Ali Ataie – The Rights We Owe Prophet Muhammad Prophetology Series (Part 7)
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AI: Transcript ©
Everyone is,
doing well.
Everyone is staying safe,
And everyone is,
in good spirits, inshallah to Allah.
So we're continuing
our series
on the Kitabu Shifa
by a colleague Riyadh.
So,
we are
on section 5 here. This is still part
1,
chapter 2,
section 5.
And if people have comments or questions,
you can certainly type them in
into the live chat, and
I will try to answer them as they
come in,
or,
answer them next week if they require a
bit of research.
So this section
in in my translation,
this is on page 39.
Had ariyad, he calls it his eloquence in
sound Arabic.
So he says the prophet, salaw alhi salam's
preeminence
in eloquence and fluency
of speech is well known.
He was fluent.
He was skillful in debate.
And this is,
from
the
the necessary attributes
of all prophets
is that they should have,
acumen, sagaciousness,
they should be extremely intelligent, especially in matters
of religion,
skillful in debate, very concise,
clear
and clear in expression,
lucid,
used sound meanings and was free from affectation.
Affectation is
the word she uses
to translate.
This means pretension.
So someone who uses
affectation or someone who is pretentious in speech
is someone who uses speech
which is intended to, like, impress people.
Right?
And it has sort of a artificial
quality to it. And so the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasalam speech is totally free of this
type of pretension,
that his eloquence
was very very natural.
This is simply how he spoke.
There was no pretension behind anything he was
saying.
He was given mastery of language, he says,
literally all the words
and was distinguished by producing marvelous maxims. These
are wise sayings, like aphorisms, hicom.
He goes on to say, he learned the
dialects of the Arabs
and would speak to each
of their communities
in their own dialect
and converse with them in their own idiom.
So this not only demonstrates
the incredible wisdom,
and an intellect of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam,
but also demonstrates that he had incredible respect
for others.
Right?
That when he would speak to a certain
Arab tribe,
that was not Qureshi,
he would use
their dialect as a way of honoring them
and use idiomatic language,
that they were familiar with
in order to communicate to them,
sound meanings,
of of the Quran
and of his message.
And this is also
part of the wisdom of Dua
that you speak as it were the language,
of the people that you're inviting
to the truth,
and some of the urdama are better at
this than others.
Some of the urdama,
are better at written exposition
than actually giving lectures.
But a true scholar
knows how to tailor the message to the
given audience.
So
There are scholars in our community that can
give an incredibly effective
lecture to
a group of 5 year olds in kindergarten
and and then that same scholar could go
to
a school of law at a university
and give an equally effective message to law
school students
and everything in between.
That's part of the wisdom of giving dua.
So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam not only
and and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam went
before he made the hijrah, we know that
he sent before him,
some Sahaba
to,
bring him back information as to
the,
the temperaments and the and the likes and
dislikes and the character and attitudes of the
people of
of of of Yefrib.
And so Musa Abid bin Umer, he went
to Yefrib before the Hijra,
and he would teach them Quran, and he
would get to know the people there, and
he would come and report,
back to the prophet
so when the prophet
received
him and actually came or came came into
Madinatul Munawwara,
he would tailor the message for those specific
groups.
And again, that's part of the wisdom of
Dawa, and that's part of his incredible intelligence,
and that's him fulfilling,
his obligation because another one of the
wajibat of a prophet, another,
obligatory
attribute
of a prophet is tabalil. They must convey
the message, and the prophets, they convey the
message in the best of forms.
So he continues, called the iyad.
He says,
he answered their arguments using their own style
of rhetoric so that more than once a
large number of companions
had to ask him to explain what he
had said.
So his companions, if you look in the
Meccan period, obviously,
they're Qureshi, so they speak a certain dialect
of Arabic.
But then people would come into me to
Mecca or when he was in Medina, you
have different groups of people speaking different dialects
of Arabic,
either in Medina or passing through a Medina,
and you would speak to them in their
language. And so the Qurayshi Sahaba
who who who weren't familiar with those dialects,
they would ask him, what did you mean
by that? What does that mean? The prophet
salallahu alaihi salam explained to them what he
had said.
The Ansar,
and the people of the Hejaz and the
Najd
was not the same as the way he
spoke to and then he mentions,
Mutiqa al Handi, Qatand ibnu Hadith al Ulami,
Al Asha'ath ibn Upais,
Wa'il ibn Hujal al Kindi, and others from
among the chiefs of Hadhramaut.
Hadhramaut is
in the, in in in Yemen. It's it's
the desert in Yemen,
and south of the Arabian Peninsula
and and the kings of Yemen, he says
here.
