Adnan Rajeh – Seerah Halaqah #20
AI: Summary ©
The success of the prophet's message of survival and survival is highlighted, along with the importance of learning from the land and being treated fairly. The return of Muslims to Christian land is considered a significant accomplishment, and educating people on their cultural differences is key to creating a community of tolerance and respect among groups. The importance of bringing positive things to the table, including something unique to the table, taking risks, risk one's partners and family, not being well-lstered and intelligent, and being a well-lstered and organized man with a history of managing crowds and speaking well. The need for faith in explaining Islam in a way it is understood, along with passionate leadership, is emphasized.AI: Transcript ©
Last week and the seal of the prophet
and
we're in year 6 and 7. So these
are years 6 and 7. And as I
pointed out a number of times before that
we cannot pinpoint exactly
the incidences
and exactly the the years of everything. But
we can I can I can speak within
a within a reasonable range within a year
or so, maybe 2, of when these things
happen? And there's some overlap. So I'll tell
talk about for example, the negotiation period probably
went beyond year 7 sometime into year 8,
but but I'd like to put it together
so they understand
what, the prophet
was dealing with
really the prophet
had nothing had no reason to. You come
to Islam and you accept it as it
is. If you don't, then Allah said, like,
there's no reason for Islam to come compromise
anything within it. Even if the the the
prophet alayhi wasalam was lacking numbers and lacking,
any support and lacking strength and lacking status
and lacking wealth, it doesn't matter. Islam is
is the strength of Islam is in this
idea. Always has been and always will be.
So you never have to compromise. You never
should. And if you do feel that you're
compromising within Islam, it's because you probably don't
understand what Islam means. Like, you don't understand
the idea itself, and you're not confident in
the strength of this idea. So you're compromising
certain pieces so you can feel more confident.
And that's why I feel like, you know,
the one of the,
the vaccines
to, against these these compromises that occur within
our community is proper Islamic knowledge. It's learning.
Educate yourself. If you understand Islam appropriately, you
become very confident that you don't compromise anything.
And then you don't give up on any
of the rulings. And you don't say I'm
not gonna do this because it's too difficult.
I don't wanna do that because it is
hard for me at school or it's hard
for me at work or I'm I'm struggling.
No. You just you stick to Islam whether
people around you like it or not because
of the strength of the idea that you
adhere to. And that's really what we what
we should be celebrating as Muslims today. The
strength is of this idea. We we we
don't back down from an argument or debate
or discussion. And if anyone has a better
idea, bring it on. Bring it on and
we will discuss because this is not something
that we came up with. This is Allah
teachings. And if Allah
teachings are are weak, then then we have
a problem in our faith. And that's not
the case, obviously. And that's why the prophet
had this confidence in all of his negotiations
that he did not change anything. He refused
he basically, he, you know, he battered them
all. Everything was gone. Again, nothing. And even
though they offered they offered they made some
reasonable offers that maybe someone like myself would
have probably, yeah, and he, considered at some
point, but
he didn't Within this within that period, I
I pointed out, something that was happening in
the mid in in the in the mid
time, in the meantime. And and and and
the point that was, I shared with you
last week was the power of the Quran.
That they would they would literally
hide
behind his wall
at night just to hear him recite Quran.
The leaders of of of Qurayshia,
they would do this even though they told
people do not listen to him, alayhis salaam.
He's a, you know, a sorcerer or wizard
and his words are are are magic spells
that he will cast on your brain. And
so people wouldn't, but they couldn't help it.
They wanted to hear what he had, what
he was bringing out of his. So they
found joy in doing that.
And when they censored him from doing it
in front of the Kaaba, they regretted it
because now they couldn't hear it because he
would at least come recite in in in
in front of the Kaaba. So even though
they didn't follow it in prayer, they could
hear what he was gonna what he was
saying. And,
and that was at least something that because
they found joy in it. They found beauty
in hearing the Quran. It's a beauty that,
you know, we don't we have we have,
omitted over the last number of centuries. We've
kinda omitted that beauty and that joy of
listening and hearing, the Quran being recited. And
and and allowing the Quran to actually
seep and file it find its way through
into your heart and actually enjoy what's being
said. And the prophet, alayhi sallam, that's how
they were. They found beauty and joy in
hearing the Quran being recited. And and when
he recited the it came from the heart.
And because it came from the heart, it
reached the hearts of those who were listening
to him. And, really, that's that's a big
piece of, you know, of of of when
you read the the book of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala is you want to read the
book of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala not with
your tongue, but with your heart. And that
requires you understanding a little bit of it
and also being in agreement with the message
that this book is bringing and recognizing who
said these words and whose words these are.
These are the words of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala and and and appreciating that will allow
you to actually enjoy what it is that
you're saying, what it is that you're reciting.
And
I I that if in order for for
us to bring that back, it's gonna take
a little bit of of effort from all
of us to to reconnect with the Quran
appropriately and learn the book of Allah and
reconnect with it. So that so that it's
meaningful to us like that. And and that's
how you get people that's how you actually
transmit the Quran. Meaning, when you recite it
from your heart, people who hear it will
also feel it, and then they'll want to
do the same, and then it spreads. And
that if you think about it, that's how
it kinda spread. The prophet alaihi sallam recited
it that way in a way where when
you heard it, it touched you. So the
Sahaba wanted to learn it, so they learned
it, and then they did exactly what he
did. So it spread like that. And that's
how Quran could use a spread. And you
know that because every once in a while,
you'll hear someone reciting it and it'll touch
you. Like, it'll it'll it'll reach a spot
inside of your spirit that you didn't even
know existed and it'll move you for a
short period of time. Within that short period
of time, if you if you utilize that
movement, then maybe you it's a window for
you to learn more about Quran and connect
and attach yourself to the Quran. And I
think that's something worthy of of sharing because
even the Kufa Quraish who did not believe
who never accepted Islam still could not resist
the beauty of what it is that they
were listening to, what they were hearing.
So as I pointed out a few lessons
ago, throughout this whole period of negotiation and
the
Yeah. Yeah. The the persecution continued.
The persecution of of the Muslims continued and
the Sahaba, women specifically like Zinnira and and
Musharaykin and Mo'Ubaysin and Hadiya were being were
being mistreated and some of them were being
tortured and murdered.
So the prophet had to come up with
a, with an alternative. He started to think
outside the box. And this is something that
you will find,
is unique to his character
that is very and a very important in
understanding his story. Is that he was an
out of the box thinker. Like, he would
he would entertain ideas that no one during
his his era or time or space would
even even even even consider an idea. They
would consider it a joke and they would
laugh out loud and then move on. But
he would think seriously
about stuff like this. Some of his ideas
like that would work and some of them
wouldn't, but he would act at least that's
how he went by stuff. He would he
would look for ideas that were original, that
were authentic, that had an edge to them.
And and and I think as Muslims, we
have to kinda maybe start,
considering some stuff like that. As Muslims, we
we don't agree with a lot of what
happens around us in the world. We don't
agree with the with the financial system of
the country that we of the countries that
we live in. We don't agree with the
political, yeah, any, way of of governance that
exists. We don't there's a lot of stuff
that we look at and say, this is
wrong. We have to some you know, we
have bank accounts. We have no way around
it. But we know it's wrong. We know
it's not helpful.
In order for us to get away from
it, we need original ideas.
An Islamic bank is just
a I knew
came up with a you were you put
the word Islamic before the same thing they
were doing. Maybe we you actually need ideas
that are a little bit more authentic, more
original, and and we'll, you know, push the,
the limits a bit and and and and
that's what you'll find he did
some time and time again. And I can
tell you that the the story I'm gonna
share with you today is a is a
is a is a fabulous example of that.
