Hosam Helal – Saviours of Islamic Spirit Episode 10 ‘Ataa’ bin Abi Rabah

Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa

salatu salam ala Mabrouk Rahmatullah Alameen As salam o

alaikum. And welcome back to another episode of saviors of

Islam every night at 30 PM. We look at the life and the lessons

from the life of one of the icons that changed Islamic history left

a beautiful legacy behind. Tonight we look at one of the most humble

icons in Islamic history. Yemeni by Origin, black slave was sold

into slavery, an orphan lost his parents at a young age. His mother

was a humble Nubian basket weaver. And his father was a dark skinned

man, that wasn't the most richest of people. The individual that

we're looking at became one of the icons in Islamic knowledge. You

can pick up a book of Tafseer Quranic commentary, a book of

fiqh, jurisprudence, a book of Hadith, Islamic traditions, going

back to the actions and the sayings of Rasulullah Salam.

Without noticing this man's name. I thought even a bit about this

individual, again, changed the fabric of Mecca, change the

society of Mecca, and became the Mufti of Mecca, despite being

stuck into slavery for a long time. So what is your story? This

individual, as I mentioned, was orphaned at a young age, and he

had a difficult life growing up, and he was sold into slavery. And

he spent a long time as a slave owned by a woman master, he was

serving a woman from the people of Mexico. Eventually, she noticed

that he was working really, really hard. And she noticed that he was

dividing his time into three. So he would be finishing whatever

assignments he had to finish whatever tasks he had to Finish,

finish them very quickly. And then he would spend only a third of the

time getting that work done quickly. And then the second third

of the time he would spend praying to Allah Subhana Allah, standing

in prayer to Allah Subhana Allah. And then the third part of his day

he would spend seeking knowledge give us ask her for permission,

would you please allow me to go listen in the masjid, attend the

Juma prayer, attend a little Halaqa that is happening, of

course. But did you finish your work? Yes, I did. See would rush

his work. Imagine as a slave, Rush his work, finish it quickly, to go

and sit in the Halacha and come back and repeat everything that he

understood or heard. And he would try to rehearse and he would try

to stand up in prayer and connect with Allah subhanaw taala in that

way. So the master that owns him, imagine as a slave looks at the

potential in this individual and decides to set him free. And

because of all the hard work that he did as a slave, he had a limp.

He had a limp, and he lost eyesight in one of his eyes, and

some narrations say, too,

but then that stopped him. And he began seeking knowledge at a later

parts in his life, not in his teens, not in his childhood, but

later on in his life. But he spent 20 years going from place to place

in Mecca from Scarlet to scholar learning from a binaural model,

learning from other tambourine and other companions of Rasulullah

Salah he says I witnessed 200 companions of Rasulullah

sallallahu sallam, and I learned from as many of them as I could

and he spent time with during the Khilafah verse man he was born

during the Caliph of Earth man to spend time with those that were

born in that era. Before and during mathematic naffaa

Abdullah Rama when he went to Mecca, some people flocked towards

him and said, We are here to ask you questions. How dare you ask me

a question? When I thought it naraba is here, go and ask I

thought he officially became the Mufti of Mecca, the Mufti of

Mecca. And when so they met him and Abdulmalik came listen to this

carefully. And so they met about the money came with his two sons,

the Khalifa came to Mecca to do hydrogen. He went straight to

outer Nebula, and he asked him the questions they had about Hajj, all

the whole effect that came to perform their hydro to perform

their Amara, when they did come to Mecca, they would honor Him and

they will go to him. And one of his most beautiful, you know,

beautiful, beautiful things the standout about, Robert, is the

fact that he transformed the fabric of Mecca. He transformed

the society. How did he do that? Three things that we want to

remember. Number one, he taught people the importance of time and

time management,

time management, he taught them the importance of being concise

and careful and critical of what they say. And he taught them the

importance of humility and remembering Allah subhanaw taala

and he spread the knowledge to as many people as possible. So so

that made it not the medic history. You know, his sons saw

how humble he was in the way that he treated our thought and said

Why are you shooting this man with so much human respect and humanity

we don't see you that way with others. He's you don't know the

worth and the value of this map and the knowledge that this man

has, and the number of companions that have honored this man

Subhanallah imagine one Imam Abu Hanifa made his way to do hij. And

this was early on in his development, you know, we know and

I'm funny for was a businessman, as we mentioned, and he started to

pick up the Islamic Sciences at the 20 years and 20 So after 20

years of his of his life, so he went and he did the Hajj in Mecca.

And when he's doing after he finishes high, he goes to one of

the barbers to get his haircuts.

And he the first question, they asked him, I want to make sure

that I'm able to afford this one, like, what's the cost? What's the

cost? So the barber says, There is no dispute when it comes to this.

Don't do unless you pay whatever you can. Then he sat, the barber

told him to sit towards the fibula. So he faced the table.

Then he gave him his left side and He forgave the left says Don't

give me your right side. Then he stayed silent. Well, honey, the

state says no, you should be doing tech beer during this time. And

then finally when he finished he started to walk away and he

started to you know, get on with his you know, journey away from

the cafes, nor you have to prepare to rock as so Abu Hanifa looked at

him says you're you're a barber. But you know so much about the

deen so much about the rituals, all these five little details of

Hajj and the sequence and we should be doing Where did you

learn all of that from? He says the barbers is our PA if not be a

robber has taught us the details of our deen. He made time to teach

every individual he could in the community made himself accessible.

He raised the standard of education in the community. So the

barber knew the basics and the advance and the details of the

deen the the engineer knew what needs to be understood in order to

perform his function or her function, that the medical expert

knew what they had to do related to that field. So one of the

blessings and the legacies of alpha is he made sure that he

equipped the people in his society with knowledge that was relevant

to their areas. So he raised the standard of knowledge in the

community, Allahu Akbar, he was known, as I mentioned, for being

very, very careful with his time. So he would remind people to be

concise in a beautiful and respectful way. He would remind

people to be careful of the time not to waste it. For example, he

once saw a bunch of young people having conversations and you know,

often it ends up being about something that's not important or

something that's trivial or something that is not beneficial.

So he reminded them he told them remember Allah subhanaw taala

reminds us in the Quran, in Nadi, Kamala Harris, Helene Killam, and

ketamine. And he reminded them on an Emmy, and he went on his show

manual, if you have angels recording, on your right

witnessing, on your left, you have angels that are protecting you,

but also writing everything you do down. Are you happy with these

words being read in front of Allah subhana Dawn, I'm not saying don't

have time, have time, have fun, enjoy your life. But be cautious

and critical not to say that which is untrue, not to exaggerate that

which is being mentioned, to be cautious not to back by not to

waste your time, and to have purpose and function. And to

remind young people in the most beautiful of ways, cannot have

ambition, have ambition. Don't waste your time.

But at the same time, when he dealt with people, he would be he

would have that kindness and respect in giving everybody the

right that they deserve. So for example, he was often he was often

known for sitting down and listening to people say the hadith

of Rasulullah sallallahu. Or students say sharing some of the

reflections, even though he's heard it before even though he's

memorized that even though he's an expert, he would listen to their

complete reflection without interrupting, because he consider

that to be beneficial. So I'm gonna you know, so there's a big

difference between being you know, kind with your time, and being

rude with other people being being being firm with your time managing

your time well, but letting that lead you to becoming rude with

people, we had an open heart open mind, as long as we're doing

something beneficial. You have my presence, I'll be fully present.

But let's not waste time.

So he was known that he would only spend his time or odd Hadith,

teaching knowledge, learning, removing harm, benefiting

commanding the good or enjoying time in constructive and beautiful

ways. Other than that, he would get up and he would say a lot of

words you but I have to go. I have I have, you know, forgive me, but

I have other commitments that I've made.

