Kamil Ahmad – Lessons from the Seerah – 85 – The Year of the Delegations
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بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين
والصلاة والسلام والإكمان الأكملان على خير خلق الله
أجمعين وعلى آله وصحبه ومن اهتدى بهديه مستنى
بسنته إلى يوم الدين اللهم علمنا ما ينفعنا
وانفعنا بما علمتنا وزدنا علما وأرنا الحق حقا
ورزقنا اتباعه وأرنا الباطل باطلا ورزقنا اجتنابه واجعلنا
ممن يستمعون القول فيتبعون أحسنه السلام عليكم ورحمة
الله وبركاته Last week we basically finished off
our discussion on the battle of Tabuk by
going over the story of the three who
remained behind the three companions who remained behind
as narrated by one of them and that
was Ka'b ibn Malik and how Allah
accepted their tawbah, their repentance after they went
through the suffering that they went through due
to their own fault, due to their own
decision to stay behind and as we saw,
that story was a very inspiring story of
something that went terribly wrong in the life
of an otherwise noble companion but how it
ended off with a very good ending and
we saw how that story is filled with
benefits and lessons that we can all learn
from and we only went through a few
otherwise there are so many lessons that can
be derived from that story we now go
through some important events that took place after
the battle of Tabuk and so we mentioned
earlier on that the battle of Tabuk took
place in the ninth year of the Hijrah
in the ninth year of the Hijrah and
we start by looking at a very important
part of the seerah during this period of
time and that is what is known as
the wafood, the delegations and so the ninth
year of the Hijrah is known as Aam
al-Wafood the year of the delegations now
when we talk about the result of Fath
Makkah the conquest of Makkah we see that
one of the most outstanding results from it
was that it had opened up the floodgates
to all the tribes of Arabia entering into
Islam and the reason for this was that
Quraish had religious authority among the Arabs Makkah
was the religious center of the Arabs Quraish
were the custodians of the Kaaba they were
the ones who would feed the pilgrims and
they would manage the affairs of the people
who come for Hajj and Umrah so all
the tribes around Arabia they used to look
up to Quraish so when Rasool Allah صلى
الله عليه وسلم started his mission and started
giving da'wah and this conflict arose between
him and his people and you had this
years long war that ensued between the Prophet
صلى الله عليه وسلم and the people of
Quraish what were all the other Arabs doing?
the majority of them they decided not to
take any sides and instead they sat on
the sidelines and they simply wanted to watch
how this conflict plays out so now when
Rasool Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم had defeated
Quraish all the tribes of Arabia they now
realized that that's it, it's over this conflict
has come to an end Muhammad صلى الله
عليه وسلم has been victorious and so now
it is time to accept Islam and so
this is what caused them to come in
droves and waves one after the other as
Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم mentioned إِذَا جَاءَ
النُّصْرُ اللَّهِ وَالْفَتْحُ when the victory and the
conquest of Allah comes وَرَأَيْتَ النَّاسَ يَدْخُلُونَ فِي
دِينِ اللَّهِ أَفْوَاجًا and you see the people
coming into the Deen of Allah in waves
and in multitudes and in large numbers and
so this surah was the last surah that
was revealed to the Prophet صلى الله عليه
وسلم in its entirety it wasn't the last
ayat that would be revealed but the last
surah in its entirety that was revealed to
the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and so
it was a sign that the mission of
the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was about
to come to an end and that he
would soon be bidding farewell now the conquest
of Mecca it took place towards the end
of the 8th year of the Hijrah and
now in the 9th year all of these
tribes from all over Arabia were now sending
their representatives to Medina to sit with the
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to talk to
him, to negotiate with him and this is
basically the 9th year and that's why as
we mentioned it is known as the year
of the delegations عام الوفود and the number
of delegations throughout this period of time are
so many some writers of seerah mention it
as being 60 others take the number all
the way up to 100 and so there
were a lot of people and there was
a lot of traffic and a lot of
people are coming and going from Medina now
it's also important to understand that these delegations
were not only coming to Medina to accept
Islam the majority of them were but some
would not accept Islam as we will see
but they still had to send their delegations
because now they knew it was over with
they have to come and at least, the
very least to enter into a peace agreement
with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and
as for those who came to accept Islam
they not only were accepting Islam but they
were also pledging allegiance to the Prophet صلى
الله عليه وسلم meaning that they were accepting
his rule over them and they were becoming
a part of this Islamic state that the
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was the ruler
over so we're going to go through some
of the more famous of these delegations because
there are many delegations as we can see
that have been mentioned however, not all of
them are based on authentic narrations especially when
we go into the details of some of
their stories so we'll stick to the more
famous ones and the more authentic ones as
you will see, most of them are found
in Bukhari and Muslim and other books of
Hadith now it's also important to mention here
that some of these delegations came before this
period of time before the 9th year so
some delegations came all the way back in
the 5th year of the Hijrah and the
6th and the 7th some of the tribes,
they sent more than one delegation so some
came in the 5th year and then that
same tribe sent another delegation in the 9th
year in this year of the year of
the delegations so as we can see these
delegations were coming at different times however, the
majority of them started to come at this
time in the 9th year of the Hijrah
so we start with the delegation of the
tribe of Thaqeef the tribe of Thaqeef who
was the tribe of Thaqeef?
