Hatem al-Haj – ADB014 Al-Adab Al-Mufrad – The excellence of someone who looks after his daughter
AI: Summary ©
The conversation discusses the importance of fulfilling obligations towards one's creator and finding one's way to achieve success. The speakers stress the need for passionate and honest expression of love to achieve the ultimate goal of Islam, and the importance of leadership in bringing people to healing and healing. The conversation also touches on the history and legends of the Umayia dynasty, the importance of accepting the image of the Sunni and Shia grand narrative, and the angering anger of the Hadith statement. The speakers emphasize the importance of knowing the truth and finding one's way to achieve success.
AI: Summary ©
In his book, Al-Adab Al-Mufrad, says
حَدَّثَنَا بِشْرِ قَالَ أَخْبَرَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ قَالَ أَخْبَرَنَا
مُوسَىٰ قَالَ سَمِعَتُ أَبِي عَنْ سُرَاقَةَ بْنُ جَعْشُمْ
أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ سُسَلَّمَ قَالَ يَا سُرَاقَ مِثْلَهُ
This is hadith number 81.
Suraqa ibn Jaushum reported that the Messenger of
Allah ﷺ said something similar to the previous
hadith.
Remember the previous hadith that we stopped at?
The hadith of al-Marduda, the woman who
has returned.
So whether she is divorced or became a
widow and returned to her family.
They used to call her al-Marduda, the
one who has returned.
And we talked about the position of al
-Marduda in the society and how the Prophet
ﷺ was reported to have said, إِبْنَاتُكَ مَرْدُودَةٌ
إِلَيْكَ أَلَا أَدُلُكَ عَلَىٰ أَعْظَمِ الصَّدَقَةَ أَوْ مِنْ
أَعْظَمِ الصَّدَقَةَ قَالَ بَلَا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ قَالَ
إِبْنَاتُكَ مَرْدُودَةٌ إِلَيْكَ لَيْسَ لَهَا كَاسِبٌ غَيْرُكَ The
Prophet ﷺ said, should I not tell you
about the best charity?
He said, yes.
He said, إِبْنَاتُكَ مَرْدُودَةٌ إِلَيْكَ Your daughter who
was returned to you to provide for your
daughter when she has been returned to you
and you're her only source of income or
provision.
You are her only source of income or
provision.
And we said this, the ḥadīth is ضعيف
but the معنى of the ḥadīth is solid.
Of course solid.
Why should it not be solid?
Because it is also in agreement of the
following ḥadīth which has a solid authenticity.
The following ḥadīth that has a solid authenticity
is ḥadīth number 82.
Imam al-Bukhārī said, حَدَّثَنَا حَيْوَةُ ابْنُ شُرَيْحٍ
قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا بَقِيَّ عَنْ بَحِيرٍ عَنْ خَالِدٍ عَنْ
الْمَقْدَامِ إِبْنِ مَعْدِي كَرِبٍ أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ
صَلَى اللَّهُ سَلَمَا يَقُولُ مَا أَطْعَمْتَ نَفْسَكَ فَهُوَ
لَكَ صَدَقًا وَمَا أَطْعَمْتَ وَلَدَكَ فَهُوَ لَكَ صَدَقًا
وَمَا أَطْعَمْتَ زَوْجَكَ فَهُوَ لَكَ صَدَقًا وَمَا أَطْعَمْتَ
خَادِمَكَ فَهُوَ لَكَ صَدَقًا Al-Maqdam ibn Ma'di
Karib reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ
said whatever you feed yourself is ṣadaqah for
you you feed yourself is ṣadaqah for you
whatever you feed your child is ṣadaqah for
you whatever you feed your wife is ṣadaqah
for you whatever you feed your servant is
ṣadaqah for you and this is you know
not you may look at this hadith and
you say it's not a very striking hadith
you know it's okay so you know what's
the big deal here but I consider this
hadith to be one of the most profound
hadith because it's about these mundane activities being
acts of worship in and of themselves so
Islam is about goodness it's not about ritualism
it's about goodness not about ritualism it's about
being good so ultimate success in life what
would be the definition your philosophy in terms
of your ultimate success in life what's your
ultimate success in life your ultimate success in
life I believe is to fulfill your obligations
towards the one who created you and towards
his creation as you try to reach your
potential to fulfill your potential in virtue and
purge your heart of vices so it's this
journey in life and in this journey you're
trying to fulfill your obligations towards the one
who created you إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا لَيَ رَجِعُونَ
from whom you have come and to whom
you return if you fulfill your obligations towards
the one who made you and towards his
creation because he emphasized to you over and
over again the importance of fulfilling your obligations
towards his creations and he even made these
obligations a priority and he said that he
will be forgiving when it comes to your
failures in fulfilling your obligations towards him but
he will not forgive you unless you are
forgiven by his creations when you shortchange his
creations or you oppress or wrongdo his creations
so I think that this is it if
you want to find the definition for ultimate
success is to finish your life or to
live your life fulfilling your obligations towards your
creator and his creation and realize your potential
and virtue and rid yourself of the vices
it's a cumulative work but you should be
working hard so that you're in a better
place with the passage of days and nights
and months and years you should be getting
closer to Allah getting closer to your objective
you should have worked on acquiring more virtues
refining those virtues devoting them to God and
clearing your heart of or purging your heart
of the vices that you should be very
very sensitive to aware of you should be
so confident and certain that you're full of
them that you know when Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala told you innahu kana dhalooman jahoola
he was oppressor wa hamalahal insaan you know
that man took on that responsibility as a
responsibility of the choice innahu kana dhalooman jahoola
he was oppressor and ignorant so this is
he's talking to you now he's telling you
you are an oppressor and ignorant person so
try to rid yourself of all the vices
of this sort of oppression and ignorance and
oppression and ignorance are comprehensive in terms of
all inclusive of all vices because there are
either failures of intent oppression or failures of
judgment that's ignorance so this hadith is basically
putting things in perspective when you wake up
in the morning and you get out of
bed to go to work there is nothing
fun about this you know hopefully you like
your job and you try to you know
I hope that you try to to do
that but for most people they're going to
work to make a living and that's it
they're just looking forward to 5pm and then
they can get out and they can come
back home and then they can eat pleasure,
fun and play with their kids pleasure, fun
and get to go to the masjid and
meet with people and pray, pleasure and so
on but that 8-5 part is a
burden for most people and the Prophet ﷺ
is trying to change that outlook he's trying
to tell you whatever it is that you're
doing this is an act of worship because
at the end of the day the food
that you put in your own mouth is
a sadaqah Allah created us for to
inhabit this planet and to certainly the ultimate
purpose of our creation is to worship Allah
but part of that worship is that part
of that worship is to establish civilization on
earth part of it keep in mind you
know people make the mistake of saying that
this is what we're here for this is
part of what we're here for this is
part of the ibadah and that is what
Islam provides for us it provides for us
that sort of complete outlook or world view
that you're here basically on a short journey
to serve God and to worship God part
of that worship is to ta'mur habiyat ard
basically establish civilization on this earth and realize
goodness in this life so it's a very
profound hadith and it corroborates the meaning of
the previous hadith about taking care of your
daughter who has been returned to you so
now this
hadith also starts with yourself and as we
said before you put on your mask first
because if you are if you're not good
for yourself you'll not be good for anyone
else you put on your mask first and
then the closer and then the closer then
chapter number 44 disliking for someone to wish
for the death of daughters bab man kariha
an yatamanna mawta al banat Imam Bukhari said
so hadith number 83 it's reported that there
was a man who had daughters and was
with when he wished for their death so
the man wished for I mean that used
to happen and unfortunately maybe it still happens
in some places he wished for their death
became angry with him and said you provide
for them do you provide for them so
why did people dislike why did
people dislike the news of the birth of
a daughter and they became distressed upon hearing
the news two things I mean particularly in
Arab culture maybe in other cultures it's a
little bit different but two things fear from
al-fadiha or al-har fear from disgrace
you know she became improper she committed zina
or something the fear from disgrace and the
fear from poverty because they basically were dependent
on their families and they did not contribute
to the economic whatever establishment of their families
so they used to send their kids out
to work very early on so when you
reach your age of strength which is balub
or even before this Benjamin Franklin started to
work when he was 9 years old it
was not limited to one culture boys were
sent out to work when they were and
certainly in many cultures you could be even
6 or 7 and they send you out
to work in a mechanic shop to hand
the mechanic tools and stuff like this and
