Hosam Helal – Saviours of Islamic Spirit Episode 11 AlShafi’i

Monaco warahmatullahi wabarakatu Bismillah R Rahman Rahim Al hamdu

Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa salatu salam O Allah remember with Rama

tellin al Amin, Sedna Milena Muhammad Ali, who are early

Abdullah Salah to attend with the slim. Welcome back to another

episode of saviors of Islam every night at 8:30pm. We look at the

life and the lessons from the life of an icon that left a beautiful

legacy behind. Tonight we're going to be looking at Imam Shafi his

life and Imam Shafi. His life is centered around devotion, Unity

centered around looking for the gap where the Muslim ummah

struggling and trying to fulfill and fill that gap. In the moment

chef he is an icon you know, he is known as the Mujaddid of the

second century and the Beast also lives in a hadith which is

authentic, every 100 years every century Allah subhanaw taala is

going to send somebody that will make the deen accessible again

that will revive and understanding of Islam that makes sense of the

practical reality that people are living and going through. So the

first 100 years we know the Majid did the reviver of the era was

Omar Abdulaziz, the reviver of the second century, the 200 year mark

of Asia. It's Imam Shafi tonight's figure, and remember Shafi he

shares two members of his family so his grandfather and his great

grandfather actually come from the Prophet Mohammed salams family

tree as well. So he's related to a Nabi SallAllahu Sallam in my

blood. But he lived a very difficult and challenging life

specially during his childhood. So he was born to a poor family, his

father was working, his father was working in Yemen. But he couldn't

his father was working in Mecca, but he couldn't afford the living

cost it was you know, was too expensive, and he wasn't able to

earn a good living. So you migrated with his family to Reza,

two years. Imagine when Imam Shafi Mohammed Idris at this time, he

was two years old, his father passed away. And when his father

passed away, his mother looked at him and told him, she told him,

I'm not going to marry anybody else, I'm not going to go on and

live my life, I'm going to completely devote my life to you.

And I want you to be the best version of yourself. And she did

the best that she could to raise him and send him to the teachers

that were available at the time. But she wasn't able to afford, you

know, paper, she wasn't able to afford the ink for him to take

notes. It was challenging. So at the age of three or four, he would

go to these different Halaqaat. And he would try to sit down, but

he didn't have the cost, they didn't have the money to be able

to afford to get a proper education. So the teachers often

ignored him, they wouldn't listen to him. People used to laugh at

him, because he used to come now wearing the best of clothing.

Imagine the challenge. Maybe some of us can relate to this. So what

what what he would do, he was gonna go on to his mom, and he

would cry Mom, I'm trying to get the knowledge. But my teacher is

not paying attention to me, because I'm not paying the same as

everybody else. So when she told him, she told him sit, and listen

to Him teach one of the other students who's paying a lot of

money to sit not too closely, you're interrupting, but close

enough and listen to him teaching others.

And so doing this Subhanallah he was able to acquire a lot of

knowledge, just by listening to the teachers teach others. Yeah,

Allah. He wasn't able to get enough time by himself with the

teacher one on one time because of his difficult financial situation.

But at the age of seven doing this, the teacher eventually

caught on that, you know, Muhammad didn't. Idris is very talented.

He's got a lot of potential. It took a lot of a long time. It's a

couple of years, but eventually decided to start investing him.

And at the age of seven, Mohammed Idris Shafi memorize the Quran, at

the age of 80. Finishes memorizing the Tafseer and understanding to

see it and quickly speaking up one area of Islamic sciences, a hadith

picks it up very quickly. And then his mother looked at him and she

told him, I want you to commit yourself to Islamic knowledge. You

have this capacity, you have the zeal, you have the talent, you

have the ability to memorize very quickly, and I want you to be able

to unite the OMA What does she mean? At the time of Muhammad Musa

Schaeffer, there was an issue that was very prevalent in the

community. And that was you had the School of Rock A the school of

opinion, which is the School of logic and deduction, and that was

the school of Iraq, the School of Imam Abu Hanifa and then you had

the school of Fr you know, they're going back to the text. So the

text and the Hadith What did the Quran say? What did the Hadith say

the literal understanding and not move too much beyond that, and

that was the school of Imam Malik. And there was a lot of sometimes

you know, debate and conflict between the students. You know,

Imam Malik himself and we discussed the mimetic before but

he said about Imam Abu Hanifa says the Hadith leaves Medina just this

long the hadith is this long.

And it comes back from Iraq this long and it leaves a small, you

know, hand a handful and it comes back and arms length

Yeah, Allah. And of course, this was his way of saying that, you

know, the people of Iraq are adding a lot and they're deducing.