where were they situated?
we covered their story previously these are the
people of Aqtaeef and so the Prophet ﷺ
after the conquest of Mecca there was the
battle of Hunayn and then after that battle
was over with he went to Aqtaeef and
he laid siege to Aqtaeef for 15 days
however, he decided after that to withdraw and
leave back to Mecca and then from Mecca
he went back to Medina however, before they
left some of the companions they asked the
Prophet ﷺ to make dua against these people
the people of Aqtaeef the Prophet ﷺ refused
and instead he made dua for their guidance
now when the Prophet ﷺ was making his
way back to Medina after this incident before
reaching Medina there was a very very important
man from the tribe of Thaqeef who caught
up with the army he left Aqtaeef and
he was coming and before the Prophet ﷺ
reached Medina he caught up to him he
came, he met the Prophet ﷺ and he
accepted Islam who was this man?
he was Urwa ibn Mas'ud al-Thaqafi
he was one of the noble men of
Aqtaeef in fact, he was one of the
most respected men among the Arabs and he
was also the one about whom Quraysh they
said Allah ﷻ tells us وَقَالُوا لَوْ لَا
نُزِّلَ هَذَا الْقُرْآنَ عَلَى رَجُلٍ مِنَ الْقَرْيَتَيْنِ عَظِيمٍ
Quraysh they said if only this Qur'an
was revealed to one of the great men
of the two cities who are they referring
to here?
many of the Mufassirun they say it was
referring to the great man of Mecca who
was al-Waleed ibn al-Mughira or the
other town which is Aqtaeef al-Qaryatayni refers
to Mecca and Aqtaeef the other man which
is from Aqtaeef was Urwa ibn Mas'ud
and so they were saying why did Allah
choose Muhammad?
he is a nobody why didn't Allah choose
one of the noble men of either Mecca
or Aqtaeef for sending his Qur'an to
so this shows us how important of a
figure he was Urwa ibn Mas'ud so
he comes and he embraces Islam and then
he tells the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam
that he would like to return to his
people return to Aqtaeef and give Dawah to
his people but the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa
sallam he said that they will kill you
he said I am a beloved man to
them I am a very respected man among
my people so he ended up going back
he goes back to Aqtaeef and he starts
giving them Dawah and one day he was
on top of the roof of one of
his houses and he was giving the Adhan
and they started to shoot their arrows at
him and one of the arrows struck him
and killed him and so the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wa sallam predicted correctly that they would
kill him and that is what ended up
happening but then shortly after that the people
of Aqtaeef this tribe of Aqtaeef they came
to their senses and they realized that they
could no longer resist the Muslims that had
surrounded them from all sides this was due
to all the tribes that were accepting Islam
around Makkah and around Aqtaeef so they finally
agreed to send a delegation that consisted of
six men to Medina to meet the Prophet
salallahu alayhi wa sallam and this was in
Ramadan of the ninth year of the Hijrah
Ramadan of the ninth year of the Hijrah
when they came to Medina the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wa sallam was extremely happy because remember
he was hoping that the people of Aqtaeef
would be guided and he made Dua for
Allah to guide them however what they had
actually come for was to try to see
if they could negotiate a deal with the
Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and have him
to make a compromise but Rasulullah salallahu alayhi
wa sallam made it clear to them that
there would be no deal unless they accepted
Islam so then they tried to negotiate to
see if they could be exempted from some
aspects of Islam so they said to the
Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam exempt us from
Zina they said that you know our men
are mostly single and we travel very far
and we have no choice but to commit
Zina the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said
to them Allah made it Haram so then
they tried with Riba they said you know
our wealth it's all mixed with Riba and
there's no way to avoid it the Prophet
salallahu alayhi wa sallam said Allah has made
it Haram but then he said as Allah
azza wa jal says in the Quran that
you can keep your capital فَلَكُمْ رُؤُوسُ أَمْوَالِكُمْ
you can keep your capital from your earnings
before you made Tawbah whatever earnings you have
from Riba you can keep your capital then
they tried with alcohol they said that you
know it was the juice of their fruits
because the people of Al-Ta'if they
used to grow grapes and they had grape
vines so they said it's the juice of
our fruits and we cannot live without it
the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said it
was Haram Allah has made it Haram and
so then they returned to their tent to
deliberate privately now what we see here is
that these men they were trying to negotiate
they were not objecting to these things because
they didn't believe in it because they did
not want to accept Islam as we're going
to see they did accept Islam however it
wasn't about them personally these men were acting
like politicians they said to one another when
they went back to their tent they said
we're going to have to go back to
our people our people are not going to
accept this and so they were afraid that
their people wouldn't be happy with this deal
that they made with the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wa sallam that they have to follow Islam
and the rules of Islam etc and then
they went back to the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wa sallam and they wanted now to negotiate
on one last thing they went to him
and they said we have our huge and
major idol and this idol is the idol
of Allat they said allow us to keep
this idol for a year the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wa sallam refused they said allow us
to keep it for a month the Prophet
salallahu alayhi wa sallam refused they said let
us keep it for a week he refused
they said one day the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wa sallam refused and so they tried to
negotiate But the Prophet ﷺ made it clear
that he was not going to approve of
such a thing.
And so this was a red line for
him that he would never compromise on when
it comes to shirk.
Now the reason why they wanted to buy
time for this particular issue was again that
they were afraid.
That their people would not be able to
handle the shock of seeing their God that
they were so attached to being smashed and
brought down.
So in the end they said, in that
case we are not going to destroy it.
Instead you send someone from your end to
do it.
So the Prophet ﷺ sent Khalid ibn al
-Wadid along with Abu Sufyan and al-Mughira
ibn Shu'aba.
Al-Mughira ibn Shu'aba was a companion
who was from the tribe of Taqif.
But he had accepted Islam years ago.
So the Prophet ﷺ was sending him to
his own people.
So they went back.
The delegation went back.
And these three companions went.
And when the people of Taqif had learned
why these three companions were sent to destroy
the idol.
They started to say that the idol will
defend itself.
And you are only going to do yourself
harm.
The idol will curse you, send a curse
on you, send a disease on you.
And so al-Mughira ibn Shu'aba radiAllahu
anhu, he wanted to make a joke out
of that.
So he told his two companions, I'm going
to do something that is going to make
you laugh.
So what did he do?
He went to the idol.
And he acted like he was smashing it
with the axe.
And then all of a sudden he fell
down.
So then the people started shouting.
And they started cheering that the idol had
defended itself.
And had struck al-Mughira till he was
on the ground.
Then al-Mughira ibn Shu'aba, he got
up.
And he said, you guys are fools.
This is nothing but a piece of stone.
Worship Allah alone.
And then he started to smash the idol
until it was broken to pieces.
And so that was the end of the
third and final remaining idol in Arabia or
in the Hijaz.
As Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us
about those three idols.
Do you not see the idols of al
-Lat and al-Uzza and the third one,
Manat.
Al-Uzza and Manat, we mentioned previously when
we covered the story of the conquest of
Mecca.
That they were destroyed right after the Prophet
ﷺ sent companions to go and destroy those
two idols.
And all that was left was al-Lat.
And that was because it was in Al
-Ta'if and it was inaccessible to the
Muslims.
But as soon as it was accessible to
the Muslims as we have seen in the
story.
The Prophet ﷺ did not allow for this
idol to remain for even a day.
And it's mentioned that the Prophet ﷺ then
ordered for a masjid to be built in
its place.
For a masjid to be built in its
place.
Then we have the delegation of Banu Tamim.
In Sahih al-Bukhari it mentions that the
delegation of Banu Tamim came to the Prophet
ﷺ.
And he said to them, accept the glad
tidings, O Banu Tamim.
How did they respond?
They said, O Messenger of Allah, you have
given us good tidings, now give to us.
Meaning, give us something.
Meaning that we want some money, we want
something material.
So they didn't want any good tidings of
accepting Islam and of Jannah etc.
But all that they were interested in was
some material wealth.
And this was something disrespectful and rude.
So in the hadith it says that you
could now see the displeasure on the face
of the Prophet ﷺ.
He didn't like it.
Then another, the hadith mentions, another delegation came
from Yemen.
And the Prophet ﷺ went to them and
said, accept the glad tidings for Banu Tamim
refuses to accept them.
So they said, we have accepted them, O
Messenger of Allah.
Now when these delegations would come with their
people, the Prophet ﷺ would choose from among
themselves leaders to appoint over them.
So there were two important people among Banu
Tamim.
One was Al-Aqra' Ibn Habis, and the
other one was Al-Qa'qa' Ibn Ma
'bad Ibn Zurara.