you're only 6 or 7 so these were
the two concerns that people had and obviously
Abdullah ibn Omar sensed that this man is
complaining about the responsibility so he said to
him do you think that you are the
one who provides for them and one you
know a man came to the scholar and
complained to him about how many dollars he
has like he has many daughters and he
complained to him about the burden of having
so many daughters and the scholar said to
him no it's no problem it's easy send
to me the ones that you provide for
not God send them to me and then
the man got embarrassed you know God provides
for all of them but the scholar said
to him the ones that you provide for
not God send them to me, I'll take
care of them anyway so nowadays we've talked
about how things have changed and women have
pretty much almost the same earning potential than
men and how this could disrupt the family
and how women need to be reminded of
the importance of prioritizing their family even though
we don't prevent them from work but it's
complicated it's a long story but you know
we have to adapt to the changes in
times without disrupting our value system and without
also defying the universal laws the rules of
nature that we cannot resist or defy next
is the chapter on باب الولد مبخلة مجبنة
chapter a child is a source of both
miserliness and fear باب الولد مبخلة مجبنة a
child is a source of both miserliness and
cowardice cowardice so it's interesting that Imam Bukhari
used that particular title because the hadiths afterwards
are not about this the hadiths afterwards are
about taking good care of your kids but
he wants to use this title to say
you know now we're going to talk about
taking good care of your kids but keep
in mind that this should not distract you
from your commitment to God should not take
away or detract from your obligation towards God
or your commitment to God, remember that children
and he used the wording of a hadith
this title is actually the exact wording of
a hadith from the Prophet ﷺ and from
Ustad Ahmed and Tabarani where the Prophet ﷺ
said الولد مجبنة مبخلة and he added محزنة
and in some reports مجهلة الولد مجبنة مبخلة
محزنة مجهلة, what does that mean?
that children are a cause of cowardice miserliness
grief and ignorance why is this?
you know it's quite obvious you know when
people have children they're they're not as charitable
because they want you know they have concerns
about their kids and they also want to
leave something for their kids you know which
is not a bad thing in fact it's
important when the Prophet ﷺ wanted to give
all of his wealth in charity because he
had only one dollar afterwards he had more
children of course but at that time he
had one dollar and he said to the
Prophet ﷺ I want to give all my
money in charity and the Prophet ﷺ forbade
him and then he said you know two
thirds the Prophet ﷺ said no, one half,
no one third, okay that's fine the Prophet
ﷺ and then the Prophet ﷺ said and
it's too much so he allowed him to
basically bequeath one third or to you know
to other than his his heirs but he
said that's too much that's why the Sahaba
used to bequeath how much?
one fifth one fifth so you know most
of the Sahaba used to bequeath one fifth
because the Prophet ﷺ to respect was like
it seemed that the Prophet ﷺ was discouraging
that and it depends on you know how
much money you have and you know the
condition of your children and so on but
you could bequeath from anyone from one fifth
to one third but also cowardice like your
fear for you know people who don't have
kids they're more outspoken even like go back
to our countries where speech here is free
you know so anyone can say anything that's
why you know people have no guards when
everybody says anything they want which is like
a real bad thing because it's usually hypocritical
and because it's free and cheap everybody can
become a hero just by like a keyboard
hero or something but back home in our
countries speech is not that sort of free
it's like there are consequences for what you
say and then people who have children they're
concerned about their kids and just you know
stay in your lane and take care of
your kids and so on particularly if you
have young children a cause of cowardice a
cause of grief because you're always worried and
concerned about your kids a cause of ignorance
because like you can't dedicate yourself even journeying
for like to learn and seek knowledge which
used to be a big thing during their
time journeying for knowledge used to be a
big thing in their time like imagine if
you have like 4 or 5 kids and
you know you will not be as free
to travel around as you would if you
didn't have them is that the prophet discouraging
having kids?