And maybe perhaps they're adding too much. So he grew up in this

society where there was, you know, that polar opposite between the

two. And of course, you remember honey for the mimetic did the best

that they could to bring the two together and did a lot of good in

that area. But remember, Chevron took it upon himself from a young

age, to learn all the skills and the Islamic knowledge required to

unite between these two schools.

So next on his agenda, he went to Mecca back to Mecca. And he made

dua to Allah subhana, Allah drank ZamZam, and he made dua for three

things he may do that he becomes, he wanted one of those skills, one

of those physical skills. So he became an archer. And he said,

Yeah, Allah allow me to be a good Archer, allow me to be a good

teacher and a good student of knowledge. And finally, the third

die he made Oh Allah give me Jana, and Imam Shafi would say later on

that I became an excellent Archer, you know, when he used to hit,

maybe he would hit 10 arrows, nine of them would hit right in the

middle, perfect target.

And knowledge, you became a legend. And so he would say, ask

Allah Subhana Allah to give me the third, which is to go to Jana.

Now, he went to Macquarie went to the different areas in the area.

And when he was 13, he was listening to a lathe of the side.

And the lathe in the side was giving a lecture about the

importance of dialects, the importance of picking up the

various Arabic dialects to really understand the Quran, truly, you

have to understand the language of the Arabs, how the Arabs

understood in the various dialects of the Arabs. So you know, that's

a great idea. Let me go. And let me learn the dialects. So we spent

around 13 years, and some say even 17 years, in the various

localities, these little tribes, he spent some time with for the UN

and others, and he would basically pick up the Arabic. And that's why

he acquired a reputation for being an excellent communicator, and an

excellent speaker. His eloquence was so profound, that later on

when he became a teacher, people used to come and listen to this

halacha even if they were not Muslim, the Elijah Hill, and he

Sherman Abdul Malik

Abdon, metacognition, metacognition, the famous author

of the spirit of amnesia, and many, many others would say that

this individual, we've never seen anybody that spoke pure Arabic

CRISPR language that was so eloquent, so powerful that it just

touched your core. His his language was the was the default,

you want to compare how accurate your grammar your syntax is, you

compare it to the language of a Chevy,

at the age of 18, and the age of 18, he was told you are ready now,

to get fat. Well, you have reached a height and knowledge where you

can get fit well.

And he says, I appreciate that, but I don't think I'm ready yet. I

need to gain a little bit more knowledge. So I want to sit with

Imam Malik and gain his knowledge. And then I want to go to Iraq and

gain the knowledge of Iraq. So I can build an bridge between those

two.

But who is he to be able to sit with the demand money he's still a

student of knowledge was respected, but his reputation is

not read now and it doesn't have the money to be able to do so. So

we had to go to the world of Mecca, the leader of Mecca and

appeal to him look, you know me, you know, my capacity. I'm too shy

to go and and introduce myself to my magic, can you at least send a

letter with me? Can you help me out? Can you connect me with

somebody in Medina that will be able to, you know, give me the

opportunity to sit with you my Malik, one thing led to another

and then hamdulillah by the will of Allah subhanaw taala was able

to go to Medina and sit with Imam Malik. And when he started with an

Imam Malik and in America, of course he is a great scholar. He's

not going to just take anybody. So he tells him Who are you telling

me? Why should I invest in you? Imam Shafi responds and he says,

My love for knowledge. I wish, I wish every limb was like the ear,

allowing me to take all this knowledge and digest it and listen

to it. And you know, just taste it. And in my zeal in my search

for knowledge, I unlike a mother will lost her son and only Son

looking for him to find him. So remember, in the mathematic, I

said, Well, have you memorized my work? He's I have not found any

work by you, except that I've read it and memorized it. So well tell

me have you read my more you know, motto was the Great, the great

Hadith compilation Imam Malik worked on for many years and we

spoke about that before. And Imam Shafi says yes, I have memorized

that motto, read from it. He reads and he reads and he reads and he

reads, And finally my medical. You know, I have to be honest with

you. I have personally forgotten some of the work that I've read.

An Imam Malik says, But you are remembering it better than I can.

And so he decided to teach him. And he spent nine years with Imam

Malik. Finally my medic told him you're ready to teach, take the

position, you know, you can start teaching, have your own Halaqa. He

says, No, I really appreciate it. It's very humbling. But I'm not

ready yet. I want to go and I want to collect this, this, this the

school, or the teachings or the principles, and the teaching

style, and the principles of the school in Iraq. I want to go and

learn with an Imam, Abu Hanifa, the students of Imam Abu Hanifa.