So Abu Bakr he suggested to the Prophet
ﷺ to appoint Al-Qa'qa' to be
their leader.
So Umar Ibn Khattab he said, no, O
Messenger of Allah, appoint Al-Aqra' Ibn Habis.
So then Abu Bakr he got upset.
And he said to Umar, you only said
that to go against my opinion.
And then Umar he got upset and he
said, no, I didn't do that to go
against your opinion.
And then they started to argue with each
other.
Imagine, this is Abu Bakr and Umar.
The two best individuals from this ummah after
the Prophet ﷺ, arguing in the presence of
the Prophet ﷺ.
And then their voices started to become loud.
And so as a result Allah ﷻ revealed
the first ayat of Surah Al-Hujurat.
Allah ﷻ says, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا
تُقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيِ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِنَّ
اللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ O you who believe, do
not proceed in any matter before the decree
of Allah and His Messenger.
And fear Allah.
Surely Allah is the All-Hearing, the All
-Knowing.
Here Abu Bakr and Umar were imposing their
idea while the Prophet ﷺ had not made
a decision.
And then Allah ﷻ says, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا لَا تَرُفَعُوا أَصْوَاتَكُمْ فَوْقَ صَوْتِ النَّبِيِّ وَلَا
تَجْهَرُوا لَهُ بِالْقَوْلِ كَجَهْرِ بَعْضِكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ أَن تَحْبَطَ
أَعْمَالُكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ لَا تَشْعُرُونَ O you who believe,
do not raise your voices over and above
the voice of the Prophet ﷺ, nor speak
loudly to him as you do to one
another, or else your deeds will become void
while you are unaware.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَغُضُّونَ أَصْوَاتَهُمْ عِنْدَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُولَٰئِكَ
الَّذِينَ امْتَحَنَ اللَّهُ قُلُوبَهُمْ لِلتَّقْوَى لَهُمَّ غْفِرَةٌ وَأَجْرٌ
عَظِيمٌ Indeed, those who lower their voices in
the presence of the Messenger of Allah, they
are the ones whose hearts Allah has tested
for taqwa, and they will have forgiveness and
a great reward.
In the end, the Prophet ﷺ actually praised
this tribe, Banu Tamim, for certain qualities.
In Sahih al-Bukhari, Abu Huraira radiallahu anhu,
he says, I have loved the people of
Banu Tamim ever since I heard three things
that Rasulullah ﷺ said about them.
He says, I heard him saying, number one,
these people will stand the most firmest, the
strongest from my ummah against Al-Dajjal.
When Al-Dajjal comes at the end of
times, it will be people from Banu Tamim
who will stand the strongest against him.
Number two, he says, when the sadaqat, the
zakah, when it came from the tribe of
Banu Tamim, the Prophet ﷺ said, these are
the sadaqat of my qawm, qawmi.
So the Prophet ﷺ referred to them as
his own people.
And number three, Aisha radiallahu anhu, she once
had a slave girl from that same tribe.
So the Prophet ﷺ said to her, free
her because she is a descendant of Ismail
ﷺ.
Meaning that tribe, it traces its roots to
Ismail ﷺ.
And whoever frees a slave from that tribe,
it's more virtuous and it's a greater reward
than freeing a slave from anyone else.
And so this was the story of the
tribe of Banu Tamim.
There was one last thing about this tribe.
And that is that Allah revealed another ayah
from the same surah, surah al-Hujurat, concerning
these people.
And that is where Allah ﷻ says, يَا
أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا يَسْخَرْ قَوْمٌ مِّنْ قَوْمٍ
عَسَىٰ أَن يَكُونُوا خَيْرًا مِّنْهُمْ O you who
believe, do not make fun of one another.
It could be, do not let one people
make fun of another people.
It could be that the others are better
than them.
Until the end of the ayah.
And so it is mentioned that some members
of this tribe, they started making fun of
some of the companions, like Ammar and Suhaib,
in terms of how poor they were.
So Allah ﷻ revealed this ayah.
And it's mentioned that this ayah was revealed
concerning others as well.
So Allah ﷻ knows best.
Then we have the delegation of Abdul Qais.
The tribe of Abdul Qais.
This tribe, they lived in the far east
of the Arabian Peninsula.
And they were one of the first to
embrace Islam from a place that was far
from Medina.
And so it is mentioned that the first
Salatul Jumu'ah that was prayed outside the
vicinity of Medina was in this masjid of
these people, the tribe of Abdul Qais.
So this tribe came twice.
They came once in the fifth year of
the Hijrah.
And then they came back in the ninth
year, the year of the delegations.
When they arrived in Medina and saw the
Prophet ﷺ at his masjid, they jumped down
from their animals and they rushed to greet
him.
However, one member of the delegation, and he
was Abdullah ibn Awth al-Ashajj.
He was the youngest of them.
And he did not rush towards the Prophet
ﷺ.
He first made his camel kneel down.
Then he took off all of his luggage.
And then he took out clean clothes and
he put them on.
And then he went and made his way
towards the Prophet ﷺ.
As a result, the Prophet ﷺ, he praised
him.
And he said to him that you have
two qualities that are beloved to Allah and
His Messenger.
What are they?
And this is a famous hadith.
What are they?
He said, the Prophet ﷺ said, He said,
you are both farsighted and you are patient.
You take your time, which is something that
Allah and His Messenger love.
Now even before the arrival of this delegation,
the Prophet ﷺ told his companions, a caravan
will appear before you.
Its members are the best among the people
of the east.
And they are willingly coming to accept Islam.
They have exhausted their camels and their provisions,
meaning they are almost here and they are
finished of their food and their provisions.
And then the Prophet ﷺ said, Then when
they arrived, the Prophet ﷺ said to them,
Welcome, you will neither be disgraced nor ashamed.
And then they asked the Prophet ﷺ to
teach them something that their people could abide
by.
So the Prophet ﷺ, he gave them four
things to abide by.
What were these four things?
He said to bear witness the shahada, shahadatayn,
and iqamat al-salah, and ita' al-zakar,
and salm ramadan.
And then he also added a fifth, and
that was that they should give one-fifth
of the ghanima that they have taken from
war.
They have to give one-fifth of that.
And then he forbade them from four things.
So they were forbidden from drinking any intoxicants,
and they were ordered to destroy the jars
and the containers that were used to brew
these drinks.
And so this was the story of Wafd
Abd al-Qais.
The next delegation is the delegation of Banu
Hanifa.
And this tribe was situated in Central Arabia,
in Najd, and in particular Yamama.
And we mentioned a member of this tribe
that came previously to Medina.
Rather, he was actually captured and brought to
Medina, and that was Thumama ibn Athan.
He was captured, he was brought to Medina,
he was put in a masjid, he was
tied to one of the pillars.
And we mentioned his story and how he
embraced Islam.
Basically, the Prophet ﷺ asked him, you know,
do you want to accept Islam?
And he gave him three days.
In the end, the Prophet ﷺ released him,
and he was grateful for that.
So he went, he took a bath, he
came back, and he accepted Islam.
So he was from this tribe.
He went back to his people, and he
started giving da'wah.
So now there were some people from Banu
Hanifa who were Muslim.
However, there was a noble man among them,
someone they used to respect and look up
to highly, who didn't like what was happening.
This man had been educated, and it's mentioned
that he had become Christian.
And he wanted authority, and he thought that
he was something.
His name was Musaylima al-Kaddhab.
So now, the delegation from Banu Hanifa come
to Medina.
And Musaylima is with them.
Now why was he given this name of
Musaylima al-Kaddhab, the liar?
Because the Prophet ﷺ says that after my
death, you will see 30 dajjals.
And they are all liars.
So he was one of them.
He was one of them.
Why?
Because he claimed to be a prophet.
So in Sahih al-Bukhari, Ibn Abbas, he
narrates that Musaylima al-Kaddhab came during the
lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ, and started saying,
meaning he came to Medina, and he started
saying to the people, if Muhammad gives me
authority after him, I will follow him.
Meaning, if he transfers the power to me,
then I will follow him, otherwise I won't.
And he came to Medina with a great
number of his tribe.
Ibn Abbas says, the Prophet ﷺ went to
him in the company of Thabit ibn Qais
al-Shammas.
And at that time, the Prophet ﷺ, when
he had come, he had in his hand
a piece of stick.
When he stopped near Musaylima, and Musaylima was
among his people, the Prophet ﷺ said to
him, obviously the Prophet ﷺ already heard what
he had said, he said to Musaylima, if
you were to ask me for this piece
of stick, I would not give it to
you.
Meaning that, if you're going to ask me
for power and authority, then even this small
stick I'm not going to give to you.
Then the Prophet ﷺ said, and Allah's order,
His Qadr, is something you cannot avoid.
You will be destroyed, and if you turn
your back from this religion, then Allah will
destroy you.
And then the Prophet ﷺ said, and I
think you are the same person who was
shown to me in a dream.
And then he said, this is Thabit ibn
Qais, who will answer your questions on my
behalf.
And then the Prophet ﷺ left him.
And so look at how the Prophet ﷺ
dealt with him.
