti. We will see how they move down the east coast, into the Swahili lands. We will see how they moved into the interior. And we will see the connection between the believers that we are all one nation, but we must recognize this when we are dealing with people from

East Africa, especially Muslims looking to those people who may be suffering today, under a drought or under locusts are under a terrible political climate, to recognize their contributions. Recognize that the light of Islam has been passed from generations to generations. From the first generation. It went to Syria. It went to Yemen, it went to Iraq, it went over into Afghanistan. It went up into Chechnya, it went over into the highlands of India, it went over to China, it went down to Indonesia, it traveled to different parts of the world across North Africa, up into Spain, it moved around generation to generation light, like relay runners, passing a torch, or passing the baton,

one to another. The message of Islam is being passed on the oneness of God, the unity of humanity, and the importance of us, never forgetting our past. Narrowing, never forget where we came, because within their stories, is Abra. within their stories are great lessons. For those of understanding. May we reflect upon this. May Allah subhanaw taala bless those who have gone on before us.

Those who are suffering today, and those who would remember their brothers and sisters in humanity, who are in need, they will give up themselves. They will respect people regardless of their color, regardless of their economic status, and make one SFX one line of Muslims that will connect to the rest of humanity. I leave you with these thoughts. And I asked a lot to have mercy on me and you were Salaam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh