Mirza Yawar Baig – Sahaba The Gold Standard #11
AI: Summary ©
The segment discusses the importance of Islam in society and its use in shaping one's life. It touches on the use of "bringing light" to indicate one is a Muslim and the significance of "bringing light" in shaping one's life. The segment also touches on the history and characteristics of the title Islam, including the use of "bringing light" to define one person and the importance of respecting one's religion. The segment also touches on the dispute between the people of Badr and the people of the United States, where they go to war on the basis of their own actions.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem.
Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen.
Wa salatu wa salamu ala sharafil anbiya wal
mursaleen.
Muhammadur Rasulullahi sallallahu alaihi wa ala alihi wa
sallam.
Tasliman kaseeran kaseera.
My brothers and sisters, we continue with our
class on the sahaba, Ridwanullah alaihi wa ajmaeen.
What is it that made them what they
were?
People who were not only revered by Muslims,
of course, we revere them because of who
they were and their connection with Rasulullah sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
But these were people who were the role
models of that time and for all time.
For anyone in the world who is interested
in being a leader, in creating a society
which is based on compassion, justice, a society
that is peaceful, harmonious, where people are, weak
people are taken care of and strong people
are kept under control and so on.
Anyone who is interested in a society like
this, the sahaba of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam are the best example for them to
look at.
Now Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam one day
he asked the sahaba to name the biggest
sign of Islam.
He said, what is the biggest sign of
Islam in somebody?
So, somebody said salah, somebody said zakat, somebody
said hajj and so on.
Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam negated them all.
He said, no, no, no.
Then they asked him, they said, Ya Rasulullah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, please tell us what
is the biggest sign of Islam, biggest sign
of being a Muslim?
And he replied with one word, he said,
muhabbat.
He said, mutual affection, mutual brotherly love for
one another.
Just think about this.
Mutual love for one another.
Now, I ask you and ask myself, where
should we place ourselves in terms of this
criteria of being Muslim, of displaying this sign
of Islam in our lives?
In words, in action and in society.
I want to remind myself and you to
correct our position with respect to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, his messenger sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam and our own brothers and sisters in
Islam.
As well as our brothers and sisters in
the world.
Because in Islam we talk about universal brotherhood
and sisterhood, which is not restricted to the
Muslims.
So, we are the brothers and sisters of
all humanity, irrespective of whether they are Muslim
or not.
And we have, of course, a special relationship
with the Muslims.
Now, where do we stand with that?
So, let us ask ourselves this question.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said about this
relationship of brotherhood, in two places in the
Quran al-Karim and beautiful ayat.
In Surah al-Anbiya, Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala said, Inna hazihi ummatukum ummata wahida wa
ana rabbukum fa'budoon.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Truly, this
your ummah, your brotherhood is one ummah, is
one brotherhood, and I am your Rabb, and
therefore worship Me alone.
In another place, later on in the Quran,
one surah removed, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
jalla shanahu, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said,
Inna hazihi, wa inna, the first one does
not have wa, the second one has wa,
wa inna hazihi ummatukum ummata wahida, wa ana
rabbukum fattaqun.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, This brotherhood
of yours is one brotherhood, and I am
your Rabb, so have my taqwa.
Now think about this, in the one case,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, I am
your Rabb, so worship Me alone, and in
the other one, He said, I am your
Rabb, so have my taqwa, meaning be concerned
about My pleasure alone.
Don't be concerned about anybody else, be concerned
about My pleasure alone.
The first ayat refers to the basis of
our belief, which is at-tawhid, the belief
in the oneness of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala jalla jalaluhu, and worshipping Him only, alone,
without ascribing any partners to Him in either
worship or in His attributes, so no shirk
fi-l-ibada, no shirk fi-rububiyat, and
no shirk fi-asma'u-sifat.
Now that's a different topic and a different
subject, inshallah, if you listen to my lectures
or mine or anybody's lectures on aqidatul tahawiyah,
you will get all of that.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling
us in this ayah, that this belief of
la ilaha illallah, that there is no one
worthy of worship except Allah, Muhammadun Rasulullah, that
Rasulullah s.a.w. is the messenger of
Allah, and the last and final messenger after
whom there is none other.
This fundamental belief is the common factor that
makes us one ummah.
It's not our nationalities or our ethnicities or
colour or races or anything.