He was not welcoming, he wasn't like he
was with other delegations, where he would sit
with them, he would teach them, he would
answer their questions.
He just said this much, and then he
said, here is Thabit ibn Qais, he'll answer
your questions on my behalf, and then he
left him.
Now the dream that the Prophet ﷺ was
referring to in this hadith, is mentioned in
another hadith.
The Prophet ﷺ said, when I was sleeping,
I saw a dream, two bracelets of gold
were on my hands, and they worried me.
And then I was inspired in my dream
to blow on them.
So I blew on them, and the bracelets,
they went flying.
So I interpreted that dream to be, two
liars who would appear after me.
Meaning, two people who would claim to be
Prophets after me.
He said, the Prophet ﷺ is saying this,
he said, one of them has proven to
be Al-Aswad Al-Ansi, and the other
one is Musaylimah.
So, later on, two years later, in the
11th year, the year in which the Prophet
ﷺ passed away, Musaylimah would write a letter
to the Prophet ﷺ.
And he sent two messengers to deliver this
letter.
The letter read, from Musaylimah, the messenger of
Allah, to Muhammad, the messenger of Allah.
I have been given a share with you
in this matter.
Meaning, me and you, we share this Prophethood.
And we share the territory, and the authority,
and the power.
Half of the earth belongs to me, and
half of it belongs to you and Quraish.
And then he said, however, Quraish are a
people who transgress.
He was saying that, you know, you guys
have taken all the power, because now it's
at the end of the life of the
Prophet ﷺ.
Everyone had become Muslim, and everyone was a
subject of the Islamic State.
And the ruler is who?
Muhammad ﷺ.
So then the Prophet ﷺ wrote back to
him.
And he said, Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.
From Muhammad, the messenger of Allah, to Musaylimah,
the liar.
سلام على من اتبع الهدى.
Salaam upon the one who follows the right
guidance.
أما بعد فإن الأرض لله يريثها من يشاء
من عباده.
والعاقبة للمتقين.
Surely the earth belongs to Allah, who gives
it to whomever He wills from among His
servants.
And the end belongs to the people of
Al-Taqwa.
And then the Prophet ﷺ asked these two
messengers who delivered the letter.
He asked them, do you testify that I
am the messenger of Allah?
They said, we testify that Musaylimah is the
messenger of Allah.
So then the Prophet ﷺ said, آمنت بالله
ورسوله.
I believe in Allah and His messengers.
And if I was to kill a messenger,
These people who deliver letters, they are called
messengers.
He said, if I was to ever kill
a messenger, I would have killed the two
of you.
Ibn Mas'ud says, And so the sunnah
was set from that day, that messengers are
not to be killed.
Meaning, these diplomatic figures, messengers,
envoys, part of our deen is, that even
if they come from the enemy, who we
are in a war with, we don't touch
them.
We don't kill them.
Because of how the Prophet ﷺ dealt with
these two messengers, who deserve to be killed.
But the Prophet ﷺ spared them and they
went back to their people.
In the end, Musaylima al-Kaddhab, he was
killed when Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu, launched what
are known as Hurub al-Ridda.
The wars after the Prophet ﷺ death.
The wars against all these people who start
to apostate, after the death of the Prophet
ﷺ.
And among them were these people, who were
being led by Musaylima al-Kaddhab.
Then we have what is known as the
one man delegation.
The one man delegation.
Because all the other tribes, they would send
5-6 men to be representatives of their
tribes.
Some they came with large numbers, such as
Musaylima, he brought a large number with him.
Also as we will see, the delegation from
Najran, they sent a large number.
But here we have the tribe of Banu
Sa'ad ibn Bakr.
They sent one man on their behalf, and
he was Dhimam ibn Tha'labah.
In Sahih al-Bukhari, Anas radiAllahu anhu narrates,
while we were sitting with the Prophet ﷺ
in the masjid, a man came riding on
a camel.
He made his camel kneel in the masjid,
he tied its leg, and then he said,
who among you is Muhammad?
At that time the Prophet ﷺ was sitting
among us, he was leading on his arm.
We said, this white man reclining on his
arm.
So the man went up to him and
he said, O son of Abd al-Muttalib.
Why did he refer to him as the
son of Abd al-Muttalib?
Because Abd al-Muttalib was well known among
the Arabs.
As for the father of the Prophet ﷺ,
Abdullah, he was not well known.
And he died before the Prophet ﷺ was
born.
But remember that Abd al-Muttalib, he had
a reputation.
Because of what happened with the army of
the elephant.
How he went and confronted that army and
that tyrant.
And then later on he made dua to
Allah at the Kaaba.
And how Allah ﷻ repelled this army.
