Ammar Alshukry – The INCREDIBLE Justice of the Prophet Muhammad
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AI: Transcript ©
Alhamdulillah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam So on the beautiful
topic, I have the topic of justice with
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
And you heard Imam Faruqi mentioned that hadith
near the end of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam's life, where he said, that whoever I
have lashed his back, then here is my
back.
And whoever I've taken of his wealth, then
here is my wealth.
Like come in and claim.
And let none of you say, I fear
as-shahna'u min Rasulullah.
Let none of you say that I fear
that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is gonna
hold a grudge.
If I come and I take something that
I feel like I'm owed.
Because by Allah that is not my character.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is offering himself
out of an abundance of caution.
Because he told us that on the day
of judgment there's not gonna be any money
that's exchanged.
On the day of judgment, if you are
not fair, then there's only going to be
good deeds that are exchanged.
And so I wanna look at a couple
of glimpses of the fairness in the life
of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
The first is the fairness with his family.
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, as you know, was
married to nine wives.
And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, his habit
after Asr was that he would go and
he would stop at every single one of
their houses.
And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would not
be physically intimate with any of them.
And he would then go and retire in
the house of the woman who it was
her night that night.
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would be diligent and
rigorous with regards to the time that he
spent with every single wife.
And as you know, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam, even as he was dying in his
last days, he would ask the question and
he would say, whose night is it now?
Until they realize that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam is intending the night of Aisha, but
he wouldn't even suggest, can I please go
to the house of Aisha?
Because he recognized that every single one of
his wives had the rights of his company.
Until they themselves volunteered that he spend his
last days in the house of Aisha.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, on one occasion
was sitting with a man.
And that man had one of his children
come and he kissed his boy and he
placed him on his lap.
And then his daughter came and the man
grabbed her and he placed her to his
side.
And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said to
him, why don't you be fair between them?
If you kissed one and placed them on
your lap, then you kiss the other and
you place them on their lap.
And this is to indicate to us that
fairness with regards to your family is regarding
circumstances that are equivalent.
Those children were both around the same age,
meaning they had the same needs.
And so the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is
challenging him to be just with regards to
that.
But it doesn't mean that every family member
always has the same needs.
So before you start looking at your parents,
like I need a car too.
Hold on a second, you just turned 16.
Your older brother or sister might be 20,
21 years old.
They might need a car in a way
that you don't.
So fairness does not necessarily mean that you
give everybody who are different the same resources.
That's not what it means.
But you give people who are similar, similar
resources.
But the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was fair
with his children.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was fair even
with regards to the rights of his children
vis-à-vis the rights of the community
around them.
We know how much the Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam loves Fatima.
We know.
He says that Fatima is a portion of
me.
And he said that on the minbar.
But on one occasion Ali tells this story
that him and Fatima were both complaining about
how difficult the manual labor they were enduring
was.
Fatima would grind barley until her hands became
calloused.
And she's a young woman.
She's a bride.
The last thing you want is calluses on
your hand.
And Ali radiallahu anhu is telling her and
he's saying that I am carrying water so
much I got back pains.
Why don't you go and ask the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam for a servant?
And so Fatima goes to Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam and she asks him for a servant
and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam who would
say yes to everything that Fatima could possibly
request.
He says to her, No.
I can't give you a servant and leave
Ahlus Suffah.
Ahlus Suffah are the people who live in
the masjid.
They're people who basically are on the welfare
state of Medina.
And yet the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is
telling Fatima that I can't provide for you
a resource even though you are the daughter
of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
You are the daughter of the head of
state.
I can't give you a resource that I
can't give to every single member of the
Muslim community.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is fair with
regards to the distribution of his resources.
So much so even with regards to his
family when he would give money to his
wives, he would make dua to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala and he would say, Allahumma
hadha qismi fee ma amlik.
Oh Allah, this is my distribution regarding what
I own.
Fala tuakhidni fee ma tamlik wala amlik.
And do not hold me accountable regarding what
you possess, meaning my heart and my emotions
and my attraction.
I don't control who I love the most
of my spouses.
But I can control my distribution of my
wealth.
I can give them all equally.
But do not hold me accountable for what
I do not control and what you control.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was fair with
his animals.