It is the fact that we believe in
la ilaha illallah Muhammadun Rasulullah.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala honoured us
by reminding us that what makes us one
ummah is our relationship with Him jalla jalaluhu
as our Rabb.
He then orders us to worship Him alone,
which is our aqidah, which is our creed.
What makes us one therefore is not, as
I mentioned before, not our colour, race, tribe,
family, name, or any other criteria, but the
fact that we worship Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala only and we follow the guidance of
Muhammad s.a.w. So,
we follow, we worship Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala and we do that in the way
of Rasulullah s.a.w. In the second
ayat of surah, which is from surah al
-mu'minun, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala used exactly
the same words, inna hadhihi ummatukum ummata wahida,
to define us, the ummah of Rasulullah s
.a.w. as one people, ummatan wahida.
And then he said, wa ana rabbukum fattaqoom,
therefore have my taqwa.
Taqwa is a sign that we love Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And that is what Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala used to define us.
When he said, wal ladheena amanoo ashadduhubbalillah, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned the believers.
And he said, they are those who love
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
They love Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala more
than anyone and anything else.
Now this is a beautiful thing to think
about, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala referred
to us as people who love him.
And as people who love him more than
anyone and anything else.
Now how beautiful is that?
Just think about that.
How beautiful is that?
So let us try to make sure that
we don't deny that honour by indulging in
our own desires and so on, in disobedience
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That is something which was never heard.
Now Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala once again
mentioned us as, in surah Baqarah, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala said, these are people, wal
ladheena amanoo ashadduhubbalillah.
Allah said, these are, and the, but those
who believe, that is, believe in Muslims, love
Allah the most, more than anyone and anything
else.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala once again mentioned
us as one ummah and told us to
keep his taqwa as a sign that we
are Muslims.
Now today we live in a world where
we are not simply divided in thought and
belief despite believing in Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala and Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
But we kill each other on the basis
of those differences.
And we call each other kafir and declare
Muslims to be out of Islam.
Now these differences that we differ on are
not even fundamental differences because Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is saying, what makes us one
is la ilaha illallah.
Now the differences that we look for and
we select and we hate people for, other
Muslims, nobody differs on la ilaha illallah Muhammad
Rasulullah.
Everyone, right?
Shia, Sunni, Barelvi, Salafi, Hanafi, Shafi, whoever, right?
They all believe in la ilaha illallah Muhammad
Rasulullah.
Some of them have differences in terms of
other things which are not the fundamental belief.
But not only do we disagree with them,
we hate them, we kill them.
I am not saying you kill them or
I kill them but somebody like us does
it.
Now just ask yourself how evil is that?
We pronounce takfir and we call each other
kafir and we declare Muslims to be out
of Islam.
Now let's see if there is any basis
for this.
And if any Muslim has the authority to
call another Muslim kafir and declare him to
be an apostate worthy of being killed.
We have the famous hadith of Imam Ahmad
bin Hanbal, rahmatullahi alayhi, recorded in his Muslim,
that Rasulullah s.a.w. said that if
one Muslim calls another kafir, then one of
them is definitely a kafir.
Meaning that by calling somebody an apostate, by
calling somebody a kafir, if that person does
not deserve that word, does not deserve that
label, then this person who is calling him
in the sight of Allah has left Islam,
has become kafir.
So, be very careful.
Now this is what the Christians did in
Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries and
through the crusades where they primarily fought one
another over religious doctrine.
There is a wonderful book called A World
Without Islam.
Right?
Go look for it and read it, A
World Without Islam.
And then the author argues that the real
dispute is not between Islam and Christianity but
in Christianity itself.
Between the Roman Catholicism and the Orthodoxy, the
Eastern Orthodoxy.
So, this is what they did.
They launched the Inquisition, for example, to root
out heresy, which is Kufr.
And it was aimed primarily against all those
who had stood against Catholicism with the Pope
of Rome as its head.
Unbelievable tortures, ripping people apart, rendering living people
asunder, dismemberment, cutting off arms and legs, and
burning alive, burning at the stake of all
those who resisted this doctrine or who were
even suspected, became commonplace.
Europe was truly a dark continent in what
they like to call the dark ages.
But the news is not this.
The news is that Europe woke up to
the crippling danger of infighting and ended this
by leaving a religion that preached division.