And so the name of Abd al-Muttalib
was famous among the Arabs.
So he came and he asked him, are
you the son of Abd al-Muttalib?
The Prophet ﷺ said, yes, and I'm here
to answer you.
So the man he said, I want to
ask you something, and I'm gonna go harsh
with you.
So don't take it personally.
The Prophet ﷺ said, ask whatever you want.
So the man said, this is Anas radiAllahu
anhu narrating the story.
He said, we don't even know who this
man was.
The man said, I ask you by your
Lord, and the Lord of those who came
before you.
Has Allah sent you as a messenger to
all of mankind?
The Prophet ﷺ said, by Allah, yes.
The man said, I ask you by Allah.
Has Allah sent you and ordered you to
tell the people to pray five times a
day, day and night?
The Prophet ﷺ said, by Allah, yes.
So then the man he said, I ask
you by Allah.
Has Allah ordered you to observe fasting during
this month of the year?
The Prophet ﷺ said, by Allah, yes.
The man said, I ask you by Allah.
Has Allah ordered you to take this charity
from our rich and distribute it among our
poor?
The Prophet ﷺ replied, yes, by Allah.
Then the man he said, I have believed
in all that you have been sent with,
and I have been sent by my people
as a messenger.
I am Dhimam ibn Tha'labah from the
brothers of Banu Sa'ad ibn Bakr.
So this is how Anas radiAllahu anhu narrates
the story.
Ibn Abbas, he continues his narration of the
story.
He says, after that, Dhimam he said, ashhadu
an la ilaha illallah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan
rasool Allah.
And then he said, I will do all
of these things that you have been commanded
with.
Meaning, these four pillars of Islam.
Now we notice, Al-Hajj hasn't been mentioned.
Nor was it mentioned in the other story.
That is because Hajj until now did not
become obligatory.
It will become obligatory after this.
So Dhimam he said, I will do all
of these obligations, and I will stay away
from whatever you have been forbidden from, and
I will not increase anything in that, nor
will I decrease.
I'm not going to do anything more than
that, nor am I going to do anything
less than that.
Then he left.
And then the Prophet sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam,
when he left, he looked at us, and
he said, if he is truthful, if he
is truthful, meaning he does what he has
promised, then he will enter Jannah.
And this is the famous story that has
been mentioned in other narrations, of a man
who came and mentioned similar questions to the
Prophet sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam, and then after
he left, the Prophet sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam
said this to his companions.
That if he is truthful, that he will
enter Jannah.
This is the story of Dhimam ibn Tha
'labah.
Now when he went back to his people,
he started to curse Allatan al-Uzza.
And his people, they started shouting at him.
And they said, are you crazy?
You are going to be afflicted with a
curse, with leprosy, with a disease.
And so he said to them, are you
guys crazy?
None of these idols cannot do any harm
to us.
And then he started to give them da
'wah, and teach them everything that he had
learned from the Prophet sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam.
And he says, by the end of that
day, Ibn Abbas is the one narrating this
story.
He says, by the end of that day,
there was not a single man, nor a
single woman, except that they had all become
Muslims, from the tribe of Dhimam ibn Tha
'labah.
Ibn Abbas, he concludes, he says, فَمَا سَمِعْنَا
بِوَافِدِ قَوْمٍ كَانَ أَفْضَلْ مِنْ دِمَامِ اِبِنْ ثَعَلَبَهِ
We have not witnessed a single man, from
all of these delegations, who was better for
his people then, Dhimam ibn Tha'labah.
Now, as we mentioned, there were many delegations
that came and went, and most of them
came during this period of time, in the
9th year of the Hijrah.
There is one last delegation, and it's an
important delegation for us to cover, and that
is the delegation of the Christians, from Najran.
And their story is a bit long, and
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed many ayat,
we're talking about 60 to 70 ayat, were
revealed concerning them, when they came and met
with the Prophet ﷺ.
So we will cover their story next week
insha'Allah, along with other events that occurred
in the 9th and the 10th years of
the Hijrah.
We conclude with some of the lessons that
we learned from the year of the delegations,
Aam al-Wafud.
The first lesson that we learned is the
importance of these delegations, the importance of these
delegations in the spread of Islam during this
period of time.
As we mentioned, the conquest of Mecca has
taken place, and then we have the battle
of Tabuk, where the Prophet ﷺ is done
with the Arabs, and now he's going to
face off against the Romans.
We covered that story.
And so now the Arabs were realizing that
there's no point to resist.
And we can see how all these delegations
were coming as a result.
So now only a few pockets of resistance
were left.
And this is why, as we will see
next week, Allah ﷻ gave the remaining mushrikun
of the Arabs an ultimatum of four months.