He comes up with an initiative
on
This is this is Abyssinia, the kingdom of
Aksum.
It's, I think, modern day Ethiopia, Eritrea,
parts of Somalia as well.
It was a it was a very big,
kingdom.
From that kingdom came Abraha,
the person who tried to tear down the
Kaaba the year the prophet
was born. Right? They were Christians.
They had accepted Christianity,
many, many decades or centuries before.
Christianity had seeped to them from Egypt through
Sudan, kinda kinda coming down to that part.
And they had built a very strong kingdom,
and they were quite,
quite wealthy,
due to the agriculture and the, and the
rivers that ran ran within them. The
prophet realized that
things were not going the way he had
envisioned them going in Mecca. Meaning, when he
started his daw alaihis salatu wa sallam, he
had a vision of how this was going
to work, what he was going to be
able to achieve. And that's natural because if
you're if you're on a
a conquest as as as large as the
one he was on, alayhis salatu wa sama,
which is taking this idea and spreading it
to all the corners of the earth, you
have to have a plan. And, of course,
his plan at the beginning was a selective
period, 3 years talking to people that he
thought could build the the foundation of the
Islamic, Yanib Nation and then spread openly and
then go to the, the leaders of the
land and see who we can get on
board with that. But that didn't work out.
The leaders of the land showed a a
huge amount of resistance. This was something that
he was anticipating,
but at the end, you still don't end
up anticipating how much you're gonna get at
something.
Like, this is normal within any plan that
you come up with. Yeah. I know I'm
gonna get resistance.
I know I'm gonna get pushback, but he
don't think he I don't think he anticipated
the amount of pushback and resistance he was
going to get and that his own family
would fight him so viciously, so brutally, and
treat him so so horror horribly. I mean,
they they were the people of Quraysh were
not murderers.
The nobles of Quraysh were people of, they
were gentlemen, and they carried themselves as such.
And they they they they took pride in
differentiating themselves from the Bedouins who were savages
in their opinion. This is this is the
geopolitical kind of landscape of of of of
the peninsula.
But the people of Quraysh and nobles, they
carried themselves as people of class, as people
of intellect. They spoke the proper Arabic. Many
of them knew how to read and write.
They were they were well educated. They knew
they had access to poetry and to poets,
and they knew the poetry of the land.
The Bedouins weren't like that. So they saw
themselves to be so they started behaving in
ways that was out of keeping,
what, what they would which is they're they're
torturing people, they're murdering people, they're, yeah, they're
excommunicating
people, they're, you know, depriving people of of
of of of clothing and of food and
of wealth, which which looked quite bad for
them. But it was happening anyway. And the
prophet
after 3 years of this occurring,
the sayyid that this was not safe. He
started worrying about the survival
survivability
of Islam.
This is an important piece. You and I
know how the story ends.
You you know what's gonna happen next. So
it's like when you talk the story of
Musa, you know what's gonna happen next. You
know he's gonna hit the sea and the
sea is gonna you know that. He didn't.
Whenever you read a story, remember he had
he didn't know. He didn't know what's gonna
happen next. He stood in front of the
sea. He had no clue what's going to
come next at all. That's important so that
you can actually benefit from the story. Because
if you because if you don't see that
piece, then, then you're not gonna learn anything.
This is so you can learn something from
the story being told. If you you know
the future, they didn't. If they knew the
future, it's not impressive anymore. If the prophet
alaihi sallam knew his future here, there was
not there'd be nothing impressive about it. It
would be just he just knows what's gonna
happen next and that's not
Here, at least in the in the early
years of his life
given towards the end of his life, alayhi
sallam, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala opened his eyes
to
And that was what makes the story so
valuable and so beautiful and his the way
his way of thought and his courage and
his strength, alaihis salaam, is something that is
admirable because he didn't know what's coming next.
So he didn't know that Islam was going
to survive. He didn't know that Islam was
going to eventually prevail. He didn't know that
peace. The Quran says that time and time
again.
Either either we take you back to us,
meaning we you die, and then we take
take seek revenge upon those who who who
who refuse our message, or we keep both
alive long enough for you to see what
is going to come of this mess message.
Here's why he was told in the Mecca
Quran. You may live, you may not. Just
do your job. You you don't know this.
So he didn't know if Islam was actually
going to prevail, if he was going to
be able to, you know, get Mecca on
board. He still had hope in Mecca up
till now. He still had hope in Mecca.
Right? This is year number 6. He still
had hope that Mecca and the people of
Quraish would would, you know, turn yeah. He
turned a leaf and and and change their
way of thought and actually embrace his message
But he was worried
that there were too there was too much
persecution going on. People were dying, and he
was worried about survivability. He wanted, alayhis salatu
wa sama, for there to be a second
base.
See, this is the beauty of it. He
he's going he's moving he's gonna move the
struggle out. He's gonna make it international.
Up to now, it's local. It's just in
Mecca. He's gonna take it outside. He's gonna
take the struggle with him and the Paresh
to a different, continent altogether,
which is something that Quresh Yani was not
anticipating
by any means.
This was probably the biggest surprise that they
ran into, even more than the surprise of
the trench.
This was because it's so rare. Arabs don't
leave their land. I can't even imagine how
he pitched this alaikhis salatu wa salaam. How
he brought people around and said, okay. I
need a bunch of you to go to
Habasha.
I need to go I need you to
get into a Arabs don't like the, sea,
for that matter either. They're not they're not
sailors.
They're they're the people of the desert. That's
where they thrive.
Put them in a boat. They're not sure
exactly where to go. To get on a
boat and to and to cross the Red
Sea and to go to an land where
it's very different, that is that is a
huge unless you are a merchant, a businessman
that thrives on them, this is what what
your trade is going has always been. It's
very, very unheard it's it's very weird. So
it's unheard of for someone to actually pitch
this. But he did that. He pitched it
to them. And he said, I need I
want you I want some of you to
go to Habasha, to Abhisenia.
Until Allah
gives us a way out of the status
or situation that we're in right now.
See, he acknowledged
this is not good. This wasn't working. We
weren't we're not achieving our milestones. We're not
where we want to be. I have to
think about what's coming next. That's what he's
trying to say to himself, alayhis salaam. I
need to figure out what the next steps
are going to be. It's not safe for
us all to be in one spot. We
have to have some people outside. In case
this doesn't work, there's another base. In case
we all have to leave to go somewhere
else. This is the idea. That if we're
if we're spread into 2 places, then this
gives us a little bit more safety and
and security. If this doesn't work here, then
we pick up and we come we come
to you or vice versa that doesn't work
where you are.
But for us all to have be be
in one space or one place that gives
the risk of us being destroyed all at
once because there's no other there's no Muslims
right now are everywhere. So if our community
is wiped out, there's other communities. Islam continues,
doesn't die off. But back then, you're talking
about a very small about 300 Muslims,
tops.
Very small number of people 6 years in,
we didn't have a lot.
The the number of Muslims, by the way,
you know, it grumbles along. Like the graph
drumbles along, and then it just skyrockets
when Hudayviya comes to fuck. It just it
just goes it goes like a straight line
within within a year. It grumbles along really
really slowly for a very long time. So
300 people after 6 years is a very
very low number, you know, remind you. And
and a lot of them, a lot of
these people were very weak. And I'm not
saying weak physically. I'm what I mean is
that they were of a low socioeconomic status.
They came from from slavery backgrounds. They didn't
have a lot of money. They had no
status. They had no protection. The more like,
this is a lot of them. At least
half of them, if not a little bit
more.
