Aqeel Mahmood – Men of Honor
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Every single one of us sitting here today
knows
one thing for sure.
And that is
that the messenger of Allah
was
the best of creation.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he mentions in
the Quran.
He says,
verily
Allah
himself. Allah
himself
the creator of the heavens and the earth.
The king of kings.
The one who created me and you.
And the angels
send peace and blessings upon the messenger of
Allah.
Oh you who believe,
send peace and blessings upon the messenger of
Allah.
If Allah
himself,
Allah
himself,
our creator,
the one who created the messenger of Allah
Subhanahu wa sallam, the one who created us,
the king of kings, the one who answers
our prayers.
If he himself is sending peace and blessings
upon
the messenger of Allah Subha Sallam, then what
position are we in? What position are we
in that when we hear his name we
don't say anything?
The messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
as you all know
was the best of creation.
Yes, sir. And he was the best example.
The best example for the believers and for
the whole of mankind.
Yes, sir.
And naturally,
those
who accompanied the messenger of Allah
Those who saw him,
those who walked with him, those who spoke
to him, those who had dealings with him,
those who accompanied him on trips and troubles,
they were the best of people after the
messenger of Allah Because
they saw the best of people walking and
talking.
They saw him in the flesh.
And so the companions, brothers and sisters
are the best of people after the messenger
of Allah
And from the best of companions
is Abu The
closest
friend
of the messenger of Allah
and his closest companion,
and also the father-in-law
of the messenger of Allah salallahu alaihi wa
sallam.
And from the
status
and the virtues of
is the fact that he's mentioned in the
Quran.
The second of the 2 when they were
in the cave. The messenger of Allah subhanahu
wa sallam
when he was in Mecca and he was
being persecuted,
he was looking
to leave
and to go to Madinah.
But the Quraish wouldn't let him,
and they were ready to kill the messenger
of Allah salaam alaihi wa sallam.
And when the time was right,
he told Abu Bakr radiaahu an that you
will be accompanying me.
And Abu Bakr radiaahu an was the most
happiest of people when he heard this. He
couldn't believe that he was going to be
accompanying the messenger of Allah Subha Alaihi Wasallam
on this historical trip.
And yet this trip was filled with dangers.
It wasn't an easy trip.
Literally the whole of Arabia were after the
messenger of Allah. The whole of Quresh were
going to kill the messenger of Allah alaihi
wa sallam. It wasn't going to be an
easy trip. They weren't going on vacation.
They weren't going to enjoy themselves.
It wasn't going to be a nice trip.
There were going to be difficulties.
But Abu Bakr radhiyahu an was just happy
to be in the company of the messenger
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Salam. You know, nowadays,
when we see a celebrity,
and we get to meet them,
we get really happy.
When someone sees an actor or someone sees
a singer, and he can't believe that he
can't believe his eyes
that he's seen a singer,
and he's seen an actor,
or he's seen somebody famous from television.
Nowadays everyone on television is famous. People think
that just because you're on television, you're famous.
And so whenever they see this person, they're
happy.
And they wanna accompany wherever they go, they
want to accompany.
But imagine being in a company of the
messenger of Allah
and having to be able to give to
be to be given this, you know, this
honor of being able to travel with the
messenger of Allah
And they say the scholars say
that one of the ways
that you know more about a person
is if you travel with him.
And so Abu Bakr Radillahu and who is
mentioned by Allah himself.
The second of the 2.
The second of the 2. Who was the
first? The messenger of Allah Subhanahu Wa Salam.
The second of the 2 when they were
in the cave. When they were in the
cave, hiding from the Quraysh.
Their lives in danger, and Allah protected
them.
And so
being given this virtue and this this blessing
by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala being mentioned in
the Quran,
shows the states of Abu Bakr radhiallahu an.
And it's mentioned
that even Umar radhiallahu an, who as you
all know, was someone who was very shadid,
someone who was very strong,
rough in nature,
and people were afraid of him.
It's mentioned by the messenger of Allah salallahu
alaihi wa sallam that when he would be
walking down the street, the shaitan would cross
the street, could walk on the other side
of the street.
That was the nature of Umar
But even
Umar was someone who had the utmost respect
for Abu Bakr
And when the messenger of Allah
passed away,
Umar
was the one who was distressed.
And he was the one who was, you
know, unhappy. And everybody was unhappy.
But he was someone who didn't know what
to do.
And he was panicked.
And he was threatening the people with his
sword bare.
And he was saying, anybody who said the
messenger of Allah alaihis salatu wa sallam is
dead, then I would cut their heads. And
he came in
the the best of people after the messenger
of Allah Subhanahu Anhu,
sit down.