Now, there is no concept of universal brotherhood
in Christianity or Hinduism or any other religion
except in Islam.
Universal brotherhood of humanity and universal brotherhood of
faith.
Yet, Europeans realized the need for it.
And when the religion didn't offer it, they
left the religion.
In the words of Hazrat Maulana Abul Hasan
R.A., Europe developed after leaving their religion
and Muslims regressed after leaving theirs.
He said that Europe developed after leaving their
religion, but Muslims
regressed after leaving theirs.
Christianity in the church became subservient to protect
their possessions.
And they just accepted everything that people wanted
to bring in.
And, you know, almost anything became permissible or
they made it permissible.
It didn't become permissible.
And whatever was left of their power and
authority, they wanted to preserve that.
So, they allowed the common people to dictate
to them what the religion should be.
And when that didn't happen, the people simply
ignored the priests and the church.
Churches became empty and once great cathedrals of
Europe became tourist attractions.
The tragedy is that we Muslims stand at
a crossroads today despite having a religion that
preaches brotherhood.
The crossroads that will decide if Europe's history
will also become ours.
With the people ignoring and rejecting whatever and
the way of a religion that seems to
be meaningless.
Now, if you really feel offended by my
statement, go and talk to the mother who
lost her son, the wife who lost her
husband, the child who lost her father because
somebody randomly slaughtered them while they were standing
in Salah in the Masjid.
Ask them what they think of the Islam
that got their men killed for no fault.
Other than that, they were praying to Allah.
Shias gunned down Sunnis.
Sunnis gunned down Shias.
Both claim to believe in Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala and his messenger sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam.
Salafis call others Kafir.
Barilvis call others Kafir.
Shias call Sunnis Kafir.
Everyone calls Salafis Kafir.
Every sect is trying to send everyone else
out of Islam.
Every sect believes that Jannah is their personal
piece of real estate and only they and
their friends will go there.
But the last time I checked, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala had not transferred ownership of
Jannah to anyone else.
To the Salafis or to the Barilvis or
to the Shia or anyone else.
So, what is the basis of our arrogance?
Of arrogating to ourselves the right to decide
who will go to Jannah and who won't.
Who is a Muslim and who isn't?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned this issue
of differing on matters and he warned us.
And he said, كَذَلِكَ
يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ آيَتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala said, and hold fast all
of you together to the rope of Allah.
That is the Qur'an al-Kareem and
the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad and do not
be divided among yourselves.
Remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's favour on
you.
For you were enemies one to another.
But he joined your hearts together so that
by his grace you became brethren in Islam,
in the Islamic faith.
And you were on the brink of a
pit of fire and he saved you from
it.
Thus Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes his
ayat clear to you that you may be
guided.
Now Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned in
this ayat al-Karima the issue of differing
with each other and he warned us against
converting those differences into opposition of one another.
Forming into clans and groups and cults and
sects.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminded the Sahaba
of the time when they used to oppose
one another and harboured enmity against each other
over trivial things.
Enmity that divided them as people and made
their own life miserable.
What is life if one must look over
one's shoulder fearing an enemy all the time?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told them that
they were one, they were on the brink
of a pit of fire and that it
was Islam which came with this message of
brotherhood which saved them.
Islam joined them together and made us by
enemies into beloved brothers.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not tell
them not to differ in opinion.
He did not say laa taqtalif, he said
laa tafarraku, laa taqassamu, laa taqassamu wa laa
tafarraku.
He did not say laa taqtalifu.
He didn't say don't differ, don't have a
different opinion, he said don't differ in a
way that breaks hearts, hurts feelings and people
feel insulted.
Don't form clans and cults.
Today we convert difference of opinion into opposition
and attack the person instead of dealing with
a thought or idea that we may differ
on.
So instead of focusing on the idea, we
get involved with the individual who has the
idea.
A difference of opinion merely means that more
than one mind is engaged in thinking about
the matter.
That several intelligent people are interested in finding
a solution.
But when intelligence leaves the arena and egos
take over, when solving the problem is not
the objective anymore, but dominating the discussion takes
precedence, then intelligent difference of opinion turns into
ignorant, egoistic posturing and opposition.
Intelligent difference of opinion is welcome, desirable and
results in bringing people together.