So he told them, it's a land of
truth.
What he means by that is that there
is there are free there's freedom.
What he means by Ardu Sudkan, there's a
land of truth, there's freedom there. That's an
important piece. It's a very important piece.
And within that land where there's freedom, there
is a king whom no one is mistreated
in his court. I mean, he he is
just. He's a just king. Does not this
required for him to say that statement, by
the way,
required a, an, a, a degree of of,
geopolitical knowledge that was very high. Like, he
had to know a lot, to make that
statement back then. To be able to say
I know a place where you can go
and be safe, where you can go be
free and you'll be treated fairly. Because imagine
if it if if if he was wrong.
Imagine if he was wrong. If he sent
them and they all got butchered.
Oh, well, that didn't work out. Like, no.
This is on this is, he's not sending
this is a big deal.
He he he can't be wrong about this.
This is it's very dangerous. You just you
just send people to their desk. So he
had to know what he was talking about.
But this is going back again going back
to his early years of preparation.
Remember I told you, like, months ago when
he was 8 and 9, he would sit
there with his grandfather.
Right? On his abaya. And his grandfather would
meet with all of the leaders of the
land. And he would sit there listening.
And his grandfather would always point out point
to him and say, this this kid has
a future.
Because kids that age, you know, 78,
they're all over the place. They're running around
looking for balls to play with and, you
know, friends. They don't care. They're not listening
to what's being said by by grown ups.
The prophet, alayhis salaam, at that young age,
he was sitting there. He was listening.
He was all ears of what was being
said. He was learning things. This knowledge later
on would would serve him. We understood the
politics of the land and how things work.
He knew.
He he knew something about,
a country that existed in a different continent,
alayhi salatu wa sallam. It is the reason
I tell you this, the reason I share
this with you is because I don't want
you to think
not not to say that sitting in the
Masjid with the Masjid is a bad thing.
But imagine him,
someone who knew very little
He was someone who's very knowledgeable. He was
someone who knew he who who knew stuff,
and he was aware, and he was well
he was well read.
Yeah. When I say that, I I mean
that with a pun. Because the first word
that he took from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is. Right? And he's not necessarily reading the
written
written written word or written written letter, but
it's more reading reading your surroundings, reading the
world around you. So he knew he knew
what was happening. So he came up with
this this bizarre
initiative,
suggestion. How about some of you go across
the sea to a different continent?
It's there's a there's freedom there. There's a
there's a just king. You stay there until
Allah subhanahu gives us an out.
We we we we're in a better situation.
And you are there as our Yeah. I
mean, it's it's an insurance policy for us.
If we can't survive here anymore, then we
we come to you.
And now Islam is going to have
2 two bases.
So he took he took his company, international,
alaikayas, salaam, early on.
Is that he said about this this this,
Christian king. He said,
There's a king there who is just and
fair, and no one is is oppressed in
his court.
This king is a is not a Muslim.
Granted that he will become later. He wasn't
a Muslim at that point,
and he was from a different faith altogether.
Yet the prophet
felt no pressure or no difficulty
in in praising
this king's,
characteristics.
He didn't feel that was weird or because
righteousness is not biased.
What is what is what is right, what
is real, what is correct, it is not
based on whether you're a Muslim or you're
not Muslim, whether you you're a part of
my group or you're a part of someone
else's group. Right?
What is correct is correct. And you and
you and you and you admit
it regardless of anything.
And this man this king was not a
Muslim. He did not follow his faith
Yet he had no problem praising
a characteristic that was real and important about
him. He wasn't scared that if he did
that, it was going to encourage his his
Muslim followers to become Christian.
This is the argument I get at all
times. When I point out the the contributions
of a scientist or a scholar or a
philosopher or a thinker, who's not Muslim?
It'll encourage non Muslims to go, no, it
won't.
It'll encourage them to be righteous. It'll encourage
them to be objective. It'll encourage them to
be
non biased in the way that they see
the world around them. It's when you only
praise your own that people start feeling that
you're not real, you're not genuine, and actually
pushes people away. Like, this actually is a
is a turn off for for for those
who who follow your your creed or a
part of your group. When they feel that
you don't have any degree of objectivity. And
when you can't see outside of your group,
people start questioning what you're doing Because exists
everywhere and the human race is filled with
just like it's filled with It has both
in it. And just like our community have
good people, we have bad people. And just
like other communities have bad people, they have
good people as well.
They're not the same? Like you said, what?
I mean in the group, the the the
people that, are different than you, not the
same. Not everyone is the same. Some of
them are are are are very good people
and some of them are
There are people that if you give them
the smallest amount, they will they will pay
you back. And others, you will give them
and they won't pay anything back because they're
they're people like everyone else. So the prophet,
alaihi, sallam felt no shame.
And he felt no threaten,
threat to his identity or the Muslim identity
to point out that that king is fair
and just, even though he's not Muslim.
And it didn't affect his followers negatively.
They didn't slowly become no. They were fine.
They're totally fine.
With one exception that I'll talk to you
about later on in this story.
So that's the suggestion they made.
Interestingly enough,
is that the Sahaba were open to the
idea.
And they didn't say,
gosh, no. It's very hard to get, someone
who's Arab to leave their land.
It's very, very difficult. It's almost impossible.
Which is weird because considering their land is
not that attractive to begin with. But they
don't leave. They stay in their land. They
die in their land. And that's that's just
a known, you know, any aspect of, of
of of the ruba, of just being someone
who's arab. It's just how they are. They
don't leave their lands. So for the prophet,
alayhi, sallam, to suggest, plus some of you
get out, leave. They're not gonna leave for
a few days.
It's not gonna be, like, a couple months.
15 years.
They're going to leave for 15 years.
His whole prophecy was 23.
The whole prophecy was 23 for 15 years.
These people would miss out on so much.
We'll come back in Khaybar,
just before Khaybar or just after Khaybar, sir.
And the prophet would say,
I don't know which one I'm gonna be
happier about. The the return of Jafar and
the people who are with him or or
or the conqueror of or the conqueror of
I don't know.
K. It's going to be a big deal.
It's a huge sacrifice from these people. They're
going to sacrifice being with him, alayhis salatu
wa sallam.
Sacrifice
learning, yeah, any certain basic aspects of Islam.
They they they're gonna come back and they
they don't know what a Masjid is.
They're gonna come back in Adan. They've never
heard that before.
They're gonna come back in Jummah is not
something they they they knew about
because this wasn't, wasn't
yet. Their understanding of Islam is and and
their follow what they're following is very simple.
Surah in a certain of in a certain
way, they'll come back to different their name
differently. They they function differently.
The amount of Quran that has that has
been revealed over the the the course of
this amount of time is gonna be very
so it's not something simple.
So before we kinda I I continue to
show you how difficult this is, let's answer
some questions here.
Oops. So why not somewhere in ar somewhere
in Arabia?
Why not send them somewhere in Arabia, outside
of Mecca, outside of Quraish, to maybe a
different city? Any ideas?
Quraish would find them.
Quraish has has its tentacles everywhere. In Arabia,
nowhere in Arabia would be safe.
Nowhere in in in the peninsula would be
safe. Wherever they go, Quraysh can get to
them. Wherever they go, Quraysh can go and
bring them back or Quraysh can reach them.
So he could not send them somewhere in
Arabia. He couldn't send them to Ta'if, for
example, he couldn't send them to the to
the north, couldn't send them to Abha or
Jeddah, couldn't send them to to the east,
couldn't send them to Yemen. Wherever he sent
them, Quraysh had enough leverage that or they
could bring them back again or they could
persecute them more there. So he just he
couldn't choose a place in Arabia. That's the
first one. Why didn't he go himself alayhi
salawat wa sallam? This is
a reasonable question.