No he's just telling you the reality but
he's telling you despite this reality and
so on so you know procreate and you
know marry and procreate for I will show
you off on the day of judgment and
then Allah SWT and his messenger assign a
great spiritual value to taking care of children
and to raising children to compensate for all
of that because otherwise the species will become
extinct and it's already happening you know in
some societies people like wait until they're 40
or something because it's just like why do
you have to worry about having kids when
you're still young you know enjoy your life
wait until you're 40 and then have 1
or 2 or maybe 1 and a half
and try to be very sort of conservative
about it anyway then Imam Bukhari said so
this hadith from 84 said Abu Bakr once
remarked Abu Bakr is the best of human
beings after the messengers and the prophets there
are you know tons of like there's multiple
groups on this he is the best of
humanity after the prophets and messengers as Siddiq
RA he said by Allah there is no
man on the face of the earth whom
I love more than Umar of course you
automatically you automatically register in your mind that
he said this after the prophet died right
because of course when the prophet was alive
Umar was not his most beloved or not
the most beloved person on the face of
the earth living so he said Abu Bakr
left he said I love no one on
the face of the earth more than Umar,
Umar is most beloved to me and the
relationship between Abu Bakr and Umar is just
an exemplary relationship because it's a relationship of
competition you know they were able to love
each other this much while competing competing for
the pleasure of God so competing for you
know the also you know the pleasure of
the prophet when he was alive so they
were competing all the time but they had
this much love which tells you that competing
and love are not mutually exclusive you know
so these are the greatest competitors but they
were competing for something so noble and so
virtuous and so good that this type of
competition does not create animosity it actually promotes
love um sometimes they have to argue with
each other which does not take away from
the love and sometimes they work like contention
between them which does not take away from
the love it's just being passionate about your
positions being passionate about your thoughts you know
to have goodwill for the Islam and the
Muslims so this passion will make you sometimes
you know forceful, assertive and forceful and it
can become contentious how do we do this
while keeping the love and while keeping the
respect?
This is what they did and it's doable,
it's possible if you have sincere intentions you
could do it if you have sincere intentions
you could do it when Imam al-Qayyim
went to Imam al-Taymiyyah and told him
of the death of his fiercest enemy you
know a person who tried to get him
killed a person who got him imprisoned and
tried to get him killed several times a
person who were used to incite the public
against him to beat him and stuff like
this he was certainly not Umari or Abu
Bakri that person but he became very upset
with Ibn al-Qayyim and said to him
how do you how could you think that
I would rejoice in the death of a
Muslim and he went right away to the
family of that person and he told them
he extended his condolences shared his sympathy and
so on and he told them I will
be to you like he was to you
anything that you need you should ask me
first and things of that nature so they
held him in great esteem and that's the
difference between polemics nowadays and polemics then you
know he never shied away from polemics but
even with the people that he had this
great adversity and like and have shown him
the greatest animosity that's why Ibn Makhlouf said
we have not seen anyone so
we have not seen anyone who is more
after means what is young manliness it's basically
chivalry it's you know but the word comes
from being a young man because chivalry was
one of the qualities of young men and
you know so our righteous predecessors used basically
reframed the concept from bad chivalry to be
audacious and daring and so on to good
chivalry which is pietistic chivalry and they gave
it different definitions one of the definitions is
that you fulfill more than your obligations and
you demand less of your rights the more
of your obligations you fulfill you fulfill 150
% of your obligations and ask for 50
% of your rights to compromise on your
rights and to extend to be more extending
in fulfilling your obligations so he said that
we have not seen anyone like him we
have not left a stone unturned in harming
him and when he was capable he forgave
us so that's the difference between sincere polemics
when you're actually passionate about your positions because
you think that they are right and because
you think that this is in the best
interest of Islam, best interest of the Muslims
but then you don't vilify the opponent and
you don't hate the opponent but you you
basically love them for being Muslim and for
being Ibad of Allah the same lord that
you worship and away from that particular controversy
or that particular dispute you try to be
as kind to them as possible nowadays it's
really different it's just like and it's all
about sincerity because if it is not for
Allah no matter how much you know about
the rules whatever if it is not for
Allah it will turn ugly it will be
ugly but if it is sincere and for
Allah even if you fall into error you
will correct yourself things will eventually turn out
to be good and you know will self
-correct you will self-correct, your opponent will
self-correct that used to be Abu Bakr
and Umar competing get into contentious arguments, sometimes
disagree basically show their disagreement forcefully and assertively
because they are both passionate about the benefit
of Islam and the benefit of the Ummah
yet they love each other more than anything
else and who is the first one to