And then Kabi Ayad here, he goes on
to
partially quote,
some of the letters of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi sallam, the correspondences
that he would he wrote or had dictated
to the various tribes and kings,
and it really doesn't come across the Arabic
doesn't quite,
come across here because it's obviously an English
English translation, but
it's an interesting section. We're not gonna go
into it too much.
We do wanna look at some of the
hadith, however.
So he continues to say, qadi ar yad,
he says
and his point about all of this is
that the prophet,
he used the vocabulary
of these particular people
as well as their stylistic metaphors and common
expressions,
employing this language with them so that they
could make what they had revealed,
for them clear,
so that he could make what had been
revealed for them clear
to the people and in order to speak
to the people in a way that they
would recognize.
So this goes back to the
the ayah that we quoted
in past classes, Surah Nur Nahl,
Surah number 16 verse 144. Indeed, we set
down upon you
a vicar, the reminder, the Quran.
In order for you to make Bayan, in
order for you to clarify
and explain to the people what has been
revealed to them,
right?
So it is part and parcel of the
vocation of the prophets of the law, peace
of them,
to make Bayan, to make clear,
to explain the message
of the Quran
to the people
And of course, there's a famous hadith of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi salam
that is well known
where he said I was given Jawani or
Kalim
or Jawahirul hikam.
I was given,
incredibly
comprehensive
and eloquent speech,
containing
jewels of wisdom.
Right? So one of his companions actually described
him,
and he said that the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam, he rarely spoke,
but when he did speak,
he spoke the truth. So the prophet was
more tassy turned in speech. He he didn't
speak much,
but when he did speak, it was very
powerful.
It was very comprehensive. It was very wise.
We'll give a few examples of that actually
from the Hadith.
Insha'Allah,
so Qadhi Aryadi continues. He says
in the Hadith
when Al Amiri asked for something the prophet
used the dialect of Bani Amr. That's just
another example he gives. The prophet sallallahu alaihi
sallam would use the dialect of the tribe
that he was speaking to
and their idiomatic expressions as a way of
honoring that tribe in a way facilitating their
fam, their their understanding
of the Risaleh and of the Quran.
As for his everyday speech,
famous oratory and his famous oratory and his
comprehensive statements and maxims which have been related,
people have written volumes about them, says Khadija,
and books have been compiled containing their words
and meanings.
His speech comprises unequaled eloquence
and in incomparable fluency.
This is this this is shown by such
expressions. Now he gives a list of many
many
hadith here
and, to demonstrate what he calls this this
unequal eloquence and incomparable
fluency of the Prophet SAW.
We'll look at a few of these hadith
and then we'll add a few
as well inshallah.
So one of the hadith that he quotes
here
is translated hereby
by Aisha Bewley as a man is with
the one he loves.
Right? A man is with the one he
loves or a person is with the one
that he or she loves. We'll say man
because we're going to use it just as
a default to include the female gender
as well.
This hadith is a famous hadith is in
Bukhary.
Look at this hadith.
It's very eloquent.
You know, it just kinda rolls off the
tongue. Almaroo ma'aman ahab.
Very eloquent. It's also a very iconic statement.
It's very iconic. It's very famous.
Right?
You hear it once,
and you tend to remember it, so it's
also easy to remember.
It's also it communicates
an incredible hope,
and
is very optimistic,
right? It's also very beautiful.
And in fact, the Sahaba
were overjoyed
when they heard these words from the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
you know, in the context of the hadith,
The Bedouin who came to the Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam
and Said what must I do to become
a Muslim and the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
told him about the 5.
Arkan, the pillars,
gunyah al Islamu ala Khamz, right? And Islam
is built upon 5
the shahada and the prayer and the zakah
and the Hajj and the fasting.
And then,
he said that's all I'm going to do.
That's it. I'm just gonna do the bare
minimum.
And then he said, but I love Allah
and his Messenger.
The prophet said,
almaru ma'aman ahab.
Right? A person will be will be with
the one whom he loves, and obviously,
the the Sahaba were overjoyed because they loved
the prophet without question.
So it was a day of of great
rejoicing for them.
And by the way, if a hadith
according to the Mahaddithin,
the scholars of hadith, if a hadith has
a grammatical error
or a grammatical weakness, then the entire hadith
is considered to be weak. If there's a
there's going to be some weakness,
in the hadith,
because it is autumn, it is well known
that
the prophet, sallallahu alaihi sallam,
did not speak incorrectly
and that he used the most eloquent
and powerful
forms of speech,
to communicate
the message of the Quran
and the message of
Allah
Another hadith I wanted to he doesn't mention
it here, but
a very, very powerful hadith.