If it's if it's the right thing to
do, why didn't he himself go with them
to, to
Habashan?
Is it good point. He wasn't given the,
the the, permission to leave, but he didn't
even seek it. He didn't seek permission. He
didn't try.
If he were to go, had he gone
to Haversa, he would have ended his hopes
of ever being able to spread the message
in Arabia. He would have ended his hopes
of ever being able to do that. If
he, this grandson of Abdul Muttalib, went to
the land of Abraha who tried to tore
down tear down the Kaaba, he would have
been seen as a traitor for the rest
of his life.
Understand? Had he gone even to to visit,
even just to make sure the Muslims are
stable, had he entered the land of Abraha
who tried to tear down the Kaaba. As
the grandson of Abdul Muttalib, that would have
never they would have never let that go.
That would have been the only way he
would he would be remembered alaihis salatu wa
sallam. That he went to the enemy
because Habasha was in general seen as the
enemy
who no one historically had tried, who had
brought an army,
a sizable army with elephants in it, with
the intention of destroying the most sacred thing
that the Arabs had which is the Kaaba.
No one had done that before. So Arabs
had enemies but not like, Abraha. No. Abraha
was a different level of an enemy.
So the prophet, alayhi, he says to him
to go there himself was a problem. He
couldn't go there himself. That was going to
be, oh, they're gonna play that. They're gonna
have a heyday with that. That was going
to be impossible for him to ever shake
that off in his life. So he didn't
go. However, he didn't have a problem sending
the Muslims there to a country where enemies
had come before. Like, enemies had emerged from
this country before. He didn't have a problem
sending sending people there. He sent them there.
No problem.
Why? Because because there's someone who was fair
there.
During this time, when the prophet, alayhi, was
preparing the Muslims to go to,
the Habasha,
2 Surahs of the Quran were revealed to
him,
and they're very,
they're very appropriate. And I think they're worth,
I can't remember. And
right before. These are the last 2 Surahs
that the Muslims who went to Habasha, heard,
and this will be memorized on their way
there.
Very appropriate for a couple of reasons. Number
1,
they're going to a Christian land.
They have to have a proper appreciation
of the prophets that they know about.
They have to have a proper appreciation of
Mariam Al Adra al Batool alaihi salaam and
of her son, Isa.
And then also the prophets that they believe
in. That's why if you go to Surat
if you if you study in Surat Mariam,
it's not just the story of Mariam and
Isa. The story of Yahya and Zakaria,
and Ibrahim
and his father and Isma'il and Musa and
Harun and Idris, all these names are exist
in Surat Mariam.
And this is so that they have some
education
on the different on the culture of the
people that they're going to visit.
They had to be it's like the Quran
is here here here's some culture. I'm I'm
gonna we're gonna culture you a bit so
that you go and you're not completely don't
come to people with no understanding at all
of their backgrounds. This is very rude by
the way. And people notice that. Like, if
you enter someone's house and you know that
they're up from a certain background and you
know nothing about it and you think it's
cute,
Well, I've never heard this before or I
didn't know that existed. It's not cute. If
you knew what they were and you went
to their house with zero education on what
their what their background is, that's on you
and it's not funny and it's not nice.
And you're not you don't get like a
free well, I don't know. It's new to
me. I know it's new to you. There's,
heard of Google? Yeah. Just punch in the
name. You'll get a bunch of information. You'll
know something about these people, know things about
people. It's it's it's a show of respect.
I don't think it's cute when
non Muslim people know nothing about Islam. And
I don't I don't think it's nice. I
don't think it's, I don't I don't appreciate
it. I find it feel very why don't
you know anything about Islam? You heard you
heard about it you've known about Islam for
over 20 years. You you did not have
a half an hour of a day for
the last 20 years to look into this
a little bit, just to know something about
it instead of just accepting the ongoing propaganda
that the government that you know is always
lying is giving you. It's funny how they,
you know, we we we know the government
is lying about everything, but when it comes
to Islam, people believe it.
The one of the weirdest things.
Speak to a non Muslim person. He'll tell
you the government is lying about everything.
And then when it comes to Islam, no.
That that that's why.
Why would they why would they tell you
the truth about this? And if they if
they lie about everything, why would this be
truthful? Anyways, it's it's not it's not interesting.
It's not it's not a nice thing for
you to go to people who are different
than you culturally or religiously or racially or
Yeah. In terms of their norms and and
habits and for you to know nothing about
them. No. You should know. So the Quran
was revealed. Mariam was sent, the Sukh Mariam.
So now the Sahaba had a better understanding
of the story.
Surah Al Kahf has a story of
which is also a group of Christian young
men, had the story of Musa Al Khadr,
had the story of Jindatayn, which only took
also 2 Christian men, and the story of
Al Qurnayn, who was a very known historic,
historical,
figure that,
almost all cultures around the world knew about
except Arabs. They had not they didn't know
much about the Qur'an. So for them, it
was a bit of a of a new
thing. So the so the surahs that were
revealed were preparing them preparing them from a
cultural perspective to go to a new piece
of land.
And there's more. And so and there's another
reason that I'll point out to you in
a few minutes. The the the the themes
of these 2 surahs are actually also extremely
important for the people who are going there.
But that's just
in a nutshell.
Going to a land where you know no
one, where you don't know the culture, you
don't hear some information so you have something.
And you're gonna see how this is gonna
come very hand in in very handy for
them.
Yep. Altogether, a 100 people end ended up
going. 18 at first and then 82 afterwards.
He sent a small group,
18 people. They went. They made sure and
he wasn't naive about it. He said he
was gonna send a 100 all at once
based on information. No. He's gonna make sure
that was gonna work. He knew what what
the what the king was like. He knew
what the land was like. He sent 18
people to make sure it was it was
safe. Everyone's like, yep. Thumbs up. It's good.
As you pointed out, so he sent 82
people. That's a 100 people. Just a third
of the population.
It's a third of his population.
He sent. It's not a small amount of
people
in terms of his of the the ratio.
In terms of the ratio, it's not a
small amount of people. A 100 people.
Down exact 50%, 50%. 50%.
50 women, 50 men.
This time, it was it was divided right
right down the middle.
Alright.
So who did he send? So this here
is the most, in my opinion, the most
impressive part of this story,
after the fact that he actually even thought
about doing this. Because
no one in the history of of the
peninsula, in the history of Aral, had ever
thought of something like this.
That they would send some of their people
to a different continent, in a different country,
to a different culture.
Not only are the people of Abyssinia,
Christians or different,
religion, they're also a different, language. They speak
a different language. And they're a different culture.
And they're different race.
They're different race of people.
So there are Racially, culturally, religiously,
yanik, the traditional
All of that is different. So you're sending
sending the Muslims there to, you know, to
basically to to people that they don't see
the same language. Everything is different. So it's
not it's not a simple
it's not a simple move at all. But
he did it alaihis salaam.
They were willing to do it.
He
sent
he sent some of the most
respected and revered Muslims he had. He sent
his own daughter Ruqayya
and her husband, Uthman ibn Aslan. Uthman
did had had no reason to go.
Uthman had no reason to go. What I
mean by that? Uthman was never persecuted.
Ever.
All throughout the story of Islam, no one
ever touched a hair on Uthman's head. Ever.
Oh, I tell you what all these stories
of Bilal and Ammar and Talha and Mus'aib
and how what they went through.