And of course, when he got there, remember, Anita had passed away,

may Allah struggle to give him gentlemen for those women and all

of our scholars. So he sat with his students, they wasn't able to

stay for too long. And he had to come back quickly because he ran

out of money. So he came back to the American Imam Malik told him

at this time, please take the position, you're good now he says,

No, I want to be able to, you know, just invest a little bit

more in seeking knowledge, I want to be ready. I want to be mature

when I give, not too early on. So he decided to go to Yemen to take

a position in Yemen. And in Yemen, he decided to make, you know, take

a position some work to do some work, and make some money to be

able to then go back to Iraq and learn from Anna. Eventually, when

he spent time in Yemen, he learned even more sciences, he learned

this the science of philosophy, being able to read body language,

he could read somebody's face and profile them. And we have some

interesting stories from the mammoth mammoth shattered his life

related to this, you know, once he came across this person, and he

looked at this person, and he says, You know what, I can read

based on the way that you know, he looks that this person is going to

be very stingy. And he told us to the person he's traveling with

says, You know what, let's let's try it. So he went to the person

and he said, You know what, we are traveling, can you host us in your

home? He's no problem. Come enjoy. Sit down, have to have your fun,

enjoy your life.

So you open the door for them, gave them food gave them give them

everything that they need. And he told me you know this, this room

actually is too small. Let me take you to another room. And at the

end of it all, and let me share. I expected him to be stingy. But you

know what, maybe the signs of ferocity profiling is not always

accurate. And finally, he's leaving after the three days are

over. And of course Islamically speaking we have a right to host

anybody that comes to our door. Of course, as long as there's some

basic level of security and comfort for three days and that's

what Imam Shafi received from this man. Finally three days are over

Manisha is ready to leave. Thank you so much, by the way I am Hamid

Marisa Shafi and I really appreciate anytime they want to

come back to Medina, I'm going back to Medina eventually. I'm

here my doors open for you. I'm ready to host you anytime. The man

is like thank you so much. But

like

are we related? No, of course we're not related. Is my father a

slave for your father? I do I work for you. No, I What do you mean?

What do you think I did all this for free? No, no, the room three

Durham's the food for their their homes, and he kept you know,

giving him the bill, you have to pay before you owe.

So remember, Chef, he gave all the money. So thank you so much. And

he looked at his helper and said, See, I'm so glad that this

happened because it goes to show that the science of Eros or

profiling or reading people is definitely somewhat reliable. And

of course, there's a situation that happens in Yemen, where

there's a lot of injustice happening in Yemen, and that

injustice and Imam Shafi could not bear it. So he spoke out and

because he spoke out, he was sent to the Hadith he was sent to

Haroon Rashid, and he was shackled and he was put in jail and he

stood in front of Harun Rashid, and Haroon Rashid said, Are you

the are you the type of person to instigate you know, discomfort and

disunity and call to disunity and Imam Shafi in all confidence and

eloquence, says my brother, we share some blood, you know,

because they're related in lineage, and I've not come here to

instigate violence or to instigate turmoil and anarchy. I have only

recognized some injustice. And I have felt that my, my, my

responsibility as a Muslim is to call against it. And we had a

conversation introduced himself and of course how not to she'd

asked him tell me more about you. Do you know Quran you know, how do

you do not have seen, and Harun Rashid was impressed with the

level of knowledge and eloquence of the scholar. They kissed him on

the forehead and considered him to be a close advisor that he would

take advice from. And Imam Shafi also recognized and studied, you

know, astronomy studied the stars studied the various sciences that

he that he had access to. And when finally when he was teaching as a

chef and as a therapy, and as I had this and as a person of

Islamic knowledge, he was doing the best he could to unite those

various opinions. He went around, eventually picked up the school of

Iraq. And when he sat down to teach, he was ready. He was

uniting the people. So he would say this is the opinion of that.

above the opinion of the people of Medina. And here's how we can work

to merge the two together. Finally, he decided to go and sit

in Egypt and teach the people of Egypt because there was very

little knowledge available at the time. And he felt like you could

do a lot of good in the area, which was fertile and ready. And

this shows you his vision. He looks for the void fills, it looks

for the disunity and unites the OMA. And all the years of seeking

knowledge. He kept being told you're ready, you're ready. No,

I'm not I'm not going to do it. Now. I want to make sure that I'm

ready fully for the responsibility. May Allah Subhana

Allah Allah allow us to be from those who look for gaps in the

community. Look for opportunities to teach, look for opportunities

to learn, look for opportunities to empower, but don't take

positions that were not ready for. Before we have done our homework,

our preparation, and our due diligence. If you're a cloud and

you start pouring too early, you will run out of weight and

knowledge to invest. This is a metaphor that exists even in the

Quran. Don't pour too early, get heavy enough, get heavy enough.

And when you have enough naturally, gravity will pull that

knowledge to a place that is ready and fertile. May Allah Subhana

Allah uses and that replaces May Allah subhana that allow us to be

icons of clear wherever we go. Does that formula hate him for

coming in? Or for tuning in? See you next week was set up on a coma

rahmatullahi wa barakato