so although Umar if you think about leadership
and if you think about competence in leadership
you would think that Umar comes before Abu
Bakr in this regard the Prophet told this
okay,
so the Prophet was saying that he was
sitting at a well and started to draw
water from the well and he had like
a bucket in his hand and he kept
on drawing water from the well until he
was done and then Abu Bakr took it
from his hand and started to draw water
from the well until he was done and
the Prophet said there is like a little
weakness in his drawing because Abu Bakr used
to be a very shy, humble kind soft
-spoken man and leadership sometimes takes a little
bit more assertiveness and forcefulness so then he
said and then Umar took it, took that
bucket it became huge the bucket itself became
huge in his hand a huge bucket until
the old people had a drink and they
gave drink to their animals or to their
mounds and they left so I have not
seen a genius like him who can do
his works I have not seen a genius
among men who can do his works who
can match him so this is in reference
to Iman no Abu Bakr's Iman was greatest
it's in reference to leadership it's in reference
to competency in leadership so Umar you could
say was more capable in this particular regard
but he's the first one to say to
Abu Bakr stretch out your hand and to
give him the pledge of allegiance because he
felt that what is needed now at this
moment is not that type of progressive forceful
leadership that will take people places it is
the type of leadership that will bring people
together first to bring people to cause healing
and to bring people together first and Abu
Bakr was most suited for this because he
was recognized to be the second greatest after
the Prophet in this Ummah and even before
Islam he was venerated and loved and respected
by the people before Islam so he was
the right character for that time the right
person for that time to bring healing and
to bring people together and then Umar would
take it on from there and then move
on and basically open Sham and Iraq and
parts of Iran and Egypt and so on
and establish the Dawlat al-Islam started the
ministries and all of these things that require
that competency in leadership so anyway let's go
back to this so Abu Bakr says there
is no one on the face of the
earth whom I love more than Umar and
then he left and then he came back
he came back because he had to basically
not change his statement he didn't change it
but he had to add some nuance to
it he had to add some nuance to
the statement so he said to Aisha what
did I say and she told him what
he said and then he said to her
he is he said he is dearest to
me he is dearest to me but the
child is alwat alwat means what alwat means
sticks to your heart more or closer to
your heart sticks to your heart more or
closer to your heart so Abu Bakr had
when it comes to boys he had Abdullah
and Abdurrahman and Muhammad and so yes of
course they would be closer to his heart
after they became Muslim some of them were
late in their acceptance of Islam Abdurrahman was
late in his acceptance of Islam but after
they became Muslim they were closer to him
closer to his heart but Umar was still
dearest to him because you love people for
two things you know there is the natural
love and there is sort of the informed
love there is the voluntary love there is
the love you know you love people for
you love people for who they are and
you love people for what they are what
they represent and so the natural love certainly
more of this will go to your children
than anyone else that's the natural love but
loving people for their own virtue and their
own greatness this is a different type of
love and that is what Abu Bakr was
trying to say here that these are different
types of love then Imam Bukhari says Arabic
Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic
Hadith number 85 Ibn Umar said I was
with Ibn Umar when a man asked him
about the blood of mosquitoes.
He asked, you know, for the, like the
muhrim, if you're in the haram, and what's
the ruling with killing a mosquito and stuff.
He asked, where are you from?
The man replied, I'm from Iraq.
And Ibn Umar said, look at this.
Look at this man.
He asks me about the blood of mosquitoes
when they murdered the child of the Prophet
ﷺ, referring to al-Husayn, radiyallahu anhu.
I heard that the Prophet ﷺ say, they
are my two sweet basils in this world,
al-Hasan and al-Husayn.
So, you know, the point in the hadith
is clear.
Why is he basically having this hadith in
this chapter?
Because of this last statement, they are my
two sweet basils in this world.
So, it talks about grandchildren and how people
love their grandchildren.
We were just talking about it yesterday.
And it doesn't mean that people love their
grandchildren more than they love their children, but
it is basically again without pain.
It's, you know, there is no burden, there
is no responsibility.
You play with them, and once they cry,
you push them away.
It's versus your own kids, like, you know,
you're stuck with them if they, you know,
but certainly it doesn't mean that you love
your grandchildren more than you love your own.
Now, and certainly the rest of the hadith
we can talk about, you know, until tomorrow,
about the meanings in the hadith and basically
people who are frivolous and, you know, piety
is not about frivolity.
Piety is not about pretense or pretension.
Piety is not about technicality.
Piety is completely different from all the above.
So, don't try to be hyper-technical.
Don't be frivolous.
Know that goodness is very easy.
But people are like to beat around the
bush.
Goodness is very easy.
Your heart will recognize what is good.
But hyper-technical people, they like to complicate
things and they don't realize the virtue of
goodness, even though they pretend.
Then the next chapter is Chapter carrying a
child on one's shoulders.
This is al-Bara'a ibn A'zib,
by the way, not al-Bara'a ibn
Malik.