All through that, Uthman
was treated with the utmost respect.
He was a beloved figure. He came from
a a strong tribe, and he was loved
by all of his family. And So even
though he accept one of the earliest Muslims,
no one touched a hair on him.
So he didn't have to go. He could
have easily said,
why? Why would I leave? I don't want
to leave. No. If the prophet, Alaihi, your
salsam, only sent the weak and the poor,
there would be like excluding them. It's like
he's getting rid of them. It's like they're
a headache and he wants to get rid
of them. And the and the king over
there in the this in in the,
in in Abyssinia would not respect it. Now
what do you send me? You sent me
the, you know, the ones who have nothing.
You sent me those who have no skills,
who have no wealth, who have no status,
who know well, this is not yeah. And
so they'll probably be persecuted even more. And
for the and for the for the weak
and the poor, for them to be sent
alone
feels like they're being abandoned,
feels like they're being ex communicated or or
removed altogether. So he didn't. He sent
some of the most prominent people. He sent
Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm
Abu Talib. I'm Abu Talib. Abu Talib. Abu
Talib. Abu Talib. Abu Talib. Abu Talib. Abu
Talib. Abu Talib. Abu Abu Talib. Abu Abu
Talib. Abu Jafar ibn Abi Talib, the son
of Abu Talib, was also someone who was
never persecuted.
Abu Talib's children were never touched.
Abu Talib was so respected and revered that
his children were always fine. Aqil and Ali
and they were fine. So Jafar had no
reason to to leave. He was the grandson
of Abdul Muttalem.
So he sent some of Usman ibn Mavroon.
Usman ibn Mavroon, one of the most one
of the most wealthy Muslims in in in
in in Mecca.
They didn't have to go, but they went
anyways.
Not only is it a message the prophet
alaihi sallahu alaihi wasallam was sending
his followers that I don't I don't discriminate,
and I'm not throwing you away and I'm
not abandoning you. This was important for for
see, within a community, if there's a group
of people who don't feel like they are
as valuable as everyone else, with time, they
retreat.
With try with time, they remove themselves. With
time, they may stay Muslim, but they don't
see themselves as a part of the community
anymore.
This is 100% a problem that we have.
This is for sure a big problem that
we have, that there's a lot of people
in our community that for so long have
not been valued, have not been included,
don't really feel that they're a part of
this community. So they're Muslim, but they're not
really involved. They're not engaged. They don't really
attend Masjid. And if they do, they end
up having their own Masjid that they kinda
go to, and they're not interested in being
a part of the larger community because they
didn't feel that they were a part of
the
discussion to begin with. And we see that
all and this exists not only in this
city, but exists all over, yeah, the Muslim
world, unfortunately. The prophet, alayhi, sallam, went out
of his way to make sure that wasn't
going to be the case. That the weak
in his society,
that the that that
we're not going to feel
as if they were abandoned or thrown away.
So, yes, he was doing this to protect
them. He told them that I want some
of you to go so that you're not
persecuted,
so that you're not gonna continuously
be tortured and killed. But he didn't send
them and abandoned them. He sent with them
his own daughter. It's something that he's accepting
for his own daughter is something that he
accepts for everyone. If you're willing to put
your child in it, it
has to have He sent.
The daughter of Abu Sufyan. No one
said a word to Ramda all her life.
She is this daughter of Abu Sufyan. She
was Muslim, but no one and this is
why Quresh flipped.
When this happened, the reason that Quraish yeah.
The the leader of the Quraish lost their
minds is because he sent some of the
most prominent names. He sent people of of
nobility,
people of status and respect. They didn't care
about the slaves he sent
because they're racist. They don't care. They didn't
care about the slaves, but they couldn't believe
that that that he had sent
he couldn't believe that he sent these people
of of this status.
This was a big problem for them.
But he did it to make sure that
the the the weak and the poor didn't
feel abandoned.
I sent to you some of the most
I sent you my daughter.
Because,
the king of Abi seena doesn't know the
prophet, alaihis salatu wa sallam, yet. He is
going to get to know him. When he
finds out that within the group is the
the Muhammad's daughter, alayhis salatu wa sallam, and
his
cousin and son and and and son-in-law
that's going to make him respect this group.
Right?
So it's very meaningful for him to do
it that way, alayhis salatu wa santo. This
this is important. This is important. We can't
go out of our ways to segregate groups
of people.
I tend to sometimes do this. I'm I'm
guilty of this.
Mostly because I'm trying to lessen the amount
of headache that I have to deal with
afterwards.
Or we try to, you know, separate groups,
groups that are you know, don't get along.
We try to keep them away from each
other just so that I don't have to
sit down and listen to people complain for
hours upon hours afterwards.
But it's not it's not the right way
of of going by stuff. I admit that
it's not it's not correct. The correct way
for us to function as Muslims is that
we bring people together and we help educate
every group
about the other one, about the differences that
they have, the cultural differences, their understanding of
Islam, their practicing of Islam,
and building some degree of tolerance or respect
amongst those groups so that we can function
as a community. This goes beyond just the
cultural differences. This goes beyond Arab and non
Arab. It also goes into like, the the
the way you practice Islam. Sometimes you the
madhab that you you follow, it dictates a
certain way of of how you see Islam
being being practiced, whether you're getting shafi, you're
Hanafi, you're Malik, you're Hanbali. Sometimes within the
way that you understand things, like, if you're
more towards the Sufi method method versus the
Salafi one, the peep these people in our
in our societies, people end up segregating themselves,
not wanting to have anything to do with
one another. That's not healthy. Yeah.
He's not healthy at all. It ends up
as if we have more than we end
up having instead of having 1 Muslim community,
we have 50. We're already a minority. We're
already struggling to get things done. We we
can't afford to do this. So you actually
have to find ways to bring people together
and educate them about one another and learn
how to tolerate each other and and exist
within the same vicinity and respect each other's,
sensitivity so that we can actually work as
a community together. The prophet alaihi was was
a master. He was very good at this.
He he put out yeah. He he knew
how to he mixed people. And he did
it well. And he did it in a
way where where yeah. He did they appreciated
what it what it was that was was
occurring.
So he sent to them the rich, rich
and poor, men and women, young and old.
It wasn't it wasn't, it was a heterogeneous
group. It wasn't all just a bunch of
poor, weak people that he sent to you.
Not via persecution.
Some people died because they stayed there for
15 years, and they just got old and
died.
But not via persecution, no.
So how long will they say? 15 years.
15 years is a long time. That's a
decade and a half.
There will be people who will be born
in Abyssinia
and grow up
and reach puberty and maybe even get married
in Habasha.
And that's all they'll know. And the only
language that they'll speak is the Habashi language.
And this is quoted, and I'm gonna
if you stick with this halakhah,
in a couple of months when we talk
about them coming back, I'll show you what
the prophet, alaihi, sallam, did. He learned
Habashi words.
He's a Bukhari Muslim. He'll learn Habashi words
so he can play with the kids.
So he can joke around with the kids.
He would he would learn to speak certain
Habashi words alayhi salatu wa salam so that
he could he could he could say these
things to the kids when they came back.
And he because they had to be reintroduced
to society and reintegrated again. And they had
to be taught Islam and taught how to
bring Jumu'an and what Adhan is and what
the ghusl and all these other all these
rulings and what Ramadan was and what had
all this stuff that most of them didn't
know what this was how it functioned at
all. So they had to be reintroduced. So
the prophet
when they came back, he had to actually
go on a campaign, say asking people to,
Yani, take in our brothers and sisters from
Habasha and educate them and be patient with
them and teach them and take care of
them because these are people who sacrificed for
us. They went for 15 years. Every year,
they would send back asking him, do we
come back? And he would say, no. Not
yet. Come back. No. Not yet. It was
only after after that he said, yes. Now
now yeah. After after
they said, yes. Come back now. Once there
was peace, come back. Now now it says
so they started coming back. They went a
100 people. They came back 500.