Opposition, on the other hand, draws them apart,
raises walls, breaks hearts and kindles hatred instead
of love.
And that is what Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala warns us against.
There was difference of opinion even among the
sahaba on very fundamental and important matters, as
important as ibadah, as important as worship itself,
where people understood things differently.
But they never abused one another or called
each other kafir or refused to pray behind
one another.
Let me mention three instances.
One was the sahaba disagreeing about when to
pray asar.
When they were told to pray asar in
the land of the Banu Quraidah.
The second one was Salman al-Farsi r
.a. disagreeing with Umar ibn al-Khattab r
.a. about obeying the amir because he had
more cloth than others from the cloth that
was given to the people of Badr.
And the third one was the behaviour of
the sahaba after the battle of the camel.
After the battle of the camel in which
Sayyidina Aisha s.a.w. and Sayyidina Ali
ibn Abi Talib r.a. were on two
opposite sides.
But neither Aisha s.a.w. nor Ali
ibn Abi Talib r.a. ever condemned each
other.
Nobody.
They never condemned each other.
So those who curse Sayyidina Aisha s.a
.w. which of course is literally going against
the Quran and therefore it renders you out
of Islam.
Those who curse Sayyidina Aisha s.a.w.
should ask themselves on what basis they do
that.
When Ali r.a. himself never did it.
He never cursed Sayyidina Aisha s.a.w.
So how come you do that?
May Allah have mercy on us and give
us sense.
Now in these instances, let me mention to
you some of these, at least one of
them inshallah, in this episode.
Salman al-Farsi r.a. one day Sayyidina
Umar r.a. was making the khutbah for
jama'at and he said Ya ayyuha allatheena
amanu atiullaha wa atiurrasula wa ulil amri minkum.
He said, O you who believe, obey Allah
and obey his Rasul and obey your leaders.
So Salman al-Farsi r.a. who was
sitting in front he said, we will obey
Allah, we will obey the Rasul but we
will not obey you.
Now imagine this is happening in the masjid
in front of everybody.
Sayyidina Umar r.a. did not get angry,
he didn't lose his temper, he did not
say anything negative to Salman al-Farsi r
.a. Although Salman al-Farsi r.a.'s statement
was a direct denial of the authority of
the Amir of the Momineen, Amir Momineen, which
is a very, very, very serious matter.
I mean it's not something that is simple,
you know, that can be just passed off.
Yet Sayyidina Umar r.a. did not say
anything about it, he did not, you know,
criticise Salman al-Farsi r.a. On the
other hand, he asked Salman al-Farsi r
.a., he said, my brother, why do you
say that?
Now imagine this whole thing is happening in
front of all the people.
So Salman al-Farsi r.a. said that,
you gave the people of Badr, whoever, the
Badriyeen, as I mentioned earlier, that was the
hierarchy of the sahaba, number one Abu Bakr
r.a., after that Sayyidina Umar r.a.,
then the Badriyeen, the people who fought in
the Battle of Badr, and then the people
of Baitul Ridwan, the people who took the
oath, who gave Rasulallah s.a.w. their
oath in Hudaybiyyah.
So, he said, you gave the people of
Badr one piece of cloth from some ghanima
which came from somewhere, from some spoils of
war, but he said, I see that you
have two.
You yourself have two.
Sayyidina Umar r.a. did not say anything,
he didn't respond.
His son was there, Abdullah ibn Umar r
.a., he stood up and he said to
Sayyidina Salman, he said, my uncle, I gave
my piece of cloth to my father.
Because my father is a big man, and
one piece of cloth was not enough for
him, so, I gave him mine.
That's how he has two.
So, Salman al-Fasih r.a. said, then
in that case, we will obey Allah, we
will obey his Rasul and we will obey
you.
Meaning, obey Umar ibn al-Khattab r.a.
Now, think about this incident.
Here is a matter which is a difference
of opinion.
It's a difference of opinion based on the
Quran itself, right?
Salman al-Fasih, it's an issue of multiple
points involved.
Issue based on the Quran, it's a difference
of opinion, it's a difference with the Amir,
with the leader of the believers, it's a
difference where the Amir is being accused of
potentially being unjust, which is a very very
serious matter.
Yet, number one, the Amir does not get
angry.
He doesn't attack the speaker.
He said, what is the issue?
Let us understand the issue.