It's in Bukhari and Muslim. Muqtafakun Aleh means
it's in the the 2 best books
of hadith, the most authentic authentic books of
Imam Abu Hari, Imam al Muslim,
where the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he said,
yes.
There's a beautiful hadith.
In fact,
Yoram Van Cleveren, who
was a former anti Muslim
Dutch politician,
whom I just heard speak
at the Zaytuner College fundraising dinner has an
incredible story. He converted to Islam,
and now he's
touring the world as it were and telling
people his incredible story. It's really incredible, by
the way.
He wrote a book too
recently called Apostate,
which is
About his journey from Christianity
to Islam, and it's a very interesting
book,
and I highly recommend it.
But he actually said
during that lecture, he said that this hadith,
the the hadith I just quoted,
had a profound effect on him.
And he actually quoted it in in Arabic,
and he did a pretty good job.
He's a very smart man, masha'Allah.
So the meaning of the hadith some of
the meanings may suggest the following,
make things easy for people,
facilitate
things for people,
and don't make them difficult,
and give people glad tidings,
and don't scare them away.
Right? It's a beautiful Hadith.
It's incredibly eloquent,
and it displays
something called antithetic
parallelism,
in its meaning.
So that is to say that this hadith
has a very strong
rhetorical composition.
It is very beautifully, grammatically balanced.
Right?
And,
you know, it's, I I highly recommend people
to study all all Muslims, all believers to
study some Arabic.
You know, it's difficult, but
It's very rewarding
even if it's once a week or something
just to sort
of You know, it's it's some something of
the meanings of these of these words of
the hadith of the Quran, obviously
So what we have here is a form
2 imperative,
yes siru, followed by a prohibition also in
form 2
And then again, we have a form 2
imperative, babashiro latunafiru followed again by a form
2
prohibition. So the statement is very balanced,
grammatically
and antithetic parallelism. Parallelism means that
that
that that the hadith,
has
opposite meanings,
to give it further balance,
you know, to make things easy. Don't make
them difficult. Those are antonyms or antithetic.
Give people glad tidings and don't scare them
away. There's an antithetic relationship
there as well.
So you have you have multiple
layers of symmetry,
just with this one statement. It's an incredible
statement.
It's also easy to remember
and it's also full of hope
Gives people hope in the context of this
hadith is when the prophet sallallahu alaihi salam
He sent I believe it was more added
in Jabbal.
So I'm not mistaken. Somebody can correct me
When he sent him to Yemen,
he gave him these destructive these these instructions.
Judge people by the Quran. What if I
don't find it then by my sunnah? Then
what use your intellect?
And then,
beautiful hadith.
Just unequal eloquence.
Another hadith that struck me,
very personally,
when I began to
practice the faith many many years ago is
a hadith in Musnar Ahmed.
This is a famous hadith. It's called hadith
or Rahma.
Or Rahimun
or
or yerhamkummanthis Saman.
That,
the most compassionate
shows compassion to those who show compassion.
Show compassion to those on earth
and the one in heaven, as it were,
in no anthropomorphic way, and the one in
heaven will show you compassion.
It's a very, very beautiful hadith. We noticed
that there's a lot of repetition
in this hadith, and this is another
strong rhetorical device
in Semitic rhetoric.
Right? It's you know, the initial audience of
the Quran
and at the risada of Islam, the initial
audience,
the flag bearers are Arabs.
And so and and these are Arabs that
are
that are,
extremely
gifted with Arabic, with language.
Right? And they took pride in their poetry,
and there's a Surah in the Quran called
Ashura, the poets.
And the poets were they were loved and
they were feared.
So The Quran message and the message of
the prophets of Allah sallam
in the first instance is tailored
for the Arab in order for the Arab
to believe in the message and then take
the message to the rest of the world.
Obviously,
the message of Islam is for everyone, but
it's it's the initial audience
are Arabs.
And repetition, as we said, is a very,
very strong rhetorical device in Semitic, not just
Arabic,
in Semitic rhetoric.
So like like in Hebrew, for example, you
have a lot of repetition if you read
the Psalms,
or
if you read
the book of Proverbs, but these books are
written in Arabic.
Sorry, in Hebrew.
Aramaic is another Semitic language.
Also,
the Acadian language
The the Epic of Gilgamesh,
you know
Some of my students will read this text.
It's a long poem in Acadian
written in ancient Babylon,
and you you find a lot of repetition
because the audience
are Semites.
And then what else do we notice about
this beautiful hadith? Well, the prophet changed the
the standard syntax
so that the final word of the first
Jumlah or
or sentence is Ar Rahman
Right?