70 years he spent 70 years he spent, and every year he performed

Hajj, and he was known to stand in prayer for a long time and recite

200 ayat of surah Al Baqarah. Even though he became an old man, he

passed away at eight years of age. And even though till the end of

his life, he continued to stand in prayer and stand for a long time

and the whole effect when they would come to

to meet him, they would have to sometimes wait for a while before

he finishes his soul. And he would say, I cannot give anybody the

rights. If I don't give Allah Subhana Allah his right, how am I

fair and genuine and honest, if I don't give ALLAH SubhanA data, his

rights, Allahu Akbar, once he wrote another thing that he was

known for, although I've never heard back, he rode all the way to

Damascus to Dinesh to give advice to share with Abdul Malik the

Khalifa at the time. So imagine he didn't take anybody with him,

didn't take an entourage or bodyguards. He took his his his

his his donkey his ride. He took His cloth that while he was

wearing enough food for the ride, or enough food for the journey,

and went and when he got to Damascus, he asked around, where's

the show with the medic? How can I book an appointment with him,

eventually made it into a shipment, not the medics. And of

course not everybody could do that. But because he's the tepee

of Mecca, the Mufti of Mecca, the person who's responsible for the

religious opinions of mica, they open the doors for him. And he

walked in and he said, Yeah, he should

look at the humility, humbling he shall, yeah, he shall know that

you will meet Allah alone. And you will be asked alone. And you will

have to stand in front of Allah subhanaw taala alone and answer

alone and you will die alone and you will be in the grave alone. So

don't let the excitement and the people's respect in the eyes of

the people towards you, convince you that you're other than what

you really genuinely are, be honest with yourself. These are

powerful words, say to a Khalifa. And he says I've come to advocate

on the people of Mecca, treat them kindly and fairly. I've come to

advocate on this on behalf of the slaves be fair to them, have come

to advocate on behalf of the the early Zina the minorities that are

not even Muslim. In Mecca, the Jews and the Christians treat them

fairly. Don't expect more than what they can bear be fair and be

just and every single time we give them advice, a Sherman Abdul Malik

would say, I accept I accept I accept I accept. I will I will I

will and he wrote changes that yes, we will change the policy XYZ

as you've requested. And not many people could do that not many

people would have that level of impact on Hmm, not the money, but

you share my burden Melek humbles himself to our thought, because of

the way that he carried himself. And because of the eloquence of

his words and because of the kindness and the demeanor and the

justice and the fairness and the transparency. Finally as he

started to appreciate your time I've come to have achieved what

I've come for and I'm going to go back to my can you share with

abdomen so you've advocated on everybody, everybody on behalf of

everybody else, but what about you? What can I do for you? He

recited the law as a locum when I look at him in agile in Algeria.

Illa Allah, Allah Allah me I've come not to ask you for anything

in return, not to ask you for compensation. My compensation is

with Allah subhanaw taala the idea from the Quran and another version

of the story. He says I am not the type to ask any human being for

anything. Allahu Akbar. Remember my brothers and my sisters? *

yes. Still we live in a Munna

your Fila who Lavina am and when como la nina who to the element

Rajat can the one who know the one who knows, can that person be

equal to the one who doesn't? Allah will raise those who are

believers and those who know I had 1102 They're the ones who seek

knowledge, Allah will raise them. So if we're going to take some

lessons from the the beautiful life of utter ignorance available,

focus on knowledge. Be careful with your time, manage your time

well, don't waste it have purpose, have gold, have desire.

And be accessible to people and don't be stingy when it comes to

giving advice, give advice, but lead by example. Finally, Elijah I

mentioned to us Matt Alba ignorable robber, your alma mater,

wahoo, out of the blue, all the indigenous. When Arthur in the

bureau passed away, he was the most beloved to the people. At

that time, people loved him. People loved him, despite again,

being born or being limited by slavery, despite having to serve.

He made the time to learn his energy and readiness to serve

ALLAH SubhanA died and his sincerity eventually was noticed

by the master who set him free. And he spent the years of his life

serving the people around him advocating on behalf of

minorities, advocating in the name of justice, standing up and making

his way all the way by himself sitting by himself to the Khalifa

and advising and advocating and leaving a beautiful legacy behind

in knowledge and in the Islamic sciences. My brothers and my

sisters, do not let your limitations wherever they are,

continue to limit you.

Do the best that you can. Some of us are born

run into, you know, maybe slavery is no longer as as rampant as it

was, but there are minor forms of slavery and discrimination and

injustice, it still exists. But this man is, you know, being

black. Right. And and of course, this is again for the autumns, who

dealt with in the Gehenna. Yet, there was a lot of racism for the

Mufti of Mecca, who served for many years, you know, passing away

at eight years of age, to be black, to be of color and to be

respected. That is in itself a testament to the legacy of

Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam May Allah Subhana Allah Allah allow us

to be from those who are fair from those who are just from those who

learn. Seek knowledge benefit others with the knowledge be from

those who are careful with how they spend their time, and from

those who leave a beautiful legacy behind my final remark, do not

waste your time. Every minute counts. You are just a bunch of

days, and every minute that passes is a part of your life that's

gone. Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh and see you every

night inshallah at 8:30pm