They went a 100. They came back over
500.
500,
among of themselves.
There were there were people from Habasho came
with them.
Right?
They they still exist today. The Habash in
in in Mecca and Medina, they still they're
they're they're the tribes are still there today.
The people who came from Habash because the
Muslims who went from Quresh, they obviously got
married and had children. So they went to
a 100, they came back 500, but then
they brought with them all these Habash people
who accepted Islam,
who wanted to to be a part. Now
now the Medina looked different. Now a lot
of people from from Africa, from from from
from, from Eastern Africa. So the the and
they had their cultures and they came in
with their songs and they came in with
their with their their performances and the and
the Muslims had to be open to that.
And we have stories of this where the
prophet alaihis salatu wa sallam would would have
Aisha watch them do their dance with the
with the spears in the masjid,
and them standing in front of the prophet,
alaihis salam, singing to him in Habashi.
And he stood there smiling not understanding a
word of what they're saying and then ask
what are they saying? And he would say
they're they're saying, Muhammad is
a good man. And he would smile, smile,
he would smile to them as they as
they sung for him and he stood there
listening to it. He doesn't know this rhythm.
He doesn't understand a word and he just,
you know, bobbing his head, but but entertaining
that the fact that they wanted to do
that, but this happened.
This is important to understand. The reason that
I'm taking time with this and I'm not
trying to bore you is because I can't
under I I can't imagine a
a situation within the prophet alaihis prophet alaihis
salam's story that is more similar to our
story than the Muslims in Habasha.
To me that's the closest we've got.
We are not like the people in Mecca.
Don't kid yourself. I like when they say,
we're the Meccan period. No, you're not. What
do you mean you're the Meccan period? No
one's persecuting you. Look at look at this.
I I I this is the most dawah
I've did in my life and I lived
most of my life. This is so sham.
I couldn't I wouldn't imagine doing this much
dawah. I wouldn't imagine. I running the number
of that I run, I would be like
in 50 jails.
I'd be so I would be so deep
in jail that no one would know where
not even the person who put me in
jail would remember where I was anymore.
This is impossible.
This is so no. We're not persecuted at
all nor nor nor are we,
harmed within our faith. So it's not Mekkiyid.
It's not Mekkiyid. We don't have our own
state. We don't have our own governance. So
what are we? We are the the most
similar situation is the situation of the people
of of of of the Muslims in Habasha.
That's the most similar. They go as a
minority.
They go as a minority
and they and they maintain their identity and
they build a community, and they have people
integrate into their deen, and they learn the
language of the land, and they teach people
the language of the Quran, And they can
hold on to the this is this is
important.
Understanding the story of, of Abhisina or Habashah,
in in my opinion, is is an extremely
important part of of,
for us, for for for Muslims living in
the West.
I think every depending on where you are,
there's a part of his will be more
meaningful to you for one reason or the
other. This one here, kind of us. Kind
of us. This is where we are. We
are we are the, the the second base
for Muslims because honestly, the, original base ain't
ain't doing too well. Yeah. It's it's not
a very it's not a very the prospects
there aren't great for Muslims. So in order
for Islam to survive, we needed the second
base
where Islam could thrive a little bit more.
Where a pea Muslims can be a bit
more free and they can learn their deen
and they can hold carry their deen with
with pride and the proper identity and and
learn it appropriately.
And pick up skills that the Muslim world
would need and then and then and then
actually integrate that back into the Muslim Ummah
altogether. So we we do carry a a
very important we carry an important,
weight here as Muslims. There's a message for
us living here. So don't belittle it. Don't
belittle the importance of what this means for
for the ummah in general.
He moved the fight out of Mecca for
them.
Yeah. They just
a majestic stroke,
honestly.
Yeah. The the Quraysh was not did not
see this coming.
This was a slap in the face. They
could barely contain him in Mecca.
And now he had moved it. He sent
a third of his followers to a different
continent,
where they had no reach.
They had no reach. They could not they
couldn't do anything. Like, they couldn't tell Najashi.
Najashi is the name of the king of
Habasha. Just like Qaysar is the name of
the king of Rome and Firaun is the
name of the king of the,
of of Egypt,
and Kisar is the name of the king
of Persia and and Tookbay of Yemen.
It's it's, it's Najashi for for, for Abyssinia.
So he moved the fight out of Mecca
for them. And this obviously was very difficult
for them to accept because now now it
was a different story altogether.
Now they looked bad. Their integrity and reputation
was on the line.
Because Quraysh is always, you know, they they
they they pride themselves in their integrity and
nobility.
So the whole problem with the prophet alayhi
wasalam was internal. It was an internal issue
that they had under control. Now it wasn't
under control. Now a 100 Muslims were in
a different country. It was an international problem.
Another king knows about their weakness. Another king
knows about their struggle. They don't look good
anymore.
And and and this caused a lot of
difficulty. So what happened was
he sent 18 people.
The, the information came back that this this
is this is a reasonable place to go.
So he sent the rest of the 82.
100 people arrived in Habesham. They arrived there.
No big fuss was made when they first
arrived there. The king knew about them coming.
It's not a problem.
It's a a land of free it's a
free land, and they can be whatever religion
they want to be in. There's no reason.
So they didn't have to go and, you
know, do much aside from establish their their
homes, their houses.
And so they took with them enough wealth
to, purchase places, and they start started building
their small community. And they started to integrate
into the community that they were part of,
and they started to learn skill sets.
And if you study the the the story
of Haber Shepher from the books of Sila,
you'll find that, they talked a lot about
what they did. They they,
wool, for example, moving wool. They would make
clothing,
Like, the the Muslims learned how to how
to take, because because the Arab were very
good with with, with
tanning of, of animal skins. The were good
with that. So they came to them and
the Abyssinians weren't as good as the were.
So, like, perfect. We found something we can
do. We found a service that we can
offer here that no one else so they
started doing that, using wool and tanning and
tanning, Yani,
animal skins and making and crafts, making small,
making dolls, and making stuff like that. And
this is how they and this is how
they they made livings. They made a living
through that. They were and they were people,
obviously, they were shepherds. The Arabs are mostly
shepherds. So they started building their, you know,
their livestock, groups, and and that's how they
kinda lived. So they were they they put
they were, contributing to the society that they
were a part of, and they brought something
new. Like, they brought to the people that
they were with, now something that they didn't
have before, and that's a big
plus. For us, I think this is something
that we haven't really thought about. As Muslims
living here, as people who will complain about
not feeling that we're included or not feeling
that we're a part of Yani, of of
the society as much as we would like
to feel.
A part of that, will allow Adam, is
something is on us a little bit. Because
what is it that we have offered?
What have we brought, right, as a community?
Because you can make the argument, yeah, well,
you know, we're in their schools and universities
and we're employed in their in their,
companies and and and no. In fact, what
what is it that we we're adding? What
are we producing as Muslims? Do we have
something that is unique to us as exciting
that we are that that's that's that's an
additional,
that's an an addition to, you know, to
to the country that we're living in. Something
that will make it easier for people to
be tolerant.
See, tolerance comes along easier when you're bringing
something to the table that's positive. It just
does. Right? It's easier to tolerate me if
I'm coming to your house with a cake
rather than coming in with nothing. It's easier.