And and the conceptual direct object is the
first word of the sentence, which is in
the nominative
rather than in the accusative.
I don't know if that makes sense,
to y'all, but it's it's a very interesting
way.
Right? There's been there's been sort of there's
the unconventional
syntax here,
which makes the statement sort of pop out
and, and take and and have people take
notice,
of it. It's very eloquently
constructed.
It's also beautifully
synonymic
and antithetic as well in its parallelism.
So we have ir hamu, the second statement.
Ar. Ir hamu
is an imperative
in the plural, show compassion to those on
earth.
Yer hamkum
yarhamukum
or yarhamkum.
Yarhamkum if it's a supoon, and it's from
it's from the same verb as irhamu,
but it's a different mood
of the verb. It's an adjustive,
right, and it has this sense of purpose,
show
compassion to those on earth so that,
the one in heaven, as it were, the
word heaven, sama, is
is is, in juxtaposition
to out of the earth, so you have
that antithetic
parallelism.
And then yarham andirhamu,
these are juxtaposed.
It's the same verb,
but a different
person and mood.
So again, the statement here is very deep
structurally.
It's it's it's very beautifully composed.
It's not poetry
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasalam is not a
poet. He's not a shayr,
right?
He has no training in poetry.
None of his statements nor the Quran is
considered technically to be poetry.
The Arabs were very familiar, as I said,
with poetry, and they had 16 bihar.
They had 16,
ozan,
or they had 16 meters of rhymed poetry,
and the Quran
does not fall into any of those categories
nor the hadith.
Right?
The Quran is in, is in a league
all its own and
and does not have it's
it's a sui generis. It's it's in a
it's in a it's in a category all
its own. It's not poetry, but it's very
very poetic,
but not technically
Sheryl. It's not poetry.
Another hadith that he quotes here actually
is on page 41.
The translation is injustice will appear
as darkness
on the day of rising.
Injustice will appear as darkness
on the day of rising.
And this in Arabic, athulu vulu mat yomaltiyama.
So this is a very beautiful
play on words,
a beautiful
what's known as alliteration,
right?
The the word zum in Arabic means oppression,
but
zulma
means
darkness.
It's from the same root,
but has different meanings.
So oppression or injustice
will appear as darknesses. It's in the plural
on the Day of Rising and this hadith
is a Muslim.
Again, very very eloquent,
very
memorable, very easy to remember.
Oh, another one I wanted to mention and
this is not mentioned by Fadi Hayat,
but it is a du'a that we shall
have memorized.
It is definitely a dua that you should
have memorized and especially,
during Ramadan,
which is coming up inshallah.
This is a a
dua of the Prophet that
he would
recite
during the last odd
nights,
the last 3rd of the month of Ramadan.
And this
is recorded in the hadith
of Imam Atibnati.
So if you look at this hadith,
again, you have alliteration.
It's it's
it's a beautiful and seamless
alteration
of parts of speech
Allahumma innaqaafluunafluun
is an active participle.
Tuhibulafwa,
you love
So the by the way, the translation is
O Allah,
you are the effacer,
the one who erases or effaces the sin
and you love to efface.
So
efface for me my sins. That's the meaning
of a hadith.
So allahu minaka'afoon,
that's an active part as well, tibul afwa.
That's an infinitive noun.
Faavwangi,
and now we have a verb,
right? And we don't call this an imperative
even though it has the same morphology
as an as an imperative.
The reason we don't call it a firil
amr is because,
one is speaking to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Right? One is not
giving a command to someone lower than oneself.
1 is 1 is speaking to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. So this is called a sirid
talab. This is a a verb of a
request
of
of respectful request,
but we have that seamless
alteration,
active participle,
you know, ism fa'il, then the mastar, then
the sehil,
All from the same root, hence the alliteration.
We also have,
parataxis,
what's what's known in
in English rhetoric is parataxis,
which is also very common in Semitic rhetoric.
Parataxis is when two words or a clause
of some sort, 2 sentences are juxtaposed
without using a coordinating conjunction.
So,
Oh, God, you are the effacer. You love
effacing.
Not
therefore
and then
thus nothing like that
There's no coordinating conjunction
And the rhetorical effect of parataxis
is that it makes the words again sort
of pop out,
makes it more impactful.
The last one I'll mention here
from the hadith
inshallah
Is the hadith in Bukhari. It's a famous
hadith
where the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. He said,
inifil jasadi
muddukhatan.
Indeed,
in the body, there is a lump of
flesh.
If it is sound
or healthy, then the entire body is healthy.
We're in a fasadat
fasadat jesadukulu and
If it is corrupt or unhealthy,
then the
entire the entire body is unhealthy.