Hadith 86, al-Bara'a said, I saw
the Prophet ﷺ while al-Hasan was on
his shoulder.
You know, al-'atib is this part of the
shoulder.
It's close to the neck.
He was on his shoulder.
He was saying, oh Allah, I love him,
so love him.
Allah, I love him, so love him.
So he says here, salawatullahi alayhi, salawatullahi ala
al-Hasan.
We usually don't say that, you know, we
basically dedicate salah to the Prophet ﷺ, radiyallahu
anhu, to as-sahaba, rahimahullah, to everyone else.
So the Prophet ﷺ and the Prophets ﷺ,
the sahaba, radiyallahu anhu, or radiyallahu anhum, or
radiyallahu anha, and then everyone else, rahimahullah.
Can we sometimes change this?
Yeah, because it's simply du'a.
But you should not consistently say, you know,
about a companion, Umar or Ali or anyone,
you should not consistently say alayhi salam or
salallahu alayhi wa sallam because that belongs to
the Prophet ﷺ.
But it is a du'a.
So the Prophet ﷺ made that du'a
of salah, you know, for some of the
companions.
So you could sometimes say it, but you
should not be consistent in saying it.
So could you say Imam Ahmad, radiyallahu anhu,
or Imam Abu Hanifa, radiyallahu anhu?
You could say it sometimes.
But, you know, Ahl al-Sunnah have decided
to give this sort of distinction to the
sahaba.
So you say after the name of the
sahabi, radiyallahu anhu or radiyallahu anha, and everybody
else, rahimahullah.
May Allah bestow mercy on them.
So salawatullahi alayhi, where did it come from?
It may have come from the scribes, because
the scribes used to do this all the
time.
So they used to give themselves the liberty
of basically giving those glorifications or salutations to
different people.
So it may have been added from the
scribes, or it may have been added from
Adi ibn Thabit.
He was Shia, Adi ibn Thabit, by the
way.
Imam Masjid al-Shia in his town.
And we still accepted the reports of the
Shia in our books, when we felt that
they are not problematic and that they are
truthful.
However, this also, you know, particularly the compilation
of history, and I have told you this
before.
This is to be fair to the Umayyad
dynasty.
This is my recent talk about the Umayyad
dynasty.
You will not know the truth about the
Umayyad dynasty.
You will probably be unable to discover the
actual truth about the Umayyad dynasty, because so
much was so much was fabricated against the
Umayyads.
Most of the compilation of our tradition happened
in the Abbasid time, and the Abbasids were
the archenemies of the Umayyads.
They influenced, you know, the reporting in this
regard, and our scholars have done their best
to sift through things and to verify things,
but it's not it's not error proof.
Whatever methods they used, they are not error
proof.
We cannot say we don't have certainty in
anything except in the mutawatir, and that is
the Qur'an and maybe a few ahadith,
complete certainty.
Otherwise, it's all speculative, and particularly when it
comes to the manaqib virtues of people or
the entitlements of people and politics and, you
know, the reporting of history, you really can't
get to the bottom of this, because our
tradition is not error proof, and much was
fabricated under the influence of the Abbasids, but
there are obvious things, and that's why people
who have sort of limited outlook and they
get stuck in the details are always unable
to see the larger picture, and in order
for you to have an accurate picture about
anything, you may want to get into the
details of the picture.
You may want to come close, close, close
to look at the details of the picture,
but you will have to go farther away
to look at the larger picture, the picture
of its entirety, and to ignore the details.
This is the gestalt-ish look.
Gestalt-ish look is from a distance so
that you can grasp the whole picture, and
to grasp the whole picture, the Umayyad dynasty,
no one spread Islam more than the Umayyads,
and they did not spread basically Quraishi paganism.
They spread Islam.
They spread the Qur'an, you know.
Most of the people in this world live
in Muslim-majority countries because of the Umayyads,
and because the Umayyads took this Qur'an
all the way to the Atlantic Ocean and
all the way to China, and so the
largest Muslim empire in the history was under
the Umayyads, and were they spreading like Quraishi
paganism?
Were they spreading Zoroastrianism?
Hinduism?
What is it that they were spreading?
It was Islam, and it was, you know,
the scholars of the Sahaba and the Tabi
'in and Tabi' al-Tabi'in that were
teaching people about their religion.
So that's important.
It's important to take a few steps back
and to look at the larger picture, and
when it comes to the details, don't be
too certain about what you read.