He told Umar Radiallahu Anhu to sit down.
And this was the bravery and the courage
of Abu Bakr Radiallahu Anhu.
And he was the 1st
success of the messenger of Allah Subha Alaihi
Wasallam.
And from the greatest of the companions
was Umar Radhiallahu anhu.
Is great companion of the messenger of Allah
salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
The messenger of Allah salallahu alayhi wa sallam,
he said that if there was ever to
be
a prophet after me,
it would have been Umar alayhi wa sallam.
If there was to have been a prophet
after me, it would have been Umar radhiallahu
an.
Now some may say that if this is
what the messenger of Allah radiya salatu wa
sallam said about Umar radhiallahu an,
then doesn't that mean that he was better
than Abu Bakr radhiallahu an?
Because the messenger of Allah salallahu alaihiallahu alaihiallahu
anhu as the one who would have been
a prophet, and not Abu Bakr radhiallahu anhu.
But the scholars they mentioned
that if he
was to have been a prophet, then naturally
the prophets would have been better than the
companions.
But the fact that he wasn't
shows that Abu Bakr radhiallahu anhu was better
than
And
was just a companion.
From the virtues of
is a story that I wanted to mention.
When
he heard
the messenger of Allah alaihis salatu wa sallam
say
that
that from the best of those who come
after the companions
is a
man
known as
Is
a man called
And if any of you sees him,
then ask him to ask Allah
to forgive him.
If any of you see away
then ask him
to ask Allah
ask Allah
to implicate for you.
And so
after he heard this, and after the messenger
of Allah passed
away, and after Abu Bakr
passed away, and Amr was the Amirul mumineen,
the leader of the believers,
every Hajj season,
he would go out to the mountains,
and he would shout out.
He would shout out to the people who
are coming from Yemen.
And he would say, is always
from amongst you.
It's always from amongst you.
Every Hajj season he would say this.
Until the Yemen is those people from Yemen,
they became tired of him constantly saying this.
And they said, why do you keep asking
us about this person?
Why do you keep asking us about this
person?
Look at the insistence
and how, you know, persistent
was when he came to finding out about
this man
and looking for this person.
Maybe the words of the messenger of Allah
Subha Alaihi Wasallam caused
to go out every single Hajj season to
look for this person.
Look at how much love that the companions
had for the messenger of Allah
And the messenger of Allah he said,
none of you will fully and truly believe
until I am more beloved to him. Meanwhile,
then his parents
and his children,
and the whole of mankind.
And you know
how sometimes
when
our parents
get upset
and they become emotional
and they start to cry,
and the children when they see this, it
affects them.
Likewise with the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, when he will start crying, when
he would start weeping, the companions, they would
say to him, why are you crying, oh
messenger of Allah? Tell us why you're crying
so we can cry with you.
And this was the love that they had
for the messenger of Allah salallahu alaihi wa
sallam. And it's mentioned
that whenever he would cry, the companions would
just cry because they saw the messenger of
Allah Subha Nahuwa Salam crying.
That's how much love they had for the
for the messenger of Allah Subha Nahuwa Salam.
The child when he sees his parents crying,
when a, you know, calamity befalls a family,
somebody passes away, there's a death in the
family,
and they see the parents crying.
They see their parents crying, and just because
they see their parents crying, they feel something
in their heart and they start to cry.
When we see a loved one, someone we
love,
when we see them emotionally, they start crying.
We end up crying with them because we
love them so much. And that's why the
child when he sees his parents crying, he
starts to cry.
And this was how the companions were when
he came to the messenger of Allah
Eventually,
he found this man.
After much,
you know, persistence from him,
he found this man.
And Umar Radiallahu Anhu, this great companion of
the messenger of Allah salallahu alaihi wa sallam,
asks a man who isn't even a companion.
He wasn't even
a
And a companion is someone who saw the
messenger of Allah Subhanahu Wa Salam,
and he was a Muslim and he died
upon Islam. In a way, ibn Abdul Qarni
didn't never saw the messenger of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Salam.
And so when he saw when Umar when
Umar saw this man,
he asked him and he told him
that I heard the messenger of Allah say
this, so make dua for me.
So subhanAllah, Umar radiAllahu anhu, this great man
ask someone who isn't even a companion
to make dua for him,
To supplicate to Allah
that he forgives him. And this was the
humbleness
of the companions.
This was the piety of the companions of
the messenger of Allah
And they had the best of teachers.
They had the messenger of Allah salaam alaihi
wa sallam as their teacher.
When the messenger of Allah alaihi wa sallam
was traveling
to
Mecca to perform the pilgrimage.