You know, after the treaty of or before
the treaty of Hudaybiyah, Ba'a Hudaybiyah, the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam had a camel and
his camel's name was Al-Qaswa.
Al-Qaswa.
You have to know, I don't want to
go into this tangent, but the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam, he would name all of his
items.
He would name his items.
As I said, I'm not going into the
tangent.
Look at, I'm in the tangent now.
He would name his items.
So he had a camel named Al-Qaswa.
He had a donkey named Ya'fur.
He had a mule that was named Duldul.
Sheikh Waleed, for a period of time, his
license plate said Duldul, by the way.
It's the mule of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
Ibn Abbas has this beautiful quote that Tabarani
mentions, and Ibn Al-Qayyim has it in
Zad Al-Ma'ad.
There's a section on the items of the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
He had a rug that was called Al
-Jami.
He had a mirror that was called Al
-Mawt.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would name his
items, and something that you'll notice, in a
time where we're very materialistic, and we're coming
across holiday season very soon, and Black Friday
and what have you, that naming your items
creates an attachment to these items.
It becomes something more than just a transient
material thing.
It becomes a part of your family.
I know a family who they had a
childhood blanket that they called Favorite.
And so even as they replaced every blanket
in their house over the years, that childhood
blanket that was a member of their family,
what was the difference is that it had
a name.
And so you might find that if you
call your car a name, that you might
have a greater attachment to your car.
If you name your laptop, if you name
your iPad, if you name your clothes, if
you name your phone.
In any case, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
his camel's name is Al-Qaswa, and Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, as he's moving forward, Al
-Qaswa kneels on the ground, and it refuses
to move.
And so the Sahaba radhiyallahu anhu, they say,
خَلَعَتِ الْقَسْوَاءِ They said, Al-Qaswa has refused
to move.
Like it's refusing the command of its owner.
It's being disobedient.
And so Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says, no,
Al-Qaswa has not done it.
And this is the part where he says,
and it is not part of its character.
It's not her character.
I'm defending the character of my camel.
Imagine you say, that is not my cat's
character.
But the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, that's
not her character.
وَلَكِنْ حَبَسَهَا حَابِسُ الْفِيلُ But the one who
caused her to not move is the same
one who made the elephant not move when
it was charging towards the Kaaba.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is defending the
character of his camel out of his fairness.
There is an incident, and I don't know
anybody who can measure up to what the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam does here.
This hadith wows me.
It floors me.
It's in Bukhari and Muslim, after Hunayn.
Mecca accepts Islam in the 8th year.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam has a campaign.
The campaign is called Hunayn.
And there are incredible spoils of war that
are distributed.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would give this
person from Mecca a hundred camels.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would give this
person hundreds of sheep.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was distributing the
distribution of somebody who doesn't fear poverty.
You know who he doesn't give anything to
though?
The Ansar.
These people of Mecca who had just accepted
Islam, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is giving
them incredible wealth.
Here you go, here you go, here you
go, here you go.
And so some of the Ansar started to
feel a type of way.
Like what's going on?
Some of them said, our swords are still
dripping with the blood of the Meccans.
We were just fighting them.
And now Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is giving
them all of this wealth.
Some said, perhaps he's reunited with his family.
These are his people.
You know, he's gone back to his people.
And so Sa'd ibn Ubadah, he comes to
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
And he says, Ya Rasulullah, there are some
people who are saying such and such.
And so the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says
to Sa'd, he says, and where do you
fall in this O Sa'd?
Where are you in this?
How do you feel?
And Sa'd says, I'm just a man for
my people.
I'm just a man for my people.
And so the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says,
okay then, gather all of the Ansar at
such and such in this place, if it
was a pen or a barn, gather them
over there.
And when they're there, then call me.
And so the Ansar are gathered and nobody
else is included.
It's just the Ansar.
This is a private meeting between the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and the Ansar.
And look what the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
says.
He says, Ya Ma'shar al-Ansar, weren't you
misguided and Allah guided you through me?
And weren't you fighting?
How long have y'all been fighting for?
And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
united your hearts through me?
And weren't you impoverished before?
And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
enriched you through me?
Didn't I do this for you?
And they said, yes, Ya Rasulullah.
This is where all of our arguments would
end.
All of our arguments would end there.
Didn't I do this for you?
So what does the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
say?