That's it.
You have four months left.
فَسِيحُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ أَرْضَحَةِ أَشْهُرٍ And then after
that you have to come as Muslims.
But we see how these delegations paved the
way for that.
All of these delegations, they came on their
own.
And as we can see, all of them
were accepting Islam.
And so now Islam was spreading like wildfire.
The second lesson that we learned is taking
good care of these delegations and making sure
that they learned what they needed to learn.
We see this in how the Prophet ﷺ
dealt with all of these delegations.
Those who we cover their stories and those
who we didn't cover their stories.
The Prophet ﷺ made sure that they were
welcomed.
That they were given good hospitality.
He set up tents for them.
Some he even allowed them to stay in
the masjid.
And then he had his companions looking after
them.
Taking care of them.
Not only that, but he made sure that
they were learning something of the deen.
Whether through himself or through his companions.
And so all of these delegations, they were
well treated.
They were being left with a very good
impression of the Muslims and of Islam.
And all of this was as a result
of the directives of the Prophet ﷺ.
The third lesson that we learned is the
importance of entering into Islam completely.
As Allah ﷻ commands us, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا ادْخُلُوا فِي السِّلْمِ كَافَّةً O you who
believe, enter into Islam completely.
We don't have the option of picking and
choosing.
And so we learned this from the story
of the delegation of taqif.
Who tried to find a way out.
They tried to find a way out from
certain aspects of Islam.
Why?
For the sake of their people.
They said, our people are not going to
be able to follow all of these rules.
They cannot stay away from zina, from riba,
from drinking alcohol.
The Prophet ﷺ did not give them any
choice.
And so they thought that it's better, these
people, you know, allow our people to accept
Islam and then slowly gradually grow in Islam.
The Prophet ﷺ did not compromise.
Right?
The Prophet ﷺ did not give in to
their demands, teaching us a huge lesson that
we need to submit completely.
And not try to find ways out, like
many Muslims do today.
You know, Muslims who are born Muslims, who
live their entire lives as Muslims, trying to
find loopholes, trying to find ways out, trying
to make halal, what Allah ﷻ has made
haram.
Whereas here you have people who had not
even embraced Islam yet.
And they were asking for leeway.
They were saying, can we be exempt from
zina?
Can we be exempt from drinking alcohol, from
riba?
The Prophet ﷺ did not budge.
He did not say, yes, you know, take
your time, I give you a month, I
give you a year, no.
Right?
And so this teaches us a huge lesson
that this deen is not to play around
with.
This deen is not something to play around
with.
We need to take it seriously.
And whatever you do of haram, you'll be
held accountable for it before Allah.
If you do something haram, repent to Allah.
Allah is the most forgiving.
But do not try to play around with
the deen of Allah.
And do not try to find loopholes and
ways out.
Finally, the last lesson that we'll mention is
destroying idols and other manifestations of kufr and
shirk.
We saw this in how the Prophet ﷺ
made it a point to destroy all the
idols that the people of Jahiliyyah were so
obsessed with.
In doing so, he was following in whose
footsteps?
The footsteps of Ibrahim ﷺ, who smashed the
idols of his people.
And we notice how the Prophet ﷺ would
not compromise on this.
Right?
So the people of Taqif, they asked the
Prophet ﷺ to give us time.
Right?
Don't come and just destroy our idol right
away.
Give us some time.
Give us a year.
He didn't budge.
Give us a month.
No.
A week.
No.
Give us one day.
The Prophet ﷺ said no.
And so this shows us how.
Although there may be flexibility on other issues.
We're not talking about the main foundational issues
of Islam.
But on other side issues, there could be
some flexibility.
But there is no flexibility on issues pertaining
to the core of our deen.
There is no compromise on kufr and shirk.
Right?
And how there are people today who say,
you know, let people worship what they want.
Even if Muslims go and worship or accept
certain matters from the religions of others, it's
not a big deal.
And we also learn from this story that
whenever Muslims conquer any land, they should follow
in the footsteps of the Prophet ﷺ and
swiftly destroy and level any idols and other
manifestations of kufr.
And they should not fear the consequences of
that.
Look at how these people try to make
the sahaba to fear.
You know, that if you destroy these idols,
a curse is going to end up on
you, and so on and so forth.
And so this applies until the day of
judgment.
And so these are some of the lessons
that we learn from the year of the
delegations, Aam al-Wafud.
And so we will continue next week, insha
'Allah ta'ala.
Subhanaka Allahumma wa bihamdik.
Ashhadu an la ilaha illa anta astaghfiruka wa
atubu ilayk.
Wa sallillahu wa sallim ala nabiyyina Muhammad wa
ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in.
Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.