He was going towards Mecca,
and as you all know, the punished prevented
him. And they stopped him from performing the
pilgrimage.
And so on their way back
on their way back, when they were returning
from Mecca and going back to Madinah,
they slept
and they camp the night.
And
as you all know was the first.
And when the time for fajr came, they
overslept.
They overslept
and they missed the fajr salah. And
didn't wake up on time.
And when they eventually did wake up,
even though they woke up late,
they prayed.
Now,
what I want to focus on
is
this great companion Bilal Radiallahu An.
The first
The first one to say the adhan out
loud.
In those times,
as you all know, he was the
and he would get up before everybody else,
and he would make the adhan. He would
make the adhan, and he would wake the
people up for the fajr salaam.
Now the question is brothers and sisters,
in those times,
they didn't have mobile phones.
They didn't have alarm clocks.
How was it possible
that would wake up every single day
before the and
he would make the other?
How is this possible?
He didn't have no alarm clocks or no
mobile phones. There was nothing there to wake
him up. No electronic devices.
So how was it that he would get
up every single day and make the other?
Brothers and sisters,
when
one of us
is tired of our jobs, and we're sick
of working,
and we're looking for a new job,
and we run we know run line and
we're looking for a new job, we want
a new career,
And we send out our application forms,
and one of them sends back an application
form
and decides to meet you for a meeting.
They give you a phone call,
and they say we want to meet you
at a certain time. And you're really happy,
you're over the moon. You're thinking this is
my chance
about an interview with this company.
It may be the beginning of a new
career.
The night before that that interview,
the only thing on his mind
is that interview.
The only thing on his mind is that
he needs to wake up at 6 o'clock
in the morning
so that he can get ready and leave
the house by 7
so that he can make it
to that place for that interview at 8
o'clock.
And it's the last thing on his mind
before he goes to sleep.
Why is that?
Because it's something which he regards as something
which is important.
It's something which is important to him. Somebody's
traveling.
He's going for Umrah, he's going for Hajj
in this season.
And his flight is early morning.
He goes to sleep what's on his mind.
In the back of his mind, he knows
that he needs to get up early to
make it for the flight to go for
Hajj.
Because it's something which he thinks is important.
Now the question is brothers and sisters, when
it comes to the fajr salah, how many
of us when we go to sleep,
do we have this in the back of
our minds?
How many of us have it inside our
hearts and in the back of our minds
that we need to wake up for the
fajr salah?
Forget your mobile phones,
forget your alarm clocks,
look at your own self.
How much do you value the salah?
The
as the messenger of Allah
said, the key to paradise.
Because if your prayers are fine, then everything
else will be fine on the day of
judgement.
But if the prayers aren't fine and they're
not sound, then you're gonna have problems.
So how many of us actually
before we go to sleep
mentally
prepare ourselves to wake up for the fajr
prayer?
And also,
during that time,
the companions would have light sleep. They wouldn't
have a deep sleep like we have now.
You know, when somebody knows he needs to
wake up early tomorrow for a job interview
or, you know, whatever it is if he's
traveling or whatever the situation may be,
his sleep isn't a deep sleep.
He might even wake up a couple of
times during the night.
He might wake up a couple of times
during the night, you know, afraid that he's
going to get up late.
And then he'll go back to sleep and
he'll wake up on time. Sometimes when we
get ready to go to work or we
get ready to go to school or university,
and we set our alarm clocks,
sometimes we wake up before even the alarm
clocks go off.
5 minutes before the alarm clock goes off,
we're awake.
8:30 was our alarm clock, we wake up
at 8:25.
Because we become used to it. We become
accustomed to it.
And so likewise, brothers and sisters,
when it comes to the salah, the we
need this key.
We need this key to paradise.
And the companions were the best of examples.
When it came to the salah, when it
came to the when it came to everything
else.
So we need to make sure brothers and
sisters that we value the salah just like
the companions of the messenger of Allah salaam
alayhi wa sallam used to value the salah.
And that we try our utmost
to maintain the salah.
And eventually, inshallah,
by the grace and will of Allah
the salah will become easy for us. It'll
become part of our routine.
Just like how we get up at 7
o'clock in the morning to go to work.
We can wake up an hour early for
the fajr salah. It's not a problem.
But we just have to get into the
routine of it.
Get into the routine of waking up for
the salah. And once we're in that routine,
and once we do it for 1, 2,
3, 4 weeks, for a month,
it becomes easier for us.
So these are just some of the things
that I want to mention
with regards to
things that we can take and lesson that
we can take
from the lives of the companions of the
messenger of Allah subhanahu wa sallam. We ask
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that he gives us
the keys to paradise and that he, you
know, improves our religion
and perfects our character.