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
He says, why don't you respond to me?
And they said, Ya Rasulullah, what could we
possibly say?
Yes, you did all of those things.
Al-minnatu lillahi wa rasulihi.
Allah's favor over us and our Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam's favor over us, that's who's done
the favor.
Allah and his Messenger have done the favor
for us.
And then the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says,
in Bukhari Muslim it says, law shi'tum laqultum
katha wa katha.
If you had wished, you would have said
such and such.
But there are other additions.
Shaykh al-Albani, for example, in Fiqh al
-Seerah, he adds and he authenticates that the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says that if you
had wished, you could have said, weren't you
a refugee?
fa'awaynak Weren't you expelled and we gave
you refuge?
And weren't you a'il?
And weren't you impoverished?
fawasaynak and we gave you from our wealth?
And weren't you makhzul?
Weren't you forsaken?
wa nasarnak and we supported you?
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, if you
had said that, la sadaqtum wa suddiqtum you
would have spoken the truth and I would
believe you.
Tell me, who argues like that?
When the person you are arguing with doesn't
have a response for you, you say, gotcha,
I told you.
Dummy.
But the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, when they're
not arguing back, whether because they don't have
an answer or because they're shy or what
have you, that you say to them, no,
you do have an answer.
Who's more fair than that?
Who's more just than that?
And then the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he
says, ya ma'shar al-ansar are you not
pleased?
ayyadhaban nasu bishati wa alba'ir wa tathabun
bi Rasulillahi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam ila rihalikum.
Aren't you pleased that people are going back
with their sheep and their camels and what
have you, but you're going back with Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam?
What are you upset about?
I'm giving them camels, who cares?
I'm giving them the dunya.
But I'm going back with you.
And the ansar began to cry.
And they said, radina, we are pleased with
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam as our shaykh.
And then the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said,
Allahumma akhfiril ansar wa abna'il ansar wa
abna'i abna'il ansar.
O Allah, forgive the ansar and the children
of the ansar and the children of the
children of the ansar.
But that idea of even in an argument
that Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is arguing on
behalf of their interlocutor, out of fairness.
And there are so many more examples, but
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is fairness with
non-Muslims.
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says, man dhalama mu
'ahadan, whoever oppresses someone who there is a
covenant with, then I am going to be
their arguer on the day of judgment.
I want you to think of all the
foreign workers in the Muslim world, people who
are non-Muslim, people who are Christian coming
from countries poorer than, and they're working amongst
Muslims.
Those people, those bosses who are abusers, or
you yourself, if you have somebody who is
an employee or staff or what have you,
and you're oppressing them, you're wronging them, the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says, I am going
to be arguing on behalf of them on
the day of judgment.
That is from the fairness of Rasulullah Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam.
And we can spend a lot of time
on this topic, but I want to conclude
with what are five things that we can
do to be more fair.
What are five things that we can do
to be more fair?
The first is always to ask yourself, what
is my intention?
What is my intention?
What is my motivation?
If I am challenging this person, or I'm
criticizing this person, or what have you, what
is my intention in doing it?
Is it my own ego?
Why am I pushing this person in this
regard?
Is it my ego?
That's number one.
That you be fair in seeking the pleasure
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
In seeking the pleasure of Allah, rather, that's
how your greatest north star to fairness.
But then number two is that you seek
justice from the Qur'an and Sunnah of
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
That's where I learned justice from.
That is my guide to justice.
Justice is not defined by what society deems
as just.
Justice is not defined by what the law
deems as just.
Is it just?
Is it fair?
That just because the law gives me this
right, for example, that I take advantage of
this loophole?
I have to look and I have to
learn, like Imam Farooq mentioned, I have to
learn the Qur'an and Sunnah, I have
to study, and I have to be comfortable
and confident to submit to the will of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala on every issue.
So that's number two.
Then number three is that when information comes
to you about somebody, that you verify it
in fairness.
That you verify it.
So number one, is this information true?
Did you say this?
Did you do that?
I don't go, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
says, إِن جَاءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَئٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala says, when a evil doer
comes to you with news, then verify it.
أَن تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَارَةٍ فَتُصْنِعُوا عَلَى مَا فَعَلْتُمْ
نَادِمِينَ You might harm people out of your
ignorance, and then you become regretful over what
you did.