That is always important.
Certainty belongs to the mutawatir.
Certainty belongs to the Qur'an.
That's why it should be the rock, the
foundation, the stronghold of your epistemic worldview.
And then, you know, you go out from
there in circles, but tread the path carefully
and cautiously.
And that is not in any way, shape,
or form to undermine the tradition, but it
is a matter of agreement between the usulis
who don't get emotional about things and try
to sort of, you know, figure out things
rationally.
Are these traditions a matter of certainty?
According to the vast majority of the usulis,
no.
Not even the traditions that are reported by
Bukhari and Muslim.
Not a matter of certainty.
Certainty belongs to the Qur'an and belongs
to the mutawatir hadith.
These traditions are binding on us, and we're
very grateful to our scholars for having put
in this much effort to sort of verify
and sort out things for us, to give
us, you know, and as I said before,
these traditions are more historically verifiable than the
books of the Bible.
But still, still, not like the Qur'an.
Not the certainty of the Qur'an.
They're still called zanniyat seboot.
Zanniyat seboot is speculative in their establishment, particularly
when it comes to manaqib and history and
things of that nature.
It gets to be a little bit more,
particularly if the people that are reporting this
are, they have a stake in what they
are reporting.
They have particular purpose or interest in what
they are reporting.
So I'm not going to get into the
discussion of al-Mahdi.
The hadith of al-Mahdi, for instance, are,
you know, according to the majority of the
scholars established.
But it is interesting that, you know, Muhammad
ibn Abdullah, his name was Muhammad ibn Abdullah.
He's the first one to be called Mahdi
and he was not the Mahdi, of course,
but he considered himself to be in Mahdi.
Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn al-Hasan ibn al
-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib may Allah
be pleased with him, the first one to
rebel and to call himself al-Mahdi and
people called him al-Mahdi.
That's the first sort of Mahdi that we
had.
Muhammad, who rebelled against Abu Ja'afr al
-Mansur, the second Abbasid Caliph, his name was
Muhammad ibn Abdullah.
And now a hadith of Mahdi say that
his name will be like my name.
His father's name is like my father's name
and he will be from my descendants.
Keep in mind this Muhammad ibn Abdullah is
not one of the masoom imams of the
majority of the Shia.
He's not one of them even.
Because every time, when the Shia decided that
the leadership of Muslims is divinely appointed by
God, but this never, you know, unfolded as
planned.
Because every time, like every few decades, they
would disagree over the line, you know, like
which one of the kids is now the
imam, the masoom, that's appointed by God.
And who's speaking to God anyway, after the
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam?
Who's getting his information, you know, directly from
God after the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam?
When everybody claims to be, to have sort
of that special knowledge.
So you get the fragmentation within the different
sects among the Shia.
But the first Mahdi that we have is
Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn al-Hasan ibn al
-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib.
And, you know, interestingly, you know, a lot
of hadith would apply to him.
A lot of hadith would apply to him.
Did he turn out to be al-Mahdi?
Well, he didn't turn out to be al
-Mahdi.
But anyway, so so what you should basically,
what you should do is, you should just
be careful, you should accept the you know,
when Ihsan al-Ilahi Zahir wrote a book
about, you know, refutation of the Shia, he
called it suratani mutadhdatan, suratani mutadhdatan.
Which means what?
Huh?
Two contradictory images.
Images.
The word images is very clever of him.
So, you know, the Sunni narrative, the Sunni
grand narrative is providing you an image about
what happened, you know, in these times.
An image.
And the Shia grand narrative is providing you
their grand narrative, their image.
So look at the two images and compare.
you will be able, if you're impartial, you
will be able to get to the bottom
of this.
But don't get entangled into the details without
taking a few steps back and looking at
the larger picture.
This is something that I read like 40
years ago or something, so yeah.
Really?
Okay.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Okay, you know, okay.
Sheikh Abu Hassan then is the one who
wrote this book.
Abu Hassan Nathawi.
Okay.
Now, let us just read the last Hadith
here.
Chapter.
A child is a source of joy.
Okay.
Okay.
So this Hadith 87, Jubair Ibn Nufair said,
one day we were sitting with Al-Muqdad
Ibn Al-Aswad, when a man passed by
and said, blessed are these, are those two
eyes that saw the messenger of Allah, sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam, by Allah, I wish I
had seen what you have seen and witnessed
what you have witnessed.