It just works better some somehow. I don't
know why. Whenever you bring something positive to
the table, it just seems to kinda help
the tolerance along. It helps that, integration along
when you have something to offer. So as
Muslims, we should start thinking what is it
that we have? What what is it that's
unique to us that we can bring to
the table? Something that can be of service
to the per people that we're living amongst.
Something that will make them more interested in
hearing us out and listening to what we
have to say. If you want people to
listen to what we have to say, give
them a reason to do it. I don't
think we've done much of that. And we've
just came in, took jobs, bought homes, lived
quietly. We're happy with that. We're surviving. That
survival mentality is killing us, oh, lie. It's
it's absolutely ruining us.
My my deepest apologies all to out to
the to to my generation and the one
before me.
But your survival, mind Yani,
mentality and perspective is just
just really is is is very toxic. It's
not helpful. It's not helpful. You need you
need people who are willing to take risks
and and and think outside of the box
a little bit.
If if the constant if the if the
if the constant way of looking at things
is just surviving and keeping things keeping status
quo and not rocking the boat ever, We'll
never get go anywhere. We'll never achieve anything
that has any weight to it at all.
So they went there and they started building
their
their community a little bit, and they and
they had something to show for it, and
things were going really well.
Quraysh found this to be
extremely offensive.
They took more offense to this than they
took to anything else. They started persecuting the
Muslims in Mecca
way more than they did before. So people
stayed behind.
That's where that's where people died. And people
that passed away actually started happening in Mecca
more. The number of people dying in Mecca
increased within the it's Yani, there was a
there was a peak within that those numbers.
And they were determined to bring back, Yani,
these people who went. They wanted them all
back. All 100. And they vowed to murder,
to execute all of them when they came
back aside from couple of the nobles that
obviously had protection.
So who did they send? They send Amr,
ibn al-'as, and Abdullah ibn Abi Rabia.
These two gentlemen, aside from being
amongst the high noblemen of, of the land,
they were also well connected.
Ahmed Blas had traveled so much
on business and on conquest
that he knew
almost
every king within the region.
He almost knew every single king within the
region. He was very well connected. He was
a he he he's a he was a
he was a politician,
a diplomat, and he knew he knew how
to speak. He was a very
is what he was called. The,
means someone who is extremely or ridiculously intelligent.
And he was known for that. He was
known for his ability to manage crowds. He
knew how to to carry himself. He was
someone who knew how to speak.
So they asked, we need them back.
Do what you need to do. Either bring
them back or have Najashi kill them all.
Like, if you can't bring them back, make
sure they they they die there. Like, some
that was the that was the, the degree
of of, of frustration and viciousness that that
was shown. So Ahmed al-'Als went to,
to Abyssinia.
He took with him
loads and loads of gifts
of, expensive rugs,
clothing,
dates, and he brought with him some of
the, yeah, he's a specimens of the best
camels of the land. He brought with him
expensive stuff, like, very expensive stuff. All noblemen
of Quraysh put wealth into this.
All of them put wealth and put put
put good wealth into Amr binar's conquest going
to, to Abyssinia.
He enters. The king knows him well.
He sees him. He's very happy. He welcomes
him.
The Muslims hear about Amr Bilal's coming.
They hear that Amr Bilal was here in
Abu Lah. There's
a little bit of a
worry.
What is he here to do? Why is
he here?
Is this just his regular business time of
the year? No. It isn't. He doesn't. He
hasn't come here for a year. He hasn't
been doing business here for a while. What
is he doing? People are worried. They're not
sure what to expect, but they're worried. So
they're meeting, they're talking about what they need
to do. Abu al Aziki walks into the
courts of the king. The king is is
is,
very happy to see him. He welcomes him,
my friend, come. He sits beside him. Abu
al-'Alas is showing him all of the gifts,
all the expensive stuff that he brought him,
the the camels and the rugs and the
clothing and the dates and all the other
stuff that he has.
And once he and he's given, of of
course, all of the gifts for the, courtsman.
The consigliere of the,
of the of the court of Najashi, all
of
are getting their gifts. So they're all saying
they're happy. Now he has set the, set
the, everything up very reasonably to get what
he wants.
It's not enough just to take care of
the king. He had to take care of
everyone
who's in the king's court. And the courtiers
have to be taken care of. So he
did. He made sure they all were happy
and sitting there. So he began. Yes.
So he said he he's a very well
spoken person.
Said, oh king,
to your country has come a bunch of
young,
foolish people.
There are youth, foolish youth that we have.
They left the religion and faith of their
people, and they didn't enter your faith.
So he's setting up the And they came
up with this deen that no one knows.
We don't know. We don't know. No one
knows. It's just weird this weird new thing
that has no that no one knows what
it is.
And I am sent to you by the
noble of of their, the noblemen of Quresh,
their uncles and their their their parents and
their uncles and their relatives
who have been crying
in in hope that they will they they
they can see their children again.
They know more about them. They know what
they've done. They know how to to deal
with them, and they're asking if you would
so kindly send their children back to them
so they can take care of them.
So the courtiers are like, of course. Of
course. Yes. Of course. Send them back. Send
them all back. Send them all back. Everyone
in the court is send them all back.
Right? Everyone is ready to send them back.
Everyone is eating their dates. And wearing their
clothing,
enjoying the fabric of this new rug. Yes.
What does he want? Yes. These new immigrants.
Yeah. Send them back. Send them back. Who
cares? They're immigrants. We don't we don't need
them. Send them back.
And then the word of the prophet echoes
in the
in the court. Right?
That word he said. He said,
someone who is not no one is oppressed
in his court.
So the king said,
No. My lord, I would not send them
back until I hear from them. That's at
least the least thing I can do.
That's the,
the truth of the word the prophet, alayhi
salatu wa sallam's word. When he said, no
one no one is oppressed in in his
court. And he was right, alayhi salatu wa
sallam.
What would it have, cost the king to
send them back?
Nothing. Just
take them, put them on the ship, take
them down. Umrah is his friend. All these
gifts.
He Quresh owes him a favor now. Right?
But it's not fair.
See, fairness
doesn't
listen to any of this stuff.
Fairness. Justice doesn't listen to the, to the
bias of, of bribery or
or or nepotism.
It doesn't accept that bias. Justice is
justice
regardless of who it is that you want
to, carry carry out justice towards.
To him, these are a bunch of immigrants
he knows nothing about. He cares nothing about
them. They mean nothing to him. Right? You
think he they mean absolutely nothing to him.
But his relationship with Quraysh is is is
is something of of of of value.
Something of value.
But justice does not look at things that
way. Justice doesn't look at who is strong
and who is weak and who is justice
is justice. Yes. They're immigrants. Yes. They are
people I don't know, and I don't care
about them. They speak a different language and
really, we didn't really know what to say
about them when they came here. But justice
is is just it's a beautiful thing, well,
lie. But life fairness is such a beautiful
thing. When it exists, when it's practiced appropriately.
It's one of the most uplifting things that
exist in the world. It's to find someone
who's just, who will will treat any given
situation with a proper you know, with the
way it needs to be treated. So he
said no until I hear from them.
So he calls upon
the Muslims.
So they come, not all 100 of them,
not all 100, but maybe
a group of 15 to 20 people.
Within that group is Uthman
and Ruqayim and Jaffa and a bunch of
others. Umu Habib and a bunch of others.
Men and women.
So he calls upon them, and they come
to his court. And he said and, of
course, they're they've been worried because they heard
that. They see Amr Al bin A'al sitting
up there. They see
Amal Abbaaz is looking at them. He has
that look in his eyes, and they knew
what he was there for. And they knew
what was coming next.