And so the importance of verifying information, you
know Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, it's the famous
hadith of Hatib ibn Balta'a.
Hatib ibn Balta'a was a man who
wrote a letter to his family in Mecca,
letting them know that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam was planning to come and conquer Mecca.
It is an act, outwardly it's an act
of treason.
You are giving information to the people of
Mecca about the military advancement of the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
But what does the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
also always do with his companions?
He brings Hatib, Jibreel tells him about the
letter, he sends Ali ibn Abi Talib and
Az-Zubair ibn Al-Awam to go and
intercept the letter.
There was a lady who was on her
way to Mecca, and Ali and Az-Zubair
go and they intercept the letter.
But when the letter is brought to Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
he says to Hatib, ما حملك على هذا؟
What caused you to do this?
Let me verify.
Even though I have all of this information,
what caused you to do it?
And then Hatib ibn Balta'a says, Ya
Rasulullah, I didn't do this out of Ridda,
I didn't do this out of apostasy, I
didn't do this because of Kufr or anything
like that, but simply because I really feel
like my family is unprotected.
All of y'all have families that protect
you.
Umar ibn Al-Khattab doesn't believe it, and
he says, Ya Rasulullah, give me the green
light.
And then the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says,
No.
And then he says, and you don't know
Umar, perhaps Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A
'la glanced at the people of Badr and
say, do whatever you wish, for I have
forgiven you.
That great virtue of the people of Badr.
But the point here is the importance of
verification of news, so that's number three.
Number four is that you don't bury people's
good deeds every time you have something to
criticize.
You know, sometimes people, as soon as they
have something to criticize, they're like, he's not
a Shaykh.
He's not a scholar.
Habibi, you studied with him for five years,
what do you mean he's not a scholar,
he's not a Shaykh?
As soon as you have something, or you
point out what is negative about people all
the time.
A person says, Ibn Kathir, he narrates a
lot.
Ibn Kathir's Tafsir, it narrates he has a
lot of Israeliyat, Judeo-Christian narrations.
Really?
The great Tafsir of Ibn Kathir, that's all
you have to say about it?
You don't have to say all of the
authentic narrations of Ibn Kathir?
You don't have the incredible service that this
man has done, the incredible qaboo that this
man has for his Tafsir?
That's all you can point to?
Some people, they have that attitude.
They will always notice.
You'll have a community, you'll have a masjid
that's doing well for ten years.
But they'll only notice what's wrong with that
community, what's wrong with that masjid.
They bury people's sins.
They bury people's good deeds.
And they always showcase the sins.
That's four or five?
I promised you how many?
Okay, number five is criticize the action and
recognize that that is separate from the individual.
My critique can be of the person's statement,
my critique can be of the person's actions,
but I don't assume that I know that
person's intention or that person's standing in front
of Allah.
How could a person ever claim to know
the intention of so-and-so?
They're like, no, no, no, trust me.
I've known them for five years.
I know why they did it.
Habibi, you don't even know why you do
things.
You yourself, you don't know why you do
things.
You're sitting there thinking about your intention and
struggling with your intention.
So how can you claim to know the
intention of somebody else?
That's ridiculous.
That's insanity.
And so I can critique the action, but
then I'll add a sixth one.
And this is an addition to that, which
is to actually not only not criticize their
intention, but to think well of them.
As best as I can, let me be
a builder.
Let me be someone who's able to construct
beautiful meanings.
If something goes 50-50, let me always
err on the sides of thinking well of
this person.
Umar ibn Khattab has a beautiful statement.
I want you to write it down and
then we'll be done.
He says, Umar ibn Khattab says this.
He says, Never think well, not never think
well, never think ill of a word that
comes out of any Muslim if you are
able to find a good construction for it.
Never think ill of a word that comes
out from any Muslim if you are able
to find a good construction for it.
Shaykh Nasheikh Salah As-Salawi here in Houston.
I heard him one time say that if
a statement means kufr from 99 different angles
and it means iman from one angle, then
we are going to assume that it was
meant to mean iman.
That's how we try to navigate creating space
for our brothers and sisters, creating flexibility where
we can create flexibility, create positivity where we
can.
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala knows best.
May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala make us
of those who are just.
Wasalamu Alaikum Jazakumullah Khair