Second thing is, without bringing his ego into
it, he doesn't say, oh, you don't trust
me, am I not the way?
No.
He said, this is what happened.
And even that he doesn't say it, his
son says it.
He just asks, what's your, what's the problem?
When the problem is narrated, the son comes
to clarify the matter.
Pratayala hanuman bhai, may Allah be pleased with
all of them.
Right?
And then, as soon as that matter is
resolved, Sayyidana Salman does not say, oh, no,
no, no, you misunderstood me, I didn't say
this, I didn't say that.
No.
Very clearly, I am the Allah, I raised
the question, I have been answered, I am
happy.
So, there is no enmity, there is no
irritation, there is no anger, none of this
negativity is there.
The matter is easily and cleanly resolved.
Right?
And this is something that we need to
think about.
And say, how is it that these people
were able to do it, whereas we, you
know, we are in such a mess with
regard to these things, where we cannot agree
on anything, where we have all sorts of
differences of opinion and so on and so
forth.
I already mentioned to you the behaviour of
the Sahaba after the Battle of the Camel.
And just think about it.
I mean, here is a matter where literally
the two sides went to war.
Now, we are not going into, you know,
was that the right thing to do, wrong
thing to do.
Leave that to the Sahaba, that these people
were special people, our Aqidah as Ahle Sunnah
wa Jamaah, is that the Sahaba of Rasulullah
s.a.w., these were special people, they
were given a special position by Allah s
.w.t. They directly, they learnt the Deen,
they learnt Islam at the feet of Rasulullah
s.a.w. directly from him.
They learnt how to recite Quran from Rasulullah
s.a.w. They learnt how to pray
by watching and being instructed by Rasulullah s
.a.w. and so on for everything in
Islam.
So, if they made some Ijtihad and if
they had a difference of opinion and they
disagreed and so on, we don't get in
the middle of that.
We don't say this one was right, that
one was wrong.
We just, we witness what happened as people
who are studying history.
And we leave it to Allah s.w
.t. to judge between them and we ask
Allah s.w.t. to have His mercy
on them and on us.
We do not say who is right, who
is wrong.
That is not our job.
As far as we are concerned, Sayyidina Aisha
s.a.w. is the mother of the
believers, so she is our mother.
We respect her because Allah s.w.t.
said she is innocent of all sin.
We respect her because Allah s.w.t.
revealed multiple ayat of Surah An-Nur in
favour of Sayyidina Aisha s.a.w. So,
we love her because Rasul Allah s.a
.w. loved her.
She is our mother.
Her position is ala rasi, it's on our
heads, it's on our eyes.
Ala ayni wa ala rasi.
Sayyidina Ali bin Abi Talib s.a.w.
again, his position is also ala ayni wa
ala rasi.
His position is also on our heads and
on our eyes.
He is the cousin of Rasul Allah s
.a.w. He is one of the first
people to enter Islam.
He is married to the daughter of Rasul
Allah s.a.w. Fatimah Zahra s.a
.w. His sons Hassan and Hussain s.a
.w. were called the heads of the youth
in Jannah.
I mean, how many fadail of Sayyidina Ali,
it's impossible to describe.
Rasul Allah s.a.w. loved him and
honoured him everywhere.
Sayyidina Ali, he wasn't killed because Allah s
.w.t didn't decree it at that time,
but he lay in the bed of Rasul
Allah s.a.w. when Nabi s.a
.w. migrated from Mecca to Medina.
And he actually put himself in line to
be killed in the place of Rasul Allah
s.a.w. So who can describe the
fadail of Sayyidina Ali and do justice to
that?
So both the people in this battle are
people we honour.
We honour more than anything else.
We honour them more than we honour our
own parents.
So we don't get in the middle of
that.
Whatever they did, they know it is between
them and Allah s.w.t. We do
not get in the middle of that.
We don't say this one was right and
that one was wrong and so on and
so forth.
That's not our job.
The lesson we take from this is that
even though these two people they had a
different Ijtihad and obviously different to the extent
of going to war on the basis of
their own Ijtihad, they never cursed each other.
They never pronounced Takfir on each other.
They never said this person is no longer
a Muslim and so on and so forth.
Alhamdulillah, this is the lesson we take away.
And that is the lesson that I want
to leave with you.
We will talk more InshaAllah in the next
episode.