Indeed, it is the heart, the kalb.
So here we have
synonymic
parallelism
with mudra,
right, and qalb. It's explaining what is the
mudra. It is the qalb. You have antithetic
parallelism with the verb salahat and fasidet,
healthy, unhealthy.
You also have something called concentric
composition,
Concentric composition
also known as the chiasm
in this short statement.
It's like a big circle.
It's really incredible
So the first line mirrors the 4th line
The 4th line explains the first line. What
is the mudqa? It is the heart so
these two lines
mirror each other a and a prime
and then the second and third line
They also mirror each other. They have identical
initial terms
iva, waiva,
and they have identical final terms, kundluhu, kundluhu,
but they also have
antithetical
middle terms,
salahat
and fasadat.
So multiple level levels of of of rhetoric
and composition and symmetry.
This statement is a is a nice circular
Circular composition
called the chiasm
In fact, you have books written by non
Muslim scholars of the Quran
Raymond Farron
Michelle Kuipers
and others,
Raymond Farron in his book. He says
that the Surah Al Baqarah
is one big
chiasm
Al Baqarah 286
verses
And this in the center
usually a chiasm
Doesn't have to but usually a chiasm will
have a center of focus
and he says that the center of al
Baqarah
is verses
241 to 157,
I believe.
And right at the center of that center,
you have.
That indeed that
Allah made you a middle nation, and that's
actually verse 143
right in the middle of 286 of Baqarah,
the center of the chiasm according to Raymond
Farron, who's a professor at UC Berkeley
or has his degree from PhD from Berkeley
near Eastern Studies. But he wrote this incredible
book on how Al Baqarah is one big
chiasm.
So if you think about this,
The Prophet
is not writing down the Quran
when he's receiving these ayaat
And so, you know, how did he know
where to put these different ayaat to maintain
this chiastic structure?
You know, was it keeping all these ayat
in his head and, you know, I have
to put this here and then what about
he's too so he's doing that with Baqarah.
He's also doing that with Al Maeda. Michel
Kuipers says that Maeda has an incredible
rhetorical structure. He wrote an entire book on
Al Maeda. It's called the banquet,
just on Surat Al Ma'ida and how it's
an incredible
ocean
of symmetry.
So he's doing that in his head and
Anissa and Al Arof. All of these are
just in his head and he's able to
he's able to know where to put,
you know, these ayaat.
And also with this
with this hadith about the heart,
it's it's a double entendre,
right,
so that the condition of the physical heart
is
generally a good indicator
of overall health.
I don't think any doctor would
dispute that statement.
A general indicator, if the heart is good
then overall health tends to be good and
vice versa, but also
also
a condition of the spiritual heart,
right?
If it is
healthy, then that's a good indicator
that one's overall spirituality,
is healthy as well.
It's a very interesting
study of these hadith rhetorical analysis
Semitic
rhetorical analysis of these statements
of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam
And then he goes on to say that
there's much more besides this
at various groups of people have related about
his words, conversations, speeches, supplications,
comments, and contracts.
There's no disagreement about the fact that in
these things, he occupied a station beyond compare.
He obtained a preeminence in them which cannot
be properly estimated.
His unique sayings that no mouth had ever
uttered before also had been compiled. No one
can ever do them justice.
His companion said to him,
we do not find anyone more eloquent more
eloquent than you. He said, how could it
be otherwise the Quran was revealed on my
tongue
in a clear Arabic tongue.
Another time he said, I am the most
eloquent of the Arabs
since I am from Quresh and was brought
up by the Bani Saad.
So,
children who are raised in the the desert,
because the Bedouins spoke the best Arabic, the
most eloquent Arabic.
So the
prophet
not only has that incredible intellect, he has
he has
wahi descending upon him from Allah Subhanahu wa
ta'ala,
but he was also raised among the Bani
Saad, among the Bedouin.
And so the first Arabic that he was
hearing,
was extremely eloquent.
This gave him the strength and purity of
the desert
along with the eloquence of expressions of the
city and beauty of his words.
This was all combined with the divine support
which accompanies revelation,
which no mortal can comprehend.
Remember the hadith we quoted
the last class we had a few weeks
ago,
Umma'abad. Remember the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wasalam, Ubagh
her Sadiq,
during the Hijra, they stopped at a small
village, and this old woman was there, and
she met the prophet So
Ahmed, she says that the prophet was sweet
in speech, distinct without using too few or
too many words.
It was as if his speech consisted of
threaded pearls
He had a loud voice which was very
melodious. So the audio says them
So that is the
End of
section 5
Looking forward, there's only 3 more classes,
after this, and I do wanna get to
some of the rest of the chapter here.