Once they walked into the court and they
saw the setup, they saw Amor sitting beside
the king,
and they saw all the gifts they kinda
had in the sense that this is not
good. This can't be good.
And you could see Amor just saying,
I don't know what are you going to
do? Just wait until we get on the
ship together. We'll see how this is going
to work.
So the king begins.
It's come brought to my attention that you
have this new faith that is unheard of
and is not ours nor is the faith
of your own people.
And you come to my country.
So I have 2 questions for you. What
brought you here? What is this new faith
that you're following?
This is the question.
So
as a group of 15, they had to
quickly
group up
and decide who's going to speak
because you can't have,
15 people speaking at once.
See, it's important.
It's important that you're organized.
It's important for any given group to have
some degree of leadership
and to have some degree of organization
amongst them. A group that is not organized
and has no leadership will fail, Will fail
every time.
And if the if the Najashi asked this
question and said, so what's what brought you
here? What's your deen? And everyone started talking
at once like, just take them. They keep
me asking. Just put them in the what
is this? Everyone's screaming and I don't understand
a word that they're saying. Take them away.
Right? Like like us.
Exactly like us. Ever attend, like, one of
our, yeah, on our town halls?
Attend a meeting and, let's see what there's
a town hall or something. Have you seen
how we behave?
See the screaming and the yelling and the
and the mistreatment and the rudeness and the
booing and the cheering, and people are trying
to, you know, discuss something of of, yeah,
that is of logic and merit of some
sort. This is embarrassing.
It's embarrassing.
It's embarrassing how we allow ourselves to behave
in ways that
lacks any degree of just basic etiquette. It's
basic.
You don't like the person's opinion. So what?
That's life. Get over yourself. You don't like
their opinion.
Argue against him in a way that's respectful.
I've attended Yani. I stopped attending these meetings.
I don't attend them anymore.
I don't. I can't attend them. Because when
I attend them, Yani, what happens is so
is so bothersome to me that I get
physically upset.
People are, you know, are are are are
rude and they're disrespectful and they lack basic
adab in how they're going to address something
that they don't like. It's not it's it's
so, it's it's not it's not Islamic. And
it's not appropriate. It's not it's not how
we deal deal with one another. And we
are people who are organized and we and
we have leadership and even our community, it's
very it's unfortunate how we are. That we
don't have a spokesperson. We don't have leadership.
The Muslims back there, they had they knew.
They didn't agree to to Jaffa right then
and there. They had agreed to this beforehand.
That who it is that who the the
leader of the group was Uthman and they
spoke for someone who's going to be Jaffa.
But they still took a moment and made
sure everyone was on the same on on
on on on the same page before it.
They had they had organization amongst their ranks.
You have to have some degree of organization.
You know what I mean? You have to
have some degree of leadership amongst us or
we're not gonna survive.
We're not gonna survive as Muslims. We're this
is not going to work for us for
very long if we don't end up having
that.
So they chose they chose.
21 years old.
21 years old.
That Jafar was one of the most similar
people to the prophet, alayhis salam, in the
way he looked and the way he spoke.
And he looked very much like the prophet
alaihis salam
to the point where sometimes people, later on,
when he came back to, would would mix
them up.
People who did not know the prophet, alayhis
salatu wasalam. Well, we'll see Jafar and thinks
Jafar would was the prophet, alayhis salatu wasalam,
who had to had to redirect him. That's
how much he looked like him.
Number 2, he has to
he has to explain Islam in 2. How
long do you think the king is willing
to listen?
Alright.
K. Let me start with this one. So
we have
and then which is around noon time is
4. And then and then yeah. We should
do this in congregation if possible. And then
we have like between them. And then you
do also. And after also you shouldn't pray
anything, you know. It's a the sun is
like it's 2. And then you have Magrib
and you do that. You read out loud.
And the and the king's
wait. What are you talking about? What is
this? And then we fast and it's a
month and then, you know, from from this
time to this time, we fast and then
we have to
and then we we pay Zakat and and
it depends on whether it's it's being irrigated
by the the sky or whether you're actually
using it. So it goes from 5 to
10% to 2.5 if if it's your wealth.
And after a few minutes, the king is
like, yeah. Take them. Inshallah, take them. Just
put put just shut him up and take
him
you have to stand there and present Islam.
In 2 minutes, you have to argue you
ever heard of an elevator,
talk? The elevator talk. Right? There's a very
known thing where if you if you have
a pitch,
yeah, you sometimes,
you can't get time with the with the
person you wanna pitch it to. So you
wait for them to get into an elevator.
You get in with them. And now you
have a minute to to it's an elevator
pitch. You have to pitch the idea quickly
before he gets to his floor. Right? So
you have to have your points
clear, you have to be articulate, you have
to there's not a second that can be
lost. You have to know exactly what it
is you want to say. It's not easy,
by the way. It's a very stressful thing
to do. These elevator pitches are horrible. I
hate them. They're not fun at all.
The Jafar
was now being Yeah. And he basically this
is, it's a bit of a sabotage. Right?
They weren't ready necessarily for this. They weren't,
given a heads up for this. He's a
spokesperson, but he had no context of what
exactly he was gonna talk about. He's asked,
he has 2 minutes. He he has a
minute to come up with his talk, and
then he has to deliver it in 2
minutes. And this either delivers
the Muslims to freedom
or it gets everyone killed.
So no stress at all.
Don't be stressed.
Only if you fail, we all die. But
don't don't feel bad about it. I don't
want to, you know, feel nervous or anything.
Just if you fail doing this, we're all
gonna get butchered either here or back in
Mecca. So, yeah, the the the the stakes
aren't that high. The stakes are extremely high.
This is going to, you know, ruin everything
if if he doesn't do this right.
If he does this right, they they continue
to have faith. So
a lot was was,
anyway, was, was on this moment. I love
I love to end I try to end
the halakh always at this point. I want
you to take time and think about this.
And what I do is just do in
the previous years. I just asked people to
actually write how would you explain Islam to
us?
What would be the appropriate
argument that you would make to explain why
Islam is worthy of followers of followership and
following? Why? What would it be? How would
you argue it?
Some people note you know, they they they're
Muslims, but they're if they're if you ask
them about Islam, they're gonna start getting into
details.
Get into all these these details that no
one cares about and most people don't understand.
How would you explain the faith in a
way that would convince a king or convince
someone of strength or someone of authority or
status? That, yes, this makes sense. I may
not become it today, but I I get
where you're coming from. And I I can
support your cause.
This is going to be based on who
you're talking to. I agree. It's debate it's
based on who it is that you're going
to be talking to and and your situation.
But think about it. It. How would you
explain Islam in 2 minutes? What would you
say?
Do you do you have is it clear
to you?
Do you have an argument that you feel
is amazing,
is mesmerizing, that you feel goosebumps when you
talk about? Or you're like, I have no
idea what I would say.
If you don't, then that's the problem. That's
my opinion. If you don't have a good
argument, forget about, Najashi and whatever and and
this whole story. I think that's a problem
for you.
If you don't have an extremely powerful
elevator pitch of why Islam is is the
religion that every person should follow, then you
don't understand it.
That means you don't even know why you're
Muslim.
If you don't know exactly what you would
say, this is why you need to be
Muslim. Listen to me. This is the best
decision you'll make and here is why. And
you are more
compassionate about it than anything else in your
life,
then then you don't know why you're a
Muslim yourself.
So take some time and think about that.
And I'll share with you the the the
words of Sayyidina Jafar
next week, an hour before
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