This angered Al-Muqdad which surprised me.
The narrator says it surprised me, you know,
so the man Al-Muqdad is one of
the Sahaba.
Like a man from the Tabi'in says
to Al-Muqdad, you know, blessed are those
two eyes.
Your eyes are blessed because they saw the
prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And then he says, I wish I had
seen what you have seen and I had
witnessed what you have witnessed.
The battles with the prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam, and all of this.
So this angered Al-Muqdad, Al-Muqdad became
angry, you know, which is, you know, surprising.
Why do you get angry?
He didn't say anything wrong.
This angered Al-Muqdad, which surprised me, as
the man had said nothing but good.
Then he turned to us and said, why
would one desire to summon back that which
Allah has taken away, you know, to bring
back time, to idealize the past, to live
in the past?
Does he not realize the uncertainty of what
his situation would have been had he lived
in that time?
By Allah, there were people who were present
with the messenger of Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam, whom Allah cast into, you know, whom
Allah cast into * because they neither answered
nor confirmed him.
Be grateful to Allah for bringing you into
this time where you know only your Lord
and affirm what your prophet brought.
You are spared the trials that afflicted others.
By Allah, the prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,
was sent in the harshest of times during
a period of ignorance when they did not
believe that any religion could be better than
idol worship.
He brought a criterion, furqan, that distinguished between
truth and falsehood and separated the father from
his child.
A man would see his father during those
times, a child or brother as a disbeliever,
knowing that they would be doomed to hellfire.
He could not find peace knowing that the
one he loved would be in the fire.
This is what Allah meant when he said,
those who say our Lord grant us joy
in our spouses and offspring.
So the bottom line is al-Muqdad ibn
Aswad is telling him, you know, you wish
that you had been presented during the time
of the prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
You don't know whether you would have made
it or not.
You know, you don't know which side you
would have been on.
So, it, you know, this, this, you know,
this is not a hadith, this is from
al-Muqdad, and it is a little bit
surprising that he would be so angered by
a very benign statement like this.
I wish you had seen what you have
seen and I had witnessed what you have
witnessed.
Blessed are your eyes.
So, like, you know, like why would someone
get angry because someone is telling them blessed
are your eyes.
I wish you had seen, I had seen
what you had seen or had witnessed what
you had witnessed.
But al-Muqdad ibn Aswad wants to say
to them, you know, accept what God had
decreed.
Allah chose you to exist in this time.
Allah, you know, tries people with different sets
of trials, different sets of trials.
What matters at the end of the day
is to pass your own trial so don't
wish to have lived in a different era.
And that is extremely important.
Idealizing the past, romanticizing the past, and idealizing
the past is something that we, that human
beings are inclined to, prone to.
Even here in America, you know, people want
to go back, you know, conservative people don't
they want to go back to the 50s
because for them, you know, not all conservative
people, like if, you know, if you're a
black conservative person, you don't want to go
back to the 50s, of course.
But certain conservative people want to go back
to the 40s and the 50s because these
were the good times, good times for you,
of course, but may not have been good
times for everybody else, but these were the
good times.
And that is a human inclination.
It's the good old times, you know, when
things were good.
You know, that entails, in part, wherever this
is coming from, it entails in part this
satisfaction with the decrees of God.
Well, he chose you to come now, you
know, it's not up to you.
The matter is not in your hands.
He chose to bring you to the world
during this time.
He chose to try you with this set
of trials that are prevalent in these times.
You accept his decree and you get to
work.
You try to pass your own test and
you get to work.
And that's what al-Muqaddad was telling him,
you know, who knows that you would have
not been hanging out with Abu Jahl, for
instance.
Like you were born, you know, your parents
raised you to be Muslim and had you
been tested by that test during that time.
How can you be confident that you would
have passed the test?
So thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for
having brought you into Islam without effort, you
know, certainly the people who were born into
Muslim families, they have been given Islam this
way.
The people that Allah had guided them to
Islam, so it's a great accomplishment to have
arrived by yourself, alhamdulillah, just like the Sahaba,
but whatever it is, you should not basically
wish something other than what Allah had chosen
for you.
The time, the place, everything.
Allah had chosen for you this set of
trials, and what matters is for you to
pass your own test and to excel in
doing so.
Also another profound hadith, and we will end
here because we are a little bit over
time, and we will leave inshallah three minutes
for people to leave, and we'll have questions
and answers for 20 minutes.