So I invite you to read
sections
6 through 11,
but I'm going to go to section 12
now.
This is
on page 54,
section 12.
So we're still in chapter 2, but it's
section 12 and this is called his forbearance
long suffering and pardon
So he begins by saying forbearance,
long suffering,
and pardoning
in spite of having the power to punish
and patient endurance and affliction are distinct from
each other. So he's going to
define these terms. What is helma? What is
forbearance?
What what is ikhimal?
What is long suffering? And what is
sabr? What is aafwa?
What is patience and pardoning?
So he says that forbearance or ham
is it's a state of dignified bearing and
constancy
despite provocation.
Someone is being provoked.
Right?
And they and they're they don't give in.
They stay dignified.
That's helm.
Long suffering,
Ihtimal,
is self restraint and resignation in the face
of pains and injuries.
So while one is suffering,
sabr is similar to it, but its meaning
is slightly different.
He says as for pardoning, it is refusing
to hold something against,
someone else,
you know, sort of forgiving,
and forgetting
as it were.
And, of course,
that's related to the hadith recorded.
That, oh, Allah, indeed, you are the effacer.
Right?
So Allah is Al Ghafir,
and I mentioned this distinction in the past.
And Ghafir, the one who forgives al ghafar
really forgives al ghafur. These are both
they all mean all 3 of these terms
mean forgiveness. The latter 2 are very emphatic
Ghafara has a meaning to cover something
but afwa has a meaning to to erase
it completely, efface it, to take it out
of existence.
So he says all of his qualities are
part of the adab with with which Allah
endowed his prophet.
He says so Allah speaks to the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in the Quran. He's
going to quote Surat Al A'raf
verse 199.
So chapter 7
verse 199
hold tight
to pardoning
hold tight hold fast to forgiving and forgetting
and command to the correct
command to the good
and turn away from the ignorant.
Turn away from them.
So you can imagine
what kind of ignorance
just average believers
hear,
on a daily basis, whether it's
in person or on TV or
on the Internet.
And so Allah
here is telling the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
just ignore them, walk away from them, turn
away from them.
It is related that when this was revealed
to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
he asked Jibril to interpret it for him.
Jibril told him, wait until I ask the
one who knows.
He left and came back and said to
him, oh, Muhammad, Allah commands you to unite
yourself
with those who
cut you off.
It's very difficult for people,
right? Someone cuts you off, someone severs ties
with you.
It's very difficult to be the better person
because you think well if I do that
then I've
I've admitted I'm wrong or something or
I'm going to be
humiliated in that person's eyes, whatever it may
be, so this is very very difficult.
Unite yourself with those who cut you off
and give to those who refuse to give
to you
and pardon those who are unjust to you.
So this is a very difficult thing to
do, and this is why the character of
the prophet is magnanimous, is
is exalted
Because
these are these are very difficult for people
who have ego issues,
almost impossible
for people who have ego issues, people that
are self aggrandizing,
people who
who think of themselves more important than they
really are,
megalomaniacal
people. Allah told him,
Be patient.
Be steadfast
in the face of what afflicts you.
Right? In another ayah. These are quoted here
by Qadiriyad.
Iyad. Be steadfast
as those of
as those of resolution
among the messengers are steadfast.
Right? The messengers of
resolve, ululazim
mina rusul. We mentioned those,
earlier. These are the 5
great messengers of God, the great law bearing
or law giving
messengers of God,
Nuh alaihi salaam and Ibrahim alaihi salam,
Musa alaihi salam, and Isa alaihi salam, the
prophets of the lord alaihi salam.
That if you look at these
5
prophets,
they went through
tremendous
affliction and hardship,
and they stayed
they stayed patient and resolute.
I mean, if you look at Ibrahim alaihis
salam,
you know his his father,
although there's a difference of opinion as we
said, but
Azar,
probably his paternal uncle,
was an idolater. He put his father biological
father, his probably
died when he was very young, didn't have
a father.
Alisa, alaihis salaam, didn't have a father,
because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala created him
in a miraculous fashion.
Musa, alaihis salam, did not know his biological
father, the prophet, sallallahu alaihi salam, was an
orphan,
never met his father at all. His mother
died when he 6 years old.
His grandfather died when he was 8, and
that's just starting out life.
You know?
And then you think about what happened during
the lives of these prophets.
So, you know, we're reminded of the hadith
that if Allah loves the people, he will
try them.
Right?
And that the most severe of tribulations came
to the prophets
and those closest with them.
Those are prophets. So so if something happens
to a prophet, some sort of nusiba,
it's not because a prophet
has has,
deliberately disobeyed Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It is
inconceivable
for a prophet to do that because a
prophet has isma.
There's a type of divine protection,
prevention
from Allah
So if there's some sort of
Museeba,
it is to raise that prophet in degrees
and also for that prophet to teach humanity
how to react
to such situations. But for nonprofits,
for you and I,
if these things happen in our lives, it
could be a type of punishment.
So what we have to do is a
type of muhasaba
or self audit
and try to determine
why are these things happening, and we need
to make adjustments,
in our lives.
So, generally,
if something like that happens to you, you
should take it as a
a type of
punishment
and and correct rectify your behavior
and have a good opinion of Allah
because that's a good thing.
Punishment,
is a way that you that he purifies
us
in in in a way to in a
way of provoking tawba in changing our lives.
Right? So it's it's a subtle type of
mercy, actually,
when you think about it.
And then when it happens to other people,
we shouldn't assume that they're being punished,
right, that we should treat people,
with,
you know, have a good opinion of people
and assume that,
that Allah
is is raising their degrees.
And if it is a punishment, then,
have a good opinion that this person will
recognize what they're doing and they'll they'll make
toba in in and,
correct their behavior.
Then he quotes here
he says he's quoting here
the part of the ayah 22 of Surinur,
wal yahoo
So pardon them, let them pardon,
let them pardon and let them overlook.
Right?
So while yahoo in in in Arabic, this
lamb here is called lamu amar.
So the verbs here are in the justice
mood.
So this has sort of the effect of
a third person
imperative,
right, that it's expected
of us
to pardon and overlook
and then Allah says
Allah to hibuna an yakfirullahahu
an yakfirullahahu
laqum
Do you not love that Allah would forgive
you? Allahuwafur
Rahim
and Allah is forgiving, most forgiving and
and Rahim
merciful, compassionate,
intimately
loving
The one who is steadfast and forgives that
is part of the resolution of affairs
The results of this, and then Khalidi Iyad,
he says,
the results
of this of his forbearance and long suffering
are quite evident.
Every man with forbearance is known to have
occasional lapses.
The prophet, however, was only increased in steadfastness
when the injury to him was great
and was only increased in forbearance
when faced with an excess of importunate
people.
So
he would become more and more patient with
people the more they quote annoyed him
which is exactly the opposite of
of what you would expect with someone.
You know the hadith in Bukhari,
when the man came and said, al Sini,
like advise me, counsel me,
and the prophet
said to him,
don't get angry
in the man for whatever reason. He said
alsini
counsel me
and the prophets a lot talk about
and then again al Suni
counsel me
and the
and the, relator of the Hadith Abu Hurairah,
he said,
faradadaniraran
that he would he said this over and
over and over again
To the Prophet sallallahu alaihi salam and he
said very calmly he would just respond let
talk to them. Don't get angry
Aisha said
this is
in,
Bukhari and Muslim Abu Dawood, the messenger of
Allah sallallahu alaihi salam was not given a
choice between two matters, but that he chose
the easier of the 2 as long as
it was not
a wrong action
But if it was a wrong action, he
would be the furthest of people from it
The messenger of Allah did not take revenge
for himself unless the honor the hirmah of
Allah was violated
Then he would take revenge for the sake
of Allah
It is related that when the prophet had
his tooth broken and his face cut
on the day of Raswat Uhud
Right, so,
he had a ruptured lip. He chipped a
tooth
He actually had a lacerated
forehead and there was
he sustained a a cut
to his his his cheek here,
because the chain mail had penetrated
his cheek and there was blood flowing just
basically flowing down his face
He says it was practically unbearable
for the
companions
they said if only you would invoke a
curse against them
Right, he replied I was not sent to
curse
but it was sent to the summoner and
a mercy,
and then he made a famous statement,
catching the blood with his hands,
preventing the blood from striking the earth, and
he was
like, absorbing the blood with his clothes.
So the companion said, why are you doing
that? And he said, if one drop of
my blood should strike the earth.
And then immediately,
the wrath
would descend upon
the Quraysh, these people who are fighting against
us.
So for the Sahaba, that was a bit
strange. I mean, we're fighting against them.
Let the blood
flow
And then they saw him a short time
later with his hands raised and they heard
him say Allah and they thought well, you
know, he's going to curse them and he
said Allahum Mahdi Fomi Allahum Mahdi Fomi Oh
God guide my people for they don't know
You know, there's something similar
attributed to Israel, alaihis salam
in the gospel of Luke.
In Luke chapter 23, we're told that when
he said, alaihis salam, according to the gospel
of Luke, when he was being crucified, he
said father forgive them for they know not
what they do
And I've studied the New Testament,
ex ex
extensively
for years, and I have a master's degree
in New Testament.
I did my PhD dissertation on the Gospel
of John,
so very familiar with with the
textual history of the New Testament
and I'll tell you this that that passage
I just quoted from Luke. That's chapter 23
verse 34
is now universally
regarded as a fabrication
to the text of the Gospel of Luke
that,
I mean
Isa alaihis salaam
according to the dominant opinion of our ulama
was
was nowhere near a cross to begin with.
The Christians believe that he was crucified
for various reasons.
Although even in earliest Christianity, there was a
difference of opinion, and this is historically documented,
but
in in Luke's gospel that statement
that, father forgive them for they know not
what they do,
is now
universally accepted
by New Testament textual critics as being a
later fabrication to the text
of of the gospel of Luke.
It is related that Omar said to him,
my mother and another thing is even if
even if Christians want to say no, it's
authentic and he forgave them
while he was being killed by them
Well, that shows
a strong type of character
from from a Esai alaihis salam.
But compare that to the
the conquest of Mecca and he's going to
get into that actually when the prophet
is in a position of power
to punish them,
and he forgives them in the position of
power. He doesn't forgive them while he's powerless
while he's being killed,
right?
I mean, that's also
a
demonstration of magnanimous character. Don't get me wrong.
Of course it is.
But imagine being in a position of power
over your enemies and forgiving them.
It's just
a more exalted or higher level of
magnanimity,
I think.
It is related from that Umar said to
him said to the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
my mother and father be your ransom, oh
Messenger of Allah,
Mur alaihi salaam invoked a curse against his
people when he said,
My Lord do not leave even one of
the rejecters upon the earth.
Had you invoked a curse like that against
us,
we would have been destroyed to the last
man, he says.
Your back had been trodden on, your face
had been bloodied, and your tooth has been
broken, and yet you have refused to utter
anything but good.
You have said oh Allah forgive my people
for they don't know so it was a
different version of the same statement
of the Prophet
that he either said Allahum nadi komi
or
Allahum idafirlikomi.
Oh Allah guide my people or Allah forgive
my people
for they don't know.
So I remember one time years ago,
and I'll end with this story.
Years years ago, we had a halakha
and a masjid on Friday nights, and there
was a Christian brother
who visited us. We had Christian brothers
and, come
once in a while. You know, one of
the one of the brothers at the know
some brothers in the MSA, you know, he
some Christian guy
would come and he would invite him to
the Hulaca. Anyway, so this Christian brother at
the Hulaca,
and he was there and he was asking
some
some, you know,
difficult type questions and but he was very
respectful.
You know, he was he was
He was trying not trying to disrespect us
at all. He was trying to get real
clarification on issues.
Most of the issues were theological things
And so,
I remember in the in the course of
the discussion,
a man came into the masjid, and he
listened
for about 2 minutes, and
then he said, you know, these these kafar,
you know, they,
their hearts are sealed and
their ears are deaf, and their eyes are
blind, and
this type of thing. And the and the
brother, the Christian brother, he was
he was he was like, who is he
talking about? Is he talking about me?
And so we had to reassure the brother
that,
you know, he's, he's that's his opinion and
we don't share that that opinion. I mean,
he was there for
a few minutes, and this was this man's
judgment about this this Christian guy. I mean,
he had basically,
you know, his his threshold of him
was 5, 10 minutes.
And when you compare that to the prophet
sallallahu alaihi sallam who's dealing with mushrikeen
who are trying to kill him actively
for 20 years,
and he doesn't give up on them. Right?
And Adi Aiyad, he actually,
relates the story of
Abu Sufyan,
whom the prophet,
continued to address with respect.
After
20 years of fighting,
and eventually Abu Sufyan became Muslim.
And then the prophet recognized his chieftaincy in
Mecca
and said,
man, whoever enters the house of Abi Sufyan
is safe.
He had this announced during the conquest of
Mecca.
So that's the difference between
our threshold
or limit of ham or forbearance.
You know, again, forbearance is
is being able to be dignified
in the face of provocation,
and the prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam's forbearance
when you have Musa al Hakim actively trying
to kill him,
and have killed his companions and
members of his bait, Ahid bait,
And he continues,
to,
show them respect
and dignity,
and they become Muslim eventually.
So we can take a lesson,
from that obviously.
So I think at this point,
we'll end the class.
So we got about halfway through section 12
here. So we'll continue with this section inshallah
ta'ala next week.
Thank you for joining us,
and we'll see you next time inshallah ta'ala.